The Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS), Oluwatosin Ajayi, has called for stricter enforcement of Nigeria’s laws, including stiffer punishment for terrorists, saying intelligence alone cannot eliminate terrorism and other forms of violent crime.
Mr. Ajayi said the Service is now focused on securing convictions rather than merely arraigning suspects, stressing the need for stronger legal consequences in the fight against insecurity.
Speaking during a chat with senior editors to mark his second anniversary in office, also called for an end to the ethnicisation and politicisation of criminality, insisting that criminals should be treated according to the law, irrespective of their ethnic or religious backgrounds.
The DG was appointed DSS Director-General by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in August 2024.
He said the DSS had recorded significant progress in the last two years through improved inter-agency cooperation, diligent prosecution, respect for human rights and reforms aimed at making the Service more accountable.
According to him, the Service had secured seven death sentences in terrorism-related cases, including four in the Owo case and one each in Kogi, Katsina and Sokoto, while other offenders received prison terms ranging from 20 to 40 years.
Ajayi said the DSS was also pushing for stiffer punishment for convicted terrorists, including those sentenced to life imprisonment, arguing that the country’s security realities had changed considerably.
He disclosed that the Service had intercepted or recovered 676 sophisticated firearms and 332,874 rounds of ammunition between May 29, 2023 and August 2026.
The DSS Director-General stressed that security agencies needed to do more to disrupt criminal supply chains, noting that cutting off the flow of weapons and ammunition remained critical to weakening criminal networks.
Ajayi attributed some of the difficulties in defeating insecurity to Nigeria’s difficult terrain, porous spaces and inadequate governance in remote communities.
He cited the Sahel, the Lake Chad area and the Niger Delta creeks as examples of areas where conventional security operations face serious challenges.
He therefore welcomed measures such as state police and forest guards, saying local security structures could better understand and respond to threats in difficult terrain.
Ajayi also defended the DSS’s preventive intelligence work, saying many of its successes remained classified. He acknowledged, however, that the continued attacks meant the Service had to do more.
“Intelligence all over the world can’t be perfect,” he said, adding that the objective should be to reduce crime to the barest minimum.
On human rights, the DSS boss said the Service had adopted what he described as restorative justice, including paying compensation to people wrongly affected by its operations.
He disclosed that compensation paid in various cases had exceeded N300 million.
In one case involving a Jos businessman who was mistakenly shot in 2016, Ajayi said the DSS paid an additional N10 million after a previous N10 million court award, provided medical treatment and helped rebuild the man’s livelihood.
He said the Service had also compensated a businesswoman who was mistakenly arrested during an anti-oil-bunkering operation, while other victims had received assistance, including replacement of damaged phones and scholarships.
Ajayi said civil disputes should no longer result in arrests, explaining that the DSS would seek judicial interpretation or redress in court where necessary.
He also pledged continued protection for journalists, describing them as “professional colleagues” who, like intelligence officers, gather information for the public and government respectively.
He argued that Nigeria needed “attitudinal change and a total rebirth”, insisting that the fight against insecurity must unite citizens, security agencies and the media against terrorism and other forms of criminality.
He urged the media not to amplify terrorists’ propaganda or portray their activities as successes, saying collective opposition to criminality would deny terrorists the publicity they need.
