Terrorism: Nigerian Government Must Adopt Strategies to Deal With Corruption in Counter-Insurgency Efforts- CITAD

Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) has said the Nigerian government must work out modalities to deal with the corruption associated with counter-insurgency efforts in North-East Nigeria if the country must win the fight against terrorism.

This is coming against the backdrop of  findings from its research of "the existence of interest groups associated with the war economy in the region  working to frustrate dialogue."

The nongovernmental organization (NGO) committed to the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) for development and promotion of good governance stated this on Tuesday in Abuja during the review of its Policy Brief on  Prospects and Challenges of Non-Violent Resolution of Insurgency in North-East Nigeria.

The validation meeting was attended by stakeholders cutting across the media, Civil Society Organizations(CSOs), traditional rulers, religious leaders amongst others.

While presenting the research findings to stakeholders at the meeting, CITAD representative, Mr Hamza Ibrahim said the document was an outcome of an action and policy-oriented research conducted to assist government and other stakeholders in exploring options for the resolution of the conflict.

The research which was pioneered by CITAD and supported by the British Council under its Managing Conflicts in Nigeria initiative focused basically on exploring the prospects and possibilities as well as the challenges of dialogue and negotiation as an option to ending or creating the conditions for ending the insurgency.

Ibrahim explained that the research was conducted in the three most affected states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe as well as Kano to understand how best insurgency and terrorism in Nigeria can be addressed using stakeholders approach.

He said  though the Nigerian military has succeeded in containing and rolling back the insurgents as many territories previously in the hands of the insurgents have been recovered and the insurgents flushed out of many of those places, the insurgency  in North-East Nigeria is far from being defeated.

He said the insurgency in Nigeria  which has lasted for  for more than  11 years has done serious damages  in the country with 35, 530 people killed since the beginning of the insurgency, over 2 million people displaced and thousands of property worth millions of Naira destroyed.

"In spite of military successes recorded against the Boko Haram insurgents, the conflict has continued to linger with a spell of attacks. This stage of the crisis is unsettling and more insidious given that many of the insurgents that have been flushed out have somehow become embedded in communities, which makes it easier for them to spring surprising attacks.

"These sporadic attacks have made it difficult to resettle displaced people and restore normalcy in the areas and communities deeply affected by the insurgency," he said.

He emphasized that while the  Federal government has made several   efforts to tackle terrorism or insurgency, part of which are the military onslaught , deradicalization and reintegration of repentant insurgents, there is the need to tackle the issue from a wholistic point for a lasting solution.

He stated that findings from the  research indicated that the federal government has expressed the willingness to negotiate  and has a number of times negotiated with the insurgents for release of some abducted people, however, "the message about willingness to dialogue with the insurgents is feeble and appears contradictory which is attributable to the lack of  a trusted mediator acceptable to the leadership of the insurgents."

According to him, while the state governments in the research states are not opposed to dialogue and negotiation, they think that responsibility for that lies with the Federal Government.

Ibrahim said from the survey conducted, respondents believe that community and religious leaders play a central role in dialogue because of their historical roles in conflict resolution as more trustworthy and acceptable to all stakeholders.

The research further stated that community members were ambivalent about negotiations, while they understand the place of negotiation in finding lasting peace, they feel too aggrieved as to easily forgive the insurgents but believe there cannot be sustainable peace without the involvement of the military in peace negotiations.

The CITAD representative said the research also  showed that the military does not consider dialogue and negotiation as an option as it do not see the need to dialogue with terrorists, rather it considers its roles to fight and win the war.

According to him, from the research,  youths and other non-state actor combatants such as the Civilian Joint Task Force(CJTF) and vigilante indicate willingness to support dialogue with Boko Haram if that will bring an end to the conflict , although in Adamawa, they appeared to be skeptical about dialogue and reconciliation with the insurgents.

Most of the respondents in  category of Elders including ethnocultural groups such as the Borno Elders,   agree that dialogue is an unavoidable process that must be undertaken if the final goal is to end the crisis in the North-East and obtain sustainable peace.

He said women and girls who are also  victims feel the need for retributive justice to take its cause so that a closure could be brought to the pains they endured, adding,  the group is not predisposed to dialogue.

On the risks anticipated with promoting dialogue, Ibrahim state that the study found that dialogue is largely seen by the population as rewarding insurgency as people who have lost loved ones to the insurgency find it hard to accept the situation where those who have committed atrocities are invited for dialogue.

To mitigate this,  he said the study recommended an effective and sustained public enlightenment and education to make the people appreciate the need for peace and price required for peace.

As part of the recommendations  to the government, policy makers and other stakeholders working to end insurgency in North-East Nigeria,  the research further recommended that : "Government must find strategies to deal with corruption in the counter-insurgency efforts."

The research found that: "Most are not even willing to accept and live with re-radicalized insurgents in the same communities where the atrocities took place . This has the risks of pushing repentant and surrendered former insurgents to return to the insurgent groups."

"The study recommended the involvement of all to understand that ultimate peace is more important than taking back our own pound of flesh. We need to consider all,  the insurgents inclusive as victims. This would require sustained stakeholders engagement," he added.

He said the research also observed that in the current stage of the conflict, there are many factions of the insurgents. Hence, "will negotiation be with multiple actors or will it be a series of parallel dialogues with different factions? This presents a series of unmanageable scenarios as well as the fact that there is no guarantee that internal conflicts within the factions will undermine negotiation process."

He said as mitigation strategy, a diligent study of the factions of the insurgents should be done to proceed the articulation of the dialogue strategy.

"The study should be made to evaluate the various factions, their relative strength, leadership and what areas they control or are operating in as well as their links with external actors and their dispositions to dialogue as well as what they can bring to the table," Ibrahim added.

According to him, from the research, respondents believe that there are four groups of people best placed to promote dialogue and reconciliation namely: Religious and traditional leaders, NGOs, International Non Governmental Organization s(INGOs),  humanitarian organizations, Youths, Civilian JTF and government.

Regarding the best approach of engaging the actors, the study found that "the people and organizations that will promote dialogues are not adversaries in this case in which case, it is easy to approach them.

However, government which should be the one to make the approach must be clear about what it wants from these groups.

Also, the study found that convening stakeholders consultative meetings to discuss the possibilities and challenges of dialogue is a possible option for bringing the conflict to an end.

" All the groups should be identified and invited. These meeting should then discuss the subject matter and arrive at their own conclusions before government takes further action. Once the meetings agree through consensus on dialogue, it then discusses on who should promote and set up a committee for this purpose.

As part of the preparation, the government should establish a dialogue and reconciliation committee and co-opt repentant Book Haram into the committee. In addition, negotiations with ISWAP can only be achieved through the involvement of traditional, religious leaders excluding the military and other security agencies," CITAD further recommended among others.

Compiled by Josephine Ejeh