Insecurity: More partnerships, yet more killings – where is the result? Nigerians ask FG

Since the beginning of the fight against insecurity in Nigeria, the airstrikes on December 26, 2025, on two terrorists’ hideouts in Bauni forest in Tangaza area of Sokoto State, near the Niger border, by the United States of America military, has been the most phenomenal and impactful, many people confessed.

Sadly, while Nigerians look forward to more of such powerful and deadly Tomahawk missiles strikes from the US Navy destroyer and other military offensives against non-state actors across the country, that hope seems dashed as no strike has happened and may likely not happen with the look of things.

The concerned citizens hinged their fears on the fact that the terrorists seem more embolden since the December strikes, ravaging more communities, abducting for incredibly high ransom fees, killing and daring the sovereignty of the country.

The first quarter of the year witnessed new wave of abductions and killings in the North East, North West and North Central regions, while April opened with killings too.

From the terrorist assault in Maiduguri, the killing of over 200 residents in Woro community in Kwara State, the killing of wedding guests in Kaduna State and most recently, the death of more than 30 people in Rukuba in Jos, terrorists are bolder, amid throwing up many unanswered questions on the nation’s security architecture.

“The government is not fulfilling its promises of protecting we the vulnerable. They go in bulletproof cars, their children are safe in America and London, and they will always tell us sorry and give us money when our family members die in terror attacks. How I wish things can change and they will be in our shoes and feel our pains. We don’t want the sorry, money and presidential visits again but fight and kill those who kill our people,” Joesph Bala, a father of four, who lost a family member in a terrorist attack, lamented.

Like Bala decried, also, the families of the wedding guests who were killed by terrorists in Kaduna, families of victims in Kwara, Benue, Niger, Bornu, other terrorism hotbeds and many who have used their life savings or sold properties to pay ransom for the release of their loved ones are saying the same, ‘stop the killers, stop the invaders, save lives you swore an oath to protect’.

However, what baffles many Nigerians is that insecurity is worsening despite the numerous foreign security partnerships the government has engaged in recent times, collaborations and huge funds expended and still being spent on the fight.

Apart from the Nigeria/USA security pact, which saw Nuhu Ribadu, leading a delegation to the US, Nigeria and Turkey deepened their security partnership with the signing of a Military Cooperation Protocol in January 2026 that moves beyond equipment sales to include intelligence sharing, specialized training for Nigerian special forces, and local defense production to tackle terrorism and banditry.

Earlier in October 2021, the two countries signed a Defence Industry Cooperation, which provided the legal framework for Nigeria to purchase Turkish military hardware, including Bayraktar TB2 drones, T129 ATAK helicopters, and Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPVs), hence becoming a primary alternative to Western and Eastern arms suppliers for Nigeria.

Yet again, Nigeria has engaged other international partners, including the United Kingdom and France, for support and military equipment to strengthen security operations.

During his historic visit to the United Kingdom in March, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu said that the discussions focused significantly on security cooperation and support for modern security interventions as well as a lengthy discussion with President Emmanuel Macron on security while in France.

Also, Nigeria–Chad security alliance has been deepened to intensify war against terrorism along the Lake Chad region, where over 40 million people have been displaced. The above is in addition to the Multinational joint Task Force (MNJTF), established by countries within the region to help tackle the activities of ISWAP and Boko Haram insurgents.

With all the above international partnerships and joint operations, many thought that by now insecurity would have been tackled, at least, to the barest minimum of impact.

According to Jalo Ankali, a security expert, the reverse is the case because of the wrong approach and sabotage in the system.

“The Nigerian security architecture is good enough to flush out the terrorists, but the problem in within. The outsiders have internal collaborators who trade their brothers’ lives and the peace of the country for money and other selfish interests,” he said.

Ankali, who is very knowledgeable in security issues, amid participating in several security operations in the past, explained that the Nigeria military will strike the terrorists better than foreigners if those who are benefiting from the insecurity situation are tracked, arrested, and prosecuted alongside their families even if overseas.

