Heightening insecurity: Strategic military intelligence as panacea
The heightening of security threats in Nigeria has no doubt moved to the sparking state of disturbance. Issues of whether security formations are really at the fore of restoring normalcy has become more of a distanced reality as the spate of variants of security threats have continued to cluster with sore narratives. The clustering of escalating social disturbances emanating from such threats as banditry, kidnapping, robbery and terrorism have continued to compound to discomfit cohabitation across the Country.
The scourge of banditry with kidnapping which recently joined the heat of terrorism have heightened to leave more of fear than confidence of safety and security. The fact that the effrontery of mischievous armed men are growing to engage even the military on a face off with rising spate of onslaughts, have continued to heighten fears across the Country, particularly at troubled zones where ambushment on security formations have been taking toll. The perceived struggles of the Country’s security architecture in the face of onslaughts have put forward questions of what strategies are needed to be adopted to tackle the threats? The frustration of security response to eliminate threat formations have brought into view recommendations of changes in military and security strategies in the campaign against the disturbing clusters of threats. In recognition of the need, amidst worsening challenges in the Country, President Muhammadu Buhari had on Monday directed the Nigerian Armed Forces to turn to intelligence driven operations to tackle the pressures of insecurity in the Country. Buhari who said his government was committed to providing needed equipment, training and motivation for the military, mentioned that the government was in talks with friendly nations to equip the military with required weapons to their effectiveness in various operations. According to him, the war against terrorism and insurgency should be intelligence driven, requiring gathering of information and processing it into actionable intelligence for the administration of operations.
Buhari who spoke in Abuja on Monday through the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Lucky Irabor, at the opening of the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Conference 2021, themed “Building Nigerian Army’s Capacity in Combating Emerging Security Threats in a Joint Operating Environment” had said tackling insecurity in the Country “also needs cooperation and synergy of effort by all the security agencies.” He had said though recent clampdown have recorded terrorists surrendering their weapons, the need for the military to maintain the tempo was important, while leveraging on stronger gathering of information.
“I therefore charge you to do more in your information gathering effort and the level of synergy among intelligence operations in order to comprehensively defeat all forms of insurgency and terrorism in our country within the shortest possible time. I am aware of the successes so far achieved in the Northeast operations as well as all other operational theatres, following of course, the increase surrendering of some of the insurgents that we have witnessed in the past few months. You must therefore maintain the tempo to ensure that more of these insurgents continue to surrender until normalcy is fully restored in the region,” he ordered.
He had further urged the Nigerian Army to remain apolitical and professional in their duty of protecting democracy and defending the territorial integrity of the nation. Buhari had said high standard of training and discipline, adhering to military values, effective command and control, servant to rule of law and excellent civil-military relations will enable the Nigerian army to function effectively. He also urged Commanders to ensure effective command and control of personnel and equipment in their formations for optimal performance in the field. According to him, the army is a key element of any nation’s power and vital tool required to protect its territorial integrity and project its foreign policy.
“I have no doubt that the renewed emphasis on high standard of training and discipline, adhering to military values, effective command and control, servant to rule of law and excellent civil-military relations will enable the Nigerian army to function effectively to bring glory to our father land. Therefore, as the army of our great nation, your role in securing the nation is paramount. While performing your constitutional roles, I urge you to remain apolitical and continue to operate within the framework of the principles of fundamental human right and the law of armed conflicts,” he said.
It has become almost incontrovertible that changing strategies to modify response operations to the heightening security threats booming across the Country is a notable submission the government must capitalise upon. The fact that the subsisting response architectures are not potent enough to clampdown on the threats to the end of eliminating recalcitrant formations as banditry, kidnapping and terrorism, forcing the strings of disability in the Country, calls for strategic reorientation in the response architectures of security formations against prevailing threats. The need to leverage on intelligence driven response architectures has become necessary to drive the campaign against the scourge of insecurity threats in the Country.
