A total
of 18 new armed groups have sprung in Nigeria in the last 17 months, according
to a report by a crisis-monitoring group.
The report puts Nigeria
well-ahead of any other African nation, as the country with the fastest-growing
number of new armed dissident groups.
In apparent reflection
of a poor crisis-management mechanism, the report by the Public Security &
Safety Advocacy department of Intersociety shows that in the first 15 months of
the President Muhammadu Buhari administration, as many as 18 disaffected groups
took up arms across the country.
Painting a gloomy
portrait of regional security, the report showed that as at August 2016, at
least 28 African countries were embroiled in internal conflicts fuelled by a
total of 220 armed opposition and insurgency groups. Of these the Democratic
Republic of Cong leads the pack with 36 armed opposition groups, followed by
Libya with 28. South Sudan comes next with 26 warring groups while Nigeria is
fourth with 20 armed groups.
Whilst Nigeria’s ranking might not at first appear alarming,
crisis monitors are already hitting the panic button considering that the
country has jumped from its 13th position in May 2015 to fourth position in
August 2016; a record time of just 15 months. The number, therefore, of
non-state armed or resistance groups that have taken up arms against the
Federal Republic of Nigeria under President Muhammadu Buhari has risen from two
on May 29, 2015 to 20 in August 2016.
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