That New ‘Soft Approach’ To Counter-Terrorism

The Office of the
National Security Adviser, recently adopted a new ‘Soft Approach’ to tackle insurgency in the country.
The new approach is coming 14 months after the declaration of state of emergency in the three North- East states of Adamawa, Borno, Yobe as a result of menace of Boko Haram insurgents in zone.
Retired Col. Sambo Dasuki, the National Security Adviser (NSA), who unveiled the National Counter-Terrorism Strategy (NACTEST) , said it was developed in collaboration with international partners, experienced academics and selected non-state actors.
Dasuki said that the strategy was developed taking into account the root causes of terrorism, adding that the approach was to understand the problem in order to apply 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 that led to terrorism.
“The NACTEST seeks to prevent attacks before they happen by preventing our people from becoming terrorists in the first place.
“The soft approach to counter-terrorism has resulted in the development of a Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) programme, that is vertical and involves the three tiers of government -federal, state and local.
“The programme is also horizontal, involving civil societies, academics, traditional, religious and community leaders,’’ he said.
According to the NSA, the programme utilises existing structures within and outside government to deliver targeted programmes and activities that further the overall objective of stemming the tide of radicalism.
Dasuki said that the approach is divided into four streams.
“The first stream is the, de-radicalisation of convicted terrorists, suspects awaiting trials, and those who might be released through court orders or such order from government arising from the ongoing engagement and dialogue with repentant terrorists.
“The second will move from government to society approach on counter-terrorism thinking.
“The third will be building capacity through strategic communication for the military and law enforcement agencies.
“The fourth stream, based on our understanding of the economic root causes of terrorism and global best practice in addressing them, will be working with the governors of the six North-East states to design an economic revitalisation programme, targeted at the states most impacted by terrorism,’’Dasuki said.
He said that through families, communities and faith-based organisations, resilience to violent extremism would be built.
According to him, every Nigerian has a role to play in countering violent extremism.
Dasuki stressed that the soft approach would provide the country a framework that identifies roles and responsibilities of every segment of the society.
He said that the office of the NSA was equally developing a monitoring and evaluation framework that would track implementation of each stream of the CVE programme.
The Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke, said that as a follow up to the soft approach to counter-terrorism, he had decided to draw attention to the imperatives of combating terrorism within the confines of the law.
“This is to allow the measures adopted by government to ensure that counter-terrorism process conform to dictates of the law.
“As the Attorney-General of the Federation, I have to ensure that those involved in combating terrorism adhere strictly to the rules of engagement and human rights norms.
“Let me assure you of this administration’s commitment to the observance of these existing norms in our counter-terrorism efforts.
“We believe that it is only through strict compliance to these norms that confidence and support of the citizens, especially in the affected communities, will be assured,’’ Adoke said. Prof. Chidi Odinkalu, the Chairman, Governing Council, National Human Rights Commission, also applauded the new approach.
“You need the soft approach, de-radicalisation, investment in community resilience and education to complement the hard approach which is the military approach.
“The fact is that until now, we have only seen the military approach; we have not seen the non-military dimension.
“So, this is a positive thing, `new approach’ that we are beginning to see that there is this possibility and I think we should encourage it.”
He said the commission would work with the office of the NSA on how human rights could be included in the new approach.
In the same vein, a security expert, Mr Mike Ejiofor, said that collaborating with the governors of the North-East states, would help in achieving results.
“The soft-approach coming from the office of the NSA should be commended,’’ he said.
Mr Dominic Amaechi, a security analyst, said that engaging clerics and introducing economic empowerment programmes, would help to check insurgency in the country.
He said that government seemed to have realised that only military offensive could not solve the problem hence the need for de-radicalisation.
“You will find out that the more force you apply, the more radicalised their foot men become, as they have been brainwashed to believe that they are fighting a holy war.
“It is a difficult task to fight with people whose minds have been prepared to die for what they were made to believe was a just cause.
“So, I think that de-radicalising them will be the solution; highly trusted imams should be used in reaching and telling them that what they are doing is anti-Islam.
President Goodluck Jonathan, who recently addressed North Central PDP leaders at State House, Abuja, said that the government was designing new security architecture to tackle insecurity in the country.
“We are working very hard with the Office of the NSA to make sure that the security challenges that we have across the country, whether in Borno or the kidnapping in Edo, Bayelsa, Rivers, Abia and so on are addressed.
“We are coming up with different architecture that will deal with these insurgencies.
“As we progress, we will begin to bring the situation under control,” he said.
Nigerians expect that as promised by the president, the situation would be brought under control.
Okoronkwo writes for the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)

Chijioke Okoronkwo

Insurgents preparing for an attack.