Governor of Enugu State, Dr Peter Mbah, has stressed that sustainable security in Nigeria can only be achieved by addressing underlying social conditions that trigger criminality such as poverty, unemployment, weak access to education and healthcare, rather than relying solely on kinetic measures.
He spoke on Monday , when he received the participants of the Executive Intelligence Management Course 19 of the National Institute for Security Studies ,NISS, Abuja,( COHORTS 2026) who paid him a courtesy visit in his office .
Gov Mbah
The governor said his administration had deliberately prioritised heavy investment in social services over the past three budget cycles as part of a broader strategy to curb crime and instability.
“We’re not just looking at addressing security from a kinetic point of view; we are also addressing the root causes,” Mbah stated. “What are those social conditions that give rise to these criminalities? Poverty, unemployment—how do we address them? We have invested at scale.”
He disclosed that in the last two and a half years, the state government had constructed over 7,000 classrooms and provided 3,380 hospital beds across primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare levels.
According to him, these interventions are aimed at creating a conducive learning environment and improving access to quality healthcare.
Mbah also highlighted reforms in the education sector, noting a shift from rote learning to an experiential system designed to better equip children with practical knowledge and critical thinking skills.
Gov Mbah( L) Fashanu( R)
“We are getting children from as early as age three, ensuring they are exposed to the right civic values and moral upbringing,” he said. “If we fail to get them at that stage, it becomes much harder to redirect them later for life.”
On the broader national discourse around insecurity, the governor questioned the prevailing narrative of resource scarcity as a major driver of conflict, suggesting instead that Nigeria’s challenge lies in poor resource ownership and management.
“I wonder whether we should not interrogate what is known as the tragedy of the commons,” he said. “It’s not that we lack resources; rather, we have not created structures that enable us to take ownership and optimise these resources effectively.”
He explained that when resources are collectively owned without clear accountability, they are often underutilised or mismanaged, thereby fueling competition and conflict.
Mbah urged researchers and participants on the study tour to critically examine these dynamics and contribute insights that could shape policy reforms.
“I would like to see your report at the end of this study,” he added. “Your research should help us better understand whether our challenge is truly resource competition or a failure of ownership and optimisation.”
Welcoming the cohort, the governor expressed optimism that their visit would provide an opportunity to assess the state’s modest achievements over the past three years while contributing to national development discourse.
Earlier, the leader of the faculty, Olalekan Fashanu, said NISS is a strategic training and research institution established to train leaders, top security and intelligence professionals in Nigeria and Africa. The Executive Intelligence Management Course is a flash of the institute which enables Participants to acquire the required knowledge to combat security challenges in their work places,countries.
The syndicate 1 members were drawn from a class of 74 participants of Course. 19. The other Syndicates were on a similar study tours, Bayelsa,Kaduna, Kogi Oyo and Taraba states
He informed the Governor that each year has a theme for the Course and this year’s theme is , “Ethnic militias and resource competition in Africa implication for National Security”
He added that as part of the requirements for the award of a Fellow of Security Institute,FSI, participants embark on local, regional and world study tours.
According to him, the findings of the study tour will be published and make available to the federal and states government for policy formulation.
Fashanu commended Enugu State Government’s heavy investment in security, calling on other states to emulate the state.
He also thanked Governor Mbah for the reception given them.
Dr Opa Ola( R)
In an interview with Newsmen, staff member of NISS, DrOpa-Ola Olusola Opa-Ola, commended Enugu state government for rdta the ultramodern Enugu State Command and Control Centre and the installation of AI-enabled cameras across the state saying it is a very potent infrastructure for fighting insecurity.
“We have come here on a study tour in Enugu State. We are happy with what we have seen so far. We are impressed, especially in the area of security.
“With the command and control they have installed, which has assisted them in so many ways in curbing insecurity and in identifying grey areas, and which is a major factor that enables them to achieve these great lengths that they have achieved.
“We hope other states can come around, copy this type of command and control that they have established here. It has assisted them to nip crime in the bud. Other states around here or even in the federation can copy this kind of security investment.
“It would help us to have fewer problems of insecurity nationwide. The Federal Government will be less in charge, while the state governments can do a lot with political will.”
He called for greater collaboration among all tiers of government and agencies in charge of security, saying that , “One agency cannot do it alone, and one state cannot do it alone except by collaboration.”
