For the Boko Haram insurgency to be defeated, the Nigerian government would have to do what it should have done long ago, sort out its governance, the Economist reports online.

According to the article published this week, the Islamic extremist group called Boko Haram has grown in stature and gruesomeness in Nigeria’s north-east since 2009 despite international support for the Nigerian government.

The report stated that the crisis in the north-east needs to be seen in the context of generally rising criminality in Nigeria, stating that kidnappings for ransom are rife: celebrities and clergymen are plucked off the street in daylight.

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It added that hundreds of people are killed every year in land disputes, thieves siphon off as much as a fifth of the country’s oil output in the Niger delta.



However, the report informed that the only way to defeat insurgency in Nigeria is for politicians should concentrate on building institutions, such as a fair-minded police force and a competent health care system, rather than filling their pockets in cooperation with criminals.

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Only then will the government be able to build a decent army and channel enough resources to the poor in the north-east.