Welcome back to the breakfast on PLOS TV Africa. Now an investigator reports by a journalist, Abdulaziz Abdulaziz, has basically uncovered a mass recruitment drive within the Boko Haram insurgency in North East Nigeria. We've invited him to shed more light on his findings. Good morning, Mr Abdulaziz. Good morning, thank you for having me. All right, so tell us what you found in the course of the investigation into the Boko Haram insurgency and their recruitment. Well, I think that this is an opportunity of my own interest in what is happening, especially in the north-western part of the country, what we normally call the planetary. This is a crisis that is affecting, obliqually, four states in the north, in the north-west as well as non-centralised Niger states, the states of Zampara, Kazina, Kaduna and Niger. Of course, they are worth it. And now we are seeing the emergence of deadly operations of such in KB as well as sub-portal states. So this, my latest report, is around how this is not only a boundary tree, I mean, rural boundary tree would also make up a person into Islamic insurgency with insurgent groups like Boko Haram going in there to recruit, or try to combat a lot of these rural boundaries into their own fort. That is, it is somehow transmitting from what is somehow an endless criminal activity into some sort of proposal in court movement, which, of course, is quite dangerous because when you have armed groups transmitting from just some purposeless bandits and criminals into unorganised criminals with even the criminal affiliation, I think it's worrisome for everybody. All right, we're eventually going to, there's some other aspects that I want to look at. But before that, let's talk about the availability of recruits. Paint a picture of what it is like in those regions. Is there a readily available number of persons waiting to be recruited into these groups? Is this as a result of the level of unemployment in those parts? And what else do we need to know about the availability of recruits into either boundary tree or into the Boko Haram sect? Well, you cannot actually put a number to it because this is something that these are people that are in hard-to-reach places, operating clandestry in forests that are largely inaccessible, which is dangerous. But, of course, going by the numbers of these armed men in the forest in these states, I mentioned, they run in the really thousands. And as my report indicated, these are areas with very large forests which you combine the four, the six states from Niger down out to Sokoto and you see that they have over almost 260 square kilometres, which is more than even the size of the United Kingdom. So it's a very large area and unfortunately, in a lot of the forests in these states, there are these criminal elements and it is these young people that are armed, there are the planning parties that the Boko Haram element, Boko Haram, Aishwab and Asaro, and I'll try to move up and bring them into their own umbrella. And of course, as I indicated in the story, this is like a move to somehow deplete attention from what is happening in the military operation in the Northeast and thereby attention to this other area. And also for the Boko Haram elements to create some sort of sub-hew where they can hibernate and also perhaps even get resources because there have been public statements like why the governor said that he will mention that a lot of money from activities of kidnappers in the North West end up in the Northeast. Abdulaziz, in your report, you mentioned that Boko Haram used emissaries, they used preachers to basically woold these bandits into their fold. Can you tell us more about the recruitment strategy of the Boko Haram terrorist? Yeah, you know, those, lately there are three things. One is of course the use of logistics because, you know, all these criminals, they're heavily on arms and ammunition. So any help, anyone who can help them to secure those arms can easily influence the way they think, the way they behave and all that. So of course because Boko Haram has access both internally and externally of a large cache of arms they can easily help or perhaps try to use that to lure these people. Then of course there is also an issue of information because in most of these places like what is happening in Niger and Carduna you find Boko Haram elements living side by side with bandits in these forests. So if there is information or intelligence they share with them. Then also there is the doctrinal part in which they try to preach, use clerics because of course most of these flany bandits even though of course they are not really religious so to say but they find their roots in Islam in the sense that a lot of them are originally Muslims. So it's easy to use religious sentiments to combat them which is happening in a lot of these places. They send emitteries in front of preachers who try to talk to these people into showing them how they can perhaps get religious backing for what they are doing. Ok so Abdullah Ziz you are saying that these people Boko Haram insurgents are using the background of religion to convince these bandits to join them and they are saying it's a jihad not necessary that they are massacring people and killing them. Yes that is it because if in a situation where they turn the thing into a religious thing it becomes a jihad and it is perhaps easy justification for all these things. It looks like Boko Haram will sing in the south in the north east trying to create divisions in the sense that these people don't believe in us