An Assessment of the Security Management in Nigeria (The Boko Haram Challenge)
CHAPTER ONE
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The main purpose of the research is to take a critical look at the challenges posed by Boko Haram to the management of security in Nigeria and to explain its effect on the development of Nigeria. Therefore, in summary, the research is aimed at the following objectives.
- To attempt a critical study on the origin, ideology, and activities of Boko Haram.
- To examine the extent to which Boko Haram has affected the security situation in Nigeria.
- To explore how Boko Haram terrors have impacted Nigeria, politically, economically, socially, and otherwise.
- To reveal the response of the Nigerian state to the challenges posed by Boko Haram.
- To recommend strategies and policies that may be possible solutions to address the Boko Haram challenge.
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Insurgency and Human Security: A Thematic Analysis Insurgency
“The term insurgency conjures often wild disparate interpretation; suffering at the hands of both experts and pundits”. Commonly accepted meanings remain elusive, with predictable conceptual confusion” (Moore, 2007:2). Scholars and theorist have given diverse definitions of insurgency in which some are closely related and others are not so related, but include common elements and this makes the subject technically difficult. According to Moore (2007), the term insurgency continues to be used interchangeably, and inexactly, with warfares such as irregular warfare, unconventional warfare, revolutionary and even terrorism. He further posits that “the interchangeability of terms is understandable, given the diverse nature and adaptability of those who wage insurgency and the overlapping traits of these types of conflict” (Moore, 2007:2). Probably, insurgency could best be understood by first considering what it is not. Insurgency is not terrorism, subversion, guerrilla war, conventional war, revolution, coup d’état (Liolio, 2014; Curtas; 2006), although some insurgent groups have adopted some of their methods in the achievement of their goals. “However, terrorism has become the main commonly adopted strategy by the insurgents. Terrorism in the modern usage is associated with a certain kind of violent action carried out by individuals and groups rather than by the states and with events which take place in peace time rather than as part of conventional war. As a strategy of insurgency, terrorism involves the adoption of some methods to achieve its goals. These include bombing, guerrilla warfare, kidnapping and abduction” (Hassan, 2014: 10). This connotes that insurgency often use terrorism to pursue the goals of the political movement because an insurgency is merely a movement- a political effort with a particular objective. In this vein, O’Neil (1990:13) defined insurgency as a “struggle between a non-ruling group and ruling authorities in which the non-ruling group consciously uses political resources and violence to destroy, reformulate, or sustain the basis of one or more aspects of politics. The main objective of insurgency is to challenge the existing government for control; and it requires the active support of some segment of the population; “insurgencies do not happen if the population either supports the government or sees nothing to gain from fighting” (Curtas, 2006:1). Hassan (2014:10) notes that “insurgency still remains a political not a military struggle and therefore not amenable to a purely military solution without resorting to a level of brutality unacceptable to the contemporary global environment”
Human Security
“Before the end of the cold war, scholars have, for many several generations interpreted and restricted the understanding and meaning of the concept security to the security of the nation- state and not the people” (Danjibo, 2012: 486). The idea of human security started gaining attention in the world politics due to the various reports of many independent international commissions set up by the United Nations and other regional bodies from 1950s through 1980s, occasioned by the growing dissatisfaction with the existing traditional idea of security. Human security is a vague concept with no specific or universally accepted definition; nonetheless, scholars are undisputed of the fact that it centres around the security of persons first. It is basically an emerging concept which seeks to tackle fundamental issues threatening human beings and to find long-lasting solutions to them as its advocates aver that the referent for security is the individual first, rather than the state. Human security is a concept that has been defined in a broad and a narrow perspective. The broad perspective championed by the 1994 United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP)-Human Development Report defines human security “as freedom from fear and freedom from want”. “It also elaborates the two aspects of human security:
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research design
The researcher used descriptive research survey design in building up this project work the choice of this research design was considered appropriate because of its advantages of identifying attributes of a large population from a group of individuals. The design was suitable for the study as the study sought to an assessment of the security management in Nigeria
Sources of data collection
Data were collected from two main sources namely:
(i)Primary source and
(ii)Secondary source
Primary source:
These are materials of statistical investigation which were collected by the research for a particular purpose. They can be obtained through a survey, observation questionnaire or as experiment; the researcher has adopted the questionnaire method for this study.
Secondary source:
These are data from textbook Journal handset etc. they arise as byproducts of the same other purposes. Example administration, various other unpublished works and write ups were also used.
Population of the study
Population of a study is a group of persons or aggregate items, things the researcher is interested in getting information on an assessment of the security management in Nigeria. 200 residents in selected local government in Borno state was selected randomly by the researcher as the population of the study.
