Crisis Response Planning and Preparedness in Nigeria

The Bureau of Counterterrorism (CT) of the U.S. Department of State announces an open competition for organizations to submit applications to support the Nigerian interagency in designing, revising, and implementing crisis response plans and protocols. Nigeria is Africa’s largest democracy with a population of over 230 million people and the continent’s largest economy. However, Nigeria currently faces a terrorist threat from primarily the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria West Africa Province (ISIS-WA), the largest ISIS affiliate outside Iraq and Syria, that continues to expand throughout the country. Boko Haram, alQa'ida-aligned Ansaru, and a myriad of gangs and bandit organizations also remain persistent threats. Ensuring that Nigeria’s civilian security services are capable of responding to and managing a crisis is critical to ensuring the safety, stability, and prosperity of the country. This program should identify how the Nigerian interagency prepares crisis response plans, who is involved in that process, and how those plans are tested. CT expects the selected implementer to build the Nigerian interagency’s capacity to develop and/or update these crisis response plans through trainings, mentorship, and simulation exercises and assist the Nigerian interagency with developing their own trainings and exercises to maintain those crisis response plans after the program is over. The application should show an emphasis on interagency coordination in the program’s theory of change and an explanation of how interagency coordination will be assessed and measured. CT is also interested in how the implementer will facilitate sustainability through preparing the Nigerian interagency to institutionalize crisis response reviews. CT can also assist the selected implementer in coordinating and deconflicting program activities with previous foreign assistance programs that worked on this topic. Program Goal: Nigeria’s civilian security services are capable of effectively executing crisis response measures using interagency coordination and institutionalizing emergency management procedures, including the allocation of resources for response activities. Program Objective(s): This program seeks to achieve the following objectives: 1. By 2026, Nigeria has assessed its current interagency coordination efforts and crisis response plans. This objective must be met before the period of performance ends as all other objectives will build on it. 2. By 2027, Nigeria has developed or updated crisis response management plans that delineate roles, responsibilities, and authorities among applicable agencies and/or entities depending on where, when, and what type of crisis has occurred. 3. By 2027, Nigeria’s designated civilian security agencies (noted in Participants and Audiences) and interagency coordination capacities are strengthened through training, exercises, and simulations based on the crisis response plans developed with the assistance of the selected implementer. 4. By 2027, Nigeria’s designated civilian security agencies and interagency coordination capacities are assessed through tabletop exercises to determine the sustainability of crisis response planning, development, and validation procedures. Participants and Audiences: The intended target audience includes Nigeria’s Office of the National Security Advisor, the Department of State Security Services, Nigeria Police Force, Nigeria’s Security and Civil Defense Corps, INTERPOL’s Abuja National Central Bureau, Nigeria’s National Counterterrorism Center, Nigeria Immigration Service, and other Nigerian civilian security agencies and relevant ministries.