Violent Extremism, Terrorism, Biggest Threats To ECOWAS: General Gyane

“If you look at Nigeria and the Boko Haram group and the movement of these groups southwards, it is worrisome,” said Mr Gyane.

The commandant of the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) in Accra, Ghana, Maj.-Gen. Richard Gyane, says violent extremism and terrorism (VET) are the biggest threats to the ECOWAS subregion, Africa, and humanity.

Mr Gyane stated this in an interview during a mobile training course on women, youth, and VET organised by KAIPTC on Wednesday in Abuja.

The commandant said the security challenges in West Africa informed KAIPTC’s decision to organise capacity-building activities for women and youth to build their resilience to tackle terrorism.

He said the training, organised in collaboration with the Norwegian government, would empower women and youth with the requisite knowledge about terrorist operations and build their resilience against VET threats.

“If you look at our sub-region now, violent extremism is a big threat to us. If you look at the Sahel nations, most of these countries are virtually taken over by violent groups. If you look at Nigeria and the Boko Haram group and the movement of these groups southwards, it is worrisome.

“Why are we particular about women and youth? They become vulnerable. These are the most vulnerable groups in our society who are subject to radicalization by VETs. The aim is to engage these women and youth especially and let them understand the issues, the recruitment and all that about these groups who want to destroy our humanity within the sub-region,” he said.

According to Gyane, KAIPTC engages and empowers women and youth through its training programs because when people are empowered, it becomes difficult for VET groups, whose aim is to radicalize the people and take over their countries, to do so.

He said no country could tackle VET alone and stressed the need for collaboration among all stakeholders beyond the security space to curb VET’s surging scourge in West Africa and  Africa at large.