Unearth, stop terrorism financiers

The obvious absence of urgency in unearthing financiers of Boko Haram/Islamic State West Africa (ISWAP) terrorists in Nigeria has become unsettling. On Wednesday February 19, 2025, the Senate adopted a motion to probe Nigerian Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and International Development partners over alleged links and funding of the terrorists. It then summoned the National […]

The obvious absence of urgency in unearthing financiers of Boko Haram/Islamic State West Africa (ISWAP) terrorists in Nigeria has become unsettling. On Wednesday February 19, 2025, the Senate adopted a motion to probe Nigerian Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and International Development partners over alleged links and funding of the terrorists.

It then summoned the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu, and heads of National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Department of State Services (DSS), and Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) to brief the Senate. That was the last heard of it.

In House of Representatives, a 15-member committee was mandated to investigate the allegations. But on March 19, 2025, a report emerged that the ad-hoc committee was suspended by the House leadership, citing sustained concerns regarding the committee’s broad demands, which was seen as an overreach and infringement on the NGOs constitutional rights to operate. Like the Senate, the probe went into pause mode.

The National Assembly resolutions were triggered by allegations from Congressman Scott Perry on February 13, 2025 at the U.S. House subcommittee hearing on ‘War on Waste’ that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and other local and international NGOs were funding Boko Haram, ISWAP, ISIS, Al-Qaeda, ISIS Khorasan and other violent groups.

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This outraged many Nigerians who demanded verifiable and undisputable evidence to authenticate and root out those funding terrorists’ camps and activities, after all, the resilience of terrorists and inability of Nigerian security forces to tame them have become a national burden.

Perry’s assertions become worrisome because this wasn’t the first time the allegations were coming up. In 2019, Senator Ali Ndume, then Chairman of Senate Committee on Army, accused unnamed NGOs of connivance. Equally in 2019, in a motion raised during plenary at the National Assembly, Mohammed Tahir Monguno, who is now Senate Chief Whip, called for investigation into NGOs allegedly funding or aiding Boko Haram.

In October 2019, the Nigerian Army banned two NGOs – Action Against Hunger and Mercy Corps from providing humanitarian services in the North East, accusing them of working with Boko Haram.

In June 2021, Borno State Governor, Babagana Zulum, directed the immediate suspension of ACTED, an international Non-Governmental Organisation (iNGO) following discovery that it was using a hotel in Maiduguri to “train some persons on shooting.”

And in January 2025, Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, raised alarm that Boko Haram terrorist groups are being sponsored and trained by international organisations.

Yet, there was never any concerted effort by the Nigerian government to unravel these allegations and unveil other terror financiers. The closest was February 3, 2022 when then Information and Culture Minister Lai Mohammed, said government had uncovered 96 financiers and 424 of their associates/supporters, noting that Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) also identified 123 companies and 33 currency exchanges linked with terrorism in the country. Despite this, further update on investigations or prosecutions arising therein dried up till date.

It was left for U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), to on March 25, 2022 designate six Nigerians who were found guilty of establishing a Boko Haram cell in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and facilitating the transfer of $782,000 from Dubai to Nigeria between 2015 and 2016 to bolster Boko Haram’s operations. The OFAC’s action followed their arrests, prosecutions, and designations in Dubai in September 2021.

It is regrettable that there has not been enough political will on the part of the Executive branch or the National Assembly to conduct any investigations of terror funding in Nigeria.

Daily Trust, therefore, calls on the National Assembly leadership, along with President Bola Tinubu, to demonstrate that the security and welfare of Nigerian citizens is top priority by getting to investigate, arrest and prosecute all terror financiers – Nigerian or foreign.

Beyond the National Assembly, we urge The Presidency to mandate the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA), and Department of State Services (DSS) and Intelligence units of security forces to conduct discreet, transparent and holistic investigations without public fanfare. We cannot continue to be oblivious of individuals or groups sponsoring the continuous insecurity in our country especially how they come about their sophisticated weapons and funds. It is still a mystery that the military and intelligence services, as part of their routine duties, have not conducted these investigations.

Meanwhile, defence and security forces should for now concentrate on stopping the open-source funding of insurgent operations through contributions and farming by members, donations from well-to-do members and politicians, trading on drugs and sales of religious materials, kidnapping, robbery, and protection taxes within their annexed territory, and support from other terrorist organisations. They can stop these if they are proactive and effective.

We should caution against rushing to tar iNGOs without proper investigations as they provide essential services to millions of Nigerians with over 50 per cent of therapeutic food for severely malnourished children, and support for maternal and reproductive health services in IDP camps and rural areas. They have also been funding shelters, clean water, and sanitation services for displaced communities.

Daily Trust also believes that these allegations would not be necessary if the terrorists have been defeated in the battlefield instead of the repeated claims of technically defeating them or significantly weakening them.

While we restate that good governance will blight the socio-economic environment which provides sanctuary to where vast spaces of Nigeria’s vast ungoverned spaces are occupied by terrorists, we insist that investigating and cutting off funding sources of Boko Haram operations will inevitably and fundamentally cripple their operations. There should be urgency in not treating this with levity or business as usual posture.