Trouble with Nigeria: State negligence created terror mobs that in turn fuelled political and economic crises
In the northeast, Boko Haram jihadi extremists and, more recently, an Islamic State-backed breakaway faction have since 2009 waged an insurgency to enforce their brutal interpretation of Shariah. In 2014, Boko Haram kidnapped 276 schoolgirls – mostly Christian, but some Muslim – from a school in Chibok, in Borno State.
How Nigeria’s Boko Haram terrorists run kidnapping, roadblocks and rustling livestock as key sources of revenue
A decade ago, the Borno conflict forced more than three million people from their homes. The terrifying scenario today is that if the security situation continues to deteriorate, a fresh wave of IDPs – including those newly resettled – will head to Maiduguri, where the camps that could support them are now closed.
Resurgence of Boko Haram to northeast Nigeria means the region’s IDP return policy is in disarray
Much of Borno’s countryside has been depopulated by the 15-year insurgency. The army switched to a “super camp” strategy in 2019 after losing a series of remote outposts, concentrating its forces in fortified bases in key towns.