How corruption increases Boko Haram membership

Transparency International (TI) says there’s a relationship between the rise of insurgency in and the level of corruption in Nigeria.

A report by TI stated that while African leaders are using their defence budgets to buy loyalty and build ‘patronage networks’ while inadvertently driving recruits to terrorist groups such as Boko Haram.

The report where this was affirmed, was commissioned to assess the risk of corruption in the defence institutions of 47 African countries.

In the report released on Tuesday in Johannesburg, Transparency International said the prevalent corruption in some African countries serves as a push-factor for insurgent groups like Boko Haram, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and al-Shabaab in Africa.

Leah Wawro, Watchdog Group’s Programme Manager for Conflict and Insecurity, stated that while some factors had certainly pushed new recruits to these organisations, the role of corruption is equally noteworthy.

Wawro opined that corruption had undermined the African states’ perceived legitimacy and led to a sense of disillusionment and abandonment across Africa.

She said military spending had increased by 91 per cent in Africa in the past decade, but anti-corruption bodies, audit functions and parliamentary committees were absent in most countries.

“By treating the defence sector as exceptional, its efficiency has been undermined. Corruption often had a negative effect on soldiers.”

“When commanders are skimming off the top and wages aren’t paid correctly, it has a range of negative effects, specifically on morale.”

“It can also lead to militaries becoming involved in smuggling and bribery. Although graft varies between states, there is no country in Africa whose defence sector is not vulnerable to corruption.”

“International arms exports are profiting from conflict and insecurity on the continent. Foreign governments have undue political influence on the defence procurement decisions in 70 per cent of the countries surveyed.”

Wawro added that China, US, France and Russia have all sought to take advantage of Africa’s increased defence spending through weapons sales.

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