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CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
Introduction
The literature review presents the framework of the study in addition to a review of empirical studies on economic impacts of Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria. Globally, insecurity phenomenon has, indeed, posed the greatest threat to the present world order and has been encapsulated in the nine-letter word: “Boko Haram”. Boko Haram may have existed in diverse ways in the decades; even centuries that had gone by without much threat to international security and global order, but the world of the twenty-first century appear to be witnessing a major scourge borne out of the phenomenon of Boko Haram.
Security
As noted by Nkwede (2013), the issue of security has remained topical and indeed constituted a serious course for concern not only to the private but also to public individuals in Nigeria. The security question has, in recent times, emerged as a key concept in Nigeria’s struggle for good governance, sustainable democracy and development. Apparently, the increasing spread of nefarious activities of Boko Haram sect in Nigeria and the destruction of lives and property is a growing concern that could not be wished away with a wave of hand (Egbefo, and Salihu, 2014).
The effects of Boko Haram insurgency on the socio-economic development in Nigeria and its implications on corporate existence of the country as well as its image internationally constitute the prime motivator of this paper. It is against this backdrop that the paper attempts to operationalize the concept “Boko Haram”, its historicity, manifestations of Boko Haram insurgency, and its effects on socio-economic development in Nigeria. In doing this, the paper is divided into five sections. Apart from the general introduction, section two dealt with delineation of concept, origin of Boko Haram, Theoretical foundation and methodology. Section three focused on the manifestations of Boko Hram activities in Nigeria. Its effects on socio-economic development are captured on section four, while section five rapped it up with conclusion and recommendations (Nwanegbo and Odigbo, 2013).
National Security and Terrorism
In Nigeria presently, security and socio-unrest are profound challenges to the peaceful existence of Nigeria as an entity especially in the North. Innocent citizens are being killed on daily basis; expatriates kidnapped for ransom and in the process even get killed; people now live in fear and anxiety; and tensions are mounting high. The effect of unwholesome killings is the direct reduction in the effective population essential for meaningful development of the economy especially where numbers count. The current wave of suicide bombings in most developing countries especially Nigeria brings to bear the issue of domestic terrorism. We cannot discuss National security without reference to terrorism (Athukorala, 2003). In the main, National security refers to a state where the unity, well-being, values, and beliefs, democratic process, mechanism of governance and welfare of the nation and her people are perpetually improved and secured through military, political and economic resources. In other words, the absence of continuous improvement in the socio-political and economic well-being of the people and states are tagged insecurity. Insecurity is not only limited to communal crisis, ethnic and religious violence, and political conflict but also include the presence of natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes etc.
National security, According to Maier (1990) is best described as a capacity to control those domestic and foreign conditions that the public opinion of a given community believes necessary to enjoy its own selfdetermination or autonomy, prosperity and wellbeing. In a holistic perspective, the U.S. Secretary of Defense under the Carter administration from 1977 to 1981, Harold Brown, broaden the definition of National security to include factors such as economic and environmental security.
In the views of Bandelj (2002), security relates to the presence of peace, safety, happiness, and the protection of human and physical resources or the absence of crisis, threats to human injury among others. The European approach towards security is laid down in the European Parliament’s resolution of 2004: ‘the concept of “security” can properly take into account both the influence of issues of political democratic concern (e.g. violation of human rights, willful discrimination against particular groups of citizens, the existence of repressive regimes) and the wide range of social, economic and environmental factors (e.g. poverty, famine, disease, illiteracy, scarcity of natural resources, environmental degradation, inequitable trade relations, etc.) in contributing to existing regional conflicts, the failure of states and the emergence of criminal and terrorist networks, though the actions of the latter may not be seen as being justified in any way, shape or form by the above-mentioned factors’.