and therefore are unbelievers and whatever belongs to them is lawful to us but we can kill them and combat their world and combat their women into ours. So all this by the time they sell this to others that's what they are trying to sell to these guys and by the time they buy this it now becomes somehow lawful or legitimate for them to justify all these atrocities to say oh we are doing this because these guys are not even believers and we are the believers and as we've seen from some recent happening the mastermind of the Yawri School of Education came out to say things somehow that sound like the usual Boko Haram method that oh I don't still but I only know more enough as soon as people who are working with government are soldiers. So all this you know is showing clear, clear, upper clear, alliance in terms of talks and ideas. Let's talk about you earlier mentioned the bandits Boko Haram and Saru and of course ISwap. How much of a problem is this for the Nigerian state if we now see these people recruiting more and of course spreading a similar ideology amongst themselves. Is this going to be a bigger problem rather for the Nigerian state and the ability to defeat these groups? Well this means a lot and actually it's really ominous. It is very bad for the Nigerian state because when we have some crisis that have lingered for years you have not been able to contend them and it is metamorphosing into some bigger problem because when you have more numbers and perhaps more territorial control then it means greater power and more little danger. In the sense that these guys for example if they are able to control even no matter how small a place it is, it's more so that this forest is really huge and the men in there are a lot and of course it's not really all doomed because this is just happening, this is somehow starting and that is perhaps the purpose of the story to call out authorities to this issue. Of course I'm sure that they must be aware but of course to also put it out there so that those who can take action should horribly try to halt what is happening because if we allow a bloke around Ansaro and others to take root in this northwestern Niger state forest then everybody is in trouble. What kind of action are you referring to now? What should be the response of the Nigerian government to this problem that seems to be getting to be a high dry headed? I cannot say exactly because I'm not a government but actually for me I think it's really been knee jack because if you notice how this thing is escalating the escalation is quite alarming and the response has not been commenced with the level of destruction and the expansion we've seen in this problem. Of course it's not to say that they are not doing nothing they are trying to perhaps the limits of what is available to them in terms of men and weapons but actually to be frank the effort is not commenced with the problem I had. I'm aware that you approached the DSS. The DSS spokesman Peter Afunaya with your findings. What response did you get? Well I got no response because of course no matter the story we tried to talk to people involved because as he just asked me I also wanted to know exactly what is the government's response especially to this changing pattern of the problem but when I tried to speak with them they didn't give any response and there was no response to my inquiry. And how dangerous do you think this is, a seeming silence from the government in the face of this massive recruitment and also how dangerous do you think it is because we saw a video recently about Bokoram insurgents pledging the alliance to the IS. As I said this is quite dangerous and the government has to really work up and immediately there is no time to waste because we've seen so many problems like for example in the Bokoram itself or everywhere has been happening in the South East transmuting from a small issue into a huge problem because of mismanagement at the initial stage so we need every effort and every attention to this problem because as I mentioned earlier if we allow this to linger over to expand and to really take root as the terrorist want then it is going to be really helpful to even the existence of the Bokoram engine because you have an honourable insurgency in the North East and then another approach, a very land one has been opened elsewhere then it should worry everybody especially the government and the security outfits. I also want us to go back a little bit if you recall well I would like to know what you know concerning the mergers between these groups if you recall after the news of Buboka Shekau's death it seemed like there were issues among factions of these groups not long ago, a couple of days ago I had seen a story of them of course coming together mending fences and becoming one I believe and fixing the factional issues that they have so tell us a little bit about what you know about that the factions that led to the death of Buboka Shekau and the rest of them are they currently in good terms are you aware that they are in good terms and of course maybe are now working together? What I know from the I don't have any studio knowledge I know and that was reported of that and of course a video to that effect is in circulation that the two sides will coincide and resolve together that is also another danger signal because at a point these guys of course they used to be one then they supported and then later become enemies and kill themselves which was very positive for the fighting forces on the left-wing side but now that they are