What Nigeria has in common with Iraq, Somalia, Afganistan

Nigeria was last week, ranked 4^th on the 2013 Global Terrorism Index, putting it in the same club as terror-torn countries like Afganistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Somalia and a host of others in the middle east.

With Boko Haram still holding sway in the country’s north east, capturing towns, killing thousands and creating refugees out of people in their own country, Nigeria might rank higher in 2015.

Below is a Wednesday Editorial by Daily Sun Newspaper which takes a closer look at the situation in Nigeria. It makes an interesting read:

Nigeria, last week, emerged 4th on the 2013 Global Terrorism Index. In plain language, Nigeria was the 4th worst affected country with regard to incidents of terrorism, last year. In the global study by the London-based Institute for Economics and Peace, it was little surprise that Nigeria ranked behind Afghanistan and Pakistan, that came first and second respectively, while Iraq, which had 2,492 terrorist attacks that killed 6,300 people, came third. Syria, now in the throes of a devastating civil war, was ranked 15th  after Nigeria.

It was equally understandable that the number of people killed in terrorism attacks rose 60 per cent in 2013 to over 18,000.  That figure is expected to go even higher in 2014 due to the obvious escalation of terrorism in the Middle East and Nigeria. The Institute stated that there were 303 terrorist attacks in Nigeria in 2013 with 1,826 fatalities and 457 injured, “figures bound to be eclipsed judging by the ferocity of 2014 attacks by Boko Haram.”

The economic cost of terrorism in Nigeria was horrendous: $28.48 billion.  And, it thus followed that Nigeria sank to the bottom rungs of the Global Peace Index, ranking 151 out of 162 nations.

Boko Haram is named next to the notorious Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) followed by the Afghan Taliban and the international al Qaeda-affiliated networks in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The sobering reality that Nigeria is now acknowledged worldwide as a country beleaguered by terrorism should serve as a wake-up call on all Nigerians to unite and work to free the country of this odious toga.

The Institute confirmed what Nigerians already know that “…the four groups responsible for most of the deaths all have their roots in fundamentalist Islam.”  It also acknowledged how intractable the problem was when it observed that “they (terrorist groups) are particularly angry about the spread of Western education.  That makes any attempt at the kind of social mobilizing you need to stop them particularly difficult – it can just antagonize them more.”

Boko Haram’s repeated blood-curdling attacks on schools, the brutal murder of hundreds of students; the abduction of over 200 students from the Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, underscore and validate the institute’s observation.

It is so sad that Nigeria has joined the league of the severely troubled countries of the world.  One of the first thoughts about Nigeria in international circles now is the terrorism raging in the North-East of the country.  This is a major setback for the country. Assets and infrastructure which took decades to build now go up in flames in minutes and rebuilding them would probably cost double the amount initially spent on putting them up. At a time other countries are pushing every lever to develop their economies and thereby improve the wellbeing of their citizens. Nigeria is at the mercy of a murderous gang intent on destroying everything of value within its reach and dragging it back to the 7th century.

With rankings such as this one from the Institute for Economics and Peace, the signals to foreign investors are obvious.  The warnings to foreign tourists are also negative.  Travel advisory may be issued by some countries to their citizens to steer clear of Nigerian.  This is a backward march which should distress every Nigerian.

It is disheartening being bracketed with countries that have been engaged in civil wars like Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, Somalia and the like.

And getting Nigeria out of those brackets is the challenge for Nigeria’s security forces.  We do not believe that Boko Haram is too difficult for Nigeria’s Armed Forces to subdue.

It is obvious the forces are currently contending with niggling internal problems of discipline, training, command, and equipment, which have manifested on many occasions to the embarrassment of the country.

But, we are convinced that the Nigerian military will sooner than later get its acts together and finally fulfill its constitutional obligation, which is to guarantee the security of lives and property and the territorial integrity of the country.