DESPERATE TIMES DEMAND EXTRAORDINARY MEASURES.
Why Nigeria Must Consider Every Available Option to Defeat Terrorism, Banditry and Kidnapping.
An Oblong Media Global Intelligence Strategic Analysis.
Dear Mr. President,
Dear Governors,
Dear Members of the National Assembly,
Dear Security Chiefs,
History teaches a simple lesson.
When conventional solutions repeatedly fail, extraordinary circumstances demand extraordinary responses.
Nigeria today stands at such a crossroads.
Across the country, citizens are being kidnapped from highways, farms, schools, churches, markets, universities, and even from the safety of their homes. Entire communities have been displaced. Thousands have lost their lives. Millions live in fear. Farmers abandon fertile lands. Businesses relocate. Investors stay away. Families sell their possessions, borrow heavily, and plunge into debt simply to pay ransoms for loved ones.
The economic cost is enormous.
The psychological cost is even worse.
Nigeria is gradually becoming a nation where fear is replacing freedom.
Yet despite annual security budgets running into trillions of naira, insecurity continues to spread.
The question many Nigerians are now asking is simple:
What exactly is being done differently from five years ago?
If the current strategy is not producing the desired results, why is the government reluctant to explore alternative approaches?
The Uncomfortable Truth
Whether we like it or not, public confidence in parts of Nigeria’s security architecture has declined significantly.
Many Nigerians openly question why insecurity continues to worsen despite increasing defence allocations.
There are recurring reports of intelligence failures.
There have been reports over the years of missing military equipment and weapons.
There have been allegations of compromised operations.
There have been persistent public suspicions regarding collusion between criminal elements and individuals within security structures.
While many patriotic officers and soldiers continue to make enormous sacrifices, often paying with their lives, the wider system is increasingly viewed as suffering from institutional weaknesses accumulated over decades.
No nation can defeat terrorism when corruption weakens operational effectiveness.
No nation can defeat kidnapping when criminal networks consistently appear one step ahead of law enforcement.
No nation can win a security war when accountability becomes optional.
This Is Not The Army That Led ECOMOG
Many Nigerians remember a different era.
An era when Nigeria possessed one of Africa’s most respected military establishments.
The Nigerian military that spearheaded ECOMOG operations in Liberia and Sierra Leone projected power far beyond our borders.
That military helped stabilize nations.
That military commanded respect across Africa.
The issue today is not the courage of Nigerian soldiers.
Our troops continue to demonstrate bravery under extremely difficult circumstances.
The issue is whether decades of political interference, corruption, poor procurement processes, inadequate welfare, weak accountability, and institutional neglect have diminished operational effectiveness.
Many Nigerians believe they have.
The result is a security architecture struggling against decentralized terrorist cells, sophisticated kidnapping syndicates, bandit groups, arms traffickers, and criminal networks that have become increasingly adaptive and resilient.
The Jonathan Precedent
Many Nigerians have forgotten an important chapter in our recent history.
During the height of the Boko Haram insurgency in 2014 and 2015, President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration reportedly engaged foreign military specialists and private security contractors to assist Nigerian forces.
The results were noticeable.
Several local government areas previously occupied by insurgents were reclaimed.
Insurgent strongholds were dismantled.
Territories once considered lost were recovered.
Whether one agrees with the policy or not, it demonstrated an important principle:
Results matter.
When citizens are dying daily, effectiveness must take precedence over pride.
Is It Time To Consider Extraordinary Measures Again?
Nobody is suggesting replacing the Nigerian Armed Forces.
Nobody is suggesting surrendering sovereignty.
Nobody is suggesting abandoning our security institutions.
However, Nigerians are entitled to ask a legitimate question:
Why should the government not consider hiring highly specialized international counter-terrorism contractors under strict Nigerian oversight to target specific terrorist, bandit, and kidnapping networks?
Why should Nigeria not employ the best available expertise to dismantle criminal enterprises that have turned human suffering into a profitable business model?
Such specialists could:
Track and eliminate high-value terrorist commanders.
Disrupt kidnapping syndicates.
Penetrate criminal intelligence networks.
Trace ransom financing channels.
Train elite Nigerian units.
Introduce advanced surveillance capabilities.
Conduct highly specialized operations against hardened targets.
The Nigerian state would remain fully in charge.
The Nigerian military would retain command authority.
National sovereignty would remain intact.
The objective would be simple:
Accelerate victory.
The Resistance To Change Problem
If Nigeria were to seriously consider such measures, resistance would inevitably emerge from certain quarters.
Not necessarily because powers are being usurped.
Not necessarily because sovereignty is threatened.
