DHQ Mum As ISWAP Targets Military Bases In Borno

The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) has declined comment on report by the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) that the Islamic State was incentivising the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) to target military bases in the North East.

The report said terrorists now target military bases in return for payment from the Islamic State.

According to the report, Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) now pays fighters based on the weapons and military equipment they capture during attacks on Nigerian and regional military bases.

The report said an AK-47 for example yields $750 and a rocket-propelled grenade $1 000 while a box of ammunition brings in between $500 and $1 000 depending on the calibre.

A pick up fitted with a heavy weapon, the kind that features in ISWAP’s propaganda after major raids, is worth $30 000.

However, when contacted, the Director Defence Information, Maj. Gen, Samaila Uba, requested time to read the report before responding to it.

However, subsequent calls for his response remained unanswered neither does messages sent to him.

The Islamic State has previously documented how ISWAP often raids military bases and loots military stockpiles unlike rival Jama’tu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad (JAS), which primarily targets civilians.

ISWAP according to the report is motivated by the need to gather weapons, reduce reliance on arms smugglers and consolidate territorial control across the Lake Chad Basin.

The new findings according to the report reveals a payment system that underpins and supplements the group’s ideological foundation.

The report quoted sources with knowledge of ISWAP’s finances and operations, including ex-fighters, to reveal to ISS how the finance department accounts for spoils, called ghanimah.

The group retains one-third of the total, with the rest going to those who participate in the attack.

The ghanimah pricing system helps attract and keep fighters when ideology alone is insufficient

It said these sums are paid in naira to the fighters, and are not trivial amounts in the Lake Chad Basin economy.

National monthly minimum wage across the region’s four countries (Cameroon, Chad, Nigeria and Niger) range from US$53 to US$108, and gross domestic product per capita is between US$775 and US$1 972.

In the border areas where Boko Haram operates, actual incomes fall well below those sums. Years of conflict and climate stress have left communities in the area economically marginalised.

The institutionalisation of financial incentives makes ISWAP’s attack patterns distinct, and partly explains the ongoing targeting of specific military bases rather than opportunistic ambushes. JAS fighters, by contrast, earn an income primarily through direct predation and robbery of civilians. ISWAP forbids this among its own fighters.

Because ISWAP strictly regulates weapons and its members typically do not carry arms unless deployed, there is limited opportunity to rob civilians.

By creating a finance department that maintains the group’s operating infrastructure, ISWAP has built internal systems that can withstand leadership losses. When Bukar Mainok, an ISWAP leader, was killed in the May 2026 US-Nigeria strikes, operations continued. That reinforces the need to move beyond targeting individual leaders to identifying the networks that support ISWAP’s resilience.

Strengthening military bases and enhancing response capabilities against ISWAP offensives are also required to weaken the financial incentives for attacks.

With Africa increasingly at the centre of global jihadi violence, the financing networks that sustain groups like ISWAP require better understanding and international attention.

LEADERSHIP reports that 201 entities have been sanctioned for terrorism financing offences.