Saturday Column by Bala Muhammad

2019: MY VOTE IS… (7)

By Bala Muhammad | Published Date Mar 2, 2019 0:31 AM

In continuation of our series MY VOTE IS…FOR or AGAINST (also available at https://saturdaycolumn.blogspot.com/ and https://linkedin.com/in/bala-muhammad-0784384), today is a week since President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB) was re-elected for a second term; and a week from the Governorship and State Houses of Assembly Elections next Saturday.

Today, we remind PMB of perhaps the most intractable challenge (apart from corruption) he faced in his first term – Boko Haram. In a letter titled “Five Steps to Eradicating Boko Haram: A Letter to Nigeria’s President-Elect”, regular contributor to this page Barrister Audu Bulama Bukarti (bulamabukarti@gmail.com), analyst at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change in London and a PhD candidate at SOAS, University of London proffers some advice:

Dear Mr. President-Elect,

May I begin by congratulating you on your victory in Nigeria’s recent presidential election, a historic fifth consecutive poll in our country’s history. As you indicated in your victory speech, it is now time for Nigerians to put divisive politics aside and work together to confront the challenges facing our country. In line with this, I, not only as a Nigerian keen to contribute to my nation’s development but also as someone who has studied Boko Haram extensively for a decade, would like to offer some suggestions on how to comprehensively defeat this plague that has wreaked havoc on us for over a decade.

When you came into office in 2015, you had campaigned on three key promises: to fight corruption, unemployment and Boko Haram – three malevolent bedfellows that have sunk Nigeria into a deep quagmire and which cannot be addressed in isolation. Four years ago, you took major steps, including equipping the Nigerian military and strengthening an existing but inactive regional military coalition against Boko Haram with Benin, Chad, Cameroon and Niger-the multinational joint task force (MNJTF). As a result, the group was dislodged. As early as December 2015, you said Boko Haram had been “technically defeated https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-35173618”, while in your 2018 New Year’s message, you declared that the group had been beaten https://punchng.com/full-text-muhammadu-buharis-2018-new-year-address/.

However, the recent surge in the group’s attacks against military formations shows that Boko Haram might have been dislodged but is certainly not defeated. The ISIS-allied faction of the group, Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), has claimed responsibility for several attacks https://institute.global/insight/co-existence/how-boko-haram-trying-disrupt-nigerias-2019-election since the 2019 election campaign began. The most dramatic https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/boko-haram-seizes-6-borno-towns.html of these was in December 2018, when the group overran the MNJTF headquarters, a naval fighting base and a Marine Police base to take over seven towns in Borno State.

The most recent assault came on the day originally slated for the presidential election, 16 February 2019, when ISWAP launched three coordinated https://www.premiumtimesng.com/regional/nnorth-east/313398-elections-boko-haram-launches-separate-attacks-in-borno-yobe.html attacks in different locations, killing 13 people, including six soldiers. A day earlier, the ISIS affiliate killed eight civilians when it overran a military base, stealing an armoured vehicle and torching buildings in an assault in which “several soldiers” went “missing” https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/02/killed-boko-haram-attack-nigeria-190216120448266.html. This surge has forced https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/02/boko-haram-conflict-tops-agenda-nigeria-election-190212134403939.html tens of thousands of people to flee their homes, exacerbating an already tough humanitarian situation.

Thus, Boko Haram clearly remains a threat you must contend with. The group, which was pushed to the fringes in the first half of your administration, is again on the offensive. Here are five steps that I suggest should be taken to end the decade-old threat posed by Boko Haram.

REVIVE THE REGIONAL COALITION: First, Abuja must work thoroughly to revamp its alliance with Cotonou, N’Djamena, Niamey and Yaoundé. This coalition had worked effectively until it was weakened by Chad’s withdrawal https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/chad-withdraws-troops-fighting-boko-haram.html in October 2017 of hundreds of its troops from Niger after the United States imposed a travel ban on Chadian nationals. Here, Nigeria has a huge opportunity to show leadership on the African continent which is struggling with extremist violence, and identity conflicts from all angles. Reviving the MNJTF is essential to ensure continued hard-hitting military pressure from all angles.

