The Commandant, National Defence College (NDC), Rear Adm. Olumuyiwa Olotu, says Boko Haram’s revenue has significantly declined since 2016 due to the counter-terrorism efforts of the Nigerian Government.
Olotu disclosed this on Wednesday in Abuja, at the Defence and Security Management Course 8 (DSMC 8) Seminar with the theme: “Countering the Financing of Terrorists: Leveraging Global and Regional Institutional Mechanisms for National Action”
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports the seminar was organised by the Centre for Strategic Research and Studies of the NDC.
The Commandant said that Boko Haram had remained operational for nearly 14 years, sustained by diverse funding sources such as local extortion, kidnapping, robbery, foreign donations, and illegal mining.
According to him, in 2014, Boko Haram’s estimated annual revenue ranged between 20 million dollars to 70 million dollars, with 10 million dollars coming from kidnappings alone.
Olotu said that, as at 2020, Boko Haram’s revenue had “reduced to less than 10 million dollars annually’’.
According to Olotu the financial capability of terror groups prompted concerted efforts at international, regional, and national levels to counter terrorist financing through coordinated institutional frameworks and global initiatives.
“These efforts have resulted in a decline in the financial strength of organisations such as ISIS, whose revenue fell from between one to two billion dollars in 2014 to between 200 and 300 million dollars in 2019.
“Likewise, AQM’s financing has dropped from 91 million dollars to between five to 10 million dollars since 2020,” he said.
The commandant said there was an overarching need to reinforce and sustain those efforts, ensuring that the financial capabilities of terrorists’ organisations were further diminished to safeguard national, regional, and global security interests.
He added that countering the financing of terrorism was strategic to disrupting the financial flows that fuel terrorists operations and networks, thus weakening their operational capabilities.
This strategy, according to him, is crucial because, without the necessary financial backing, terrorist groups are severely constrained in their freedom of action.
“More so, it is clear that tackling this issue is essential not only for our national defence but for the broader security environment in which we all operate,” he added.
Olotu recalled that terrorists’ organisations over the years demonstrated financial capabilities by generating billions of dollars from multiple sources.
He said that research findings had shown that ISIS terrorists generated between one to two billion dollars annually at the height of its operations in 2014, primarily from oil smelting, extortion, taxation, and kidnapping for ransom.
According to him, such immense financial resources had not only fuelled ISIS operations but also enabled it to provide financial support to other extremist groups, particularly in Africa.
In his lecture, Amb. Abdullahi Shehu, a former Director General of Inter-Governmental Action Group Against Money Laundering in ECOWAS said that dealing with terrorism would require dealing with the source of funding for terrorist activities.
Shehu said the Global Terrorism Index (GTI) 2024, revealed that the Sahel was the most impacted region of the world with deaths from terrorism rising to 8,352 in 2023, a 22 per cent increase from 2022
He said that the Sahel region accounted for almost half of all deaths from terrorism and 26 per cent of attacks in 2023, adding that four of the 10 countries most impacted by terrorism were in the Sahel region.
According to him, challenges faced by Nigeria in tracking terrorism financing include structural factors such as the porosity of the border and poor border management, the dominance of cash in transactions, financial exclusion and informality of the economic systems.
He also identified low capacity for financial investigation as opposed to criminal investigation in Nigeria.
He commended the recent effort of Nigeria in tracking, prosecuting and convicting terrorism financiers.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that discussants were drawn from the various anti-corruption agencies such as EFCC, ICPC, NFIU DSS and DIA among others. (NAN)