ILORIN – Dr Joseph Fayeye of the Centre for Peace and Strategic Studies, University of Ilorin, said money laundering into real estate could be a potent source for financing terrorism.
He said this on Friday while delivering a lecture titled: “The debilitating impacts of globalisation on the Nigerian security system’’.
He delivered the lecture at the graduation ceremony of Nigeria Army Education Corps (NAEC), Officers’ Executive Management Course at the Sobi Cantonment, Ilorin.
Fayeye said globalisation denotes that Nigeria like other nation-state, can no longer control non-physical security aspects, such as protection of information and technological assets.
According to him, in a globalised world, when states are failing or are inadequate in terms of provision of social welfare, may result in citizens engaging in criminal activities.
He said in the midst of conditions of economic hardship, extra legal means of obtaining basic needs often become critical to survival.
The don noted that through globalisation, networks of criminals, smugglers, counterfeiters, insurgents and terrorists are no longer new phenomena in Nigeria.
He added that terrorists and insurgents were increasingly turning to criminal networks or engaging in traditional criminal activities to generate funding and acquire logistical supports.
Fayeye said it was critical that the international community work together in a coordinated manner to stop illicit cash flows and dismantle the criminal structure by terrorists.
He stressed that collective action can be harnessed through translating threat awareness to threat management.
Another way he said was by adopting a net-centre partnership to confront converging threats and the lethal nexus of organised crime, corruption and terrorism.
Fayeye also suggested that Nigeria should facilitate the effectiveness and development of innovative partnership through such platforms as West Africa Cooperative Security Initiative (WACSI).
He also advised that building of governance capacity, supporting committed reformers and strengthening the ability of citizens, including journalists, to monitor public functions would help combat terrorism. (NAN)
