Combating Boko Haram Terrorism Financing : Case of Nigeria and Lake-Chad Basin

Recent terrorist activities in Lake Chad basin (comprises of countries such as Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon) have adversely affected the socio political and economic situation in the region. The study involves assessing the historical background and charactersitics of Boko Haram terrorist group and investigating the sources of funding Boko Haram terrorist group and effect on socio political and economic activities. The research approach to this study entails a literature review that is carried out to identify the knowledge gap in previous studies, to obtain background information to the research topic, to identify tested methods, techniques and research designs for uncovering the answer to the research questions, as well as to obtain an understanding of the conceptual principles that have a bearing on the study. Combination of historical research design and survey research technique was used in this study. This research study uses non-parametric (Chi-square test and descriptive statistics) to analyze and test the study population. Findings revealed that the menace of Boko Haram terrorists group is as a result of availability of several sources of funds to finance its activities, if these sources are cut off or contained, the menace will drastically reduce. Also, the study found that the sources of terrorism financing and its availability to the Boko Haram terrorist group activities have effect on socio political/economic development in the region. The authors are of opinion that regional government and international communities should consider some of the grievances of the sect in proffering a solution to the menace of bombing and attack Boko Haram