Nigeria 2013-2017

[davidbfpo]

omarali50 in a post six days ago asked:

I am curious to know how it was covered IN Nigeria itself? I assume there was massive coverage in the press and on TV?

Thanks to SWJ Blog's pointer to a Canadian report 'Boko Haram, ISIS and al-Qaeda: how the jihadists compare; Nigeria's Boko Haram getting less attention' there is some help:

Cdric Jourde, a West Africa expert at the School of Political Studies at the University of Ottawa, points out that in Lagos, Nigeria's and Africa's largest city, the newspapers don't have that much coverage of Boko Haram attacks either. Nigeria is a country divided between north and south, and the region where Boko Haram operates is the most remote, the poorest and the furthest away from Lagos and the south.
For people in the capital, the violence in the north is becoming banal, there's fatigue with the story, Jourde says.

The report has other points of note:http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/boko-ha...pare-1.2916265

[davidbfpo]

Now whether the Nigerian national security adviser, a former colonel, is telling the truth or it is fiction, one must ask should he say this amidst a war and in London.

So what did he say? Referring to the fall of Baga:

.. this episode was “not something that anybody will be proud of....For anybody who has that much in store to say he is poorly armed or poorly equipped is being disingenuous to say the least,” he said. “Anybody who believes that he is not well armed, he is not telling the truth.

Unfortunately, we have a lot of cowards. There was a problem in the recruitment process – we all admit, that is all admitted. We have people who are using every excuse in this world not to fight. If you don’t want to fight, it’s not your fault: get out of the army. If you are there, there are certain things you are expected to do. For now, fighting is one of those things. If you don’t want to fight, don’t make excuses and say you are not armed, you are not equipped.

Link:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1136...ity-chief.html

[AdamG]

Islamic extremists are rampaging through villages in northeast Nigeria's Adamawa state, killing, burning and looting with no troops deployed to protect civilians, fleeing villagers said Wednesday.

More than 40 people have been killed in seven villages as houses and mosques have been burned down and businesses and homes looted this week, according to Emmanuel Kwache and state legislator Adamu Kamale.

Ba'malum, who lost her husband in the chaos of her flight, is among more than 200,000 people taking refuge in Maiduguri.

The city of two million residents appears to be surrounded. Three roads lead to areas held by Boko Haram. The militants are believed to be attacking the fourth road leading to the northern city of Kano, according to residents too scared to leave though they fear an imminent attack.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/boko-ha...934479?cmp=rss

[davidbfpo]

Yes Nigeria needs help, step forward Chad:

On Thursday, neighboring Chad sent a warplane and troops that drove the extremists out of a northeastern Nigeria border town (Malum Fatori) in the first such act by foreign troops on Nigerian soil.

Link:http://www.pulse.me/ap/254100d2c6d94...06e317d893b78?

[davidbfpo]

The BBC World Services Thomas Fessy has a long eport, with film footage and charts on recent events @ Baga. He recently visited refugee camps across the border (Lake Chad) in Chad.
Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-30987043

I missed spotting this, although I am not sure it is a good omen - as the Russian approach to COIN is hardly gentle and has no WHAM (not that the Nigerian state appears to be be gentle or use WHAM):

More than 1,200 Nigerian security personnel are in Russia receiving anti-insurgent training by Russian special forces. The trainees on return will form a nucleus of the special forces brigade to in particular combat the Boko Haram terrorist group.

Link:http://www.eurasiareview.com/2310201...pecial-forces/

I do recall Nigeria sent some personnel to North Korea for training too, awhile ago now.

[davidbfpo]

At last an explanation why the coverage is so limited. His account ends with:

This may give a partial answer to those who have been wondering these past few weeks why Nigeria doesn't lead the news bulletins day after day after day. There's not just the regularity of the attacks - another Boko Haram atrocity in Nigeria isn't going to knock a rare one in Paris off the front pages internationally - but the relentless lack of certainty.
Increasingly we like neat packages of information, something easily understood, with arresting images, that can be summarised in 140 characters or a hashtag.
In the Boko Haram insurgency, there’s never a complete picture, just snippets of unimaginable horror and an attempt to fill in the gaps before bracing for the next attack.

Link:http://blogs.afp.com/correspondent/?...a#.VNZjTSxj7Ai

[davidbfpo]

Sounds grand doesn't it:

Now the government and some private philanthropists are deliberately linking the two by rolling out schemes to provide economic opportunities and humanitarian support as antidotes to militancy.
The Presidential Initiative for Northeast Nigeria (PINE)

PINE is basically a Marshall Plan for the region, allocated US$25 million* for 2015. It links security to social and economic interventions in a classic hearts-and-minds “soft power” strategy. It promises “immediate relief to affected states in the northeast while putting the region on a strong footing for economic resurgence and long-term sustainable viability”, says an overview document.

According to PINE, an estimated 5.9 million people are affected by the crisis: 4 million are food insecure; 1.5 million are displaced (a higher figure than the government’s disaster agency, NEMA, uses); health facilities are closed; IDP host communities are stretched; and humanitarian access is severely limited. The violence has halted infrastructure projects, created massive unemployment and triggered the flight of skilled workers and traders south.

Link:http://www.irinnews.org/report/10110...m#.VNkAz0ZOLCQ

Personally this sounds more like a "finger in the dyke" long after BH punched a gap in the dyke.