What was formerly common in Nigeria was internal conflict; ethnic and religious crisis, political conflict, resource control agitations and militancy. The current wave of suicide bombings brought in another dimension to the internal crisis. Terrorism is gradually becoming a phenomenon in most developing economies. With this shift from Niger delta militancy to Boko Haram insurgency, Nigeria and other developing countries are void of clear and well coordinated security arrangement and structure to tackle this new development. Terrorism, whether domestic or transnational has a devastating effects. For instance, the Boko Haram menace in Nigeria has led to the loss of many lives, property worth billions of naira destroyed; severe damaged to infrastructure, loss of investment and income. In fact, terrorism gained serious attention after the aftermath of September 9/11.
Sandler and Enders (2008) view terrorism as a premeditated use or threat of use of violence by individuals or subnational groups to obtain a political or social objective through the intimidation of a large audience, beyond that of the immediate victim. Although the motives of terrorists may differ, their actions follow a standard pattern with terrorist incidents assuming a variety of forms: airplane hijackings, kidnappings, assassinations, threats, bombings, and suicide attacks.
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and National Security
Graham and Spualding (1995), posits that foreign direct investment (FDI) plays an extraordinary and growing role in global business. It can provide a firm with new markets and marketing channels, cheaper production facilities, access to new technology, products, skills and financing. For a host country or the foreign firm which receives the investment, it can provide a source of new technologies and management skills and as such can provide a strong impetus to economic development. It can be argued that the positive effects of foreign direct investment are the reason for the increase in FDI attractions especially in the emerging economies (Frey, Luechinger & Stutzer, 2007).
Insecurity and terrorism are two inseparable phenomena. Domestic terror and other social vices are perpetrated in the absence of strong security structure. Thus, the two terms can be used interchangeably although they differ in terms of analytical approach. In this paper, the emphasis is on insecurity and domestic terrorism. Domestic terrorism is where the perpetrators, victims, supporters, and targets are all from the home country and the incidents normally occur on home soil. For instance, the kidnapping of a citizen for political purposes or economic reasons, the suicide bombing of a church or government buildings are domestic terrorist incident. The literature on the relationship between FDI and National security are very scanty. While this paper tends to investigate the impact of National security using defense and security vote of government expenditure (annual) as a proxy for National security, it also helps to reduce the gaps in literature. Every year, developing countries spend large portion of their budget on defense and security. For instance, in 2010, over 448 billion naira was voted for security spending in Nigeria. In that same year, the Nigeria Economic Fact Sheet (2011), reported that U.S. which is the largest contributors of FDI in Nigeria dropped by 29% from $8.65 billion in 2009 to $6.1 billion in 2010. The decline in U.S FDI in 2010 was due to ongoing uncertainty related to the proposed Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) as well as political unrest in the Niger Delta (Gassebner, Keck & Teh, 2005).
The important question is “does the huge fund allocated to defense and security sector actually reflects the social well-being of the Nation?” A critical look at the 2012 budget of Nigeria reveals that security vote received over N900 billion, the highest ever since independence in 1960. Proponents of the budget may attribute this to the insurgence of the Islamic fundamentalist Group and the inability of the security agents to keep pace with the recent trend of events. Opponents are of the views that the despicable state of security structure has remained the same year-in-year-out, with little or no improvement. Chunk of the budget are plaque by corruption and gratification. The answer to the above question however lies in the balance.
Along this line, Enders and Sandler (2008) argued that developing countries are particularly prone to the economic ramifications of terrorism. This will not only lead to loss in GDP but also significant losses in FDI and GDP growth (Abadie and Gardeazabal, 2003). Through disruptions, damage, and insecurity, terrorism is anticipated to reduce FDI (Enders et al., 2006).
