Protracted conflicts and state instability in the Sahel over the last 30 years has led violence and to the polarization of societies along traditional and potent faultiness such as ethnicity, religion and gender. Scarce resources have also become hotly contested, with families being displaces by force. Examples of these are northeastern Nigeria where Boko Haram and ISWAP hold sway, which are themselves part of a variety of extremist groups ranging from Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) in Mali to al-Shabaab in East Africa.

Young people, radicalized by various means, confront the state which is seen to have failed. Kinetic state response has seen a dialogue of bullets and terror replace a dialogue of culture, ideas, and basic human rights. Within societies, polarization and suspicions emerge and concretize, further adding to the conflict.

As people have become more connected via the internet and social media, there has been a rise in violent extremist rhetoric and extreme hate speech, which have gone viral, employing sophisticated means of organization and dissemination. These create categories and counter-categories of youth for victimization in ways that tear apart the fabric of a secular, cosmopolitan societies.

The problem finds its roots in the failure, by the balanced and neutral approaches to grievance and conflict, to harness the power of narratives. Voices of reason and nuance have not utilized Africa’s digital interconnections for the purpose of dialogue and cooperation, the finding of central common grounds, to the extent divisive segments have used same for propaganda and radicalization. Young people, as perpetrators and victims, pay the price.