Ademola Rabiu/
A Pan-Africanist Perspective on Counter-Terrorism: Why External Strikes Fail and a Home-Grown Approach is Essential for Enduring Peace in Nigeria
Your Excellency,
I write to you from a deep-seated Pan-Africanist conviction, concerned by the recent reliance on foreign military strikes to address the terrorist threat in Nigeria. While the immediate tactical value of such operations may be debated, history and ideology compel us to look beyond them. The experiences of Afghanistan, Syria, and Iraq, alongside the wisdom of African thinkers like Steve Biko and Thomas Sankara, clearly demonstrate that enduring peace cannot be imported—it must be home-grown.
1. The Proven Ineffectiveness of External Military Solutions
The United States’ “over-the-horizon” counter-terrorism strategy, reliant on airstrikes and remote operations, has a track record of failure in the very theatres it was designed to secure. Academic analysis of U.S. strategy in Iraq and Syria concludes that it is “ineffective and counterproductive,” failing to achieve its stated objectives. This “whack-a-mole” approach, as critics term it, disrupts groups temporarily but does not eliminate the conditions that allow them to regenerate. The recent strikes in Nigeria’s Sokoto State have been similarly criticized as a strategy that “will not make Nigeria safer” and is “ineffective at controlling insurgencies or eliminating terrorist groups”. This pattern reveals a fundamental truth: terrorism is a political, social, and economic phenomenon, not merely a military target.
2. The Pan-Africanist Intellectual Case for Self-Reliance
Our own intellectual traditions provide a far more profound diagnosis and prescription. The lessons of Steve Biko and Thomas Sankara are not relics of the past but urgent guides for our present security crisis.
- Steve Biko taught that true liberation begins in the mind. His assertion that “The greatest weapon in the hand of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed” is acutely relevant. Terrorism in Nigeria feeds on minds oppressed by poverty, marginalisation, poor governance, and a lack of opportunity. A security strategy that relies on external powers to “fix” our problem inadvertently reinforces a psychology of dependency and powerlessness. Biko’s Black Consciousness movement was built on “fostering black economic self-reliance” and community empowerment. Our counter-terrorism policy must similarly foster national self-reliance and address the psychological and material roots of alienation.
- Thomas Sankara was the consummate practitioner of African self-reliance. He warned that “He who feeds you, controls you”. This principle extends beyond food aid to military and security dependency. When we outsource our security, we cede control over our sovereignty and our solutions. Sankara further argued that real help does not come in the form of consumable aid, but in the tools for self-sufficiency: “Those who come with wheat, millet, corn or milk, they are not helping us. Those who really want to help us can give us ploughs, tractors, fertilizers…”. Translated to our security dilemma, real assistance is not a cruise missile, but capacity-building, intelligence-sharing on our terms, and support for our own holistic, grassroots peacebuilding.
3. The Imperative for a Nigerian-Led, Home-Grown Strategy
A lasting solution must therefore be authentically Nigerian and African. This does not mean rejecting international cooperation, but it must be cooperation that serves a Nigerian-designed strategy. This home-grown approach must prioritize:
(a) Political and Governance Reform: Addressing grievances related to marginalization, corruption, and inequitable resource distribution.
(b) Community-Centered Security: Strengthening local policing, community dialogue, and de-radicalization programs that enjoy local legitimacy.
(c) Economic Inclusion: Massive investment in education, youth employment, and rural development in the affected regions to drain the swamp of recruits.
(d) Regional Diplomacy: Leading a coordinated, African-owned security and development initiative within the ECOWAS and AU frameworks. The crisis in the Sahel is a cross-border issue and hence it is time to revive the Africa High Command.
Your Excellency, the path of external military intervention is a well-trodden one leading to perpetual conflict. The path of self-reliance, as charted by our finest thinkers, is harder but leads to enduring peace. You have the historic opportunity to champion a truly Nigerian and Pan-African solution—one that secures not just our territory, but the dignity and future of our people.
I urge you to look inwards, to mobilize our immense internal resources and ingenuity, and to build a peace that we own, and that will therefore last.
Respectfully,
Ademola Rabiu CEng
An apostle of Pan-Africanism
+234 906 145 4984
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