Boko Haram will expose Nigerian army's narrow strategy

Significance In recent weeks, ISWAP captured the town of Kangarwa and reportedly massacred over 100 soldiers in the nearby town of Metele. Coming just months before the February 2019 presidential election, mounting ISWAP attacks are raising questions over the military’s strategy and President Muhammadu Buhari’s performance since taking office in 2015. Impacts The humanitarian situation in the north-east will likely worsen, as insecurity forces aid agencies to reduce their presence in rural Borno. Growing accusations about the military's politicisation could affect the credibility of Buhari’s victory should he win re-election. Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau may be able to win back some rival ISWAP members upset over recent turmoil within their faction.

Significance Boko Haram has been severely weakened by the regional military offensive underway since February. With some assistance from Nigerian soldiers, troops from Chad, Cameroon and Niger have forced the insurgents to retreat from the majority of areas under their control. Completing the defeat of Boko Haram -- at least as a guerrilla force -- will be one of the incoming administration's first priorities. Impacts The incoming government will seek to fund pledges to accelerate reconstruction and rehabilitation of the north-east. However, it is set to inherit a cash-strapped economy, after one of Nigeria's most expensive elections. As laid out by the respected Borno state governor, substantial international aid assistance will be required. Such reconstruction work will also be important to allow the return of tens of thousands of refugees.


Significance Presidential and parliamentary elections have been rescheduled for March 28, with state and governorship elections due on April 11. Attahiru Jega, the head of the INEC, said that while the commission was fully prepared to conduct the election, last minute warnings from the security and intelligence chiefs stated that electoral security could not be guaranteed given the demand on troops needed to fight the Boko Haram insurgency in the north-east. While constitutional provisions allow for this short-term extension, the reason given for the postponement opens up the prospect for further delay. Impacts A severely flawed electoral process will have a knock-on effect on broader perceptions about Africa's democracy trends. Across the region, the outward appearance of democracy through holding elections rarely indicates free opposition participation. Regional Islamist militancy challenges will continue to be associated with reducing political space, from Chad to Kenya.


2021 ◽  
pp. 102452942110113
Author(s):  
Luke Telford

Based on 52 qualitative interviews with working-class individuals, this paper explores the social and economic decline of a coastal locale referred to as High Town in Teesside in the North East of England. First, the paper outlines how the locality expanded as a popular seaside resort under capitalism’s post-war period. It then assesses how the seaside existed together with industrial work, offering stable employment opportunities, economic security and a sense of community. Next, the article documents the shift to neoliberalism in the 1980s, specifically the decline of High Town’s seaside resort, the deindustrialization process and therefore the 2015 closure of High Town’s steelworks. It explicates how this exacerbated the locale’s economic decline through the loss of industrial work’s ‘job for life’, its diminishing popularity as a coastal area and the further deterioration of the town centre. The paper concludes by suggesting that High Town has lost its raison d’être under neoliberalism and faces difficulties in revival.


Archaeologia ◽  
1779 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 95-97
Author(s):  
Pegge

Rudston, a village in the East-Riding of Yorkshire, on the Wolds, near Burlington, is thus noticed in bishop Gibson's edition of Camden, col. 901. “More inward into the “land, is Ruston, where, in the church-yard, is a kind of “pyramidal stone of great height. Whether the name of the “town may not have some relation to it, can be known only “from the private history of the place; but if the stone bear “any resemblance to a cross, rod in Saxon doth imply so much.” This cross, as the bishop calls it, and I think not improperly, is a very curious monument; and, no doubt, of very remote antiquity. I am not aware that it has ever been engraved, and therefore I here present the Society with an accurate drawing* of it, which I received A. 1769, from the friendly hand of Mr. Willan, whose account I shall take the liberty to subjoin. “This stone stands about four yards from the North East “corner of Rudston church, which is situated on a high hill. “Its depth under ground equal to its height above, as appeared “from an experiment made by the late Sir William Strickland. “All the four sides are a little convex, and the whole covered “with moss. No tradition in this country of any authorrity, either concerning the time, manner, or occasion of its “erection.”


