Nigeria
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https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/nigeria/
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Recent Scholarship:
PEACE (RE)BUILDING INITIATIVES: INSIGHTS FROM SOUTHERN KADUNA, NIGERIA
This fact sheet presents findings from the RESOLVE Network Policy Note "Peace (Re)building Initiatives: Insights from Southern Kaduna, Nigeria" by Benjamin Maiangwa. Violent conflicts and crime have reached new heights in Nigeria, as cases of kidnapping, armed banditry, and communal unrest continue to tear at the core of the ethnoreligious divides in the country. Southern Kaduna has witnessed a virulent spree of communal unrest in northern Nigeria over the last decade due to its polarized politics and power differentials between the various groups in the area, particularly the Christians and Muslims, who are almost evenly split. In response to their experiences of violence, the people of that region have also shown incredible resilience and grit in transforming their stress and suffering. This policy note focuses on the transformative practices of the Fulani and other ethnic communities in southern Kaduna in terms of how they problem-solve deep-seated socio-political rivalries and violent relations by working through their shared identity, history, and cultures of peace. The note explores how peace practitioners and donor agencies could consolidate local practices of sustaining peace as complementary or alternative resources to the state’s liberal system
Between “Victims” and Their “Saviors”: Process-Based Leadership and Trust Building in Civil–Military Relations in Northern Nigeria
Folahanmi Aina
ABSTRACT July 2023
Northern Nigeria has been plagued by the nefarious activities of terrorist groups, including Boko Haram, its affiliates, and armed bandits. Beyond its kinetic operations, the military has since deployed several strategies toward trust building across the region. This article contributes to the literature, by adopting process-based leadership as a social psychology conceptual and analytical lens. As a departure from traditional conceptualizations of civil–military relations, process-based leadership identifies where influence exists and how it is being exchanged toward the attainment of mutually linked security goals and objectives, between the military and society, in conflict settings. A central argument of the article is that improving civil–military relations in conflict settings is largely dependent on trust building, and achieving this is a function of the exchange of influence and the establishment of mutuality between the military and society.
“Phantom operators”: special operations forces and asymmetric warfare in Northern Nigeria
Folahanmi Aina
ABSTRACT 04 May 2023
Across the world, Special Operations Forces (SOFs) play a leading role in asymmetric warfare. The unique trainings, skills, weapons, and equipment of these elite Tier 1 operators, differentiates them from conventional forces, making them the preferred choice in complex environments. SOFs are ideally deployed for short operations, which include direct action missions, hostage rescue, hunting high-value targets (HVTs), mobility operations, intelligence operations, airborne operations, counterterrorism (CT), counterinsurgency (COIN) operations, and covert operations among others. While the literature has mostly focused on the utility of major powers’ SOFs in the Global War on Terror (GWOT), with little attention on Africa’s SOF’s, this paper examines the origins, evolution, composition, and deployments of Nigeria’s SOFs specifically in the Northeast, Northcentral, and Northwest theatres of operation, against the Boko Haram insurgency and armed banditry, respectively. Drawing on primary data from interviews with key informants and other secondary data sources, the paper interrogates the successes, challenges, and prospects of Nigeria’s SOFs. The strategic utility and overreliance on Nigeria’s SOFs by political leaders and the Military’s High Command puts a strain on their strategic value which potentially undermines their strategic efficacy as a force-multiplier in the long run, against unconventional threats.
PEACE (RE)BUILDING INITIATIVES: INSIGHTS FROM SOUTHERN KADUNA, NIGERIA
This fact sheet presents findings from the RESOLVE Network Policy Note "Peace (Re)building Initiatives: Insights from Southern Kaduna, Nigeria" by Benjamin Maiangwa. Violent conflicts and crime have reached new heights in Nigeria, as cases of kidnapping, armed banditry, and communal unrest continue to tear at the core of the ethnoreligious divides in the country. Southern Kaduna has witnessed a virulent spree of communal unrest in northern Nigeria over the last decade due to its polarized politics and power differentials between the various groups in the area, particularly the Christians and Muslims, who are almost evenly split. In response to their experiences of violence, the people of that region have also shown incredible resilience and grit in transforming their stress and suffering. This policy note focuses on the transformative practices of the Fulani and other ethnic communities in southern Kaduna in terms of how they problem-solve deep-seated socio-political rivalries and violent relations by working through their shared identity, history, and cultures of peace. The note explores how peace practitioners and donor agencies could consolidate local practices of sustaining peace as complementary or alternative resources to the state’s liberal system
Between “Victims” and Their “Saviors”: Process-Based Leadership and Trust Building in Civil–Military Relations in Northern Nigeria
Folahanmi Aina
ABSTRACT July 2023
Northern Nigeria has been plagued by the nefarious activities of terrorist groups, including Boko Haram, its affiliates, and armed bandits. Beyond its kinetic operations, the military has since deployed several strategies toward trust building across the region. This article contributes to the literature, by adopting process-based leadership as a social psychology conceptual and analytical lens. As a departure from traditional conceptualizations of civil–military relations, process-based leadership identifies where influence exists and how it is being exchanged toward the attainment of mutually linked security goals and objectives, between the military and society, in conflict settings. A central argument of the article is that improving civil–military relations in conflict settings is largely dependent on trust building, and achieving this is a function of the exchange of influence and the establishment of mutuality between the military and society.
“Phantom operators”: special operations forces and asymmetric warfare in Northern Nigeria
Folahanmi Aina
ABSTRACT 04 May 2023
Across the world, Special Operations Forces (SOFs) play a leading role in asymmetric warfare. The unique trainings, skills, weapons, and equipment of these elite Tier 1 operators, differentiates them from conventional forces, making them the preferred choice in complex environments. SOFs are ideally deployed for short operations, which include direct action missions, hostage rescue, hunting high-value targets (HVTs), mobility operations, intelligence operations, airborne operations, counterterrorism (CT), counterinsurgency (COIN) operations, and covert operations among others. While the literature has mostly focused on the utility of major powers’ SOFs in the Global War on Terror (GWOT), with little attention on Africa’s SOF’s, this paper examines the origins, evolution, composition, and deployments of Nigeria’s SOFs specifically in the Northeast, Northcentral, and Northwest theatres of operation, against the Boko Haram insurgency and armed banditry, respectively. Drawing on primary data from interviews with key informants and other secondary data sources, the paper interrogates the successes, challenges, and prospects of Nigeria’s SOFs. The strategic utility and overreliance on Nigeria’s SOFs by political leaders and the Military’s High Command puts a strain on their strategic value which potentially undermines their strategic efficacy as a force-multiplier in the long run, against unconventional threats.
