Counterterrorism in Africa: an analysis of the civilian joint task force and military partnership in Nigeria

Abstract

This paper assesses the impact of civilian interventions in counterterrorism in Africa. The existing literature on terrorism has not sufficiently interrogated this aspect of counterterrorism within the African context. Utilizing civilian defence forces in counterterrorism appears to be widespread today unlike in the past, but most existing literature glosses over the critical contributions of civilian forces to the management of security environments, intelligence-gathering networks and combat reservoirs. This article uses stabilization theory to examine both civilian contributions and the impact of their partnerships with the military on counterterrorism. Data for this study was drawn from multiple qualitative and quantitative sources. The statistical analysis includes descriptive procedures (frequency tables and summary statistics); correlations using the Pearson coefficient and comparative analysis using the independent samples t test. For the purpose of comparative analysis, we categorized the study into two periods: pre-Civilian Joint Task Force (Civilian-JTF) intervention and post-Civilian-JTF involvement. We compared the consistency and intensity of Boko Haram attacks and Troop Responses (TRs) at pre-civilian and post-civilian involvements in counterterrorism. We found that the mean number of Boko Haram attacks was significantly higher before (M = 11.83, SD = 4.926) than after (M = 5.35, SD = 4.248) civilian intervention (t = 5.186, df = 59, p = 0.000). The effect size for this significant difference was estimated to be large (eta squared (η2) = 0.313). The main contributory factor was the shift in active and passive supports of the civilian population to the military, which increased the strategic and operational intelligence gathering, combat strength, and more proactive military in counterterrorism. We conclude that the civilian and military synergy should extend beyond the use of force to include a political settlement, which will address some of the grievances of Boko Haram.