Using a terrorism risk index for 2003-2004 in a cross-country analysis, Abadie and Gardeazabal (2008) conclude that a higher risk of terrorism depresses net FDI to a country. High risk and uncertainty are clearly associated with insecurity and political instability. Such incidents cannot only disrupt infrastructure thereby affecting GDP growth rate but also discourage the flow of FDI. Otto & Ukpere (2012) investigating the impact of terrorism on FDI/GDP in 78 developing countries for 1984-2008 and applying a system-GMM estimator to a dynamic panel, consisting of eight three-year averages of all variables. They conclude that domestic terrorism has a negative and significant impact on FDI as a share of GDP. This implies that the much needed resources for development can be eroded and displaced given the incessant state of insecurity and terrorism.
Economic Cost of Insecurity and Terrorism
Insecurity and terrorism has a huge economic, socio and physical cost. It is obvious that the loss of human lives and the suffering of survivors in the aftermath of an attack can be tremendous. Apart from the loss of lives, terrorist attacks are likely to have negative consequences on the investment behavior (Gassebner, 2005). Withdrawer of FDI by countries and companies may occurred due to the direct destruction of infrastructure, the rise of operating costs as a result of high demand for security (Enders and Sandler, 2006; Frey et al, 2007). In the field of stock market, insecurity and terrorism may negatively influence the prices of stock as well as the sales and purchase of stocks. This may increase market volatility due to the perception of investors towards the security of the stock market Jackson et al, (2007). Insecurity may also divert economic resources from highly productive sectors to less productive security measure thereby crowding out investment. No meaningful growth and development can take place in the continuous face of insecurity. This will not only reduce GDP and fuel inflation but also the flow of FDI. McKenna (2005) argues that the increase in government expenditure due to rising insecurity especially in less developed countries may likely result in the sales of foreign reserves and seinorage. As a consequence inflation in those countries will rise.
Socio-Economic Development
Socio-economic development refers to the process of social and economic development in a society. It is measured with indicators such as GDP, life expectancy, literacy and levels of employment. Changes in less-tangible factors are also considered, such as personal dignity, freedom of association, personal safety and freedom from fear of physical harm, and the extent of participation in civil society (Rothschild, 1995).
In a more amenable manner, socio-economic development is a process that seeks to identify both the social and the economic needs within a community and seek to create strategies that would address those needs in ways that are practical and in the best interests of the community over the long run. The general idea is to find ways to improve the standard of living within the areas while also making sure the local economy is healthy and capable of sustaining the population present in the area. Thus, it is usually referred to as the general improvement in living standards (Akubo and Yakubu, 2014).
The enterprise and economic development Glossary sees socio-economic development as a process that brings about changes in locations where people live, work, and share things in common while factoring in economic, social and cultural impacts as well as economic, social, cultural and political wants and needs. Locations here are seen as a place of community as well as a geography occupied by a socio-economic group (Tyoden, 2013).
From this stand point, it can safely be argued that socio-economic development is synonymous with sustainable development which is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. It contains within it two key concepts: the concept of needs, in particular, the essential needs of the poor, to which overriding priority should be given; and the idea of limitations imposed by the state of technology and social organization on the environment’s ability to meet present and future needs (Adejumobi and Kehinde, 2007).
For the purpose of this study, socio-economic development is better explained as any programme that creates sustainable access to the economy for its beneficiaries. Initiatives in this regard must directly meet the needs of the beneficiaries like feeding, education, medical assistance, housing, Job opportunities, and elimination of poverty and equitable distribution of wealth in a society.
The Concept of “Boko Haram”
There is neither an academic nor an international legal consensus regarding the definition of the concept “Boko Haram”. Similarly, the international community has been slow to formulate a universally agreed upon, legally biding definition of this concept. The complexity and nebula nature of this concept arose from the fact that the term “Boko Haram” is politically and emotionally charged. For this reason, it has become an academic “Eden” for many scholars due to the difficulty of pining down its etymological perception. Given the multiplicity of views that characterize the concept, it again becomes onerously tasking for one to synthesis the divergent views to come up with a working definition of the concept. However, an attempt would be made to pin down its conventional meaning in this study (Fayeye, 2012).
