Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa with the largest economy in the region. Why then has extremism flourished and some youth chosen that pathway?
Nigeria has seen an incredible economic downturn aided by the destruction of the COVID-19 pandemic and economic policies made by former President Buhari and current President Tinubu. President Tinubu ended the long-standing fuel subsidy that kept petrol prices low which has increased petrol, transportation, and energy prices.[1] Inflation is now close to thirty percent the highest figure in three decades.[2] There is an estimated eighty-seven million Nigerians living below the poverty line.[3] The international organizations providing aid for the most vulnerable in Nigeria have been cut or in danger of being cut due to outside influences.[4] The list of economic troubles goes on and on. This has led to an increase in the youth joining extremist groups.[5] Groups like Boko Haram offer another way of life that appeals to the basic needs of many youth such as community, work, food, and a general purpose that the current state of Nigeria has not met. But what is the solution?
One of the primary solutions would be to fix the very root of the problem and correct Nigeria’s economic instability. However, as Nigeria’s economy continues to struggle, and the nation’s currency Naira continues to decrease in value, the solutions cannot wait for the economy to be fixed entirely. One of the solutions has come from joint action between the United Nations (“UN”) and the African Union. The UN Security Council adopted Resolution 2349 in 2017 which addressed the threat of terrorism in the region where Nigeria is located and the primary operational base of Boko Haram in the Lake Chad Basin region.[6] The resolution was the first of its kind to address Boko Haram’s presence in the region. The resolution reaffirmed the UN Security Council’s commitment to maintaining dialogue and providing support by aiding the Multinational Joint Task Force (“MNJTF”), dedicated to implementing the stabilization programs of countries impacted and securing areas affected by Boko Haram.[7] The Security Council recognizes how “security, development, and human rights are interlinked and mutually reinforcing and are vital to an effective and comprehensive approach to countering terrorism, stabilization and reconciliation.”[8]
The African Union has renewed their commitment to the Multinational Joint Task Force by facilitating stabilization programs in impacted regions.[9] These programs include implementing the Regional Strategy for the Stabilization of the Lake Chad Basin Region, a strategy that works to prevent violence by facilitating socioeconomic recovery and empowerment programs targeted at both men and women.[10] The MNJTF covers areas where Boko Haram operates, Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria, the areas located in the Lake Chad Basin. MNTJ’s goal has multiple components including joint military work with the affected countries and a civil component that targets the people and communities impacted by Boko Haram.[11] The military operations are a collaboration between Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria to gain and keep areas that Boko Haram operates back into the fold of the respective nations in which they are in.[12] The civil operation is equally important and directly targets many of the issues, unemployment, lack of basic resources, etc, the Nigerian youth face in those impacted areas.[13] The goal is to “bridge interaction between military actors and civilian entities in the MNJTF area of responsibility towards an enabling environment for the delivery of humanitarian assistance, cross-border economic activities in the region, and address Boko Haram propaganda through proper civil-military interactions, activities and projects, planning and coordination.”[14] This collaboration of military actors and civilian entities by the MNJTF has led to the reopening of markets, the distribution of medical equipment, the provision of medical treatment, and the organization of recreational activities like soccer competitions.[15]
The continued cooperation between the countries in the Chad Basin region, Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria, is critical to combatting extremism because the problem of extremism spreads through the Lake Chad Basin region and many of the problems in each community are similar. The continued funding of the Multinational Joint Task Force contributes to ensuring that the areas recovered from Boko Haram will not again fall to Boko Haram.[16] The MNJTF also targets the affected communities and addresses the needs of those communities so that those most susceptible to the messaging of Boko Haram will have alternative better options that counter the message of Boko Haram. Those who have fled Boko Haram will have their core needs met which promotes their stability and stability of the region. The continued interest of the UN Security Council in the region’s stability by shown by Resolution 2349 into the MNJTF is imperative to not only assisting in countering Boko Haram but also in letting the region know that the UN recognizes the region’s importance in world security.
[1] Nkechi Ogbonna, Why Nigeria’s Economy is in such a Mess, BBC (Feb. 26, 2024), https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-68402662.
[2] Id.
[3] World Bank Group, https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/nigeria/overview (Apr. 10, 2025).
[4] Millions in Central Sahel and Nigeria face food cuts amid WFP funding crisis https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/03/1160911 (March 7, 2025).
[5] Lack of jobs, the main driver of violent extremism in sub-Saharan Africa: UNDP https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/02/1133217 (Feb. 7, 2023); Ishaya Anasili Lazarus, A Review of Governance Failure and Violence Extremism in Nigeria, Crimes and Terrorism in Discourse, 3 WAUU J. of Int’l Aff. And Contemp. Stud., 185-86 (Apr. 1, 2023).
[6] S.C. Res. 2349 ¶ 3 (March 31, 2017).; Press Release, Security Council, Security Council Strongly Condemns Terrorist Attacks, Other Violations in Lake Chad Basin Region, Unanimously Adopting Resolution 2349 (2017), U.N. Press Release SC/12773 (March 31, 2017).
[7] S.C. Res. 2349 ¶ 10 (March 31, 2017).
[8] Id.
[9] Press Release, Boko Haram and other Terrorist Groups Activities in Lake Chad Basin Region Suppressed in Joint Forces Operation, African Union Press Release (Aug. 8, 2024).
[10] Regional Stabilization Strategy, https://cblt.org/regional-strategy-stabilization/.
[11] Civil Military Cooperation, Multinational Joint Task Force, https://mnjtffmm.org/cimic/.
[12] Id.
[13] Id.
[14] Id.
[15] Id.
[16] Regional Stabilization Strategy, supra note 9.
