NCTC-ONSA, Partners Strengthen Local Anti-Extremism Response
Nigeria is ramping up efforts to tackle violent extremism at the grassroots as the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC-ONSA), alongside key partners, deepens the push to localise the country’s Policy Framework and National Action Plan on Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism (PF-NAP).
The initiative, spearheaded by the Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism Knowledge, Innovation and Resource Hub (PCVE-KIRH) under the PAVE Network, is being implemented in collaboration with stakeholders including Nextier, the SPRING Programme, the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), and the Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund (GCERF).
At a high-level virtual consultative forum on Wednesday, over 60 participants drawn from federal and state institutions, civil society organisations, and technical working groups examined practical pathways for translating national PCVE policies into effective, state-driven interventions.
Chairman of PAVE Network, Jaye Gaskia, said the engagement builds on more than a year of pilot programmes designed to bridge the long-standing gap between national frameworks and realities at the subnational level.
He noted a strategic shift from “domestication” to full-scale localisation—an approach that empowers states to design context-specific responses aligned with their unique socio-political and security dynamics.
“This is a national framework, but its success depends on how well it reflects local realities. States must define their priorities, develop tailored action plans, and establish coordination systems that work within their contexts,” he said.
Gaskia added that Technical Working Groups already operational in several states, particularly in the North-West, are proving instrumental by bringing together government actors, civil society organisations, and community stakeholders under a unified implementation structure.
Also speaking, the Principal Staff Officer of the PCVE Directorate at NCTC-ONSA, Iye Mangset, commended the growing multi-stakeholder collaboration and highlighted recent updates to the framework.
She explained that the PF-NAP—first developed in 2017 and revised in 2025—has been strengthened to reflect emerging threats and evolving realities, with six core pillars guiding implementation: institutionalisation and mainstreaming of PCVE, access to justice, community capacity building, strategic communication, research and learning, and gender mainstreaming.
“The focus now is on implementation. We want to see stronger ownership at the state level to ensure the framework delivers measurable impact,” she said.
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The National Coordinator of GCERF Nigeria, Yetunde Adegoke, stressed the importance of sustaining momentum, noting that gains recorded over the past year must be consolidated through continuous engagement and long-term planning.
In his intervention, Partner at Nextier, Ndubisi Nwokolo, called for a shift from reactive, force-driven responses to more preventive and non-coercive strategies.
“Violent extremism is deeply rooted in governance challenges, inequality, and social exclusion. Addressing these underlying drivers is essential for any sustainable solution,” he said, warning that the threat is increasingly becoming localised and requires adaptive responses.
Discussions at the forum revealed that while progress has been made in establishing state-level structures and action plans, implementation remains inconsistent.
Participants identified key constraints, including weak inter-agency coordination, bureaucratic delays, limited funding, overreliance on donor support, and fluctuating political commitment.
State actors also highlighted ongoing initiatives such as stakeholder engagement platforms, early warning systems, and community-based programmes, but noted that many of these efforts remain fragmented.
“There is increasing awareness, but implementation is still uneven. What is required now is stronger alignment and sustained political will,” one participant observed.
A key outcome of the forum was the consensus that fragmented responses have enabled extremist groups to exploit regional gaps, often shifting operations to areas with weaker institutional frameworks.
To close these gaps, stakeholders called for stronger alignment between federal and state actors, formal institutionalisation of Technical Working Groups as State Coordination Committees, integration of PCVE into broader development and security strategies, and dedicated budgetary provisions by state governments.
The forum also underscored the critical role of strategic communication in countering extremist narratives and building public trust, with plans underway to unveil a national communication strategy alongside the revised PF-NAP.
Participants agreed that community engagement, youth inclusion, and early warning mechanisms must remain central to implementation efforts.
While expressing cautious optimism over increased collaboration and growing state participation, stakeholders warned that the success of the localisation drive will ultimately depend on sustained funding, political will, and coordinated execution across all levels of government.
The forum concluded with a renewed commitment by participants to move beyond policy formulation and deliver tangible, community-level impact in the fight against violent extremism.
By PRNigeria
