SECURITY CHALLENGES AND ECONOMY OF THE NIGERIAN STATE
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SECURITY CHALLENGES AND ECONOMY OF THE NIGERIAN STATE
Abstract
This report investigates Nigeria’s security concerns and economy. The purpose of this research is to determine the extent to which internal security issues have harmed the Nigerian economy during the aforementioned time period.
The Democratic Peace Thesis and Relative Deprivation Theories serve as the study’s analytical framework. Because of the nature of the research subject, secondary data was predominantly used in the study.
The analysis finds that Nigeria’s security difficulties have a lengthy history and may be traced back to poor governance. The paper contends that the failure of successive Nigerian administrations to address challenges such as poverty, unemployment,
and unequal wealth distribution among ethnic nationalities has resulted in anger, agitation, and violent crimes against the Nigerian state by some individuals and groups.
Militancy, kidnapping, bombing, armed robbery, and vandalism of government properties are examples of such crimes. The article goes on to suggest that the operations of various militia groups have resulted in low government revenues from oil money,
a low GDP rate, low participation of local and foreign investors in economic development, and insecurity of citizens’ lives and property, among other things.
The report advises the development and successful implementation of policies and programmes capable of addressing Nigeria’s core causes of insecurity, such as poverty, unemployment, environmental degradation, and injustice, among others. Security, Challenges, Policy, and Economy are key words.
Introduction to Chapter One
1.1 Background of the Study
Security is generally connected with the relief of threats to treasured values, particularly the survival of persons, communities, or items in the near future. As the name implies, security entails the ability to pursue long-held political and social goals (Williams, 2008:6).
“There is a correlation between security and survival,” writes Palme (1992:9). Whereas survival is a necessary condition, security is defined as safety, confidence, being free of danger, fear, and doubt, among other things.
As a result, security is “survival-plus,” with the word “plus” referring to the ability to enjoy some independence from life-determining hazards and some life choices (Booth, 2007: 15). However, the concept of security is useless in the absence of a critical debate on something relevant to security.
Indeed, security is best understood when placed in the context of a referent object. People have been the major focus of security throughout human history (Rothschild, 1995:68). In contrast, some scholars, particularly those in international politics, have maintained that when considering security, nations should be the primary referents.
Some analysts, on the other hand, have argued that any intellectual discourse on security should prioritise human people because security makes no sense without reference to particular persons (McSweeney, 1999:127). Regardless of these contentious debates, the focus of this inquiry is on micro security.
Micro security, on the other hand, deals with internal security, which Nigeria is currently obfuscating. As a result, the crux of this study is to investigate Nigeria’s security difficulties and the extent to which insurgencies of various militia groups, as well as ongoing domestic insurgencies across the country, have harmed the Nigerian economy between 2007 and 2011.
As a result, this is critical, given that micro security begins with the stabilisation of a specific nation state’s internal security. The essence of this approach is not only to protect residents’ lives, but also to achieve the state’s intended economic growth and development.
Gbanite (2001) carefully articulated the importance of internal security in a state like Nigeria:… when our citizens’ right to safety from all kinds of man-made threats is significantly reduced, the government will inherit an increase in foreign investments…
most countries would like a likely trading partner to secure the lives and property of their citizens first before they themselves allow their citizens to move into such territories…
Thus, since the enthronement of democracy in 1999, the internal security concerns in Nigeria have garnered conflicting reviews both within and outside of Nigeria’s political context.
However, prior to 2007, the increasing incidence of ethnic militia in Nigeria and their persistent attacks on both the government and population explains in part why Akinterinwa (2001) declares:… security appointments have failed the President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo.
If the current state of affairs in the country is any indication… Nigeria is in a state of lawlessness. It is unfortunate that the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice was assassinated so casually.
The aggressive posture of the Oadua Peoples Congress (OPC), armed robbery, paid assassins, kidnapping of foreigners, drug trafficking, advanced, free fraud (419), unemployment, high commodity prices… are realities in the country that require immediate solutions…
Similarly, the security situation in Nigeria between 2007 and 2011 clearly took different dimensions. This period, however, witnessed a consistent pressure on the government by Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), Movement for the Sovereign State of Biafra (MOSSOB), increasing spate of kidnapping in the South – East geo – political zone, incessant bombings in the northern parts of Nigeria by Boko Haran group,
Mehem by the Islamic assailants in Jos crisis, politically motivated killings by unscrupulous groups, among others (Ameh, 2008:9). A critical examination of table 1 below may aid in a succinct understanding of security issues in Nigeria from 2007 to 2011.
