The fight against the Boko Haram insurgency in the country received a boost last week as America, the United Kingdom, China, Israel, France and some other countries offered to help the country with the effort to rescue the over 200 girls abducted from the Chibok Secondary School in Borno State on April 14. Already, some American and British security experts are in the country to discuss the modalities for their intervention, while Israel, through its Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, told President Goodluck Jonathan last Sunday that a team of Israeli experts will soon arrive in Nigeria to work with their American, British and Nigerian counterparts to intensify the search for the girls.
These offers of help give real hope of a rescue of the abducted girls and respite from the onslaught of Boko Haram insurgents, which has claimed no fewer than 4,000 lives, injured many more and destroyed thousands of houses, schools, markets, churches and mosques, since it began a few years ago.
Though these offers seem long in coming, the worldwide outrage that greeted the abduction of the Chibok girls became the trigger that jolted the countries to the realisation that the atrocities of the sect had gone on for too long.
The help from the US government will include a team of technical experts comprising American military and law enforcement personnel skilled in intelligence, investigations, hostage negotiating, information sharing and victim assistance, as well as officials with expertise in other areas. The military members will help with communications, logistics and intelligence planning.
The British Prime Minister, David Cameron, promised the deployment of British Satellite Imaging capabilities and other advanced tracking technologies, in support of our ongoing effort to locate and rescue the missing students. China’s Premier Li Keqiang promised that his country would make any useful information acquired by its satellites and intelligence services available to Nigeria’s security agencies. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has been reported to have intensified collaboration with the Nigerian Federal Government, while the United Nations (UN) demanded an immediate release of the girls.
We welcome the international collaboration on this rescue effort. The acceptance of help from foreign countries on this critical mission is a wise step by the Nigerian authorities. It is not in any way an expression of lack of confidence in the capability of the Nigerian armed forces and other security agencies. It only suggests that the Boko Haram insurgency is a problem that needs every hand on deck to resolve.
Nigeria has always been a dependable ally in international efforts to secure the world through participation in international peacekeeping missions, so the offers of help from world leaders to deal with the Boko Haram menace, especially over the despicable abduction of our girls, is not totally unexpected.
What the nation needs now, therefore, is total cooperation with the forces from the countries that have offered to help so that we can quickly rescue these girls and end the insurgency in the country.
We urge both the military and civilian populace to collaborate with our foreign friends and share intelligence. There must be mutual trust among all parties concerned if Nigeria is to get out of this quagmire.
We must also not neglect to engage Cameroun, Niger and Chad, with which we share borders, in the effort to rescue the girls and end terrorism. There is bound to be misinformation, rumours and exaggerations of activities of the foreign forces that are in Nigeria. There must be a coordinated effort to manage information so that no exercise is misrepresented or taken out of context. Both the states and the federal government should ensure that no effort is spared to prevent propagandists from hijacking this international intervention.
It is important to state that without absolute cooperation of both our security agencies and our civilian population, all the gadgets, intelligence and strategies that are about to be introduced into this war will be futile.
This international help we have got is neither a hypodermic needle nor a magic wand with which we can wish Boko Haram away. We must, therefore, do everything that is necessary to support this initiative and untie the Gordian knot of terrorism in the country.
As a people, we need to move beyond vitriols, blame games and finger pointing. This is the time to close ranks and join hands to retrieve these girls, and our national reputation that has been subjected to unprecedented bashing in both the local and foreign media. Whatever evil walls insurgents have erected to divide the country can only be brought down by our collective determination and concerted effort to wrest our country from their stranglehold.
Let us put all political and religious sentiments aside to make this intervention work. Anything other than this will amount to crass ingratitude to the rest of the world that has risen to defend our country and help us rest the menace of insurgency in the country.
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
#BringBackOurGirls: The coalition against Boko Haram
The fight against the Boko Haram insurgency in the country received a boost last week as America, the United Kingdom, China, Israel, France and some other countries offered to help the country with the effort to rescue the over 200 girls abducted from the Chibok Secondary School in Borno State on April 14. Already, some American and British security experts are in the country to discuss the modalities for their intervention, while Israel, through its Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, told President Goodluck Jonathan last Sunday that a team of Israeli experts will soon arrive in Nigeria to work with their American, British and Nigerian counterparts to intensify the search for the girls.
These offers of help give real hope of a rescue of the abducted girls and respite from the onslaught of Boko Haram insurgents, which has claimed no fewer than 4,000 lives, injured many more and destroyed thousands of houses, schools, markets, churches and mosques, since it began a few years ago.
Though these offers seem long in coming, the worldwide outrage that greeted the abduction of the Chibok girls became the trigger that jolted the countries to the realisation that the atrocities of the sect had gone on for too long.
The help from the US government will include a team of technical experts comprising American military and law enforcement personnel skilled in intelligence, investigations, hostage negotiating, information sharing and victim assistance, as well as officials with expertise in other areas. The military members will help with communications, logistics and intelligence planning.
The British Prime Minister, David Cameron, promised the deployment of British Satellite Imaging capabilities and other advanced tracking technologies, in support of our ongoing effort to locate and rescue the missing students. China’s Premier Li Keqiang promised that his country would make any useful information acquired by its satellites and intelligence services available to Nigeria’s security agencies. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has been reported to have intensified collaboration with the Nigerian Federal Government, while the United Nations (UN) demanded an immediate release of the girls.
We welcome the international collaboration on this rescue effort. The acceptance of help from foreign countries on this critical mission is a wise step by the Nigerian authorities. It is not in any way an expression of lack of confidence in the capability of the Nigerian armed forces and other security agencies. It only suggests that the Boko Haram insurgency is a problem that needs every hand on deck to resolve.
Nigeria has always been a dependable ally in international efforts to secure the world through participation in international peacekeeping missions, so the offers of help from world leaders to deal with the Boko Haram menace, especially over the despicable abduction of our girls, is not totally unexpected.
What the nation needs now, therefore, is total cooperation with the forces from the countries that have offered to help so that we can quickly rescue these girls and end the insurgency in the country.
We urge both the military and civilian populace to collaborate with our foreign friends and share intelligence. There must be mutual trust among all parties concerned if Nigeria is to get out of this quagmire.
We must also not neglect to engage Cameroun, Niger and Chad, with which we share borders, in the effort to rescue the girls and end terrorism. There is bound to be misinformation, rumours and exaggerations of activities of the foreign forces that are in Nigeria. There must be a coordinated effort to manage information so that no exercise is misrepresented or taken out of context. Both the states and the federal government should ensure that no effort is spared to prevent propagandists from hijacking this international intervention.
It is important to state that without absolute cooperation of both our security agencies and our civilian population, all the gadgets, intelligence and strategies that are about to be introduced into this war will be futile.
This international help we have got is neither a hypodermic needle nor a magic wand with which we can wish Boko Haram away. We must, therefore, do everything that is necessary to support this initiative and untie the Gordian knot of terrorism in the country.
As a people, we need to move beyond vitriols, blame games and finger pointing. This is the time to close ranks and join hands to retrieve these girls, and our national reputation that has been subjected to unprecedented bashing in both the local and foreign media. Whatever evil walls insurgents have erected to divide the country can only be brought down by our collective determination and concerted effort to wrest our country from their stranglehold.
Let us put all political and religious sentiments aside to make this intervention work. Anything other than this will amount to crass ingratitude to the rest of the world that has risen to defend our country and help us rest the menace of insurgency in the country.
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