Saturday 3 October 2015

Boko Haram: origins and partial solutions



The following draws from evidence in Irin, 01/10/15, given by officials who work with former Boko Haram members:

-Kasali Yusuf, coordinator of the joint ONSA/prison service team in Kuje in Nigeria.
-Dr Wahaab Akorede, psychologist and prison officer in Nigeria.
-Ferdinand Ikwang, head of the national de-rad programme (under the Office of the National Security Adviser) in Nigeria.

Origins: exclusion and violence

Private level:

No evidence of deep religiosity.
Dysfunctional families.

Public level:

No education.
No opportunity: lack of jobs.
No health service.

Boko Haram offers:

Money (through links with jihadists in Algeria and Mali)
Inclusion into a group.

Quotes:

“here’s a man that is not happy within himself. He has not been given an opportunity to be educated. He has no future. If you give him 10,000 naira [$50], he will carry that bomb.”
“polygamous families where wives compete for their husband’s affection to the detriment of the children; an Islam, as traditionally taught in the north, that leaves young men ill-prepared for the modern workplace; and the callousness of successive governments that has consigned so many to suffering and an early death, “to the point where God must be tired of seeing Nigerians.”

Solution:

Counselling.
Monitoring.
Jobs in government programmes.
Living together.
Inclusion in the wider community.

Quote:
“If you’re returning say 400 ex-combatants to the community, you have to engage the community. If it’s 400 [ex-Boko Haram] in, then you need to find places for 400 local youths in government programmes, otherwise the host community will scream and say they are going to kill them.”

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