The Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria and What the Government is Doing Wrong

The Federal Republic of Nigeria has had its fair share of crisis after it gained independence from Britain in 1960. Some of these crises are man-made due to the severe political and economic upheavals the country has been through. Decades of dictatorship followed by a civil war left citizens with raw nerves. In 1999, Nigeria moved into a democracy after several failed attempts. This promising development is however being tested, by severe crisis ranging from kidnapping to having its very own terrorist group known as the Boko Haram.

The Nigerian government is therefore faced with a task of providing its citizenry the needed security and to come up with strategies to curb these crises. But it seems that the situation has not been adequately managed because despite attempts to stop these events, they are still ongoing in the country. People are still being kidnaped and Boko Haram is still unleashing its reign of terror on Nigerians living in the northern part of the country.

Nigeria is not the only country facing or that has faced crises. According to Gronvall and Sundelius, numerous crises have occurred which have left policy makers to come up with decisions that will safeguard people. Not only do these decisions keep people safe, they also “preserve and maintain political, economic and social structures; and uphold values such as the freedom of movement and freedom of the press.”(p. 2) Furthermore, the 9/11 terrorist attack, the London train bombings of July 7 2005, the Tsunami in South East Asia in 2004, the 2005 Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA and all other disasters that happen all over the world are not mere historic irregularities according to Gronvall and Sundelius, they help us realize that crises are...

... middle of paper ...

...our belief in the supremacy of Islamic culture (not Education), for culture is broader, it includes education but not determined by Western Education.( Vanguard, August 9, 2009)

However, the irony of this statement is that although they reject western civilization, they do not reject the spoils of western civilization. They are selective to which portion of the civilization to reject and those to accept and this is evident in their use of sophisticated technology and weapons.

Operations of the Boko Haram in Nigeria

Boko Haram came into international limelight following the suicide attack on the United Nations headquarters in Abuja, on August 26, 2011 (Cook, 2011). However, it has been unleashing its reign of terror in Nigeria prior to the UN bombing. According to Onuoha (2012), Boko Haram has embarked on about one hundred and sixty attacks, between 2009 and 2012,