• Home
  • Anti-Corruption
  • Fact-Check
  • Economy
  • National
    • Government
  • Security
  • Features
  • State
  • Event
    • PR Nigeria Award
  • E-Paper
Search
  • Home
  • About
  • Adverts
  • Contact
Sign in
Welcome! Log into your account
Forgot your password? Get help
Password recovery
Recover your password
A password will be e-mailed to you.
PRNIGERIA PRNigeria News
PRNIGERIA PRNIGERIA
  • Home
  • Anti-Corruption
    • Chinese nationals jailed in Lagos

      Court Jails Nine Chinese Nationals for Cybercrime in Lagos

      ASUU

      Tackle Corruption, Institutional Decay – ASUU Charges FG

      EFCC Arraigns Bauchi Accountant General Over N8bn Fraud as Court Sentences…

      PRNigeria logo fearured image

      EFCC Arraigns Ex-Convict, Other for Naira Abuse in Lagos

      EFCC Arrests 37 Suspected Internet Fraudsters in Ilorin

  • Fact-Check
  • Economy
    • CBN

      The Facts About Nigeria’s Debts Burden Under Tinubu’s Watch By Zekeri…

      Ibrahim Yahaya Dandakata of Arewa Economic Forum AEF

      AEF Slams CBN’s New BDC Policy, Cites Threat to Northern Economy…

      Google Search Tech Digest

      7 Smart Google Search Tips That Will Save You Hours By…

      U.S. VISA

      REVEALED: Why US Reduced Visa Validity for Nigerians to 3 Months…

      Comptroller General Nigerian Customs Bashir Adewale

      Nigeria Customs Takes Anti-Money Laundering Fight to the Skies

  • National
    • Senator Ireti Kingibe Defects from Labour Party, Joins ADC

      FG Secures 44 New Convictions in Terrorism Financing Trial

      Board Approves Promotion of 95 Senior Officers in Immigration, Civil Defence,…

      Officers of NSCDC Mining Marshals

      Alake’s Verdict on Mining Marshals By Abdullahi O Haruna Haruspice

      CBN

      The Facts About Nigeria’s Debts Burden Under Tinubu’s Watch By Zekeri…

    • Government
      • Senator Ireti Kingibe Defects from Labour Party, Joins ADC

        Police Officer

        Niger Police Confirm Arrest of 22 Illegal Miners After Violent Clash

        Governor Yusuf of Kano Wins Top Infrastructure Award at London’s 15th…

        Mohammed Idris

        Local Government Autonomy Not Negotiable — FG Declares

        NELFUND

        NELFUND Resumes Monthly Upkeep Payments, Credits Over 3,600 Students

  • Security
    • Bandit banditry

      Lakurawa kills 3 police operatives in Kebbi

      Police Officer

      Niger Police Confirm Arrest of 22 Illegal Miners After Violent Clash

      FG Secures 44 New Convictions in Terrorism Financing Trial

      Troops Nab Three Gunrunners, Recover AK-47 Rifles, Ammo in Kaduna

      Board Approves Promotion of 95 Senior Officers in Immigration, Civil Defence,…

  • Features
    • Officers of NSCDC Mining Marshals

      Alake’s Verdict on Mining Marshals By Abdullahi O Haruna Haruspice

      CBN

      The Facts About Nigeria’s Debts Burden Under Tinubu’s Watch By Zekeri…

      Soludo and Radda’s Candid Confessions on Homegrown Terror By Tahir Ahmad

      Nigerian Banks

      Nigeria’s Second Chance at a Global Cashless Future By Fatimah Yusuf…

      Customs boss, CGC Bashir Adewale Adeniyi with NAFDAC DG Professor Moji Adeyeye

      Customs, NAFDAC Activate MoU to Fight Substandard Products By Abdullah Maiwada

  • State
    • Senator Ireti Kingibe Defects from Labour Party, Joins ADC

      Bandit banditry

      Lakurawa kills 3 police operatives in Kebbi

      Police Officer

      Niger Police Confirm Arrest of 22 Illegal Miners After Violent Clash

      Governor Yusuf of Kano Wins Top Infrastructure Award at London’s 15th…

      Troops Intercept 3 Gunrunners, Seize Weapons, Cash in Kaduna

  • Event
    • Asiwaju Adegboyega Solomon Awomolo

      47 Years of Excellence: Honoring Asiwaju Awomolo, SAN

      NCoS inmates

      58 Inmates in Kano Sit for 2025 NECO Exams, Thanks to…

      Troops of the Nigerian Army giving a salute

      162nd Anniversary: Tinubu Salutes Nigerian Army, Hails Troops as Guardians of…

      President & Chairman of Governing Council, Dr. Ike Neliaku

      NIPR Lauds Nigerian PR Firms for Outstanding Performances at 2025 SABRE…

      SCN NGO signs partnership with PRNIGERIA

      SCN NGO Seals Partnership with PRNigeria to Amplify its Humanitarian Projects

    • PR Nigeria Award
  • E-Paper
Home Features As CDS Moves to End Security Agencies’ Rivalry
  • Features
  • Security

As CDS Moves to End Security Agencies’ Rivalry

By
Abdulsalam Mahmud
-
March 1, 2022
CDS Gen Lucky Irabor
CDS Gen Lucky Irabor

As CDS Moves to End Security Agencies’ Rivalry
By MahmudAbdulsalam

In recent years, security agencies in the country have always competed to emerge as masses’ favourite, or better still, the ones that are most effective, in terms of discharging their responsibilities.

