₦airaland Forum

'When a Promise Becomes a Burden'

“Give us power, we know the financiers of terrorism, and we will crush them.”

That line won elections. It echoed in rallies, in interviews, in WhatsApp groups. For millions of Nigerians living in fear, it sounded like the beginning of the end of bloodshed. Fast forward several years, and the question on every street corner is simple: Where are the names? Where are the trials? Where is the justice?

The truth is bitter but necessary: Nigeria is not losing the war against terror because our soldiers lack courage. We are losing it because our policy lacks focus. We keep chasing shadows in the forest while the hands that fund those shadows remain untouched in air-conditioned rooms.

If we must win this war, we must rethink everything — from how we define terrorism to how we respond after every attack. Sympathy is not strategy. Condolence is not counter-terrorism.

The Three Faces of Terror We Keep Ignoring

To fix a problem, you must first name it properly. Terror has three faces, and we keep fighting only one.

1. Terror is the fear that grips a mother in Borno when her children walk to school. It’s the trauma in Oyo state. It’s the anxiety every Nigerian feels hearing “bandits attacked” on the news.

2. Terrorism is the method — bombs, kidnappings, raids on villages — used to force government to bend or citizens to submit.

3. Terrorists are the young men with guns we see in viral videos. But behind them are the FINANCIERS — the businessmen, middlemen, and power brokers who pay for fuel, bullets, motorcycles, and information.

Our policy has been obsessed with those on the field. We celebrate when troops kill 20 fighters. We rarely ask: Who paid for those 20 AK-47s? Who told them when to attack? Who buys the rustled cattle they sell to fund the next raid?

Until we answer that, we are just cutting leaves while the roots grow deeper.

The Case of the Missing Financiers

Nigeria has laws. The Terrorism Prevention and Prohibition Act of 2022 is clear. We have institutions: the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit, EFCC, ICPC, and the Office of the National Security Adviser. Globally, the U.S. crippled Al-Qaeda not just with drones, but by freezing bank accounts. The UK jailed hate preachers who raised money for ISIS.

In Nigeria, we hear “we know them” but we never see them. No public list. No televised trial. No seized mansions paraded on NTA. If a low-level trader can be arrested for fraud, why do those who fund mass murder move freely?

This is not just a security failure. It is a moral failure. It tells every Nigerian: some lives matter more than others. Some crimes are too big to punish.

In criminology, we teach that punishment only deters crime when it is certain, swift, and severe. Right now, sponsoring terror in Nigeria is none of those. And as long as the money flows, the killings will continue. It’s that simple.

Sympathy Visits: Nigeria’s Favorite Policy Tool

Let’s be honest about another ritual. Attack happens --- Government delegation arrives --- Cameras roll --- Condolence speech --- Cheque presented --- Everyone goes home.

We’ve turned grief into a governance strategy.

Yes, leaders must show empathy. A president visiting victims sends a message: “You are not forgotten.” But when that visit becomes the main response, it becomes insulting. A cheque cannot replace a dead farmer. A speech cannot rebuild a burnt school.

Security experts call this “symbolic governance.” It looks good on TV but changes nothing on the ground. Borders remain porous. Intelligence agencies still don’t talk to each other. Communities are still unprotected.

Nigeria cannot “budget” its way out of terror. You cannot solve a 15-year insurgency with condolence money. At some point, Nigerians will ask: Show us results, not receipts.

The Soot of the Same Fire

Perhaps the most painful part is that many of those in power today built their brand by attacking the security record of their predecessors. “They failed, we will succeed,” they said. Now they sit in the same chair, facing the same problems, making the same excuses.

There’s an old proverb: “When fire calls the pot black, both are covered in soot.” It means accuser and accused often share the same fault.

Party A blames Party B. Party B takes over and does the same thing. Meanwhile, the citizen in the village just wants to sleep without fear. He doesn’t care about party logos. He cares about survival.

If counter-terrorism will keep changing with every election, then we are doomed. Security should not be partisan. Terrorists don’t ask your party before they attack. Government must stop treating security like a campaign tool and start treating it like a national emergency.

The Hidden Cost We Don’t Talk About

We talk about death tolls. We rarely talk about the other costs.

Over 5 million Nigerians are displaced inside their own country. Farms in the North are abandoned, which is why food prices are breaking records in Lagos and Port Harcourt. Schools have closed. Children born in IDP camps have never seen a classroom, only soldiers.

Investors don’t bring money to places where kidnappers operate freely. Every billion naira spent reacting to attacks is a billion naira not spent on hospitals, roads, or jobs. Terrorism is not just killing people. It’s killing Nigeria’s future.

So rethinking policy is not just about security. It’s about economics. It’s about whether Nigeria will develop or decay.

What a New Policy Should Look Like

We don’t need new slogans. We need a new playbook. Five things Nigeria must do differently, starting now:

1. Name, Shame, and Freeze the Financiers
NFIU must publish names of individuals and companies funding terror. Freeze their accounts. Seize their assets. Let Nigerians see justice with their own eyes. Sunlight is the best disinfectant. If you sponsor terror, your business should collapse before the next attack happens.

2. Fast-Track Justice, Not Just Arrests
Create special terrorism courts with trained judges. No more cases dragging years. A sponsor arrested in January should be convicted before June. Justice delayed is terror encouraged.

3. Make Intelligence Work, Not Just Guns
More bullets won’t win this war. Better data will. We need surveillance drones, data analytics, and a real intelligence fusion center where army, police, DSS, and immigration actually share information. The terrorists are networked. Our security agencies must be too.

4. Talk to Nigerians with Facts, Not Just Feelings
Replace monthly sympathy tours with monthly security briefings. Tell us: How many financiers were arrested? How many weapons were intercepted? What are the threats next month? When citizens are informed, they become partners, not just victims.

5. Empower Communities to Fight Back
Traditional rulers, local vigilantes, and youth groups know their terrain better than any general in Abuja. Fund them. Train them. Use them for early warning. Also invest in deradicalization — because a boy recruited at 14 can be saved at 18 if we give him education and hope instead of just prison.

Finally, Nigeria has enough laws, enough soldiers, and enough smart people to defeat terrorism. What we lack is focus and political courage.

A government that claims to know terror sponsors but refuses to prosecute them is not fighting terrorism. It is managing it. And you don’t “manage” a fire in your house. You extinguish it.

The day Nigerians see a powerful terror financier in court, stripped of his ill-gotten wealth, that will be the day we believe government is serious. Until then, every condolence visit will feel like a performance.

We must move from optics to operations. From rhetoric to results. From managing terror to ending it.

Because counter-terrorism demands three things: intelligence to find them, justice to punish them, and political will to face powerful people. Everything else is noise.

Nigerians have bled enough. They deserve more than promises. They deserve peace

Aisokhina S. I.,
Criminologist & Security Expert