The United States has raised an alarm over some recent setbacks to the anti-terrorism fight in the country, warning that Al-Qaeda, a terrorist organization with multilateral links around the world is already penetrating parts of Nigeria’s North-West.
Northwest, a region with the highest population in the country, has been grappling with insecurity challenges in recent years as bandits continue to have their hold on the region.
Beyond banditry, a Commander of the US special operations command, Africa, Dagvin Anderson said new intelligence revealed Al-Qaeda is pushing hard to establish itself in Northwest, even as the decade-old Boko Haram insurgency in the beleaguered Northeast continues to fester.
Anderson made the revelation during a digital media briefing held on Tuesday with transcript made available to journalists, Wednesday.
He also said the terrorist group is extending its operations to other parts of West Africa.
He said: “We have engaged with Nigeria and continue to engage with them in intel sharing and in understanding what these violent extremists are doing.
“And that has been absolutely critical to their engagements up in the Borno State and into an emerging area of north-west Nigeria that we’re seeing Al-Qaeda starting to make some inroads in.
“So, this intelligence sharing is absolutely vital and we stay fully engaged with the government of Nigeria to provide them an understanding of what these terrorists are doing, what Boko Haram is doing, what ISIS West Africa is doing and how ISIS and Al-Qaeda are looking to expand further south into the littoral areas.”
Anderson, who noted that the United States would continue to partner with Nigeria in sharing intelligence, regretted the setback to the global anti-terrorism fight after successes have been recorded in the past years.
He added: “We as a community of international nations keep thinking we have defeated them or we have put them on their back foot and that they’re just moments from disintegration.
“I think there’s two factors in that. One, it goes to that each government has to focus on this and provide that focus for international partners to engage with.
“The other part of this is we can’t underestimate the threat these violent extremist organisations pose.”
The US military scribe in Africa said international efforts against terrorism can only yield the desired results in Nigeria, if the government is ready to provide adequate leadership.
“So, no nation can come in and fix that problem for Nigeria.
“We can assist with that – and it’s the United States can assist, the United Kingdom, other countries can come in, many countries can come and assist with that partnership – but ultimately it takes leadership from Nigeria in order for us to focus our efforts,” Anderson said.
