“The security intelligence empowerment program will be presented in the 36 six states of the Federation as well as in the Federal Capital territory, Abuja. It is estimated that approximately 1.7 million people will be empowered in each of the 36 states including the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
In selecting participants in different states, preference will be given to the literate population who can communicate in English Language as well as translate the program to illiterate population in their local dialects. Nominees will include public servants, staff and students in the Federal and States tertiary educational institutions, teaching and lite”
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AN ADDRESS PRESENTED BY THE REGISTRAR/CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF THE INSTITUTE OF MANPOWER DEVELOPMENT AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS (DR. KNOWLEDGE CHIJIOKE AHUCHAOGU) DURING A MEDIA CONFERENCE HELD IN LAGOS ON 24 July, 2025.
Participants at the media conference
With heart filled with joy and gratitude to God Almighty, I welcome you all, Media Professionals to this conference organized exclusively for media organizations in Nigeria. Speaking to you this afternoon is Dr. Knowledge Chijioke Ahuchaogu, The Registrar/Chief Executive with The Institute of Manpower Development and Industrial Relations of Nigeria..
About the Institute:
The Institute of Manpower Development and Industrial Relations is a Transect- oral body of professionals based in Nigeria. The Institute is duly registered with Corporate Affairs Commission, Abuja as a Corporate body since 2001 with specialty in organizing training courses, workshops, seminars and conferences in Nigeria and Abroad. For the period of its operations in Nigeria, the Institute has empowered more than 20000 Nigerian workers in the public and private sectors organizations with performance competencies through her training services.
The Institute is also a Professional Membership organization that currently boasts of above five thousand professional members that cuts across all career disciplines in the membership data base. The members fall into different membership categories such as Associates, Full Professional Members, Fellows, Affiliate Members, Graduate members and students members respectively.
The Institute regularly consults for different federal and States Government Ministries, Departments, Agencies and parastatals in Nigeria such as Bureau of Public Service Reforms, Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget office of the Federation, Osun State Agency for Community and Social Development Projects, NEXIM Bank, different universities, polytechnics and colleges of education in Nigeria in its training services.
Media Conference Theme:
The subject matter of this Press Conference is PARADIGM SHIFT IN THE NIGERIA SECURITY LANDSCAPE And THE IMPERATIVES OF SECURITY INTELLIGENCE COMPETENCIES FOR ALL NIGERIAN CIVILIANS:
During the administration of Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, a time came when news filtered into the country that Nigeria has been classified amongst the terrorists’ nations of the world by the United Nations. This news did not go down well with Nigerians including my humble self. The United Nations was widely criticized as being bias in the decision to include Nigeria in the list of terrorists’ nations in the world. In fact the National Assembly at that time openly rejected the decision of the United Nations.
Today, the reality of this decision is staring all of us on our faces as fellow innocent Nigerian Citizens are being slaughtered like cows and goats in different states of the Nigerian Federation. An average Nigerian Citizen currently lives in fear in the father’s land and movements to the nooks and corners of our hitherto relatively peaceful and secured nation has become highly restricted. The International Community has classified many states in Nigeria in the North East, South East, North Central geopolitical zones such as Borno State, Yobe State, Zamfara State, Adamawa State, Benue state, Plateau State, Kaduna State, Katsina State, Sokoto State, Enugu state, Imo State, Anambra State,…etc as dangers zones as well as warned their foreign nationals resident in Nigeria against visiting those states.
In Nigeria, many homes have been invaded by terrorists and family members abducted. Many churches and mosques have been invaded and worshippers abducted, or butchered and sent to untimely graves. Many educational institutions have been invaded and innocent students abducted. Many transport buses in transit have been invaded and commuters kidnapped. Communities in different states of Nigerian Federation are regularly being invaded and community members abducted and massacred in tents and hundreds on daily basis.
