The extremist Islamic sect, Boko Haram, is now feared for its ability to mount both ‘low-scale’ and audacious attacks in Nigeria. This study attempts a consensual explanation of the defects of Nigerian federalism to extrapolate the emergence of the Boko Haram terrorism. The study is descriptive and data obtained from secondary sources. It was found that the insurgence is a manifestation of frustration on account of national political, religious and economic systems. The paper concludes that Boko Haram insurgence is part of the cycles and trends of unrest in Nigeria, responding to the same broad families of national fixations as other forms of national-level conflict. The study proposes a restructuring of Nigeria’s federalism to surmount the inevitable agitations.

Keywords: Federalism; Terrorism; Boko Haram; Shariah law; Violence; Northern Nigeria; Peace