TERRORIST ACTIVITIES IN NIGERIA

Terrorist Activities in Nigeria

Terrorist Activities in Nigeria

Introduction

The world is currently focusing on a number of events associated with terrorism like embassy bombing, aircraft hijacking and 9/11 attack but keeping its eyes shut on the terrorist activities in Africa especially Nigeria which are almost occurring on daily basis. As a matter of fact, the devastation resulting from these terrorist activities is in no way inferior to the destruction caused by the major global terrorism events on which the entire world is concentrating and planning to take adequate measures to eliminate terrorists and ultimately terrorism. Data collected during ten years (1997-2007) after independence, African continent is ranked 7th in global terrorists' incidence, 3rd in global terrorists' life threatening injuries and 4th in global fatalities implying the fact that Africa is no alien to terrorism which has substantially increased in recent times (Oyeniyi, 2010, pp.1-9).

These acts of terrorism have occurred in Africa in different ways. In some African countries only national terrorists are active in these devastating acts with consequent impacts and reaches while in some other African countries terrorism has been found to have no boundaries. Transnational groups of terrorists got involved in this heinous crime for their vested interests which has extraordinarily widened the scope under which terrorist groups are investigated and convicted. This also has a direct influence on the terrorist acts and politics which are involved in combating such events. The paper under review aims to highlight current terrorist activities in Nigeria and recommend justified intervention methods to mitigate the ever increasing peril of Terrorism.

Discussion

Terrorist Activities in Nigeria

In view of the fact that whosoever, whether a group or an individual, targets civilians with an intention to inflict any serious injury or death of any person or to cause damage to public and private property deliberately would come under the definition of terrorist by nature as laid down by the Nigerian government. This has caused some confusion owing to the fact that political rival groups, civil society groups and opponents of the government have also been labelled as terrorists. A list has been consolidated by the United Nations featuring individuals and groups linked to Al Qaeda and the Taliban. It is noteworthy that none of the terrorist groups operating in Nigeria is included in the list despite the documented cases of linkages between terrorist groups in Northern Nigeria and the Taliban. Above all, government of Nigeria has also avoided itself from branding these groups as terrorist groups.

Terrorists Groups in Nigeria

As it is true for any other country in Africa, Nigeria is no exception. Numerous groups and associations agitating for one thing or the other do exist in Nigeria. These groups may be voicing their concern through agitation for political, philosophical, ideological, racial, ethnic and religious interests of their people and groups. Several factors seem to be involved in the formation, development and growth of the terrorist groups working in Nigeria. Notable examples would include economic recession, OPEC price increases, privatization, civil conflicts, deregulation, economic liberalization, trade ...