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Boko Haram's four-year-old insurgency has pitted neighbour against neighbour, costmore than 4,000 lives, displaced close to half a million, destroyed hundreds of schoolsand government buildings and devastated an already ravaged economy in the NorthEast, one of Nigeria's poorest regions. It overstretches federal security services, withno end in sight, spills over to other parts of the north and risks reaching Niger andCameroon, weak countries poorly equipped to combat a radical Islamist armed grouptapping into real governance, corruption, impunity and underdevelopment grievancesshared by most people in the region. Boko Haram is both a serious challenge andmanifestation of more profound threats to Nigeria's security. Unless the federal andstate governments, and the region, develop and implement comprehensive plans totackle not only insecurity but also the injustices that drive much of the troubles, BokoHaram, or groups like it, will continue to destabilise large parts of the country. Yet,the government's respons