The creation of the Office of Homeland Security has been long overdue, and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, deserves commendation for this laudable initiative.
The establishment of the office should not, in any way, be interpreted as an attempt to sideline the Office of the National Security Adviser, contrary to speculations in some quarters.
Homeland Security is an American initiative that gained global prominence after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Centre in the United States of America.
Following the 9/11 attacks in New York, about 22 agencies, including paramilitary and uniformed agencies, were coordinated under Department of Homeland Security to strengthen internal security, intelligence gathering and interagency collaboration.
Interestingly, Governor Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji of Ekiti State adopted a similar model in October 2023 with the establishment of the Homeland Intelligence Agency in Ekiti State. With the creation of the agency, the Director General worked with the Office of Special Adviser on Security Matters in Ekiti State to ensure smooth coordination of the state’s security architecture.
At the state level, the initiative was never designed to create rivalry, but to complement and strengthen the existing security framework. Even when concerns were raised or expressed on the possibility of overlaps in operational duties and responsibilities, by the time the Office was created, it was clear to all that there was no cause for alarm.
It should be noted that in the United States, the Department of Homeland Security shares responsibility with other national security institutions. What is paramount to all security agencies is collaboration, intelligence sharing, collective determination to end insecurity, public disorder, and terrorism, including banditry, gun running, narcotics and illegal immigration, trafficking, kidnapping, and other forms of insecurity in Nigeria.
I wish to therefore call on the Federal Government, as a matter of urgency, to give the office of Homeland Security a constitutional mandate in taking further steps to establish structures for the Homeland Security across all states of the federation.
The executive action of the Federal Government to establish the Office of Homeland Security reminds me of a prolific statement made by the then Obanla of Ijesa Isu – HRM Oba Adeniyi in February 2024, in response to Governor Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji at a meeting of the Ekiti State Traditional Council where he stated thus: “Your Excellency, where did you get this initiative for establishing Homeland Security? Please tell President Tinubu to replicate it in the other 36 states of the federation.”
Today, the vision and aspiration of the Ekiti State traditional rulers are gradually becoming a reality in Nigeria.
I wish to use this opportunity to heartily congratulate Major General Adeyinka A. Fadewa (Rtd.), on his appointment, as the Special Adviser to the President of Homeland Security, while I wish him a successful and impactful tenure in office.
Sgd. Adetunberu Oludotun Ph.D., FiCSS, FICSSM, FiGPCM, CPCP, CPSC Director General, Homeland Intelligence Agency, (President, Governing Council, Institute of Global Peace and Conflict Management).
May 12, 2026
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