Nigeria ranked 8th among the top 10 countries with the highest level of terrorism in the world. The Global Terrorism Index (GTI) 2023 assessed terrorism impact in 163 countries. With a score of 8.065, Nigeria has a terrorism impact that is “very high.”
The most armed terrorist groups in the world as of 2022 according to the GTI were Islamic State (IS) and affiliates, al-Shabaab, Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), and Jamaat Nusrat Al-Islam wal Muslimeen (JNIM).
Terrorist attacks in Nigeria are not attributed to a particular group, several militant groups are present. However, an affiliate of IS—Islamic State West Africa continues to be the deadliest terrorist group in Nigeria for the third consecutive year.
A secessionist group; the Indigenous People of Biafra which was identified as a terrorist group by the Nigerian government in 2017 was responsible for 40 attacks and 57 deaths in 2022 an increase from 26 attacks and 34 deaths the previous year.
Also present is another group called Boko Haram; a jihadist fundamentalist group, established to challenge the existence of western education and to establish an Islamic state in Nigeria. The group has a presence in neighboring Chad, Cameroon, and Niger accounting for thousands of deaths.
Among other insurgent attacks, Boko Haram in 2014 reportedly kidnapped about 276 females in a secondary school in Borno—Chibok. The incident was widely reported by media outlets and also received global condemnation.
In a section of the GTI that grouped the twenty most fatal terrorist attacks in 2022, Nigeria, in Borno province, recorded 50 deaths during a terrorist attack in May 2022. The attack attributed to ISWAP was justified by the group as an assault on targeted “spies.”
In a similar attack, the same terrorist group violently attacked civilians in Borno leading to 30 deaths and 6 injuries. Though the group has not claimed responsibility, however, media outlets attributed the incidents to the group.
As a result of intractable cases of terrorism, Nigeria remains among the least peaceful countries as it ranks 144th in the Global Peace Index 2023 with a state of peace that is “low.”
Terrorism as defined by GTI is “the systematic threat or use of violence, by non-state actors, whether for or in opposition to established practice and authority, with the intention of communicating a political, religious or ideological message to a group larger than the victim group, by generating fear and so altering (or attempting to alter) the behavior of the larger group.’’
Prevalence of terror attacks was linked to conflict. The report highlighted that over 88% of terror attacks, and 98% of deaths in 2022 occurred in conflicted regions.
Although terrorism remains a threat to the world’s pursuit of peace, it has however seen a significant decrease by over a third since its peak in 2015 in Iraq and Nigeria specifically with the latter recording a 23% decline in total deaths associated with terrorist attacks in 2022.
In Sub-Saharan Africa, Nigeria was ranked 3rd among the five countries with the highest number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in 2022 with an estimate of 3.6 million IDPs resulting from violence and restiveness, 1.9 million of which are from Borno in the Northeast region.
Internal Displacement in Nigeria is mostly attributed to a range of factors including recurring violent attacks and recently, natural disaster. Globally, conflict and violence led to the displacement of 62.5 million people across 65 countries at the end of 2022.
Internal Displacement is a global challenge but nearly three-quarters of all internally displaced persons in the world live in just 10 countries where the menace is prevalent. These countries are: Syria, Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ukraine, Colombia, Ethiopia, Yemen, Nigeria, Somalia, and Sudan.
Decades of conflict and insurgency and the activities of other armed groups in the North east and other regions continued to threaten the peace of Nigeria. The activities of various terrorist groups in the country has heightened insecurity level and has led to loss of lives, properties, and the displacement of many.
Those who are displaced become impoverished and struggle to survive and as a result become food insecure. 58% of the estimated 830 million people that are food insecure globally are from the top 20 countries where terrorism is rife.
President Tinubu has however revealed that the administration would engage its security architecture to protect farms and farmers to enable them to return to their farmlands without fear of attacks.
Addressing security concerns as this will reduce the pressure of food insecurity and also provide an enabling environment for thriving socioeconomic development.