Definitionally, the words “Boko and Haram” came from Hausa/Arabic Languages. It means animist, western or nonIslamic education. Haram on the other hand is an Arabic term meaning “forbidden or sacred”. In Islam the word is used to refer to anything that is prohibited by the Islamic faith. Its antonym is halal (Okoro, 2012). Religiously, Boko Haram can be applied to certain acts or items such as food stuff, food ingredients, pork, and alcohol etcetera. Ideologically, Boko Haram opposes not just western education, but all the attributes of Western Culture and modern science. In other words, it regards Western or non Islamic education as sinful. Put differently, any group that is opposed to western culture and influence, depicted most poignantly by democracy and Christian religion, will find a ready soul-mate in Boko Haram zealots. Whichever way one looks at Boko Haram, it is understood as an attempt to provoke fear, and intimidation in the main target audience, which may be a government, a whole society or a group within a society (Olu-Adeyemi, 2012).
Ultimately, the goal of Boko Haram in Nigeria is to impose an extreme interpretation of Islam and abolish western education and this is the raison d’etre for couching its atrocities under the guise of anti-western education. It should be noted that all other aspects of western culture-democracy, Christianity and so forth, are inseparable in any significant way from its education component. The cardinal objective of Boko Haram sect in Nigeria is to engage in bombing Churches, Mosques, Police stations, Schools, Universities, Government properties, Motor parks, Markets as well as private establishments, killing, kidnapping and large number of their captives (Peterside, 2014). Essentially, Boko Haram is an Islamist movement which strongly opposes man-made laws and westernization. It is a Jihadist militant organizations based in the North-East of Nigeria and North Cameroon. As an indigenous group, it turned itself into Jihadist group and proposes that interactions with the western world is forbidden, and according to Nwankwo (2014) supports opposition to the government of Nigeria.
The Growth of Boko Haram in Nigeria
The origin of Boko Haram is shrouded in uncertainty. Boko Haram to a large extent is not the first Islamic fundamentalist sect in Nigeria to adopt violence as a weapon of operation (Alao, Atere, and Alao, 2015). This stems from the fact that in the 1970s and 1980s, one Mohammed Marwa that was widely acknowledged as dangerous to peace and stability of the nation formed the sect that was known as Maitatsine. Marwa engineered many riots in the country which led to the deaths of many people and as a corollary of this; some scholars view Boko Haram as an extension of the Maitatsine riots (Akintunde, 1967)..
Far from the above, some scholars trace the origin of the sect to 1995 with Lawan Abubakar as its founder. For them, it was when Abubakar left for further studies in Saudi Arabia that the sect then known as Sahaba that Muhammed Yusuf who is also regarded as the leader, took over the affairs of the sect (Ademola, 2011). To some, Boko Haram is traced to Shehu Sanni, a civil right activist in Northern Nigeria. Apart from the above, numerous expositions on the origin and founder of Boko Haram abound.
A popular opinion about the origin of the current Boko Haram in Nigeria is that it have been founded in 2002 in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, North-Eastern Nigeria by Ustaz Mallam Muhammed Yusuf. The group later moved to Kanamma in Yobe State in 2004 where it set up a camp called “Afghanistan.” From this camp, it launched attacks on civil society, security agencies and other attributes of western education (International IDEA, 2006). Obviously, from the aforementioned origins of Boko Haram, one thing that is crystally clear is the fact that the group was founded by the late Mallam Muhammed Yusuf with the official name intact.
Unarguably, it was under the leadership of the slained Mallam Muhammed Yusuf that Boko Haram became radicalized and gained national and international recognition and collaboration especially with AI-Qacda in Islamic Maghreb (Abimbola and Adesole, 2012). It should be gainsaid that since 2009, Boko Haram has constituted a serious security challenge in the Northern part of Nigeria and has continued to assume a staggering dimension till date.
