Eradicating poverty and emphasising education will not eliminate terrorism, but it will drastically reduce it. The Sahel Region (an area larger in size than the USA) is on track to be a major terrorist breeding ground, if poverty and education are not taken seriously.

The transition from madrassa student / almajiri (student of an itinerant religious scholar) to hired political thug (for less than $10 a day) to suicide bomber can occur (and is occurring) extremely rapidly in Northern Nigeria. On the other hand, the transition from engineering student to suicide bomber takes much longer and is much rarer.

Secondly, there is no clear division between terrorism and insurgencies. It is generally accepted that poverty and frustration drives insurgencies and insurgents use terrorism as a tactic.