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION ANALYSIS INTERPRETATION OF DATA
Introduction
Efforts will be made at this stage to present, analyze and interpret the data collected during the field survey. This presentation will be based on the responses from the completed questionnaires. The result of this exercise will be summarized in tabular forms for easy references and analysis. It will also show answers to questions relating to the research questions for this research study. The researcher employed simple percentage in the analysis.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Introduction
It is important to ascertain that the objective of this study was to ascertain an assessment of the security management in Nigeria
In the preceding chapter, the relevant data collected for this study were presented, critically analyzed and appropriate interpretation given. In this chapter, certain recommendations made which in the opinion of the researcher will be of benefits in addressing the challenges of security management in Nigeria
Summary
This study was on an assessment of the security management in Nigeria. Five objectives were raised which included: To attempt a critical study on the origin, ideology and activities of Boko Haram, to examine the extent at which Boko Haram has affected the security situation in Nigeria, to explore how Boko Haram terrors has impacted on Nigeria, politically, economically, socially and otherwise, to reveal the response of the Nigeria state to the challenges posed by Boko Haram and to recommend strategies and policies that may be possible solutions to address the Boko Haram challenge. In line with these objectives, two research hypotheses were formulated and two null hypotheses were posited. The total population for the study is 200 residents in selected local government in Borno state. The researcher used questionnaires as the instrument for the data collection. Descriptive Survey research design was adopted for this study. A total of 133 respondents made up of businessmen, youths, civil servants and men were used for the study. The data collected were presented in tables and analyzed using simple percentages and frequencies
Conclusion
Boko Haram insurgency has negative impact on the human security of the Nigerian citizens. It is therefore evident that as Boko Haram insurgency has claimed lots of lives, aggravated the food and nutrition insecurity, further damaged to health and education sector, and has caused general fear and anxiety; an urgent solution is needed. Boko Haram insurgency is therefore a threat to human security in Nigeria
Recommendation
Hassan (2014) stresses that establishing security for the people is the first step to counterinsurgency; hence, “this goes to show that no nation is secured which does not guarantee the security of its citizens” (Danjibo, 2012:487). In essence, The government should ensure that the basic needs of mans survival are met. There is need to invest in the agricultural sector in order to improve food production; build more health care centres which will be fully equipped; education should be free for all at least at primary level and more schools with quality facilities be put in place. There is need to resettle the internally displaced persons with appropriate shelter as well as compensate persons affected by the insurgency. Provide the citizens with adequate protection from internal and external aggressors and to ensure that the security forces bequeathed with such responsibilities do not fall victims of the same crime or engage in the violation of the citizens human rights. Every counter measure undertaken by the Government will also only be effective if issues of poverty, corruption and bad governance are addressed transparently.
REFERENCES
- Abolurin, A., 2012. An Assessment of Roles of Security Agencies in Checkmating Insurgent Movements in Nigeria. African Journal for the Psychological study of Social Issues, 15 (1 &2): 250-270.
- Assessment Capacities Project., 2015. Nigeria: Boko Haram Insurgency. Downloaded from reliefweb.int/report/Nigeria/acaps- briefing-note-nigeria-boko-haram-insurgency- 20-ssssjanuary-2015.Retrieved from the Reliefweb on the 3rd of October, 2015.
- Adedoyin, A., 2013. Human Security Factor in Agricultural Transformation in Nigeria. In Isaac Olawale Albert et al (Eds.) The Security Sector and Conflict Management in Nigeria. Peace and Conflict Studies programme, University of Ibadan, Ibadan.
- Adewumi A., 2014. The Battle of the Minds: the Insurgency and Counter Insurgency in Northern Nigeria. West Africa insight, May 2014 Boko Haram African Quarters., 2015. Boko Haram’Child Bomber’ Kils Six in Maiduguri, Nigeria. africanquaters.com/boko-haram-child-bomber- kills-six-in-maiduguri-nigeria/ Retrieved on the 14th of October, 2015.
- Aribisala, F., 2014. The Challenge of CounterInsurgency in Nigeria. A Key Note Presentation at Nigeria Development and Finance Forum 2014 Conference in New York on may 29-31.
- Awortu, B. E., 2015. Boko Haram Insurgency and Underdevelopment of Nigeria. Research on Humanities and Social Sciences (5) 6 pg 213-220.
- Briggs, N. D., 2010. “Poor health as an index of Human insecurity in Africa”, in Obasanjo et al (Eds.) 2010 ‘Human security inAfrica: Perspective on Education, Health and Agriculture. Centre for human security, OOPL, Abeokuta.
- Curtas, S. D., 2006. A New Type of Insurgency? A Case Study of the Resistance in Iraq. Graduate Thesis and Dissertation. Scholar Commons, University of South Florida
