Is the Federal Government just paying lip service to the war against terrorism? The Terrorism (Prohibition and Prevention) Bill, 2022 signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari, stipulates a range of sanctions, including life imprisonment and death sentence, for anyone convicted of terrorism-related activity.

The legislation, which comes after previous ones in 2011 and 2013, seeks to “provide for an effective, unified and comprehensive legal, regulatory and institutional framework for the detection, prevention, prohibition, prosecution and punishment of acts of terrorism, terrorism financing, proliferation and financing of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction in Nigeria; and for related matters.”

Superficially, it suggests that the authorities are keen to boost the war against terrorism. But it takes more than ambitious legislation to effectively tackle terrorism.

The reality is that legislation is not enough, without the will to win the war on terror. This war has gone on for too long. It’s been more than a decade since the military launched its counter-insurgency operation, yet terrorists continue to terrorise the country. Tragically, it looks like a war without end.

Boosting the anti-terrorism effort may require legislation, but it also demands prosecution of arrested suspects based on extant law, without which stipulated sanctions cannot be applied.

There are available lessons on how to fight terrorism effectively. The question is whether the country’s authorities are teachable.

For instance, this year, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) added the names of six Nigerians to “the List of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons… for having materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to or in support of, Boko Haram.”

It accused the Nigeria-based terrorist group of “numerous attacks in the northern and northeastern regions of the country as well as in the Lake Chad Basin in Cameroon, Chad, and Niger that have killed thousands of people since 2009.”

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) Federal Court of Appeals in Abu Dhabi had convicted them of transferring $782,000 from Dubai to Boko Haram in Nigeria. Adamu and Muhammad were sentenced to life imprisonment for violations of UAE anti-terrorism laws; Musa, Yusuf, Isa and Alhassan were sentenced to 10 years in prison, followed by deportation.

The US sanction against them, the agency said in a statement on March 25, “will prevent these individuals’ funds from being used further to support terrorism.”

In contrast, the Federal Government’s approach has failed to encourage public confidence in its anti-terrorism campaign. In April 2021, for instance, the government announced that it had arrested 400 alleged Boko Haram sponsors. At the time, the said arrests suggested a new level of seriousness in the fight against terrorism.

The arrested alleged financiers of the Islamic terrorist group were said to be businessmen, including bureau de change operators. They were arrested in Kano, Borno, Lagos, Sokoto, Adamawa, Kaduna and Zamfara states, and Abuja.

The arrests were said to have been carried out following investigations involving the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA), the Department of State Services (DSS), Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). The suspects were expected to be prosecuted without delay.

More than a year after the said arrests, the public is still expecting the trial of the unnamed suspects. It is unclear why they have not been prosecuted, and whether they will eventually face trial.

Without prosecution, how can it be proved that arrested terrorism suspects are guilty and deserve to be punished? Can deterrent effect be achieved without punishing the guilty?

The new law must not be an end in itself, but a means to an end. People suspected of terrorism-related activity must not only be arrested but also tried under the law, before it can make any sense. The law must not be just for show.

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