The Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) has announced its plans to fast-track the trial of about 5,000 terrorism suspects currently being held across several pre-trial detention facilities in Nigeria.
This development was contained in the 2025–2030 Strategic Plan of the National Counter-Terrorism Centre (NCTC).
The document partly reads, “At present, there are approximately 5,000 individuals suspected of having been involved in terrorism-related offences who are being held in pre-trial detention.
“This has resulted in a significant backlog of cases, and the NCTC legal team has been working with the Defence Staff and the Federal Ministry of Justice to support the review of these case files and, where appropriate, to help to either expedite these prosecutions or to dismiss outstanding charges that have not been sufficiently substantiated to proceed to trial.
“NCTC has also been coordinating case hearings held by the Federal High Court sitting both in Wawa Military Cantonment in Kanji, Niger State, and in Abuja.
“In 2024, the support provided to the Federal Ministry of Justice and the Federal High Court helped to enable the prosecution of 393 new cases, resulting in 329 terrorism-related convictions. Indeed, the conviction rate in terrorism-related cases has increased markedly from 41.5% in 2018 to 84% in 2024.
“The charges against a further 1,200 individuals were reviewed and ultimately dismissed, resulting in their release from custody and resettlement back into their communities.”
According to the document, DNA profiling would be introduced as part of the planned National Database on Terrorism with the view of improving investigation, prosecution, and intelligence-sharing among security agencies, adding that the database would be domiciled within the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA).
The document stated, “Nigeria currently lacks a central National Database on Terrorism accessible to every agency engaged in the fight against terrorism. The NACTEST (National Counter-Terrorism Strategy) identified the need for such an information-sharing system to be located within ONSA, and NCTC has been tasked by the National Security Adviser with establishing this database as part of NACTEST’s “Identify” and “Implement” work streams.
“The intention is that this database will contain full identifying particulars on known and suspected members of terrorist groups (including, where possible, biometric data and a DNA profile), information on terrorist modus operandi, and intelligence on reported terrorist activity.
“It will be populated with information and intelligence provided by correctional and detention facilities, law enforcement and security partners, and intelligence recovered and developed by staff from the Directorate of Intelligence.”