2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ifeanyichukwu M. Abada ◽  
Nneka Ifeoma Okafor ◽  
Nkemjika C. Duru

The decision among human beings to change their places of residence has remained an age-long strategy of survival practiced for a very long time. However, the migratory activities associated with internal population displacement are often propelled by forced migration occasioned by natural or anthropogenic forces or a combination of both. The upsurge of internal population displacement in the Nigerian state is incontrovertible given the maniacal campaign of the Boko Haram insurgency in the North-east region. The dilemma of internally displaced persons and the imperative management have proven a formidable challenge to the Nigerian state. The aim of this paper therefore is to ethically investigate whether the ineffective control of the Boko Haram insurgency by the state is implicated in the rising incidence of internally displaced persons and evident vulnerabilities. The study adopted qualitative research which relied heavily on the documentary method of data collection and, guided by the ‘Marxist theory of the post-colonial state’ as a theoretical underpinning. The findings of this paper showed that the ineffective control of Boko Haram insurgency by the state was implicated in the rising incidence of internal population displacement in the North-east. The paper critically observed that the state and its agencies like the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), State Emergency Management Agencies (SEMAs), National Commission for Refugees, Migration and Internally Displaced Persons (NCFRMI), Presidential Initiative for the North East (PINE), Presidential Committee on the North-East Initiative (PCNI), among others have become the main instruments for the advancement of the interests of the dominant class. The study however recommends amongst other things that the state should ethically rethink its narrow strategy against Boko Haram insurgency through the adoption of a broader approach according to the dictates of Nigeria’s Countering Violent Extremism framework.


Author(s):  
T. Hogue

The twin communities of Inangahua Camp and Inangahua Junction were rudely awakened at approximately 5.25 a.m.by a severe earthquake. About a minute before the quake all the birdlife suddenly stopped their noisy callingand an uncanny stillness settled over the area. The first movement of the earthquake was an upward displacement although a few argue that the initial displacement was to the north east. No longer than two seconds later the high frequency vibrating and confusion of noise enveloped the town, then came the jolting of no discriminate pattern as shock-waves started to rebound through the region. During the peak of the earthquake most people who. were by now fully awakened thought that "this was the end", any dissenters from this view acknowledged that it was "at least a beaut”.


2007 ◽  
Vol 30 (12) ◽  
pp. 942-954 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pooran Wynarczyk

PurposeThis paper aims to investigate the “gender management gap” in the scientific labour market in the North East of England. The paper seeks to compare and contrast employment, ownership, management structure and capacity between men and women in the Science, Engineering and Technology (SET) sector.Design/methodology/approachThe empirical investigation is based on a survey of 60 SET‐based small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs), operating in the North East of England.FindingsThe results show that women are particularly under‐represented in managerial and senior positions of scientific nature in the private sector in the North East of England. The “glass ceiling” effect appears to be widespread.Research limitations/implicationsThere are very limited empirical data and research on the nature and level of participation of women in the scientific managerial labour market at firm level in the UK. There is a need for more rigorous research at firm and regional levels to examine the cumulative effects of underlying factors that prevent women from progression, beyond the “glass ceiling”, in the scientific labour market.Practical implicationsThis paper builds upon a research project funded by the ESRC Science in Society Programme. The key findings have resulted in a subsequent award from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Impact Grants to establish the “North East Role Model Platform for Innovative Women” in the light of the Science City Initiative.Originality/valueThe “gender management gap” in the scientific labour market in the North East of England has not, empirically, been investigated before and appears to be a highly neglected area of public policy and research.


1735 ◽  
Vol 39 (441) ◽  
pp. 241-244 ◽  

Sept . 13, 1735, in the Town of Woodford , six Miles to the North East of London , at 11½ h.


2017 ◽  
Vol 37 (11-12) ◽  
pp. 655-666 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jon Warren

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to argue that the application of social policy in the North East of England is often characterised by tension and conflict. The agencies and professionals charged with implementation of Westminster driven policies constantly seek to deploy their knowledge of local conditions in order to make them both practical and palatable. Design/methodology/approach This paper examines the region via established literature from history, geography, sociology and social policy. The paper gives illustrations via empirical work which has evaluated initiatives to improve the health of long term health-related benefit recipients and to sustain individuals in employment in the region. Findings Central to the paper’s argument is the notion of “biographies of place”. The core of this idea is that places have biographies in the same way as individuals and possess specific identities. These biographies have been shaped by the intersections between environment, history, culture and economic and social policy. The paper identifies the region’s economic development, subsequent decline and the alliance of labour politics and industrial employers around a common consensus that sought economic prosperity and social progress via a vision of “modernisation” as a key component of this biography. Originality/value The paper argues that an appreciation of these spatial biographies can result in innovative and more effective social policy interventions with the potential to address issues that affect entire localities.


Significance Although many recent jihadist attacks have occurred in border regions with Niger (to the north of Borno State) or Cameroon (to the east of Borno and neighbouring Adamawa State), the Maiduguri attack underscores that security in Borno’s major towns is tenuous. Impacts Already faltering efforts to resettle displaced persons could be further complicated if the security situation degrades in Maiduguri. The new service chiefs’ attention will be overstretched as they also attempt to respond to worsening insecurity in the north-west. With general elections in 2023, there is no immediate political outlet for public frustration with authorities’ poor handling of security.


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