State and Conflict Management: Evaluating Nigeria’s Response to Boko Haram Insurgency

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume II, Issue IX, September 2018 | ISSN 2454–6186

State and Conflict Management: Evaluating Nigeria’s Response to Boko Haram Insurgency

Yahaya Yakubu

Department of Political Science & International Relations, Nile University of Nigeria

Abstract: – Adopting a historical and content analytical method of inquiry, this study interrogates the evolution and geneses of the Boko-Haram (BH) insurgency. It claims Nigeria’s inability to comprehend and accurately define the nature and precepts of the insurgency coupled with hybrid tactics of warfare employed by the sect, de-motivated security outlets. It also identifies the challenges of inequitable fire power as a major hindrance to curbing the set activities. In furtherance the study classified the insurgency into three major phases and is of the opinion that while Nigeria may have recorded certain propensity of triumph in addressing the insurgency, the inability to unravel the sponsors of the group in terms of manpower training in guerrilla warfare tactics, supply of moderns and sophisticated weapons, access to healthcare in Sambisa and other logistics. May have dire consequences on the war against insurgency in the North East, conclusively the study opines the need to address the inherent instabilities brought about by ethnic and religious antagonism, if the war against insurgency is to be put to bed.

Keywords: Insurgency, Boko-Haram, Conflict, Nigeria and warfare.

I. INTRODUCTION

While it is neither an anomaly to experience conflicts nor a definitive attribute of a particular region, the frequency at which they occur are more likely to be higher in pluralistic and heterogeneous societies where freedom of expression is not suppressed, resulting from disputes and inability to arrive at concessions on germane issues which includes but not necessarily limited to; what language should be spoken, which ethnic group should produce the president, should religions be allowed in public places, what is the basis for revenue allocation, who should be appointed minister of what and from which region or ethnicity,

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