Nigeria’s Soft Approach To Countering Terrorism (1) Mohammed Sambo Dasuki — March 19, 2014 I make this briefing today conscious of the fact that my office has not been known for public engagement of this nature. Through the military era the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) was largely seen as concentrating on the protection of regimes in addition to convening coordination mechanisms of security and intelligence agencies. A new and evolving challenge presented by the changing nature of our society and the globalisation of threats has widened the horizon of the NSA’s primary role of framing policy and security reform. With the increasing democratisation of our institutions of governance and the rapidity of the new media enabled by technological advances, access to multiple information dissemination channels has become much easier allowing groups with violent tendencies to advance their cause to manipulate religion or radical ideology to recruit and radicalise thousands of individuals using multiple tools, and riding on the same principle of freedom of speech that underpins who we are. We in turn have realised that those tasked with the responsibility to protect can no longer function within a framework of the past. It is with this in mind that the president signed into law the Terrorism Prevention Act 2011, which was further improved upon by the legislature in the Terrorism Prevention (Amendment) Act 2013. What we know and have learnt from other countries is that terrorism compels a nation to reform its laws and processes. Since 9/11, the United States of America has had to make probably the most comprehensive reform of its security architecture which has helped detect and prevent threats to their homeland. Nigeria is taking this important but difficult and slow path. But we are making progress. Section 1(A) of the Terrorism Prevention Act 2011 rests the coordinating role in matters relating to terrorism on the Office of the National Security Adviser and further provides the office with the mandate to: ensure the formulation and implementation of a comprehensive counterterrorism strategy, build capacity for the effective discharge of the functions of relevant security, intelligence, law enforcement and military services under the act and do such other acts or things that are necessary for the effective performance of the function of the relevant security and enforcement agencies under the act. Pursuant to this mandate we have established a Counter Terrorism Centre (CTC) within my office which houses the Joint Terrorism Analysis Branch (JTAB) and the Behavioral Analysis and Strategic Communication Unit. The establishment of these structures has enabled us to better perform a coordinating role that has ensured intelligence sharing and cooperation amongst agencies. This new spirit of cooperation has led to the disruption of plethora of terrorist cells and prevented attacks across the country. The Counter Terrorism Centre in consultation with our international partners, experienced academics and practitioners in security, select non state actors has developed a counter terrorism strategy (NACTEST) which defines roles and responsibilities of ministries, departments and agencies, as well as the role that civil society has to play in the fight against violent extremism. The strategy was developed taking into account the root causes of terrorism. I have commissioned a number of studies to unravel why our youths have taken the path down to radicalization. My approach has been to understand the problem in order to apply the appropriate solutions. What we have learnt is that there is not one particular path that leads to terrorism rather there are many, often complicated paths. While there have been established push factors, conditions conducive to the spread of terrorism such as poverty, joblessness, prolonged unresolved conflict, social injustice, a growing youth bulge, we know for instance that poverty in itself is not an automatic ticket to radicalisation. We are also concerned with pull factors that are often personal and frequently rest on factors such as unfulfilled desire for self- actualization, wanting to belong, individual grievances or an identity deficit, one that confuses and creates a situation of conflict in identities based on religion, tribe or region. It is this identity conflict that fuels the narrative of the Jama’atu ahlul sunnah lidda’awati wal jihad and has proven so attractive to some of our youth. The NACTEST seeks to prevent attacks by preventing our people from becoming terrorists in the first place. 18 months ago I directed the Behavioral Analysis and Strategic Communication Unit in my office to develop a program that seeks to implement the PREVENT work strand of our national counter terrorism strategy. They visited Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Singapore, Algeria and Australia and to talk with officials from the United Kingdom, United States and the European Union, academics and members of civil society groups both at home and abroad. Simultaneously, I directed the Economic Intelligence Unit in my office to explore the efficacy of economic interventions that will contribute to the PREVENT programme. The team has investigated what other nations facing terrorism have done successfully in the areas of job creation, poverty alleviation and economic development. Based on these, we identified the need for an economic turnaround initiative in the aftermath of the State of Emergency in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe States. These activities have given birth to our soft approach to countering terrorism, which I am pleased to roll out today. Before I highlight the details of the Soft Approach it is important to note how I have undertaken my interventions. Our focus has been to first, build up the capacity of government institutions and relevant security and para-military agencies on global best practices and human rights compliant approaches of responding to, preventing and dealing with individuals/groups involved with extremism and radicalization that leads to terrorism. Second, counter extremist narratives through words and deeds while promoting national values. Third, engaging and partnering with states, local governments, civil society and communities to counter radicalisation, build community engagement tools and capabilities while entrenching the culture of resilience. Fourth, work with federal and state agencies involved in economic development, job creation and poverty alleviation to explore their roles in effecting a robust PREVENT programme. The Soft approach to countering terrorism which has resulted in the development of a Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) Programme that is both vertical involving three tiers of government, federal, state and local and horizontal involving civil society, academics, traditional, religious and community leaders. It consists of three streams with different layers of partners: ministries, departments and agencies (MDA’s), including the civil society. The programme utilises existing structures within and outside government to deliver targeted programmes and activities that further the overall goal of stemming the tide of radicalisation and through families, communities, faith- based organisations build resilience to violent extremism. The first stream is: Deradicalization of convicted terrorists, suspects awaiting trial and those who might be released through court orders or such other government decision arising from the ongoing engagement and dialogue with repentant suspects. The President has emphasised the need for dialogue toward a final resolution and we continue to explore credible channels to actualize this option. Indeed, the ministerial dialogue committee has made many successes in this area where many suspects have indicated their preference for ending the crisis while providing useful information that has aided the process. The DE radicalisation program is prison based and the Ministry of Interior along with the prison service will drive the program. The initiative will require substantial capacity building of prison staff in areas such as psychology, sports and arts therapy, faith based instructors and vocational training experts that would engage beneficiaries. The objective is to engage violent extremist convicts/suspects in theological, ideological, physical and entrepreneurial value change that leads to a change in their behavior. Families, community leaders and NGOs will be given access to participate in the process in a fair and transparent manner to speed up easy assimilation of convicts/suspects back to society. I have refurbished two prisons for this purpose and we are currently working with international development partners to provide appropriate structures for this programme within prisons. I shall equally be providing training for 60 prison psychologists and training for prison guards in handling of terror suspects. Our continued cooperation with the prisons service is being explored to identify gaps that require urgent intervention. —Being a presentation by Mohammed Sambo Dasuki, National Security Adviser on 18th March 2014 on the Roll Out Of Nigeria’s Soft Approach To Countering Terrorism held in Abuja
Posted on: Wed, 19 Mar 2014 04:34:14 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015