Why Is Boko Haram?

Nigeria is one of the most densely populated countries in all of Africa. However, according to Freedom House, Nigeria is only partly free. This is for several reasons. Firstly, from a historical point of view, colonialism had a very bad effect on Africa. Many will argue that colonialism left Africa with only one practical skill and that is education. Other than education, colonialism left Africa with no other practical skills because it left them independent on others for survival. They had no opportunity to advance because they never had the tools. According to Walter Rodney, the author of How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, European capitalists failed to create a working class and to spread industrial skills throughout Africa (Rodney, 1997). European colonists failed to teach practical skills to Africans to keep them subservient. This is evident when Walter Rodney states, “the vast majority of Africans went into colonialism with a hoe and came out with a hoe” (Rodney, 1997, p. 591). Nigeria also has a few social factors that are an impediment to their political progress. In the recent decades, the rise of terrorism has been threatening their way of life. The dominant terrorist group in Nigeria is Boko Haram. Boko Haram has been an ongoing threat to the government and people they believe should be persecuted. According to Freedom House, they are trying to implement Sharia law and an anti-western ideology throughout the country (Freedom House, 2015). This law restricts women’s

Different sources have different causes of what they say was the motivation for Boko Haram’s attacks. Some sources say it was the killing of their leader in 2009 and some even say that the it was due to global warming within that country, but whatever it is, it is a big problem not only for the Islamic states but all of the other countries of the world. Their different attacks seem to show what the source of this motivation was. The group is very hard to understand in terms of their overall motivation because there is so little known information about them. Information in general is hard to come by from Nigeria. Police officers and city officials so corrupt that they give the citizens little to no information as to what is going on (Walker, 2012, p. 7). They are too motivated by their own selfish goals. The Boko Haram group itself has given no really helpful information as it has denied bombings and other terroristic activities.

Boko Haram has yet to stray from its notoriety as a harsh terrorist threat to both the people of Nigeria and the government itself. In 2014, nearly 300 Nigerian schoolgirls were stolen from their families in the town of Chibok and taken into captivity by Boko Haram. This event has yet to be rectified now two years later, nor have the families received any news or closure from the Nigerian government. Both citizens of Chibok and activists around the world have developed voices in regard to this ongoing investigation. Videos of the girls have recently surfaced which lead one to believe that the girls are still alive; these videos, however, are most likely either old or altered. Boko Haram has yet to

Western women take a lot for granted. In many parts of the world, even in the 21st century, women are not allowed to dress freely, speak freely, drive, vote, own a business, even go to school. Those that violate the tenets of the society in which they live can be killed for their lack of obedience. Still, like Rosa Parks on that bus in Montgomery, Alabama, there are women who are willing to stand up for the rights they do not yet have but know they deserve.

In Northeast Nigeria, where the book Things Fall Apart takes place, the terrorist group Boko Haram is constantly causing the governrnent trouble. Whether it’s when they kidnapped over 200 girls from a school, kidnapped and trained child soldiers, or just this March attempted to bomb a Mosque. Not to mention how Polio and malnutrition are indirectly being worsened by the group. However, the similarity to 20th century Umuofia is uncanny. This is because both Boko Haram and the Igbo share the same fight, that against western culture. Boko Haram actually translates to Western education is a sin. Although it’s not their full, official name, it is it’s slang name and what the media uses. Consisting of muslims the group has many differing beliefs to all of Western society, largely gender related. Not all people share equal rights, another struggle that also occurs in the book. In conclusion, Through this group, although they are terrorists and the Igbo were not, you can see that people are still fighting against the same change in that area, even if it’s under a different

Al-Shabaab as a terrorist group poses a significant threat in Somalia and in the global community. This paper will start by discussing the background. In this part the paper will show how the group has evolved from Al-Ittihad Al-Islam (AIAI) to the Islamic Court Union (ICU) and lastly to Al-Shabaab. Before discussing the group’s threat of national security, homeland and international, this paper will provide the conceptual meaning of key terminology, such as national security, homeland security, international security and globalization. It is important to understand these concepts before moving toward the main argument of the paper. After providing the framework for key concepts, the paper will discuss the group’s threat to Somalia in two areas, national security and homeland security. The paper will go further and identify the threats posed by the group on other nations’ homeland security and international security. We will use East African countries and the United States examples. The paper will provide evidence to support how globalization has shaped and fueled the threats from Al-Shabaab. It will then discuss the primary response from the United States and from African countries through AMISOM. The paper will provide the way forward and suggestions for the response of the international community to Al-Shabaab. In conclusion, we will try to alert the international community that although the group has been experience hard times in Somalia, it is unwise to

The African Continent has had numerous problems in the last century that have caused low development, low hygiene, and high death rates. These problems include finances, lack of clean food and water, poor weather, diseases, and terrorist attacks. All of these problems can cause death, poverty, or a need to emigrate from the area. For years these problems have made it difficult to develop these countries to enable them to help their citizens and vanquish these problems. Terrorism is a large threat to Africa, but mainly in Western Africa, due to the large group known as Boko Haram. Boko Haram has done mass abductions, displaced millions from their homes, and killed thousands. To understand how Boko Haram effects Africa one must be familiar with their history and attacks,tactics and strategy, and their organization and recruitment.