The Nigerian Defense Academy, Kaduna was invaded by bandits few years ago and trained soldiers on duty kidnapped. Different Army Camps especially in the North Eastern States of Nigeria have been invaded and overrun by terrorists courtesy of espionage;. Many soldiers have already paid the supreme price, while expensive military ammunitions worth millions of Dollars were carted away by terrorists.
Police stations in some states of the Federation have been attacked and overrun by terrorists, and many policemen on duty killed and police stations and or police vehicles set on fire by the terrorists.
Some correctional Centers in Nigeria have been attacked by terrorists and inmates set freed.
Many families have been wiped out completely during terrorists’ attacks, while many families and communities especially in the North Eastern states have been displaced from their homes and communities for years and currently pitch their tents with IDP Camps located in different states of the Federation.
Some army generals , traditional rulers, and prominent legislators have been targeted, kidnapped and killed by terrorists in different states of Nigeria .
Today, in Nigeria, the Price of food items has hit the ceiling because farmers are now afraid to visit and work in their farms as many of them are regularly being abducted and or massacred in their farms by herdsmen. Recall the incident of rice farmers in Borno State that were given mass burial few year ago. More of such incidents are ongoing in different states of Nigeria.
Today, Our National Security Architecture seems to have been terribly overwhelmed as military response to terrorists attacks are no longer as swift as it used to be. Reason being that we currently have different terrorists groups attacking simultaneously under different names in different states of the Federation such as Boko Haram, ISWAP, BANDITS, UNKOWN GUNMEN, RITUAL KILLERS, KIDNAPPERS, FULANI HERDSMEN, ONE CHANCE, ETC Armed robbery gangs that hitherto used to terrorize the nation during the relatively peaceful period are no longer noticed as their activities are considered child play compared with ongoing attacks from multifaceted terrorists groups.
Today, Citizens in Lafia, Nasarawa state are living in deep fear as terrorists now boldly visit homes at midnight, abduct family members, march them into tens of miles inside thick forests and start making demands for tens and hundreds of millions of Naira ransom payments. Some kidnapped victims are killed even after collecting ransom from families.
Today, there is massive exodus of Nigerian citizens popularly referred as JAPA Syndrome to foreign countries due to the rising insecurity in the Country. Many Multinational Corporations that hitherto had offices in Nigeria have relocated their offices to nearby West African Countries due to rising security Concerns in the country.
Over the past years, as the annual national budget allocation to the defense sector for security keeps rising, the wave of insecurity in the country has continued to rise with higher percentages in the same direction rather than changing in opposite directions.
There is no day that comes and goes today without an awful news of massacre of Nigerian citizens in one state of the Federation or another. The wave of terrorism is currently rising geometrically with no end in sight. The global terrorism index in 2025 ranks Nigeria in the 6th Position against the hitherto 8th position ranking in 2024. This shows that Nigeria currently accounts for 6 percent of fatalities arising from terrorism in the world.
The Shift in Nigeria Security Paradigm.
The Security landscape in Nigeria has passed through two different Periods viz.
Period of Relative Security
Period of Absolute Insecurity.
Period of Relative Security.
From the cessation of Nigerian Civil War in 1970 – 2010, Nigeria had a relative security landscape. Granted that no country in the world has an absolute security landscape. In other words, no country is 100 percent devoid of security threat.
During the period of relative security in Nigeria, Nigerian security landscape was mildly terrorized merely by armed robbery gangs and different cultists groups. Nigeria could boast of excess National Security Capacity that she was actively involved in peace keeping missions especially in the West African Sub Region. Recall the contributions of the Nigeria Military during The ECOMOG Peace keeping mission in Liberia . In fact, Nigeria military was a formidable force to reckon with in peace keeping missions in the whole continent of Africa. Response from Nigeria military to any security threat in Nigeria was very swift and most rapid than ever. Nigerians had absolute trust and confidence on the capacity of the military to protect lives and properties and secure the national and international territories of our dear country. An Average Nigerian was absolutely oriented and dependent on the military force for security. There was no involvement of hunters and local armed security vigilante groups in the security operations of our dear nation. There was no need for community policing services in the protection of lives and properties at the grass root levels as obtains today in many communities in the different states in Nigeria. Nigerians were not dwelling in fears as experienced today and movement to nooks and corners of the country was never restricted. There was no delineation of any state in Nigeria as danger zone by the International Community. Foreign expatriates and multinational corporations worked and functioned freely and everywhere in Nigeria. The JAPA Syndrome currently experienced in Nigeria was minimal and mainly for economic reasons and not necessarily because of insecurity. Nigerians slept and snored with two eyes closed.
