Between January 31 and February 2, 2022, the National Security Adviser (NSA), Babagana Monguno, along with his United Kingdom counterpart, Sir Stephen Lovegrove, hosted an inaugural Dialogue in Support of Security and Defence Partnership between Nigeria and the United Kingdom. The event, which was held in London, featured defence staff talks and a cross-government forum on human rights.
In a communiqué released after the three-day event by the two parties and jointly signed by Monguno and Lovegrove, Nigeria and the UK noted that the two countries enjoy a deep and long-standing security and defence relationship. Such relationship, the communiqué said, “underpinned shared history, mutual trust and shared commonwealth principles of democratic governance and respect for international humanitarian and human rights law, as well as a shared desire to support regional and international peace and security”.
Reaffirming both parties’ commitment to deepening partnership, the communiqué said such cooperation was required to face the challenges of complex and evolving global threats such as terrorism, conflict, human trafficking, serious and organised crimes, drug trafficking, cyber-crime and piracy. These threats, according to the joint statement, do not respect international borders.
The statement further said Nigeria and the UK has agreed to enhance their existing cooperation in the following areas: civilian policing; approaches to stabilisation including civilian-led security and civil-military co-operation; human rights; women and youth, peace and security; defence co-operation and maritime security; serious and organised crimes, drug trafficking, human trafficking and border security; and countering terrorism and violent extremism.
“The United Kingdom and Nigeria agreed to embed a mutual accountability approach to our cooperation, whereby we both agree to deliver on our commitments to each other, and to work in the spirit of partnership,” it stated.
By way of measuring progress in these areas of renewed partnership, the two countries agreed to commit to reviewing progress against each party’s commitments. They also agreed to future cooperation at the next security and defence dialogue slated for the first quarter of 2023, which will involve relevant ministries, departments and agencies from both countries.
This new partnership between Nigeria and the UK is a welcome development and testament to the commitment of the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) under Monguno to exploring various levels of cooperation in the fight against national security threats. Of course, the ever-changing international security landscape aggravated by the conflicting interests of states demand continual and informed analysis of the geo-strategic environment. Therefore, the assessment of security threats are not just limited to domestic situation, but includes an appreciation of the security issues and challenges in the regional, continental and global environment.
The National Security Strategy (2019), Nigeria’s policy document formulated by ONSA to guide the country’s approach to tackling national security threats, emphasises the role of partnership and collaboration in the fight against existing and emerging security threats.
The first chapter of the NSS outlines the National Objectives of the strategy as: a) to protect Nigerian people and territory; to promote Nigeria’s prosperity and sustainable development; to promote national unity and peaceful co-existence; and to promote (our) regional and international interests. These objectives, especially the last one, require bilateral and multilateral cooperation and partnership.
“Nigeria is an active member of the international community and will continue its tradition of dynamic engagement with other nations. In the context of a globalized world, threats to national security, whether posed by terrorism, climate change, epidemics and hostile non-state actors possess transnational implications and can only be effectively confronted by strong transnational partnerships.
“Nigeria remains an advocate of such cooperation and will continue to energetically participate in bilateral and multilateral institutions that undergird international order. We will continue to promote cooperation and partnerships with our neighbours and friends and remain true to our international commitments. We will also pursue relationships that enhance our long-term security and prosperity. Nigeria prefers and will continue to advance an international order founded on respect for international law, obligations to treaties and peaceful resolution of conflicts and disputes as well as mutually beneficial free and fair economic relations with other nations,” Chapter One of the NSS reads.
Indeed, since he became the NSA, partnership and cooperation have been at the heart of Monguno’s security strategy. Through his effort, ONSA has engaged in bilateral and multilateral partnerships. Only recently, the Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Ghada Fathi Wali, commended Nigeria following the first-ever successful prosecution of piracy in Africa by Nigeria. The feat was achieved through successful collaboration between Nigeria and UNODC, as evidenced by the Global Maritime Crime Programme and the Strategic Vision for Africa launched in 2021. Interestingly, two key events which led to the success – the promulgation of the Suppression of Piracy and other Maritime Offences (POMO) Act and the Falcon Eye Project – are as a result of ONSA’s direct effort.
Monguno is also known to be a strong advocate of inter-agency cooperation among the security and intelligence community. Through his intervention, rivalry among sister agencies in the security and intelligence community has drastically reduced. This has led to better synergy in information gathering and sharing which, in turn, has led to many cases of pre-empting and forestalling threats to national security.
Part of the responsibilities of ONSA is to develop and maintain intelligence and information sharing relationships with international, military, domestic and private sector partners to promote intelligence-related communications, standardise processes for collaboration and lead coordination on all issues concerning national security. Under the present NSA, these objectives have not been taken for granted. The Dialogue in Support of Security and Defence Partnership between Nigeria and the United Kingdom presents one more example of Monguno’s firm belief in collaboration and partnership.
Usman wrote in from Abuja
