Oil in the ‘Mix’ of Insurgency: Unmasking the Resurgence of Boko Haram Attacks in Nigeria’s Northeast

Abstract

Nigeria’s mono-economic dependence on oil has been a paradox of an albatross
on socio-economic growth and development, as the country grapples to secure
a cure for its Dutch disease since the oil boom era of the 1970s. In inverting the
dependency theory, as a conspiracy of the rich to make the poor dependent, this
paper contends that the reverse is the case as the wealth of rich socio-political
elites within the Nigerian context is solely dependent on the exploitation of the
less developed oil bearing communities within an impoverished population. These
communities perpetually live under hazardous ecological conditions in spite of
their resources upon which the Nigerian state is dependent. It posits that the Boko
Haram insurgency is an offshoot of this paradox while exploring the emerging
dynamics of the oil factor amidst the resurgence of attacks in the Northeast. It
thus advocates the need to rehumanize the Nigerian populace through Amartya
Sen’s human capabilities’ approach, whereby socio-economic conditions are
addressed through structural and institutional changes amidst a socially and
environmentally responsible population.