Nigeria is Facing Multiple Crises With Severe Global Effects, From Mass Migration to Terrorism. Here’s Why We Should Worry

SUMMARY

• Armed groups like Boko Haram and others kill, abduct, and displace Nigerians at a shocking scale, yet this rarely provokes international reactions.
• Prolonged crisis is creating a demographic time bomb due to mass displacement and the collapse of the school system.
• Violence is also crippling Nigeria’s economy, from business to agriculture. Nearly 26 million Nigerians face acute food insecurity.
• The Boko Haram insurgency has also displaced millions across Cameroon, Chad, and Niger. The absence of a strong Nigeria leaves West Africa dangerously exposed.
• Nigerians are fleeing in growing numbers; Nigeria risks becoming a base for transnational terrorist networks; and insecurity in the Niger Delta threatens global energy markets.
• The country’s fragile security requires local, regional and global solutions.

Nigeria’s persistent violent crises rarely provoke international reactions nowadays, yet their impact reverberates far beyond the country’s borders. Despite not being in a conventional war, armed groups like Boko Haram, violent separatists, militant herders, and armed bandits kill, abduct, and displace Nigerians at a scale that would dominate global news if it were happening elsewhere.

In May 2025 alone, at least 635 Nigerians lost their lives in violent attacks, while 182 were abducted. A month later, over 200 Christian farmers were massacred by Islamic herders in Benue State in one attack. The scale of this violence is staggering, but what is often overlooked is its wider significance. Nigeria’s insecurity is not confined within its borders; it destabilises West Africa, fuels migration toward Europe, and threatens global energy markets. How Nigeria confronts these challenges in the years ahead will determine not only its own survival but also the stability of its region and its role in the wider international order.

What are the local, regional, and global implications of Nigeria’s fragile security? What should policymakers at all three levels focus on?

Why Nigeria is Facing Humanitarian Catastrophe

At the heart of Nigeria’s crisis is an unrelenting wave of violence. Boko Haram and its offshoot, Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), continue to raid communities in the northeast, while armed bandits terrorise the northwest, abducting schoolchildren and extorting villages. Separatist militias in the southeast enforce a weekly ghost town that paralyses local economies, and militants in the Niger Delta sabotage oil pipelines with global ripple effects.

The toll on ordinary Nigerians is immense. A report states that more than 3.4 million people are internally displaced, living in camps where food, healthcare, and education are scarce. An additional 380,000 have fled across borders into Cameroon, Chad, and Niger. Schooling is collapsing: over 11,000 schools have shut down due to insecurity since 2020, and Nigeria now has more than 18 million out-of-school children, the highest in the world. The human costs are concentrated among women and children, who suffer disproportionately from abductions, forced recruitment, and sexual violence.

This is not simply a passing crisis. Prolonged displacement and the destruction of schools have created what development experts call a “conflict trap”: poverty breeds insecurity, insecurity deepens poverty, and the cycle repeats. In a country where over 60% of the population is under 30, this is a demographic time bomb.

Economic Breakdown and Food Insecurity in Nigeria

Violence is also crippling Nigeria’s economy. Once Africa’s largest economy, Nigeria has now slipped behind South Africa, Egypt, and Algeria. Businesses are closing in droves, and foreign investors are diverting their capital.

Agriculture, the backbone of Nigeria’s rural economy, is under siege. Bandits in the northwest demand “harvest taxes” from farmers; failure to pay often results in killings or abductions. In the Middle Belt, attacks against predominantly Christian farmers by the mostly Muslim Fulani herders have devastated communities. Nearly 26 million Nigerians face acute food insecurity. The result is rising hunger in one of the world’s most resource-rich nations.

What has been the effect of Boko Haram on neighbouring countries?

The Boko Haram insurgency has spilt into the Lake Chad Basin, displacing millions across Cameroon, Chad, and Niger. In Cameroon, Anglophone separatists have reportedly drawn inspiration and tactical support from Nigeria’s Biafran movement.

Nigeria’s weakened leadership has also diminished its once pivotal role in West African peacekeeping. This vacuum has coincided with democratic backsliding across West Africa, where coups in Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso, and Niger have reshaped the region’s political map. With France retreating and Russia advancing, the absence of a strong Nigeria leaves the region dangerously exposed.

Why events in Nigeria have global consequences

Events in Nigeria matter have global consequences in three critical ways.

1. Migration

Insecurity is pushing Nigerians to flee in growing numbers. Increasingly, violence, not just economic hardship, is driving migration to Europe and North America. A report shows that insecurity in Nigeria is the number one driver of migration from Nigeria to Europe. Nigerians now rank among the top asylum seekers in the UK, while more are arriving at the U.S. southern border via irregular routes.

2. Terrorism

ISWAP is formally aligned with the Islamic State and shares its global jihadist vision. Left unchecked, Nigeria risks becoming a base for transnational terrorist networks, echoing the trajectories of Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria.

3. Energy security

Insecurity in the Niger Delta threatens global energy markets. Nigeria remains a top oil and gas producer, critical to Europe’s efforts to diversify away from Russian supplies. Yet militant attacks routinely sabotage pipelines, slashing exports and triggering price spikes. Similarly, liquefied natural gas output has collapsed.

What policymakers can do to improve security in Nigeria

The Igbo proverb warns: “When an abnormality lasts long enough, it becomes the norm.” Yet silence in the face of such suffering is not only a moral failure; it carries real strategic costs.

Action is required on several fronts:

1. Locally, Nigerian authorities must strengthen state capacity and move beyond a purely militarised response to one that restores trust between citizens and the state. This means investing in communities affected by violence, addressing youth unemployment, and rebuilding schools in conflict zones.
2. Regionally, ECOWAS and the African Union must treat Nigeria’s stability as a collective priority, strengthening cross-border cooperation against insurgents and coordinating humanitarian relief.
3. Globally, partners such as the European Union, the United States, and multilateral bodies need to move from symbolic gestures to sustained commitments: supporting institutional reforms, providing resources for displaced populations, and helping secure vital energy infrastructure.

This is not charity but enlightened self-interest. The lesson is clear: Nigeria’s fragile security is a shared global challenge, and one that the international community can no longer afford to ignore.

Digested Read created by the author with editorial support from Anya Pearson.