Exploring the Necessity of Private Military Companies in the Fight against Insurgency in Nigeria

Abstract

The boko haram sect is waging an intractable insurgency war against the Nigeria state. This insurgency which started in 2009 has assumed a devastating dimension and seems to have overwhelmed the Nigerian armed forces. Although the current administration has consistently and regularly maintained that boko haram have been decimated and technically defeated the reality is that the sect is becoming deadlier and more daring by the day. Attacks are no longer limited to soft objects and civilians but targeted at the armed forces so as to gain military advantage. The recent sacking of a military battalion at Metele in which the army was completely and effectively annihilated by the sect bears eloquent testimony. It is therefore without equivocation that the Nigerian armed forces have no military capacity to contain and defeat boko haram. This position is further strengthened by the use of non-combatants called Civilian Joint Tasks Forceby the government. It is for these reasons that we are making a case for the use of Private Military Companies (PMCs) in the fight against boko haram. Since the 2003 war in Iraq, PMCs have become increasingly legitimate actors in modern conflicts. In fact, it is believed that the then Nigerian government surreptitiously deployed the use ofPMCs in effectively containing the boko haram in March 2015 thereby making it possible for elections to be held in the northeast of Nigeria. This article evaluates the boko haram insurgency from the view point of the failure of the Nigerian Armed Forces to curb the crises,the resort to the use of civilian joint task force and the necessity to deploy the use of PMCs as a solution to boko haram insurgency. The article concludes that PMCs have gained improved image in the world and had actually impacted positively on the Nigerian counterinsurgency effort within the short period it was deployed.