Bayelsa State Governor, Douye Diri, has declared that Nigeria’s worsening insecurity cannot be tackled through military operations alone, insisting that a blend of kinetic and non-kinetic approaches remains the most viable path to lasting stability.
Gov. Diri made the position known during a courtesy visit by participants of the Executive Intelligence Management Course 19 of the National Institute for Security Studies to the Government House in Yenagoa.
Represented by the Deputy Governor, Peter Akpe, the governor stressed that security challenges across the country require deeper structural responses beyond force, including governance reforms and socio-economic inclusion.
He criticised the tendency to rely on theoretical assumptions in addressing security issues, noting that lack of empirical study often leads to ineffective policy responses.
“We take this study very seriously,” he said. “Most times, because we don’t study, we don’t get empirical data or information on what is really going on, and so we tend to theorise everything.”
Gov. Diri commended the leadership of the National Institute for Security Studies for investing in capacity building within Nigeria’s intelligence and security architecture, describing the study tour as critical to national development.
He noted that the theme of the course, focuses on ethnic militias and resource competition, was particularly relevant to Bayelsa and the wider Niger Delta, a region long marked by tension over oil wealth and environmental degradation.
According to him, decades of economic extraction have left communities in the region grappling with underdevelopment despite their contribution to national revenue.
“Beneath our creeks and mangroves lies the wealth that has powered Nigeria for over six decades,” he said. “Yet our people have lived with the painful paradox of plenty.”
The governor argued that inclusive governance, equitable resource distribution, and a credible social contract between the state and citizens are critical components of any sustainable security framework.
He pointed to his administration’s focus on non-kinetic measures such as youth empowerment, infrastructure development, and skills acquisition as part of efforts to reduce the appeal of militancy.
“An idle, hopeless and excluded young person is the most fertile recruiting ground for militias anywhere in the world,” he added.
Gov. Diri maintained that combining both approaches would significantly curb banditry, kidnapping, insurgency, and other forms of criminality across Nigeria.
Earlier, the team lead of the delegation, Vivian Okpeh, said the Executive Intelligence Management Course is a 10-month intensive programme designed to strengthen participants’ expertise in intelligence management, strategic leadership, and policy formulation.
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She explained that the study theme was chosen in response to the growing influence of militia groups across Africa and their implications for governance and economic stability, while calling for stronger collaboration with Bayelsa State.
Nigeria continues to grapple with a multi-layered security crisis, including insurgency in the North-East, banditry and mass abductions in the North-West and North-Central, and persistent militancy and oil-related crimes in the Niger Delta.
In the oil-rich region, longstanding grievances over resource control and environmental neglect have historically driven unrest, with armed groups emerging amid perceptions of marginalisation despite sustained oil revenues.