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

Similar to the past few years, the atrocious kidnapping of 276 on the 14th of April, of boarding school girls from the village of Chibok in the north-eastern part of Nigeria falls into an arrangement of shocking terror unbridled by Boko Haram. Nigeria has always been at the heart of security threatening challenges, but Boko Haram is the most powerful group as of yet. Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for many bombings and other terrorist activities north and central Nigeria, thus placing Nigeria on the verge of dissolution. Till date, terror caused by Boko Hara has resulted in an estimate of about 10,000 deaths. Boko Haram, officially called Jama’tu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’Awati Wal-Jihad, is a Sunni extremist terrorist group based in northeast Nigeria and active in Chad, Niger and Cameroon. Purpose of Boko Haram is to get rid of the current political regime in Nigeria, which the group believes is run by corrupt Muslims. They group wishes to “establish a fundamentalist interpretation of Sharia (Islamic law) across all of Nigeria (Start).” Furthermore, the group wishes to rid Nigeria of any western education and institutions, specifically schools for girls. Seven to ten thousand members of Boko Haram are led by Abubakr Shekau. Initially, the group had links to Al-Qaeda, but pledged allegiance in March 2015. Since the end of the British rule, politicians and Islamic ulama have expressed their disapproval with western education. Since then, political and ethno-religious groups

Jihadist militant groups in West Africa have been traditionally associated with al-Qaeda, but ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) ideology is growing in influence in the region, making its trek from North Africa to its neighbors further south. This migration of radical Islam ideology threatens political stability in the region, and the pace in which it is spreading will make it a difficult threat for Western security forces to combat. Combined with political unrest, struggling economies, and the demand for a more Islam-oriented government, West Africa has become the perfect opportunity for ISIS to establish another base for the expansion of its caliphate. Although ISIS and al-Qaeda are both jihadist militant groups whose primary goal is

The terrorist threat to Africa is aggravated by the continent’s dire hardships of war, hunger, and poverty, for two reasons. First, Africa’s weak state offers sanctuary and succor to terrorist movements…second, widespread conditions of conflict and poverty create a breeding ground for feelings of alienation, providing recruits to the cause of terrorist groups.

Islamic State West Africa Province, Group of the People of Sunnah for Preaching and Jihad, Boko Haram; known by many names, the terror organization that has plagued Northern Nigeria since the mid-2000s remains a threat to stability in Western Africa. Boko Haram was classified by the Global Terrorism Index as the deadliest terror organization of 2015; inflicting 6644 deaths, 77% civilians, this terror group is in fact on the decline due to infighting, coalition military strikes and a seeming lack of strategy, save for assaults on civilians and some infrastructure. Such a lack of strategy through which to attain their end-goal of a fundamentalist Sharia state in Nigeria has led to the group’s decline. A new strategy is critical if it were to make a resurgence to prominence in northern Nigeria. Should a strategically enlightened leader take the reins of Boko Haram, his first priority would be to end the hostilities between competing factions by any means necessary. He would afterwards find it necessary to integrate and garner support for his cause amongst the general population, rendering the two entirely necessary to mutual survival. The next priority would be to divide and cripple Nigerian armed forces through attacks on soft targets to degrade morale and possibly open negotiations for some kind of resolution. Failing that, calling on support from other fundamentalist organizations and countries would no doubt add to the fighting capacity and legitimacy of Boko Haram, thus

According to the Wikipedia Boko Haram refers to People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet's Teachings and Jihad. Better known by its Hausa name Boko Haram, it is a Salafist jihadist terrorist organization based in the northeast of Nigeria. It is an Islamist movement which strongly opposes man-made laws. Founded by Mohammed Yusuf in 2001 or 2002, the organisation is a Muslim sect that seeks to abolish the secular system of government and establish a Sharia

Personal engagement in Boko Haram also varies widely among its membership; while some are foot soldiers or bomb makers, others are strategists, ideologues, criminals, spies, abductors or suicide bombers. Mercy Corps’s report from interviews conducted with arrested or former Boko Haram members further reveals that there was no relationship between membership and being poor or relatively comfortable, between employment status and participation, between level or type of education (whether religious or secular) or marital status but all members interviewed practiced Islam as their faith; religion was at the foreground for some, and for others it was merely a backdrop to their lives. Although, it is general knowledge that radical and insurgent or fringe groups that utilize violence to achieve their goals only need a few hundred committed, loyal and unwavering members, recruitment into Boko Haram showed that the process of getting loyal, unwavering members included adapting the emotions of such

Africa faces many problems which boycott its transition from predominantly the frontier market to the emerging market sector. This essay will discuss the impact that terrorism and militancy have had on African progress, and, outline the successes and failures of the approaches that have been taken to combat this. Terrorism is still without a concrete definition however the UN Security Council uses “Criminal acts intended or calculated to provoke a state of terror in the general public” (United Nations, 2015) as way to condemn terrorist acts. For the purpose of this essay we will use regional examples from Nigeria and Somalia to show a variety of situations rather than consider African terrorism as a whole. Additionally we