ABSTRACT
Nigeria in past times have witnessed lots of setbacks which stems from insecurity, poverty and injustices. Currently, these plagues have not been fully addressed and as such continue to terrorize its victims; robbing them of their fundamental human rights and privileges. Lives have been shattered, people have been rendered homeless, children have been turned to orphans and peace generally disappeared from the victims of these elements. Moved with compassion and the need to ensure stability in distressed locations, the Action Aid International has played and continue to play a critical role in peace building. One of such places where the Action Aid International have intervened is Maiduguri, Borno state of Nigeria. This area have been ravished by insurgent attacks and hence are prone to disaster. This study therefore is undertaken to evaluate in clear terms, the role of Action Aid international in peace building in Maiduguri
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
- Background of the study
The Highest on the list of prime value for Maiduguri a town in Bornu state, Nigeria, is peace. Peace is the most valuable public commodity, yet the most elusive (Francis David, 2006). These four years (2009-2014) of Insurgency has brought loss of lives and halted economic activities in various parts of Maiduguri. The activities of bokoharam have brought devastating effects on Maiduguri which has resulted in loss of lives both human and livestock, suffering, destruction of infrastructures and public/private facilities, disruption of economic/socio-economic activities like agricultural, trade etc. This situation has threatened not only the internal peace and security of Maiduguri but also the peace in Nigeria and beyond. So alarming is the fact that most of these areas affected by insurgency lack the will to stop this social charade and have fallen prey to continuous usury and subtle manipulation by politicians who take advantage of this situation to involve in shady deals like kidnapping and arm deals using insurgency as a cover (Chiedu, 2013). Peace building has therefore become the most pressing challenge faced by Nigeria at large and Maiduguri in particular. This situation is so partly because of feudal system of leadership which encourages total submission to authority without question which carries with it, ineffective terror control means.
Despite the effort of government through its institutions like the armed forces, religious bodies, NGOs etc, to curb the excesses of insurgence in Maiduguri, peace has continued to elude her and sustainable development, stopped. On that note, this project will seek to show the role of NGOs in peace building in Maiduguri.
Although insurgency is not easily defined, it may be said to be the use of force, usually violent, as a means of coercing a target population to submit to the will of the terrorists (Asika,4:2009). Insurgency is intended to elicit or maximize fear and publicity, making no distinction as to combatants and non combatants in a conflict. There is no legally agreed upon definition of the term ‘Insurgency’, but a recent United Nations (UN) document describes it as any ‘act which is intended to cause death or serious bodily harm to civilians or non combatants with the purpose of intimidating a population or compelling a government or an international organization to do or abstain from doing any act’. The word ‘Insurgency’ is both emotionally and politically laden, particularly as it imports issues of national liberation and self-determination. Insurgency takes many forms, including political, philosophical, ideological, racial, ethnic,
