By Victoria Ojeme

Last week would probably go down as the busiest for officials  of Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, going by the heightened level of international meetings it undertook, in the wake of the most deadly attack by the Islamist sect, Boko Haram, on the ancient city of Kano.

From the first working day of the week, only days after the attack, the Nigerian government, through the Ministry, hosted the opening of the US-Nigeria Binational Commission in the nation’s capital, Abuja.

The meeting had US Deputy Assistant Secretary, Mr. William Fitzgerald, led the American side, while the Nigerian side was led by the Foreign Affairs’ Permanent Secretary, Ambassador Martins Uhomoibhi, along with the National Security Adviser, NSA, Gen. Andrew Azazi (Rtd.

Both the Nigerian and American officials met to formalise their response to the general insecurity in the northern part of Nigeria as part of the Regional Security Cooperation Working Group.

Before retreating to a close door meeting, Fitzgerald disclosed that due to the intensity of the insurgent activities in the North, the security working group have been split into two, with one group focusing exclusively on tackling the Boko Haram menace, while the other focuses on security of the Niger Delta region.

He said: “Today marks a new beginning, security issues in the North have taken up new significance, so we have chosen to split the regional security cooperation and the Niger Delta. The regional security cooperation has its own working group which will meet today and tomorrow.

“I bring on behalf of the US Government, the deepest condolences on the heinous attacks that has taken place during the past few days, first in Kano and then Bauchi States. We deplore swiftly the reign of terror that has existed in the north of the country for many months. And we stand with you to work together to find a way to bring peace to the North”, the US envoy added.

Inspite of the apparent care of both Nigerian and American officials in the choice of words in the constant reference to insecurity in Northern Nigeria,  it became very clear that, the new focus was indeed a strategic response to the Boko Haram, the only source of security threat in that part of the country.

Indeed the presence of the top echelon of the nation’s security apparatus, led by the NSA as well as the top brass of the National Intelligence Agency, NIA, State Security Service, SSS, and the Police, among others, spoke volumes of the importance of this diplomatic engagement in the fight against Boko Haram.

President Jonathan

Of course, the high level presence of American security officials, particularly military officials of the US Africa command, left no one in doubt what the meeting was about.

The Permanent Secretary was also quick to reassure would-be critics of the security arrangement that would emerge in the coming days that this did not amount to mortgaging Nigeria’s sovereignty, stressing that this was based on mutual respect and understanding.

Though most of the proceeding was done behind closed door on the first day, expectations of a clearer picture of the nature of the now certain security cooperation between America and Nigeria on the second day, probably through the communiqué was immediately dashed, as the communiqué was also carefully drafted not to give anything away.

The US Deputy Assistant Secretary for African Affairs read the joint communiqué at the end of the two day meeting.
According to him, the commitment covers repositioning the Nigerian security services to respond appropriately to security challenges and threats in the country.

The key areas of collaboration between the two countries, he said, include training, intelligence sharing, modernisation of the security services and logistics.

He pointed out that the technical sub-working group of the meeting will continue meeting in Abuja to explore development of a Nigerian intelligence fusion capability, which the US envoy said will be coordinated through the US Embassy in Abuja in conjunction with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other relevant Nigerian Agencies.

He said: “Both sides reaffirmed their commitment to enhance the operational capabilities of the Nigeria security services by identifying avenues that would enable them to respond appropriately to internal security challenges and other threats.

“Prominent areas of collaboration may include training, intelligence sharing, modernisation of the security services, logistics and other requirements. “Nigeria and the United States governments resolved to participate in more sustained working level engagement and cooperation on security matters, through the United States Embassy in Abuja, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other relevant security agencies. “Finally, both the Nigerian and US governments agreed to follow-up on these commitments and seek further collaboration to address the challenges that have been identified during the meeting.

“Both countries welcome the involvement of civil society, community-level organisations and other stakeholders in the next meeting of the Regional Security Cooperation Working Group.” He added

Uhomoibhi, who also spoke, said: “You do know that government is continuing to exert its efforts locally to deal with these challenges that we face at this time including the sensitisation of the Nigerian public that security is public matter and that it is not for Mr. X including Agency B.

“This is a national responsibility, a responsibility to be discharged by all Nigerians and indeed all residents in the territorial state of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” he stated

Though no official was willing to give details of the expected security cooperation, what was obvious was that as one of the world’s leading exporter of crude oil, security in and stability of Nigeria – following the US, EU embargo on Iranian oil exports – is likely to be of more international concern than ever.

Several unanswered questions that are likely to ignite national discourse also include whether the renewed war against terror will mean American boots on the ground, or will the emerging cooperation be limited only to intelligence gathering, in which case there may be more active CIA presence, as well as unmanned surveillance aircrafts(drones) on Nigeria airspace.  Indeed the coming days will define the shape of the security cooperation between the US and Nigeria.

While the US-Nigeria Binational Commission meeting was winding up on the second day, the nation’s diplomatic machinery was at once engaged with the launch of the Integrated Assistance for Countering Terrorism (I-ACT) projects on Conflict Prevention and internal Coordination and Information-sharing among law enforcement agencies.

This occasion brought together the diplomatic community in Nigeria, including leading world and continental organisations. The meeting held under the aegis of the Counter Terrorism Implementation Task Force (CTITF), United Nations Counter Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate, UNESCO, INTERPOL, United Nations Development Programme and other entities.

The meeting among others reviewed Nigeria’s Act on Terrorism (prevention) and money Laundering (Prevention) signed into law by President Goodluck Jonathan, in June 2011, facilitated by the CTITF.

Nigeria’s  Minister of Foreign Affairs, Prof Olugbanga Ashiru, informed the gathering that Nigeria now have an operational office supervised by a Counter Terrorism Coordinator with the mandate to ensure coherence in the activities of the relevant stakeholders in the country.  Amb.  Uhomoibhi who represented the Minister said over the past three years, Nigeria has been working closely with the Counter Terrorism Implementation Task Force on the I-ACT project.
He said, “The CTITF has visited Nigeria on several occasions and jointly, we were able to develop a comprehensive mapping and gaps analysis”.

Ambassador Francisco C.J Madeira, AU chairperson Special Representative for Counter-Terrorism Cooperation, Director of the African Center of the Study and Research on Terrorism, disclosed that terrorists and other criminal groups are active in a vast area of the continent, waging an asymmetric war against member states adding that “they remained a growing threat to continental peace.

Madeira said “The continent has fully realised the destructive nature of terrorism and the obstacles it posses to the peace, stability and development of member states and must not be accepted in whatever form it comes”, adding that “there are other acceptable and viable ways of pursuing legitimate political, social, economic and religious ambitions”.
He appreciated Nigeria’s effort in combating the situation and called for collective efforts of regional and international cooperation as well as collaboration in bringing the issue of terrorism to an end.

Also speaking at the event, the Italian Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Roberto Colamine, reminded the gathering of his country’s on-going initiatives to combat terrorism in Nigeria which includes training of 20 Nigerian officers in charge of border control by Italian financial police in charge of border control, 20 police officers by Italian civil police as well as training of 300 officers by Italian military police.