By Abubakar Yunus
Nigeria has urged the African Union (AU) to tackle illicit funds that fuel terrorism and violent extremism on the continent.
Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, minister of foreign affairs, spoke on Tuesday during a virtual meeting of the AU’s peace and security council held at the ministerial level, according to a statement issued by Magnus Eze, the minister’s media aide.
Odumegwu-Ojukwu said terrorist groups on the continent are beginning to show greater resilience against conventional military counter-terrorism operations in Africa and linked their strength to illicit funding.
“Mr. Chair, a major obstacle to any progress being made in the fight against terrorism in Africa is access to illicit funds,” she said.
“It facilitates the recruitment of youths and the procurement of lethal weapons by terrorist groups. We call on the PSC to stress the need for stronger international cooperation in preventing, tracing, recovering, and returning proceeds of illicit financial flows from safe havens to countries of origins.
“They are increasingly acquiring and deploying commercially available technologies, such as drones and other sophisticated digital platforms.
“They are also having what seems to be unhindered access to illicit financing through kidnapping for ransom and mining of precious minerals in territories where they operate.”
Odumegwu-Ojukwu said Nigeria “strongly condemned” all acts of terrorism and violent extremism and expressed the country’s solidarity with all victims of the menace.
She said the greatest challenge facing the AU is determining the best way to curtail the operational freedom of jihadist groups on the continent.
Odumegwu-Ojukwu also called on international partners to affirm zero tolerance for terrorism by taking measures to prevent non-state actors from acquiring arms and ammunition, including drones, dual–use goods and other sophisticated weapons manufactured by companies in their territories.
The minister also called for Africa to not be seen as the global epicentre of terrorism, stressing that this could lead to the unnecessary profiling of innocent Africans making them targets for ill-treatment at international airports and other destination points.
Speaking on Nigeria’s efforts towards counterterrorism, Odumegwu-Ojukwu said the country has adopted an approach that combines kinetic and non-kinetic measures.
“Our sustained operations have ensured significant degrade in the operational capacity of Boko Haram and ISWAP as well as the restoration of government authority in many of the affected communities,” she said.
“We are combating financiers of terrorist activities in the country. We are also deradicalizing, rehabilitating and reintegrating repentant ex-combatants.”
She added that the government has scaled up investment in education, critical infrastructure, economic empowerment of youths, community resilience, and engaging traditional and religious leaders, women and youth to counter extremist narratives and prevent radicalisation.
Odumegwu-Ojukwu said the country is also working closely with neighbouring countries and championing the implementation of the ECOWAS regional counter-terrorism strategy.
“In particular, we endorse the emphasis on strengthening intelligence-sharing and operational cooperation among member states; disrupting terrorist financing networks; enhancing the continental early warning system to improve early detection and response; strengthening cybersecurity; and developing continental guidelines for responsible and ethical use of artificial intelligence in the prevention of and fight against terrorism and violent extremism,” she said.
The minister said Nigeria’s support for the multinational joint task force (MNJTF) has made it the “continental best practice” on regional mechanisms for combating terrorists’ operations.
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