MUCH ADO ABOUT THE 2025 TERRORISM INDEX 

The recent report is another wake-up call 

That terrorism has constituted the biggest singular threat to our national security is not in doubt, given the atrocities committed by Boko Haram, Islamic State  West Africa Province (ISWAP), Ansarul, and other terror networks in the past two decades. But perhaps more distressing is that the insurgency in the North-east has combined with banditry in the north-west and sundry criminal cartels in other regions to shape how Nigeria is perceived by the rest of the world. We therefore urge the federal government to dismiss the 2025 Global Terrorism Index (GTI), regardless of whatever misgivings the military high command may have about it.

 According to the 2025 GTI report released last week, Nigeria is ranked sixth in the world among terrorised countries, with a score of 7.658, moving up from eighth place in 2023 and 2024. Nigeria, by the report, recorded 565 terrorism-related deaths in 2024, indicating an increase in fatalities over the previous two years. “Globally, deaths from terrorism have declined by almost a third since the peak in 2015, with Iraq and Nigeria recording the largest decreases,” the report stated. “Deaths in Nigeria peaked at 2,101 in 2014, before dropping to 392 in 2022, the lowest level since 2011.” The GTI report adds that while the global figure has declined from a peak of 11,000 in 2015 the figure for the Sahel region has increased nearly tenfold since 2019, as extremist and insurgent groups “continue to shift their focus” towards the region.

The battle against terrorism is a drain on the nation’s economy. Its toll is huge and unsustainable. Over two million people have been displaced while hundreds of communities and farms have been destroyed, just as economic activities have been severely impacted by security concerns. Beyond the innocent people that have been killed, the armed forces have also recorded heavy tolls on their personnel. Meanwhile, the surge in attacks on local farmers is already having a knock-on effect on the country’s food reserves. The spike in insecurity has caused stocks to decline to a fraction of what the country of about 230 million people require. It is also affecting the education of hundreds of thousands of children who cannot go to school. 

Dismissing the GTI report as inaccurate, Director of Defence Media Operations, Major-General Markus Kangye, used a family analogy to argue why foreign reports should be treated with circumspect. “Something is happening in my house. I am the head of the house. I have children, I have a wife, and then Kuma Shi (someone else) is reporting what is happening in my house to me,” Kangye told reporters in Abuja. “Which one would be more correct? The one I tell you as the head of the house or the one Kuma Shi is reporting from outside?” he asked.

We understand the concerns of our military and we must commend them for their efforts and sacrifices. As we have highlighted on several occasions, our service men are among some of the finest in the world as their overseas engagements have revealed. The history of peace-making accounts across the globe can’t be complete without a mention of the gallantry of Nigerian soldiers. But we also believe that they don’t have to be defensive about a challenge that is glaring. In the face of growing insecurity, many communities are arranging for their own defence, and this requires private accumulation of arms. In this bid to balance terror, our country is already home to massive illicit arms with assured disastrous consequences.

Therefore, the 2025 Terrorism Index should be another wake-up call on the authority to address the growing insecurity in Nigeria.