Terrorism And Insecurity In Nigeria.

1.      Terrorism and Insecurity in Nigeria

National security is a premise for national economic growth and development of nations. This is because peaceful nations attract foreign investors while the domestic investors freely operate the economy with little or no tensions and apprehensions. Security is the pillar upon which every meaningful development could be achieved and sustained. Nigeria as a nation state has witnessed unprecedented series of agitations in the forms of kidnapping and abduction, armed robberies, bombing, and carnages of all forms and magnitude in the past decade and a half. The most dastard so far is the activities of a group of some Islamic militants that called themselves the ‘Boko Haram’, interpreted to mean ‘western education is evil’. With the coming to the scene by Boko Haram in 2002, the insecurity situation in Nigeria seemed to have assumed higher and more complex dimensions. A part from the frequency and intensity of deadly attacks and carnages, insecurity situation in Nigeria cuts across cities, towns and villages that there is hardly anywhere to run to for cover. Lives and properties are not safe for urban dwellers as well as for the rural dwellers. People live in apprehension almost every day. Terrorism is of both national and international concern. This is because their activities most times are not concentrated in a particular place. Its waves span across geographical boundaries both local and international.

 Terrorist activities had led to displacement of people, loss of lives and properties, feelings of suspicion, anger and hatred as well as psychological and emotional trauma and general state of insecurity. The history of terrorism in Nigeria is traceable to the emergence of a group of Islamic militants called “Boko Haram” in 2002. “Boko Haram” is translated to mean “western education is evil”. The progressive destructive activities of “Boko Haram” made the US department of states to designate them as terrorist organization in November.

Since the emergence of this sect in 2002, human lives had been lost to their attacks in thousands. The Vanguard newspaper put the death toll at more than 12,000 with more than 8000 injured or maimed and thousands of other innocent Nigerians displaced (Vanguard, 18th May, 2014). The killings have continued unabated until recently that they are being gradually overcome. Their escalated activities created widespread insecurity among Nigerians, increase tensions between various ethnic communities, interrupt development activities, frighten off investors and generate concern among Nigeria’s northern neighbors. Between July 27th 2009 and February 17th 2012, “Boko Haram” had carried out 53 deadly attacks. Wikipedia reported 57 attacks between September 2010 and

11th August, 2014.

What is Terrorism?

Terrorism is not new and even though it has been used since the early times of recorded history, it can be relatively hard to define terrorism. Terrorism has been described variously as both a tactic and strategy; a crime and a holy duty; a justified reaction to oppression and an inexcusable abomination. Obviously, a lot depends on whose point of view is being represented. Terrorism has often been an effective tactic for the weaker side in a conflict. As an asymmetric form of conflict, it confers coercive power with many of the advantages of military force at a fraction of the cost. Due to the secretive nature and small size of terrorist organizations, they often offer opponents no clear organization to defend against or to deter.

That is why pre-emption is being considered to be so important. In some cases, terrorism has been a means to carry on a conflict without the adversary realizing the nature of the threat, mistaking terrorism for criminal activity. Because of these characteristics, terrorism has become increasingly common among those pursuing extreme goals throughout the world. But despite its popularity, terrorism can be a nebulous concept. Even within the U.S. Government, agencies responsible for different functions in the ongoing fight against terrorism and extremism use different definitions.

The United States Department of Defense defines terrorism as “the calculated use of unlawful violence or threat of unlawful violence to inculcate fear; intended to coerce or to intimidate governments or societies in the pursuit of goals that are generally political, religious, or ideological.” Within this definition, there are three key elements—violence, fear, and intimidation—and each element produces terror in its victims. The FBI uses this definition: "Terrorism is the unlawful use of force and violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives." The U.S. Department of State defines terrorism to be "premeditated politically-motivated violence perpetrated against non-combatant targets by sub-national groups or clandestine agents, usually intended to influence an audience".

CAUSES OF INSECURITY IN NIGERIA

Poverty: One of the most popular explanations is that poverty breeds terrorism and hence is a cause of terrorism. Poverty is seen as one of major causes of corruption in Nigeria. Among the top social scourges of Nigeria is poverty. It becomes the cause of many other troubles in the society. A large portion of population lives below the poverty line. Since 2004 the number of people, who have just $1.25 per day to spend has constantly grown. The same can be said about the number of people, who survive on just $2 per day.

Undemocratic Governments: Some argue that nondemocratic governments breed conditions that terrorists can exploit to further their own agenda. I don't buy this idea either. North Korea is undemocratic and so is China and I don't see either of them breeding "global terrorists," who plan and plot attacks around the world.

Alienated Intelligentsia/Intellectuals: I believe this can provide a good explanation. If you look at some of the high-profile conflict areas and the individuals involved, you almost always see that there is an intellectual class that rules the hordes of terrorists. There is a brain behind all the bombings you see, isn't there? And in most cases, these are educated, well-to-do people who have everything in life, but have a sense of disaffection/alienation. There aren't happy with the way the world is at present and want to do something about it. These are the most dangerous terrorists, far more than any of the foot soldiers who carry out the actual attack. These are the brains, who brainwash young confused men and quite often children as well.

