Nigeria/ Boko Haram Memo

320 Washington St,

North Easton, MA 02357

13 April 2017

From: Elif Okan

To: The United States Secretary of State Rex Tillerson

Thru: The National Security Council

Subj: Helping Nigeria with Boko Haram

Why is Boko Haram a concerning problem in Nigeria?
1.  Boko Haram was first founded in 2002 and was originally supposed to be a school to teach Islam but radicalized in 2009 after the five days of violent protests and riots against a law that was affecting Muslims and motorbike headgear. After the five days of protests resulted in the death of hundreds including Mohammed Yusuf, the leader, they had a drive for revenge and changed from the peaceful local Salafist movement from 2002 to the radical jihad movement using violence and bombs which started in 2009. Boko Haram literally translates to “Western civilization is forbidden” from Arabic and they are a radical jihadist movement that aims to remove the secular Nigerian government and replace it with a Muslim theocracy as well as getting rid of the market-based economy.
2.  Even though Boko Haram is not as well-known as ISIS, Boko Haram is still as dangerous if not more so than ISIS. Boko Haram had made about half as many attacks as ISIS, but they have still killed just as many people as ISIS had in those fewer attacks.

a.     This shows that Boko Haram is just as dangerous as ISIS if not more so for being able to achieve the same amount of deaths as ISIS in half as many attacks but the United States does not see to see Boko Haram as an issue that they need to be concern of like ISIS.

                                               i.     There are many reasons why the United States may not see Boko Haram as big of an issue like ISIS. The main one would be that the United States did not have an impact on Boko Haram, so they do not have an obligation to get involve.

b.     Boko Haram pledged their allegiance to ISIS in March 2015 which shows that they are as big as a danger as ISIS

3. Boko Haram is against western civilization meaning they are against the United States as well. Right now they are not too big and mostly staying in Nigeria/ Africa, but if they become bigger in the future they could be a threat to the United States which is why action should be taken now instead of later as long as the Nigerian government wants help.

What should be done?

      4.  The first thing that should be done is to raise more awareness, so people actually know who Boko Haram is and what they are currently doing because a large group of people do not.

a.     Terrorist groups like ISIS show up in the news a lot, but Boko Haram rarely does which is why ISIS is more well-known than Boko Haram.

b.     In 2014 Boko Haram kidnapped 3 Chibok schoolgirls, and it became known to the public, as soon as it was the United States tried to help by starting to campaign “bring back our girls” on different things like Twitter, Facebook, etc. Even though this did not bring them back at the end, this did help so Boko Haram was more known.

                                               i.     Now Boko Haram are seen as the group that kidnapped schoolgirls, but many in the United States do not know how violence this group is within Africa or even that they existed before the schoolgirl kidnappings

       5. Once Boko Haram and all their wrong doing/ violence are well known in the United States like ISIS is, it would be easier to get the general public’s approval and get involved without having to worry the citizens of the United States getting made for getting involved with Boko Haram.

      6.  The United States should also get the United Nations involve to help Nigeria instead of just trying to help Nigeria alone. Boko Haram is a terrorist group that affects many people. They may not choice to attack major cities in Europe like ISIS, but they did kill just as many people. Boko Haram focuses on Africa which is one of the reasons they are not getting as much attention as other terrorist groups, but that should change.

a.     Nigeria is part of the United Nations so if they ask for help dealing with Boko Haram the United States and the United Nations should help since Boko is dangerous and Nigeria may not be able to deal with them on their own.

                                               i.     If the Nigerian government does not ask the Unites States and/ or the United Nations for help and are fine on their own, then the United States and the United Nations should not get involved but make it care that if the Nigerian government changes their mind, then they will help.

      7.  Thank you for your time and consideration on this matter.

Bibliography:

- Class Notes from 6 April 2017