Boko Haram Insurgency in Borno State, Nigeria: Assessment of Destroyed Public Buildings and Appraisal of Causes of Escalation

Armed conflict is one of the major challenges of today and in most instances, the construction sector is the second most affected area after human lives. Nonetheless, economic impact of losses incurred in the sector are always mirrored in the perspective of fixing back the wreckages in their original forms, rather than fixing back their improved and more secured versions. After all, the need for every community, particularly in Nigeria to be accorded the privilege of modern and secured public facilities cannot be overemphasized. In fulfillment of this need therefore, the study enumerated all public buildings destroyed during Boko Haram Insurgency in Borno state, redesigned and evaluated their improved and more secured versions for reconstruction. Additionally, to curtail the magnitude of destruction of public buildings, the reasons behind the bizarre escalation of the insurgency were investigated and remedies established. Structured and self-administered questionnaires were used for data collection and Chi Square is the statistical tool utilised. The study revealed that, public buildings destroyed during Boko Haram insurgency in Borno State require the sum of N3, 614,653,400,000.00 to be replaced with their improved and more secured versions. Identified factors responsible for escalation of Boko Haram Insurgency are Security Forces and Boko Haram Group itself, with no significant difference in their levels of contribution to escalation of the insurgency. It is therefore concluded that the security forces only succeeded in worsening Boko Haram Insurgency. Hence, complete overhaul of the Nigerian security apparatus on civil disorder is recommended among others.