“These beneficiaries are the saboteurs, they are the link connecting terrorists across the Sahel and Lake Chad basin, facilitating arm movement, funds transfer, and local recruitments. They are the evil middlemen and if you get them, you will reduce insurgence by half. Prosecute them alongside their families because other people’s children, wives, mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters die every day because of their greed and blood-tasty self,” he said further.

Toeing the same line, Tanko Kwajaffa, a lawyer, who relocated to Abuja at the wake of the Boko Haram insurgence in Bornu State, decried that the Nigerian military have always been out there for the people, especially the defenceless and innocent, just that the bad eggs in the Nigerian security system keep overturning their feats and gains in the fight against insecurity.

“In 2019, there was a case of sabotage, where some soldiers were ambushed and killed in Bama by the terrorists. The case was reported to the Multinational joint Task Force (MNJTF), but nothing happened. Since then, some young soldiers have been dropping their arms and running away from hot battles when they suspect sabotage. They are humans, with families and responsibility too,” Kwajaffa said.

He also blamed the ineffectiveness of the MNJTF in Plateau and Kaduna states on sabotage, vested interests and late and weak decisions by the authorities.

“President Tinubu promised to install over 5000 digital cameras to monitor the activities of criminals in Rukuba town and you think sabotage will allow it work. Even when they work, will the authorities release information when needed, will there be inter-agency security collaboration? How many criminals have the ones in Abuja and Lagos caught and have there been prosecutions?

“Insecurity is persisting because of selfish internal elements. You need to fish them out for the international partnerships to work,” he urged.

For Bem Hembafan, a retired security personnel, who runs private security for private estates in Abuja and Kaduna, the war against insecurity should not be fought on papers and visits abroad for help.

According to him, those countries Nigeria run to for help know the country better, they are aware of attacks on military bases and killing of officers by insurgents, sabotage and failure to name, shame and prosecute financiers of terrorism in the country.

“We should not expect much from the partnerships because those countries are only going to do it safely and not risking their personnel because they don’t trust our systems here.

Read also: Boko Haram kills four policemen in multiple attacks on Borno communities 

“For me, they are after the sales of their ammunitions and nothing more. We have to fight our battles here, from within ourselves, fish out the bad eggs among us and most importantly, we should not politicize the fight because people are dying every day. I have lot some relations in Benue to terrorism,” he said.

He insisted that the reasons many joint task forces on security in the North-East, North-West and North-Central failed, are likely the reasons international partnerships on security may not yield much results.

“From Harmony, Operation Boyona, Operation Zaman Lafiya, Operation Lafiya Dole, Operation Tura Takaibango, Operation Hadin Kai, and to Operation Desert and Lake Sanity, but the killings continued, meaning that they were less effective.

“They were sabotaged, and the same will happen to our international partnerships if we do not sincerely give them the assistance they need. The US strikes were launched from far away Spain, they may not be successful if they come here and if our people withhold information from them,” Hembafan said.

Citing instance with Bornu and Yobe states where terrorists attacked military bases and killed senior officers at will, the security expert argued that international partners will fear sabotage or similar incidents, hence operate safely.

“It is sabotage because those senior officers killed have served in various capacities in the theatre of war and have very vast knowledge of counter insurgency operations. So, their killing was masterminded by elements within and executed by enemies outside,” he decried, insisting that the military needs morale boost, retraining and reorientation to support international partners in the fight against insecurity.

Mamman Osuman, chairman, Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), observed that insecurity has deepened to such an extent that external military assistance has been required, but he decried politicizing the fight and wants action to curb the killings and make the environment safe again for everyone.

“This election season has produced convoluted groups whose focus is not on out-of-school children, hunger, poverty, frequent attacks by kidnappers, banditry, or terrorism, but rather on strategies for repositioning ahead of the 2027 elections,” he said.

In their conclusion, some security experts welcome the many international partnership agreements on security, especially now that terrorists are beginning to adopt technology in the fight, especially drones, but earnestly ask for results, no matter how small, especially curbing the killings.