announcing merger and coming back together it means that the destruction which could easily be exploited and I'm wishing they were expanding among themselves would not be all turned against our own forces and therefore it's really worrisome and there should be new people renewed effort to ensure that they are fought with all seriousness because as I said they are coming back means stronger incidents Abdulaziz I want us to address one fundamental issue regarding the term bandits it's been a subject of controversy when they are called bandits and we've had security analysts come out to say why should they be called bandits they are Bokoram insurgents so are you saying there's a difference between the Bokoram insurgents and the bandits and who exactly are the bandits are they herdsmen what exactly do we know about their identity? well that is really a naughty issue and as you said it has led to a lot of controversy and background fault I think it is also media coinage media coinage also happens because it's not like something you sit down and design or sit down and agree because that is how the name Bokoram started so it's what the media use that sticks if you see for example what happened in the south especially with the escalations in early this year we were on march up to maybe early June you see a lot of things happening but perhaps the last part of the media decided to call the perpetrators of the action on non-government so it's the same thing with bandits it's the same that this is the early coinage that okay these are bandits so of course not bandits but these mean armed criminals and of course the issue of identity is also there people will think why don't you call them these or that but the thing is there is a bit naughty in the sense that you don't use a part for the whole that is what I mean here is you can't say because for example at the start the Bokoram elements were allegedly cannurys from Borote or Angiobae you don't just say every action by Bokoram and say okay cannurys killed policemen for example or you cannot say will I be killed of those people because if you do that you sanction their action and now hung it over every person of that ethnic group you don't like saying I mean describing iphone as iphone for them you cannot say iphone was killed for his officer but of course if you come down to break it or of course they are iphone those like maybe majority of the Bokoram members especially at the beginning of the cannurys also the bandits they are largely planning young people and I think that is to make clear for example in my latest story even from the very first paragraph that was the word I used because from their action from their everything they are of Polanyi's talk so I think it's not really completely wrong if you call them Polanyi bandits but you don't just oppose or use one for the other that is you don't say you don't just say Polanyi or you just say Hada because it's really wrong and that media has really done a bad job there in the sense that we somehow I am a journalist so I don't exclude myself from that but we somehow helped escalating patients especially at the beginning during all the happenings in the North Central and all that so if you say Hada and then now everybody having cattle become a suspect because now it is generic and of course not all Hada does not like not all for example that the drivers are one child that is a local criminal all those all fish are men can be bonkers so all these things I think is some naughty but important lines that need to be drawn and every attempt to lock them up actually doesn't help just like also every attempt to like exclude or to try and externalize is also not helpful but Abdulaziz bandits commit acts of terrorism so why not the term terrorism and you know this like I mentioned has been a subject of debate so it seems like calling them bandits is like making light of what they do that shouldn't we as journalists address them as terrorists since they terrorize people well you know I don't know perhaps there is really an issue of a missing translation you know the concept of missing translation in the larger frame that is if you say somebody is a bandit you are not calling that person a holy man of course a bandit is a terrorist because anybody just perhaps people perhaps the word to the number 12 of years the word terrorist is found, granted or more but gladly bandits if you check the meaning is gladly the same thing as terrorists somehow of course terrorist is perhaps at the level of more organized organized or other but the dictionary definition of bandits shows is a criminal somebody using gun or using arm to commit crimes so it's not like if you say it's a bandit you are not calling him a saint or you are not calling him just any other name you are calling him a criminal people feel the word bandit perhaps is not strong enough but I don't think the thing for me is is not the word because as Shakespeare told us a rose by any other name would smell as sweet so if the most important thing is how you take them and how you treat them I want us to of course still speak on certain angles with regards how they have remained successful all this while reasonably successful they've continued to exist you've mentioned that there's thousands of them in these forests in northern states for a long time we've had conversations with regards what the government needs to do how to cut off their funding how to stop them from being able to get weapons and some of all of that has there been any success in that regard with being able to