Indonesian Pledge against Terrorism in Nigeria

Recently, the Indonesian ambassador to Nigeria, Harry Purwanto pledged his country’s willingness to collaborate with Nigeria in the fight against terrorism. Speaking in Abuja, the diplomat said that as developing countries facing similar challenges, both countries have a lot to learn from each other. Ambassador Purwanto identified terrorism as one of the major challenges facing many countries that could be better tackled through bilateral or multilateral cooperation. We cannot but agree with him that terrorism and negative religious extremism are inimical to the economic, social and political development of any country, even when they are being perpetrated by a minority group.
Before this pledge, the United States of America had earlier promised to assist Nigeria in defeating the Boko Haram insurgency, which poses the greatest danger to the continued existence of the country. Definitely, Nigeria would need every assistance it can get in order to fight and defeat terrorism on its soil. The country can no longer afford the arrogance of fighting terrorism all alone while the international community wallows in the ignorance of linking the Boko Haram terrorist campaign to mass poverty or the elite’s struggle for control of oil wealth.
There is no denying the fact that Boko Haram is part of international jihadist movements that have their tentacles in many countries of Africa, Asia and the Middle East. The sect has also become a magnet for religious zealots from other countries who share a common poisonous ideology. We also know that the overall objective of Boko Haram’s terror campaign is to turn part of Northern Nigeria to a haven for Islamist terrorists.
Increasingly, Africa is becoming the new theatre in the global war against terrorism. For long, the United States had considered Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia, Eritrea and Sudan – the major source of global terrorism in the continent. Not anymore. Today, Nigeria has become the epicentre of terrorism, with Boko Haram as the major source of destabilisation in both West and Central Africa. That is why the country urgently needs an internationally backed anti-terror strategy, which is where Indonesia and others can be of immense help.
Such assistance should be in the areas of intelligence sharing, counterinsurgency operations, detection of improvised explosive devices, forensic analysis, intelligence gathering and analysis, and the mounting of a de-radicalisation programme. Incidentally, Indonesia being predominantly a Muslim dominated country has been able to leverage its experiences in tackling the threats of religious radicalism and terrorism which lessons will be invaluable and relevant for Nigeria.
Given its robust counterterrorist methods, Indonesia today is less susceptible to major terrorist attacks than many other countries its size and importance. Definitely, Nigeria needs all the lessons it can get from that country on ways of degrading the potency of terrorism, especially Boko Haram insurgency in the country.