Colonial Construction and Boko Haram Insurgency in Nigeria: Relating the Present to The Past

Abstract

Nigeria’s political history has been marred by various forms of crises that have continued to retard the political and economic development of the country. The latest being the Boko Haram insurgency which has compounded an already critical security situation in Nigeria. Utilizing the secondary form of data collection, the paper argues that the Boko Haram insurgency is a reflection of the north-south dichotomy and the attendant problems arising thereof. It opines that the separatist policy of the colonial administration helped to keep the ethnic consciousness of the people alive and this has grown stronger with time. The paper traces these current problems to the foundation of the Nigerian state as evident in the 1914 amalgamation. The paper identifies bad leadership as a major reason why the country has not been able to overcome the problems created by the colonialists in 1914. The paper concludes that the inability of successive Nigerian governments to address the various socio-political issues culminated in its escalation. The Boko Haram insurgency is thus one of such logical outcomes of cumulative governmental negligence and the foundation created by the colonial construction.

Keywords: Insurgency, Boko Haram, Nigerian-state, Crisis, Security