by Damilola Jagun
According to a Forbes Israel report, “to finance their operations, terrorist groups often end up operating as criminal organisations, by taking up activities such as drug trafficking, robberies and extortion, raising money through charities, donations and, in some cases, government agencies.”
The publication’s report also contained the ten richest terrorist groups in the world, and Nigeria’s Boko Haram is number ten on the list.
The annual revenue of the Islamic terrorist sect is put at $25 million (N4,307,500,000).
The ranking puts ISIS at number one with an annual income of $2 billion. Hamas comes in at second place with $1 billion while Colombia’s FARC is ranked third with a $600 million yearly revenue. Hezbollah comes in at fourth place with $500 million, while Taliban is fifth with $400 million.
The terrorist organizations ranked between 5-10 are Al-Qaeda ($150 million), Pakistani-based Lashkar e-Taiba ($100 million), Somalia’s Al-Shabaab ($100 million), Real IRA ($50 million), while Nigeria’s Boko Haram rounds up the list.
If it is information about insurgents, Nigeria has enough by now but what is worrying is that such information may not have been well applied though it is not surprising,such end up in waste baskets as too minute to be true or too common to be meaningful. Yoruba will say ‘Enu e la’wa ………..’