INTRODUCTION<\/p>\n
Ten years since the launch of violent attacks against innocent citizens,
\nit is pertinent to find out exactly what Boko Haram want. It is not
\nenough to continue to wage a war against Boko Haram who have killed over
\n30,000 innocent citizens and displaced over 2 million people from July
\n2009 to July 2019 but it is important to analyse the activities of this
\nIslamic sect. We have been launching counter-terrorism attacks against
\nBoko Haram with no end in sight and huge resources expended. Therefore,
\nthere is a need for more introspection. The meaning of Boko Haram
\nalready says something about this group. There is religious violence and
\nthey want government to put an end to it. There is pervasive corruption
\nin government at all levels and they are appalled by this. There is
\neconomic inequality and they do not want the disparity to continue.
\nThere is poor governance and they want to provide an alternative. We
\nhave abusive security forces and they won\u2019t have none of that. There
\nis no denying these facts. Countries that are confronted with this kind
\nof challenge address the root causes rather than resort to the use of
\nforce. They use monies that would have been expended on fighting war to
\naddress the underlying issues driving insurgency. We would have won the
\nfight against Boko Haram insurgency a long time ago if military strategy
\nalone was the most effective response to Boko Haram insurgency. There
\nare other approaches we need to adopt in fighting the war against
\nterrorism. Approaches that will not only stop the need for
\nradicalization of teeming youths but also make them realize that their
\nplight is being addressed by governments.<\/p>\n
Boko Haram wants good governance and equal opportunity. They offer an
\nalternative to the current style of governance in Nigeria. Many Muslims
\ndo not agree with Boko Haram. They believe Boko Haram is fighting a
\nneedless war. To them, Boko Haram is just using poor governance and
\neconomic inequality as a smokescreen for working towards achieving their
\nevil agenda. They want to establish an Islamic state within Nigeria.
\nBoko Haram also want to expand their caliphate to West Africa. Boko
\nHaram are just an extremist group that are using religion as a political
\ntool. Boko Haram is also using religion to justify the murder of
\ninnocent citizens and encouraging young men and women to become suicide
\nbombers.<\/p>\n
NIGERIA\u2019S SITUATION<\/p>\n
From independence till date, Nigeria has designed numerous policies most
\nof which have been poorly implemented. Police brutality and impunity
\nhave become the order of the day. The economy has been struggling due to
\nmismanagement while the population of the country keeps increasing. The
\nrate of unemployment has been on the increase and politicians keep
\npaying lip service to job creation. Many people are killed
\nextra-judicially by the police and military personnel with no
\nconsequences. There is also the problem of human right abuses. Military
\nrule was a disaster but democracy does not seem to be functional. Oil
\nwealth is not shared equitably. Profits from crude oil over the decades
\nhave produced a class of wealthy Nigerians who live a life of luxury.
\nNigeria\u2019s wealth is starched in banks abroad and frittered away. The
\nconcentration of wealth in the hands of few Nigerian elites has led to
\nextreme poverty. As a matter of fact, Nigeria is now the poverty capital
\nof the world. About 70 per cent of the Nigerian population now live on
\nless than $1.9 a day. Nigeria continues to suffer from bad governance
\nand leadership. The Nigerian political scene is filled with corrupt
\npoliticians and leaders.<\/p>\n
UNDERLYING ISSUES DRIVING BOKO HARAM INSURGENCY<\/p>\n
One of the reasons espoused by Boko Haram for their attacks is the
\nfailure of government especially those of Northern Nigeria. According to
\nBoko Haram, there is economic disparity between the North and the South.