Indoctrination: What happens when you teach a kid that X, Y, Z are your enemies and that they mean no good to your people. That these other people are in fact the devil and what have you. If you are brainwashed into thinking this from a young age, can you expect a well-rounded young man to emerge out of all of this? Don't think so. What you can expect to get with this kind of tutoring is in fact a Taliban, who has a worldview akin to a frog living in a well. No wonder then that these guys can do the worst atrocities and yet justify it on the basis of religion.

Ethnicity: Some argue that ethnicity and injustices (perceived or real) is one of the root causes of terrorism. Well, perhaps, this is true, but not totally. While one may be brainwashed into thinking that your people are being persecuted, when in fact they are not, the truth is also that there are millions who are killed by their own, of the same ethnic group and religion. Saddam Hussein killed his own people for example and one can argue that he perpetrated the greatest amount of atrocities than any other foreign power, but yet he was viewed as a "hero" in his part of the world, by people of countries surrounding Iraq. Why? This again demonstrates the fact that ethnicity has nothing to do with it. The nature of the atrocity has nothing to do with it, rather who is committing the atrocity and by the people (intellectuals/clerics, etc.) who play upon this fact and brainwash people!!

Charities that Aren't Charities: There are countless of these charities that collect funds in the name of various causes, but what they in fact do is to fund terrorism. As with any business, the business of terrorism needs funds, and this is by far the best way for terrorists to obtain funds; others being collecting ransom money, drug money, etc. There are also many countries that support these charities in the name of religion. They have millions of dollars to spend and they do so into funding these charities/religious schools, which in fact use these funds to fund terrorist activities/building more schools of indoctrination.

 

SOLUTIONS/RECOMMENDATION TO TERRORISM

You may find it difficult, perhaps impossible, to stop a determined individual who wants to commit an act of terrorism, if he/she gets through all the security checks, etc. that you have in place, but there are some things that can be done to limit the spread of terrorism/blunt the support for terrorism.

Keep a check on Extremist Clerics: Many of them have found a refuge in Western countries, having been driven away from their own countries for being "too radical." Interesting how, they manage to get into Western countries? Are they not screened? Is this "democracy" at play? Do we view these people as being "persecuted" by "undemocratic" countries and who hence deserve refuge? These clerics are the most dangerous of all terrorists. The foot soldiers carry out the attacks and go away (in case of suicide bombers), however, these clerics (the brains) keep cultivating and harvesting fertile/confused minds, educated/illiterate/rich/poor, all are equally affected by their vitriolic sermons that call upon waging war on the West. Countless young minds have fallen prey to these clerics and the ironical thing is that they do so under the very noses of the "democracies" that we are. Should democracy, therefore, prevent us from deporting these clerics back to their home countries? Would or should this be considered a violation of "human rights?"

Make Aid Accountable: Developed countries give millions of dollars to countries such as Pakistan, for example, in the name of "economic aid." Well, it is a good thing to give aid, but should not this aid be monitored and the recipient countries made accountable, as to how they have spent this money? It seems most countries who give aid just think that they have done a good job giving the aid. They leave it at that. Especially if these countries are ruled by corrupt leaders, all this aid has basically gone either into the pockets of these leaders of worse gone into affiliated extremist groups, who might in fact come back and bite the very hand that feeds it. History is testimony to these mistakes, yet lessons are never learnt.

Stop the Flow of Terrorist Funds: Stop the rich countries that fund construction of religious schools, without proper background checks. Pressure them through diplomatic channels to fund charities/religious schools only after proper verification and certification that they aren't indulging in any radical propaganda and brainwashing their students to wage holy wars. Also, improve banking laws at home as well as in developing countries to ensure that terrorists don't benefit from lax regulations and circumvent the system by getting funds to fund their terrorist plans.

Securing Defenses: There is no alternative to this. Fact is there will always be people out there, who want to harm you, and it is upon you to defend your country/home by securing it as best you can. Stricter screening of people who come into your home would be required. This doesn't mean one has to close your doors to everyone; however, one should at least keep an eye out for undesirable radicals, who mean no good.

The Solution That Never Will be: In closing, let's talk about a solution that never will be - that is a peaceful solution to terrorism. People who think that one can negotiate peace with terrorists are unfortunately living in a make-believe world. Honestly, what can you negotiate with terrorists? What are the negotiating points here? What can we offer to them, and what would they accept? Some terror groups, for example, want to see a world that is nothing like what we know of. Are we prepared to compromise and have them have their way on this? Should we turn back the clock and go back a few hundreds of years to a time when the dominant groups/peoples were different from those now? Many of these "brains" behind the most dangerous extremist groups want just that - their own utopian world governed by their own utopian laws. Some people just don't like the idea of "fighting." However, when you are confronted with an irrational enemy, who sees no sense or knows not what his/her aims really are, other than blowing up people because someone drilled that into them, what can you do but fight and fight hard and defend?