The
Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) has Reviewed National
Counter Terrorism Strategy (NACTEST) which was launched by President
Muhamadu Buhari.
During
the launch, President Buhari promised to protect Nigerians and secure
the country's territory from the menace of Boko Haram and other violent
extremists.
Represented by Vice President Yemi
Osinbajo at the launch, President Buhari Described activities of Boko
Haram as mindless killing of children and innocent citizens.
He
assured that his administration believes a robust and counter terrorism
strategy is crucial in fight against terrorism and must be constantly
reviewed from relevance to contemporary challenges.
According
to him, the launch of the reviewed counter-terrorism strategy,
underscores the fact that terrorism has numerous ideologies, not
static and response must be dynamic and versatile.
Buhari
stressed that while many people are being released from captivity, the
government is faced with severe challenge of malnutrition.
Ealier,
the National Security Adviser (NSA), Maj-Gen. Babagana Monguno (rtd),
said that the revised strategy explains what organisations and
individuals can do to help in its implementation in order to reduce the
risks of terrorism and ensure that people go about their lives freely
and with confidence.
According to Monguno,
"NACTEST is organised around five streams aimed to forestall, secure,
identify, prepare and implement with key objectives and indicators to
effectively ensure monitoring and evaluating successes at each stage".
He
said that ONSA has developed a benchmark framework for the evaluation
of the implementation of NACTEST, which has now been reviewed to include
salient areas like the Nigeria Countering Violent Extremist Program,
which are two very critical pillars in the fight against terrorism and
engendering sustainable peace.
"The NACTEST
Desks in MDAs have been established to drive the process so that the
menace of terrorism must now be addressed from a multi-dimensional and
multi-prongred and all of society approach in order to make it all
encompassing", he said.
Also speaking, the
Coordinator, Counter Terrorism Centre (CTC), Commodore Yem Musa, said
that ONSA in furtherance of the national counter terrorism efforts,
developed the "National Terrorism Levels" document to guide MDAs on
measures to be taken on receipt of information on a likely terrorists
attack.
Musa said that the document, which
outlines the alert levels and the actions to be carried out when a
terrorism alert level is declared is in 5-levels including: Critical
(Red) - Attack is imminent; Severe (Orange) – Attack is highly likely;
Substantial (Yellow) – Attack is a strong possibility; Moderate (Blue) –
Attack is possible but not likely; and Low (Green) – Attack is
unlikely.
"The
authority to issue appropriate threat levels lies with the ONSA. The
NSA will issue appropriate threat levels based on the threat analysis
and risk assessment by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Branch (JTAB) whose
work is dependent on inputs from relevant intelligence gathering and
security agencies," he said.
As a complement
to the Threat Level System, Musa disclosed that ONSA has also developed a
National Handbook on safety and security tips as a basic compilation of
simple guides for personal and corporate security.
According
to him, the handbook is aimed to enlighten the populace on critical
security measures required at all levels of terror threats.
"It
is in this regard, that this document has been translated into the
three main languages in the first instance, and to others subsequently
to give it the much – needed circulation among the citizenry," he said.
By PRNigeria
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