The German Embassy Abuja has launched a policy discussion series aimed at addressing Nigeria’s security challenges, with experts emphasising the need to balance kinetic and non-kinetic approaches.
Speaking at the inaugural session held late Wednesday night in Abuja, the German Ambassador to Nigeria, Annett Günther, said the initiative was designed to stimulate fresh thinking and sustained engagement on how to make Nigeria safer.
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According to her, the discussion was intended to generate ideas, deepen analysis of Nigeria’s insecurity situation and explore practical solutions and pathways forward.
“This is the first edition of the policy discussion series that we have started at the German Embassy with a very small but elaborate handpicked audience, and also handpicked panellists,” Günther said.
The event, titled “Kinetics and Non-kinetics – How to make Nigeria safe,” brought together security officials, policy experts, diplomats and civil society representatives.
Explaining the choice of speakers, the ambassador said the panel reflected both security dimensions, “That’s why we chose one person on the panel from the National Counter Terrorism Centre to represent the kinetic approach, and we had one person from our Stabilisation and Foreign Affairs Unit in Berlin, which clearly is the non-kinetic approach to solving security problems. We also had one representative from NGOs and science,” she said.
Günther stressed that no single strategy can resolve Nigeria’s security crisis.
“From all the discussions, there’s no one quick fix or one-size-fits-all solution for the problem because all these actors that were present have to work together. Be it the security forces, stabilisation actors, the community, the police, diplomats, media, civil society, everyone is involved to bring in their specific tools to address insecurity in the country,” she added.
She noted that Germany would continue to reassess and strengthen its security cooperation with Nigeria.
“We will use the discussion to look back at the instruments that we already have, be it in our stabilisation area. We work in the DDR process, community mediation, and in prevention facilities in the North. So we would probably take these discussions to sharpen our instruments and go back to look at them,” she said.
Meanwhile, the panel discussion featured the National Coordinator, National Counter terrorism Centre, Major General Adamu Garba Laka, represented by Brigadier General Peter Cybor, Nigeria Country Manager, Institute for Integrated Transitions, Mr Bimba Thomas Jr, and the head of stabilisation in Africa, German Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr Arne Hartig.
Speaking during the discussion, the panellists maintained that Nigeria, especially the urban areas, remains safe despite existing threats, acknowledging that the country faces a multiplicity of threats across regions, including insurgency in the North-East, banditry in the North-West and North-Central, and secessionist agitation and organised crime in the South-East.
“Nigeria has threats, just like every other country. When you look at what is happening, we have a multiplicity of threats, and many of the drivers are socio-economic in nature, including poverty and unemployment,” the panellist stressed.
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Nigeria’s insecurity was described as both a cause and a consequence of underdevelopment, and regional dynamics, including Islamic State and Al-Qaeda-linked elements operating in the Sahel, pose additional concerns.
It was, however, noted that the Federal Government has adopted a combined approach to address the crisis, with the kinetic accounting for 20 to 30 per cent, depending on the context and situation, for the overall resolution of the crisis and the larger part going to the non-kinetic.
On state policing, the panel cautioned that the debate is still ongoing with potential risks in view.
Raising possible politicisation of the state Police as one of the concerns, as it could be controlled at the state level, which was emphasised as having implications.
The panel recalled that Nigeria’s Counter-Terrorism Strategy from 2025 to 2030 clearly states that the root causes of insecurity are grievances and frustrations from a non-responsive governance system.
Pointing out that many violent actors are not driven by rigid ideology.
“There is no common ideology behind it. It’s more of mental models — how individuals or groups view their relationship and the space they have within the Nigerian state. That is what motivates them to take certain actions,” the panel explained.
Providing the broader policy context, Hartig said Germany’s stabilisation engagement is guided by its foreign policy priorities of “security, freedom and prosperity.”
“To keep Germany secure, free and prosperous translates into a foreign policy where we invest globally so that our partners are also secure and free and can prosper,” he said.
He disclosed that Germany invests more than €300m annually in crisis prevention, stabilisation and peacebuilding worldwide, describing Nigeria as a key partner.
“We try to break the criminal economy of bandit groups and other destabilising groups in the North-West,” he said, referencing the Northwest Prevention Facility and other regional initiatives.
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The panelists agreed that addressing Nigeria’s security challenges requires sustained collaboration among security agencies, governance institutions, communities and international partners, stressing that neither kinetic nor non-kinetic measures alone can resolve the crisis.
Punch