By Suleiman Idris, Abuja
Eko Civil Rights Movement (ECRM), a civil society organization has said that the current Global Terrorism Index (GTI) report which scored Nigeria high in its war against terrorism is a positive verdict for Nigeria in its war against terrorism.
In a statement signed and made available by Olusayo Olatokun, Executive Director of ECRM, during a rally to mark the report commissioned by the Institute for Economics and Peace, which held at the Freedom Park in Lagos, the group said the recent positive rating of Nigeria is an appraisal of the counter insurgency efforts that has returned a positive verdict.
It said the institute has further restored hope in the fact that President Muhammadu Buhari’s counter terrorism approach has yielded success and defeating Boko Haram and other groups is possible.
“The Institute for Peace has restored our hope with the release of its Global Terrorism Index 2017 which has reaffirmed our faith that terrorism can be defeated by showing that deaths from Boko Haram are on the decline.
“We see the Global Terrorism Index as a report to celebrate because it is important to fully appraise the efforts that have gone into achieving such reduction in the casualty rate occasioned by Boko Haram activities”. Olatokun said
The civil right group said this international dimension has vouched for the Nigerian Military that it has made impact in restoring peace and safety in many of the affected areas.
While calling on stakeholder for more commitment to the war against terrorism, the group cautioned against relenting on the basis of the current perceived decline adding that it should rather be seen as a pointer to what has been done right and therefore can be done better.
It also called for more intelligence involvement by the Department of State Services, the Nigerian Police Force and Community leaders in order to end recent spate of suicide missions by fleeing elements of Boko Haram.
It argued that the degree of degradation of Boko Haram calls for more of this intelligence work as opposed to the military force and strategy that the Nigerian Army has deployed to bring Boko Haram to its present level.
” …the Nigeria Police Force, Department of State Services and community leaders at all levels must now face it as part of their sacred mandates that they must halt the incessant cases of suicide bombings which fleeing Boko Haram members intend to use as their last resort after their defeat by the military”.
Suggesting further, the group noted that the intelligence community would fare better if there was collaboration between them and the military, citing Lagos state as a model for all to emulate.
” our suggestion is for both organizations to work together in conjunction with the military to adopt this approach which is one of the proactive collaborations between military in terms of providing intelligence, that has kept the South West of the country free from any insurgency”.
