ABUJA, Nigeria — President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has directed the immediate preparation of a comprehensive National Threat Assessment and a rolling five-year Strategic Defence Operations Plan aimed at improving coordination across Nigeria’s military, intelligence and security agencies.
The directive is designed to establish a unified framework for identifying emerging security threats, setting operational priorities and aligning defence capabilities and spending with Nigeria’s national security needs.
Tinubu gave the order on Wednesday during the Federal Executive Council meeting at the State House in Abuja.
The President appointed his Special Adviser on Homeland Security, Major General Adeyinka A. Famadewa, to coordinate and provide secretariat support to a nine-member committee responsible for developing the strategic defence framework.
The committee includes National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu; Defence Minister Christopher Musa; Minister of State for Defence Bello Muhammad Matawalle; Chief of Defence Staff Olufemi Oluyede; Chief of Army Staff Waidi Shaibu; Chief of Air Staff Sunday Kelvin Aneke; Chief of Naval Staff Idi Abbas; Director-General of the Department of State Services Tosin Ajayi; and Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency Muhammed Muhammed.
Tinubu Seeks Unified Response to Security Threats
The President said Nigeria needs a coherent national framework to respond to an increasingly complex and evolving security environment.
According to Tinubu, the National Threat Assessment will establish a common understanding of the principal threats confronting the country, assess their urgency and define the operational objectives required to address them.
He said the Strategic Defence Operations Plan would then translate those assessments into specific operational priorities, including the forces and capabilities required in different theatres, existing capability gaps, equipment and logistics requirements, and implementation timelines.
The President noted that defence and security requirements have often been considered separately, without sufficient reference to a common national threat assessment or unified medium-term strategy.
Such an approach, he said, can complicate inter-agency coordination and limit the efficient deployment of scarce security resources.
Recent Rescue Operation Highlights Need for Coordination
Tinubu pointed to recent security successes, including the rescue of pupils and teachers abducted in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State, as evidence of what stronger coordination among security and intelligence agencies can achieve.
“The operation demonstrated what can be achieved when our agencies work together with a clear objective and the necessary intelligence,” the President said.
He said the new strategic framework would institutionalise such coordination by ensuring that military and security operations are guided by clearly defined national priorities.
Defence Spending to Align With Security Priorities
Beyond operational planning, the five-year strategy is expected to influence Nigeria’s medium-term defence spending and procurement decisions.
Once approved, the Strategic Defence Operations Plan will serve as the principal framework for coordinating military and defence operations over the medium term.
It will also provide the foundation for a corresponding multi-year defence expenditure and procurement plan, with the aim of directing government resources towards agreed operational priorities, capability gaps and critical national security requirements.
The committee has been authorised to consult or co-opt representatives of other ministries, departments and agencies where necessary.
President Tinubu directed the committee to begin work immediately and submit the completed National Threat Assessment and Strategic Defence Operations Plan for his consideration and approval within 90 days.
He also directed the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and the Office of the National Security Adviser to take all necessary steps to implement the directive without delay.
The initiative represents an effort by the Tinubu administration to move Nigeria’s security planning towards a more integrated, intelligence-led and medium-term approach, linking threat assessment, military capability, procurement and defence expenditure within a single strategic framework