He has watched as his homeland in the country's north-east descended into chaos, the notorious insurgency running rampant and launching senseless attacks on the civilian population.

"I've seen a lot first-hand," Mr Salihu said.

"It's not really something you wish to continue remembering… because you hear of people you saw today, and they're dead tomorrow."

Now, he has arrived in Canberra to help find ways to better protect civilians and uphold the rule of law in complex armed conflicts across the globe.

Mr Salihu, an experienced lawyer and Nigerian Red Cross board member, is here for a major conference on international humanitarian law, which has brought together representatives from across the Commonwealth to help them share their domestic experiences.

The conflict in Nigeria has seen thousands of civilians killed, 2000 women and schoolgirls abducted, and triggered a humanitarian crisis for millions.

Large swathes of the north-east were, until recently, lost to Boko Haram, who declared a caliphate over the territory and joined itself to Islamic State.

Mr Salihu believes finding a way to educate those involved in the Boko Haram insurgency on humanitarian law is key, and would help show that civilians were suffering unnecessarily.

That, he said, would not only help confine the conflict and protect innocent men and women, but also shorten the war's timespan.

He said the knowledge of international humanitarian law was already well-established and disseminated among countries, but that the challenge was now finding a way to implement and uphold it domestically.

"I really, really, really believe that international humanitarian law is important today, more than ever," he said.

"I've seen the effects of small arms in the wrong-hands," he said.

"They don't have to be nuclear weapons; they don't have to be drones. Sub-machine guns, AK-47s, in the wrong hands, cause a lot of devastation, a lot of sorrow."

Mr Salihu remembers the northeast of his country fondly before the Boko Haram insurgency took hold.

He said he's seen some signs that suggest the tide may be turning against the extremists, and holds hope that the conflict will soon end.

"Before this crisis, the north-east was about the most peaceful place you could ever live," he said.

"There were so many possibilities, people from all over the country… you could find every tribe, every religion. Everyone was there, living in peace."

The four-day Commonwealth Red Cross and Red Crescent Conference on International Humanitarian Law begins in Canberra on Monday and ends on Thursday.