On August 3rd, 2009, I wrote a piece for Nigeria World, titled, “Insecurity, Terrorism, and Intelligence failure.” In it I asserted that “ the Nigerian government had to make an honest assessment on whether the security of the nation is a top priority. If that is an affirmative priority, then counterterrorism measures should be enacted to effectively tackle the spreading surge of religious terrorist groups that are taking roots in Nigeria’s polite. Counterterrorism units must be created and experts on terrorism intelligence gathering and analysis must be retained, new ones trained and data routinely collected, stored and analyzed for an effective use. Corruption also should be aggressively addressed since without that, any fight against other areas will become ineffective. Bottom line is – the Nigerian government must have to become serious or they will be on the losing end even before the war began and as such may become another Somalia, or Afghanistan.”
On August 3rd, 2009, I wrote a piece for Nigeria World, titled, “Insecurity, Terrorism, and Intelligence failure.” In it I asserted that “ the Nigerian government had to make an honest assessment on whether the security of the nation is a top priority. If that is an affirmative priority, then counterterrorism measures should be enacted to effectively tackle the spreading surge of religious terrorist groups that are taking roots in Nigeria’s polite. Counterterrorism units must be created and experts on terrorism intelligence gathering and analysis must be retained, new ones trained and data routinely collected, stored and analyzed for an effective use. Corruption also should be aggressively addressed since without that, any fight against other areas will become ineffective. Bottom line is – the Nigerian government must have to become serious or they will be on the losing end even before the war began and as such may become another Somalia, or Afghanistan.”
On February 22, 2014, I had an interview with the Nigerian Guardian, titled, “Internal Capacity Must Be Built If Nigeria Would Win Fight Against Boko Haram Insurgency” the publication calls on Major General Sarkin Yarkin Bello, the Counter Terrorism Center Coordinator for Nigeria to make public his Counter Terror Policy or initiative for Nigeria’s fight against terror. On March 23rd, 2014, Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd), the National Security Adviser (NSA) to the President of Nigeria released a statement announcing that the Office of the NSA has unveiled a new approach to Counter Terrorism. This approach involves the establishment of Counter Terrorism Center (CTC), under the office of the NSA. The CTC comprises of two departments, the Joint Terrorism Analysis Branch (JTAB) and the behavioral Analysis and Strategic Communication Unit (BASCU). The CTC has also developed a dynamic and comprehensive National Counter Terrorism Strategy (NACTEST), in consultation with experts and international partners. As sketchy as the pronouncements are, one can glean from what he called a carrot approach to fighting terror, his thought process. This approach from limited understanding will be premised on rehabilitation of apprehended terrorists; providing needed infrastructure in the North; employment opportunities; et al. There is also another positive indicator, which is the pronouncement that Nigeria, Chad, Benin, Cameroon, and Niger have reached a deal on Joint Border Patrol.
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Upon review of the above initiatives, one is inclined to question whether it is too little too late an approach. My rational for such skepticism is that Nigeria have lost more than ten years it could have used to have its house in order of Counter Terrorism fight. The trajectory and indications were there, people like myself wrote publications warning of the emerging threat that Nigeria will face as a hub for terrorist, but no disernable action was taken on that. In my article in the Guardian Newspaper in 2012, I also made mention of possible consequences in the event the emerging threats were left unaddressed.
One of the ways that Nigeria have lost ground is the unconventional approach that it adopted in choosing the leadership of those tasked with this fight on terror. As I mentioned in my last Guardian Newspaper piece, Major General Sarkin Yarkin Bello in my belief is the wrong person to lead this fight. I premised my views on the simple fact that the extant fight is a progressive one. Major General Sarkin Yarkin Bello had little or no knowledge, experience, education and or desired acquired interest in Boko Haram, and terrorism as a whole. This is not meant to portray Major General Sarkin Yarkin Bello as unqualified, in my views he is, but not in this current field of counter terrorism and Boko Haram. When Nigeria started paying attention to terrorism after the Nigerian Police Force Headquarters and the UN Building in Abuja, Boko Haram has already established its network, and recruitment through its propaganda and its effective use of Islam to manipulate and gain followers which was an already effective method. What Nigeria needed then was not a leader that had to learn on the job, but one that is seasoned. Remember, as you are playing catch up, so are Boko Haram advancing its sophistication both on intelligence use and in weaponry production and use. The leadership of the proposed departments and the kind of experts involved without political permutations determines its effectiveness.
