Poverty Is No Excuse For Terrorism: Making Sense of Nigeria’s Boko Haram Menace

A number of influential commentators have claimed that poverty and political neglect are to blame for the emergence of Boko Haram, an Islamist terrorist group wreaking havoc in Nigeria, Africa's most populous country and largest economy.  Boko Haram's clearly stated mission is to turn Nigeria into an African version of Afghanistan, or worse.  This in a country where at least half the population is not even Muslim to begin with.  Josh Arinze, a Nigerian-born writer and analyst, explains why the assumption that poverty is the "root cause" of Boko Haram's medieval savagery is misleading, simplistic, and wrong. 

Noting that northern Nigerians have ruled the country for most of the years since the country's independence in 1960, Arinze also points out that some of the best-known perpetrators of Islamist terrorism (including Osama bin Laden and Nigerian-born "Underwear Bomber" Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab) were in fact born and raised in wealthy families.

He writes: "There is no question that the 19 heartless young men who carried out the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 disliked a lot of things about the United States.  Still, everyone knows they did not have to do what they did on 9/11.  Their suicide mission was not an acceptable or excusable expression of the anger and frustration they felt toward Americans or the United States government.  It was a... deliberate, horrific choice.  To suggest that a different standard applies in the case of Boko Haram in Nigeria is disingenuous and hypocritical."