The National Security Adviser (NSA), retired Maj.-Gen. Babagana Monguno, has urged international community to see the threat of terrorism in a particular country as a threat to global peace and security.
Monguno made the call at the ongoing United Nations High-Level Conference of Heads of Counter-Terrorism Agencies of member states in New York.
The message is contained in a statement by the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) on Tuesday in Abuja.
He said that the complex nature of terrorism and other transnational organised crimes required international collaboration to be able to deal with it decisively.
Monguno said terrorism had continued to manifest as vicious and relentless global threat, recognising no border, nationality and all religions.
The NSA added that terrorism had become a contemporary weapon of violence for non-state actors in this era of globalisation.
According to him, preventing terrorist attacks, safe-guarding borders, empowering national police, improving the criminal justice system, curbing elicit financial flows and halting the abuse of drugs and hard substances remain extremely daunting challenges for most nations, including Nigeria.
“I can say with total conviction that apart from pandemics, natural disasters and the climate itself, today the greatest threat to the existence of human race is the global scourge of terrorism.
“The fallout of activities associated with terrorists have collectively heightened insecurity in the greater part of Africa with serious economic, social and political implications for its people.
“In the North Eastern part of Nigeria, the activities of Boko Haram terrorists and the so called the Islamic State West Africa Province with known affiliation to other international terror networks such as Daesh and Al-Qaeda, have continued to undermine the security and livelihood of the people.
“They are at the same time overlapping into neighbouring countries of the Lake Chad Basin.
“It was disclosed that over a million persons have been internally displaced in the communities in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe, while more than seven million people remain in need of humanitarians assistance in North Eastern Nigeria,” he said.
The NSA said that social media platforms was being used by terror groups to propagate ideologies, recruit youths, radicalise them, instill fear in targeted community and deflate the morale of defence and security forces.
He stated that the terrorists’ approach was to portray the government as incapable of guaranteeing the protection and well-being of its population.
Monguno said that the Nigerian government had continued to confront the challenges by setting up new structures and national institutions as well as empowering them.
According to him, the federal government has improved the coordination of humanitarian supports for non-government organisations by creating the Ministry of Humanitarians Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development.
He said that President Muhammadu Buhari had approved the establishment of the National Commission for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons as well as National Commission for the Coordination of Cyber Security.
He also said that the government had empowered the National Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) to trace the sources of funding of terrorist organisations.
NSA further noted that the funding commitment of the government to the Multinational Joint Task Force (MJTF) had continued to yield results, diffusing tensions and curbing the activities of Boko Haram and ISWAP within the fringes of the Lake Chad Basin.
He expressed Buhari’s commitment in working with all nations, not just those in the sub region and the African continent, but the entire international community. (NAN)
