Nigeria’s Military and the Insider Threat: Why Our Security Strategy Still Feels Like a Joke
With the continues leakage of sensitive information in the Nigeria army to the media and to enemies of states. All well documented in the media, it now seems the millitary command is a joke or probably, they're new to false‑flag strategies?
Because only a naïve mind believes we don’t have moles inside the millitary system itself.
Information is one of the most valuable things in any conflict, especially when fighting with insurgents that have lasted over two decades in Nigeria now, and the military should at least be the best at handling and managing it all.
Yet, the same terrorists they called “ill-trained” seem to manage information, timing, and deception far better than the Nigerian military and government.
These groups hit targets, pretend to flee, then lay ambush for whoever chases them. It’s simple misdirection, but it works because our system is predictable.
Why can’t our forces mirror this or even come up with smarter versions?
Instead of insuiing threats to good willing and patriotic civilians for calling them out. Commandeering and doing phase-off with everyone else except these state cancers.
Why announce every platoon, every movement, every plan as if the enemy isn’t listening?
Why not create controlled shifts, planned gaps, layered units, and silent exchanges that confuse both the insider leaking intel and the external threat trying to exploit it?
Instead, those who are supposed to be shadows are exposed, and the ones who should be exposed become shadows. No wonder things fall apart so easily, and you know what's more frustrating? They always have someone else or something else to blame every time things falls apart as it often do except themselves.
There's a saying which says, "some terrible work men will blame everything, and everyone else for being the cause except themselves."
If not, why do we have excuses like:
It's because we are short of weapons.
And after years of guzzling states resources, funds and ammunitions, including foreign purchases. We still have these terror groups seizing these weapons.
Could it be because they're not well managed, undermanned, or manned with ill-experienced personnel?
We keep hearing excuses like, soldiers leaving a particular location this minute and insurgents attacking it the next minute immediately after the soldiers left.
Rumours of soldiers being sent to a location for a mission and being ambushed before getting there.
Incidents of top vibrant soldiers dieing mysteriously which has now become a pattern and the new norm especially when they are determined to end the insurgency.
Could it be because the Millitary and some top governmental officials don't want all these insecurities to end?
All these and more begs for answers.
Now to the real issue, the insider threats.
A professional army doesn’t survive without dealing with moles either legally or whatever ways possible, but clearly, and effectively, right away they must.
Effective ways they use are in the form of:
1. Strong vetting and checks
Where you watch lifestyle changes, money troubles, new friends, sudden shifts. Small signs reveals these big risks.
2. Counter‑intelligence units
This is where the real work happens. They track odd calls, unusual meetings, leaked info, and coded data trails. You don’t guess your way out of this, you follow proofs. What's even funnier is the ability to locate any Nigerian citizen for making any statement against the Millitary or government, but they can't locate these terrorists issuing same threats on social media with their faces revealed in videos commiting attrocities. It's actually pathetic!
3. Rotating sensitive roles
Nobody should sit on one seat long enough to build secret deals. Rotation exposes patterns and blocks long-term leaks. Sometimes controlled misinformation helps identify who is feeding the enemy.
4. Good welfare and morale
A frustrated soldier is easier to recruit than a hungry civilian. Treat people well and leaks will reduce both drastically and dramatically.
5. Safe complaint channels
If soldiers can speak up without fear, they won’t leak out of anger.
6. Legal, firm punishment
When someone is caught, the military court handles it. Transparency sends a strong message.
And what makes everything worse in Nigeria is when Nigerians do these:
- Giving criminals tribal or religious tags
- Witch-hunting
- Acting on rumours
- Secret punishments
- Political profiling
These things weaken the force and create even more insiders.
At the end of the day, the real joke isn’t that the enemy is smart, it’s that we refuse to evolve.
Some very naive people after reading all these would think I am trying to advise the Nigeria Millitary and the government, but that's very far from it. Infact, if this piece should be labeled anything, I strongly believe it should be a Mockery. Because after all, you would all agree with me that these are things they are supposed to know anyways.
Even in the age of information, computer technology and AI. It is what you give that you receive, garbage in, garbage out!
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