Nigeria and Africa must devise home-grown, people-centred strategies, as well as collaborate to understand the security ecosystem better, to fight insecurity on the continent and win the war against terrorism and banditry.

This formed the opinions of participants at the 2025 Sub-Saharan Africa Security Conference, SASCON in Lagos on Tuesday, with the theme: “Strategic Approaches to Security in Complex Africa.”

The participants agreed that collaboration and intelligence-driven approaches would fast-track the process of achieving a safer continent.

The host of the conference and Chairman of the ASIS Lagos Chapter 206, Mr Adedeji Oduba, acknowledged that Nigeria faces peculiar security challenges, and the conference’s primary objective is to dissect and identify these challenges, both visible and hidden, and proffer sustainable solutions.

Oduba emphasised that the issue of national security should not be left solely in the hands of law enforcement agencies, stressing that all stakeholders should participate fully in the process.

“We all know that Nigeria and, by extension, Africa have a lot of challenges in terms of security. If I want to narrow it down to Nigeria, where everyone can attest, every part of the country has its peculiar challenges. So, I thought of bringing this conference to Nigeria, gathering all security professionals in Nigeria to address different security challenges across the country that make up the sub sahara regions,” he said

He mentioned that, in addition to the discussions, the conference’s vision is to see it implemented at the national level.

“At the end of this conference, a communique will be issued, and we hope it will get to the National Assembly, where legislators will look at it and those in charge of ensuring the security of lives and property in Nigeria. And if they need corporate security like us to be involved, we will be more than willing to support,” he added.

In his goodwill message, Nigeria’s Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, who was represented by Rear Admiral S.T. Ibrahim, emphasised the need for collaboration towards surmounting the security challenges in Africa.

He acknowledged that security challenges are complex in parts of Africa, emphasising the need for concerted efforts and strategic approaches to address these challenges.

He said, “Through collective wisdom and efforts, we can devise effective and sustainable solutions to the issue of insecurity in the continent of Africa. We need a deep understanding of the threat, and that would allow us to develop innovative strategies to combat the scourge.”

Similarly, the Chief of the Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla, appreciated the event’s organizer, stressing that it demonstrates that the issue of security is of paramount importance to all stakeholders, not just Nigeria but Africa as a whole.

Ogalla, who was represented by Abdul Rahman Mohammed, said that security is not just an exclusive reserve of security agencies and military services, but requires the collaboration of all stakeholders.

He said, “Seeing the dynamics and how security changes from state, interstate, to non-state actors, it becomes necessary for the continent to look inward and develop strategies to address these security challenges we face. And I completely agree with the submission on the need to apply home-grown strategies to tackle our security issues because security requires a whole-of-government and society approach.

“The security challenges faced in other continents may differ from those we encounter here in Nigeria. Therefore, we must conduct a needs analysis to identify necessary actions. For example, the introduction of vigilantes and private guards serves as force multipliers. In the North East, where the fight against terrorism has lasted for the past 15 years, engaging vigilantes to enhance security architecture is a welcome idea.

“I want to believe that the more we look inward and craft our ways of addressing our unique security challenges, the better it will be for us. It is not a one-size-fits-all approach; we must consider our own peculiarities and design our strategies to suit those specific traits.”

In his remarks, the President of the ASIS International, Mr Joe Olivarez, maintained that one of the strategies to address insecurity is to break down barriers to solving the problems around the world.

He said, “No one person can solve any problem; it takes a community and collaboration between the public and private partnership to understand the community that we live in and the challenges we face when we come together.

“And we must understand the local communities with differences they have sometimes because if you understand those, you will create those differences into opportunities to bring peace and prosperity to the places that we operate.”

The two-day event features security agencies, including the Department of Security Services, members of the military forces, and private security agencies, among others.