From the remote Maiduguri area in Nigeria, where Boko Haram, the Islamic fundamentalist group has its cradle, ripple effects of its lethal and vengeful influence has spread across northeast Nigeria, seeping through Nigeria's borders into Cameroon, Niger and other surrounding countries. 

Founded in 2002 by Mohammed Yusuf, the group's official name is Jama'atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda'awati wal-Jihad, Arabic for "People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet's Teachings and Jihad." Boko Haram is its Hausa nickname that means "Western education is forbidden."

Its single objective is to overthrow the government, which it views as evil, and put in place a strict Sharia (Islamic canonical law) run country. In the words of the founder they will "not relent until an independent and a just state devoid of anything ungodly is established."

From 2002 to 2013, Boko Haram is estimated to have caused the deaths of over 12,000 people and left another 8,000 scarred for life. Its methods are brutal and their killing is indiscriminate of both Christians and Muslims. In 2014 the group hit world headlines after it abducted more than 250 school girls on April 15, adding kidnapping to its repertoire. This heinous act birthed the now famous rallying call across the globe "Bring Back Our Girls."

Of the causes of Boko Haram it would seem naively rash to heap all blame on Islamic radicalization. There exists evidence of simmering ethno-political grievances that go back to British colonization and a botched model of state formation in not only Nigeria, but many parts of Africa.

In 1914, a largely Muslim north Nigeria was forcibly linked to the Christian majority in the south to form the British colony and protectorate. The north was dragged into a marriage in which it has constantly felt unrest. 

The Oxford Research Group argued in their Monthly Global Security Briefing of April 2012 that economic and political marginalization has continuously offered Boko Haram a basis of support and the desired "excuse" to foster violence and disseminate their obnoxious creeds.

Recent and ongoing conflicts in other areas in Africa inform that political, religious and ethnic related grievances form potent ingredients for a protracted war, civil crisis and a meltdown of law and order.

Boko Haram continues to thrive on the weakness of the state structures of its mother country. The ineptitude and moribund manner in which President Goodluck Jonathan's government has responded to the group's attacks has emboldened them to extend their activities from the north to the capital Abuja, further south and into neighboring Cameroon. While Nigeria is one of Africa's economic giants with unmatched oil reserves, it has deep societal flaws that have continued to fuel ragtag dissident armies.

Apart from religious fundamentalism, institutional flaws like the historical neglect and marginalization of the Muslim north, a nationwide burden of poverty, painful gulf between the haves and the have-nots and Nigeria's rampant corruption, all feed into Boko Haram's hands. 

Nigeria, and Africa as a whole, ought to escape the trap of marginalization which groups like Boko Haram, Al Shabaab, Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) and others exploit to terrorize people. Disenfranchised citizens are a threat to national security and state stability. Subjugation of north Nigeria has laid the ground for a vicious cycle involving Boko Haram.

In Borno State, where Boko Haram was first established, figures from the National Bureau of Statistics of Nigeria indicate that over 80 percent of young people are illiterate, 48 percent of children don't go to school and only 2 percent of babies are vaccinated. Such a state of affairs has formed a theater upon which religious fundamentalists, radical jihadists and terror networks play out their macabre ambitions. 

Boko Haram is against Western education and won't allow the implementation of government education structures and programs. This means the illiterate and unemployed will in turn feel neglected by the state, allowing Boko Haram to construct a tale around this condition, which the "neglected" will buy into.

This is the reason why African nations must, with an unflinching determination, act to decimate groups like Boko Haram. Military strength alone cannot eliminate these groups. A political solution is required while strengthening intelligence networks so as to proactively nip off such groups before they take root.

Africa should confront these groups and neutralize them. It is our problem so let's acknowledge and face it. As Nigeria's Igbo people say, "The tortoise says that the luggage belongs to him, that is why he carries it on his back," Africa knows the burden and costs of groups like Boko Haram.

(The author is a media editor and lecturer in International Affairs at Kenya's Moi University)