A Nigerian Dilemma

The recent Nyanya bus station bombing and the abduction of the school girls from Chibok has drawn the world’s attention once again to the great evil that Boko Haram represents. The medieval Jewish philosopher Baruch de Spinoza once observed that, in all matters of politics, the most important thing is not to laugh or to weep, but to understand.  I understand Boko Haram as a monster created by the northern elites. They could not have done more harm to the name of Islam – to the noble heritage of al-Farabi, Ibn Sinna, Ibn Khaldun and Jallaludin.

The roots of the current insurgency go back to the Sultanate and the imposition of a feudal caste of foreign invaders. Our country was handed over to them by the British in the sure knowledge that their stranglehold will keep us crippled forever. And they came to believe in the fiction of their inherent and inalienable right to rule in perpetuity. The Sardauna of Sokoto notoriously declared that the entire nation is the patrimony of his forefathers. And now that a New Nigeria is emerging, where people are better educated and know their rights, we have seen that the emperor has no clothes. It is these forces that have unleashed war upon us in their single-minded pursuit of power by other means.

What we face today is a dilemma in the classic sense of that word.  My dictionary defines a dilemma as “a situation in which a difficult choice is to be made between two or more alternatives, especially ones that equally undesirable”. One of the most influential social science researches of the twentieth century was led by the Swedish Nobel laureate Gunnar Myrdal. His book, An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy, was published to great acclaim in 1944.  Myrdal discovered that the roots of the American dilemma lay in the hiatus of America’s liberal democratic ideals and the iniquitous manner the white majority have treated black people. The mentally defeated blacks inevitably underperformed in all aspects of life and the resulting underperformance only served to reinforce the contempt of white folk – a vicious dilemma.

The question remains: how do we begin to confront the Nigerian Dilemma?

The main weakness of current approaches is the obsession with deployment of the army, police and intelligence services. The execution of Mohammed Yusuf, the founder and leader of Boko Haram while in custody of the police and army, only served to radicalise the group.  We need a comprehensive strategy that not only dislodges the terrorists but eliminates the social conditions that generate terrorism.

Singapore provides perhaps one of the best models for an effective counterterrorism policy. With a population of 3 million, a per capita GDP of $43, 000, and a staggering $249 billion in external reserves, Singapore is a prosperous multi-ethnic, multi-religious society. It is an extremely well-governed city state. Having had several incidences of terrorism, Singaporean authorities launched a robust counterterrorism strategy anchored on “Total Defense”; with joint civilian, army, police and intelligence services efforts to prevent, combat and respond swiftly to terrorist threats.

Singaporean democracy has been criticised for its strongly authoritarian streak. But the system delivers. The public service is based on merit and a tradition of excellence. Infrastructures are world-class and social services such as housing, education and health are accessible to all citizens. Since independence, Singapore’s elites have stood out by their robust capacity to govern. The authorities deal swiftly with crimes such as drug smuggling, fraud and robbery.  Most citizens enjoy a strong sense of security. Singapore maintains an aggressive policy of denying terrorists the means of funding for their activities. Like Nigeria, Singapore is a signatory to the UN Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism. Unlike Nigeria, however, Singapore has taken additional measures in its laws by making provision for the seizure and forfeiture of terrorist assets without criminal conviction.

Effective border controls are a key element in Singapore’s preventive strategy. The Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) has responsibility to patrol all the country’s borders while monitoring and regulating the movement of goods and people. Sophisticated technologies have been deployed to ensure screening at border points, including naval escorts for tankers and other high value vulnerable vessels. It is evident that Nigeria still has a long way to go as far as border security goes; a fact that explains how legions of mercenaries from our neigbouring countries are having a field day in Nigeria.

Singapore also maintains a highly sophisticated electronic surveillance system that allows the relevant authorities to eavesdrop on the telephones and the Internet communications of terrorist suspects. The army, police and security services are always drilled in top-level preparedness to handle high risk emergencies situations in the event of terrorist attacks, including sea piracy and airplane hijacking. Citizen mobilisation has been central to Singapore’s successful counterterrorism strategy. 

Aware of the growing radicalisation of Muslim groups, Singapore’s founding father Lee Kwan Yew stressed the importance of ensuring communal harmony among all Singaporeans.  His successor Goh Chok Tong was effective in engaging with Singapore’s Muslim leaders by ensuring that they speak out for peace and justice, thereby isolating potential extremist elements. Singapore also established a Religious Rehabilitation Group (RRG) to provide religious counselling to detainees while rehabilitating youths that had fallen victim to indoctrination into extremist ideologies.  

Singapore’s highly effective leaders have put in place a framework to ensure a high level of preparedness for its citizenry to anticipate any future terrorist attacks. Citizens are mobilised to support one another at community level and to support law enforcement and security agencies in preventing, protecting and tackling terrorism wherever it may surface. 

With regard to prevention, Singapore continues to work with members of the international community to exchange knowledge and best practices on effective counterterrorism measures. Regular military training is jointly held with the People’s Army of China while the government works constantly with its neighbours and with countries such as Britain and the United States in sharing information and best practices on counterterrorism strategies.  The criminal justice system is second to none in terms of efficiency and effectiveness while Singapore’s streets are among the safest in the world. Possession of firearms and drugs are considered crimes of strict liability and are punished harshly and rigorously. 

We can resolve the Nigerian Dilemma by not only by military means. We need an approach that combines force with “tough love” – with social and development interventions and political engagement with relevant stakeholders. Any foreign mercenaries caught on our soil must be treated appropriately as enemy combatants. We must sanction neighbouring countries who allo w their citizens to be recruited for terrorist activities within our jurisdiction. Unless the government wants us to believe in their complicity in these acts of diabolical wickedness, they must expose the financiers of the insurgency and their foreign backers. We must do so even if the heavens would fall.

OBADIAH MAILAFIA