Nigeria Unveils 5-Year Strategy to Dismantle Organised Crime Networks
Nigeria has unveiled a five-year National Strategy for Combating Organised Crime aimed at dismantling criminal networks, disrupting illicit financial flows and strengthening inter-agency cooperation in the fight against organised crime.
The strategy, covering the period from 2027 to 2031, was unveiled in Abuja on Monday by the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, who was represented by the National Coordinator of the National Counter-Terrorism Centre, Maj.-Gen. Adamu Laka.
Ribadu said the strategy provides an integrated national framework for addressing terrorism, drug trafficking, human trafficking, cybercrime, maritime crime, corruption and illicit financial flows.
He said the growing sophistication and interconnectedness of criminal networks required more than institutional capacity, stressing the need for greater coordination, intelligence sharing and collaboration across relevant sectors.
“Organised crime now operates in interconnected webs that undermine development, economic growth and public safety,” Ribadu said.
According to him, the strategy adopts a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach, with emphasis on stronger inter-agency collaboration and deeper partnerships with international organisations and law enforcement agencies.
He urged ministries, departments and agencies responsible for implementing the strategy to sustain the cooperation that facilitated its development.
“With the launch of this strategy, we are reinforcing our resolve with a clear national framework that will enable us to anticipate threats, disrupt criminal networks, strengthen institutional coordination and ensure that those who profit from organised crime are brought to justice,” he said.
Ribadu added that the success of the strategy would depend largely on the commitment, diligence and collaboration of all stakeholders.
He said the Office of the National Security Adviser would support its implementation through intelligence fusion, operational synergy and enhanced coordination, while commending the Technical Working Group for its consultations, drafting, review and validation of the document.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Country Representative in Nigeria, Cheikh Touré, described organised crime as a sophisticated ecosystem capable of exploiting institutional weaknesses and operating across national borders.
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Touré cautioned that the effectiveness of the strategy would ultimately depend on its implementation, stressing that national strategies often fail because of inadequate coordination and resources rather than weaknesses in their design.
“If there is one lesson that repeats itself in nearly every case, it is this: strategies rarely fail in the writing. They fail in coordination or resources,” he said.
He described organised crime as more than a security challenge, saying it imposes significant costs on development, investment and public confidence in institutions.
Touré urged Nigeria to increase domestic investment in law enforcement and justice institutions, noting that international assistance should complement, rather than replace, national commitment.
“The real test of this strategy will not be written in Abuja. It will be felt across communities in every part of this country by 2031,” he said.
Also speaking, the U.S. Director of the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, Tolliver Derrick, described the strategy as a significant milestone in the law enforcement partnership between Nigeria and the United States.
Derrick noted that organised crime and terrorist financing were increasingly interconnected, requiring stronger international cooperation.
He said the United States would continue to support Nigeria in strengthening its capacity to dismantle criminal networks, trace illicit financial flows and deepen cooperation with international law enforcement organisations.
“Preventing illicit financial transfers and related cybercrime are not solely American problems. They are shared problems that demand shared solutions,” Derrick said.
He added that disrupting criminal networks in Nigeria would contribute to reducing threats to both Nigerian and American communities.
The National Coordinator of the National Cybersecurity Coordination Centre under the Office of the National Security Adviser, Sa’ad Abubakar, identified effective implementation and information sharing as critical to the success of the strategy.
Abubakar commended the framework for assigning implementation responsibilities to specific government agencies, saying the clarity would help address one of the weaknesses associated with previous national strategies.
He reaffirmed the commitment of the National Cybersecurity Coordination Centre to implementing the strategy, particularly in strengthening Nigeria’s response to cybercrime.
The launch, he said, marked the beginning of a more coordinated national effort to dismantle organised criminal networks and strengthen the protection of Nigerians from emerging and evolving security threats.
By PRNigeria