Political Effect of Boko Haram Insurgency
Although, recently election were held into local government offices and by-election in Nangere house of assembly constituency, but the security situation (if not improve) may not allowed some people in other location of the state to perform their civic right in future election, especially those in Gujba local government area, because a lot people have relocating from Buni yadi, Goniri, e.t.c. to other part of the state. Another effect is that the insurgence of Boko Haram in state has drastically reduced government of the day’s performance in the affected area. Although it is trite fact that Nigerian politicians are fond of promising heaven and earth for the purpose of gaining people’s mandate (Simbine, 2014).
The social effect of Boko Haram activities is that it have made some Non-Muslim who have not be privilege to mingle with Muslim in their life to belief that all Muslim are fundamentalist while some of them were mischievous with their opinion with little exclusion about few Muslims from Yoruba Part of Nigeria. It should also be noted that the activities of Boko Haram have makes some Nigerian who are not from Boko Haram affected State to be avoiding affected State to the extent that some Nigerian Graduate who are serving the Nation under the scheme of National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) are seriously rejecting being posted to some part of Northern Nigeria (Crenshaw, 1992).
The social challenges posed by insurgence of Boko haram can also be attested to by the mass movement of residents who are from other States of the federation; out of the North Eastern part of the country, especially Damaturu, the capital of Yobe State. And not only have that, insurgence of Boko Haram had reach the extent that suspicious and rumour of attack is the easiest information to spread within state. The table below depicts series of attacks perpetuated by Boko Haram sect in Yobe State between July 2009 and June 2014.
Challenges Posed by Boko Haram Insurgency in Nigeria
Aside the human cost in the Boko Haram insurgency, the atrocities of the sect have socioeconomic implications, especially in the northeast where Boko Haram has dominance. The economic, social and psychological costs of the insurgency cannot be quantified. Commercial activities in the northeast have been reduced because of the unprecedented attacks by the sect. Banks, markets and shops do not open regularly due to the fear of the coordinated attacks from Boko Haram. According to Muhammed (2014) human capital and investors drain is hampering economic development in the northeast this is due to the attacks on banks, markets, parks and government departments. The attacks on these commercial areas have led to the migration of people to other parts of the country.
Oni (2014) posits that: “The Maiduguri Monday Market said to be the biggest market in the city is reported to have been seriously affected as hundreds of shop owners, especially Southerners are said to have closed their businesses and left the troubled city. About half of the 10,000 shops and stalls in the market were said to have been abandoned by traders who have fled the city.” Aside the migration of people who have business in the northeast to other parts of Nigeria, foreign nationals of Chad, Cameroun and Niger are being repatriated to their home countries for what the government of Nigeria said they constitute the members of Boko Haram. Evidence has shown that not all the repatriated nationals of the above countries are members of Boko Haram. Definitely, those who have business in cities like Maiduguri, Damaturu and Yola will form part of those that are sent homes which will actually affect the economic activities in these cities. Ovaga (n.d) asserts that under this situation, the economy of the northeast will seriously be affected if foreign citizens who contribute large quota to the development of the northeast vis a vis their economic activities are sent back to their countries of origin.
The never-ending attacks by Boko Haram in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states have a severe impact on the economic lives of people living in these areas. A case in point is that the working duration of most commercial banks in the affected areas hit by Boko Haram bombings has been reduced from eight hours to three hours (Mohammed, 2012). “In Maiduguri, Borno state, where the sect originated, the frequent bombings and clashes between Boko Haram and the security agents have weighed down seriously on the commercial and businesses activities in the city as many business have reportedly crumbled while many people have fled the state” (Nwolise, 2006). There is already a dichotomy in the north and south development in Nigeria. The poverty profile released by the National Bureau of Statistics illustrates that there is the prevalence of poverty in the north as compared to the south. It is in this data that the Businessday newspaper predicted if the insecurity situation continues development in the northern part will remain static and the gap between the north and south will broaden further (BDN, 2012). “The region needs peace and stability more than any region in the country, particularly because the region clearly lagging behind in term of infrastructure, education and other development indices”. Prominent Nigerians who have bemoaned the economic impact of Boko Haram insurgency in northeast Nigeria including the President Goodluck Jonathan and Northern Governors forum (Bamgbose, Adele, Moshood, Abdul-Wasi and Shamsideen, 2012).
