Killing spree amid intelligence gap

….also published in Daily Trust

A critical look into the underlying challenges hampering the ongoing war on Boko Haram terrorists and other armed groups behind the growing killing spree across northern Nigeria reveals an inexcusable intelligence gap as one of such challenges.

Of course, the country’s three security intelligence agencies concerned i.e. the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA), the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) and the State Security Service (SSS) are jointly responsible for this gap.

For the sake of clarity, the DIA’s responsibilities include gathering and analyzing intelligence of a military nature from within and outside the country to prevent any potentially subversive attempt against the territorial integrity of the country, its political stability and security of its citizens. The NIA is charged with the responsibility of, among other things, collecting and analyzing other security related intelligence from external sources to foil any attempt to undermine security in the country or jeopardize the country’s strategic interests elsewhere. The SSS is basically supposed to gather and analyze domestic intelligence to thwart any security threat within the country.

Also, these intelligence agencies are supposed to work in coordination with one another, on the one hand, and with the military, the police and other security agencies in the country, on the other, to provide them with accurate intelligence to guide their combat strategic and tactical planning.

However, the increasingly audacious way Boko Haram terrorists and other armed groups carry out their terror and banditry attacks on defenceless communities across the region suggests the serious intelligence gap pointed out above.

By the way, this is notwithstanding the validity or otherwise of the conspiracy theories peddled to explain the circumstances surrounding some of such attack incidents where it was alleged that there had been suspicious withdrawals of military units from around the affected communities shortly before the occurrence of the attacks.

In any case, northern Nigeria, or at least a significant part thereof, is increasingly turning into a massive lawless region where Boko Haram terrorists unleash death, destruction and misery using hit-and run warfare tactics not only against vulnerable people, but against security agencies as well, while armed bandits massacre helpless people, raid, overrun and rob communities at will.  

Incidentally, looking at the persistent trend of Boko Haram’s setback and resurgence, one can rightly conclude that the narrative that Boko Haram has been defeated, as the military insists, isn’t actually accurate, to say the least.   

Anyway, incidents of gruesome massacre and forced displacement of communities are becoming quite common and, in fact, predictable for that matter. Also, incidents of armed robbery against individuals and kidnapping for ransom have already become so common that only the most dramatic incidents attract some media attention.

Besides, under the overwhelming impact of the never-ending stories of killing spree and merciless massacre of vulnerable people perpetrated by armed groups, and the growing atmosphere of fear throughout the region in the absence of any sign of a real commitment to arresting the situation, the helpless public has practically resigned to a miserable yet preventable fate effectively imposed on it by fellow humans who happen(ed) to be charged with the responsibility of protecting their lives, properties, dignity and indeed ensuring a befitting environment for all to pursue their respective endeavours and livelihoods in peace.

Now, even a casual observer can observe some instances of the intelligence gap addressed herein, and its impact on the Nigerian security agencies’ operations against Boko Haram and other armed groups operating in the region. For instance, the volume and quality of weapons, vehicles and other military hardware in Boko Haram’s possession prove the existence of a systematic and effective supply chain originating from outside Nigeria, which the DIA, however, has failed to trace, let alone disrupt.

Likewise, the NIA’s failure is vividly clear in its inability to trace the group’s foreign sources of funding and its links with other terror groups in West African sub-region and beyond. Also, on the domestic front, the SSS has equally failed in its responsibility to gather enough intelligence on the domestic sources of funding for the group and the channels used to smuggle vehicles, weapons and other military equipment into Nigeria for onward delivery to the terrorists. The SSS has also failed to infiltrate the armed groups (if it has ever attempted to do so in the first place) even though the professionality of any security intelligence agency worth its salt is measured by its ability to successfully conduct audacious operations, one of which is, of course, a successful infiltration of the enemy ranks and undermining them from within.  

This embarrassing intelligence gap explains the tactical chaos that characterizes the operations of the security agencies on the front lines, which enables Boko Haram terrorists and other killers to perpetuate their killing campaigns, outmaneuvering the military and moving around practically freely even though it’s largely desert terrain out there or, at worst, sparsely vegetated terrain where they can be easily tracked down and eliminated by using basic aerial reconnaissance technology.

Though, the military is quite overstretched, yet, if only these intelligence security agencies would do their jobs diligently using appropriate technology appropriately, and in coordination with the military on the front lines, Boko Haram and other armed groups in the region would be eliminated at much less human and material costs, and in the shortest time possible.