FIGHT A FALSE IDEOLOGY: But rejuvenating the regional coalition against Boko Haram, as important as it is, can only contain the group’s violence as Boko Haram needs more than a military response. To comprehensively defeat Boko Haram, your administration needs to improve its holistic approach to this scourge. It is crucial to address the root causes of this phenomenon, foremost of which is the poisonous binary ideology that treats ‘others’ as enemies worthy of death. Your government should pursue the idea muted by the Minister of Interior of embarking on mass religious education to reduce the group’s appeal. More than mere religious literacy, this scheme should aim to instill religious intelligence in its targets. It should teach the basics of Islamic law and jurisprudence such as the protection of life, religion, property and intellect. It should encourage respect for differing views in the house of Islam as preparation for diversity in a pluralist society like Nigeria’s. The biography of the Prophet Muhammad (upon whom be peace) which models harmonious co-existence between early Muslims and their Jewish and Christian counterparts, should also form part of the curriculum. In this endeavour, Abuja can benefit from the experiences of such partners as the Development Initiative of West Africa and my employers the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change which have been training and supporting Imams https://institute.global/co-existence/supporting-leaders on these aspects for the past five years.

BOOST SUPPORT TO THE ARMED FORCES: Furthermore, your administration must work to help the troops fighting Boko Haram, not only by providing equipment to address reported complaints of “inadequate ammunition https://institute.global/insight/co-existence/how-boko-haram-trying-disrupt-nigerias-2019-election”, but also by addressing fatigue https://institute.global/insight/co-existence/how-boko-haram-trying-disrupt-nigerias-2019-election and low morale among the troops. At the start of your administration, you paid unscheduled visits to the front line. More such appearances, as well as gestures like presidential delegations or calls to greet wounded soldiers and more humane treatment of the families of fallen ones would boost soldiers’ morale. Rotating soldiers regularly is also essential to avoid physical and mental exhaustion.

REHABILITATE AND REINTEGRATE: Fourth, your incoming administration must rehabilitate and reintegrate Boko Haram’s victims as well as people associated with the group who have turned themselves in following your offer of amnesty from Abuja. A convenient starting point is to rebuild communities razed by Boko Haram and livelihoods shattered by the group. More than reconstructing destroyed buildings, authorities must focus on psycho-social support and economic empowerment for victims. This will begin to prepare communities to accept deradicalised former fighters back into society.

PROVIDE BASIC SERVICES: Finally, on the back of this rehabilitation, your government should target the grievances and socio-economic circumstances that allow Boko Haram to appeal to recruits. You should confront and combat poverty, unemployment and the impacts of environmental degradation. Improving the provision of such basic services as drinking water, power and healthcare, combined with religious intelligence, would help build community resilience. Quality education that promotes open-mindedness and defeats stereotypes and barriers should be a top priority not only in North Eastern Nigeria but in the whole country. This way, divisive ideologies like Boko Haram’s will have no chance of flourishing. Alongside fighting extremist ideologies behind the violence that harms prospects for co-existence, the Tony Blair Institute works with governments and leaders of fragile, developing and emerging states to support them to deliver on their priorities. This is an integral part of dealing with the enormous challenges a group like Boko Haram poses. Understandably, creating jobs for Nigeria’s many unemployed youths by stimulating agriculture, reviving local industries and attracting foreign investment was a priority in your 2019 manifesto https://apc.com.ng/manifesto/. But just as no farmer would enter the bush knowing they are likely to meet Boko Haram fighters, so no would-be investor would pour money into a conflict-ridden environment. Thus, the key to Nigeria’s development lies in eradicating Boko Haram.

I wish you the very best of luck. Yours sincerely, Audu Bulama Bukarti.