Nigeria's Evolving Security Situation (original) (raw)

Escalating Violence in Northern Nigeria

2020

continue to threaten its peace and security. These challenges have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and resulted in deepening existing structural inequalities. The nation continues to be a potent ground for the perpetration of various acts of violence. From ethnic conflicts to religious conflicts and terrorist attacks, it seems to be a never-ending trend. Boko Haram insurgency in north-eastern Nigeria, increasing banditry violence in the northwest and continuous farmer-herder conflict in the middle belt have all led to an on-going crisis. The constant violent confrontation in these parts of the country left scores of innocent people dead, and many more displaced. According to the UN on August 13, 2020, approximately 10.6 million Nigerians need humanitarian assistance in the northeast due to insecurity, representing up to 50% increase in the number of people in need compared to 2019 . Essentially, 4 out of 5 of the 13 million people in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe state will need...

The Challenges of the Fight Against Insurgency in Northeastern Nigeria

Journal of Techno Social

The phenomenon of Boko Haram insurgency in Northeastern Nigeria and other parts of the country has turned the country into one of the insecured states in Sub-Saharan Africa and in the world at large. The issue which started in form of a radical preaching in 2009 led to a violent clash between the Boko Haram sect and the security agencies in Borno, a Northeastern state which heralded the formation of an insurgent group that later metamorphosed into a violent terror

INSURGENCY PROLONGED: NIGERIA'S LACK OF STRATEGIC ADAPTATION AND THE RISING BOKO HARAM DEATH TOLL

After several months of relative quiet in Borno State, and what some believed was progress in bringing about stability to the area, the first quarter of 2014 has seen a fresh batch of deadly attacks by the Boko Haram movement. Boko Haram (BH) is the name given to the militant and self-ascribed Islamic movement in northern Nigeria by journalists and others, and which is taken from a mixture of Hausa and Arabic, meaning “western education is sin.” Boko Haram prefers the name Jamaat Ahl as-Sunnah lid-dawa wal-Jihad (translated as the Group of the People of Tradition for Proselytisation and Jihad), which they see as more accurately representing their ideological trajectory and basis for their activities. The movement has its stronghold in Nigeria's northeastern provinces and has increasingly used indiscriminate violence in pursuit of a radical social reform agenda. It is a jihadist organization seeking to establish a return to a “pure” and unsullied form of Islam, purged of accretions, the establishment of an Islamic state ruled by the Shari'a and, as its Hausa name suggests, to put an end to the process of westernization, especially the spread of western forms of education to Muslims in Northern Nigeria. The movement is able to adapt to contextual challenges and has already gone through a number of phases. The movement is vehemently anti-Christian regularly attacking Christians, their homes and churches in northern Nigeria, as well as being engaged in a costly and entrenched insurgency/counterinsurgency battle with the Nigerian state and its security forces— the 1 JTF . As Serrano and Pieri have previously argued, the JTF's inability to effectively combat the movement through its counter-insurgency operations in urban environments, and often with the use of overwhelming force against civilians, has created a situation where the constant ebb and flow of Boko Haram gains and systemic human rights abuses on the part of both Boko Haram and security forces make any 2 substantial security improvements fleeting . The escalation of violence between January and February 2014 alone has claimed over 650 lives in 3 just Borno and Adamawa states . This article looks at the round of Boko Haram violence that emerged in the first quarter of 2014, and explains some of the causes.

Boko Haram and Turmoil in Northern Nigeria

Jadavpur Journal of International Relations, 2015

Nigeria, especially the northern region, seems to be threatened by multifarious internal and possibly external forces. The levels and dimensions of insecurity range from ethno-religious crisis to abduction of persons, clashes between herdsmen and farmers, electoral violence, and the most conspicuous one, the Boko Haram activities. The latter has caused serious socioeconomic and political turmoil in the region, in the nation, and in the neighboring states at large. Cross-border terrorism is also a serious factor of destabilization as after every attack, insurgents succeed to take shelter in the neighboring countries. The other financial and logistic support by the neighboring countries with the help of external powers seems to be a planned design of instability. The capture of many parts by the Boko Haram in Yobe and Borno is the pointer to the fact that Nigeria’s north is passing through a danger of falling into the hands of the dreaded Boko Haram. Establishing control over the oil ...

