Author(s) :

LORD-MALLAM Nanna Charlotte PhD, ADIGWE Austeen Ndubuisi PhD.

Volume/Issue :

Abstract :

Interagency collaboration is expected to play a critical role in the fight against all criminal activities and terrorism in Nigeria. It is often perceived as a panacea for dealing with many complex social problems. However, there still exists fogginess about the nature, triggers, and what determines results of interagency collaboration. This study employs the complexity theory to argue that organisations are like complex adaptive systems that can naturally be drawn to interdependence and connectivity in reaction to a shared problem with the objective of ensuring synergy among security agencies in obtaining positive outcome in the fight against terrorism. To drive home the need for collaboration to CT in the Middle Belt Region, Complexity theory is used as tool of analysis. The tendency towards conflict among the Nigerian security agencies which can be said to be bane of Nigeria’s slow move to combating this menace is premised on the lack of adequate resources and/or weak institutional capacity to mount collaboration. Findings reveal that, although much had been achieved in relation to the exchange of information, trust among these agencies was lacking and mutual wariness among these agencies still limited the exchange of information. Furthermore, a virtuous cycle of collaboration tends to develop when collaborative agencies focus on “small wins”. This weakens trust, commitment, and shared understanding. This paper concludes that both the military and para-military agencies must deliberately work in synergy to combat terrorists’ activities without any single group attributing success to itself alone. It then recommends a context-specific collective response to insecurity towards improving existing CT measures for peace to return to the Middle Belt Region. Keywords: Interagency collaboration, Conflict, Counter-Terrorism, Terrorism, Middle Belt Region

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