Two million displaced. 40,000 killed. Thousands of schools, health centres and agricultural fields destroyed.
These are just some of the devastating impacts of the terrorist insurgency in northeast Nigeria alone since 2009, when Boko Haram (also known as Jama'atu Ahlis-Sunna or JAS) launched an offensive against the Nigerian state. Since then, other terrorist actors, including the splinter group Islamic State-West Africa (ISIS-WA) and the al-Qaeda affiliated Ansaru group, have joined the violence, with civilians bearing the brunt of the impacts.
Meanwhile, in the country’s North-Central region, farmer-herder violence, driven by competition over land, resources and sectarian tensions, have led to an increase in serious crimes like homicide, kidnapping, banditry and more, displacing a further 1.5 million.
Together, these crises have created a humanitarian and security crisis in Nigeria, with fatalities from terrorist attacks rising by 46 per cent in 2025 to 750, according to the Global Terrorism Index. Civilians accounted for 67 per cent of that total, compared to 39 per cent in 2020.
More than 5,000 suspected members of these groups have been detained by the government. Such an influx has created a significant strain on Nigeria’s criminal justice system, underscoring the need for augmented technical, specialized skills and resources to investigate and prosecute terrorism.
Much is at stake – impunity for terrorist acts can help to perpetuate conflict, denying justice to victims and impeding recovery.
For these reasons, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has focused on strengthening counter-terrorism investigations in the country, with trainings that cover every stage of the criminal justice process, from crime scene investigation to courtroom adjudication.
In the words of the National Counter Terrorism Coordinator, Major General Adamu Laka: “Over the years, UNODC has been one of our most consistent partners in strengthening Nigeria’s counter-terrorism architecture. Their support has come in several important forms, including capacity-building for our analysts and investigators; technical assistance in areas such as terrorism-financing investigations, criminal justice responses, rehabilitation and reintegration frameworks; and alignment with international norms... and global best practices.”
For a piece of evidence to be useful as forensic evidence, it must be handled and preserved carefully. If mishandled or contaminated, any fingerprints, chemical traces, or blood typing may be destroyed, making laboratory analysis impossible.
Proper evidence handling ensures accurate and reliable forensic results – and can make the difference between a conviction or an acquittal for a terrorist offence. As emphasized by the UNODC project coordinator in Abuja, Tom Parker: “The successful prosecution of terrorism cases is wholly reliant on the quality of evidence collected in the field and presented in court. Effective investigation is the foundation on which everything else is built.”
Nigerian Police Force investigators reported using the new skills they have acquired from UNODC trainers to investigate terrorism, kidnapping for ransom and homicide cases. In the case of FRN vs Suleiman Garba, for instance, Nigeria’s Ministry of Justice successfully prosecuted sexual and gender-based violence as a terrorist crime – a global first.
UNODC also helped to refurbish and upgrade evidence storage facilities in six conflict-hit locations in the Northeast and the Middle Belt (Maiduguri, Gombe, Jos, Lafia, Makurdi and the Federal Capital Territory). These new facilities have helped to transform the way criminal evidence is handled by military and police investigators, providing a structured, secure, and efficient system for its storage and retrieval.
As noted by the Commissioner of Police for Gombe state, Hayatu Usman: “This [new] facility will help us keep all of our exhibits safe and secure. This matters a lot when you are tendering evidence for court proceedings, as if they are not well kept, it greatly effects the value of these exhibits in court.”
New equipment and evidence consumables – i.e., evidence bags, disposable masks, gloves, etc. – were also provided, supporting the recovery of more than 1,300 items of physical evidence over the past four years.
In total, UNODC’s support has resulted in more than 329 convictions for terrorist-related offences – and 400 convictions for other serious crimes – since December 2023. A significant number of additional cases are still ongoing.
Additionally, the number of forensic processes completed by Nigeria’s National Police Laboratory rose by 57 per cent between 2020 and 2025, a 200 per cent increase.
These projects were generously funded by the United States Department of State's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement and the European Union.
