ABSTRACT:

Terrorist attacks in Nigeria were formerly almost exclusively carried out by two separate and distinct militant groups: the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) and the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB). Another militant group, Boko Haram, an Islamist sect, has now emerged and is at the moment carrying out deadly attacks on Nigerians, on foreign nationals and on public agencies and institutions like the police, the army, and public and private schools. While the Federal Government has to a large extent successfully used force to curtail the violent activities of MEND and MASSOB, its employment of that strategy in dealing with the Boko Haram sect has largely failed. This position paper briefly discusses the history of terrorism in Nigeria, the advent of Boko Haram, its meaning and origins, its terrorist attacks and their impacts, and the various ways and strategies being suggested to bring the Islamist sect’s insurgency to an end. Finally, the paper contends that, in addition to the various suggested strategies, writers too have a role in ending this dreaded sect’s murderous activities.