IPOB Agitation and Its Socio-Economic Implications for the South-East Development Project
Chapter One
Research Objectives
The study investigates the extent to which IPOB agitation and its’socio economic implications of South-East development Project. The specific objectives are;
- Evaluate the cause of agitation of the IPOB South-East, Nigeria.
- Examine the extent to which IPOB agitation affect economic development in South-East, Nigeria.
- Assess the extent to which IPOB agitation affect social interactions in South-East, Nigeria.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
Conceptual Review
Agitations For Self- Determination And Political Stability
Self-determination is about peoples‟ rights to determine their own destiny. This principle is coupled with choosing their political status, ascertaining the shape of their economy, and cultural and social upgrading; this results in political independence and total integration with a state (UNPO, 2017). Weller (2009) in his opinion posits that when people possess the right to freely determine the nature of their politics, and their sociocultural existence, it is self-determination. Weller‟s submission corroborates Carly‟s (1996) earlier affirmation that self-determination exists when colonialism comes to an end and a new state begins.
Self-determination is the desire of every group of people. Even in a situation of absence of separation, people want to be treated without discrimination, marginalization, and intimidation. This is because self-determination is all about people’s rights to determine their freedom in society. Self-determination in a country helps in national integration and also in ensuring that there is political stability in the country. Agitations for self-determination around the world take different dimensions. People have what they fight for and the strategies employed by them may share some resemblance but are not exactly the same. When people agitate for self-determination, the outcome may be determined by the level of support, the type of government, or the strategies the group employs. Whatever the outcome of agitation, it may significantly or insignificantly affect the political stability of the country concerned a la Sudan, in which the former sit-tight ruler, President Omar Hassan al Bashir, was forced out of power by the Sudanese army as a result of vehement protests and agitations by his people. In this light, political stability or otherwise means that the political situation of the country can be predicted thereby making the environment to seem conducive or not for intending investors both from within and outside the country (Ene, Arikpo, Abam, Jeffery, Williams, Albert & Dunnamah 2013).
However, Sottilota (2013) views political stability as a controversial concept stating its three different interpretations: firstly, as the non-existence of domestic civil conflict and violence that has become widespread; secondly, as government longevity and thirdly as where there is absence of structural change, in other words, no change has been effected both from outside and inside the political system (Gberevbie, Ayo, Iyoha, Duruji, & Abasilim, 2018; Imhonopi, Urim, George, & Egharevha, 2013; Okafor, Imhonopi, & Urim, 2011). In the opinion of Paldam (2016), he maintained that political stability can be seen in four different ways which are: stable government, stable political system, internal law and external stability. In any country, political stability could be assured when there is a democratic system having within it justice, honesty, accountability, and transparency. This level of stability can be achieved through coordinated enlightenment.
When the Catalonians went to the polls to decide on the opinion of their people about separation from Spain, it can be rated as part of peaceful and transparent strategies towards separation. The 90% outcome of the votes that are supporters of independence was not accepted by the Spanish government but instead was declared illegal and this led to the eruption of crisis that caused injuries to many Catalans, affecting their political stability and eliciting apologies from Spanish government representatives (BBC News, 2017). The outcome of events in Catalonia is evidence of the peoples‟ support for self-determination.
In an attempt for people to have freedom of self-determination, they will always design a strategy that will help them achieve it. For example, the United Nations went ahead to sponsor a ‘Popular Consultation’ on August 30, 1999, where East Timor voted to thrash the Indonesian autonomy offer supervised by the United Nations as part of the change to achieve an independent state (Drew, 2001). Indonesia was under pressure to leave East Timor as a result of which on October 15, 1999, repeal on their unpopular law of July 1976 which annexed East Timor, was done by the Indonesian People’s Consultative Assembly (IPCA) (Drew, 2001). This development undoubtedly created good grounds for the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) to fully take charge of East Timor. Agitators for freedom share a feature in common which is their continuous belief and hold onto successful outcome. A popular saying that „united we stand and divided we fall‟ can be used to describe the unity by the East Timorese evidenced in the outcome of their vote to be out of Indonesia. That is exactly the type of support people need to break away into freedom.