But because successful external intervention would expose uncomfortable realities.
It would raise difficult questions.
Questions about previous strategies.
Questions about procurement.
Questions about intelligence failures.
Questions about accountability.
Questions about why so much money has produced so little progress.
A highly successful external operation would inevitably amount to an admission that existing approaches have not delivered the desired outcomes.
No bureaucracy anywhere in the world welcomes such scrutiny.
Yet nations do not survive by protecting institutional reputations.
They survive by solving problems.
The Economics Of Insecurity
The economic damage caused by insecurity is staggering.
Farmers cannot farm.
Transporters pay protection fees.
Businesses spend billions securing themselves.
Food inflation rises partly because agricultural production is disrupted.
Foreign direct investment suffers.
Tourism remains virtually non-existent.
Entire local economies have collapsed under the weight of insecurity.
If insecurity is costing Nigeria tens of billions of dollars annually in lost productivity, lost investment, reduced agricultural output, and ransom payments, then the argument that extraordinary security measures are too expensive becomes difficult to sustain.
The greater cost is inaction.
The President’s Real War
Mr. President, your greatest challenge may not actually be the terrorists, bandits, or kidnappers.
Your greatest challenge may be reforming the institutions required to defeat them.
How do you modernize security agencies that many citizens believe have become politicized?
How do you restore public trust?
How do you eliminate intelligence leaks?
How do you ensure that procurement budgets translate into operational capability?
How do you guarantee that frontline personnel are equipped with modern technology rather than outdated systems?
How do you transform security agencies from reactive organizations into proactive ones?
These questions define your presidency.
Because what Nigeria faces today is not merely a security challenge.
It is a national emergency.
A Nigerian Special Operations Command
Several years ago, I proposed the establishment of a Special Operations Command.
An elite force modeled on the operational philosophies of units such as the SAS, Delta Force, and other world-class special mission formations.
Such a command would not replace the Army, Police, DSS, Navy, Air Force, or Civil Defence.
Instead, it would focus exclusively on:
Counter-terrorism.
Hostage rescue.
Anti-kidnapping operations.
Intelligence-driven interdictions.
High-value target missions.
Strategic counter-insurgency operations.
Its personnel would undergo rigorous selection.
Its training would meet global standards.
Its equipment would be world-class.
Its mandate would be singular:
Find the perpetrators.
Rescue the victims.
Dismantle the networks.
Neutralize the threats.
And do so quietly, professionally, and decisively.
The Danger Of Self-Help
Perhaps the greatest danger facing Nigeria is not terrorism itself.
The greater danger is what happens when citizens lose confidence in the state’s ability to protect them.
History shows that when governments fail to provide security, people seek alternatives.
Vigilante groups emerge.
Ethnic militias develop.
Communities arm themselves.
Citizens take the law into their own hands.
The state’s monopoly on force begins to erode.
That path is dangerous.
Nigeria must never allow itself to reach that point.
The answer is not for citizens to become soldiers.
The answer is for the state to become overwhelmingly effective.
A Second Term Must Be Earned
Mr. President,
Security is not measured by press conferences.
Security is not measured by official statements.
Security is measured by outcomes.
Can Nigerians travel safely?
Can farmers return to their farms?
Can children attend school without fear?
Can citizens move freely without worrying about becoming ransom statistics?
Can businesses operate without paying unofficial security costs?
Can communities sleep peacefully?
These are the questions that will ultimately determine how history judges this administration.
Not campaign slogans.
Not political alliances.
Not propaganda.
Results.
Final Thoughts
Some argue that insecurity is part of a deliberate strategy to keep Nigerians fearful and controlled.
I disagree.
The evidence points more convincingly to systemic failure, institutional weaknesses, poor coordination, inadequate reforms, corruption, and a lack of urgency proportional to the threat.
Whatever the cause, Nigerians are reaching their limits.
The people are tired.
The people are frustrated.
The people want solutions.
They want leadership.
They want courage.
Most importantly, they want their freedom back.
History remembers leaders who solved problems.
History rarely remembers leaders who defended procedures while their citizens suffered.
The first responsibility of government is the protection of life and property.
Everything else is secondary.
The time for incrementalism has passed.
The time for excuses has passed.
The time for extraordinary action has arrived.
Hon. Chima Nnadi-Oforgu
Duruebube Uzii na AbosiFounder, Oblong Media Unlimited
Political Analyst,
Strategic Affairs Commentator &
Public Policy Advocate
Founder, Oblong Media Unlimited
Political Analyst,
Strategic Affairs Commentator &
Public Policy Advocate
http://www.oblongmedia.net
oblongmedialtd@gmail.com
+234 8072313955
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