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From Noah Ebije, Kaduna
A lecturer and intelligence expert at the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA), Abdullahi Bello, has warned that Nigeria could face deeper communal instability if the country fails to strengthen collaboration between the government and security agencies on one hand and communities on the other.
Bello, who is of the Department of Intelligence and Security Science, Faculty of Military Science and Interdisciplinary Studies, NDA, Kaduna, spoke at the 2026 North West Conference on Community Security Management and Crime Prevention, organised by the Institute of Security and Strategic Studies.
The conference, which focused on the theme, “Strengthening Community Security Partnership for Sustainable Peace, Crime Prevention and Good Governance in North West Nigeria,” brought together stakeholders to examine the region’s worsening security challenges and possible solutions.
Bello said the growing convergence of banditry, terrorism and other criminal activities was placing enormous pressure on Nigeria’s conventional security and intelligence architecture.
“The convergence of banditry and ideological insurgency across North-Western Nigeria and other parts of the country has decisively outpaced the intelligence generation capacity of conventional military and standard security forces,” he said.
According to him, tackling the crisis requires a deliberate partnership between the government, citizens and security agencies, arguing that none of the three can effectively prevent crime in isolation.
“Crime prevention is nothing but a combined effort of the citizens. When I say the citizens, I mean the people in governance, the people, and the security forces. Without this synergy, crime prevention is impossible,” Bello said.
Bello said his comparative study examined security models adopted by countries including Rwanda, Kenya, Colombia, South Africa and India, with the objective of identifying approaches that could be adapted to Nigeria.
He cited Kenya’s Nyumba Kumi community-security initiative as an example of community-level intelligence gathering, describing it as a mechanism capable of connecting residents with security authorities.
The lecturer also referred to Rwanda’s experience following the 1994 genocide, stressing the danger posed by ethnic polarisation and the importance of social integration.
He argued that Nigeria’s history of intermarriage and cultural interaction makes attempts to draw rigid ethnic boundaries particularly dangerous.
Bello illustrated his argument with the example of former Senate President Bukola Saraki, whom he described as embodying the complex mixture of ethnic identities found across Nigeria.
“I’ve never seen a Hausa man or Fulani man who tells me he can castrate the mixture, this amalgamated blood in him or her,” he said.
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Bello warned that ethnic-based security initiatives could worsen tensions if they were perceived as mechanisms for one group to target another.
“If other tribes brace up their own security forces and attack other tribes, there will be no Nigeria,” he cautioned, adding, “We are on our way to Rwanda.”
The NDA lecturer said Nigeria should learn from Rwanda’s experience before ethnic and communal divisions become even more entrenched.
Bello said South Africa’s community intelligence mechanisms offer lessons for Nigeria, particularly in connecting police stations, communities and other security structures.
He similarly cited India’s Kerala model and Colombia’s security response to drug-related violence as examples of how intelligence networks can be developed to address local security threats.
Bello also examined Nigeria’s regional security initiatives, including the South-West’s Amotekun security outfit. He argued that while Amotekun was created to respond to local security threats, greater emphasis should be placed on preventing attacks before they occur.
As part of his proposed solution, Bello advocated what he described as a “triple system” for North-West Nigeria.
He said the proposed framework would bring together intelligence and security institutions, political leadership and traditional authorities in a coordinated structure capable of collecting, analysing and sharing information.
He said the current security architecture suffers from deficiencies in intelligence capacity, collaboration and coordination.
“The gap is that of intelligence and capacity, synergy and collaboration,” Bello said.
Bello further linked the rise of banditry and terrorism to what he described as the weakening of family and community values, particularly in parts of northern Nigeria.
He said his interactions with arrested criminals had reinforced his belief that social and family breakdown should be treated as part of the country’s security problem.
Bello called for stronger leadership and greater professionalism within the country’s security architecture.
He said the scale of the North-West’s security challenges required leaders capable of coordinating intelligence, military operations, traditional institutions and communities.
