The security and sovereignty of the Nigerian State have been under threat for over ten years as a result of the emergence and activities of insurgent groups, such as Boko Haram, ISWAP, and recently the Lakurawa group in the Northeast, North-West, and the Middle Belt and North Central zones of Nigeria coupled with other insecurity challenges like kidnapping and abductions in other parts of Nigeria.
The security challenges Nigeria faces from insurgency have impacted national peace and security. Nowadays, the frequency of insurgent attacks has resulted in collateral damage to the peace, stability, development, and sovereignty of the state. The activities of these non-state actors have shown the indecisiveness of the federal and state governments in tackling this intractable problem. This places urgent demands on the government to adopt new strategies that will address and contain the insurgent and terrorist groups in our country.
Therefore, to combat these terrorists, there is a need to follow the path of industrialized countries, particularly those that have gained significant experience in fighting international terrorism, by building a robust intelligence gathering mechanism. Moreover, the activities of these terrorist groups have shown a lack of commitment, wrong prioritization of public policy, and corruption, which may have slowed down the implementation of this plan, which has remained a major impediment in the fight against terrorism and insurgency in Nigeria. As a way of dealing with and combating terrorism, all insurgents and terrorists caught or who surrender must be fully prosecuted and adequately punished, but unfortunately, justice does not prevail as these offenders are freed on grounds of amnesty or pardon, and encourage more acts of terrorism or motivate the emergence of more insurgent groups to strike the state.
One of the reasons it has taken so long to break Boko Haram and other offshoots of terror groups in Nigeria is because of some known sponsors who are sometimes shielded politically and allowed to go free. It is also because many detained Boko Haram fighters and commanders are reportedly disappearing from detention facilities with the aid of collaborators in the government and the military. Such commanders return to the terrorist camps to fortify and lead their cells in the sustained fight against the state.
Recent media reports have shown that the morale of the troops has been affected by the inferior weapons and poor training they receive. These have caused poor motivation and weak responses up to the point of flight in the face of superior threat from the Boko Haram fighters. That is why the armed forces should be empowered and trained to respond swiftly to attacks. There have been incidents of the armed forces not coming to the aid of the victims during assaults by militants. A vivid example was when students of the Catholic school in Niger state were abducted and taken into captivity in an operation that lasted for hours, after the security forces who were on guard were earlier reportedly withdrawn before the abduction of the children.
Furthermore, instead of adopting only a military approach, the Nigerian government should also do the right thing by providing basic amenities for its citizens. Today, Nigeria is ravaged by unemployment, illiteracy, poverty, lack of basic social amenities, corruption, high cost of living, high population growth, and the incapacity of the government to deal effectively with non-state actors. These have instigated grievances against the system and created a breeding ground for terrorism. From the numerous cases of terrorist attacks in Nigeria, it is obvious that insecurity clouds the Nigerian State, as the principle of the state’s monopoly on the use of force has been shattered by the desperate terrorist and insurgent groups pursuing parallel goals to those of the state.
By Gabriel Oyevesho-Daniel, E-mail: [email protected]