The recent research findings by
Mercy Corps and Ford Foundation in some North-eastern states have shown
how gifts, gratification and the promise of protection fuel recruitment
of community members into Boko Haram.Martins Ifijeh reports
“I am Boko Haram. I will bomb this
school.” These were the words written by a primary three pupil on the
wall of his community primary school in Borno State. He is looking
forward to growing up and becoming like some select members of his
community who exude ‘power’, have relative economic upgrade and have the
ability to convert other people’s properties to theirs, including
having young girls as gratification. He wants to grow up a Boko Haram
member.
This, and many more reasons, prompted
Mercy Corps, an international humanitarian organisation and the Ford
Foundation to embark on a yearlong research to ascertain what fuels the
recruitment of community members, youths especially, into becoming tools
for destabilisation and destruction, as well as why some communities
support the sect’s activities secretly in the North-eastern part of the
country, especially in Borno State and its neighbours where its
activities were prominent in recent years.
With the help of locals, who were hired
as research assistants, Mercy Corps and its research team went into
several communities inhabited by members of the sect, as well as friends
and relatives of the sect, and then spoke to former Boko Haram members
and the youths who resisted joining the organisation to ascertain their
motives for joining the sect or why they resisted joining, respectively.
Their findings- with the presence of
poverty, lack of economic and social presence in most communities, and
the belief by many that their communities lacked government presence,
Boko Haram presented a lifeline, offering economic ambition to attract
or coerce youths by offering financial assistance for young people to
grow their businesses, while also offering protection to those
sympathetic to their cause.
For some, Boko Haram invested as high
as one million naira into their cattle rearing business or farming,
while for others, as low as ten thousand naira, motor bikes or even
sewing machines were distributed, and in return, they were either made
to participate in the sects’ activities or made to provide other forms
of support, including provision of intelligence to the group and
logistics. For those who rejected the offers, they lived at the mercy of
the deadly insurgents who did not spare some of them.
The lead researcher of the project and a
civil society practitioner, Ballama Mustafa, said while most of those
interviewed, who received financial support from Boko Haram, would have
loved to stick to government and be law abiding citizens, they declared
that they received Boko Haram’s offers because they did not see any
other viable option for growing their businesses, adding that gifts,
loans without interests, and a host of other subtle and attractive
approaches from the insurgents became a motivation for most of them who
eventually joined the sect, adding that, of the 74 community members
interviewed, 45 received financial or other types of support from Boko
Haram, while seven respondents outrightly rejected gifts or
gratification from them.
Giving a detailed analysis of the
report, Mustafa said in a bid to understand the motive behind youth
participation in Boko Haram activities, the research team sought out
different strategies on how to get information from the members and
communities themselves, adding that, they had to work with research
assistants, who were members of the communities, known to Boko Haram
members and were trusted by the different respondents interviewed, hence
the success recorded from getting information needed to complete the
research.
“When we started the research, we were
not sure if Boko Haram members will be willing to talk to us, but as we
went deeper into the project, we discovered they were more than willing
to talk. They earned the trust of our research assistants and ours, and
they opened up.”
According to him, “for many community
members, their financial ambition and needs either attract or make them
vulnerable to Boko Haram’s financial service offerings, as they viewed
the services as promising opportunity to get ahead or as an essential
strategy for keeping their livelihood on tract.
“For instance, a male respondent
explained how he was complaining to a friend that he wanted a job so he
could better provide for his parents. The friend then liaised with Boko
Haram leaders who secured a motor cycle for him. Same was the story of
another male youth who used the financing from the sect to open a brick
laying business, and in return worked for the sect,” noting that all 45
respondents who got financial or other forms of support from Boko Haram
agreed that it was their motivation for joining the sect or indirectly
supporting them.
Lack of access to government’s social and economic programmes fueling sect’s recruitment
He said of those interviewed, majority
were first approached by Boko Haram, while a few made the initiative to
get funding from the group, adding that, most respondents reported that
they took support not out of belief in Boko Haram’s ideology or to
support the organisation’s activities, but because they did not see an
alternative to access cash or credit. “Almost all the recipients said
that government’s support was preferable, but that these services were
not attainable without political connections or bribes,” he explained.
He said while some respondents said
they were unaware of existing government programmes and services capable
of supporting their services, others who were in the know said they
believed such services cannot be accessible by them, adding that such
programmes could only be for the wealthy and well connected.
Boko Haram’s support as a bait for recruitment
Explaining that the financial support
by the insurgents have been used for both recruitment and to gain
community support, he said some respondents noted that those who
benefitted from the financial support were asked to drop out of Nigerian
formal education system so as to embrace the ideology of the sect.
“Some of the women given support were
also forced to marry male Boko Haram combatants, while the group also
forced government employees who benefitted from their support to quit
their jobs because the group had declared government activities at any
level to be haram,” Mustafa added.
The Lead Researcher also added that
another key finding was that Boko Haram could demand services related to
recipient’s particular type of business in exchange for support.
