Why children keep getting kidnapped in Nigeria + the Kenyan women who join Al-Shabaab

In this episode, insurgent groups in northern Nigeria continue to kidnap schoolchildren as the government struggles to protect communities against militants such as Boko Haram. And we speak to a researcher who has interviewed Kenyan women about why they joined the jihadist group Al-Shabaab. Welcome to episode 12 of The Conversation Weekly.

Schoolchildren in northern Nigeria continue to be abducted by insurgents, including the jihadist group Boko Haram, whose name means ‘Western education is forbidden’. In this episode, Wale Fatade from The Conversation in Lagos speaks to two experts to find out why children are still at such risk. Hakeem Onapajo, senior lecturer in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Nile University in Nigeria, explains that Boko Haram targets children for us as slaves in its camps, including girls as sex slaves. And Samuel Okunade, a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Pretoria, laments that the government’s failure to improve the security situation has left communities to fend for themselves. 

In our second story, we cross the continent to Kenya to hear about women who joined the jihadist group, Al-Shabaab. Fathima Azmiya Badurdeen, lecturer in the Department of Social Sciences at the Technical University of Mombasa in Kenya, has been interviewing women who have since left Al-Shabaab about their experiences and why they joined the group. She explains that while some joined willingly, others were forcibly recruited, and the line between voluntary and involuntary is often blurred.

And Bryan Keogh, business editor at The Conversation in New York, gives us his recommended reads. 

The Conversation Weekly is produced by Mend Mariwany and Gemma Ware, with sound design by Eloise Stevens. Our theme music is by Neeta Sarl.

If you'd like to sign up for The Conversation's free daily newsletter, please subscribe here. To get in touch, find us on Twitter @TC_Audio or on Instagram at theconversationdotcom. Or you can email us on [email protected]. Full credits for this episode can be found here. And a transcript is available here.

Further reading

• Why children are prime targets of armed groups in northern Nigeria, by Hakeem Onapajo, Nile University of Nigeria
• Nigeria’s poor response to Boko Haram has left border communities feeling abandoned, by Samuel Okunade, University of Pretoria
• Why there’s a mismatch between funding for Nigeria’s military and its performance, by Temitope Francis Abiodun, University of Ibadan
• Why we did it: the Kenyan women and girls who joined Al-Shabaab, by Fathima Azmiya Badurdeen, Technical University of Mombasa
• Pasha 100: Tackling banditry, terrorism and kidnapping in Nigeria, including an interview with Sheriff Folarin, Covenant University
• How climate insecurity could trigger more conflict in Somalia, by Andrew E. Yaw Tchie, Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
• Why Somali clan elders could hold the key to opening dialogue with Al-Shabaab, by Mohammed Ibrahim Shire, University of Portsmouth
• Vaccine mandates aren’t the only – or easiest – way for employers to compel workers to get their shots by Elizabeth C. Tippett, University of Oregon
• At what age are people usually happiest? New research offers surprising clues by Clare Mehta, Emmanuel College.