Nigeria: Boko Haram actively planning to kidnap foreign workers

Event

The governments of both Britain and the U.S. have issued a travel warning over alleged Boko Haram plans to kidnap western foreign workers in the Bama Local Government Area of Borno State, along the Kumshe-Banki axis. Although at least 20,000 people have been killed in northeastern Nigeria since 2009, abductions of foreigners have been rare.

International aid workers now account for the majority of foreign nationals in northeast Nigeria, and most are based in the Borno state capital, Maiduguri.

Context

The northeastern region of Nigeria is highly susceptible to attacks by Boko Haram, which pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) in March 2015 and formally adopted the name of Islamic State in West Africa. Al Barnaoui, son of Mohammed Yusuf - the founder of Boko Haram - was nominated by IS in August 2016 to replace Abubakar Shekau, leader of Boko Haram since 2009. Since then, the two leaders have been leading dissident factions with mixed ambitions, Al Barnaoui blaming Shekau for massacring civilians rather than focusing on military targets.

Terrorist attacks are common in northern cities and towns. Public venues (markets, places of worship, schools, bars, areas where broadcasts of sports competitions are displayed, etc.) as well as security forces and governmental buildings are frequently struck by attacks, suicide bombings (targeted or untargeted), and kidnappings (regularly followed by assassination and targeting primarily  foreign nationals).

Advice

The security environment in Nigeria is complex and particularly poor in the northeast and extreme south of the country due to the presence of armed groups, high crime rates, and the risk of kidnapping. Some Western governments consequently advise against travel to certain areas of the northeast (e.g. states of Borno, Yobe, Gombe, Bauchi, and Jigawa as well as parts of Kano and Adamawa states) and the southern Niger Delta region (e.g. states of Delta, Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom, and Rivers). Professional security advice and support should be sought prior to travel to these areas.