With
the abduction of 200 school girls last month and the threats by the
group's leader that it will sell them into slavery or marry them off,
Nigerian rebel group Boko Haram have become he new poster boys of world
terrorism.
The
group while claiming it wants to bring under Sharia law the region it
operates in, has not been averse to bombing mosques and killing
civilians indiscriminately.
This
group is a painful throw back to our own Lord's Resistance Army (LRA)
who initially claimed they wanted to overthrow the government and rule
Uganda by the ten commandments. The kidnap last month of the girls was
not unlike the 1996 abduction of 139 girls from St Mary's College -
Aboke by the LRA. A hundred of the girls were released after deputy
headmistress Sister Rachel chased the retreating rebels into the bush
and negotiated for their return.
Clearly
not only did the abducted Nigerian girls not have a sister Rachel but
Lagos, probably out of embarrassment, remained silent about the
abduction with president Goodwill Johnson coming out after two weeks to
speak publicly on the matter.
But
there are also reports that the when intelligence was received that the
group was turning towards militarism to further its goals the security
forces either turned a blind eye or dragged their feet in acting on the
information, that by the time the group went fully violent in 2009 Lagos
was caught flat footed.
Our
own experience with anti insurgency operations is that they quickly get
messy as local populations get caught in the crossfire and their
allegiances are tested by both sides, but rapid response times are
critical against highly mobile rebel movements -- Boko Haram whiz around
on motorbikes.
But drilling deeper these kind of insurgencies happen or are sustained in communities where poverty is predominant.
Last
month after rebasing its statistics Nigeria announced that it was now
Africa's largest economy with a GDP of $510b. But the continent's most
populous nation, which derives nine in ten dollars of export income from
oil and has been bedeviled by bad government since independence, has
huge wealth disparities among its people with eye popping opulence on
one side of the pendulum and sub human poverty among almost half it's
population on the other hand.
Economic
growth makes good headlines for politicians but the equitable
distribution of this wealth among its people is the more telling
statistic in terms of national stability. In fact great wealth
disparities in a country are an indictment on the government of the day.
Wide income inequalities suggest governments are unable to not only
distribute the economy's growing wealth by providing social services and
physical infrastructure and in so doing creating an environment for
more people to climb up the social ladder
To
the extent that the people see no hope for advancement is the extent to
which they will clutch at straws, even insurgency, to provide for their
families.
An
insurgency can not be sustained without people. Boko Haram has grown
into enough of a force that large parts of northern Nigeria are under
emergency law because of their activities.
Recent
military adventures against the Boko Haram have not endeared the
continent's largest army to the citizens of north eastern Nigeria.
The
politicians have no choice now but to show they are doing something,
but in the long term Nigeria as do other African countries, need to seat
back and take a long hard look at the wealth inequalities in their
respective nations, not least of all as these may serve as the tinder of
revolt that will sweep them out of power.
