Intelligence Must Be Community Driven – Former CDI

Former Chief of Defence Intelligence, Air Vice Marshal Monday Morgan (Rtd), has called for greater involvement of local governments and communities in intelligence gathering to tackle banditry, Boko Haram insurgency and other security challenges confronting Nigeria.

Morgan said intelligence gathering must be strengthened at the grassroots, noting that many attacks take place away from major urban centres where security agencies may have limited access to timely information.

He made the remarks while speaking on TVC’s Beyond The Headline with Nifemi Oguntoye.

According to the former intelligence chief, the difficult terrain where criminal and insurgent groups operate makes intelligence gathering particularly challenging, making community participation critical to addressing the security threats.

He said, “One of the biggest problem that we face, the banditry, Boko Haram and all the security chanllenges that we have operates in un-governed places, heavy forested environment, so the task is very huge.

“The intelligence gathering is quite challenging because, the necessary requirement for proper intelligence gathering is normally at the grassroots because when you look at the attacks as we see it, they happen in the local environment where the insurgents take advantage of open spaces and attack them, they don’t come to the center of the cities, so what that means is that intelligence must be community driven and that is where the challenges are for now for Nigeria.”

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Morgan’s comments highlight the importance of strengthening the relationship between security agencies and communities in areas vulnerable to attacks.

He said local governments and grassroots coordinators have a significant role to play in ensuring that relevant information about suspicious activities and movements reaches security agencies promptly.

The former Chief of Defence Intelligence stressed that because security threats often emerge in remote and difficult-to-access locations, relying solely on intelligence gathered from major cities may not be sufficient to prevent attacks.

He therefore advocated a more community-driven approach to intelligence gathering, with local actors playing a key role in identifying and reporting emerging threats.