Professor Jones
English 1102
14 June 2014
U.S involvement in Nigeria In the beginning of April of this year Nigeria experienced a series of kidnapping by the terrorist group Boko Haram. As many as 276 schoolgirls were kidnapped from their school in Chibok. The Nigerian authorities were warned hours before the incident yet they did nothing. Now the lives of girls as young as 9 to 16 are being forced into marriage, and most will be sold in a market for as little as 12 American dollars. Due to the fact that the media decided to hold off announcing the crisis it delayed the time in which global assistance could’ve been in progress, possibly avoiding such an increase in the number of girls that were kidnapped. The U.S involvement is critical due to the increasing number of girls being abducted. Allowing the U.S to be involved gives Nigeria the advantage of having, “experts who could include U.S. military personnel, law enforcement officials with expertise in investigations and hostage negotiations as well as officials with expertise in other areas that may be helpful to the Nigerian government in its response” (par.9). The terrorist group Boko Haram is a militant Islamic group whose name is translated to mean, “Western education is a sin” (Eichelberger). The groups official name Jama'atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda'awati wal-Jihad, in arabic means, "People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet's Teachings and Jihad". Boko Harams purpose in its wrongdoings is to enforce a stricter sharia law. Sharia Law is a code of law derived from the Koran. Boko Haram vowed to implement sharia law throughout the country, but the government only agreed to partially allow the law. The terrorist group doesn’t believe in allowing woman to pursue an education and believe women should be at home taking care of the household and catering for their husbands. After the death of Mohammed Yusuf the founder of Boko Haram, his supporters killed thousands of people in an attempt to get revenge for the death of their founder, and to scare the people of Nigeria from Western education. Thousands of children get kidnapped in Nigeria annually which is why they most likely showed very little importance. The Nigerian government is extremely proud of their government but in this instance they showed weak effort in finding the schoolgirls. This lead to an increase in number of girls kidnapped which called for the U.S to offer their help. Allowing the U.S to intervene gives them the chance to create an effective and conspicuous way to defuse Boko Haram. The U.S immediately got the attention of the public by advertising it in social media starting with the #bringbackourgirls campaign. Due to the fact that so many people got involved with the movement it increased its importance in the eyes of our leaders here in the U.S. leading them to feel obliged to the act. The advertisement has received so much publicity that it generated a meaningful action. The #Bringbackourgirls campaign has created so much pressure on Nigeria finally making them serious about Boko Haram. Now what does being involved in helping Nigeria do for us? Nigeria has proven to have the largest economy in Africa serving as a national interest to us; it’s also our leading trading partner In Sub-Saharan Africa. Nigeria is known for its oil, producing the largest amount of oil in the entire continent, and when America feels its oil is being threatened it must intervene to protect its oil supply. Technology and level of expertise has also played a huge role in what America has to offer the Nigerians in a time like this. In an article from the Washington Post they state how, “These personnel will support the operation of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft for missions over northern Nigeria and the surrounding area.” The U.S has a lot of well-trained military personnel who are very familiar with situations like these and are able to train the Nigerian military in order to augment the