Terrorism: Nigeria Wears New Face on World Stage

Dipo Kehinde|

Four dark spots on a world map unveiling today in Sydney, Australia, picture where the mass of humanity is perishing daily. Nigeria is one of them.

Using colours to show the impact that terrorism has had on each of the 195 countries around the world, Nigeria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan are boldly marked out on the newly released 2016 Global Terrorism Index map as the leading nations, where people are facing mass extinction through terrorism.

According to the map to be launched by 5pm today at the University of New South Wales, Kensington, Sydney, as part of the annual Global Terrorism Index produced by Australian think tank, the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), Iraq, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Pakistan, India and Syria, ranked in that order, account for 78 per cent of deaths and injuries linked to terrorism.

In 2015, 29,376 people died in terrorists related incidents down from 32,765 in 2014. And four groups held responsible for 74 per cent of all deaths from terrorism last year were: Islamic State (IS), Boko Haram, the Taliban and al-Qaeda.

“This year’s index paints a complex picture which shows terrorism is changing quickly,” IEP founder, Steve Killelea, told news.com.au in an interview ahead of the public event with the theme: ‘Unlocking the Global Terrorism Index’.

“The good news is the number of deaths through terrorism is down 10 per cent and of those falls 32 per cent have been recorded in Iraq and Nigeria,” he said. “The bad news is that while Boko Haram and Islamic State have been depleted in their core areas of operation (due to military action), they’ve moved to other areas so Boko Haram expanded into Niger and Cameroon while IS and its affiliates moved from operating in 13 countries to 28 countries.”

According to Wikipedia records, of the 2.3 million people displaced by the conflict since May 2013, at least 250,000 have left Nigeria and fled into Cameroon, Chad or Niger. Boko Haram killed over 6,600 in 2014. It has killed over 20, 000 since it started in 2009, and it was ranked as the world’s deadliest terror group by the Global Terrorism Index in 2015.

The 2016 Index, which covers 2015, says IS overtook Nigeria’s Boko Haram as the most dangerous terrorist group killing 6141 people in 2015. Al-Qaeda had a 17 per cent drop in the number of deaths to 1620, but the Taliban death toll went up 29 per cent to 4502. The researchers put the global economic impact of terrorism at $122 billion in 2015.

The single deadliest atrocity of 2015 was the April attack by IS on the Iraqi town of Qaim where 300 civilians were executed.

On the map, the nations most affected by terrorists’ atrocities, such as Iraq and Nigeria, are painted in dark brown colour. A less affected country as Australia is coloured a pastel peach, China is bright red, while Portugal, Panama and Papua New Guinea are a mint green.

Those with no deaths, including Vietnam and Poland, are green.

Australia got a lighter tone of red because it is the 59th most affected country. It is slightly less affected by terrorism than Iran and had more terrorist related incidents last year than peer nations Canada, Taiwan, Japan, the Netherlands and Italy.

New Zealand is at a comfortable 112^th position, safer than Switzerland even. The UK and U.S. are far more impacted, both in the 30^th position, while France’s recent horrific encounters with terrorism has pushed it up to 29^th position on the table.

The research also highlights the countries where terrorism is essentially non-existent like Singapore. According to the index, 34 countries were completely terrorism free in 2015.

Many are less developed, such as East Timor, Papua New Guinea and Cuba.

The index provides a rank for terrorism impact in each country based on number of factors including terrorist incidents, deaths, injuries and property damage.

Meanwhile, 55 members of Boko Haram were once again declared wanted, including Abubakar Shekau, who is believed to have died in an encounter with the Nigerian military.

The new declaration was made yesterday by the Nigerian Chief of Defence Staff, Gen Abayomi Gabriel Olonishakin. He released a banner with photographs and names of the 55 Boko Haram members wanted for various attacks and terror activities in the northeast where the military is prosecuting war against the insurgents.

“I urged all to facilitate in tracking them down for the good and development of the country,” the defence chief said while releasing the banner at a brief event at the headquarters of Operation Lafiya Dole in Maimalari Cantonment of the Nigerian Army in Maiduguri.

“With this launching of additional list of wanted terrorists, it is hoped that the public will collaborate to identify the wanted Boko Haram members wherever they are,” he added.

He however urged Boko Haram members who wish to surrender their arms and embrace peace to do so on time and benefit from the military Operation Save Corridors programme for repentant Boko Haram insurgents.

Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen Tukur Buratai said in an opening remark that the army first published a wanted list of Boko Haram late 2015, and released the another one later.  He said the fresh list which contained the name and photograph of Shekau, was the third list released to the public.