Paper long abstract:

The United Nations' recognised Sahel African region includes Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Gambia, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal. These countries, especially Nigeria are facing security threats. Nigeria, a former British colony that gained independence in 1960 is home to 201 million out of Sahel Africa's 342.3 million populations in 2019. The population is endowed with indigenous knowledge, diverse ethnic, cultural, religious groups and vegetation. As a response to the rising insecurity from religious insurgency, kidnapping, armed banditry, armed robbery and farmers-herdsmen conflicts, Nigeria's federal law enforcement agents have been using non-African conventional knowledge and tools. Yet lives and property are not completely safe. At a point, some state governments engaged local hunters, vigilantes and traditionalists as auxiliary security operatives, but only scanty literature, if any give detailed, reliable and valid analysis of the instances, when local security agents that are users of indigenous knowledge complement federal security agents that often deployed scientific knowledge in securitisation. This paper examines the indigenous knowledge applied; explains why indigenous knowledge is applied; considers the relevance of indigenous knowledge; and identifies the challenges faced by local security operatives when applying indigenous knowledge in the securitisation of Sahel Nigeria. Theoretically the study was underpinned by Auguste Comte's law of three stages. The study was based on qualitative research design and the secondary data were collected from 2009-2019's purposively sampled online newspapers, whose contents were analysed thematically and findings discussed. This study found that indigenous knowledge of surveillance, intelligence gathering, detection and kitting in protective elements were common to local security agents. It was found that the local security operatives complemented the efforts of federal security agents whose regular used of scientific devices failed to completely deter the insurgents, kidnappers, bandits, robbers and attackers of farmers. Study revealed that indigenous knowledge strengthened the securitisation of Nigeria. Again, the study found that the local security agents supported federal security's activities, exposed the secrets of criminals and projected the indispensability of local outfits in the region. The research found poor kitting, training on scientific strategies and government recognition as the challenges experienced by local security agents. In conclusion, the northern Nigeria has state government-backed auxiliary security body that employ indigenous knowledge, skills and tools in neutralising deviants. Recommendations are that local security agents should be remunerated monthly and collaborative security services should continuously be provided by local and federal security operatives in Sahel parts of Nigeria.