PCVE
Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism
Violent extremism is the beliefs and actions of people who support or use violence to achieve ideological, religious or political goals. This includes terrorism and other forms of politically motivated and communal violence.” -Living safe Together, Australia. It further stresses violent extremism as “When a person’s beliefs move from being relatively conventional to being radical, and they want a drastic change in society, this is known as radicalisation. This is not necessarily a bad thing and does not mean these people will become violent. However, if a person or group decides that fear, terror and violence are justified to achieve ideological, political or social change, and then acts accordingly, this is violent extremism.”
Violent extremism has been surging in various forms and groups such as terrorism, armed conflicts and violent extremist and terrorist groups, and these have been wreaking havoc and undermining the strive for economic development and peaceful coexistence of the people and dangerously threatening security of the states and citizens. According to the Global Terrorism Index 2024 (GTI), which is produced by the Institute of Economics and Peace (IEP), discloses that terrorism remains a serious global threat, with total deaths from terrorism increasing by 22% to 8,352 in 2023, now at their highest since 2017.
Even when excluding the October 7th attacks, deaths would still have increased by 5%. This is despite terrorist incidents decreasing by 22% to 3,350, resulting in a 56% increase in the average number of people killed per attack. This is the worst rate in almost ten years. It also adds that terrorism is not the deadliest form of violence in the world. Armed conflict results in nine times more fatalities than terrorism, homicide over 45 times more, and deaths from suicide 72 times higher. However, terrorism has a uniquely disturbing psychological and social impact intended to traumatize the whole of society, rather than the individual.
The situation is not different in Nigeria, particularly in the North-west and East. The violent extremist groups openly orchestrated violence on the states and citizens, from kidnapping to seizure of people’s farmlands, leading to displacement.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS)’s report, Nigerian households paid a total sum of N2.23tn as ransom for over 12 months between May 2023 and April 2024 to kidnappers under the operations of part of the violent extremist groups, banditry.
Many victims of these violent extremist groups cited a lack of confidence in law enforcement because to them, the interventions from the law enforcement agencies have not really helped in combatting this violent extremism.
However, they have been a lot of emerging approaches, from global to regional to local intervention programs for Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism (PCVE), to make our world liveable and communities peaceful with total neutralisation of violent extremism and terrorist groups and their drivers by engaging in global framework and regional plans of action to solidify the prevention efforts.
There are ongoing drastic efforts to prevent and counter this violent extremism and these are being consistently demonstrated through the global, regional and local frameworks and plans of action as recommended by the United Nations – Security Council – Counter – Terrorism Committee (CTC), Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund (GCERF), PARTNERSHIP AGAINST VIOLENT EXTREMISM (PAVE, NETWORK), etc in partnership with various government agencies that handle security of their countries. These strong ties and collaborative efforts have been laudable in providing preventive measures against the escalating deadly impact of violent extremism on the states and their citizens.
For instance, more practical efforts are being made through both national and local frameworks and plans of action by the Partnership Against Violence Extremism (PAVE) Network, to contribute to the neutralisation of these armed violent extremist groups from not just Nigeria but also largely from the Sahel and the globe.
The Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism (PCVE) Knowledge, Innovation, and Resource Hub (KIRH), the initiative of the PAVE Network, inaugurated Community of Practice (CoP), which took place from December 18-19, 2024, at Rockview Royale Hotel in Wuse II, Abuja. This significant event aimed to foster collaboration, share innovative strategies, and advance the national and regional PCVE agenda. It brought together diverse stakeholders, including government agencies, civil society organizations, international partners, academia, and the media.
The Partnership Against Violence Extremism (PAVE) Network used the event to engage Senator Iroegbu and his team at CANAG Communications as the media consultant for the Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism (PCVE) Knowledge, Innovation, and Resource Hub (KIRH). The media consultant coordinated the media and visibility activities for the PCVE-KIRH's inaugural Community of Practice (CoP) in Abuja. The event aimed to foster collaboration, exchange ideas, and promote innovative strategies to address violent extremism in Nigeria and beyond.