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An armored vehicle of Nigerian Security Forces drives by newly built homes, ahead of the community re-opening ceremony which was destroyed by Boko Haram armed militants in 2015, in Ngarannam, Borno State, Nigeria, October 21, 2022.
Jihadist violence surges in Nigeria as terror networks expand
According to the Institute for the Study of War, Salafi-jihadi groups are gaining strength in parts of Nigeria beyond their usual strongholds in the northeast. In the north-central and northwestern regions, these groups are linked to Boko Haram, al-Qaida, and Islamic State branches in West Africa.
Why it matters? Jihadist groups in Nigeria are suspected of working to expand al-Qaida and Islamic State operations near the Gulf of Guinea and the Sahel – a major region economically, holding 2.7 of the world’s gas reserves and 4.5% of its oil.
Experts have been warning that weaker international and regional counterterrorism efforts were allowing terrorist groups to grow and increasingly cooperate, spreading instability across an already fragile, and economically critical, region.