COUNTER TERRORISM STRATEGIES IN NIGERIA: CASE STUDY OF THE BOKO HARAM

The government in Nigeria has, at different times, adopted different approaches to combat terrorism. This study is therefore aimed at examining the conditions necessitating the emergence and persistence of the terrorist activities, and why the strategies applied have remained ineffective. The study employed the use of In-depth interview to elicit data from respondents while content analysis was used to analyze data gotten from the field. Findings from the study revealed that individualistic and uncooperative authorities hampered counter-terrorism activities by the government. Nigeria's counterterrorism operation was ill-defined, ad hoc, and reactive. The study therefore recommends that an active counterterrorism policy must be done with adequate planning, review mechanisms, distinct threat profile, resource allocation, and application as well as proper training of security personnel.