Nigeria calls for support to tackle terrorism

Abuja, Nigeria | Xinhua | Nigerian President Bola Tinubu has called on the United Nations to be more practical in supporting Nigeria in the fight against terrorism, in view of the rippling effect on global peace, displacements of people, and rising poverty.

In a press release issued by the Presidency on Friday, Tinubu said that terrorism had consistently reversed the gains on development and increased instability in families and communities in an audience with Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism Vladimir Voronkov in the Nigerian capital of Abuja Thursday.

Voronkov praised Nigeria’s contribution to the global fight against terrorism while noting that Nigeria already had a framework for prevention, mitigation, and reconciliation.

Voronkov said that the UN was planning a Counter-Terrorism Summit in Abuja slated for April 2024, and it would be largely driven by African nations with an African agenda.

Nigeria has long been plagued by terrorist groups such as Boko Haram. Tinubu has made fighting terrorism one of his top goals of the new government since his inauguration in May.

In a report released in February, the United Nations Development Programme said sub-Saharan Africa, including Nigeria, has become the world’s new epicenter of violent extremism, with nearly half of the world’s recorded deaths from terrorism in 2021 coming from the region.