The Boko Haram situation has received less attention from the media than the recent Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris due to Nigeria’s remote location and the inherent danger in working there, says Ricardo René Larémont, Binghamton University professor of political science and sociology.
“This is essentially a no-go zone," says Larémont. "There are very few journalists who can go there. Consequently, it is not going to get the attention that Paris would get. But, nonetheless, given how we were not present at the moment of the Rwanda conflagration and we acted belatedly in other crises in Africa, I think it is imperative upon the American electorate and also the American media…to keep attention on this issue because hundreds, indeed thousands, of ordinary Nigerians are suffering.”
According to Larémont, the situation is analogous to that of ISIS in Iraq, in the sense that, essentially, northern Nigeria is being sectioned off from Nigeria itself.
“Whereas now there isn’t an Iraq as we knew it or Syria as we knew it, we do not have a Nigeria as we knew it," says Laremont. "They’re essentially establishing their own sovereignty over the northeastern part of the country, and the government isn’t doing very much about it.”
Ricardo René LarémontProfessor of Political Science and Sociology at Binghamton University
Comparative politics, Islamic law, Islamic politics, conflict resolution
Department of Political Science Binghamton University (SUNY) Binghamton, NY 13902-6000
Education:Ph.D., Yale UniversityJ.D., New York University Law School
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