Illiteracy, Poverty and Boko Haram Insurgency in Nigeria: The Management and Policy Options

Abstract

Boko Haram (BH) drew international attention in July 2009 when it launched a violent uprising against the Nigerian state, resulting in the deaths of approximately 800 people, including civilians, group members, and security personnel. The group again captured global headlines in May 2014 when it abducted over 200 schoolgirls, aiming to use them as leverage in negotiations for the release of imprisoned members. Former President Goodluck Jonathan reported that the group's attacks had claimed around 12,000 lives, injured or maimed 8,000 others, and displaced countless more. Another report estimated that between 2009 and 2016, the Boko Haram insurgency killed nearly 17,000 people, displaced approximately 2.2 million individuals, destroyed thousands of communities, and severely hampered economic growth. It is in this regard that the research article examines illiteracy, poverty and BH insurgency in Nigeria: the management and policy options, using the secondary method of data collection. The findings from the study show that poverty does not directly lead to religious extremism, but it creates the conditions that make people to be vulnerable to easy indoctrination into extreme religious view. Several policy recommendations towards mitigating the above stated ugly trends have been stated, such as: the government should monitor and regulate the curricular of religious schools to ensure that they are devoid of extreme religious views; there should be adequate funding of education in line with UNESCO 26% recommendations, and outright eradication of poverty.