SYNERGIC RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EFFECTIVE INFORMATION AND INTELLIGENCE NEEDS ANALYSIS, UTILIZATION AND SECURITY IN NIGERIA

The general objective of the paper examines critically the synergic relationship between effective information and intelligence needs gathering, analysis and utilization in relation to security situation in Nigeria. Effective pursuit and execution of security needs in every nation depend critically on the conscious security information drive, intelligence gathering, the existence of the necessary security gadgets and apparatus, the zeal of the citizenry to be security conscious and to provide information needed, the will power of the government in place and security institutions to analyze and utilize the available information and intelligence gathered. The challenging problems of study indicate that budgetary funds are made available to security agencies and institutions yet insecurity prevails in Nigeria, lives and properties are destroyed on daily basis, foreign investors relocate out of Nigeria for fear of insecurity, inability of security agencies to pro-actively respond to security demands, seemingly government complicity in curtailing the incessant insecurity, etc. These point to the lack of information and intelligence needs gathering and analysis, lack of relevant modern ICT security equipment and personnel, sharing intelligence information and collaborative efforts among these agencies. The paper is discursive and analytical in methodology. While the paper examined the challenges faced by these agencies and reasons for their ineffectiveness, it avers that, in order to buttress security and grow the economy, the government of Nigeria should, among others, ensure that there are collaborative and effective information and intelligence drive, analysis, sharing and utilization in relation to security pursuit; high technological military hardware for surveillance should be in use; sentiments, individualism, exclusionism, ethnicity and parochialism should not be above national interest; economy should be boosted through job creation, employment, empowerment, entrepreneurship, industrialization and manufacture to mitigate the burden on the agencies and create opportunity for individuals and institutions to explore their potentials and the economy to blossom