NIGERIA

INTRODUCTION NIGERIA 7
schools have been destroyed and another 1,500 schools forced to
close, leaving close to one million school-age children with almost
no opportunity for education. 7
People of faith and centers of faith have also been deliberately
targeted. More Muslims have been displaced than any other faith
group due to the actions of Boko Haram. Between 2000 and 2014,
more than 13,000 churches were abandoned, closed or destroyed
in northern and central Nigeria. 8
What is unfolding in northern and central Nigeria is one of the
gravest current humanitarian crises in the world, with millions
affected, thousands killed, insecurity rampant, children ravaged
by malnutrition, one of the world’s highest populations of IDPs,
schools closed, houses of worship destroyed and entire communities
burned to the ground in scorched-earth attacks. Moreover,
the threat posed by Fulani militants in the Middle Belt is escalating
into one of the most significant security concern in West Africa.
Much of the western media attention has focused on the actions
of Boko Haram in part because in the past five years, 15,486
deaths have been uniquely attributed to this group. 9 However,
Boko Haram, or the Islamic State of West Africa Province as the
group refers to itself following its pledge of allegiance to the
Islamic State, is far from the only threat to the unity of Nigeria.
The episodic violence pursued by Boko Haram underscores a far
deeper reality felt by religious minorities throughout northern
Nigeria: systemic discrimination. Many religious minorities
perceive Boko Haram as but the latest outgrowth of violence and
organized attempts to ensure that their very presence will be
removed from the area.
Disturbingly, patterns set by Boko Haram, the Nigerian government,
and the international community in response to the crisis of
northeastern Nigeria are being replayed in the Middle Belt. Fulani
militants are specifically targeting select communities because
of their religious identity or potential economic benefit. Over the
past two years, the Nigerian government has tended to sideline
this conflict and often failed to provide meaningful security for
affected communities. The international community has been
slow to respond to the escalating emergency in the Middle Belt
where Fulani militants are now classified by the Global Terrorism
Index as the fourth most lethal terrorist group by numbers killed. 10
In 2013, Fulani militants killed 63 individuals while in 2014 they
160,943
refugees and asylum
seekers from Nigeria.
?
WHO ARE FULANI MILITANTS?
The term “Fulani” refers not
just to a terrorist group, but
to a whole ethnicity, not all
of whom are terrorists. This
diffuse group of 20 million
people, mostly pastoral nomads
(the largest such group in the
world) typically speak Fula as
their first tongue and practice
Islam. They came onto the
world stage in a serious way
in 1804 in what is now Nigeria
and Cameroon, when a Fulani
preacher launched a holy war
against local rivals, creating the
Sokoto Empire.
Copyright © 2016 21st Century Wilberforce Initiative. All Rights Reserved.