\nCorruption has been so pervasive in government at the national and
\nsub-national levels. These have contributed to extreme poverty,
\nilliteracy, youth unemployment, lack of education and poor health
\nservices. In addition there is extrajudicial killings as well as police
\nbrutality and impunity which are the strategies government have employed
\nin response to agitations by religious sects, ethnic groups and the
\ncitizens. Furthermore, government failed to nip the issue of Boko Haram
\ninsurgency in the bud. They allowed the problem fester.<\/p>\n
The truth is that government and the political elites provided the
\nrecipe for this insurgency. The Nigerian elites shared the country\u2019s
\nwealth at the expense of development in the North and other parts of the
\ncountry.<\/p>\n
The handover of power to Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa by the colonial
\nmasters in 1960 provided an opportunity for the North to be more
\ndeveloped than the South but Northern elites and politicians did not
\ndeem it fit to develop their region. Since independence, Northern elites
\nand politicians have spent more time in the corridors of power than the
\nSouth. Northern elites and politicians have superintended over 19 states
\nmore than those in the South. Northern elites and politicians have also
\noccupied the highest number of seats at the National Assembly. Yet,
\nNorthern Nigeria is underdeveloped, uneducated, and unhealthy to borrow
\nthe words of Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai. Many
\nNorthern elites and politicians attended the best schools both locally
\nand internationally. Rather than expose future generations to this kind
\nof education, they promoted the Almajiri which is a system of Islamic
\neducation practiced in Northern Nigeria placing it above western
\neducation. And because the new generation do not have access to the kind
\nof education the Northern elites and politicians had, they are faced
\nwith the challenges of early child marriage, illiteracy, poverty,
\nunemployment and lack of opportunities leading to drug abuse, banditry,
\nkidnapping and terrorism. Nigerian elites and politicians use the
\nAlmajiri children to achieve their own selfish interests such as
\nmobilising them for elections.<\/p>\n
Boko Haram\u2019s argument is that Islamic state will bring a better and
\nmore just government to power. Islamic state ensure inclusivity, the
\nprovision of social services, medical assistance, counselling and
\ntemporary housing. Boko Haram want to step in to fill the void created
\nby the failure of governments. Despite stating their reasons for
\nattacking the state, governments have failed to solve the problem of
\npoverty, youth unemployment, lack of access to health services and lack
\nof education among youths. Most of the policies designed to address
\nthese problems are yet to achieve the desired impact. In spite of the
\nneed to prioritize human capital development, governments have
\nprioritized physical capital which is an avenue for siphoning public
\nfunds. Nigeria is paying the price of years of underdevelopment in
\nNorthern Nigeria. Decades of failed government and bad behaviour of
\nNorthern elites and politicians led to Boko Haram insurgency, extreme
\npoverty, high rate of out of school children, drug abuse, banditry and
\nkidnapping.<\/p>\n
Ensuring good governance is not rocket science. The provision of basic
\namenities of life as well as ensuring the welfare and security of the
\npeople is the primary responsibility of every government. The neglect of
\nthe needs of the people in terms of education, health, housing,
\ntransportation, power, safe water etcetera is an invitation to anarchy.
\nGovernments have been making good governance a singsong but the
\nsituation over the years have shown otherwise. Over the years,
\ngovernance has been about what the privileged elites could get from the
\ncommon wealth rather than doing what will benefit the generality of the
\npopulation. Conversely, developed countries are constantly working on
\nimproving life expectancy, providing better education and reducing
\nincome inequality.<\/p>\n
Almost 59 years after independence, Northern Nigeria does not have
\nanything to show in terms of development. Northern Nigeria is a fertile
\nground for radicalization and religious extremism due to extreme
\npoverty, lack of western education and youth unemployment. Southern
\nNigeria is the opposite with high level of education and some level of
\ndevelopment although Southern Nigeria also suffer from poverty,
\nilliteracy and poor infrastructure. Northern Nigeria has failed to
\nprovide its people with better education and adequate infrastructure
\ntowards ensuring peace, stability and prosperity. The underdeveloped
\nNorthern Nigeria hinder the ability of the Nigerian state to move from a
\ndeveloping country into a developed country. Northern elites and
\npoliticians did not realise that the chicken will come home to roost.
\nThey felt denying the Almajiri children western education and not
\ndeveloping the North will help protect their interests. Now, the
\nAlmajiri children that they failed to secure their future are being
\nradicalized and innocent citizens are bearing the brunt.<\/p>\n
The Nigerian state is rebelled against for its failures. Bad governance
\nand leadership keeps staring us all in the face. Despite the
\nestablishment of anti-corruption agencies, corruption in government is
\npervasive. Anyone who agitate against government failures is brutally
\ndealt with by the police and the military. Those who criticise the
\ngovernment are seen as enemy of the state. Nigerians are not happy with
\nthe high level of insecurity and inability of governments to address
\nthis problem to the extent that most Nigerians now live in palpable
\nfear.<\/p>\n
Boko Haram is now offering the people an alternative\u2014an Islamic state.
