As Antonio Guterres visits Nigeria…

Indeed, as President Muhammadu Buhari has recently said, Nigeria remains grateful to the United Nations and some world leaders for their steadfast partnership in fighting terrorism.

And, Nigeria has, indeed, every good reason to be grateful to the outsiders. For a starter, we are in Africa, yes, a big and the most important country in the continent but, if truth be told, how much does the entire continent mean to the United Nations and the most developed countries like the United States if America, United Kingdom, Germany, France, e.t.c. which Nigeria counts on for support in its terrorism fight?

Again, currently, the international spotlight on Europe, specifically on the Russia and Ukraine clearly avoidable war. Clearly, too, this war has the potency to distract, and in some cases it actually did distracted attention from other very important global issues and challenges such as the siege on the Al Aqsa mosque, in Jerusalem, the food shortages in Somalia and other African countries and the leadership crisis in Sri Lanka.

The President, who received the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, rightly said that the country and the African continent were, genuinely, concerned that the attention on Russia and Ukraine would crowd out other issues.

Therefore, according to the President, the visit of the UN scribe to Africa, clearly, shows that “the world has not forgotten us.”

But is that really the case? How would the visit of Guterres really translate to improved living conditions for Africa and, in particular, how will the visit help Nigeria win its fight against terrorism?

Commendably, the President, speaking during the visit, told Guterres that terrorism and its impacts are not limited to Africa alone. He said that terrorism remains a threat to global peace, security and progress. He recalled how terrorism ravaged the North-east Region of Nigeria and surrounding countries.

He told the UN scribe that his government had started a gradual, but steady, process of resettlement and reintegration where citizens get encouraged to return to their farms, businesses and other pursuits in life.

And, these are some of the areas where the United Nations Organisation can step in and also engineer and influence other developed countries to help Nigeria. The world, acting through the United Nations Organisation, must by now appreciate the need to join resources and fight terrorism, especially its sources of finances, because the monster is no respecter of boundaries.

Rightly, terrorism did not begin on 11 September 2001, but that terrible day did change the world. The attacks on the United States that claimed the lives of nearly three thousand innocent people showed that terrorism had morphed into a global phenomenon that could cause massive pain and destruction anywhere.

The magnitude of the attacks meant that no one could stand on the side-lines anymore. The fight had become global because the impact of terrorism was being felt everywhere.

The human values we share and work to uphold are derided by the terrorists. The promotion of peace, equality, tolerance, and dignity for all are universal values that transcend our national differences. They are the glue that binds us together. United as nations and people of the world, we must come together to protect our common humanity.

Agreed, the United Nations was engaged with the issue of terrorism long before that calamitous September morning some years ago. For decades, the organisation has brought the international community together to condemn terrorist acts and developed the international legal framework to enable states to fight the threat collectively.

Sixteen international treaties have been negotiated at the United Nations and related forums that address issues as diverse as the hijacking of planes, the taking of hostages, the financing of terrorism, the marking of explosives, and the threat of nuclear terrorism.

Still, the organisation needs to do more in the process of fighting terrorism, especially in less developed countries like Nigeria, that are battling with shortages of resources and equipment to successfully execute the war and, at the same time, provide infrastructure and other essentials needed to forestall criminal activities.

Currently, success in the fight against terrorism is measured in relative terms and major disparities persist. While some countries can spend billions of dollars on countering terrorism, others struggle to put in place even the basic measures needed to protect their borders and bring terrorists to justice.

When a large proportion of a country’s population lives in poverty, as it is with the case of many countries in Africa, it is no surprise that they put scarce resources into development rather than counter-terrorism.

Of course, that is understood and countries in Africa should adopt approaches that have the dual benefit of protecting the country’s economic and developmental interests while enhancing their security.

Agree, preventing terrorist attacks is a challenge for everyone, even for countries that are richly endowed with resources and skilled personnel. For most nations, realistically, the implementation of the long list of measures envisaged by the Security Council resolutions and the Global Strategy is going to be patchy at best.

For Nigeria, especially, the task is daunting: securing its borders, tightening financial controls, strengthening the role of the police, improving criminal justice systems and providing mutual legal assistance to other countries trying to convict terrorists in their courts.

Thus, it is hoped that the visit made by Guterres to Nigeria has opened his eyes to these challenges faced by the country in the global fight against terrorism. It is hoped, too, that the Secretary-General, before and after his visit, appreciated the strategic importance of Nigeria in Africa and globally and realised that helping Nigeria fight insurgency, keep the country as one and prevent displacement and movement of its millions of people as refugees are tasks that must be accomplished.

Thankfully, the Secretary-General said: “Yesterday, I visited Maiduguri where the United Nations is supporting the internally displaced. I was deeply moved by their stories and struggles. These include the struggles with hunger, with the World Food Programme projecting 4.1 million people in the North-east of Nigeria to be food insecure in the upcoming lean season.’’
Guterres said the United Nations had called for an additional 351 million dollars as part of the overall 1.1 billion dollars for the humanitarian response plan for Nigeria.

Beheading of soldiers by IPOB

President Muhammadu Buhari has condoled with the Nigerian Army and the families of Master Warrant Officer Audu Linus and his partner, Private Gloria Mathew, who were beheaded after being shot by a terrorist group, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) last week.

Their corpses were inhumanely treated and gleefully posted on social media platforms while the sad development was confirmed by the Nigerian Army.
The President joined others in expressing his deep sense of shock and condemns the barbarism of the perpetrators of this unfortunate incident.

The president, in a statement issued by his media aide, Garba Shehu, condemned the barbarism of the perpetrators of the incident and similar acts of violence against law enforcement agents, described the ugly development as alien to all cultures and civilizations.

He, therefore, directed the military authorities and other security agencies to apprehend the perpetrators of the barbaric acts and bring them to justice.

But, can the security agencies do that when they have failed to do so in some past similar situations? Clearly, something is wrong with the Nigerian security system/architecture as presently constituted. Will a change in Nigeria’s security architecture lead to a reduction in the security challenges?

A national security architecture is a combination of national policies, strategies and plans for securing lives and properties in the country as well as the institutions and structures for their creation, management and oversight. It goes beyond the remit of any single security organisations to include everyone involved in defining a nation’s strategic security priorities.

It also entails how to structure the institutions, ensure they are resourced, coordinated, and evaluated. Nigeria needs to define its security problem, prioritise objectives, define strategy, secure the involvement of the people, expand the force, agree institutional arrangements, and secure funding.
Nigeria’s inability to properly define or contextualise its security challenges has resulted in many ineffectual responses. Boko Haram has, at various stages, been defined as a religious, regional, class problem.

Even the appellation, “Boko Haram,” some say, is evidence of a failure to understand the real nature of the challenge. Even at the moment, there is still a failure to properly define the conflict as the insurgents align more closely with the global terror organisation, “Islamic State”. This failure has impacted Nigeria’s response to the problem.

In the end, it should be noted that every Nigerian has a role to play in tackling security challenges facing the country. There is need for a unified stance guided by an agreed national interest, irrespective of political, religious and ethnic affiliations.

This national security architecture should significantly improve Nigeria’s chances of mitigating the spate of violence across the country.