Insurgency and Socio-Economic Challenges in Borno State, 2014 – 2024

Abstract

This study examined the impact of insurgency on socioeconomic development in Borno State, Nigeria, from 2014 to 2024, with particular emphasis on education, healthcare, agriculture, and trade. The study was guided by Conflict Theory, which explains how competition over power, resources, and social control can generate conflict and produce unequal consequences across society. A qualitative research design was adopted, using in-depth interviews and snowball sampling to obtain information from internally displaced persons, returnees, host-community members, community leaders, and humanitarian workers. The findings indicate that the Boko Haram insurgency significantly disrupted education and healthcare development through the destruction and closure of schools and health facilities, displacement of teachers and health workers, disruption of learning, and reduced access to essential services. The study also found that insurgency adversely affected agriculture and trade by restricting access to farmlands, displacing farming communities, disrupting transportation and markets, destroying businesses, and reducing household income and food security. These effects were interconnected, as displacement, loss of livelihoods, poverty, and reduced access to social services reinforced socioeconomic vulnerability. The study concludes that the Boko Haram insurgency represents not only a security challenge but also a major impediment to sustainable socioeconomic development in Borno State. It recommends an integrated recovery strategy involving improved security, reconstruction of education and healthcare infrastructure, restoration of agricultural livelihoods, rehabilitation of markets and transport networks, and sustained support for displaced and returning populations.

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