In October 2024, women from countries across the globe converged on New York for the United Nations Security Council’s annual open debate on Women, Peace and Security (WPS).

In Nigeria, however, thousands of women and girls were sighing in despair. Many of them were thinking about where they might find their next meal. A humanitarian crisis in Nigeria’s northeast region remains critical, and people living there are in dire need of food, clothing and shelter.

These conditions of acute food insecurity, shelter, clothing and the unavailability of healthcare, and other services and widespread malnutrition in this part of the country now pose a challenge for internally displaced persons (IDPs) there. The disruption of transportation routes is hindering efforts by relief agencies to reach communities and people in need of humanitarian assistance. Additionally, women and girls are exposed to transactional sex and face the risk of sex ­­­­trafficking.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimates that as of 2024, 7.9 million people in Nigeria need humanitarian assistance. Women, children and the elderly comprise an overwhelming majority of those who in dire need of humanitarian assistance.

The risks that this continuing humanitarian crisis pose for an already fragile security situation are clear. But how inclusive are the government’s strategies to address the crisis?

The approaches to addressing the Boko Haram insurgency taken by both the Nigerian State and the international community have remained largely security-focused, and gender-blind. Most of the post-conflict plans for the northeast region do not respond to the needs of women (nor their role in peacebuilding), and are instead based on detached international notions of best practice.

The lack of gender inclusion, and the failure to adequately explore the intersectionality between gender, peace, and security, and the centrality of women in peacebuilding are helping to prolong the region’s humanitarian crisis. And the fact that there is little or no local ownership of the process also presents significant challenges. The political will of the Nigerian government to address the crisis will be enhanced if it considers both Indigenous and local peacebuilding initiatives by women.

A Whole-of-Society Approach?

Since 2014, the strategies adopted by Nigeria to address the Boko Haram insurgency also have advocated the need to supplement military actions by adopting a “whole-of-society approach” that aligns with a provision of the 2014 National Counter Terrorism Strategy (NACTEST). This strategy informed the adoption of the National Action Plan for Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism (NAPPCVE) in 2017, which took as its premise the adoption of a “whole-of-Government and whole-of-society” approach that is locally relevant and culturally sensitive.

Subsequently, Nigeria has developed two National Action Plans (NAPS), with the creation of a third plan now ongoing. These NAPs reflect the country’s commitment to the four pillars of the WPS agenda viz Participation, Protection, Prevention, and Relief and Recovery. The protection of women and girls during armed conflicts and the need to enhance their active participation in conflict prevention and peacebuilding in the post-conflict period are specific goals in these plans.

Yet despite these laudable steps, Nigeria’s strategies for addressing the Boko Haram insurgency have remained overwhelmingly focused on securitized responses over both a locally driven, grassroots peace process, and a multi-stakeholder approach which includes women. Rather than ameliorate violent extremism, this gender-blind approach has exacerbated it—as demonstrated not only by the spread of extremist violence across the country, but its spill-over effects in neighboring African countries including Cameroon, Chad and Benin.

Activities such as expanding international cooperation through a multinational joint task force and engagement with international aid agencies have brought greater military expertise, resources, and humanitarian support into efforts to defeat Boko Haram. But these tactics also raise concerns. One question is how the formulation and implementation of policies designed to end the insurgency are distorted by international protocols and practices. Another issue is the tendency of multinational forces to use the insurgency to pursue foreign policy objectives at the expense of local sovereignty. And another compelling concern is  how pressure by state governments for return and reintegration of IDPs prioritizes humanitarian policy fashions and domestic political appearance over the experience and security of an affected population, who has fled its own communities repeatedly because of recurring attacks by insurgents.

Moving Forward with a New Way of Thinking

After more than two decades of unsuccessful counterinsurgency in Nigeria, the need to rethink current strategies to address the Boko Haram insurgency is now a priority. Realigning them with the needs, priorities and capacities of women is a must, especially because building peace and security requires the inclusion of diverse voices and perspectives to ensure a more just and equitable world.

Nigerian women are neither helpless, passive victims, nor the “natural peacemakers”  that numerous discourses have deemed to be in need of protection by the state. Rather, they have been active in conflict resolution and peacebuilding processes. However, women have tended to fade into the background when official peace negotiations begin and the consolidation of peace and rebuilding of the economy become a formality.

Women in the northeast have made significant contributions to peacemaking and peacebuilding. Their active role in activism, early warning, and as informants for the state have helped significantly in addressing violent extremist narratives. Women also have been active in community advocacy, enlightening their communities on the danger of membership in a terror group, as well as encouraging cohesion in ending the insurgency. Many have also been involved in the rehabilitation and empowerment of female returnees, as well as the care of orphans. That these women remain at the marginal level in formal peacebuilding defies logic.

One significant shortcoming of Nigeria’s NAPs is the absence of the integral role of women’s groups (and, in particular, local women) in addressing the UN’s Women, Peace and Security (WPS) priorities and the integration of Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) considerations. The effective and full implementation of the WPS agenda at the local level can advance locally-led, gender-responsive, and inclusive peacebuilding efforts.

As Nigeria now develops its third National Action Plan (NAP) for the implementation of the WPS agenda, the valuable lessons regarding the integral role of women’s groups in addressing WPS priorities, and the integration of Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) considerations taught by a lengthy conflict and an ongoing humanitarian crisis should be prioritized.