Abstract
The ongoing threat of border-crossing insurgencies around Lake Chad has forced neighboring countries to rethink their defense strategies and work closely together. This study looks at the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) to see how well its organization and frontline operations actually perform in fighting insurgents in North-Eastern Nigeria. The study utilized Cooperative Security Theory (CST) to assess multilateral defense cooperation, and Regional Security Complex (RSC) Theory to analyze geopolitical security interdependencies within the subregion. Employing a descriptive survey research design, data was gathered from a targeted sample of 370 respondents across defense, diplomatic, and academic institutions using questionnaires, oral interviews, and secondary data analyzed via SPSS 25 and qualitative content analysis. The findings revealed a severe structural disconnect between the MNJTF’s idealized collaborative blueprint and its battlefield realities. While majority of the respondents acknowledge that the force’s mandate is clearly defined, the centralized headquarters in N’Djamena lacks genuine supranational authority. Under the lens of RSC and CST, this structural flaw manifests as command paralysis and institutional mistrust, prompting sector commanders to prioritize national directives over joint protocols. This dynamic fosters intelligence hoarding and slows critical response times. Furthermore, the lack of post-conflict policing capacities allows resilient insurgent cells to re-occupy cleared territories once frontline troops rotate out. The study concludes that the MNJTF’s operational impact is tactically constrained by geopolitical shocks, mismatched procurement cycles, and donor dependence. It recommended a legal restructuring of the MNJTF to grant the Force Commander supranational operational authority and the permanent integration of multinational policing capacities to secure liberated zones.
Keywords: Institutional Architecture, MNJTF, CounterInsurgency, Insurgency, Command Paralysis.
Author Name(s):
Mohammed Onaji Musa
Department of Political Science,
Faculty of Social Sciences, Nasarawa
State University, Keffi.
ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-2070-1988
Assoc. Prof. Ruth Caleb Luka
Department of Political Science,
Faculty of Social Sciences, Nasarawa
State University, Keffi.
Dr. Abdullahi Mohammed Abdul
Department of Political Science,
Faculty of Social Sciences, Nasarawa
State University, Keffi
Link DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23087257
Copyright © [2026] The Author(s). Published by the Journal of People and Worldviews (JPW). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Licence, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are properly credited.