According to estimates by the Nigerian Red Cross Society, more than 1000 children lost parents in July’s clashes between militant Islamist group, Boko Haram and police. Some news reports placed the death toll of people killed during the clashes in Borno and Bauchi state as high as 700. Head of the Nigerian Red Cross, Bullam [...]

More than 700 people were killed during a week of clashes between security forces and Boko Haram, the Islamist group, in Maiduguri, northern Nigeria. Watch Al Jazeera’s Yvonne Ndege dialogue with some of the young widows of suspected Boko Haram fighters held by the Nigerian authorities.

There is wide spread ignorance and poverty in Nigeria a situation which the Nigerian state has consistently failed to deal with. When one adds religious/social intolerance; youthful restiveness/idleness and unemployment to the mix, it leads to frustration. A frustrated soul will do anything to ventilate pent up emotions. Boko Haram and Niger Delta insurgency, both are indicative of a failing state.