They battle each other to assert superiority and dominance. The ones that war-war, instead of jaw-jaw, do so with the sole intent of not allowing their efforts to be undermined by rival security agencies.

But one of the main factors limiting the ability of security agencies to effectively tackle the current insecurity in the country is unhealthy interagency rivalry.

The inspector-general of police, Usman Baba, at a forum last year, said that unhealthy inter-agency rivalry was a major factor limiting the capacity of Nigeria’s armed forces to effectively contain the insecurity bedeviling the nation.

The IGP, who spoke at a three-day annual ministerial retreat with a theme, “Strengthening Inter-Agency Collaboration and Organisation Efficiency,” said: “This trend has been of concern to a cross section of Nigerians over the years. This trend, I must say, is not peculiar to Nigeria alone.

“In the United States, for example, weak inter-agency cooperation and collaboration, which manifested in the failure of strategic security institutions to share intelligence and work together to advance the national security interests of the country, accounted for the 9/11 terror attack which has been described as the worst but most preventable attack on their homeland security since the Second World War.

“In essence, the challenge of inter-agency rivalry must be seen and acknowledged as a global challenge which haunts internal security of modern states. Be that as it may, certain facts remain sacrosanct. Firstly, inter-agency friction constitutes a major threat to internal security and national cohesion.

“Second, it accounts for budgetary wastage, duplication of functions, mutual suspicion, and encroachment on each other’s legal and operational space by competing agencies.

“Thirdly, it exposes security agencies to public ridicule and possible loss of public confidence in the ability of such agencies to perform their statutory functions.”

To understand how dysfunctional interagency coordination could be even in developed societies, the March 2009 essay titled “America’s Broken Interagency” by Thomas A. Schweich who was U.S. Ambassador for Counternarcotics and Justice Reform in Afghanistan, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, and Chief of Staff of the U.S. mission to the United Nations, will be a better guide.

In the essay, Schweich, painted a rather interesting perspective of interagency failings in Europe, Afghanistan and the US based on first-hand experience.

However, what is peculiar to Nigeria is a situation where senior officials of these critical agencies constitutionally responsible for protecting us would not only openly trade blames and damaging accusations, but would indeed seek to discredit one another in the media in a bid to score cheap advantage.

Globally, security experts and political scientists have long been concerned about the tension between institutional fragmentation and policy coordination in and among security agencies of many countries.

Read Also:

  • Senator Ireti Kingibe Defects from Labour Party, Joins ADC
  • Lakurawa kills 3 police operatives in Kebbi
  • Niger Police Confirm Arrest of 22 Illegal Miners After Violent Clash

Cut to the bone, this situation translates essentially to the challenges of inter-agency co-ordination. To be blunt, much of this challenge stems from inter-agency non-cooperation.

Like other well-meaning organisations, and individuals, the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Gen. Lucky Irabor, has also fingered rivalry among security agencies in the country as the cause of unabated insecurity in the country.

The CDS, who spoke at a summit organised by the Defence Headquarters (DHQ) for government security agencies, tagged: “Strengthening inter-agency co-operation for sustainable national security,” said the DHQ, in conjunction with the services and other security agencies, had been involved in several internal security operations, which are ongoing virtually in all the geo-political zones of the country.

According to him, the operations are aimed at combating contemporary security challenges, such as insurgency, armed banditry, kidnapping, cattle rustling, farmer/herder conflicts, ethno-religious conflicts, secessionist agitations, oil theft and pipeline vandalism, among others.

There is need to point out that at the pace at which the campaign of violence and deaths is spreading across some states in the North has exposed the gap in the relationship among the various agencies.

Events in recent years, have shown that there is an urgent need to fix that gap. The absence of effective interagency cooperation has not only led to the death of hundreds of civilians in the hands of armed bandits, it has also claimed lives of scores of military, intelligence, immigration, customs, police and prisons service personnel.

This shows that it is not only in the interest of the nation that an enhanced interagency cooperation is needed, but also in the interest of each of these agencies and their operatives.

