Former Minister of Aviation and founder of the Athena Centre for Policy and Leadership, Osita Chidoka, says Nigeria’s war against terrorism cannot be won by simply adding “more soldiers and more policemen,” insisting that what the country urgently needs is a highly trained, elite special force capable of confronting insurgents with precision.
Speaking in an interview with ARISE News on Wednesday, Chidoka warned that President Bola Tinubu’s plan to declare an emergency on security and recruit tens of thousands of new security personnel amounted to a “knee-jerk reaction.”
“I don’t think Nigeria’s war with terrorism has to do with more police or more soldiers,” he said. “We’ve been on this war since 2008 with Boko Haram, and it is a shame that we have not produced special forces against terrorism.”
Citing global examples, Chidoka said Nigeria should emulate Colombia’s elite Jungla commandos, a unit trained by the SAS and supported by US Navy SEALs, which combined intelligence, mobility and rapid strike capability.
“We need a forest force. We don’t need more soldiers or police,”he stressed. “This force should have its own helicopters, its own intelligence system, and be trained by the SAS, the Navy SEALs, Israel’s Sayeret Matkal—no more than 500 to 800 people, selected not by quota but by capability.”
He criticised chronic underfunding of the Nigerian Police, noting that of the N1.2 trillion allocated to the force in 2025, N1.1 trillion goes to salaries, leaving only a fraction for overheads. Fuel allocations, he said, amount to “five to six litres per police station per day.”
“The police are under-resourced,” Chidoka stated. “The total Nigerian police budget is about $870–$900 million. In South Africa, it is $6.5 billion.”
To address this, he proposed a hybrid funding model in which the Federal Government handles salaries while state governments directly fund police operations within their jurisdictions.
“If each state puts an average of N5 billion into police operations, that immediately boosts funding. Police stations would have vehicles, solar power, paper to write statements, and mobility.”
While acknowledging that long-term recruitment to expand the police force is necessary, Chidoka insisted that immediate action must focus on elite capability, not numbers.
“If you add more policemen and you don’t increase the budget, they are lame ducks,” he warned. “Right now, we need a dedicated force. The president should do Nigeria a great service by establishing it.”
He added that such a unit would give Nigeria the ability to respond “fiercely and effectively” to terror threats, preventing insurgents from projecting impunity through online messages and propaganda.
Despite the security concerns, Chidoka—who recently drew public attention with a surprise performance in Opera Abuja’s adaptation of Arrow of God—said Nigeria must not lose sight of the transformative power of arts and culture.
“We shouldn’t take ourselves too seriously in Nigeria,”he said earlier in the programme. “Our soft power is the biggest thing we have—our music, our movies, our humour. It is truly Nigerian.”
Chidoka concluded the interview with a smile, reflecting on his growing reputation on the operatic stage.
“And now an aspiring actor,” he joked, to which the interviewer replied, “I’d say you’ve gone beyond aspiring—you’re actually performing.”
Boluwatife Enome
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