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Dr. Modupe Oshikoya, Department of Political Science, Virginia Wesleyan University – Written Evidence (ZAF0056)

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Dr. Modupe Oshikoya, Department of Political Science, Virginia Wesleyan University – Written Evidence (ZAF0056) Dr. Modupe Oshikoya, Department of Political Science, Virginia Wesleyan University – Written evidence (ZAF0056) 1. What are the major security challenges facing Nigeria, and how effectively is the Nigerian government addressing them? 1.1 Boko Haram The insurgency group known globally as Boko Haram continues to wreak havoc in northeast Nigeria and the countries bordering Lake Chad – Cameroon, Chad and Niger. The sect refers to itself as Jamā'at Ahl as- Sunnah lid-Da'wah wa'l-Jihād [JAS], which in Arabic means ‘People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet’s Teaching and Jihad’, and rejects all Western beliefs. Their doctrine embraced the strict adherence to Islam through the establishment of sharia law across all of Nigeria, by directly attacking government and military targets.1 However, under their new leader, Abubakar Shekau, the group transformed in 2009 into a more radical Salafist Islamist group. They increased the number of violent and brutal incursions onto the civilian population, mosques, churches, and hospitals, using suicide bombers and improvised explosive devices (IEDs). The most prominent attack occurred in a suicide car bomb at the UN headquarters in Abuja in August 2011.2 Through the use of guerrilla tactics, Boko Haram’s quest for a caliphate led them to capture swathes of territory in the northeast of the country in 2014, where they indiscriminately killed men, women and children. One of the worst massacres occurred in Borno state in the town of Baga, where nearly an estimated 2,000 people were killed in a few hours.3 This radicalized ideological rhetoric of the group was underscored by their pledge allegiance to Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) in March 2015, leading them rename themselves as Islamic State’s West Africa Province (ISWAP).4 One of the most troubling characteristics of the insurgency has been the resultant sexual violence and exploitation of the civilian population. Young girls and women have been kidnapped, raped, used as suicide bombers, and forcibly married off to fighters within the insurgency group.5 Young boys and men have been 1 Human Rights Watch. 2012. Spiraling Violence: Boko Haram Attacks and Security Force Abuses in Nigeria. Human Rights Watch; 2 “Deadly blast hits UN office in Nigeria”, Aljazeera News, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2011/08/2011826103616188370.html, 26 Aug 2011 3 “Boko Haram's 'deadliest massacre': 2,000 feared dead in Nigeria”, The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/09/boko-haram-deadliest-massacre-baga-nigeria, 10 January 2015 4 “Nigeria's Boko Haram pledges allegiance to Islamic State”, BBC News Online, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-31784538, 7 March 2015 5 “‘Bad Blood’: Perceptions of Children Born of Conflict Related Sexual Violence and Women and Girls 1 forcibly conscripted or executed if they did not swear allegiance to the group.6 Boko Haram have deliberately used gender-based violence as a tactic of war against the civilian population.7 The most disturbing case of this gendered insecurity was kidnapping of the 276 female schoolgirls in Chibok, northeast Nigeria in April 2014. This generated both national and international headlines and led to the international #BringBackOurGirls twitter campaign. The Nigerian government at first responded to the insurgents through conciliatory approaches. They tried to negotiate a cease-fire that included an end to the violence, and compensation payments to the families of those killed by the military.8 has responded to the Boko Haram insurgency in a number of ways. Boko Haram primarily targeted political and military targets, which led to ad hoc armed responses from the military and police. However, the government mobilized a more formal response in June 2011 with the launch of Joint Task Force ‘Operation Restore Hope’ that comprised of all branches of the military, as well as the police force and the State Security Service (SSS). The government also enacted counter-extremism and deradicalisation programs to deal with the growing religious extremism in northern Nigeria.9 These measures were followed by the Former President Goodluck Jonathan declaring a state of emergency in April 2012 in 14 local government areas across 4 states in north Nigeria most affected by the insurgency violence, which led to the military deployed in the northeast as a counterinsurgency measure.10 However, the indiscriminate use of force by the military towards the civilian population and suspected insurgents, including extortion of civilians, extra-judicial arrests and killings has deeply alienated the civilian population and has been criticized by leading NGO’s.11 Associated with Boko Haram in Northeast Nigeria.", Toogood, Kimairis. https://www.international- alert.org/sites/default/files/Nigeria_BadBlood_EN_2016.pdf 2016. 