ABSTRACT
Since Nigeria got her independence from Britain in 1960, the country’s political structural arrangement has been under one central government called Federal Government (via a Federal Republic) and was blessed with unquantifiable natural, human and material resources. In spite of that, the average Nigerian’s income per capita does not give the real picture due to the high income inequalities in the country. As majority of Nigerians are living in abject poverty, particularly in the Northeastern area. However, under the Federal system arrangement, instead of having a smooth level of interaction among individual ethnic groups, cultures, traditions and religions, there thrives a persistent lack of trust among Nigerians due to fear of domination, marginalization, control and intolerance. This ugly development led to the acquisition of fire arms among ethnic, political, religious and social militia groups. Similarly, with the return of the country to democratic rule, the situation has worsened with the politicians prosecuting their political ambitions. Furthermore, the situation also became more terrible when these groups started fighting government and its agencies. As a result, many people were killed while millions of people were displaced and properties worth millions of naira were also destroyed more especially in the North-east and north central areas. The insecurity situation in the country was alleged to have been attributed to some factors. Among this include poor government policies, corruption, poverty, unemployment, poor leadership, weak judiciary system etc. Consequently, this affected the region economically, socially, politically etc. Finally, recommendations were made and that Government should improve standard of living of the people through the creation of more entrepreneurship centers across the country more especially in the North and North-east in particular. Also, government should intensify more effort in fighting against corruption and this can be done through good legislation and stiff penalties for those found wanting.
Keywords: Insecurity, Corruption,
Poverty, Unemployment
Introduction
Nigeria is a West African country with more than 250 ethnic groups and with an estimated population of about 170,123,740, according to the 2006 census (Akinjide 2013). It is by far the most populated country in the whole of Africa. Although Nigeria’s GDP per capita has been increased through the course of time in nominal US dollar terms, many Nigerians, unfortunately, are still living in abject poverty in spite of huge amount of human and material resources. The average income per capita does not give the real picture due to the high income inequality in the country. However, since Nigeria got her independence from Britain in 1960, the country’s political structural arrangement has been under one central government. This was to maintain some degree of independence and interdependence and as well as create supremacy authority centrally while component states retain a considerable amount of semi autonomy.
Consequently, under this arrangement, the level of interaction between individual ethnic groups, cultures, traditions, religions from different backgrounds was not easy thereby translated into ethnic and political misunderstanding, mistrust, dominations, conflicts and crises as one may not be considerate with one another. As a result, there are fear, suspicions, intolerance, grieves and greed domination among most communities in the country and especially in the North which has so many ethnic minorities.
Causes of Insecurity in Nigeria
According to some scholars, Boko-Haram insurgency and terrorist activities were alleged to have been attributed to some factors. Among which are
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