Boko Haram Crisis in Nigeria



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Nigeria is the most populated country on the African continent. It is located on the western coast of Africa and has large oil reserves. It was a British colony and was not in a good shape recently, as it experienced huge retaliation from extremist groups.

There is huge corruption in the country and a large number of people are deprived of basic living rights. Oil cannot change the fortunes of the people in Nigeria and it experienced huge political violence in its post-independence history.

The Emergence of Boko Haram

The recent being the Boko Haram crisis. It is a large scale crisis that erupted during the year 2011 when a sudden factional fight against the government by Jihadist organisation- Boko Haram got started in the Muslim dominated state of North Nigeria called Borno.

Though the situation may seem to be a sudden attack, it was done against the government by taking advantage of the local weak governance and rampant corruption in the primary levels. The situation was worse till date though some of the villagers were freed from the effect of Boko Haram.

Boko haram is an Islamic terrorist outfit believing in hard-line violent strategies to counter enemies. Like the ISIS in Syria and Iraq, Boko Haram is a typical replica of ISIS in the African continent. Suddenly, it gathered strength from the local poor people and captured many regions of Nigeria. 

Then, it went on to capture parts of Chad, Benin, Cameroon and Niger. They aimed to create an Islamic state of Africa. But the crisis in some time changed into a regional conflict, as violence quickly spread across countries. 

War Strategies and Casualties of the War

Equipped with sophisticated arms, they did a surprise attack on the Nigerian administration that was unprepared to combat such a situation. The situation was so pathetic that around 2.5 million people fled Nigeria and took refuge in the Lake Chad Basin.

Similarly, around 38 thousand people died out of the fallout. Their style of attack was through suicide attacks and large scale abductions of women and children. They generally attacked in crowded places like the markets that usually create fear and casualties on a large-scale of people.

In the year of 2014, around 200 girls were abducted that created headlines, later on, they were returned after negotiations between the government and the militant forces. In 2015 Muhammad Buhari was elected in the counter-terrorism ground by defeating Good luck, Johnson. 

But, the situation is in control now but sudden attacks remained and some villages are also under their control till date. Women and children remain their soft target. 

Around 2.5 lakh Nigerian refugees are there in the neighbouring countries that created huge pressure on the regional economy. Internally displaced people have to fight with grappling poverty, as their life has to bear the huge consequences of the government inefficiencies and the terrorism by Boko haram.

Present Scenario of the Crisis  

Now, with the better coordination between the Armies of Nigeria and Chad, Benin and Cameroon, the Boko Haram terrorist group have somehow restricted. 

Though it is frequently heard that Boko Haram has retaliated through its usual means of suicide bombings but the intensity has somehow fallen. On the other hand, the security forces also conducted large-scale human rights abuses that again made the life of common poor people more difficult. 

The fight against Boko Haram has repeatedly questioned the political integrity of the country where different issues like uneven distribution of oil revenues and the huge bureaucratic corruption remained an enormous problem.

As Nigeria is Africa's largest oil producer and exporter and also globally one of the large producers of oil- the political crisis in Nigeria may dampen the oil market in the world and create ripple effects in a larger world trade scenario.

Written by - Bodhiswatta Mukherjee
Edited by - Ivanova