\nThey have readymade tools that have been groomed for them by the
\nNigerian state\u2014young people with no education and employment. It is
\nnot only young people in Northern Nigeria that are unemployed, their
\ncounterparts in Southern Nigeria are also plagued by the problem of
\npoverty and unemployment despite being educated. No one is immune from
\nthe problem of poverty, unemployment, poor infrastructure, poor
\ngovernance and pervasive corruption except the privileged elite and
\ntheir children. The pictures of PMB children\u2019s graduation from schools
\nin the United Kingdom was a subject of public discourse.<\/p>\n
Boko Haram cannot be happy with the graduation of PMB\u2019s children from
\nschools in the United Kingdom while Almajiri children are denied access
\nto western education. Poverty, lack of western education and youth
\nunemployment leads to radicalization. The youth account for 80 per cent
\nof the Northern population. The lack of opportunities in Northern
\nNigeria has forced many of its youths to migrate to Southern Nigeria in
\nsearch of employment opportunities. Majority of them have taken to Okada
\nriding and other menial jobs. The future of Northern Nigeria cannot be
\nin the hands of poor, uneducated and jobless youths.<\/p>\n
Nigeria has about 70 per cent youth population trapped in poverty and
\nunemployment. Little wonder there is a rebellion against the state by
\nBoko Haram. The Revolution Now Movement convened by Omoyele Sowore,
\npresidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) is calling
\nfor a revolution as a way of solving the problem of bad governance and
\nleadership. The Buhari administration has attacked those opposed
\n(Amnesty International, Professor Wole Soyinka, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN)
\nand Chief Mike Ozehkome (SAN)) to the illegal detention of Omoyele
\nSowore by the Department of State Services (DSS) (as there is no overt
\nact). It\u2019s sad that Nigeria\u2019s political class have serious learning
\ndifficulties. Government\u2019s ill-informed responses to agitations by
\ndifferent groups leads to uprising. The lack of opportunities for youths
\nhave led to revolution in different countries. The agitations by Boko
\nHaram, Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Movement for the
\nActualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), Movement for
\nthe Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) and Civil Society
\nOrganizations (CSOs) are against bad governance and leadership as well
\nas marginalization.<\/p>\n
This brings me to the way forward out of persistent uprising across the
\ncountry.<\/p>\n
THE WAY FORWARD<\/p>\n
Government must rethink its strategy towards winning the war against
\nterrorism. It\u2019s been ten years since the violent attack of Boko Haram.
\nExperts have suggested that government should counter Boko Haram
\ninsurgency\u00a0 using military engagement, political strategy and
\ndevelopment efforts rather than adopting military strategy alone which
\nis yet to achieve the desired impact. The war against Boko Haram
\ninsurgency using military strategy should aim to destroy the terrorist
\ngroup. We must seek the intervention of the West to get rid of
\nterrorists in the Africa region and reduce their growing influence.
\nThere must be consequences for every individual who engage in terrorism.
\nThe Nigerian military is overwhelmed by this fight against terrorists,
\nhence, the military architecture must be rejigged while issues of low
\nmorale and corruption within the military is dealt with.<\/p>\n
Nigeria need to enlist the help of countries such as the US, UK,
\nGermany, France and Russia in winning the war against terrorism. The
\nview that involving these countries in the fight against Boko Haram
\nthreatens our sovereignty as a country should be jettisoned. The
\ninternational community is willing to help as long as we request for it.
\nThe fight against Boko Haram has taken an international dimension and
\ncan no longer be resolved by Nigerian intelligence and security
\nservices. Some countries in the West have formed alliances with other
\ncountries to fight terrorism.<\/p>\n
Government must ensure the development of Northern Nigeria. This is not
\na difficult task to achieve and there is no other way than to turn
\nNorthern Nigeria into a construction site. We need to address the root
\ncauses of insurgency if we must achieve peace, security and prosperity.
