The Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) announced that Nigeria and the United States of America are committed to leading a global coalition in the fight against terrorism.
This was disclosed by the ONSA in a virtual meeting held on Saturday.
The virtual meeting was co-hosted by Nigeria and the USA, with the Africa Union, European Union, ECOWAS, and G5 Sahel in attendance.
“The session, moderated by U.S. Special Envoy for the Sahel, Ambassador J. Peter Pham, had panelists from Global Coalition members – Cameroon, Chad, Guinea, Niger, and co-host Nigeria, providing key perspectives on the evolution of ISIS affiliates and their troubling activities in West Africa,” ONSA said.
“The panelists also provided useful ways the Global Coalition could enhance efforts to curb the expanding influence of ISIS in the West Africa and the Sahel.
“Discussions also centered on lessons learnt from the fight against ISIS in Iraq and Syria and reviewing of potential lines of efforts, including the use of battlefield evidence and border security measures and how these lessons and lines of efforts could be applied in West Africa and the Sahel,” it stated.
ONSA disclosed that the meeting revealed terrorists globally exploit metrics like economic inequality and ethnic marginalisation to recruit youths to their cells and that the meeting ended with Nigeria and USA confirming their commitment to fighting terrorism.
“It was stressed that terrorists across the globe exploit some drivers, including economic imbalance and marginalization, amongst other local grievances to penetrate the local population.
“The meeting called for more measures to counter radicalization, recruitment of gullible individuals, and concerted global efforts to defeat ISIS.
“At the end of the meeting, the co-host, Nigeria and USA, as well as the 82-member global coalition, reaffirmed full commitment to defeating ISIS and other terror groups including ISWAP and Boko Haram in Nigeria.
“Nigeria also expressed her readiness to seek for more support and partnership within the activities and mandates of the Global Coalition against ISIS to enhance its ongoing operations against terrorism in the North East and efforts in preventing and countering violent extremism in the country.”