The other area that I had mentioned in prior publications is the faulty organizational structure that existed in the Counter Terrorism Center. NSA’s office oversees the (CTC). This shouldn’t have been the case. I have always called for Major General Sarkin Yarkin Bello and his department to be allowed to be his own man by leading a separate agency which is the Counter Terrorism Center. This agency can collaborate with the NSA in an asymmetrical approach but not in a drop down hierarchical approach. The existing approach to some extent limits the agencies budget needs, limits its ability to be proactive and confines it to the intelligence agencies mantra and doctrine which in more ways are always at odds with counter terror agency needs. Yes, intelligence is needed in this fight, but there are other variables that must be in place in a fight and effort as Boko Haram.
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Examples of these inefficiencies could be deduced from the nonexistence of required man power of think thanks on Counter Terror in the fold, the new department (NACTEST) may be the answer to such deficiency if allowed to function as it should. In the past, the NSA and the CTC has not seen it fit to use professional think thanks in the area of Counter Terrorism to help them fashion out the correct policies, now a policy has been fashioned, the implementation then becomes the next challenge. If you look closely at what Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd) has provided as a policy initiative, one cannot be surprised if that was a policy initiative that has been handed down to him from the FBI or Israel. I have always maintained that Boko Haram issue cannot and will not be wished away. It is here to stay, and Nigeria needs a home grown policy that is in consonant with the local terrain, politics, et al in order to be able to contain, and manage the situation.
The other reason why I’m skeptical about the new approach is that when one looks at the Nigerian Security Budget in general (encompassing the NPF; the NSA office; the Counter Terror Agency) from 2008 to date, one will see line item budgets on security equipment’s; security services; security technologies that Nigeria has paid for but that were never implemented. Where are the oversight? The other area that limits corporation from Foreign or Diaspora Nigerians is on instances where experts including qualified Counter Terrorism that are of Nigerian decent and in diaspora comes back with meaningful ideas and solutions, they are either frustrated or down out rightly swindled out of their Intellectual Property Rights by the responsible people in the Nigerian Security field. There have been instances where these agencies will readily accept the proposals, encourage discussions and at the end of the day, take all gathered information and deliver to their crooners who in most instances are unqualified to handle such complex matters. At the end of the day, Nigeria is left with rot, without any delivery of required Security Service. Nigeria cannot outsource its National Security needs, unfortunately, that is exactly what is happening when you have conflicting countries with their own unique terrorism policies foisting those policies on Nigeria leadership, you end up with a confused chaos and an ineffective result.
From Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd)’s suggested way forward, he proposed poverty alleviation; infrastructure development; de-radicalization; education of the at risk youths just to mention a few. On August 19th, 2013, an article I published in Nigerian Tribune, titled, “Boko Haram: Recruitment and radicalism”. I wrote then that, “Some professionals in the field argue that poverty, unemployment and certain historical, cultural, economic and sociopolitical characteristics of the larger society do not cause individuals to become terrorists, but they can be classified as providing an enabling environment for the terrorist groups to capitalize on. In order words, the root causes then become facilitators of terrorism that can include access to weapons, financial support and a safe heaven.”
It really behooves one not to see the unpracticality of the proposed solution. Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd), never mentioned where it has budgeted for those projects that he is initiating. The above minimally listed areas are capital intensive and his agency cannot be able to implement those. Even if there is money in the budget, I have not seen a holistic approach that will come to bear. For instance, what are the criteria and qualification for those entities that will be tasked with de-radicalization of the at risk youths? Once de-radicalized, then what? Will there be money and programs for rehabilitation? What do you do with those that you failed to de-radicalize? Other areas of concern in this area are: If education is sin according to Boko Haram mantra, how then can Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd) be able to build schools, infrastructure and the like that he is proposing? On August 3rd, 2009, I wrote a piece for Nigeria World, titled, “Insecurity, Terrorism, and Intelligence failure.” In it I opined that, “For Nigeria to have an honest and effective fight against this violent Islamist terrorist uprising, first Nigeria had to understand why members are recruited and what binds them together as well.” Current proposed approach by Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd) deals with how to de-radicalize, but will that effort include the affinity factor, what exactly are the glue factor. For instance, why is it more appealing for a recruited Boko Haram member to be influenced by a foreign jihadist fighter and radical against his own brothers and sisters, and his own neighborhood? How did such apathy against the nation state become the norm?
