THE EFFICACY OF JOINT TASK FORCE IN COMBATING BOKO HARAM INSURGENCY IN NORTHEAST NIGERIA

Abstract                                                                              

Over the years, Nigeria has been subjected to unrelenting attacks and threats by various Islamic extremists and armed violent groups. There is no part of the country that has been completely spared from the turbulence of violent conflicts since the return to democracy in 1999. In the North-east region, the persistent insurgency of Boko Haram presents a profound threat to state authority, perpetuating a cycle of violence that has resulted in widespread displacement and loss of lives. Because of the Boko Haram insurgency, a Joint Task Force (JTF) was set up to ensure the security of lives and properties in virtually all the states in northern Nigeria. But despite the heavy presence of the military and its Joint operations, conflicts seem to persist, and the capacity of the JTF to curtail them seems threatened or questioned. It is against this background that this study seeks to assess the efficacy of Joint Task Force in combating the Boko Haram Insurgency in the Northeast Nigeria. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design. Three research questions were generated to guide the study. The population of the study consisted of the Military, Police, Vigilantes, Local Hunters and Civilians. The study adopted simple random sampling to select the respondents for the study. The sample size was 250 randomly selected to represent the whole population. The instruments for data collection was a structured questionnaire. The responses on the questionnaire were structured on a 5-point Likert and rating scales of Strongly Agreed (SA) = 5; Agreed (A) = 4; Undecided (U) = 3; Disagreed (D) = 2 and Strongly Disagreed (SD) = 1. A reliability co-efficient of 0.81 was obtained for the instrument using Cronbach Alpha reliability method after a trial test of the instrument was conducted. Mean statistics was used to answer the three research questions of the study. All items with mean score of 3.0 and above were considered “Agreed” and if less than 3.0 was also considered as “Disagreed”.The study revealed that the Joint Task Force (JTF) has played a pivotal role in enhancing peace and security in Nigeria’s Northeast region. However, the JTF faced some challenges including inadequate funding, bad terrain, lack of mutual respect etc. It was recommended that to address the issue of poor communication and lack of mutual respect among security agencies requires the creation of unified command structures and joint operational strategies, to address the challenges of inadequate funding and logistical constraints, the government should allocate sufficient and consistent financial resources to the JTF.