According to Charles (2005) “Economic affairs in the north is already depleting due to a massive departure of people and financial institutions from the northern region. But if the government delays in the implementing comprehensive plans to tackle insecurity from its roots, then not only will the northern region be economic desolation, the country as a whole risk losing billion of dollars in foreign direct investment” The business activities of telecom operators have not been left out from the attacks of Boko Haram. For instance, some telecom masts belong to some major mobile telephone operators were destroyed by Boko Haram and the banning of telephone services by the military affected the income generation of some of the mobile phone operators.
Just as the economic implications of Boko Haram atrocities cannot be quantified, the social costs are enormous. The church, school, market, clinic and mosque are potential targets of Boko Haram. For example, in April 2014, a federal government girls’ college was attacked which subsequently led to the abduction of over 250 female students. Attacks on these social places have prevented people from going to these places. Some students have stopped going to school, others have been transferred to the southern part of the country to continue their education. Christians are afraid to go and worship in the church on Sundays due to the fear of being attacked by the sect. Same for the muslim faithfuls who abandon their worshiping centers because of Boko Haram attacks. The markets have become deserted. The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) that was created by the government after the end of Nigerian civil war to foster unity among Nigeria is under threat due to Boko Haram attacks. The NYSC directorate posted 4171 corps members to Adamawa state, 1041 of the corps members have to abandon their national duty due to the precarious security situation (Isigwe, 2012). Some parents from the south of the country have protested vehemently against the posting of their children to the northeast. Aside the socioeconomic implications, the human cost is more worrisome, more than 10.000 have been killed, a lot of people have been maimed and women have been kidnapped and raped These have left the family of the dead, the injured, the raped and the kidnapped in agony. In a nutshell, most of the family members of Boko Haram victims are going through a traumatized period. Many have left their homes and over 650 thousand Nigerians have been displaced according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCH).
Boko Haram and its Effects on Socio-Economic Development
Socio-economic development to a large extent is the cardinal goal of every well meaning government, and perhaps, it is predominantly dependent on the level of economic activities in a country. This stems from the fact that the level of economic activities is promoted by peaceful co-existence by people. A situation where insecurity is increasingly and blazingly the order of the day, socio-economic development cannot be sustained as it destroys economic, human and social capital. Indeed, the activities of Boko Haram in Nigeria have retarded socio-economic development in various ramifications. These include:
Food Scarcity: It is axiomatic that the scourge of the Boko Haram has lead to food scarcity in Nigeria. This is because the traders from the Northern Nigeria are finding it extremely difficult to transport their commodities to other parts of the country.
Sporadic Migration: And Abandonment of Profession: Immigrants in the North-Eastern Nigeria are sporadically migrating from the North in their large numbers for their dire life. It should be noted that it is not the Southerners alone that are migrating from the North but also the Northerners on account of insecurity. Most of these migrants from the North are in their productive age of farming and trading (Paris, 2001). The danger is that they have abandoned their profession which is largely farming and has drastically reduced food production and compounded the problem of food importation.
Hightens: Indigenes/Settlers Dichotomy: The activities of Boko Haram in Nigeria has heightened citizenship question which encourages hostility between indigenes and settlers.
Discouragement of Local and Foreign Investment: The vicious onslaughts on individuals and institutions provides highly unfavourable business environment for local and foreign investors. Foreign investors contribute in no small measure in boosting the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of any country and are not left in abeyance. Foreign investors create livelihood opportunities through the creation of job opportunities and the provision of large scale products and services in the host communities. The unfavourable business environment created by the violent activities of Boko Haram no longer avail Nigeria this opportunity.
