….Says accelerated funding for defence key to homeland security

The Centre for Justice and Human Rights in Africa (CJHA) has expressed confidence in the high-level committee constituted by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to prepare a comprehensive National Threat Assessment and a rolling five-year Strategic Defence Operations Plan.

The Centre described the initiative as a timely step towards strengthening coordination among Nigeria’s defence, intelligence and security agencies.

In a statement signed by its Executive Director, Dr Ifure Ifure, the Centre said the 90-day timeline given to the committee underscored the urgency of addressing evolving security threats and establishing a coherent framework for national operational priorities.

“We welcome President Tinubu’s directive and place full confidence in the expertise and patriotism of the distinguished members of this committee,” Ifure said.

He added that the inclusion of the National Security Adviser, Minister of Defence, service chiefs and heads of key intelligence agencies would ensure that the process was thorough, professional and grounded in operational realities.

“A clear National Threat Assessment and a well-structured five-year Strategic Defence Operations Plan will provide the common understanding and prioritisation that our security architecture has long needed.

“This is the kind of institutional clarity required for effective homeland security.”

The Centre noted that the committee, coordinated by the Special Adviser on Homeland Security, Major General Adeyinka Famadewa, had been tasked with identifying principal threats, ranking their urgency, defining operational objectives and translating them into concrete force requirements, capability gaps and implementation timelines.

Once approved, the plan is expected to guide multi-year defence spending and procurement.

CJHA described Famadewa’s professionalism, strategic insight and operational experience as critical to the assignment, saying his commitment would strengthen the country’s security architecture.

The Centre stressed, however, that the success of the framework would depend largely on sustained and accelerated funding for the defence and security sector.

“Accelerated and predictable funding for defence remains the single most critical enabler of homeland security,” Ifure said.

“Equipment modernisation, intelligence capabilities, personnel welfare and joint operations all require consistent budgetary support if the new doctrine is to deliver results on the ground.

“We therefore urge the National Assembly and relevant agencies to align fiscal priorities with the operational needs that will emerge from this five-year plan. Security spending must not only be adequate but also results-oriented and transparently applied.”

The Centre further noted that the Tinubu administration had demonstrated its commitment by making defence and security the largest sectoral allocation in recent budgets, including the 2026 Appropriation.

It said the new planning process offered an opportunity to ensure that such resources were directed towards clearly defined national priorities rather than fragmented agency requests.

CJHA linked the committee’s work to the broader reset of Nigeria’s security architecture, including the new counter-terrorism doctrine that treats armed non-state actors and their enablers as terrorists.

“This defence plan committee represents a serious institutional effort to move from reactive responses to a proactive, intelligence-driven and coordinated strategy,” the statement said.

“We are confident that its recommendations, when implemented with the necessary funding and political will, will strengthen the capacity of the Armed Forces and other security agencies to protect lives and territory.”

The Centre called on military leaders, civilian authorities, the legislature and the Nigerian public to support the committee and the subsequent implementation of its recommendations, describing the exercise as a patriotic national assignment whose success would benefit all Nigerians.