The Vice Chancellor of the University of Ilorin, Wahab Egbewole, has proposed diplomatic and security measures that could reshape Nigeria’s engagement with its regional neighbours.
Mr Egbewole, a professor of jurisprudence and international law, made the submission on Wednesday while delivering the inaugural lecture at the Strategic Intelligence Management Course Two (SIMC2), hosted by the Strategic Intelligence Management Institute (SIMI).
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SIMI, a 2025 state initiative, is designed to develop a Corps of strategic analysts and intelligence managers through research, innovation, and collaboration. Through its curriculum, SIMI explores linkages across Nigeria’s polity to build synergy for intelligence-based policy decisions, aiming at national development and security. It develops technocrats who understand intelligence’s role in policy. Graduates of the nine-month course earn honour of “Fellow of Strategic Intelligence Management Institute (fsimi).”
The event was themed: “Nigeria and Her Neighbours: New Regional Dynamics, New Policy Responses.”
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Mr Egbewole said the issue of shifting regional dynamics goes far beyond academic discourse. “This is an existential intelligence concern and an urgent diplomatic call to duty,” he said.
Between 2020 and 2023, Nigeria’s neighbourhood was convulsed by eight successful coups that swept across West and Central Africa, starting in Mali (August 2020 and May 2021), Guinea (September 2021), Burkina Faso (January and September 2022), Niger (July 2023), and Gabon (August 2023).
An attempted coup in the Benin Republic in December 2025 was suppressed only because of Nigeria’s swift military intervention.
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“For Nigeria, each coup in the neighbourhood comes with direct and indirect ruptures,” Mr Egbewole said. “The governance vacuum created brings immediate spill-over effects, frustrates the war against terrorism, throws up unpredictable actors into bilateral relationships, and creates conditions that violent jihadist groups and other criminal elements exploit to extend their operational reach.”
He warned that the expanding coup belt represents more than a regional governance problem. “It poses a direct national security threat that is progressively pushing instability southward toward Nigeria’s own borders.”
On the diplomatic front, Mr Egbewole recommended the appointment of dedicated senior Neighbourhood Policy Envoys, the establishment of a Nigeria Neighbourhood Security Council, and the appointment of a Special Envoy for re-engagement with the Alliance of Sahel States (AES).
The AES is the new organisation formed by Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso after they exited ECOWAS.
The don also called for Nigeria to champion a new ECOWAS Security Protocol.
A Revamped Security Framework
Mr Adewole proposed the development of a Nigerian Neighbourhood Defence Doctrine and the full operationalisation of the ECOWAS Standby Force.
He also recommended the establishment of a Nigeria-Benin-Ghana Coastal Security Corridor, the reinvigoration of the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) in the Lake Chad Basin, and full operationalisation of the Yaoundé Architecture on maritime security.
On the economic front, the vice chancellor advocated for a new partnership model that treats development as a security imperative. Specific proposals included the creation of a Nigeria Neighbourhood Development Fund, the mobilisation of the ECOWAS Business Council, and the full implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
Intelligence and Border Management
The professor called for sustained investment in the West Africa Intelligence Fusion Centre, the establishment of direct bilateral intelligence-sharing agreements, and the digitalisation of Nigeria’s border management infrastructure.
He further recommended the development of a dedicated counter-disinformation capacity within the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), noting that a disinformation offensive, alongside climate disruption and the displacement-conflict nexus, was among the key dynamics unsettling the region.
He also called for enhanced funding for Nigeria’s Technical Aid Corps, the establishment of a pipeline for research uptake in policymaking, and the promotion of community-to-community cross-border engagement programmes.
To bring these proposals to reality, Mr Egbewole called for the creation of a Neighbourhood Policy Execution Unit in the Presidency, the development of a Five-Year Nigeria Neighbourhood Strategy Document, and the ring-fencing of dedicated budgetary allocations for neighbourhood policy implementation.
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In conclusion, he issued a direct challenge to Nigeria’s leadership.
“Nigeria must urgently arise not by mere rhetoric, but through dedicated budget releases, specialised diplomatic appointments, intelligence investments, scholarship programmes, and community engagement initiatives,” he said.
“Nigeria can no longer handle its neighbourhood from a comfortable multilateral distance. It must engage bilaterally, continuously, intelligently, and with genuine strategic empathy for the human realities of each of its neighbours.”
Earlier in the programme, the Provost of SIMI, Jadesola Adesuyi, a veteran Nigerian diplomat and member of the national institute MNI, who served as Nigeria’s ambassador in many capacities, commended Mr Egbewole for facilitating the partnership between SIMI and the University of Ilorin.
“We have the good fortune of Professor Egbewole’s depth of knowledge as a scholar, legal luminary and administrator to help navigate these deep waters and chart a course towards cogent policy options,” Ms Adesuyi said.
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