An insurgency group in
Northern Nigeria is on the verge of tearing apart the country. More than 1,000
people have died in terrorist attacks this year alone. Not only have many died
but it’s also affecting Nigeria’s economic growth. The GDP of northern Nigeria
is shrinking by about thirty percent since 2010. Foreign and domestic investors
have fled. Public servants have stopped showing up for work. The gap between
the already poor north and the wealthy south is widening even faster now. The conflict may even be spreading. The
insurgents have been seen in Mail with Islamic extremists. The insurgent group
is called Boko Haram, which is a Muslim extremist group. According to the
group, they are striving for better governance and stricter adherence to Islam
in addition to other things. With the 160 million people in the country the
population is almost evenly divided between Muslims and Christians. Relations
between the two religions have worsened in the recent years because of the
ongoing land disputes. The quarrels are increasingly common and have started a
growing trend to form religious ghettoes in mixed cities.
Since this growing
divide there has been open political talk about dividing the country. Boko
Haram was been linked to various groups affiliated to al-Qaeda. They have
attacked churches and last year blew up the UN head office in Nigeria. In response
to these attacks the government has developed a heavily armed security force
presence on the streets. The Nigerian government’s response is not helping primarily
because of the corruption surrounding the government. A quarter of the national
budget is spent on security but that money primarily goes to lining the pockets
of government officials instead of defeating insurgents. On top of the
corruption the government has a history of being heavy-handed. The police kill
more people than Boko Haram. The paramilitary forces have “go and kill” units
and round up and imprison the wives and children of Boko Haram leaders. The
actions from the government have pushed support and sympathy towards Boko
Haram. The insurgent can’t be crushed purely by military power. The group was
born out of the poor north’s resentment of the wealthy south. In the northeast of
Nigeria where Boko Haram originates from is amongst the poorest, worst health
and education in the world. It’s a disgrace to the country, which produces as
much oil as Iran.
There are several
policies that need to take place for real change to occur. The government can’t
just improve economic and social conditions in the area that the people aren’t
safe in. The government needs to hunt down the extreme leaders who cause
violence but also needs to ensure the security doesn’t kill civilians in their
effort. In addition the government, aid workers, and who ever else involved
doesn’t just need to just focus on emergency aid in the area but also the
improvement of the conditions of health care, education, transportation
infrastructure and electricity.
Article reference:
The parallels that can be drawn between the violence in Nigeria and the progression of the Rwandan genocide we've been discussing in class are very interesting. A compelling question to raise would be whether the conflict in Nigeria can be classified as a genocide according to the standard of the index discussed in class of 25 deaths. Monetary corruption in the government can make the difference between a prosperous country with an accepted amount of humanitarian services, and a country that still struggles with basic human needs and low quality of life, though the land has the resources to drastically change such a situation. I'm interested in researching more about the source of the conflict and discovering if there is a distinct and long-standing divide between the Nigerian identities.
ReplyDeleteMegan-
ReplyDeleteI wonder if your suggestion to hunt down the group is also contributing to the problem, ie the fact that so many civilians have suffered at the hands of the Nigerian military. How do you resolve that tension? Your peaceful solutions also seem to pose a problem as wont it take years if not decades to feel these effects among the citizenry?
I would agree that hunting down the group is contributing to the problem and violence against the citizens but what other option is there? Violence will ensue anyways. It will take years and maybe decades for the citizens to feel the effects but why is that bad? Rome wasn't built in a day so why do people think Africa can be? Improving education, health care, infrastructure, etc is the only to improve Nigeria's poverty and violence.
ReplyDelete