Tinubu Unveils High-Level Security Team, But Can It Turn The Tide?
Nigeria is racing against time, trying its best to secure the citizenry.
As kidnappings spike and terror attacks spread fear across communities, a critical question hangs in the air: can a new security alliance with the United States deliver the breakthrough Nigerians desperately need?
President Bola Tinubu on Thursday, took a decisive step, unveiling a nine-man Nigerian team for the US-Nigeria Joint Working Group, a body designed to tighten bilateral security cooperation and respond more aggressively to the country’s worsening insecurity.
Leading the charge is National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, the man at the centre of the nation’s intelligence crossroads.
He is joined by a powerful cast: Foreign Affairs Minister Yusuf Tuggar, Defence Minister Mohammed Badaru, Interior Minister Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, Humanitarian Affairs Minister Bernard Doro, Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Olufemi Oluyede, NIA DG Mohammed Mohammed, and Inspector-General of Police Kayode Egbetokun.
Two key officers, Idayat Hassan from ONSA and Paul Alabi from Nigeria’s Embassy in the US, will anchor the secretariat, ensuring the machinery doesn’t grind to a bureaucratic halt.
This Joint Working Group, backed by senior officials across strategic ministries and agencies, emerged from Ribadu’s recent high-stakes trip to Washington, where both countries agreed to move from talk to action in confronting terror networks, mass abductions and cross-border crime.
But behind the announcement lies a palpable tension: Nigerians have seen committees come and go. Will this one bring real change before the violence escalates further?
In a statement, Presidential Adviser Bayo Onanuga said Tinubu has ordered the team to work “assiduously” with their US counterparts and fast-track implementation across all areas.
The clock, however, is already ticking, every new attack across the country is a reminder of how quickly time is running out.
And as the nation watches, one question echoes again: will this new alliance finally deliver the security Nigerians were promised, and desperately need?
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