IGWEBUIKE: African Journal of Arts and Humanities

The issue of insecurity has become a major challenge in Nigeria, and this has warranted the need for efficient methods of tackling this all-important problem. Intelligence gathering, which is the procurement of vital and relevant information necessary for a nation to maintain its global and national security, is said to have an important role to play in tackling insecurity. This study assessed the challenges affecting intelligence gathering for efficient security operations in Nigeria. It also examined the roles of intelligence gathering in security management in Nigeria. In doing this, the opinions of 384 officers of the Nigeria Police Force in Ondo and Kaduna States were obtained through a well-structured questionnaire and the collected data were analysed with mean score analysis and the Mann-Whitney U test. Findings showed that reduction in likelihood of surprise attacks (MS = 4.72) emerged as the most significant role of intelligence gathering, followed closely by weakened criminal and insurgent networks (MS = 4.71). Furthermore, the study found that poor remuneration and welfare of security personnel (MS = 4.71) is the most important challenge facing intelligence gathering, followed by fear of reprisal against informants (MS = 4.69), and public distrust of security agencies (MS = 4.69). The study concluded that poor remuneration and welfare of security personnel and fear of reprisal against informants are the challenges mostly affecting effective intelligence gathering in Nigeria.

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