I Must Address Root Causes Of Violent Extremism, Buhari vows

PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari, Tuesday, vowed that his administration will address the root causes of violent extremism in the country.

President Muhammadu Buhari launching Nigeria’s Policy Framework and National Action Plan for Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism while the National Security Adviser, Maj. 

Gen. Babagana Monguno (l) looked on during a meeting at the Aso Chambers, State House, Abuja. Photo by Abayomi Adeshida. The President who expressed the determination and commitment of his government to tackle violent extremism while inaugurating the Policy Framework and National

Action Plan for Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism at the Presidential Villa, Abuja noted that Nigeria was before now, a free, peaceful and enterprising nation He directed all ministries, departments and agencies to institutionalise mainstream measures to address the root causes of violent extremism President Buhari also called on States and Local Governments to develop similar Plan to check violent extremism at the grassroots. Recall that the president had on August 24, signed a presidential directive for the implementation of Nigeria’s policy framework and national action plan for preventing and countering violent extremism. According to him, “I have directed that all ministries, departments and agencies to institutionalise mainstream measures to address the root causes of violent extremism while implementing programmes that build the resilience of Nigerians to recover from the consequences of violence. “We must now while working together focus in rooting out hate, misrepresentation of religion and violence in our society. “I also call on States and Local Governments to develop action plans for preventing and countering violent extremism sat the grassroots.” He explained that the policy framework and national action plan was a complimentary approach developed through consultations with Nigerians in and outside the government. He also said that the Federal Government was committed to implementing the framework through the involvement of all well meaning citizens in the society. In his remarks, the National Security Adviser, Maj. Gen. Babagana Mongonu, retd, said Nigeria was one of the few countries in the world that had developed the policy framework which the country had showcased on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. The NSA said, “In 2015, Mr. President directed the review of Nigeria’s countering violent extremism programme. The review pointed us to the need for a complementary soft approach to our kinetic effort in dealing with terrorism based on principles of whole of government and whole of the society approach. “We also recognised that in line with our focus on transparency, accountability and the rule of law, we needed to build a policy framework that ensures the institutionalisation and mainstreaming on countering violent extremism across ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) of government. “While we were taking this step, the then United Nations Secretary-General, Mr. Banki Moon in December of 2015, issued a call to member states to develop national plans to prevent violent extremism. It is in this context that l wish to thank His Excellency, Mr. President for endorsing the presidential directive on implementing Nigeria’s framework and national action plan for preventing and countering violent terrorism on the 24th or August, 2017. “I wish also to inform Mr. President that Nigeria is one of the few countries in the world that have developed the policy framework which we showcased on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly held in September 2017 in the New York. “I wish to state that Nigeria’s effort was overwhelmingly appreciated during the global solution’s exchange side events where donors indicated their willingness to partner Nigeria in implementing the national action plan. “In developing the policy framework, government did not work in isolation, starting with the memorandum of understanding between the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) on the Nigerian stability and reconciliation programme and United Kingdom’s Department for International Development, we engaged key stakeholders through a national working group.” Mongonu further explained that the national working group was consisted of groups of government, MDAs, civil society organisations, the media, labour, students and academic community. He said that the group held several technical meetings and also visited Belfast in Northern Ireland to exchange ideas and learn from the conflict resolution initiatives for resolving the Northern Ireland crisis. He said, “We were also involved in workshops organised for preventing and encountering violent extremism, the National Action Plan Task Force at the Geneva Centre to prosecute the policy where 16 countries at various stages of developing their policy framework shared experiences. “This facilitated international validation for our draft policy framework towards understanding the root cause of violent extremism. This policy framework also benefitted from the values of research conducted for the ONSA by a team of experts on radicalisation, counter-radicalisation and deradicalisation in Nigeria. “Through wide consultations, we have thus developed a policy framework that is truly people-oriented and it is tailored to address the conditions conducive to the spread of terrorism while countering the dangerous ideologies that fuel terrorism. “Your Excellency, this framework and national action plan rest on four major objectives which dictate our priority components. These are aimed at: A. Strengthening institutions and co-ordination in preventing and countering violent extremism. B. Strengthening the rule of law, access to justice and human rights. C. Engaging communities and building resilience and D. Integrating strategic communication in preventing and countering violent extremism. “We have also included strategic implementation methods to guide government and non-governmental actors in delivering a three-year national action plan set in this policy framework. Now, in order to achieve these objectives, l wish to highlight some of the needed steps to take, going forward. “All relevant MDAs are required to include in their annual budgets, preventing and countering terrorism plan for implementation.