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From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
President Bola Tinubu has directed the immediate preparation of a comprehensive National Threat Assessment and a rolling five-year Strategic Defence Operations Plan aimed at strengthening coordination among Nigeria’s defence, intelligence and security agencies.
He gave the directive on Wednesday at the Federal Executive Council meeting at the State House, Abuja, where he constituted an 11-member committee to develop the strategic framework.
The Special Adviser to the President on Homeland Security, Major General Adeyinka Famadewa, is to coordinate the committee and provide secretariat support for its work.
Other members of the committee are the National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu; Minister of Defence, General Christopher Musa; Minister of State for Defence, Bello Muhammad Matawalle; Chief of Defence Staff, General Olufemi Oluyede; Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Waidi Shaibu; Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sunday Kelvin Aneke; and Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Idi Abbas.
According to a statement issued by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, others on the committee are the Director-General of the Department of State Services, Tosin Ajayi, and the Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency, Ambassador Muhammed Muhammed.
Tinubu said the initiative was necessary to establish a coherent national framework for responding to evolving security threats and to ensure that military and security resources were deployed according to clearly defined priorities.
According to him, the framework would provide a common understanding of the threats confronting the country, the operational objectives to be achieved and the capabilities required to address them.
The President cited recent security successes, including the rescue of pupils and teachers abducted in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State, as evidence of what could be achieved through improved coordination among security and intelligence agencies.
“The operation demonstrated what can be achieved when our agencies work together with a clear objective and the necessary intelligence,” Tinubu said.
The President observed that operational requirements were often considered independently by various security agencies without sufficient reference to an agreed national threat assessment or unified medium-term strategy.
He said the absence of such a framework had made coordination more difficult and limited the efficient deployment of available resources.
Under the new arrangement, the National Threat Assessment will identify the principal threats facing the country, determine their relative urgency and establish operational objectives for addressing them.
The five-year Strategic Defence Operations Plan will then translate the threat assessment into specific operational priorities, including the forces and capabilities required in different theatres, existing capability gaps, equipment and support requirements, as well as a timetable for implementation.
The committee is authorised to consult or co-opt representatives of other ministries, departments and agencies where their participation is considered necessary.
Tinubu directed the committee to commence work immediately and submit the completed National Threat Assessment and Strategic Defence Operations Plan to him for consideration and approval within 90 days.
Once approved, the plan is expected to become the principal framework for coordinating military and defence operations over the medium term.
It will also form the basis for a corresponding multi-year defence expenditure and procurement plan, with the objective of directing resources towards agreed operational priorities and critical national security requirements.
The President further directed the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and the Office of the National Security Adviser to take all necessary steps to give immediate effect to the directives.
The development comes as the administration seeks to deepen inter-agency coordination and align Nigeria’s defence planning, intelligence gathering, operational deployment and procurement with a unified assessment of the country’s security threats.
