Bokoharam Insurgency and Socio-Economic Development of the North Eastern Nigeria

Boko Haram has posed a great challenge to Nigeria’s development over the past few years. Boko Haram has greatly distorted Nigeria’s growth in the area of economic, political, social as well as her educational development. The study examined Boko Haram insurgency and socio-economic development of the north eastern Nigeria. Descriptive survey method was adopted by the study. Two hundred and fifty (250) respondents were randomly selected from the study area. The questionnaire was used to obtain the data for the analysis. Simple percentage, mean, and standard deviation were used to describe the information from the data while chi square statistical analysis was used to test the hypotheses. The findings were positive and significant; kidnappings are one of the nature and trend to Boko Haram in North East Nigeria; food security, education, health, income and the general standard of living of the people are affected by Boko Haram in North East Nigeria, collaborative efforts of law enforcement agencies and telecoms operators against Boko Haram reduce security challenges in North East Nigeria, the challenge of arms trafficking is accentuated by border porosity, lack of human and technological capacity for surveillance, and cross-border activities of armed groups promoting Boko Haram in North East Nigeria and Economic displacement of individuals and communities has created a ripple effect, affecting local markets, small businesses, and overall economic productivity in North East Nigeria. This research concluded that Boko Haram has significantly affected national development efforts negatively in Nigeria's Northeast. Based on the findings, it was recommended that state governments in these regions should brainstorm and strategise on ways of creating meaningful employment for the teeming youths in the region; educational opportunities to empower the mental and societal values of young person’s should be given top priority by state governments; poverty should be reduced to its barest minimum by creating economic empowerment platforms lastly, government should be brought closer to the grassroots level.