An Islamic State is forming in Africa right now and they can't be stopped: World Reframed 12
But is that the whole story? Or is the way Nigeria’s crisis is framed shaping how the world misunderstands what’s happening in Africa?
Since Boko Haram began its insurgency in 2009, more than 19,000 churches have been destroyed or shut down, and nearly 15 million people have been displaced. Clergy are increasingly targeted: in 2025 alone, at least 15 priests were kidnapped.
It is real. It is devastating. But the narrative of Christians versus Muslims misses the complexity.
The perpetrators are not one monolithic force. Boko Haram and its splinter group ISWAP are part of it. But so are armed Fulani militias clashing with farmers over land. And criminal syndicates run kidnapping rackets where ransom is the real motive.
In Kaduna State’s Rijana area, jihadist camps are believed to be holding 850 Christians hostage. Those whose families cannot pay are killed.
When framed only as religious persecution, the world risks missing the deeper drivers: weak governance, economic desperation, corruption, and even climate change.
The role of the state
Advocacy groups like Intersociety have accused elements of Nigeria’s security forces of complicity in kidnappings and killings. Sometimes they look away. Sometimes worse.
That blurs the line between counterinsurgency and persecution. Nigeria’s crisis is not only about insurgents, but also about governance failures and the erosion of trust between citizens and the state.
Borders that protect insurgents, not citizens
On paper, Nigeria has one of Africa’s largest militaries. In reality, insurgents move freely across porous borders with Niger, Chad, and Cameroon.
These borders slow down Nigerian troops, who are often tied up in checkpoints and bureaucracy. But for insurgents, rivers, forests, and deserts are open highways. Weapons and fighters flow across with little resistance.
It is a cruel irony: the very lines drawn to define nations protect insurgents while trapping citizens.
ECOWAS delays as villages burn
In August, ECOWAS announced a bold plan: a 260,000-strong joint counter-terrorism force, at a cost of $2.5 billion annually.
The need is urgent. West Africa accounted for 51% of global terrorism deaths in 2024. Over a thousand insurgent groups are believed to be active.
But the plan is stalled. Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso pulled out of ECOWAS in January. Without them, intelligence sharing breaks down, and the joint force is weakened.
While ECOWAS delays, villages are attacked, churches fall, and displacement camps fill. Insurgents don’t wait for budget approvals.
Why framing matters
When the world sees only “Christians under fire from jihadists,” the response is militarised: send troops, sell weapons, declare war on terror. That framing sometimes benefits factions within states, particularly armies that want the problem seen purely as jihadist groups carving out a caliphate.
But when reframed, the picture shifts. It shows displaced families trapped in ransom economies, local peacebuilding efforts that rarely get support, and communities whose survival depends on more than soldiers.
Nigeria’s stability matters far beyond its borders. With over 220 million people, its collapse would destabilise all of West Africa. Yet too often Africa is portrayed as a backdrop for violence.
The Global South lens forces new questions: What about the millions of Muslims in Nigeria who reject extremism? What about economic and climate drivers of conflict? And what about international partners who see Africa mainly as a security threat or a source of unwanted migrants?
Reframing the “Islamic State” in Africa
Yes, a new Islamic State is taking shape. Militants control swathes of territory, and their influence is expanding. But just as in Syria and Iraq, religion is only one piece of the puzzle.
Poverty, displacement, and survival are the real drivers fracturing communities. Groups that provide some form of order or resources, often Islamist militants, win allegiance not because of ideology, but because of need.
When reframed, the story is not simply about a religious war. It’s about failed governance, porous borders, delayed regional action, and communities abandoned in the middle.
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World Reframed is produced in London by Global South World, part of the Impactum Group. Its editors are Duncan Hooper and Ismail Akwei.
ISSN 2978-4891
This story is written and edited by the Global South World team, you can contact us here.