“For instance, Boko Haram used achaba
(private motor cycle taxi) drivers who had received financial support
from the group, as messengers, delivering letters between cities and
communities. Also, respondents operating larger scale trading,
especially those involved in the transport of goods and services between
cities, were offered informal loans or the possibility of participating
in a joint venture in exchange for carrying Boko Haram members from one
city to another or for smuggling goods.
“In another example, Boko Haram
kidnapped a female business woman’s family and used her store to hide
weapons and ammunitions. They provided her with both money and goods to
keep business operating as a front, but her family remained in
captivity, compelling her to comply with Boko Haram’s demands.
“In the most extreme case, as our first
study showed, Boko Haram demanded that one of the beneficiaries of its
financial support participates in the group’s military activities. He
was given boots and a gun, but he ran away to avoid joining. The group
later took over his house,” he added.
He said most of the financial support
to community members and potential combatants came during or before 2009
when the group became violent, adding that, when people started
noticing the violent dimension of the group, respondents increasingly
became hesitant to accept the assistance out of fear. “Rather than
accepting assistance, some residents who became pressured to become
affiliated with the group fled their communities, leaving behind their
businesses. Others accepted money, but did not spend in case they were
asked for it later.”
In addition to purely transactional
demands by the group, he said Boko Haram often accompanied financial
services with persuasive tactics intended to garner more widespread
support. “Also, there were communities that showed gratitude to the
group, thereby exposing government deficiencies in providing for
communities.
“Many of those who received financial
support from the group later understood there were no particular
condition attached to the assistance, as conditions were either fluid
and unpredictable. Demands and conditions could come at anytime and
without warning, and in some cases, it may be a year after the financial
support had been given.”
While many got everything Boko Haram
promised them, including finance and protection, the Director of
Conflict Management, Mercy Corps, Rebecca Wolfe, said Boko Haram also
broke its promises on a number of occasions.
“For instance, one male recipient
described how Boko Haram protected his shop for a time, but later burnt
it down during massive attack,” the director noted.
According to her, while nearly three
quarters of the respondents knew that the financial incentives came from
Boko Haram, in some cases, recipients believed they were receiving
financial support from a friend or an acquaintance unaffiliated with the
group. “Sometimes, Boko Haram approached individuals through a friend
or neighbour, with an offer of investment in their business. An example
was that of a young woman who was receiving zakat, the Arabic term for
giving to the less privileged, considered a religious obligation in
Islam. However, she was later told she had to marry someone from Boko
Haram in exchange for the money.
Recommendations from the research
Wolfe said from the several
respondents, it was clear that Boko Haram took advantage of the deep
dissatisfaction with governance and provided economic support to
increase its recruits and improve standing in the communities.
She explained that the group’s
financial and in-kind support to community members achieved two
objectives simultaneously. “First, by providing an alternative set of
services for community members, it highlighted government and private
sector deficiencies. Second, it provided an immediate pathway for people
to get ahead by offering ways for them to expand their businesses.
She said ultimately, the lack of
perceived alternatives made residents of the North-east vulnerable to
Boko Haram’s financial schemes, adding that while money itself was not
the singular driving factor in participation in Boko Haram, the
perceived lack of financial options provided opportunities for the
group, even if only for a limited time, to juxtapose perceived
government’s inability to deliver services with a movement willing to
support those looking for a way ahead.
She said in the light of the findings,
the recommendations will largely focus on addressing the governance gaps
at the root of Boko Haram’s rise.
“Government, private sector and civil
society actors should first find out what the youths in these areas need
to get ahead in life, whether it is financial capital, in-kind support,
skills and training or a combination, and government and all
stakeholders should be ready to provide programmes that would increase
economic opportunities for them, as this could serve as a useful model.
“Civil society and development partners
can provide additional alternatives for the informal sector. These
could include business services, informal access to financial
programmes, and employment skill for the vulnerable. Any civil society
initiative should complement government efforts, not supplant them,” she
added.
She called on government to increase
accessibility and transparency to its economic programmes, adding that
the public perception that government economic development programmes
were only available to the elite few creates a receptive audience for
Boko Haram’s anti-government messages.
“Additionally, applications for these
programmes should be made transparent and the government should ensure
programme administrators are held accountable for fair selection
practise,” she explained.
She also advised the government to
create platforms to warn community members about Boko Haram financial
schemes. “Because of the sensitivities of speaking about affiliation
with the group and because of a lack of communication channels, youth
and other community members often have little access to information
about the risks they face.
“Another thing that can be done is for
the expansion of the role of the civil society in developing the
economic sector of the North-east. Their role and the accountability of
government programmes is crucial to ensuring that growth is inclusive
and that government policies and programmes target at-risk groups,” he
explained.
Meanwhile, the Programme Officer, Ford
Foundation, Dabesaki Mac-Ikemenjima, noted that the research found the
causes of the recruitment of individuals, adding that when the
recommendations were followed strictly, they would help in curbing the
uprising in the region.
He said: “It is partly because they
lack economic resources, because they are excluded from political
discussions, and also because their education system is weak.
On whether some of the recommendations
made would help in solving the issue of Boko Haram insurgency in
Nigeria, he said since the recommendations focus on economic livelihood
for young people in the region, if integrated with economic and social
support, it would be useful in addressing the challenge of youth
involvement in the insurgency.
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