The Minister of Defence, retired Gen. Christopher Musa, has called for stronger international partnerships to tackle terrorism, banditry, oil theft, cybercrime and other emerging security threats.
Musa made the call on the sidelines of the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, stressing the need for a strategy involving government, communities, international partners and the private sector.
According to him, Nigeria’s security challenges have become too interconnected for any single institution or country to address alone.
“Nigeria’s security challenges are national in their impact, regional in their consequences, and increasingly international in their implications.”
He explained that while military and other security operations remained essential to protecting Nigerian citizens and the country’s territorial integrity, lasting peace and stability could not be achieved through military action alone.
Musa said Nigeria was therefore seeking practical partnerships with the United Nations, African Union, ECOWAS, bilateral partners, civil society, researchers and the private sector to strengthen its security capabilities and institutions.
He said the government was pursuing measures including the recruitment of an additional 22,000 personnel, restructuring of Army divisions, stronger subnational security arrangements, as well as proposals for state police and forest guards.
In a separate interview, retired Maj.-Gen. Adeyinka Famadewa, Special Adviser to the President on Homeland Security, said Nigeria was moving from a capability-driven to a threat-driven security strategy.
According to him, the approach would identify the country’s major threats, determine existing capability gaps and prioritise resources to address them.
“The national security strategy document, I know, is a draft review, but this is what we’re trying to do, like I said during the engagement, meant that we are moving from capability-driven to threat-driven.
“Defense is a very expensive venture. So you need to prioritize,” Famadewa said.
He explained that the process would involve developing a five-year framework for acquiring critical capabilities while strengthening Nigeria’s domestic defence production capacity.
He added that the government would review previous assumptions about security and develop new approaches to ensure the safety of Nigerians.
“We are bringing out new methods of achieving the objective of ensuring that every Nigerian is safe and Nigeria prospers,” he added.
Famadewa reiterated that the government could not guarantee national security alone and urged citizens to remain vigilant and support security agencies with useful information.
