A GIS TOOL FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF THE NATURE OF INSURGENCY IN BORNO STATE

The various activities carried out by the fundamentalist group called Boko Haram have created fear among the populace and the international communities. This group was the first set in Nigeria to be labeled as an insurgent organization by the United State of America and its associates. Since 2009 to date the group has carried out so many violent activities in the North-eastern Nigeria through Kidnapping, suicide bombing, attacks on innocent citizens and robbery. The study explores the usefulness of Geographical Information System (GIS) in understanding the various pattern and nature of insurgency in Borno State. In other to achieve this aim, the study provided the following objectives which include updating the existing database of insurgency activities in Borno State showing the pattern of the nature of insurgency in Borno state from 2009 to 2017 and identifing the area with the highest and lowest insurgency activities in the state. Secondary data where utilized from Armed Conflict Location and Events Dtat (ACLED) 2018 version, and security records. ArcGIS was employed for the analysis of the spatial pattern of the nature of insurgency. The result shows that suicide bombing was the commonest nature of insurgency in the study area with 505 incidence, while attacks on foreigners was the least with 9 incidence. It further shows that Maiduguri had the highest insurgency incidence throughout the period of study. The study therefore recommended that adequate security measures showed be employed, rollout counter violent extremism programs and emphasized the humanitarian dimension of international aid.