By Sumaila Ogbaje

The Permanent Secretary, Special Services, Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Alhaji Aliyu Shinkafi, has called for collective action in preventing and countering violent extremism in Nigeria.

Shinkafi made the call at the opening of a 3-Day Policy Planning and Strategy Development Workshop on National Approach to Disengagement, Disassociation and Reintegration/Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism (DDR/PCVE), on Monday in Abuja.

The workshop was organised by the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) in the Office of the National Security Adviser..

He said the current security threats ranging from home-grown insurgency, terrorism in the Northeast to banditry and kidnapping in the Northwest, militancy in the South-South and secessionist agitations in the South-eastern had caused untold hardship on citizens.

He said it was the collective responsibility of all stakeholders to ensure that the country was rescued from the menace of insecurity.

“Our approach to violent extremism must be rooted in our collaborative efforts and in the principle of the whole-of -government and whole-of-society approach to addressing issues, including countering the ideology of violent extremist groups, building trust and community resilience at the grassroots.”

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the NCTC coordinates all counter terrorism measures in the country.

“It is to this effect that this high-level event was convened with the aim of building knowledge, conducting initial analyses among key institutions to collectively find a common approach to a holistic DDR programme in Nigeria.

“Also, applying efforts toward sustainable development, leveraging on successes and lessons learned, enhancing partnership and intensifying our collaboration with relevant stakeholders has been identified as key.

“It is worthy to note that our areas of concern include women and children,” he said.

The National Coordinator, NCTC, retired Rear Adm. Yaminu Musa, said experiences from combating insurgency and counter terrorism had shown that kinetic means alone was not sufficient to defeating the threat.

Musa said the nation had continued to review its laws, strategies and coordination frameworks such as the Terrorism, Prevention and Prohibition Act 2022, National Security Strategy, 2019, National Counter Terrorism Strategy 2016, among others.

He said the various laws and policy documents provided for kinetic and non-kinetic approaches and involved all stakeholders including the citizens.

According to him, significant success has been achieved with the security efforts in the North-East.

He however said the shifting strategy of violent groups and the need to stabilise displaced communities and populations had created key challenges.

“The cooperation of communities is unavoidable in the quest for the government to consolidate on the gains of ongoing Counter-Terrorism Operations.

“Let me add that measures to win the hearts and minds of the population are critical, and gradual resettlement and reintegration of affected communities is crucial for success.

“Perception of communities and the prevailing narratives about the violence is crucial in the efforts to restore peace.

“Opportunities for reconciliation and reintegration depend on the extent to which the groups and their communities of return are supported to rehabilitate, heal and reconcile.

“This involves military, political, civil, social, economic and humanitarian interventions implemented within a multi-stakeholder platform,” he said.

Musa said the concept and practice of amnesty and DDRR activities was not new in Nigeria, adding that the Federal Government and several states had repeatedly granted amnesties and conducted DDR activities.

He said that ONSA in collaboration with its partners and other stakeholders had successfully implemented the DDR strategy developed in collaboration with IOM to guide the operations in the Operation Safe Corridor (OPSC) in Gombe.

“Another thing was the reintegration process which was basically the responsibility of the State Governments’’, he noted.

These efforts, according to him, could become counter-productive to national security in the absence of established policy/legislation, national ownership and a coordination mechanism.

“Thus, we recognised that for the successful development of a comprehensive DDR NAP, a high-level capacity development workshop for relevant stakeholders is key.

“We envisaged that this workshop will facilitate fruitful stakeholders discussions on key requirements for establishing policy and legal frameworks that recognize the different DDR/PCVE initiatives across the country while leveraging on lessons learned in other climes,” he said.

Earlier, Paul Nyulaku Bemshima, Country Director International Alert, Nigeria, said with the ongoing military operations in the Northwest, there was need to initiate rehabilitation programmes for victims and associated groups.

This he added would help to consolidate earlier efforts by Katsina, Sokoto and Zamfara states’ amnesty programmes.

Nyulaku Bemshima said that while the amnesty for ex-militants in the Niger Delta adopted a traditional approach where the groups and their demands were known, the case was a bit different in the Northeast and Northwest.

He urged the government and the military to encourage defection and surrender of armed groups, to encourage individuals to voluntarily renounce association with non-state armed groups and cooperate to some degree on actions aimed at degrading or defeating it.

The country director added that the objective could be promoted through inducing rank-and-file or high-level defections while aiming to rehabilitate low risk associated groups. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Gregg Mmaduakolam/Maharazu Ahmed