According to a report by Channels TV, terrorist attacks in Nigeria have dropped to the lowest in decades. Indeed, even going by news reports, there have been very few cases of terrorist attacks across the country in the past months. This remarkable record did not happen by chance.
In the background of the massive leap in the fight against insecurity is one man playing his role as Coordinator in Chief: Mallam Nuhu Ribadu. He arrived office as the country’s National Security Adviser in June 2023 and ever since has shown leadership, particularly causing a strategic shift in how we run in security in the country.
Take for example: We have seen improved inter-agency coordination, better than has ever been in our country’s history. Lack of coordination has historically been a weak link in our counterterrorism efforts. Anyone who followed security news in the past ten years will tell you that our security agencies, capable and well-equipped however failed to nip insecurity in the bud due to inter-agency rivalry and poor team work. Cases abound of Heads of these security agencies giving different accounts of the same event due to poor coordination.
With better oversight over the DSS, the Police Force, and military, which have often operated in silos, we are seeing better intelligence sharing and joint operations—mostly through the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) established under the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA).
Improved coordination and intelligence sharing among these security agencies has led to more effective prevention and response to threats. With this we are seeing faster identification of risks, better allocation of resources, and enhanced overall public safety as a result.
With improved intelligence gathering and sharing, we are also seeing more preemptive strikes against terrorist groups like Boko Haram and whatever new names they chose to call themselves.
I also understand that one of the strategies of the NSA has been to cut off terrorists financial lifelines. Funding provides terrorists with the resources to plan, train, recruit, and execute attacks. Bandits in the Northwest, rely on ransom payments and illicit trade. With a crack down on their funding networks, tracking down and freezing of their assets, terrorists have found it hard to sustain their operations.
There is also a strategy that Nuhu Ribadu has also been employing that is worth mentioning: It is called the “whole-of-society” approach. It includes addressing root causes of terrorism—like poverty, unemployment, and marginalisation in the Northeast—through targeted development projects. This tactic contrasts with the previous reliance on brute force alone.
We are seeing a mix of better coordination, financial strangulation, softer counterterrorism tactics, and tech-driven intelligence—executed with deliberate intent rather than the fragmented approaches of the past, hence the positive drop in terrorist attacks as reported by Channels TV.
Taye Olubayo is a security expert and writes from Abuja
