Why is it important for security agencies in Nigeria to work in partnership to minimise the enormous security challenges that the country confronts? How can interagency collaboration enhance Nigeria’s security? Promoting interagency collaboration and conflict resolution among personnel of security agencies in Northwest Nigeria was the theme of a workshop put together by the Konrad Adenuer Stiftung (KAS), a German foundation inspired to foster interagency collaboration with a view to engendering conflict resolution and enhancing human security.

KAS has been working with Nigerian partners to facilitate democratic dialogue and capacity building for different arms of government at national, regional and state levels. Sensitive to the insecurity in Northwest Nigeria, KAS assembled about 100 personnel from security agencies’ (Department of state security, Army, The Police, Immigration, Customs, Federal Road Safety Commission, and Correction Service) departments of operations, conflict resolution and intelligence in Kano between 11-14 August 2021 to train and empower them on how to be sensitive to social context and collaborate to enhance security.

In her welcome address, resident representative of KAS, Dr Vladimir Kreck represented by Senior Programme Manager, Security Sector Reform (KAS), Julcit Stolpe explained that KAS reviewed statutes of the various security agencies in Nigeria and found that “interagency rivalry was mainly being caused by the overlapping or conflicting mandates of these agencies.

To solve this problem Kreck said “we have commenced strategic engagement with the relevant institutions and stakeholders to push for reform of these laws to ensure clarity of function. We have also been organising capacity building workshops for members of different committees in the National Assembly and also for State Houses of Assembly to strengthen knowledge and practice of effective legislation and oversight. We have to embed the culture of good civil-military relations, intelligence and information sharing between security agencies and civilian citizens through our seminars at national and geo-political zones of Nigeria.”

Available evidence indicates that poor inter-agency collaboration among Nigeria’s security institutions is one of the major factors militating against effective conflict resolution and security management in Nigeria. The consequences of not working effectively together culminate in increasing fear of insecurity and diminished trust in the capabilities of the security system to protect the lives and properties of civilian populations across Nigeria in general and terror zones in particular.

The 2020 Global Terrorism Index (GTI) places Nigeria as the third country worst hit by the negative outcomes of terrorists’ activities. From Bokoharam in the Northeast, banditry and criminal kidnapping in the Northwest, secessionist agitations in the southeast and southwest, the security system in Nigeria is practically overstretched. In this situation, only the working together of the units that make up Nigeria’s security system will de-escalate conflict and neutralise security threats through complementary operations and credible intelligence sharing among others.

Funded by the German government, KAS has since its founding in Nigeria in 2001 continues to work with Nigerian partners, to facilitate human capacity development of security agencies to deliver on their mandate. To check problems of overlapping mandates, there is need for necessary reforms to be in place so that extant laws which overlap mandates can be amended. It is important that security agencies deliver on their specific mandates to actualise peace and development in Nigeria.

Banditry in the Northwest has exposed how unmanned or poorly manned border zones can compromise national security. The widespread smuggling and use of illicit drugs by criminals has also been implicated as a contributor to growing security and its unfolding dynamism. The use of drugs by bandits, Bokoharam terrorists, kidnappers and armed robbers is no longer a secret. As at 2017, 14.3million Nigerians between 15 and 64 years old hard drugs such as Cannabis, Tramadol, Codeine or Morphine and this affects the nature of criminality and conflict in Nigeria.

That the use of these drugs continues to proliferate implies that the National Drug Law enforcement Agency (NDLEA) cannot do it alone without effectively collaborating with other security agencies. If other security agencies do not work with NDLEA for instance, those who get high on drugs will deploy it to do banditry and kidnapping which will then become problem for the police, army and NSCDC.

Security agencies in Nigeria must close ranks and eliminate rivalry. Security is arrived at when every part of the security system (police, army, NSCDC, NDLEA, Immigration, Customs and others) discharges their roles efficiently and balance their weaknesses with the strength of other security agencies. Inferiority complex and superiority battles between and among security agency only aggravate the insecurity of everyone and deepens national insecurity. The successes recorded in a joint operation must be collectively owned and its failure must be shared as well.

The insecurity of welfare of security personnel can also hamper their commitment to protect lives and properties. They need better welfare both in service and when out of service. Nigeria governments need to ensure that the causes of insecurity which are external to the security system are tackled. These are nose-diving fortunes of the economy, widespread poverty, comatose electricity and unemployment.

If these triggers of insecurity are addressed, security agencies will have little works to do. While the workshop by the Konrad Adenuer Stiftung takes the conversation about the necessity of interagency collaboration to another level by bringing actors to sit in the same venue and share ideas, it is important that heads of security agencies in Nigeria buy into this initiative and work to harmonise interagency differences that hamper security operations.

Dr Tade, a criminologist and security expert writes via dotad2003@yahoo.com