6 “’Our job is to shoot, slaughter and kill’: Boko Haram’s reign of terror”, Amnesty International, https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/AFR4413602015ENGLISH.PDF, April 2015; 7 Agbiboa, Daniel Egiegba. 2013. “The Ongoing Campaign of Terror in Nigeria: Boko Haram versus the State.” Stability: International Journal of Security and Development 2 (3):Art. 52; Barkindo, Atta, Benjamin Tyavkase Gudaku, and Caroline Katgurum Wesley. 2013. Boko Haram and Gender Based Violence Against Christian Women and Children in North-Eastern Nigeria Since 1999. NPVRN Working Paper; 8 Agbiboa, Daniel E. 2014. “Peace at Daggers Drawn? Boko Haram and the state of emergency in Nigeria.” Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 37 (1):41-67 9 Onapajo, H., & Ozden, K. 2020. Non-military approach against terrorism in Nigeria: deradicalization strategies and challenges in countering Boko Haram. Security Journal, 1-17; Office of the National Security Adviser. 2015b. Violent radicalization in northern Nigeria: Economy & Society. https://www.qeh.ox.ac.uk/sites/www.odid.ox.ac.uk/files/onsa-pb05.pdf; 10 Sampson, I.T., 2015. Between Boko Haram and the Joint Task Force: assessing the dilemma of counter-terrorism and human rights in Northern Nigeria. Journal of African Law, 59(1), pp.25-63. 11 Amnesty International, 2015. “Stars on Their Shoulders. Blood on Their Hands: War Crimes Committed by the Nigerian Military.” Amnesty International. https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/AFR4416572015ENGLISH.PDF 2 In 2015, a renewed counter-insurgency military offensive comprising of a coalition of troops from the Lake Chad Basin Commission – Benin, Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria (labeled the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) seized back territory previously held by Boko Haram. This renewed military push not only led to the displacement of civilians, but also led to the regionalization of the crisis.12 Despite these difficulties, the MNJTF was successful in recapturing swathes of territory and prevented Boko Haram from having free access across the borders. In spite of their success in countering the insurgency, Boko Haram still pose a security threat to Nigeria and the greater Lake Chad region. Security forces have struggled to contain the insurgency in rural areas and Boko Haram continue to attack the civilian population through indiscriminate suicide bomb attacks and kidnapping. The group has now splintered into two different factions: Abubakar Shekau commands Boko Haram, and the second an ISIS-endorsed offshoot calls itself the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP). A worrying aspect of ISWAP’s violence is the kidnapping and killing of national and international aid workers in the region.13 In an effort to combat the growing violence of the insurgents, the military have sought to blame other entities for their failures. In September 2019, the Nigerian government closed down the offices of several international humanitarian aid agencies and accused them of acting as conduits for cash that has ended up in the hands of Boko Haram, as well as aiding and abetting group members by supplying them with medical drugs and food.14 1.2 Settler/herder conflict Violent conflict has plagued Plateau state in central Nigeria since 2001. The conflict in Plateau has taken the form of land disputes between the majority Berom, Anaguta, and Afizere groups who are farmers and considered to be ‘indigenes’ of the state, and the ‘settlers’, the semi-nomadic Fulani and Hausa herders.15 Being classed as indigenous to a state gives citizen’s preferential treatment to land, education, and employment opportunities, as well as control over local government resources.16 Restrictions on indigene 12 “Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) against Boko Haram”, The Africa-EU Partnership, https://www.africa-eu-partnership.org/sites/default/files/apf_factsheet_-_mnjtf.pdf 13 “Nigeria: Boko Haram executes second female aid worker”, Al Jazeera News, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/10/nigeria-boko-haram-executes-female-aid-worker- 181015194542623.html 14 “Nigeria warned it risks humanitarian disaster by expelling charities”, Guardian News Online,29 September 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/sep/29/nigeria-warned-it-risks- humanitarian-disaster-by-expelling-charities 15 Krause, J., 2011. A deadly cycle: ethno-religious conflict in Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria. Geneva Declaration. http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.395.1527&rep=rep1&type=pdf 16 Aaron Sayne. 2012. “Rethinking Nigeria’s Indigene-Settler Conflicts”, USIP Research briefing, https://www.usip.org/publications/2012/07/rethinking-nigerias-indigene-settler-conflicts 3 certificates has led to increased political competition over declining state economic
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