“From the NIA, which monitors issues of national security from outside the shores of Nigeria; the SSS which is saddled with gathering intelligence internally; the military which is tasked with protecting the territorial integrity of our nation and assisting in maintaining internal peace when needed; the police tasked with the responsibility of detection and prevention of crime; the Customs charged with preventing the flow of contraband, illegal arms and ammunition across our border posts; the immigration whose responsibility it is to ensure that suspected terrorists do not cross into our territory; the prisons mandated to ensure that detained suspects do not escape and convicted terrorists serve their terms; the FRSC that quickly indentify unmarked vehicles which may have been rigged with explosives; to the civil defence corps whose operatives quickly pass information to the appropriate agencies when unusual things are noticed around the country, the importance of enhancing interagency cooperation cannot be overemphasized,” this was the submission of Mr. Olusegun Adeniyi, a former presidential spokesperson, at a lecture event, with the subject matter of this piece as the theme.

But as for this writer: “Inter-agency coordination can only be effective in an environment where each agency’s responsibilities are clarified; modalities for the sharing of information are provided and the operational guidelines that would ensure the realisation of the stated objectives are clearly defined.”

Mahmud Abdulsalam is Assistant Editor PRNigeria

VISIT OUR OTHER WEBSITES
PRNigeria.com EconomicConfidential.com PRNigeria.com/Hausa/
EmergencyDigest.com PoliticsDigest.ng TechDigest.ng
HealthDigest.ng SpokesPersonsdigest.com TeensDigest.ng
ArewaAgenda.com Hausa.ArewaAgenda.com YAShuaib.com
  • TAGS
  • CDS
  • General Lucky Irabor
  • Security
Previous articleCensorship: Cable Operators, Media Giants Block Russian News Channels over War in Ukraine
Next articleWar Room: Nigerian Army Commissions Ultra Modern Operations Centre
Abdulsalam Mahmud
Abdulsalam Mahmud

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

Bandit banditry

Lakurawa kills 3 police operatives in Kebbi

Police Officer

Niger Police Confirm Arrest of 22 Illegal Miners After Violent Clash

FG Secures 44 New Convictions in Terrorism Financing Trial

Troops Nab Three Gunrunners, Recover AK-47 Rifles, Ammo in Kaduna

Board Approves Promotion of 95 Senior Officers in Immigration, Civil Defence, Fire, Correctional Services

Officers of NSCDC Mining Marshals

Alake’s Verdict on Mining Marshals By Abdullahi O Haruna Haruspice

CBN

The Facts About Nigeria’s Debts Burden Under Tinubu’s Watch By Zekeri Idakwo Laruba

Defence Minister Abubakar Badaru

Nigeria’s Future Rests on Smart Defence Management — Badaru to Military Leaders

Customs boss, CGC Bashir Adewale Adeniyi with NAFDAC DG Professor Moji Adeyeye

Customs Hands Over 99.2bn Worth of Illicit Pharmaceutical Products to NAFDAC

Troops Intercept 3 Gunrunners, Seize Weapons, Cash in Kaduna

Military Troops

Troops Bust IPOB/ESN Logistics Network, Arrest Informants in Southeast — DHQ

Soludo and Radda’s Candid Confessions on Homegrown Terror By Tahir Ahmad

Recent Posts

  • Senator Ireti Kingibe Defects from Labour Party, Joins ADC
  • Lakurawa kills 3 police operatives in Kebbi
  • Niger Police Confirm Arrest of 22 Illegal Miners After Violent Clash
  • FG Secures 44 New Convictions in Terrorism Financing Trial
  • Troops Nab Three Gunrunners, Recover AK-47 Rifles, Ammo in Kaduna
  • Home
  • About
  • Adverts
  • Contact
© 2020 PRNigeria. All Rights Reserved.
Latest News
Senator Ireti Kingibe Defects from Labour Party, Joins ADCLakurawa kills 3 police operatives in KebbiNiger Police Confirm Arrest of 22 Illegal Miners After Violent ClashFG Secures 44 New Convictions in Terrorism Financing TrialTroops Nab Three Gunrunners, Recover AK-47 Rifles, Ammo in KadunaBoard Approves Promotion of 95 Senior Officers in Immigration, Civil Defence, Fire, Correctional ServicesAlake's Verdict on Mining Marshals By Abdullahi O Haruna HaruspiceThe Facts About Nigeria’s Debts Burden Under Tinubu’s Watch By Zekeri Idakwo LarubaGovernor Yusuf of Kano Wins Top Infrastructure Award at London’s 15th African Achievers EventLocal Government Autonomy Not Negotiable — FG DeclaresNigeria’s Future Rests on Smart Defence Management — Badaru to Military LeadersCustoms Hands Over 99.2bn Worth of Illicit Pharmaceutical Products to NAFDACTroops Intercept 3 Gunrunners, Seize Weapons, Cash in KadunaTroops Bust IPOB/ESN Logistics Network, Arrest Informants in Southeast — DHQSoludo and Radda’s Candid Confessions on Homegrown Terror By Tahir Ahmad
X whatsapp