International Law and State Responsibility for Terrorism: Nigeria’s Experience with Boko Haram

This paper examines the doctrine of state responsibility under international law in the context of Nigeria's experience with the Boko Haram insurgency, assessing when and how Nigeria may bear international responsibility for failures to prevent, suppress, or respond effectively to terrorist acts. The International Law Commission's Articles on the Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts (ARSIWA) and the UN's global counter-terrorism frameworks, including Security Council Resolution 1373 (2001), provide the primary legal frameworks analysed. Using a doctrinal methodology, the research evaluates whether Nigeria has met its international obligations to prevent terrorism, criminalise terrorist financing, and cooperate with other states in counter-terrorism efforts, as assessed against documented governance failures that allowed Boko Haram to develop significant operational capacity. The paper examines specific instances in which Nigerian state organs have been implicated in breaches of international counter-terrorism obligations, including failures of intelligence sharing, delayed military responses, and corruption in weapons procurement. It also considers the separate issue of whether Niger, Chad, and Cameroon have claims against Nigeria for cross-border spillover of violence attributable to Nigerian state failures. Findings indicate significant areas of state responsibility implicating Nigeria's international obligations, though attribution challenges complicate legal accountability. Recommendations include enhanced inter-state cooperation in the Multinational Joint Task Force framework, transparent investigation of procurement failures, and capacity-building in counter-terrorism legal compliance. Keywords: state responsibility, terrorism, Boko Haram, ARSIWA, Nigeria.