The National Security Adviser, Malam Nuhu Ribadu, says it is the collective responsibility of every individual to rescue the nation from the security challenges bedeviling it.
Ribadu said this on Monday in Abuja at the opening of at a two – day symposium on “Challenges and Innovations in Countering Terrorism and Violent Extremism: Strategic Approaches.”
The symposium was organised by the African Centre For Strategic Studies (ACSS) Alumni, Nigeria chapter.
He noted with concern that the current security threats bedeviling the nation had caused untold hardships to citizens.
”From homegrown insurgency and terrorism in the Northeast to banditry and kidnapping in the Northwest, militancy in the South-South and secessionist agitations in the Southeastern parts of the country among many other violence fueled clashes.
” It is therefore, our collective responsibility to ensure that our country is rescued from this menace and this is the reason we are all gathered here today, ” he said.
He said that the Federal Government’s response to the emerging security dynamics of the nation led to the enactment of the Terrorism Prevention and Prohibition Act (TPPA) 2022.
”This act, informed the establishment of the National Counter Terrorism Center (NCTC). The Center is charged with the coordination of counter-terrorism policies, strategies and plans in the country, ” he said
According to him experience, globally, had shown that kinetic measures or the hard approach alone was insufficient when dealing with terrorism and Violent Extremism (VE).
”What is needed to combat the menace is a combination of both kinetic and non-kinetic measures.
”For this reason, the United Nations, under the former Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon in 2015, developed the plan of Action to Prevent Violent Extremism.
”In the Plan, the UN Secretary General called for a comprehensive approach encompassing not only essential security-based counter-terrorism measures but also systematic preventive steps to address the underlying conditions that drive individuals to radicalise and join violent extremist groups.
”To this end, Nigeria in 2017 developed the PF NAP for PCV,” he said.
He said the policy framework was a complementary, whole-of government and whole-of-society approach for addressing threats posed by violent extremist groups.
