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Boko Haram Research Paper

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The militant group’s funding comes from a variety of organized crime and donations, cyber scams, fake charities, kidnapping, bank robbery, and theft from Nigeria’s security establishment. The group has received financial support from al Qaeda and other African governments. Central to Boko Haram’s approach includes using hard-to-track human couriers to move cash, relying on local funding sources, such as local governments, and engaging in only limited financial relationships with other extremist groups.1 They recruit as many Islamic extremist groups recruit, by radicalizing boys and young men who have failed at something or seek a higher purpose in life. The group’s recruitment methods have changed in recent years; more recruits are forcibly …show more content…

The group has been known for kidnapping government officials and their relatives in exchange for ransoms of $10,000 to $300,00. In March 2013 they kidnapped the Moulin-Fournier family and exchanged them for 3.15 million dollars.2 Boko Haram’s access to Nigerian military arms and uniforms is attributed to two sources: theft and collaboration with Nigerian military officials. Dressed in official uniforms allows Boko Haram fighters to move more feely, launch surprise attacks, and set road blocks without raising suspicion. With the uniforms Boko Haram was able to break into the school and kidnap over two hundred Chibok …show more content…

In the case of the Chibok schoolgirls, this could mean $600,000 that Boko Haram does not have to pay to its new recruits.3 Imams capitalize on the situation by preaching an extreme version of Islamic teachings and telling Nigerians their government is weak and corrupt.12 Boko Haram takes full advantage of anti-Western sentiment, after planting these ideas in their head and then offering a fix all solution, they are able to recruit and train these young men and boys for activities ranging from errand running to suicide bombings. 13 The group has increasingly kidnapped teenage boys in northeastern Nigeria and “re-educated” them at Qur’anic schools often in Cameroon. The militants use untrained boys to gather intelligence and carry out the first wave of attacks on villages or barracks. When they gain experience, they join the second wave designed to overwhelm the security forces after the first wave weakens their positions and morale. Boko Haram also appears to be focusing on Cameroon for its voluntary recruitment of men.14 With the increase of involuntary recruits and non-Nigerian recruits Boko Haram may be having trouble recruiting within its own state due to a

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