Spotlight: ISS contributes to security and stabilisation strategy in Lake Chad Basin

ISS research informed an updated regional strategy to tackle violent extremism, development challenges and organised crime.

Published on 16 April 2025 in Impact

The Institute for Security Studies (ISS) ensured that specific conflict dynamics were accounted for in the revised Regional Stabilisation Strategy adopted by the 5th Lake Chad Basin Governor's Forum in Maiduguri, Nigeria, in January 2025. The ISS was one of only two organisations invited to brief the event organised by the African Union and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

‘We call on the ISS when governments need urgent insights and analysis of the current conflict,’ said Dr Chika Charles Aniekwe, former head of the UNDP Regional Stabilisation Programme for the Lake Chad Region.

‘This is because of ISS’ independence and integrity. We value their work and know their information and analysis will be objective. There is consensus among UN entities and governments in the Lake Chad Basin that the ISS is the institution with the credibility and capacity to provide accurate analysis of conflicts in the region.’

Insecurity in the Lake Chad Basin is driven by the violent extremist group Boko Haram and transnational organised crime syndicates. Extreme poverty, climate pressures, weak public services and trafficking of illicit goods compound the problem. The crisis has led to mass displacement of people, destruction of property, human rights abuses and falling living standards.

At the Maiduguri forum, ISS researchers spoke at a session on managing people who leave Boko Haram, and moderated a plenary on the links between drugs and violent extremism. ISS also co-hosted a side event on regional drug trafficking and insecurity with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

Drugs are both a symptom and a driver of insecurity. ISS field research revealed links between drug trafficking and violent extremism, with evidence that Boko Haram fighters are fuelled by illicit drugs.

ISS’ evidence-based analysis helped the technical strategy committee make decisions based on accurate data

Originally an Islamic sect in Nigeria’s Borno state, Boko Haram turned violent in 2009 and expanded into Niger’s Difa region, the northern regions of Cameroon and two of Chad’s provinces.

Military responses had some success in taking back territory and restoring peace. The first version of the stabilisation strategy in 2018 helped rebuild infrastructure, services, security and livelihood opportunities, and reintegrate former Boko Haram associates. Displaced people began returning, markets opened and schools, clinics and housing were rehabilitated.

But a weakened Boko Haram continued sporadic attacks, adapting their tactics in response to the military campaigns against them. ‘They mastered the terrain and can hit a government target and vanish into the region’s swamps and islands,’ says ISS Senior Researcher Remadji Hoinathy.

‘It’s a problem spanning several countries’ borders, so needs a regional approach. This is the rationale for the strategy adopted by the Lake Chad Basin Commission.’

The ISS team, working under Executive Director Fonteh Akum, included researchers in Nigeria and Cameroon, and field observers and consultants monitoring developments on the ground. The team collaborated with community organisations and university research centres.

ISS’ evidence-based analysis helped the Lake Chad Basin Commission’s technical strategy committee make decisions based on accurate data and a sound understanding of the unfolding crisis. Quarterly conflict and security risk analyses by the ISS guided the commission’s peacebuilding work and informed development and humanitarian interventions.

The strategy has a regional approach, but also considers specific responses at a country and state/region level. ‘What works in Chad may not work in Cameroon,’ Hoinathy says.

The ISS team also contributed to regional policies on transitional justice and community-based reconciliation and reintegration.

For more information, contact:

Remadji Hoinathy, ISS: [email protected]