reduce their access to these high caliber weapons is there any ways that the Andran Government maybe needs to change its tactics to reduce the abilities that they have so you can you come again with the question that was raised alright so I'm asking with regards their abilities to continue to fund their activities and to be able to get weapons you've mentioned earlier that there's thousands of them in forests across northern Nigeria do you think that the Andran Government is doing well enough with reducing their access to weapons and high caliber weapons or do we need to change tactics yeah that is actually a major part of of all this problem that is access to weapons and weapons are what keep foiling this crisis in as much as there is almost free access to weapons then you don't know the end when the end will come for this it's of course no thanks to our poor old borders and our very non-chelix neighbors who perhaps almost allow free access fo fo to protect especially countries like Nigeria and TAC and from there you see most of these weapons come from there and they are very very much accessible to our government and security post-end agencies to ensure that we caught hell, we caught that link while that link is not caught actually I don't know when we can bring an end to this problem because these guys have almost unhindered access to weapons of course I understand that some operations have been undertaken lately to to stop that and I can see some level of success but I still feel that more needs to be done and we don't have to we don't do it alone we have to ensure that we bring in this our neighbors and let them participate fully to ensure because that if the entry point is not checked it is somehow difficult to stop things like this at the you know when they are here so we are basically talking about border control Mr Abdulaziz right? so also could you tell us if you have the details as to how Burkouram insurgency is funded in Nigeria and also what your thoughts really are about Sheikh Gumi and his direct involvement to the activities of the bandits and how his seem to speak up for them in the country there are no questions that I can answer successfully because beside what I know like almost every other person that is on Burkouram funding which is a lot of foreign funding because they have foreign collaborators and about I think in May I reported about how the government has arrested a number of businessmen and through the change of writers who have been, who were used to send money to some of these criminal groups they are, that is so there is that foreign part but also of course locally we always read about blocking roads especially the where the routinely abducts people and then demands even recently some staff of a UN agency was released by Burkouram and some others along with some about 10 others after of course you don't have to be told after payment of ransom so keep that in mind as a major means of raising funds and therefore access to money that sustain their operation then that is second to the foreign funding community but of course also we are not aware of attacks they sometimes undertake on military formation from where they often get weapons and other logistics so all these some of them I don't think is really some obscured issues is out there these are like majorly the means they use to sustain their operations and also get money because for me it has been really reckless because of course there is negotiators just like journalists you can't deny that anywhere in the world they can have access to criminal groups or individuals but there should not be an excuse or an alibi for one to somehow turn as crazy as the cleric has gone because in as much as you are trying to draw attention some of the genuine issues regarding this is also very very unwholesome that he somehow appears to be like an unofficial spokesperson for these groups there is a line which is somehow very thin but is there between what is the role of a negotiator or a mediator in a crisis like this and also being genuine and also with allegiance to your country not to criminal groups and I think a lot of times he is very uncontrolled statements and very much controversial of course because and unguarded and therefore is very difficult for people to raise questions around his motives or even in all these crisis alright Abdulaziz Abdulaziz thank you so much for the work you do I hope you do get that response from the DSS Mr Funaya I also will remind you to stay safe I would like to continue to hear from you and to speak with you on these issues thank you very much alright stay with us we will take a short break when we come back we are moving into talking about Namdekandu who has been re-arrested and the different angles concerning that story will be joined by Nika Gulley after the short break


