The Boko Haram Impasse: Community Policing as a Nostrum for Conflict Resolution

Abstract Virtually a decade of Boko Haram terrorism in Nigeria has described the Islamist Jihadist as the most notorious and intractable insurgent group that has ever featured in the country, because they have irrepressibly posed great threats to national security by destructively attacking organizations, both local and international, and laying viable foundation for immanent underdevelopment of the Nigerian state. The study adopted a qualitative methodological approach of one-on-one semi-structured in-depth interviews to examine the phenomenon within a functionalist and ethno methodologist frame work. The findings suggest community policing approach, among other preventive policy recommendations, as a new paradigm shift in counterterrorism strategy to resolve the crisis in Nigeria, as well as, prevent future occurrence of such menace in this part of sub-Saharan Africa.