Ishola Williams critiques national interest claims

By Abdulkabir Muhammed

A former chief in the Nigerian Army, Gen. Ishola Williams (retd), has denounced the concepts of national interest and national security in the international system, arguing that such ideas do not exist.

Speaking at a Strategic Foresight Programme held by the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA) on Wednesday, September 17, 2025, the army chief criticised the concept of national security, arguing that it is the second of three deceitful concepts used in international relations after national interest and sovereignty.

In his lecture titled “National Safety System with Regional Cooperative Safety System for National Stability”, the army chief argued that national security and national interest are products of an individual’s selfish interest.

Citing the African case, Gen. Williams argued that a country’s leader imposes his agenda on the masses and describes it as national interest.

“Human beings are selfish. Political leaders are selfish. So, when you raise that selfishness up to political and national levels, it becomes national interest because national interest is national selfishness.

“But the funny thing is that, if a Nigerian president comes and says that he is fighting for national interest, when did he hold a referendum to say that he’s representing the Yoruba interest, Edo interest, Igbo interest, or all the states’ interests?”

Gen. Williams, who is the current Executive President of the Pan African Strategic and Policy Research Group (PANAFSTRAG), also debunked the African Union’s collective security apparatus which, according to him, would always be undermined by the sovereignty factor. He criticised African leaders for allocating huge budgets to national security while terrorism and insurgency bedevil the continent.

According to him, this “shows that we as a people do not think. When you look at the Nigerian Air Force, for example, the weapons platforms that they have are worth trillions of naira. Who are they fighting with those weapons platforms? Boko Haram, bandits, and criminals? It’s like a big sledgehammer running after mosquitoes.”