President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday vowed to keep his promise of protecting Nigerians and securing its territory against the menace of Boko Haram terrorism and other violent extremists in the country.
The President made this vow when he launched the revised National Counter Terrorism Strategy (NACTEST) developed by the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) in Abuja. The President who was represented by the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo decried the activities of Boko Haram militants describing it as “Mindless killing of children and innocent.”
President Buhari said: “The government is determined to ensure that the safety of every single Nigerian is a priority this is why I have repeatedly ordered our law enforcement agents to ensure that perpetrators of violent acts are arrested and made to face the law. The activities of armed herdsmen and host farmers, kidnapper, criminal militants threaten our peace and security and the sanctity of our nation.
“We will not allow anyone, under any guise, whether it is politics, culture or religion to violate life or property of another citizen. This is the oath to which I swore and I will uphold it at all cost.”
The President said terrorism is not static and Nigeria’s response must therefore be dynamic and versatile. He described the review of the National Counter Terrorism strategy as fit for purpose and adequately responds to the current and imminent and future challenges.
The first edition of the NACTEST was launched in 2014 at the peak of counter terrorism campaign in the Northeast. The revised edition has taken into detailed consideration the implementation of a citizen centred counter terrorism strategy. It has also corrected some of the deficiencies in the implementation putting more responsibility on the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
In a very sober mood, the President went down memory lane to describe how he joined the Nigerian Army and how the creed of brotherhood propelled the early officers into sacrificing for the security of Nigeria.
“I joined the army early in life and I spent all my professional life in the armed forces of Nigeria, I and so many others were trained to accept, believe and prepared to die for the security and safety of the country and to protect the territorial integrity of Nigeria.
“And indeed many of my colleagues gave their lives defending this nation and its great people, we came from every nook and cranny of Nigeria, there were Muslims, Christians and atheists in our number. It doesn’t matter where you were from or how you worship, we were just Nigerian soldiers committed to ourselves and to our nation. We were completely convinced by the word s of our old national anthem that though tribe and tongue may differ in brotherhood we stand.”
The President said the reckless campaign of Boko Haram insurgents in the last few years was meant to terrorize and produce maximum fear which unfortunately was strengthened by the “disgraceful greed of some in government and in high office in the armed forces at the time.”
In justifying the review of the NACTEST, the president said even though the capacity of Boko Haram has been fatally depleted, their activities lingers through several channels by which they continue to recruit young and impressionable people.
“This is why a robust and dynamic counter terrorism strategy is crucial in the fight against terror and must be constantly reviewed to be relevant to contemporary challenges.
“Today we are gathered to launch the revised counter terrorism strategy, that it is a revised strategy underscores the fact that we recognize that terrorism is not static and our response must be dynamic and versatile, this strategy is fit for purpose and adequately responds to the current and imminent and future challenges.
“There must be the understanding that the war against terrorism is a most unconventional one, the enemy is essentially an insane nuisance, does not obey any rule of warfare, kills the defend less including prisoners, use children as human shield and considered the killing of anyone as victory.”
He advocated a new strategy which is aimed at winning the “battle of the mind”. “As we think through our strategy, we must not only win the physical battle, we must win the battle of the mind, even as the most impressionable among them will sign up to join Boko Haram and other extremist groups.
“We must understand that terrorist is essentially a psychological warfare and as such a psychological and sophisticated response is necessary. Through the leadership of our faith we must educate them and they must know neither Islam nor any other religion endorses the slaughter of any and the shout of God is great even when they do not know the meaning of these words.”
On the plight of the Internally Displaced People (IDPs) in the Northeast, the President announced that a new Inter-Ministerial committee which will be headed by the Vice President will review the situation in a bid to find a solution.
While commending the ONSA , the President urged the MDAs to adhere to their respective roles as stipulated in the strategy.
The National Security Adviser (NSA), Major General Babagana Mohammed Monguno (Rtd), said the review of the NACTEST was a directive from the President which mandated the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) to begin immediate implementation of the strategy throughout the country.
He said the ONSA is empowered by Section 2, sub-section 1 (a)-(d) of the Terrorism Prevention Act, to coordinate all security and law enforcement agencies in counter-terrorism and provide them with support to prevent and combat terrorism, ensure the effective formulation and implementation of a counter terrorism strategy, build capacity and do such other acts or things that are necessary for the effective functions of the relevant security and law enforcement agencies.
In the revised edition of the NACTEST, there is an effective collaboration with other MDAs with the establishment of a Counter Terrorism desk which will oversee all counter terrorism activities in the agency.
The new NACTEST is organized around five streams namely; Forestall, Secure, Identify, Prepare and Implement with key objectives and success indicators. A new benchmark for the evaluation of the implementation of NACTEST has also been reviewed to include salient areas like the Nigeria Countering Violent Extremist program (Soft Approach to CT) and the Strategic Communication program.
The revised NACTEST has also been interpreted into the three main Nigerian languages and a training of officials on its implementation of from the state and local government will commence immediately.
According to the coordinator, Counter Terrorism Centre (CTC) in the ONSA, Commodore Yem Musa, said the NACTEST is to implement citizen-centered counter terrorism strategy. “The aim of NACTEST is to reduce the risk of the country and its interests abroad from terrorism and ensure that people can go about their lives unhindered.
“With the increasing role of the family, communities, religious environment, in engendering social cohesion and offering positive alternatives, the need to include some MDAs and address some oversights in the first edition has become pertinent.
“Consequent upon this, the NACTEST is revised according to Presidential directives and the bi-annual stipulation to address the observed deficiencies,” he said.
Commodore Musa said the successful delivery of NACTEST depends on partnership among all tiers of Government; the public, private sector and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs).
“A lot also depends on efforts of well – meaning Nigerians, non-governmental organizations, members of communities and support from foreign governments and organizations,” Musa said.
The ONSA has also developed National Terrorism Threat Levels which is meant to guide government agencies on measures to be taken on receipt of information on a likely terrorist attack.
The threat alert which is in five levels are: Critical (Red) – Attack is imminent; Severe (Orange) – Attack is highly likely; Substantial (Yellow) – Attack is a strong possibility; Moderate (Blue) – Attack is possible but not likely; Low (Green) – Attack is unlikely.
Also the authority to issue appropriate threat levels will lie with the ONSA. According to Musa, the NSA will issue appropriate threat levels based on the threat analysis and risk assessment by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Branch (JTAB) whose work is dependent on inputs from relevant intelligence gathering and security agencies.
