The National Security Adviser (NSA), Retired Major-General
Babagana Monguno, has named some groups supporting terrorist organisations in
the Sahel region.
Monguno made the disclosure on Tuesday in a speech delivered
at the 14th Workshop of the League of Ulamas, Preachers and Imams of Sahel
countries in Abuja.
“Terrorism and the rapid escalation of violent activities by
militant Islamist groups in the Sahel since 2016 have been primarily driven by
the Islamic State in Greater Sahara (ISGS), which mainly operates in Mali and
extends to the Niger Republic and Burkina Faso,” he said.
“It is bolstered by activities of groups such as Jama’at
Nasr al-Islam Wal Muslimin (JNIM), the Islamic and Muslim Support Group (GSIM),
and ISGS, which have continued to pose an imminent threat to the stability of
the region.
“In Nigeria, Boko-Haram and Islamic State in West Africa
Province (ISWAP) dominate terrorist activities, especially in the North-Eastern
part of the country.”
The situation in the Sahel, according to the NSA, has never
been grimmer as extremist violence continues to spread with the number of
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPS) rising and increasing rate of food
insecurity.
For him, there is a need to reassess and reset foreign and
regional government strategies towards the Sahel and set aside faulty
assumptions.