National Insecurity and the Non-Integration of Indigenous Intelligence Gathering Systems

Abstract

The question of insecurity in Nigeria today as one of the factors accounting for the underdevelopment of the country has taken the centre stage in national discourse, at the level of the government and the society in general. While the military and security forces are being over stretched in terms of their strength and capabilities, the government has remained fixated with their official policy of deploying the military and security forces to troubled areas at their own peril. Ironically, the military and security forces have evidently not been able to proactively contend with such crises, criminality and conflict. They have often lagged behind in their responses to such situations, due to inadequate intelligence. Through the qualitative-descriptive method, with data from secondary and tertiary sources, the paper discusses the lacuna in the intelligence gathering system of the Nigerian armed forces and security services which has been constraining them from effectively securing the country. The paper argues that the top-down approach to such situations of crisis, criminality and conflict by the Nigerian armed forces and security services is what has been responsible for their ineptitude. The paper recommends that a bottom-up approach should be the norm in intelligence gathering in the various situations of crises, criminality and conflict, this is because the secret information from the internal forces, feelers and agents in such situations of crises, criminality and conflict is the critical factor in intelligence gathering.