Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, Nigeria’s former Minister of Foreign Affairs, on Thursday in Abuja, called for a multi-faceted approach against the Boko Haram insurgency, in addition to the military onslaught.
Gambari, who spoke on the theme: “Terrorism in Nigeria: Effects on the Polity and Development” at the ongoing Nigeria National Security Summit, said Boko Haram represented the greatest threat to Nigeria.
“Degrading the military capability of Boko Haram is only one of several strategies that are needed to really, in a very sustained way, deal with violence extremism.
“Following the recent success recorded by the military in the fight against Boko Haram, which must be commended and built upon, the non-military threats to national security must now be given utmost priority,’’ he said.
Gambari, a former minister of foreign affairs said that National Security focus must now be the enhancement of human security, which encompasses non-military threats, such as environmental hazards, socio-economic conditions and transnational crime, affecting the individual, communities and states.
“In other words, while a state or part of a state such as the North-East Nigeria may be physically secure, there may be human insecurity within its border,”he said.
He regretted that in 2014, Boko Haram killed 6,644 people and rendered more than one million homeless, making it the world’s deadliest military group, according to Global Terrorism Index.
Gambari, who was former Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the UN, said the report showed that Boko Haram was deadlier that ISIS and Al Shabaab combined.
“Those of you who knew what Nigeria was in the early years of independence, know that we are supposed to be people who love life too much.
“That is why we called our music high life, but then never did we think that some Nigerians will embrace death so readily as suicide bombers.
“We thought it cannot happen here; on the contrary, we have really experienced situations of violence extremism that we never really thought would happen in our contemporary experience”.
Gambari, stressed the need to urgently draw up and implement a National Plan of Action against Boko Haram.
“The current wave of insurgency and insecurity in Nigeria has introduced additional dimensions to the challenges facing the country.
“Boko Haram represents the greatest threat to Nigeria’s national security and socio-economic development of the country.
“In developing a National Action Plan to Combat terrorism and violent extremist groups in Nigeria, a multifaceted and comprehensive approach must be developed, including degrading their military capabilities.”
He said peace-building strategies to be implemented to address the underlying causes of Boko Haram, should address widespread poverty, social inequality and injustices, and poor quality or lack of education.
According to him, peace-building strategies must also address endemic corruption, weak state institutions and stagnant socio-economic development.
Gambari said the peace-building strategies must address the existing smuggling networks and sundry trans-national crimes which provides financial support for the activities of terrorist groups.
He called for the monitoring and control of small arms and light weapons, including the movement of illegal/economic migrants susceptible to crime within the West African sub-region searching for greener pastures.
He commended the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari for being vigorous in promoting concrete regional efforts to combat Boko Haram. (NAN)