Recovery of Terrorists Impacted Areas - FG Urges UN to Strengthen Support

The Federal Government has called on the United Nations and Development Partners to strengthen support towards the implementation of the regional strategy for stabilisation, recovery and resilience of Boko Haram affected areas in Nigeria and other Countries of the Lake Chad Basin.

The National Coordinator, National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC), Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), Rear Admiral YEM Musa (rtd), made the call at a side event of the ongoing Third United Nations Counter-Terrorism Week (CT Week), holding at the UN Headquarters in New York, United States of America, from 19 to 23 June, 2023.

With the theme of the third CT Week ‘‘Addressing Terrorism through Reinvigorated Multilateral and Institutional Cooperation’’, the National Coordinator disclosed that the reintegration of the vast number of repentant and low-risk individuals associated with Boko Haram and ISWAP, poses a significant new challenge for the Government of Nigeria, hence the need for more international support to address the menace.

“In the last six years since the adoption of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2349, Nigerian Government has undertaken several responses to address the impact of Boko Haram in the Lake Chad Basin. These efforts had guided the 2022 Terrorism Prevention and Prohibition Act, the 2019 National Security Strategy, the 2017 National Action Plan for Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism, as well as the 2016 National Counter Terrorism Strategy,” he said.

While expressing gratitude for the tremendous support from the United Nations and its entities for the rehabilitation efforts in Nigeria, Rear Admiral Musa (rtd), emphasised the need for more global awareness and support, to address the inherent challenges and risks in reintegrating all categories of returning terrorists.

In particular, he expressed concern about terrorists moving around the sub-Saharan Africa. In the Lake Chad Basin region, he stressed the need for the UN and other Developmental Partners to continue strengthening support towards the implementations of the regional strategy for stabilisation, recovery and resilience of Boko Haram affected areas.