TOWARDS THE INVESTIGATION OF USING SOCIAL NETWORK ANALYSIS FOR COUNTER TERRORISM IN WEST AFRICA: CASE STUDY OF BOKO HARAM IN NIGERIA

In this paper, an investigative review of social network analysis (SNA) to counter terrorism is presented. Various measures used for predicting key players of terrorist networks are discussed. The methods used for the survey is based on the existing research work that was carried out on counter terrorism of insurgency, for example, 9/11 (2001) attack in the United States. The research papers have shown that the SNA is one of the most efficient and effective methods for understanding terrorist networks. For example, the National security agency has been mapping phone calls ever since the 9/11 event and through this research work, United States have been able to uncover so many hidden terrorist and criminal groups. This paper provides an avenue for a suggestive idea that the Nigerian government can make use of SNA technique by phone mapping. This is based on the fact that Nigeria can combat terrorism in the nation. The Nigerian government can emulate phone mapping technique as Boko Haram terrorists are within the country and they actually make use of phone calls. The government only needs to collaborate with the telecommunication and network providers companies in Nigeria to track down these terrorists. Using SNA to understand/discover terrorist networks in the region is novel.