Boko Haram Activities and Its Implications for National Integration and Development in Nigeria

Abstract

Nation building is no simple process. History has demonstrated the difficult, complex, and varied developments needed to unite a people under a government and to create among them a stable cultural, economic, political, and social community. The process has been especially strenuous where the people to be united have included diverse, large groups distinguished by their own customs, language, religion, or separate identity. The unfortunate security challenges currently faced by the country, with its new ethnic and religious dimension, have once again brought to the fore, the internal contradictions of the Nigerian system. The emergence of the militant sect Boko Haram and all it represents started like any other protest, but it seems to have come to stay. The battle has been taken to the door step of the government to command attention that breaks across borders. Hence, this paper examines the term Boko Haram, beliefs and philosophy, methods of operation and factors aiding their activities. The researcher employs primary and secondary sources of data collection to generate the required data mainly from books, journals, articles, dissertations, internet materials and audio and tapes (interviews). The study adopts a qualitative approach to data analysis to assess the impact of the sect activities and findings indicate that the activities of the religious sect have intense socio-economic, psycho-cultural, political and ethnic and religious implications for national integration and development in Nigeria.