National Interests and Regional Security in the Lake Chad: Assessing the Multinational Joint Task Force

Ifeanyichukwu Micheal Abada,Charles Akale,Kingsley Chigozie Udegbunam,Olihe A Ononogbu

doi:10.32861/jssr.61.40.49

Abstract

This article assessed security architecture for counter-insurgency against Boko Haram in the Lake Chad Basin (LCB). The paper diagnosed the impact of conflicting national interests of contributing nations on the performance of the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) as a regional security architecture in the LCB. Some scholars and analysts cite corruption, historical contradictions among LCB members, poor funding, and complex nature of the insurgency, as factors responsible for failure of counter-insurgency operations in the LCB. Others contend that resource geopolitics, linguistic differences, and hegemonic politics have impacted negatively on the capacity of the MNJTF to decimate terrorists in the region. This is a qualitative study that draws from the Fund for Peace, International Crisis Group (ICG), Lake Chad Basin Commission, the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED), and research literature dealing with national interest and military alliances, while using content analysis to argue that conflicts in national interests, more than any other factor, have hampered the collaborative efforts of the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC) and weakened the capacity of the MNJTF to engage in robust counterinsurgency against Boko Haram in the LCB.

Highlights

Agriculture is a pillar for sustained development, poverty alleviation and enhanced food security in many third world countries (Olwande et al, 2009)
Productivity of agriculture has witnessed a downward trend, with poverty increasing. This is at variance with one of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of reducing the share of people suffering from extreme poverty and hunger by 50% come the year 2015
The most notable failure has been in Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) where agricultural productivity has dawdled behind than any other region in the world, well below food security and poverty reduction levels

Summary

Introduction

Agriculture is a pillar for sustained development, poverty alleviation and enhanced food security in many third world countries (Olwande et al, 2009). Agro-based research in SSA and the world over has had a huge impact in improving livelihoods through enhancing productivity growth giving rise to improved rates of return on investments (Alene and Coulibaly, 2008; Thirtle et al, 2003). Most notable has been by Ravallion (1998); Ravallion and Datt (1999) as well as Fan et al (1999) in India They discovered that higher agricultural wages and higher yields tend to reduce poverty, with lower farm productivity, lower rural living standards, lower literacy rates experiencing less propoor growth, as well as investments in roads and agricultural R & D and extension, which apart from increasing incomes, had effect on wage increases and lower food prices. An array of research and development outputs or processes have been utilised to capture a fuller portrait on the ground

Method

Summary of findings

Improved Rural Livelihoods through Research and Development Adoption

Findings

Conclusion