Boko haram insurgency and women vunerabilities in northern Nigeria: 2009-2014

Abstract

Since the turn of civilian regime from 1999 till date, women have been at the receiving end of violence in Nigeria. The Nigeria watch data base provided the opportunity to validate the extent to which women have been victims of homicide and manslaughter. Some factors are responsible for violence against women for example, domestic violence, rape, and sorcery, with domestic violence as high number of cases. The paper draws the conclusion that regions in the south seem to have a high degree of lethal violence against women because violence against women is less reported in the north, the security threat caused by Boko Haram insurgent, is an onslaught and this has reshape socio-economic development in Nigeria. The challenges of this sect have become a national security threat despite lip service from government to curb this menace. This paper addresses an aspect of Boko Haram’s activities on gender-based violence and its target on women. However, 2013 marked an evolution of this sect with series of actions like kidnapping anchored on women folk. This provides shift from their operation to include women to increase incessant pressure on male folk. It generated rationale for women within Boko Haram framework to appreciate gender factor ingroup’sviolence.It is the opinion of this paper that security avails the opportunity for socio-economic development and recommends that government should awake to its responsibilities and ensure adequate funding and training of security agencies, and fortify security agents with sophisticated weapons that will effectively outwitthe fire power of this terrorist. The border areas should be tightened to checkmate the high influx of people into its territory collectively. The deployment of vigilante and neighborhood watch would serve as complimentary effort to the machinery of government to identify and locate the sect for such a time as this. Nigeria can only achieve sustainable development through firm prioritization of national security in their development agenda.