And it is not just Boko Haram which benefits from the global fear of terrorism. My friend went on to point out that a quarter of Nigeria's budget of almost $30 billion this year will be spent on the military and security services. The service chiefs will now have to find - or create something - to justify that and keep it flowing.
Many of the northern highways are studded with police road blocks which have an excuse and official blessing to engage in a bit of highway robbery. It is very difficult to get through any Nigerian roadblock without 'dashing' - paying - the police. But the police are small beer compared to the army. This is the biggest chance the generals have had to 'chop' since military rule ended in 1999. Unless they have changed completely, the senior officers will not allow the justification for this level of spending to diminish or die. They now have a major stake in Nigeria's 'war on terror'.
This is also the case for northern Nigerian politicians who have been funding and possibly even directing Boko Haram. They saw how the politicians of the Niger Delta manipulated the gangs which were attacking oil installations and demanding that oil companies did more for the local communities. The end result was that political power shifted to the Delta with a Delta man as president. If the Delta could do that, so could the north, which has finally lost political power in Nigeria after almost 50 years.
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