Boko Haram, security architecture and counterinsurgency in North-East, Nigeria

Abstract

While previous studies have interrogated the motivations of Boko Haram and the role of security agencies in counterinsurgency, explanations of the escalation of Boko Haram attacks on Nigerian security agencies have received limited academic attention. This study re-examines the dynamics of counterinsurgency operations in Nigeria within the context of the fragile state thesis. It argues that fragility of relevant state institutions has compromised the military-led counterinsurgency operations by flipping out strategic intelligence to the terrorists, embezzlement of arms procurement funds, sabotage and deplorable welfare condition of combatants, among others. Thus, the relevant state institutions should be strengthened to proactively respond to the maladies bedeviling the military-led counterinsurgency operations in the North-East region.

Border Governance, Migration Securitisation, and Security Challenges in Nigeria

“…By the same token, the security implications of climate change, especially in Africa, became visible in 2007 following debates by the African Union, the United Nations Security Council, and the Conference of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol. As argued by Nwangwu et al (2020) and Lenshie et al (2022), climate change in itself does not lead to direct violence, but a causal link between climate change-induced environmental scarcity and violence has been established, thereby securitising climate change discourses and actions. The foregoing suggests that no issue is essentially threatening in itself until it is referred to as a "security" issue by the securitising actors.…”

“…Among academics, there is a large pool of knowledge on the causes, drivers, and consequences of the diverse conflicts plaguing the Nigerian state, including the proliferation of small arms and light weapons (Tar, 2021), the availability of large swaths of ungoverned spaces (Lenshie, 2018;Olaniyan and Akinyele, 2016), the militaristic responses of the Nigerian state (Mbah and Nwangwu, 2014), poor governance and state fragility (Lenshie et al, 2022;Okoli and Lenshie, 2018), and an elite conspiracy in Nigeria (Kifordu, 2010;Mbah et al, 2017). While these extant studies are very instructive, they have paid inadequate attention to how the securitisation of border governance and migration impinges on the growing spate of insecurity in Nigeria.…”