Don't let me drown Okay, it's welcome back. If you're new here, hi, hello, my name is Lydia. Hi, I've decided that I want to talk to you a little bit about just my life, life update. As you can see, I'm getting more homely in my new place. Unicorn City, Hello City, me. All in all, I moved in, ish. I'm under the home treatment team. Majority of you will know that. No, my hat got wet while I was out. I'm under the home treatment team's care. The home treatment team come out and see me every day. They're actually presumed to be here very soon, actually. And basically, I get given my medication every day. Currently, they're treating me for a hypomanic episode. Um, I don't know what this means, diagnosis-wise, because I believe you have to be bipolar to experience hypomania. And at this current moment in time, as far as I'm aware, I'm not diagnosed with a disorder. So I don't know what's going on there. I'm waiting for a medication review and to see a consultant. I've been referred to art psychotherapy, like suicide loss, counselling, and, like, so daily check-ups. And they see me daily, giving me medication daily. My medication is the same as it was before. Neurazepam, quittiopean, clonazepam, venlafaxium. They are my current medications. I was taking soppy clothes at night because I can't sleep very well. And I know it's not good to take it all the time, but I do. And I have to, because I can't sleep. I don't try to sleep and be away. Because my thoughts at the moment are very racy and get very busy. And my emotions are very up. And I keep trying to ground myself and be like, that's not a rational thought. That's not a rational thought. That's not a rational thought. And it's hard to explain. Like, I'm going to be talking to someone later about it. Like, I'm going to be talking to the pain treatment team about it. Some really, really, really irrational thoughts. And then I'm just like, like, I know irrational. No. But like at the time, I'm just like, oh, that's actually logical. For instance, last night I started thinking, well, I try to kill myself all these times. So maybe I'm just immortal.  But I was able to justify it to myself. And for a good hour, I believe this. Today, I've been out. I didn't really do much out. Yeah. I don't know. I'm in a really weird headspace at the moment because I've never felt this up. Like, I've never felt this up, even when I did cocaine back in the day. I never felt this up. And right now I feel like I could do everything. Like, let's make a change. I'm not normally like this. So, but I guess this is where we are at in my life. And I don't really have much more to add. I'm currently getting treated for a hypomania. So they want to increase my chlamazepam, increase my chlotypine, and potentially add a mood stabilizer. Which, I used to be on a hypomania.  So, that's fun. That's about a bit of my life, really. I moved a few more things. I will insert the moving vlog now. Hey, got the sunglasses on. It's like, moving vlog part two. I'm going to head over to Wembley. My goal with this room is to turn it into like a bit of a sensory den. Like, I want it to be all like, like I've got my libelies in there. I'm very light. I want to set up textures in a minute. About to go. You might work off to the underground station and to come back to Wembley to get more of my YouTube set stuff. So I can get back to doing filming daily stuff because I want to start uploading more and I can't because I don't have a decent setup yet. But you guys might think it looks set up and nice and whatever. I'm not happy yet because I haven't got fairy lights. I'm plugging on my phone while I'm out because my camera's in my bag. And yeah, just going to go back to my flat to get my stuff. Normally I'm like, I'm just a vlog on the underground. There's no one here, so I don't come out. In the bay, people think that living in London is so grand. Doing all the filming myself today, which is like, ah, I'm very literally on my own in here. Like, there's no one else in this carriage or it's why I'm vlogging. So I'm heading to Empty Central to meet up with the viewer and then to get a coffee and then I'm going to carry on moving. So that's my morning. My phone's on 3% which is great. My job now is to decide, simply decide what I want to take with me today. So this is like moving vlog part two, really. I know I'm sure. I'm so sure. I'm going to have to put the tilt in upwards so you get the unattractive angles of me. Do I have an energy drink? I have an energy drink. These things are my life. I'm moving, I swear. All right, today I'm taking over all my YouTube-ery stuff so I can get settled and, you know, get back to doing videos. So, chuck everything little and put that back. I think I've got about as much as I can carry. Um, have you got my bag? I'm doing a spy of the underground. Oh my, everyone. So it's like, how much can I realistically juggle? And the answer is not a lot. I have no idea what's in a shot and what's not, but I've got my backpack, two bags. I hope to God my rooster card works because my purse is buried underneath stuff in the bags. I've got to carry my camera around my neck. Fun. The phone is there. Keys are there. Yeah, that's about it.  So I didn't end the video yesterday. I've ordered something, actually. I'm tired. It's past half an hour. Q and A. Um, London to another, especially via the road and the underground, is the worst thing ever. Like you could just, theoretically, you just need like a helicopter to just pick it up and then bring it now. And that would work. That would be brilliant. I don't know if I'll have so much easier, but no. I'll just move in via the underground. I want to give a quick shout out to my Patreons, which are Ja, Ryan True, Izzy Watkins, Bihotower, and Agni, Agnias on the screen. Sorry. Please send me an audio clip or I'd say it. Thank you guys so much for watching. If you'd like to be featured in the next end screen card thing, become a Patreon. My Patreon link is in the description down below, along with all the other links to my stuff, like my book and my Patreon, my PayPal. Everything goes down there. Even the equipment I use on my videos. How amazing. I think there's also a delivery code about that too. Thank you guys so much for watching. I'll catch you in the next one. Peace.


