Lake Chad, Niger Delta Terrain Complicate Nigeria’s War On Terror — DSS DG

The difficult terrain around the Lake Chad Basin and the intricate creeks of the Niger Delta region are among the major factors complicating Nigeria’s efforts to swiftly contain terrorism, insurgency and other violent crimes.

The assertion was made by the director-general of the Department of State Services (DSS), Oluwatosin Ajayi.

Ajayi, in an exclusive interview with senior editors to mark his second year in office and the 40th anniversary of the DSS, said Nigeria’s peculiar geography required security strategies beyond conventional intelligence gathering and deployment of federal forces.

According to him, intelligence may be available to security agencies, but translating such information into immediate action can be constrained by terrain, operational capability and the strategic decisions required to respond effectively.

The DSS boss, however, stressed that no intelligence organisation anywhere in the world could completely eliminate crime, noting that the objective should be to reduce criminality to the barest minimum.

He explained that Nigeria’s security challenges were further complicated by the country’s proximity to the Sahel, the difficult terrain around Lake Chad and the extensive waterways and creeks of the Niger Delta.

“Imagine our closeness to the Sahel and the difficult terrain around the Lake Chad. Imagine the Niger Delta militancy and the challenge of navigating the creeks by regular forces,” he said.

“We have such peculiar problems that require strategic solutions.”

He said the limitations were not necessarily an indication that intelligence had failed, explaining that the effectiveness of intelligence ultimately depended on the ability of security forces to act on it.

“Where we get a good percentage of it, there are issues such as capability, terrain, and the need for strategic decision-making,” he said.

The DSS director-general therefore described the development of State Police and Forest Guards as strategic measures capable of strengthening security responses at the local level.

He argued that personnel familiar with the terrain and communities would be better positioned to respond to threats in areas where federal security agencies may face operational limitations.

“Take the example of a State with a difficult terrain with its own Police; they know how to deploy. The federal authority cannot do it fully,” Ajayi said.

“So, intelligence is here; difficulties in curbing threats stemming from certain issues also exist.”

“The Lake Chad region presents a particularly complex security environment because of its difficult terrain and proximity to the wider Sahel security belt.”

He said Nigeria must therefore develop security arrangements that take local terrain into account instead of relying exclusively on a uniform national response.

The same principle, he noted, applies to the Niger Delta, where the network of creeks and waterways has historically presented security agencies with operational challenges.

The DSS boss also linked Nigeria’s broader security difficulties to the absence of effective governance and security presence in some remote communities.

He said the withdrawal of traditional structures of governance from rural areas had created “ungoverned spaces” that could be exploited by criminal and terrorist groups.

According to him, Nigeria previously had mechanisms that extended governance and security into remote communities, including Native Authorities and forest guards.

“However, today there is no presence of governance in those places, leaving them as ungoverned spaces for criminals to keep victims of kidnap,” he said.