Nigeria, Feb. 1 -- The purpose of this reflection is to review the chronic inaction and absence of decisive approaches that have undermined national security, resulting in bloodshed and immense human and material loss. This review interrogates three violent uprisings which history reveals were avoidable from their infancy through their gestation and bloody birth in Northern Nigeria. A further aim is to examine the common assumption held by many Nigerians, particularly commentators, that the nation's security predicament is primarily due to a failure in intelligence gathering. After interrogating and confirming or refuting this hypothesis, this reflection offers remedial insights based on its findings.

The Maitatsine uprising of December ...