Dehumanization of Women, Children and Men: The activities of Boko Haram in Nigeria has equally graduated to the dehumanization of women, children and men especially in areas where rape, child abuse and criminalization are employed as instruments of the insurgence. The attack and abduction of over 275 girls at Government Senior Secondary School, Chibok in Borno State, the attack on Federal Government Boarding School at Buni/Yadi, attack on ladies believed to be on mini-skirts in Maiduguri among others have rendered school children helplessness as those Chibok girls have not be released by their abductors since 15th April, 2014.
Deterioration of the Nation’s Economy: The overall effect of this insurgence on socio-economic development is that the economy is fast deteriorating. It has constituted the hallmark of socio-economic development. With the enormous resources at its disposal, leadership in Nigeria is confronted with the problem of focusing its expenditure priorities on security in disfavour of viable human capital development and other growth productivity promoting sectors (Ogege, 2013). Of course, it posed a serious challenge to a dynamic framework for the provision of job options.
Diversion of Attention And Increased Security Vote to Boko Haram By Government
Another effect of Boko Haram to socio-economic Development in Nigeria is the disproportionate attention and increased security vote by the Nigerian Government. This has led to the problem of micro economic instability, distortion and leakages in the Nigerian economy with the attendant problem of infrastructural decay and hyper inflation. To a large extent, the implication is that more people are trapped into the vortex of interlocking vicious circle of poverty.
Increased School Drop Out: As a result of Boko Haram activities, the number of school drop outs have increased astronomically especially in the north east of Nigeria. This has equally led to underdevelopment of the young people and has also increased unemployment and thuggery.
Collapse of Tourism Industry: Essentially, tourism is a viable sector with abundant economic, sociocultural benefits. Indeed, for a nation to enjoy these benefits, it must be free from security threats. This is because security constitutes a sensitive aspect of tourism. Consequently, these benefits are lost as a corollary of security challenges posed by the sporadic bombing by Boko Haram despite abundant tourist centers in Nigeria.
Palpable Fear Among the Citizens: Nigerian citizenry are now living in fears as a result of the Boko Haram insurgence occasioned by high degree of loss of life and damage to property and infrastructure through bombing and assassination and genocide. The list of death recorded since 2009 is interminable according to Whitehead (1989). Contemporaneously, the Boko Haram Mayhem had no regard for any establishment, including security, international agencies, press, private individuals, emirs, churches and mosques. It has created a scenario that nobody is safe in the country.
Destroy Corporate Image of Nigeria: Similarly, the Boko Haram insurgence has destroyed the corporate image of Nigeria within committee of nations. Globally, the image of the country is highly dented as prostitution, crime, drug trafficking, fraud and high level of corruption are the issues that are negatively affecting the reputation of Nigeria and Nigerians in the world.
Theoretical Framework
The study is anchored on cognitive dissonance theory. Cognitive dissonance theory was developed by Festinger (1951). It is one of the most important psychological theories that shed light on terrorist behaviour. The major assumption of this theory according to Cunningham (2003) is that men prefer a situation of stability in respect of values, behaviour and their environmental conditions. When people experience a difference between what they perceive and what they desire (Cognitive dissonance), they seek to reduce this dissonance by reducing this gap through actions, filtering information or altering perceptions.
The baseline argument here is that cognitive dissonance is experienced whenever there is a discrepancy between preferred value and actual value states. Alao, Atere and Alao (2015) maintained that such a situation has the tendency to produce hatred, anxiety, fear and the desire to hurt or eliminate the source. The discrepancy could manifest within economic, social, cultural, political and religious spheres as these issues form the micro level of analysis that could be regarded as the structural background conditions operating at individual level.
