The Responsibility to Protect and International Community Response to the Boko Haram Insurgency in Nigeria

The Boko Haram is group believed to have its origins in a group of radical Islamist youth who worshipped at the Alhaji Muhammadu Ndimi Mosque in Maiduguri a decade ago. The group emerged in Nigeria upon migration to a village called Kanama, Yobe state, near the border with Niger, to set up a separatist community established along with hard-line Islamic principles. The emergency is a reflection of violence and political instability inherent in the history of Nigeria since her independence from the British coloniser in 1960.This study examines how the Boko Haram insurgency has resulted in gaining attention dire of national and international humanitarian situations that is evident from human casualties, human rights abuses, livelihood crisis, and public insecurity, which portend negatively for the maintenance of national stability, peace and national security in Nigeria. The study employs historical research and content analysis method, and it adopts a descriptive and exploratory approach. The study adopts the notion of the Responsibility to Protect (RtoP) framework to interrogate the international community's response in protecting civilians who are non-belligerent parties. RtoP as a norm of intervention originated from the ascendency of human security emphasis in the global security architecture, which preceded the collapse of the Soviet Union that saw the end of the cold war between the superpowers. Findings reveal that a collaborative approach is needed at national, sub-regional, and international levels to aid public policymaking and implementation by authorities in Nigeria. This is essential for a successful counterinsurgency fight against the Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria.