Commentary: Overcoming Boko Haram Threat To National Security The war on terror can not be left to military offensive and usage of hardware only; it must encompass all different approaches of old and modern warfare; taking onboard lessons from other countries with successful and non-successful campaign against terrorist groups. In light of the above facts, it is therefore critical that Nigeria ongoing offensive against Boko Haram and similar elements embed some critical elements which i love to refer to as soft counter terrorism initiatives. For clarity, i will outline them and hope colleagues with expertise in this field would add other areas of interests: 1. Media Counter Narrative - The Federal Government seems to be a bit relax on media management of the Boko Haram saga. Normally, a good business case should have been done by now to ensure 24 hours media mapping of the issues to achieve three critical things: a) Re-enforcing the ideology and philosophy that Boko Haram is losing the war b) Convey the message that the Human Rights and safety of ordinary Nigerians is preserved c) Wining hearts and minds of the affected community by giving them a voice 2. Innovative Military Offensive - The military needs to invite trusted war media reporters to capture their engagement and activities. If they have nothing to hide; they have nothing to fear. It would help debunk the idea that Nigeria military is abusing citizens human rights. 3. Police Cyper Counter Terrorism Unit - it is disgrace that Boko Haram videos and other offensive materials are all over the Internet freely for everyone to read and be radicalised by it. NGF should gather good Nigerian IT intellectuals to commence blackout offensive against such materials and this is why a comprehensible counter terrorism strategy is needed in Nigeria to ensure that all aspects are covered. I hope the above initiatives are taken on board and huge investment allocated to The Presidency media team to fight the critical war against Boko Haram. Source - aljazeera/news/africa/2013/05/201353044026628480.html
Posted on: Mon, 03 Jun 2013 13:02:14 +0000
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