Counter-Terrorism: Boko Haram’s Finances Have Reduced Significantly - NDC Commandant Says

Rear Admiral Olumuyiwa Olotu, the Commandant of the National Defence College (NDC), has said Boko Haram’s revenue had significantly declined since 2016 due to the counter-terrorism efforts of the Federal Government.

Olotu spoke at the Defence and Security Management Course 8 (DSMC 8) seminar with the theme: Countering the Financing of Terrorists: Leveraging Global and Regional Institutional Mechanisms for National Action, organised by the Centre for Strategic Research and Studies of the NDC yesterday in Abuja.

The commandant noted that Boko Haram had remained operational for nearly 14 years, sustained by diverse funding sources, such as local extortion, kidnapping, robbery, foreign donations, and illegal mining.

According to him, in 2014, Boko Haram’s estimated annual revenue ranged between $20 million to $70 million with $10 million coming from kidnappings alone.

Olotu said as of 2020, Boko Haram’s revenue had “reduced to less than $10 million annually”.

He said: “These efforts have resulted in a decline in the financial strength of organisations, such as ISIS, whose revenue fell from between $1 billion to $2 billion in 2014 to between $200 million and $300 million in 2019.

“Likewise, AQM’s financing has dropped from $91 million to between $5 million to $10 million since 2020.”