The militant Jihadist group Boko Haram has established itself as a regional threat in the areas surrounding the Lake Chad Basin (LCB) of Africa. The group has carried out attacks in Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger, killing and abducting people and destroying villages and military bases. The group's violent activities, with the attendant causalities and regional spill-over, has posed an unprecedented threat to human security and the stability of Nigeria and the region as a whole. The Peace and Security Council of the African Union in January 2015 authorized the mobilization of a Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF), made up of troops from Benin, Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and Nigeria, to tackle the Boko Haram insurgency in the region. Therefore, the objective of this research is to identify what is needed to enhance the effectiveness of the MNJTF in order to build its capacity to bring back stability to the LCB region. A suitable approach to this end is to identify what can be learned from past regional military integration (RMI) efforts in West Africa. Hence, using case studies of past RMI efforts in West Africa, this thesis examines the factors that have facilitated as well as hindered successful regional military interventions in the sub-region. Findings from these case studies build the evidential base for providing recommendations to enhance the capacity and effectiveness of the MNJTF.

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