The other important areas to point out is the lack of existing capacity of the Nigeria Law enforcement agencies. For instance, the Nigerian Police Force is still in an antiquated stone age in Policing. There has been no progress in its approach and the fact that they trained a couple of snipers here and there as a ready deploy force does not make or qualify them as ready for a fight against terror. Crime database is still none existing in the NPF. There has been initiatives on the table for the Nigeria Police Force to update its crime database, but those efforts have been frustrated by the leadership both at the NPF and the Ministry of Police Affairs. Instead, the NPF leadership finds it as a priority to change its uniform at a greater cost instead of modernizing its force through technology and crime database which should have cost less. More disturbing is the fact that the Nigerian Army are now tasked with fighting the war on terror for Nigeria, a job that constitutionally belonged to the NPF.
If you want to know how Nigeria and Boko Haram got to this point, you only have to look at the initial stages of this fight and the role of the NPF. Had NPF and the Counter Terrorism Agency been better equipped and educated on terrorism, containment of Boko Haram would have been effected, but they were not. A lot of room was granted to Boko Haram, they took it and they became emboldened by the day. Also, by this approach of using the Nigeria military, a non-civilian law enforcement agency in a democratic environment to fight indigenous rebellion, it exposes Nigeria to untoward Human Rights violations and most importantly generated sympathy for Boko Haram and made it easier for Boko Haram to recruit. As a result of this abuse, residents in North East Nigeria are now seeing some of their family members, unjustly killed, mimed, raped, plundered etc. by the Nigeria Military Forces that have been tasked with restoring order and safety.
For the new initiative to gain any traction, the militarized approach will have to be revisited. In previous interviews that I granted on both television and on radio, I opined that the use of Nigeria military in this fight is acceptable, I have not changed my mind on that but I have come to appreciate that conditions must be placed on such use, excesses and abuses must be curtailed because one of those initiative that Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd) readily proffered goes to the core of recruitment and radicalization. Abuses breeds sympathy which in turn breeds joining the course or non-provision / withholding of vital Intel to the law enforcement agencies.
In concluding this piece, I applaud Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd) for making an effort to heed the cry for openness and the need to make available policy initiatives that Nigeria has in place for the fight on Boko Haram menace, I however implore Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd) to further make available his entire report for experts in the Counter Terrorism field to digest and possibly make meaningful contributions to, as that can help Nigeria’s effort. Also, I implore Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd) to broaden his views on who gets involved in this fight. It is no longer a military only approach, but one that will require experts not only in the counter Terrorism discipline but others in behavioral science; etc. Absent that, Nigeria will only be fighting a war that becomes unending and at the expense of its citizens who could have easily be swayed into an acceptance of an allegiance to the Nigerian State. Having stated all of the above, the major fundamental area that failed to be addressed is the corruption influence on Terrorism.
Corrupt Politicians Fund Boko Haram to a large extent, and efforts in financing area was negligently amiss from what Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd) had proposed. Again, I will make bold to state that unless, the facilitators, financiers, motivators, religious influencers of Boko Haram are not addressed in a new approach, Nigeria will be running an endless cycle of insurgency fight that will know no end. There are already laws in Nigeria, including treaties that Nigeria is a signatory to, use those laws to prosecute corrupt Politicians and financiers, that way the life blood of Boko Haram will be cut. Once that is effective done, all proposed efforts will begin to gain a meaningful traction.
Ibegbu, CTE, a counter- terrorism expert, writes in from United States of America I2 Security Group. [email protected]
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of SaharaReporters
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