Table 1: Security threats to Nigeria from 2007 to 2011 and the zones from which they originated.
YEAR POLITICAL ZONE S/N SECURITY THREAT 1. South-South Niger Dekra 1999-2007 2. Jos crisis, 1999-present North-central 3. Kidnapping, ritual killing, and armed robbery in the South-East from 2007 to 2010. Boko Haram crisis 2009-to-date North-east, North-central, and North-West Source: Nwagboso’s field survey, 2011
Thus, the inability of Nigeria’s security managers to address the country’s security challenges during the preceding period raised yet another critical question about Nigeria’s readiness to achieve desired political, social, and economic heights in the year 2020. It also poses major dangers to Nigeria’s unity and corporate existence as a sovereign state.
As a result, tackling Nigeria’s security concerns eventually necessitates not only identifying the sources of threats, but also conducting a critical assessment of security services’ performance in handling the situation in Nigeria. The National Security Agency (NSA), National Intelligence Agency (NIA), State Security Services (SSS), Nigerian Police Force (NPF), Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), Nigerian Customs Service (NCS),
National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), and Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps are among these security agencies. Although achieving total or absolute security in Nigeria would be a futile exercise,
the country’s current security challenges have raised critical questions about not only the formulation and implementation of Nigeria’s internal security policies, but also the recruitment/effectiveness of Nigeria’s security agencies in performing their statutory responsibilities.
1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT
There is a significant level of insecurity in the country, notably in the Northern zone, where ‘Boko Haram’ has posed a threat to economic operations. No investor will be willing to invest in an unsecure environment. Many industries and businesses in the country’s north have ceased operations as a result of the “Boko Haram” plague.
The cost of human lives and material resources lost in the country over the last few years is incalculable. The frequent frequency of bomb blasts staged by renowned religious radicals in the country’s north has taken on a concerning dimension. Since 2010, an estimated 2,000 people have died as a result of bomb explosions.
According to security data supplied by Crime Guard, a security monitoring firm, there were 153 successful explosions in the country between March and December 2012, claiming numerous lives and causing the closure of countless companies.
As a result of the country’s insecurity, numerous enterprises and companies are closing down operations in the north and fleeing to other African nations for fear of losing lives and property.
And the few remaining businesses are operating on skeletons. Insecurity in the country impacts not just foreign direct investment and economic activities, but also corporate confidence, since many companies have lost faith in establishing operations in certain sections of the country.
1.3 Scope of the Project
In order to respond to the problem formulation, the following two steps must be taken: 1. Create a framework for human security. 2. Place Nigeria’s developmental concerns inside the framework.
Theory testing (deductive) and theory building (inductive) are the two basic methods to research in general and the role of theory in particular. The theory testing approach begins with the theory and uses the theory to guide what observations are made.
If using the theory testing approach, the researcher would begin with step one above and then go to step two, allowing the framework to determine which developmental issues are included in the study. The theory building approach begins with data and then uses inductive reasoning to develop a hypothesis from these findings.
The theory building method attempts to establish whether the observations fit into a pattern or a tale. In contrast to the theory testing approach, the theory building approach would begin with step number two, and observations concerning developmental obstacles would be crucial in the framework’s design.
The approach taken in this project is a combination of theory testing and theory building; in other words, human security has to some extent determined what developmental challenges include, but observations about the developmental challenges Nigeria is facing have also determined the structure of the human security framework.
By allowing theory to influence which indicators are included in the framework, we ensure that the selection is not random and, as a result, we achieve some degree of comparability where the study can be replicated and the observations made may be compared to observations made in other nations.
It is also critical that the “reality” in Nigeria determines the framework’s structure; this provides a more complete picture of the case and ensures that difficulties significant in a Nigerian setting are not removed from the study.
Chapter Two
Literature Review
2.1 Theoretical Foundation
The Democratic Peace Thesis and the Relative Deprivation Theory are used in this study to explain Nigeria’s security concerns and economy. As a result, the democratic peace thesis assumes that liberal governments do not engage in wars with other liberal states. Michael Doyle initially stated this thesis in a keynote piece in the Journal of Philosophy and Public Affairs (Doyle, 1983).
Thus, Doyle claimed that there was a distinction between liberal activity directed at liberal countries and liberal practice directed at non-liberal societies. The recommendations of democratic peace theory are apparent in terms of security.
According to this idea, security is largely dependent on enabling liberal institutions to carry out their tasks honourably; therefore a security policy must have the development of liberalism as its long-term goal (Doyle, 1998).
