Since becoming free from British colonialism in 1960, Nigeria has experienced, in total, nearly thirty years of military rule: 1966–79 and then again from 1983–99. While the years from 1960–66 and 1979–83 might be seen as periods of Nigerian democracy, they were nonetheless fractured times. Only since 1999 has democracy in Nigeria sustainably taken hold, and even then, the last eighteen years have not been easy. There is an insurgency ongoing in the northeast against the Boko Haram network, and the Delta region of the country also continues to witness instability.