The fire next time: the upsurge in civil insecurity across the Central Zone of Nigeria

The Central Zone of Nigeria, the subhumid region of median rainfall, has seen an unprecedented upsurge in violence and civil insecurity in the decade from 2005. Compared with international attention given to the Boko Haram insurgency in the Northeast, this has received little or no media or academic attention, except in local Nigerian publications. Yet there is an argument that the scale of killings, destruction of property and population displacement is of the same order of magnitude. Within Nigeria, these conflicts are generally attributed to herder/farmer conflict and the aggressors characterised as ‘Fulani’, the pastoralists characteristic of this region. While there is no doubt that resource conflict between these groups has been rising in recent years, this is inadequate to explain the level of violence. The paper discusses the genesis and chronology of the current conflict, its representation in the media, responses by the security forces and civil society, as well as local and conventional interpretations. It concludes with a discussion of trends and some possible policy responses.

Nigeria’s Insurgency and Counterinsurgency: Implications, Issues, and Lessons for National Security

Review of History and Political Science

Although Boko Haram came as an Islamic sect in 2002, its origin is traceable to a Sahaba Islamic group, formed in 1995. Emerging as one of the historical continuities of a society generally built on centuries of Islamic tradition, with a legacy of Islamic warfare, Boko Haram drew inspiration from romantic visions, transmitted from previous generations, for a return to the old Islamic order in northeastern Nigeria. The confounding rise and sudden strength, audacity, and gains of Boko Haram, an organization that started as a rag-tag militant Islamic sect, are linked to such forces as the radical Islamic ideology of jihad, sharia, and related tenets of fundamental Islam as well as to the contemporary socioeconomic problems of poverty, inequality, corruption, unemployment, and illiteracy. They are also due to support from AQIM, ISIS, Global al Qaeda, and Islamists in Mali, and the proliferation of arms in the Sahel. Given these propitious links Boko Haram grew into a formidable force, conquered and occupied much of northeastern Nigeria, and established itself as a threat to Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, and Niger. In the last quarter of 2015, the sect was routed out of the Nigerian territory, where its operations have been limited to sporadic suicide bombing against soft targets. However, given its links with certain sustaining forces within and outside Nigeria and its bellicose, implacable, and atavistic nature, it is yet ominous to think that Boko Haram is no longer a threat to Nigeria.

THE ROLE OF THE MILITARY IN NIGERIA INSECURITY. A CASE STUDY OF BOKO HARAM.

ABSTRACT Though, Nigeria has ever faced series of security threatening challenges, the one caused by the activities of the Islamist sect, the Boko Haram remains quite unique in all ramifications. For instance, the Jos crises that claimed dozens of human lives were known to be limited to Plateau State and so also were the Niger Delta crises limited to the areas of the creeks of the River Niger. The sect claims responsibility for several bombings and snip activities in the northern and central Nigeria, thereby placing the nation at the threshold of disintegration. The central issue of this paper is to probe into the causes of the Boko Haram menace and why government has been unable to put an end to it. The author sees Boko Haram as an outcome of Nigeria‟s internal political, social, economic and to some extent, religious problems. It is therefore concluded with a position that the present happenings in Nigeria have undoubtedly made the call for a national conference very obvious. This will provide the platform for discussing grievances of groups for amicable solutions.

The Dilemma of Recurrent Insurgency the Security Situation in Nigeria: Boko Haram in Perspective

2021

A number of studies have reviewed the Nigerian Government and military strategy and quest to defeat the dreaded islamist militant known as Boko Haram vis-à-vis the claims of Boko Haram defeat and the seeming inability to contain the threats posed by members of the sect. Drawing references from scholarly articles, electronic channels, and other commissioned reports, the paper explains why despite the rise in security budget from about US$1.44 billion in 2009 to US2.81 billion in 2018, military-led counterinsurgency operation in Nigeria still faces some notable challenges. The paper further examines why Nigeria appears to be losing the war against Boko Haram, in contrast to its military expenditure and capabilities including its modest strides in Liberia and Sierra Leone. The study argues that Nigeria's inability to contain the Boko Haram insurgency can be sited within the context of its homegrown systemic challenges; particularly, the politicisation of its national security. It t...