As a result, the path to peace is to promote a democratic government, universal human rights respect, and the development of civil society. However, such a conclusion is largely dependent on an unbroken and robust association between a state’s democratic nature and peaceful tendency.
By applying this theory to Nigeria’s security challenges and economy, we argue that for Nigeria to address her perennial security challenges, the government must first adopt and faithfully implement strategic security policies and viable socioeconomic programmes capable of strengthening the growth of democracy in Nigeria.
Thus, we argue that the increasing spate of security threats in Nigeria, which if unchecked, could further distort the country’s economy, is clearly symptomatic of the abysmal failure of the institutions constitutionally charged with the responsibility of protecting Nigerian citizens’ lives and properties (Dinneya, 2006:47).
The Relative Deprivation Theory is also used in this study to further explore the Nigerian state’s security concerns and economy. Dollard et al. (1939) proposed this theory. This theory was proposed as part of efforts to relate societal sociopolitical and economic inequities to rebellions and insurgencies.
The relative deprivation hypothesis, an individual and group-based explanation of aggressiveness, contends that when anticipation outstrips achievement, regardless of absolute levels of economic consumption or the supply of political rights,
frustration is generated. As a result, communal discontent escalates into wrath and violence (Dollard et al, 1939:52; Davies, 1962:44; Feierabend and Feierabend, 1966:89).
This theory, when used, allows us to trace the historical antecedents of conflicts, agitations, and the regular rise of people and groups against the Nigerian government. According to the assumptions of Relative Deprivation Theory,
the Nigerian government’s abject failure to address critical development challenges in many parts of the country may be to blame for the internal insurgency by armed militia groups against the state.
Furthermore, we contend that security difficulties or threats in some parts of Nigeria, particularly the northern region, are obvious signs that the government appears to have failed in its constitutional task of preserving the lives and properties of Nigerians. This is apparent because current research shows that the rate of poverty among Nigerians is increasing.
Furthermore, unemployment is looming big, per capita income is poor, and the high rate of inflation has not been addressed. Similarly, Nigerians continue to face issues such as poor health, inadequate infrastructure, high illiteracy, and low technical advancement (Anosike, 2010:8).
These ugly situations which adversely affect the security of lives and property of Nigerians as well as socioeconomic development of the country are carefully articulated by Akinrefon and Oke (2007:20) who argue that: … the mention of crime, violence, as well as restiveness has been tied to the Niger Delta area, no thanks again to kidnapping, bombings and vandalization of pipelines…
leadership problem has made it impossible for Nigeria to get to its peak in terms of socio-economic and political development … this problem has remained in the front burner of national discourse …
the polity has not gotten it right because of bad leadership … the polity has remained stagnated in terms of developmental challenges and this has been attributed to selfishness, greed and corrupt political office holders who have milked or are presently milking or will milk the country dry of its resources…
The implication of Relative Deprivation Theory on security challenges and economy of the Nigerian state is that democracy is most likely to be undermined, thereby paving way for military incursion in the country. Furthermore, the ongoing internal insurgency by armed youths across the country may distort any real government efforts to achieve radical economic progress in Nigeria.
This is critical because, as Isine (2008:9) argues, “security is viewed as both a dynamic phenomenon and a static phenomenon.” It is the government’s responsibility to ensure the security of its citizens’ lives and property…
these days, youth restiveness, agitations, protests, and demonstrations are very violent, leading to sabotage of vital government installations such as NNPC pipelines,
NITEL cables, and NEPA wires, posing serious threats to the state’s economic life-wire. As a result, strengthening the Nigerian state’s security system, as well as the government’s commitment to addressing the root causes of insecurity,
are possible panaceas for the survival of democracy and the realisation of desired economic growth. “Democracy only thrives where there is security and stability,” says Ebegbulam (2007:8).
2.2 Objectives Of Nigeria National Security Policy
The core pillar of Nigeria’s national security policy is the protection of Nigerians’ safety at home and abroad, as well as the country’s sovereignty, integrity, and assets. Other subordinate objectives include:
i. To protect the Nigerian state’s sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity;
ii. defending African unity and freedom;
iii.Non-interference in other countries’ internal affairs;
iv. Participation in regional economic development, security, and cooperation; and v. Military self-sufficiency and regional leadership. A brief examination of the following objectives reveals that Nigeria’s defence strategy serves as the foundation for the country’s foreign and national security policies.
Thus, because the investigation focuses on micro security – Nigeria’s internal security problems – it is critical to assess the extent to which Nigeria has successfully implemented her internal security policy to ensure the safety of Nigerians at home and the protection of the country’s territorial integrity.
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