Nigerian Civilians had no need for Security Intelligence Competencies under the relative security environment because the present day pressure on the countries security architecture was nonexistent. Besides our country had excess security capacity to boast off. Therefore the security intelligence capacity of the Nigerian military was more than enough to protect and secure lives and properties in the whole country.
Absolute Insecurity Landscape
The present day security posture shows a fundamental change in the security landscape of our dear country Nigeria for more than one decade now from relative security landscape to a landscape of absolute insecurity.
The present day state of absolute insecurity is characterized by wholesale terrorists’ offensive against the nation and also a period of war against terrorism by the government through the national security forces. There is no single day that passes in Nigeria today without one awful news of terrorists’ attacks or military offensive and counter offensive that has resulted into death of terrorists and soldiers, including helpless Nigerian citizens in one state of the federation or the other.
War against terrorism is almost similar but more devastating and brutal than National war. It is more devastating in the sense that unlike in the case of nations at war that know the locations of their enemies and are focused in their security plans and strategies, attacks with precision at military targets (aimed at crippling the military strengths of the enemies), war against terrorism is a war against faceless enemies. Most times, terrorists are sponsored by International Terrorists Groups or by well to do national terrorists organizations and even individuals for selfish reasons. Terrorists groups operate to achieve the biddings and motives of their sponsors.
Terrorists do not have known official operational bases. They operate from thick forests that are always difficult to locate by the people and or military forces for revenge mission unless with actionable intelligence.
Terrorists’ primary targets of attacks are on citizens of a nation. Non the less, sometimes they ambush the military forces on revenge missions and confiscation of military war ammunitions. Sometimes terrorists try to buy their way into the military ranks and files for the purpose of obtaining intelligence required for proactive or defensive counter terrorism (espionage).
While Countries at war know where to go for peace negotiation and cease fire agreement, terrorists groups rarely succumb to proposals or invitations from the government for face to face negotiations and peaceful conflict resolutions.
Some state governments in Nigeria such as Katsina state failed woefully as most of the terrorists that promised to be law abiding after negotiations and contract of peace suddenly reneged their promises and went back to their terrorists hideouts..
Another case in sight is the Amnesty program of the federal government that involves de-radicalization and reintegration of terrorists into the Nigerian Society, it is observed that some of the terrorists return to their terrorists activities after such programs. In one of the exit programs, some purportedly de-radicalized terrorists were openly voicing their concern to the government officials that they prefer to go back to their terrorist groups because they cannot cope with the meagre amount of money given to them to start live anew and set up personal businesses .
The Security Intelligence Imperatives:
Helpless Nigerian civilians have been dying in hundreds of thousands every year from terrorists attacks while those that are lucky to be alive have their lives and properties daily endangered by terrorists attacks in different states of Nigeria.
There is apparently zero resistance from Nigerian Civilians to terrorists’ attacks. Even when a particular terrorists group officially informs a typical Nigerian Community that they should expect their raid or attack on a particular week or even day, the community members will only get confused. The best they can do is to get the military forces informed of the terrorists threat. The terrorists have continued to attack with impunity and raid families and communities without any resistance. The reason being that an average Nigerian Civilian unlike civilians in the developed nations of the world has zero competence for security intelligence operations.
In the developed nations of the world, security is the responsibility of all citizens and such is the case in any terrorized developing countries of the world, without which the government war against terrorism becomes impossible to win. Citizens would of necessity understand and actively play their own roles while the military forces also play their active roles as well.
