Security Sector Reform as Diplomacy: International Assistance, Military Governance, and Nigeria’s Civilian Control Challenges

This dissertation examines the diplomatic dimensions of security sector reform (SSR) assistance to Nigeria, analysing how international efforts to professionalise Nigerian security forces, strengthen civilian oversight, and improve human rights compliance interact with Nigeria's sovereignty interests, domestic civil-military relations, and the political economy of the security sector. Nigeria has received SSR assistance from the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, and the United Nations over the past two decades, targeting the military, police, and intelligence services. Drawing on civil-military relations theory, SSR theory, and international political economy, this study develops an original analysis of the design, delivery, and outcomes of SSR assistance programmes in Nigeria from 2010 to 2024, examining the gap between donor objectives and recipient state absorption of reform norms. Primary data are drawn from USAID and FCDO programme evaluations, EU SSR mission reports, National Assembly committee records, interviews with military officers who participated in international training programmes, and human rights organisation assessments of security force conduct. The dissertation's theoretical contribution advances SSR theory by demonstrating that the effectiveness of internationally assisted SSR is not primarily a function of programme design quality but is instead determined by the alignment between reform objectives and the interests of domestic military elites, producing the original concept of selective compliance to describe how recipient security institutions absorb technically compatible reforms while resisting politically threatening accountability mechanisms. Keywords: security sector reform, Nigeria, civil-military relations, international assistance, military governance.