\nMany developed countries are constantly working on reducing economic and
\nincome inequality, corruption in government and ensuring good
\ngovernance. Nigeria must also address these problems towards ensuring
\npeace and stability.<\/p>\n
There must be a development plan for all the states in the North. Many
\nstate governors in the North have focused on disingenuous policies and
\ninitiatives (such as funding mass weddings and shoe cobbling tools) as a
\nway of empowering the teeming unemployed and uneducated youths. Those
\ngovernors that have tried to bring development have not been able to
\nreduce the high rate of poverty, illiteracy, youth unemployment and out
\nof school children. Girl child education in the North has also not
\nimproved. We do not need a soothsayer to let us know that addressing the
\nagitations for development and ensuring a more functional state will
\npromote peace and security. I hope governments can tow this line.
\nHowever, government\u2019s response to the issue of the Islamic Movement of
\nNigeria (IMN), the illegal detention ofSheikh Ibrahim El Zakzaky and his
\nwife Zeenat as well as the proscription of the IMN (which is null and
\nvoid) shows that the Buhari administration do not see the need to
\naddress people\u2019s agitations and make the state functional. The Buhari
\nadministration also proscribed the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB)
\nwhich is a group agitating for secession from the Nigerian state due to
\nfailure of government. The South West Elders are also agitated over the
\nfailure of government to secure their region from increasing rate of
\nkidnapping, banditry and herdsmen-farmer conflict. The Nigerian
\ngovernment must address the agitations by different groups. There is a
\nneed to bring together stakeholders from every part of the country to
\ndiscuss ways by which the agitations by different groups can be
\naddressed.<\/p>\n
The over 2 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) need to be
\nreturned back to their communities after taking back those
\ncommunities\/territories from Boko Haram and reconstructing them. The
\nNorthern elites and state governors in the North who have been
\nresponsible for the poor development of this region must be held
\naccountable for any drawback in development efforts. Nigeria will not
\nimprove its health and economic indicators without developing the
\nNorthern region. The Nigerian government should work with Northern
\nelites and state governors from the North and ensure that they transform
\nthe North from its present state of underdevelopment into a safe, secure
\nand economically viable region. All hands must be on deck in rebuilding
\nNorthern Nigeria and every other part of Nigeria plagued by unrest.
\nAlthough there is mutual suspicion between the North and the South but
\nwe have to work together to bridge the North-South divide. The
\ndevelopment of Northern Nigeria and other volatile regions will be
\ncritical to ensuring peace and stability. Governments must intensify
\ndevelopment efforts across the country.<\/p>\n
The problem of Boko Haram insurgency, extreme poverty, youth
\nunemployment, lack of access to health services, economic inequality and
\nlack of education in Northern Nigeria is surmountable. The root causes
\nof Boko Haram insurgency, banditry, herdsmen-farmer conflict and
\nkidnapping are within the control of governments. Nigeria is a strategic
\ncountry on the African continent and needs to seek the help of the West
\nto win the war against terrorism and develop the Northern region. Almost
\neveryone regardless of their religious affiliation agree that
\ngovernments have failed in their responsibilities by not addressing the
\nproblem of widening income inequality, pervasive corruption, poor
\ngovernance and abuse of office. These problems persist whether in the
\nNorth or the South of the country. Nigeria has spent trillions of naira
\nin ten years fighting Boko Haram insurgency. It\u2019s time to redirect
\nthese monies towards development efforts. There will be no reason for
\nBoko Haram insurgency, banditry, kidnapping and herdsmen-farmer conflict
\nif governments had focused on developing Northern Nigeria and listened
\ncarefully to the agitations by different groups. Nigeria would have
\nenjoyed peace and security.<\/p>\n
BOLAJI S. AREGBESHOLA IS A FREELANCE WRITER. HE IS THE AUTHOR OF
\n\u2018\u2019NIGERIAN POLITICAL PARTIES AND POLITICIANS: WINDING ROAD FROM
\nCOUNTRY TO NATION\u2019\u2019.<\/p>\n
INTRODUCTION Ten years since the launch of violent attacks against innocent citizens, it is pertinent to find out exactly what Boko Haram want. It is not enough to continue to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":47856,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-69423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-opinions"],"yoast_head":"\n