For citizens from the Nigerian security background to understand and play their roles, including self-defense, they must have developed capacity for security intelligence operations. This is considered very necessary especially as Nigerian Civilians have no legal right to carry arms for self-defense.
In the nation of Israel, an average youth is a trained Intelligence officer with developed capacity to bear arms and face national wars. This is made possible because security intelligence is part of the educational curriculum right from primary schools in Israel. By the time an average Israeli child completes secondary education, he/she is already an advanced Security Professional.
This explains why the nation of Israel is formidable in national security and defense and have continued to overwhelm other countries in the Middle East despite their smallness in population and geographical landscape.
With developed security intelligence capacity, an average Nigerian citizen will become security aware, alert and sensitive.
With developed capacity for security intelligence, an average Nigerian will develop the right security attitude and orientations required to survive in a terrorized security landscape.
With developed security intelligence capacity, a civilian will appreciate the security precautionary measures required to overcome terrorists’ attacks as well as weather security related storms in a terrorized nation such as Nigeria.
With security intelligence competencies, an average civilian will develop the essential physical and human surveillance skills required to gather actionable intelligence as well as disseminate intelligence through a security network.
With enhanced security intelligence capacity, an average Nigerian Civilian will appreciate the various dimensions and framework of security intelligence and security intelligence operations.
With security Intelligence competencies, an average civilian will become professional in handling intelligence.
With security Intelligence competencies, an average Nigerian Civilian will appreciate their roles expected of them in community policing as well as contribute actively towards the counter terrorism strategies of the Federal Government of Nigeria.
SECURITY INTELLIGENCE EMPOWERMENT: A LIFE SAVER FOR NIGERIAN CITIZENS IN OUR TERRORIZED SECURITY LANDSCAPE
Since the Nigerian citizens are not legally authorized to carry arms for self defense as obtains in the developed countries of the world, a lifesaving solution is to empower us with security intelligence capacity to support the Military forces in the ongoing war against terrorism.
To this end, the Governing Council of Nigerian Institute of Manpower Development and Industrial Relations, during a recent council meeting held in Lagos passed a resolution that the Institute being the only organizations in Nigeria today that have the manpower, curriculum and template to develop capacities for security intelligence operations, should seek for sponsorship from individuals and organizations in Nigeria as well as collaborate with Federal and States Government Institutions in Nigeria for the purpose of empowering the Nigerian Civilians with Security Intelligence Competencies required to protect themselves and their properties, whilst also supporting the Federal Government counter terrorism Strategies.
It is observed that majority of civilians in Nigeria will be willing to attend the empowerment program but unable to fund their participation themselves due to the prevailing economic hardship.
Consequently, the Institute has sent empowerment partnership proposals to all the states governments in Nigeria as well as to prominent Nigerian entrepreneurs and organizations for corporate sponsorships.
The Institute targets to empower a minimum of 1.7 million literate Civilians in every state of the Federation and 60 million Nigerian Literate Civilians in the 36 states of the federation and the federal Capital territory, Abuja with essential competencies for Security Intelligence Operations with effect from September, 2025 to July,2026.
Target Audience:
The training is specially designed for Literate Nigerian civilians such as Federal and States public servants, staff and students of tertiary educational institutions, teaching and non-teaching staff of secondary school, Serving NYSC Members, youths in the local and urban communities, business men and traders in the organized national and international markets, and all Nigerian Civilians that appreciates the urgent need to develop their security intelligence capacities required to survive the ongoing terrorists attacks in Nigeria.
Program Structure:
The security intelligence empowerment program will be presented in the 36 six states of the Federation as well as in the Federal Capital territory, Abuja. It is estimated that approximately 1.7 million people will be empowered in each of the 36 states including the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
In selecting participants in different states, preference will be given to the literate population who can communicate in English Language as well as translate the program to illiterate population in their local dialects. Nominees will include public servants, staff and students in the Federal and States tertiary educational institutions, teaching and lite
