Terrorist groups are using the approach of portraying government as incapable of guaranteeing the protection and well-being of its citizens, and use social media to recruit and radicalised youths to their fold, the National Securirty Asviser (NSA), Babagana Monguno has said.
Monguno said this at the ongoing United Nations (UN) high-level conference of heads of counter-terrorism agencies of member states in New York, United States.
The Federal Government had few days ago asked the National Assembly to pass a law to regulate social and online media, which came after the country suspended the microblogging site, Twitter, allegedly undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence.
A statement from the office of the NSA on Tuesday quoted Monguno to have said that dealing with the complex nature of terrorism and other transnational organised crimes requires effective international collaboration.
“I can say with total conviction that apart from pandemics, natural disasters and the climate itself, today, the greatest threat to the existence of human race is the global scourge of terrorism,” Monguno said.
“The fallout of activities associated with terrorists have collectively heightened insecurity in the greater part of Africa with serious economic, social and political implications for its people.
“In the North Eastern part of Nigeria, the activities of Boko Haram terrorists and the so called the Islamic State West Africa Province with known affiliation to other international terror networks such as Daesh and Al-Qaeda, have continued to undermine the security and livelihood of the people,” he said.
