Poverty, Insecurity And Extremism In West Afirican Sub-Region: Analtical Perspective

Abstract

The West African sub-region faces a veritable perfect storm of social, economic and security challenges, all of which are exacerbated by poverty and the fragility of states in the sub-region. The sub-region has become home to terrorist groups in recent times such that numerous protracted atrocities have been committed against innocent civilians, security forces and government agencies by the various terrorist groups. The main aim of the study was to provide an assessment of the poverty, insecurity and the extremism situation in the sub-region with a view to identifying the root causes. The study employed a case study research design that involves focusing on the West African sub-region. The method of data collection was secondary sources, while content analysis was used in analysing the data generated.  The Horizontal inequality theory was used as framework of analysis. The work insists that poverty is the major cause of extremism in West African sub-region. Some of the causes of extremism included pervasive material inequalities and unfairness, poverty/unemployment; weak security system etc, assessment of the situation revealed a deterioration of security, safety, and stability in the West African sub-region. Some of the extremist groups in West African sub-region include Boko Haram and its breakaway faction, the Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP), Jama’at Nustratal-Islam wal-Muslimeen (JNIM) or the Group for the Support of Islam and Moslems (GSIM) in Mali and Burkina Faso and Ansarul Islam in Burkina Faso.the MNLA, Ansar al Dins Iyad and AQIM. The Sahel region of West Africa has become home to some of the world’s deadliest extremist groups in recent times resulting in numerous protracted atrocities committed against innocent civilians, security forces and government agencies The Countries in West African sub-region should formulate and effectively implement policies and programmes capable of addressing the root causes of insecurity in the sub-region