Nigeria Social media dynamics in Boko Haram’s terrorist insurgence

Medinat Abdulazeez Mcilefakis

A major factor enabling the spread of social media in Nigeria is the power it confers on its user. The “attention economy” as the back-bone of social media consequently fuels the “vanity of the self” and has led to the popularity of social media influencers who have operationally crafted social media to become opinion shapers. Telecommunication companies (TELCOs) such as MTN, Airtel, Glo- bacorn and 9-Mobile have invariably influenced the mechanisms through which social media is available as conflict-impacting tools. They are the social media enablers. Boko Haram, the Nigerian government and the Nigerian populace are the social media profiteers who appropriate the specificities of social media to achieve varied objectives. Hashtag Activism has helped to redirect the perception of Boko Haram’s terrorism and remains an essential part of citizen’s participation in counter-terrorism operations using social media. Social media tech companies and CSOs could utilise existing features and programmes to directly and indirectly mitigate Boko Haram’s insurgent terrorism in Nigeria.

The social media revolution and its enablers

Nigeria caught the global internet buzz around 1996. Prior to this, the fastest means of communication was voice calls using non-mobile telephones. The Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC)’s granting of internet broadband operation licenses to about 38 different companies in 1996 marked the beginning of the social media revolution in Africa’s most populous nation. When the companies began operation, internet cates sprang up in many urban cities including Lagos, Kaduna, Port-Harcourt, Kano and Enugu. At this time, internet-based activities comprised instant messaging (IM) using applications such as Yahoo. As more web-based social media applications such as Facebook emerged, internet cafes (or cyber cafes as they are more popularly called) experienced increased traffic with people thronging in to get connected to old friends and meet new ones. The IM options on Facebook increased its versatility as a socialisation and communication tool for many Nigerians. By 1999, Nigeria had about 200,000 internet users (“Telecoms growth in Nigeria” n.d.)

Telecommunication Operators (TELCOs) began operations in 2001 with the launch of GSM services by South African giant MTN and India-owned Bharti

Airtel. Since then, according to the NCC, mobile telephone usage has increased exponentially, rising from 8.5% in 2004 to 92.14% in 2014. Nigeria now has Africa’s largest mobile phone market with 167 million connected GSM lines (Jacob and Akpan 2015). MTN and Airtel pioneered broadband internet services which made access to social media applications much easier, more private and better accessible. The number of internet users steadily rose to 4.9 million in 2005, 38.3 million in 2010, 82 million in 2015 and 98 million in 2018 (Internet Live Stats 2019). After the telecommunications sector became privatised, their continuous competition for subscribers led to the availability of internet access at affordable rates such that, even with an economic recession, Nigerian households could still alford airtime for calls and internet data. The availability of internet data automatically increased the reach and use of social media applications such as Facebook, 2go, WhatsApp, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Telegram and other microblogging platforms. Nigeria in 2019 had about 24 million users (12% of the country’s entire population) across all of these social media platforms with Facebook having the highest user/engagement status, with 22 million users ( We are Social n.d.).

Social media revolutionised the societal, economic and political landscape of Nigeria. More businesses became operational and were driven by their Facebook and Instagram presence, while Twitter became the site for shared and disparate views on politics, sports, activism and social interactions. Nigerians appropriated the use of trends and hashtags to drive discussions on any and every issue, and when Boko Haram’s terrorist insurgence emerged in the north east in 2009, social media became an important tool in the hands of the insurgents, the government and security agents and the Nigerian populace.