Oyo Govt Advocates Combination of Formal, Spiritual Intelligence to Tackle Security Threats
…As Lawal says Amotekun Corps should be integrated into national defence and intelligence courses
The Oyo State Government has called for the deliberate combination of formal intelligence training and spiritual intelligence to effectively tackle Nigeria’s evolving security challenges.
The Acting Governor of the state, Barrister Bayo Lawal, made the call on Thursday at the Oyo State Secretariat, Ibadan, while receiving participants of the Advanced Defence Intelligence Officers’ Course 16/2026, who were on a study tour of the state.
Lawal, who was represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Professor Musibau Babatunde, said the Western Nigeria Security Network, codenamed Amotekun Corps, should be incorporated into national defence and intelligence courses to enable participants benefit from its local security expertise.
According to him, Nigeria’s security challenges have evolved beyond conventional threats, with kidnapping, banditry, organised crime, cyber threats, human trafficking and communal tensions now posing serious security concerns.
The Acting Governor also recounted instances where operatives of the Amotekun Corps had deployed spiritual intelligence to complement conventional policing and intelligence-gathering efforts.
He said the state government would formally write to relevant agencies to request the inclusion of the Amotekun Corps in future national security and intelligence training programmes.
Lawal urged the course participants to use the study tour to observe security operations, engage stakeholders, ask questions and consider how lessons gathered could be translated into practical measures for strengthening national security.
Earlier, the Defence Intelligence College delegation, led by Commodore Usman Bugaje, said the study tour was designed to expose the participants to sub-national security architectures, community engagement strategies and intelligence coordination models.
The delegation said the experience would further enhance the officers’ understanding of intelligence gathering and security management at the grassroots level.
