President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday in New York urged the UN and the International Community to take military action, effective border security and intelligence collection to tackle violent extremism.
Addressing a Global Leaders’ Summit on Countering ISIL and Violent Extremism, called by President Barack Obama, Buhari said the international community will also be required to work together to deter and disrupt illicit financial flows from nations with weak anti–theft structures to other parts of the world.
He said where such funds were identified the victim State should be assisted to recover them expeditiously.
“These alone may not suffice, but they can certainly stem the tide and reverse the process of recruitment.
In order to put in place the critical components of an effective approach to countering ISIL and eventually defeating it, he said world leaders must address the threat from the source.
“We must find a way to prevent young people from turning to terror in the first place. The young people that turn to violent extremism do not exist in a vacuum.
“They are often part of communities and families and are lured into the fold of barbaric and nihilistic organisations, somehow, through a misguided appeal to their worst fears, expectations and apparent frustrations.
“In addressing the causes of this attraction and how to deal with them, we should pay close attention to other manifest factors that may not be tangible but can be crucial,” he said.
Buhari said that good governance, which entails transparency, accountability and rule of law, remained the basis on which Member States should kick-start the process of ridding the world of the menace of terrorism and violent extremism.
Member States, he said, needed to address local socio-economic grievances by formulating policies that would ensure broad-based transformation through job creation, equalisation of opportunities and expanding access to social services.
“We in Africa need also to rededicate ourselves to uphold the mandate of the African Union’s Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) and other good governance initiatives that we have adopted in our region, to encourage conformity with political, economic and corporate governance values.
“The increase in violence and terrorism by ISIL and other groups has enticed and emboldened insurgent groups in Africa to pledge allegiance to gain local traction.
“The Boko Haram terrorist group, operating in the Lake Chad Basin area, which is currently on the Al-Qaida sanctions list, pledged its allegiance to ISIL in March 2015.
“While we believe that Boko Haram action is an indication of the weakening operational capability of the group, it could also suggest that it was a strategic move to attract foreign fighters into its fold, and obtain assistance from ISIL.
“Certainly, whatever the reason was for the declaration of allegiance, one thing is certain: Boko Haram terrorist group wants to be drawn into the centre stage of global terrorism,” he said.
Buhari said Nigeria noted with satisfaction the efforts of the UN and the rest of the international community to contain ISIL
Earlier, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said violent extremist groups, including Da’esh and Boko Haram , posed a direct threat to international security.
“Our most recent data shows a 70 percent increase in foreign terrorist fighters from over 100 countries to regions in conflict.
“Addressing this challenge goes to the heart of the mission of the United Nations, and it requires a unified response.
“We know violent extremism flourishes when human rights are violated and aspirations for inclusion are ignored.
“We also know the crucial ingredients for success: Good governance, rule of law, open, pluralist societies quality education and decent jobs.”
He said the international community could not afford to have such efforts backfire by playing into the hands of those it was seeking to defeat or by further alienating already marginalized groups or communities.
“The United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy and Security Council Resolution 2178, provide tools for addressing the scourge of violent extremism, including the growing flow of thousands of foreign terrorist fighters.
“We have a major challenge before us, one that will not disappear overnight but one that we can address concretely by forging societies of inclusion, ensuring lives of dignity, and pursuing this essential endeavour inspired at all times,” Ban said.
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