The Hunt for Boko Haram: Investigating the Terror tearing Nigeria apart - Softcover

Journalist Alex Perry explores the context to the Chibok kidnappings that inspired the global #bringbackourgirls social media campaign. Perry looks at the flawed foundations of the Nigerian state, the toxic legacy of North-South mistrust and the decades long power struggles and corruption within the ruling classes. He demonstrates that Nigeria's booming oil economy means that the government has no reason to be interested in its electorate; so great is the imbalance between the government's domestic revenues and the taxation revenues on foreign corporations . Perry interviews generals, statesmen and citizens in his quest to find out who Boko Haram really are - global terrorists inspired by Al Quaida as the Nigerian government and others claim? Perry does not think so, his research points to a much more local but no less savage agenda spawned in a perfect storm of poverty, corruption, resentment, suspicion and fundamentalism. He shows how endemic abuses of power have set Nigeria up for such an outcome, and looks at some of the work being done to try to prevent Nigeria from descending into further anarchy or becoming an irevocably failed state. First hand accounts of and interviews with victims of the violence sweeping Nigeria and some of those working to halt it are the foundation of this attempt to get as close as possible to the truth. Whilst, as one interviewee puts it, in Nigeria all truth is relative.

Alex Perry is an award-winning author and correspondent, and a contributing editor to Newsweek. He has reported from around 100 countries around the world and covered 35 wars. His latest book, The Rift: Stories from the New Africa, will be published worldwide in 2015. His previous books include Falling Off The Edge: Globalization, World Peace and Other Lies and Lifeblood: How to Change the World, One Dead Mosquito at a Time.