2015, Diritto e questioni pubbliche, Palermo. Tutti i diritti sono riservati. ALESSIO IOCCHI The Boko Haram Franchise and the War on Terror in Nigeria ABSTRACT The so-called “Boko Haram” terrorist group undoubtedly stands out as the most notorious offspring of the Islamic revivalism movement in Nigeria. Nonetheless, it seems to have lost whatever was linking the group to the unspecified form of Salafism which its founder – the late Muhammad Yusuf – claimed as a basis for his action. Nowadays, the organization worldwide known through its Hausa sarcastic nickname – roughly translated as “state education is a sin” – no longer appears the religious-political creature conceived at its very first stage. The religious appeal that was able to legitimate its outbreak more than five years ago, and to gather a certain degree of public acknowledgment, has yielded to more materialistic attitudes. The somehow risky definition of “franchise”, instead, applies very well to describe the evolving nature of Boko Haram’s structure. The group’s economic ramification into the realm of the rewarding kidnappings-business (as well as other criminality-related activities) has allowed a rapid integration in informal economic processes of the greater Lake Chad region, leading to the diffusion of several inter-related cells. The success of the insurgency collectively operated under the “Boko Haram” designation against, mainly, Nigeria and Cameroon, has eventually worked to unite regional and Western actors to inaugurate a new War on Terror front in Central Africa. The pledge of allegiance to Iraq and Syria's Islamic State (IS) has further strengthened Boko Haram’s position inside the terrorist archipelago as a global threat and procured the justification for another militarization of one of the most sensitive areas in the world. But by what measure are military anti-terrorists operations contributing to re-establish a safe-space and promote good governance and civil as well human rights? KEYWORDS Religious terrorism, Lake Chad, post-modern conflict, War on Terror.