By Ebi Elezieanya

More than two decades after the adoption of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 (UNSCR 1325), one of the greatest misunderstandings surrounding its implementation remains the belief that it is primarily a women’s welfare agenda.

It is not.

UNSCR 1325 is, first and foremost, a national security framework.

When the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 1325 on October 31, 2000, it did not do so because it wanted to create another programme for women’s empowerment. It did so because decades of conflict across the world had revealed a profound weakness in how governments and international institutions approached peace and security.

Women were experiencing conflict differently, often more severely, than men. They were disproportionately affected by displacement, sexual violence, poverty, family separation, and the collapse of social services. Yet despite bearing some of the greatest costs of conflict, they remained largely excluded from peace negotiations, security planning, post-conflict reconstruction, and political decision-making.

The Security Council recognized something that many governments had failed to understand: excluding women from security processes was not simply unfair; it was strategically unsound.

The architects of UNSCR 1325 understood that security cannot be built by excluding half of a nation’s population from the conversations and decisions that shape peace.

Unfortunately, many countries, including Nigeria, have often approached the Women, Peace and Security agenda through the lens of welfare rather than security.

The result is that implementation is frequently confined to gender departments, women’s affairs ministries, and development programmes. Conferences are held. Workshops are organized. Awareness campaigns are conducted. While these efforts have value, they do not fully address the core purpose of the resolution.

UNSCR 1325 was never intended to ask how governments can help women.

It was intended to ask how governments can build stronger security systems by including women.

This distinction matters.

When women are viewed only as beneficiaries of security, they become passive recipients of protection. When women are viewed as security stakeholders, they become active participants in creating peace and stability.

The evidence supporting this approach is overwhelming.

Women often possess unique access to community information that formal security institutions may not have. They frequently identify early warning signs of radicalization, communal tension, criminal activity, and social instability before these threats become visible to state authorities.

Women serve as community mediators, peacebuilders, educators, caregivers, and social stabilizers. In conflict-affected communities, they are often among the first responders and among the last to abandon efforts to preserve social cohesion.

These contributions are not peripheral to national security. They are central to it.

For Nigeria, this reality is particularly significant.

Our nation faces a complex security environment characterized by insurgency, banditry, kidnapping, communal conflict, violent extremism, organized crime, and growing social tensions. These challenges cannot be solved solely through military deployments or law enforcement operations.

They require intelligence.

They require trust.

They require community resilience.

They require inclusive governance.

Most importantly, they require the participation of those who understand the realities of insecurity at the community level.

This is where UNSCR 1325 becomes indispensable.

The resolution challenges governments to move beyond seeing women as victims of conflict and to recognize them as intelligence assets, peacebuilders, negotiators, policymakers, and security actors.

The true measure of implementation is therefore not how many workshops are conducted or how many policy documents are produced.

The real question is whether women are present where security decisions are made.

Are women represented on national security advisory bodies?

Are women participating in peace negotiations?

Are women shaping counterterrorism strategies?

Are women involved in intelligence and early-warning systems?

Are women influencing national security policy?

If the answer to these questions is largely no, then implementation remains incomplete regardless of how many action plans have been launched.

Nigeria has made important progress. National Action Plans have been developed. Awareness has increased. State-level initiatives have emerged. More conversations are taking place about women’s participation in peace and security.

Yet the next phase of implementation must be more ambitious.

The goal should not be to bring women into security discussions as observers.

The goal should be to bring women into security decision-making as leaders.

This is not a matter of political correctness. It is a matter of strategic effectiveness.

A nation cannot maximize its security potential while excluding half of its human capital from the institutions responsible for securing it.

The future of Nigerian security will not be determined solely by the strength of our armed forces or the sophistication of our intelligence services. It will also be determined by our ability to build a security architecture that reflects the full capabilities of our people.

That is the true vision of UNSCR 1325.

It was never intended to be a women’s welfare agenda.

It was intended to be a national security strategy.

This article aligns strongly with your broader message that women’s inclusion in governance and national security is not simply a gender issue—it is a strategic necessity for building a safer, more stable, and more resilient Nigeria.

Ebi Elezieanya is the Executive Director, iTeach Africa Initiative, and Empower Her for Governance Initiative, wrote in from Abuja.