Introduction The environment functions as a habitat for humans, animals and plants. The environment is very important, especially for man, because he relies on it for his survival. His activities take place in, and to a great extent are made possible by, the environment. The term environment means one’s surroundings, which includes both non-living and living things, in the circumstances in which they are born and any change to it can be detrimental. According to Nwabueze, ‘environment could be referred to as any natural or artificial habitation in which people coexist with plants and animals’ (2007: 2). Having established the fact that the environment is vital for the existence of man, there arises the need to protect it. Nigeria is a West African country of over 250 ethnic groups with three major ethnic groups – the Hausa, the Igbo and the Yoruba. It shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the West, with Chad and Cameroon in the East and with Niger in the north. It is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory Abuja. In terms of religion roughly half of Nigeria follow Islam and the other half follow Christianity, with a very small minority practising traditional religion. Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa, with about 160 million people. It is the eighth most populous country in the world, and has the largest concentration of blacks worldwide. Nigeria gained its independence from the United Kingdom on 1 October 1960. Following the Nigeria/Biafra war from 1966 to 1970, which was mostly motivated by ethnic and religious reasons, Nigeria became to an extent even more mired in ethnic strife. Nigeria is one of the major oil producers of the world but increasing corruption and graft at all levels of government has led to the squandering away of most of these earnings. After almost 33 years of military rule (by military dictators who seized power in coups d’état and counter-coups during the Nigerian military juntas of 1966–1979 and 1983–1998), Nigeria re-achieved democracy in 1999 when it elected Olusegun Obasanjo, the former military head of state, as the new president. The elections, which brought Obasanjo to power in 1999 and again in 2003, were condemned as unfree and unfair. In 2007, Umaru Yar’Adua of the People’s Democratic Party emerged as the new president after the general election that was again condemned by the international community as being massively flawed. After President Yar’Adua’s death on 5 May 2010, Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan was sworn in as Yar’Adua’s replacement on 6 May 2010, becoming Nigeria’s 14th Head of State. Dr Jonathan contested and won the presidential election in 2011 and has ruled Nigeria to date. Among the current challenges facing the country are ethnic and interreligious violence, terrorist insurgency by the Boko Haram sect, inter- and intra-political party crises, strikes by various labour trade unions over work conditions and other development issues, and inadequate infrastructure. Boko Haram is an Islamic sect based in the north-east of Nigeria responsible for the attacks in many parts of the country, especially the northern parts of Nigeria. The sect has no clear structure or evident chain of command. Moreover, it is still a debate whether Boko Haram has links with terror outfits outside Nigeria. Its fighters have clashed with Nigeria’s central government in a bid to press home their demands, which prove elusive in that they are not articulate and precise (Kingtorinze 2011). The reason for their agitation and violence is not clearly known; rather, there are speculations. Some schools of thought believe that the sect is fighting a religious war, whereas others are of the opinion that it is a political war and still others think it is because of the poor state of the northern Nigerian economy (Kingtorinze 2011; Ekanem et al. 2012; Omojolomoju 2013). This has made it difficult for the government to tackle and resolve the issues with the Boko Haram sect as it cannot determine the actual needs of the sect. Clearly, the activities of Boko Haram have created a situation of insecurity, instability and increase in crime and have worsened the welfare and quality of life. This is a result of the incessant bombings that have killed several innocent Nigerian citizens, which indicates a serious breach in and challenge to national security (Kingtorinze 2011: 4). But what people fail to understand is that these activities of Boko Haram not only affect the social, political and economic lives of the citizens but also have a great effect on the environment; it degrades and de-generates the quality of the environment (Scheve 2012; Ekwughe 2012). The activities of the Boko Haram may not be a deliberate attack on the environment, but overtly or covertly their attacks destroy, exploit and modify the environment. It is pertinent to ask the following questions: how does the violence affect the environment? What is the nature of th