Apparently, Boko Haram insurgency could therefore be linked to perceived discrepancy between the preferred way of life (to maintain the sanctity of orthodox Islam) and the actual state of their existence (secular state) that influence the dissonance (Odita & Akan, 2014). Importantly, it should be noted that the voice of few elements that initially reacted to the perceived dissonance is what the issue at stake requires in order to gain popular support and to a large extent, the personal dissonance grows to become group level grievances and discontentment. In all ramifications, it transcends from a micro to macro level phenomenon. This agrees with what Sandler & Siqueira (2009). referred to as relative deprivation. Essentially, the primary aim of Boko Haram is to destabilize Nigeria and make it ungovernable as this could lead to a situation of break-up of the country or imposition of Islamic ways of life.
The relevance of cognitive dissonance theory to the present study is that it reflects significantly, the philosophy behind the existentiality of Boko Haram sect and to a large extent explains government inability to tame the challenges posed by the Haramists.
The rational choice theory of terrorism
The rational choice theory of terrorism assumes that terrorist acts usually emanate from rational, calculated, conscious decisions. These decisions represent an optimal strategy to fulfill the sociopolitical goals of these perpetrators (for reviews and discussions (Muhammed, 2014). In other words, according to this theory, terrorism might not represent pathological or illogical behavior but, could, represent the best means to fulfill personal needs in some circumstances.
This theory is often applied to predict the utility of various policies. That is, this theory can be applied to ascertain whether, for example, defensive policies–such as metal detectors and other processes that increase the costs of terrorist attacks and curb the likelihood of success–or proactive measures–such as attempts to stymie resources or sponsors–are likely to be effective (Sandler & Siqueira, 2009).
The psychopathology of terrorists
In some sense, the rational choice theory of terrorism represents a reaction against the assumption that terrorism represents a psychopathology. That is, in the popular media, terrorists are often assumed to be “insane” or “psychopaths” (Oni, 2014). Although research conducted to assess this proposition is imperfect (Victoroff, 2005), the evidence tends to indicate that terrorists seldom fulfill the criteria of psychological disorders.
Rather than emphasize Axis I disorders, some authors maintain that terrorists might exhibit Axis II disorders, particularly antisocial personality disorder (Isigwe, 2012). Nevertheless, a diagnosis of antisocial personalitydisorder would imply that individuals are motivated to harm members of their society. Yet, in contrast, many terrorists are perceived as individuals who risk their lives to enhance the welfare of their community, putatively a prosocial rather than antisocial act. This description is especially applicable to nationalist-separatist terrorists (Post, 2004). Even suicidal bombers often seem to exhibit altruistic motives, striving to serve Allah and their community (Nwolise, 2006).
Nevertheless, some complications to these arguments need to be acknowledged. In some instances, terrorists risk their lives to support a small social group or family network. The question is whether these groups or networks are large enough to be conceptualized as an attempt to support other individuals (Victoroff, 2005).
Rather than antisocial personality disorder, terrorists might exhibit paranoia or schizoid tendencies (Robins & Post, 1997). According to Post (1997, 1998, 2004), terrorism might reflect persistent splitting (see also self compartmentalization). In particular, children like to perceive some individuals, including themselves, as entirely good and other individuals as entirely bad, called splitting. This tendency curbs the anxiety that can emanate if some individuals are perceived as a mixture of positive and negative facets& children are not certain how they should respond to these individuals, and this uncertainty manifests as anxiety.
As individuals mature, splitting usually dissipates. They recognize both the positive and negative qualities in themselves and other people. In punitive or unfavorable environments, however, individuals do not evolve to accept negative qualities about themselves. Hence, they ascribe only positive events to themselves and negative events to other people. They will, thus, project these adverse traits onto other communities& they become suspicious of other individuals, justifying their actions as self defense (Robins & Post, 1997& Post, 1998). Although many of these tenets were derived from interviews with left-wing revolutionaries (Post, 1998, 2004), paranoia was never assessed systematically and the applicability of these findings to other terrorist organizations is uncertain. Attempts to uncover paranoia have been unsuccessful.
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