Unable To Escape Societal Influence: Nigeria’s Military in the Counterinsurgency War and the Imperative for the Securitization

Abstract

The lethality of the insurgency against the Nigerian state by Boko Haram terrorists persists after a decade. Extant strategies by the military to defeat the insurgents have posed severe challenges, as the latter often find sympathetic cohorts among some military personnel. The universal theorization that the military institution is compact, cohesive, centralising, integrative, and functions under esprit de corps in its operations is challenged by the growing tension between balancing loyalty to the state and the ethnic origin of some military officers. This study departs from the poverty-centred narratives that predominate discourses on the Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria. The military is presented as the centre of gravity (COG) that warrants using critical factor analysis (CFA) in assessing its effectiveness in the insurgency war in Nigeria because infiltrations of cultural or other mundane issues can fracture its operational efficiency. Primordial and state fragility theories were used, and the data was generated through qualitative sources that also involved snowballing techniques. The study reveals the erosion of social capital and the unprofessional conduct of some military officers linked to their cultural influence. These social variables negatively impacted Nigeria’s military successes in combating insurgency, hence the imperative for the securitization of the military institution.