In current days, Nigeria has as soon as once more been reminded of a tough fact: mourning losses and providing condolences won’t suffice to win the conflict towards terror. Our nationwide enemy stays actual and resilient. The query immediately is now not solely, Who introduced them and from the place? Though these enquiries stay legitimate, they don’t seem to be ample to guard our nation from additional destruction.
Throughout the northeast and past, the battle strains are clear. Militants from Boko Haram and its offshoot, Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), proceed to launch daring assaults. Simply inside this November, coordinated assaults on two navy bases in Borno State led to the deaths of troopers and the overrunning of a ahead operation base; on November 17, a vice principal was killed and 25 college students had been kidnapped in a boarding college in Kebbi; on November 19, three had been killed and about 40 kidnapped at a church service in Kwara; and on November 21, over 50 college students had been kidnapped within the early hours of Friday in Niger State.
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In August 2025, precision airstrikes by the Nigerian navy reportedly killed at the very least 35 militants close to the Cameroon border in a confrontation with these insurgents.
These usually are not remoted skirmishes. They signify a battle that has been festering for greater than a decade, ever since Boko Haram first took up arms in 2009, and even longer if one appears to be like on the root causes.
After greater than 15 years, we should ask ourselves, has lamentation been sufficient? Has weeping and wringing of arms modified the trajectory? Sincerely, no.
That is the stage we’re at now: not only a conflict to be fought on battlefields, however a conflict of technique, of will, of operational transformation. The enemy is adapting ways, recruiting, and infiltrating; we can’t afford to stay in yesterday’s mindset. The time for decisive motion is now.
“Technique should combine these border realities, intelligence sharing, regional cooperation and home resilience.”
Which means each actor has a task, however none extra so than these in present authority, those that maintain the levers of technique, sources, regulation enforcement, and defence. They’re those entrusted by our democratic system to guard the citizenry, defend lives and property, and uphold the Structure. Our democracy is fragile. If the state hesitates on this essential struggle, the implications will erode our very basis.
Taking a look at simply this previous week, the prospect is so dim, however Nigerians count on change.
At the start, technique on the highest degree should shift. The conversations about origin, funding, state of origin, and faith of terrorists can’t develop into the central focus. We all know our adversary is not only from someplace else; it has roots right here and overseas, and it leverages native dynamics, however that data should translate into technique, not solely dialogue. For instance, Nigeria’s Chief of Defence Workers just lately proposed fencing our borders with neighbouring nations to stop infiltration, recognising that porous frontiers stay a vulnerability.
Technique should combine these border realities, intelligence sharing, regional cooperation and home resilience.
Operational ways on the bottom should enhance, as a few of us consider there are saboteurs among the many officers meant to struggle the terrorists. The women and men in uniform, in intelligence, and in native safety ought to be empowered and retooled. Air strikes in Borno State present promise, however they’re solely a part of the answer. Floor forces should be capable to leverage intelligence, to anticipate assaults, and to guard villages, faculties and markets, the very delicate targets that terrorists proceed to use. We should change how operations are deliberate, executed and sustained.
Our political class should present it’s critical, keen and prepared.
Sympathy for victims is human; it’s appropriate. However sympathy with out follow-through turns into performative. The folks should see in authorities actions the reflection of resolve. The message have to be, ‘We won’t solely mourn, we are going to act, and we are going to win.’ When the enemy sees hesitation or hears solely lamentation, they interpret that as weak spot.
A democracy with out safety is hole. When residents can’t sleep, when youngsters can’t attend college, when farmers can’t until the land, the democratic expertise begins to crack. Analysis has proven that insecurity in states like Benue State has led to measurable declines in agricultural output.
This isn’t a peripheral challenge; it’s central to the financial system, to livelihoods, to the very that means of citizenship. These in authority should recognise that securing the state will not be a facet activity; it’s foundational.
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We should transfer past asking, ‘Why are they right here?’ What are we doing? We should always ask about funding, exterior assist, and ideological motivations. As an example, Nigeria just lately arrested Pakistani nationals accused of coaching and arming Boko Haram cadres.
However asking will not be sufficient. The pivotal query is: how will the state neutralise that assist? How will we minimize off the sources, dismantle the networks, and supply communities different pathways? With out follow-through, inquiry turns into complacency.
At this juncture, lamentation with out motion is a luxurious we can’t afford. Terrorism will not be expressionless; it thrives on inaction, on delay, on uncertainty. If we deal with it as merely an unlucky reality to grieve, we depart our youngsters with a legacy of concern and our democracy with a legacy of failure.
We should always keep in mind, all of us have a accountability. The accountability to deploy sources properly, to guard citizen property, and to defend constitutional order. When the authority hesitates, the vacuum is crammed by concern, by gangs, by extremists.
Due to this fact, we should transfer now. We should change technique on the high. We should sharpen operations within the subject. We should affirm to the nation and to ourselves: we’re a individuals who can, will, and shall win this conflict. Not by tears alone, however by ways, by resolve, by braveness, and by sustained motion.
