Nigeria’s Secret Security Strategy

The current situation in Nigeria tends to place it on the pathway of countries like the former Soviet Union, India, Malaysia and perhaps even more closely with the former Yugoslavia. These countries were large federations that became dismembered because they could no longer manage their deep divisions. Agitation for separate statehood in the South-East and the suspicion that agitators are attacking every symbol of the Nigerian state in the region led the Federal Government to adopt a secret security strategy. Keeping the strategy secret may be to avoid pre-emptive measures from those who breach national security. However, there are apprehensions regarding the secrecy of the security strategy.

These apprehensions connect with claims of consistent exclusion of the South-East by the current Buhari regime in important policy sectors, including security decision-making. The second source of anxieties of South-Easterners is the comments of high-level Nigerian state actors that are considered harsh and anti-Igbo. Thirdly, human rights abuse and claims of extrajudicial killings by security personnel that respond to the conflicts in the region are seen to be the manifestation of that security strategy.

In this edition of the Nextier SPD Policy Weekly, the dangers of the secret security strategy in the South-East is examined in light of speeches and actions of state agents.