Book problem, we're gonna have to give us that number. And if it's real life, then we're gonna have to project, well, how much did we produce last time period? What's our traditional sales for July? What's the market like in July and all this kind of stuff? And come up with the amount of numbers that we're gonna produce in units. We'll multiply that times, how much we're gonna charge per unit. And that will, of course, give us the dollar revenue. So we got the unit revenue, we got the dollar revenue. We'll do the same thing for August. We're gonna say we're gonna produce 19,600 units. What do we come up with that number? Again, we're gonna have to project it out and think how do we do last year, what's the market like, how things can happen. But then we just multiply that times our 24 and we come up with the dollar amount for 7,400. Same for September, we're just gonna project the 20,100 book problem.  We'll have to project that in some way, probably a very significant process to do that. And we're gonna have the 24, the sales price. That gives us the 480 to 400. Totals then would be 60,300 units and we would have dollars in revenue of 1,447,200 in terms of revenue. Now that we know this, we can move forward. How much do we need to make? How many units do we need to make if we're gonna sell this many units? And you might think, well, we need to make 60,300. If we're gonna sell 60,300. But once again, think about the idea that we may have units that are already in here from last month and we may wanna have a cushion because we don't wanna have exactly 60,300 units. We might sell more than that. We don't wanna have a shortage in case we do better than we thought in terms of just the budget, just the plan here. So those two things being in the factor when we then calculate the production budget. So we have the sales budget up here. Now we're gonna say the production budget. How much stuff and units do we need to produce? If we're producing guitars, how many guitars do we need to produce for this quarter? We're gonna break it out by month. So we're gonna say July. We're gonna say, we're gonna first do a calculation in terms of how much do we need in order to fulfill our cushion in terms of how much we wanna have leftover. We wanna plan in to have a cushion in case we sell more than we thought. And so here's how we're gonna do that. We're gonna take the next month's sales. So in this case, it was the 19-6, 19-6. We're gonna take the August 20,100, 20,100, 20,100. We're gonna have to estimate what it would be for October and then put in the units for October and September. We're taking next month's totals in terms of unit sales, multiplying that times 80%. Why? Because this is the standard policy that we came up with in order to have a cushion as of the Indian inventory. This is what we want leftover. We think we're gonna sell so much and we want 80% of next month's sales leftover.  That's what we want in Indian inventory at the end of July in this case. And then we're gonna say the budget unit sales, we're gonna say the budget unit sales, we're just pulling these down. There's the 20, there's the 19-6, there's the 20,100, that's what we're gonna actually sell during the period. So we're gonna take what we want in the Indian inventory plus what we think we're gonna actually sell, that's how much we're gonna need. That's gonna be the units that we're gonna need, the units available, the units that we would need to produce if we didn't already have some in there from last month. But this is not our first year of operation. So this is what we need to sell plus the Indian inventory cushion. We're gonna have to subtract out from that what we have in there at the beginning. So at the beginning, we had 16,694, we got the 15,680, that's gonna be of course the ending number here is the beginning number for the next month. Ending number here is the beginning number for the next month. This is where we're starting out with because this was the ending number for the month prior to our budgeting process here. And so if we subtract this out to 36,280 minus the 16,694 is the 19,586, the 36,680 minus the 15,680 is the 20,000, the 36,580 minus the 16,820,500 and that's the units that we need to then produce. So these are how many units we need to produce. Now, the next thing is, well now we can think about the materials, the labor, the overhead. We're gonna look at the materials next time. So if we need to produce like this is guitars and say if they were producing this many guitars, we gotta say, well, how much wood do we need to get to buy in order to produce that many guitars? And you might be thinking, well, how much wood does it take for each guitar? We're gonna have to just multiply how much wood it takes for each guitar and that's how much it's gonna take. But same idea is here. And the same idea being that we already have some wood probably from last month.