Profile of Ambassador-Designate Lateef Kayode Are

Lateef Kayode Are, born in 1955, is a retired Nigerian Army Colonel and an accomplished security and intelligence expert.

He is widely recognised for his tenure as Director-General of the State Security Service (SSS).

He obtained a Master’s Degree in International Law and Diplomacy from the University of Lagos in 1987.

Earlier, in 1980, he graduated with a First Class Honours degree in Psychology from the University of Ibadan, emerging as the best overall student and recipient of the University Senate Prize, the Faculty of Social Sciences Prize and the Department of Psychology Prize.

His military foundation was built at the Nigerian Defence Academy (Regular Combatant Course 12), where he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in December 1974, finishing among the top ten cadets.

Are’s military career began with his commission into the Nigerian Army in 1974. He later served as an Intelligence Officer at the Directorate of Military Intelligence and rose to the rank of Colonel before his compulsory retirement from the Army in 1993.

His most prominent national appointment came in May 1999 when he became Director-General of the State Security Service, a role he held until August 2007.

His eight-year tenure remains the longest in the history of the organisation, spanning the administrations of Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. In April 2010, he served as Deputy National Security Adviser and subsequently took over as Acting National Security Adviser from 18 September to 4 October 2010, following the resignation of Gen. Aliyu Mohammed Gusau.

Lateef Kayode Are is regarded as a seasoned national security professional with more than 33 years of combined military and intelligence experience, including an uninterrupted eight-year leadership of Nigeria’s domestic intelligence agency.