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A recent report by the World Bank has revealed the decline of economic activities in the North East region due to strident attacks by the Boko Haram insurgents. According to the bank, the destruction caused by the sect through terrorism and kidnapping in the North East has resulted in the decline of economic activities by 50 per cent.
The global financial institution also noted that Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states, the epicenter of the insurgency and the safe haven of Boko Haram, witnessed a fall in economic activities from 10 to 14 per cent between 2009 and 2013. This was disclosed by the lead economist and co-author of the World Bank report, Mr. Marco Hernandez, at the launch of the Lake Chad regional economic memorandum. He stated that at least 50 per cent of crop yields have been destroyed at a very huge cost as a result of the conflict, while problems related to climate change were equally responsible for the decline of agricultural activities in the North East.
Between 2016 and 2018, about 2,000 people were killed annually as a result of the conflict, a fifth of the total of the 2015 death toll. While it is undisputable that economic activities continued to be disrupted in the North Eastern states of Adamawa, Yobe and especially Borno, where top military officers were killed recently during an ambush by the terrorists, parts of the North West and North Central regions have also suffered untold economic challenges in the hands of bandits.
Kaduna, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara in North West, and Niger, Nasarawa and Plateau states in North Central have been under siege by bandits, resulting in kidnapping and wanton destruction of life and property. In many of these states, farmers can no longer go to their farms, and people can no longer go to market without fear of being kidnapped by bandits.
The neighbouring countries such as Cameroon, Chad and Niger Republic are not spared by the Boko Haram terrorists. For the northern region to grow, there is need for the swift intervention of multilateral financial institutions and the Nigerian government to focus on key areas to help break the cycle of violence. There is need for enhanced security and trade, improved infrastructure to move people and goods and services.
Improved governance and management of natural resources are also underlying preconditions for developing the Lake Chad region that has become safe haven for the terrorists. Beyond dismantling economic activities, the Boko Haram sect has made the North East to habour the highest number of out-of-school children in the country. Unfortunately, the North East zone is also behind others in critical infrastructure and human development indices.
The World Bank report should make the government to evolve new strategies to dislodge the terrorists from the North East and other troubled zones in the country. The government should give to the troops the needed equipment and other logistics to deal with the insurgents and bandits. In fact, the soldiers must take the war to the insurgents’ strongholds. It is time to deploy the newly acquired Tucano aircraft against the terrorists.
It is no longer in doubt that Boko Haram threat is real and has remained persistent. As former Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt-Gen.Tukur Brutai once noted, “Boko Haram and the likes cannot be defeated by kinetic military warfare alone.” Though the insurgents are no longer holding as many territories as before, the fact is that the Nigerian military is yet to win the peace. The earlier declaration that the sect has been ‘technically defeated’ can no longer be sustained in the face of fresh offensive by the insurgents. In terms of strategy, the troops should always be ahead of the insurgents.
