A new report released by the United States Friday said corruption and lack of capacity is hindering the ability of the Nigeria Police Force to respond to security and terrorist threats within the nation's borders. The new report entitled, 'Country Reports on Terrorism 2010' is an annual Congressionally mandated report that provides an assessment of trends and events in international terrorism that transpired from January 1 to December 31, 2010. In the latest report, it was noted that while "senior police officers were well-educated and able to articulate the fundamentals of police organization theory and practices, most of the rank-and-file police personnel lacked skills, training, and equipment." It also said in 2010, Nigerian police conducted limited border security operations but lacked communications, surveillance, and vehicle support to detect and apprehend terrorists and criminals transiting the country's borders. The report also focused on the Nigerian Navy, which it said was unable to patrol its coastal waters effectively, thereby making the Niger Delta region and offshore sites more vulnerable to attacks by criminals and extremists. On the activities of the militant religious sect in the North, Boko Haram, the report said while posters posted in some northern cities by the group bore the signature of al-Qa‘ida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), "it has not been established whether AQIM and Boko Haram have operational links." Noting that Nigeria had some laws that addressed terrorist financing, it said such laws did not comply with international standards. It however noted that Nigeria’s laws for money laundering were more extensive. "The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission Act covers the provision or collection of funds used to carry out terrorist acts, but does not cover provision or collection of funds used by terrorist organizations or individual terrorists. The Act does not reference terrorist financing as a predicate offence for money laundering," the report further stated. On US' efforts to address some of these problems, the report cited the US funded Trans-Sahara Counterterrorism Partnership (TSCTP) established in 2005, which, it said, "implemented multi-faceted, multi-year strategy designed to combat violent extremism and contain and marginalize terrorist organizations by strengthening individual country and regional counter terrorism capabilities." It also said TSCTP enhanced and institutionalised cooperation among the region’s security and intelligence organizations, promoted democratic governance, and discredited terrorist ideology. "The overall goals are to enhance the indigenous capacities of governments in the pan-Sahel (Mauritania, Mali, Chad, and Niger, as well as Nigeria, Senegal, and Burkina Faso); to confront the challenge posed by terrorist organizations in the trans-Sahara; and to facilitate cooperation between those countries and US partners in the Maghreb (Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia). "TSCTP has been successful in slowly building capacity and cooperation despite political setbacks over the years caused by coup d’etats, ethnic rebellions, and extra-constitutional actions that have interrupted progress and work with select countries of the partnership. In 2010, select partner nations have been successful in disrupting extremist movement and operations in the trans-Sahara," it added. US law requires the Secretary of State to provide Congress, by April 30 of each year, a full and complete report on terrorism with regard to those countries and groups meeting criteria set forth in the law The report include policy-related assessments, country-by-country breakdowns of foreign government counterterrorism cooperation, and contains chapters on WMD terrorism, State Sponsors of Terrorism, Terrorist Safe Havens, and Foreign Terrorist Organizations. It also includes a statistical annex, prepared by the National Counterterrorism Center, which shows that more than 11,500 terrorist attacks occurred in 72 countries in 2010, and resulted in more than 13,200 deaths. Another highlight of the report is that, while the number of attacks rose by almost five per cent from the previous year, the number of deaths declined for a third consecutive year, dropping 12 per cent from 2009. It also noted that for the second consecutive year, the largest number of reported attacks occurred in South Asia and the Near East, with more than 75 per cent of the world’s attacks and deaths occurring in these regions.