Abuja, Nigeria - Nigeria has embarked on defence diplomacy in its efforts to tackle the threats of terrorism, especially by the Boko Haram sect, the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Oluseyi Petinrin, indicated here Friday. He was speaking at the end of the 2011 Defence Advisers' Annual Conference, organised by the Defence Intelligence Agency for Nigeria’s 20 defence attaches’ and advisers.

Under the new dispensation, Nigeria has intensified cooperation with its Francophone neighbours and established a defence outpost in Niamey, Niger.

Petinrin explained that the establishment of the defence outpost in Niger Republic became imperative because of the fall-out from the Libyan crisis during which Mouammar Kadhafi was killed.

This, he said, had provided a safe haven for terrorists' intent on destabilising Nigeria.

Explaining the frontline position of intelligence on the fight against terrorism, Petinrin stated “if war on terrorism is not backed by timely intelligence, it is a most difficult thing to fight.”

Nigeria’s defence chiefs have maintained that the ongoing terrorist attacks by Boko Haram was being influenced through other terror networks abroad.

Last Sunday, Algerian Deputy Foreign Minister Abdelkader Messahel, announced in Algiers that intelligence reports showed that there was coordination between the Boko Haram sect and the Algerian-based Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), a North African branch of Al Qaeda.

AQIM grew out of a conflict in Algeria between the government and Islamist militants and in the last few years, it has expanded its activities to Mali, Niger and Mauritania.

Nigeria’s four land neighbours - Niger, Chad, Benin Republic and Cameroon - are all Francophone.

According to Petinrin, “we have to get something going in Niger Republic because with the problem in Libya, Niger will be a point to any terrorist intent on coming into Nigeria. Fortunately, Niger is a friendly country.”

Petinrin expressed happiness that the terrorists would lose woefully in Nigeria as “they can’t change anything. They may maim some individuals. They may destroy properties. But they can’t change anything. Nigeria will remain.”

The Chief of Defence Intelligence, Maj. Gen. Sanni Audu, also explained the necessity of expanding Nigeria’s defence missions and intensification of regional cooperation in intelligence gathering.

According to him, “it is in furtherance of Nigeria’s defence diplomacy that four new defence missions were established recently. To improve our intelligence ability, we are equally embarking on intelligence cooperation with some regional Francophone neighbours by establishing defence outpost in Niamey, Niger. This new initiative is to bolster our early warning system as it is increasingly self-evident that most of our current internal security challenges appear to have external connections.”

To be able to implement the new initiatives, Audu said, the military intelligence community “shall continue to count on the blessings of our esteemed political leaders.”

He added that the defence intelligence community was confronting the challenges of effectiveness “in today’s globalised era of instantaneous communication, social media networking, trans-border organised crimes, climate change and its adverse consequences, international terrorism, internal and cross-border conflicts, increasing world population, high youth unemployment and intense competition for dwindling natural resources.”

Pana 19/11/2011