Indigenous Security Management as a Pathway to Resolving Nigeria Security Challenges

Abstract

This paper examines the historical foundations of indigenous security management in Nigeria, tracing its erosion under colonial rule and the subsequent inherited security architecture that has proven structurally inadequate in combating terrorism, banditry, and organised crime in the twenty-first century. Drawing on multidisciplinary insights from security studies, history, political science, criminology, and sociology, the study argues that pre-colonial Nigerian societies operated sophisticated, community-anchored security systems that were systematically dismantled by British colonialism and replaced with a centralised, top-down security apparatus ill-suited to local realities. The paper further analyses the alarming rise of Boko Haram insurgency, banditry, and other forms of violent extremism as direct consequences of this inherited structural failure. Using the experiences of vigilante organisations such as the Bakassi Boys in the South East and Operation Amotekun in the South West, this work demonstrates the demonstrable effectiveness of indigenous, community-based security solutions. It concludes with a call for the formalised integration of indigenous security teams in Northern Nigeria under military and state supervision, operationalising the foundational criminological principle that crime is local and, therefore, security must be local.