INTERNATIONAL INTERVENTION AND COMBATING TERRORISM IN NIGERIA

Abstract

Terrorism is a global phenomenon and since 2009 Nigeria has experienced a wave of terrorism that has left havoc in its wake.  In response to this gruesome menace, the Nigerian government has employed different approaches in the fight against the Boko-Haram terrorism.  All the efforts of the Nigerian government in curbing this menace have yielded little result as the Boko-Haram sect continued to unleash untold terror. The paper sought to explore and examine the efforts of the government and their allies in their fight against terrorism and examine the challenges it’s facing. The paper is qualitative in nature and adopted an exploratory research design. The population of the study is the North eastern region of Nigeria where most of these gruesome attacks have been carried out. Qualitative text analysis was adopted in processing and analyzing the data collected which aided in the evaluation and interpretation of the documents. The paper found that terrorism has eaten deep into the fabric of the Nigerian state as nothing has been done to fight the root causes of the Boko-Haram terrorism. The study also found that the international interventions in the fight against Boko-Haram insurgency like the efforts of the government have done nothing to put to an end the menace. The paper concluded that Boko-Haram terrorism broke out in Nigeria because of the failed system of the country and  little or nothing have been done by the government to better the living conditions of the Nigerian citizens. It recommended that government should concern itself with strategies that would help improve the economy of the country instead of relying solely on military strategies in the fight against the Boko-Haram terrorism that has continued to plague the country.