How Nigeria is Bringing the Fight to Boko Haram

U.S. President Barack Obama praised Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari’s “very clear agenda in defeating Boko Haram” after the two met in Washington on July 20, less than eight weeks after Buhari took office. The former army general was elected on promises to root out the Islamist insurgents, but violence is still raging. Here’s how Buhari plans to right Nigeria’s course:

CHANGE AT THE TOP

In mid-July, Buhari replaced the heads of Nigeria’s army, air force and navy with new leaders carefully vetted and selected on the basis of merit and not seniority–a first for Nigeria, experts say. The President had already relocated the army headquarters from comfortable Abuja to Maiduguri in Borno state, where the insurgency began, to centralize operations close to the action.

CREATING A COALITION

Since taking office on May 29, Buhari has made overtures to top officials in neighboring Chad, Cameroon and Niger, where Boko Haram has staged attacks. Nigeria will lead those countries, plus next-door Benin, in a joint task force that will begin operations against Boko Haram by the end of July. Buhari also wants the U.S. to resume a training program for the Nigerian military that the previous government canceled and hopes for greater intelligence sharing with U.S. security services.

GROWING THE ECONOMY

With Nigeria’s economy under strain from stagnant oil prices, Buhari is seeking fresh resources to invest in the long-neglected northeast of the country, where poverty and lack of education have allowed Boko Haram to recruit disenfranchised young Muslims. One source of funds would be $150 billion believed to have been looted from the Nigerian treasury by corrupt ex-officials, which Buhari asked Obama to help find and return.

–NAINA BAJEKAL