The interests of bandits and jihadists are converging in Nigeria and this poses a formidable threat to the country’s security.
Parents of students abducted from Bethel Baptist High School, Kaduna State, north-west Nigeria, pray inside the school premises.
Kola Sulaimon/AFP via Getty Images
Nicolas Florquin, Graduate Institute – Institut de hautes études internationales et du développement (IHEID); Alaa Tartir, Graduate Institute – Institut de hautes études internationales et du développement (IHEID) e Anthony Obayi Onyishi, University of Nigeria
To stem the tide of violent extremism across the Sahel region, especially northwest Nigeria, the vulnerabilities and grudges of border communities need to be properly addressed.
A UK mural employs the trending hashtag #BringBackOurGirls.
Tim Green/Flickr
Nigeria’s next president must take these steps to redeem the country’s endangered national security.
Women wait for food distribution to commence at the Government Girls Secondary School IDP camp in Monguno, Nigeria.
gettyimages/Jane Hahn for the Washington Post
Sexual violence against women and girls in Nigeria’s northeastern region persists because of the Nigerian government’s lax response to cases of sexual offences.
Smoke from the Ikoyi prison that was set on fire in central Lagos on October 22, 2020.
Photo by Sophie Bouillon/AFP via Getty Images
Jailbreaks in Nigeria point to the need to reform the justice system.
Residents flee Kukawa village, Plateau State, north central Nigeria in April 2022 after their houses were burnt by bandits.
Photo by AFP via Getty Images
Pour résoudre les conflits djihadistes au Sahel, il faut aussi traiter les djihadistes comme des acteurs politiques qui cherchent à proposer une gouvernance alternative.
The wreckage of a car hit by an attack led by Boko Haram members.
AFP via Getty Images
The atrocities and motivation of bandits have assumed insurgent-type criminality. But the Nigerian government is reluctant to label them terrorists or insurgents.
Police officers parade suspected Boko Haram militants.
AUDU ALI MARTE/AFP via Getty Images
Exploring many contemporary cases of radical behaviour showed they had one thing in common: how the risk of radicalisation may be linked to fractured relationships.
Freed inmates prepare for rehabilitation and integration.
Audu Marte/AFP via Getty Images
Nigeria’s plan of de-radicalising and integrating former Boko Haram terrorists should be fine-tuned to achieve more.
Mauritanian soldiers stand guard near the border with Mali in the fight against jihadists in Africa’s Sahel region.
Photo by Thomas Samson/AFP via Getty Images
Jihadi groups take advantage of endemic poverty, inequality, high unemployment levels, illiteracy, ethnic divisions, and poor governance to spread their campaign of violence in the Sahel region.
A group of Niger soldiers on patrol
Boureima Hama/AFP via Getty Images
Resolving jihadist conflicts in the Sahel requires treating jihadists not as terrorists only but also as political actors who seek to provide an alternative form of governance to the status quo.
Professor of Francophone Studies (Africa, Caribbean), Faculty Affiliate with Africana Studies, World Literature Program and Human Rights Pracice, University of Arizona