CHAPTER THREE
METHODOLOGY
This chapter presents the method the researcher intends to carry out the study. It deals with the research design, the population of the study, sampling technique, sample size, research instrument, the instrument’s validation and reliability, the procedure for the collection of data, and the method for analysing data. c
Research Design
This study adopted a survey research design. The design aims to investigate the extent to which IPOB agitation and its’socio economic implications of South-East development Project by collecting data at only one point without the researcher’s influences in the process. It is possible to acquire a great quantity of data quickly using surveys. Surveys are more cost-effective than many other methods of collecting data. There are various ways surveys may be used to gather information on a wide range of topics. It is common for surveys to be utilised in social research and demography. Surveys are a common tool for gauging people’s ideas, emotions, and perceptions. Surveys may be narrowly focused or broad in scope, depending on the aims they want to achieve. The researcher uses a questionnaire to collect data from the respondents to answer the research questions. Because of this, the questionnaire’s design is of paramount significance to guarantee proper data collection so that the findings can be understood and generalised. In similar research, researchers such as Holotiuk, Pisani and Moormann, (2017); Kraus, Ribeiro-Soriano and Schüssler (2018); Jepkoech & Ayembe (2019); Mckenzie (2018) have used this study method.
Population
The study was conducted in Enugu and Anambra state. The choice of this state was influenced by the fact that the activities of IPOB is rampart there. The total population of the combined states according to data from the National Population Commission (2021) is 7,567,705
CHAPTER FOUR
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
The demographic data of the IPOB selected members were analyzed with the use of descriptive statistics. The number of the questionnaire administered was 500 while 477 copies were retrieved. The demographic data used were gender, age, marital status, educational standard, and nature of employment.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
SUMMARY
The freedom of expression under the democratic government which came back in 1999 gave room for the group such as IPOB to freely express their opinion and tender their dissatisfaction with the government in power. It can be concluded that the current agitation for Biafra by IPOB has led to different levels of human rights abuse by the Nigerian security agents as they try to maintain law and order. This study has depicted the negative response of the Nigerian government towards the IPOB agitators. Government’s response, as the study shows cannot improve or sustain the political stability in the country. There was a strong, positive correlation between the two variables (agitation for self-determination and socioeconomic development in South East Nigeria). This means that an increase in the agitation for self-determination has led to an increase in government responsiveness in Nigeria.
Conclusions
The objective of this study is to assess whether the support gained by IPOB both locally and internationally influenced political stability in Nigeria. The result of the study shows that supports gained by IPOB have an influence on political stability in the country. The beta coefficient of 0.479 shows that moderate supports gained from the public (local and international) do promote continuous agitations for self-determination by IPOB in Nigeria. This is supported by the unstandardized beta coefficient which states that a unit increase in the local and international supports gained from the public to promote continuous agitations for self-determination by IPOB in Nigeria will lead to a decrease in political stability in Nigeria by 20.2% and 16.3% respectively. This study, therefore, recommends policies of inclusiveness where different groups as IPOB will be part of an entity without seeking for separate support either internally or externally. This will also raise the confidence IPOB with their group and various groups that are engaged in different types of agitations in Nigeria. Finally, the Federal Government should engage more with the South East region to identify the underlying reasons for the secessionist agitations with a view to addressing those grievances. Satisfactory attention should be paid to addressing the governance and structural issues that are at the heart of the renewed agitation in an effort to raise Nigeria‟s level of political stability.
Recommendations
This study, therefore, recommends that sincere and objective policy changes starting from the federal level and extending to the states will go a long way in restoring citizens’ confidence in the Nigerian state, reducing the level of agitations and improving the climate of political stability. The study also recommends that a Peace and Reconciliation Commission needs to be put in place by the Nigerian government to engage with pro-Biafra groups in an effort to fashion out the best ways towards resolving the agitation for Biafra. The Commission should also undertake consultations with state governments and other relevant stakeholders with a view to encouraging them to buy into the peace initiative and identify the specific roles they would play in the reconciliation process. The core objectives of the Commission should include:
To provide a platform for pro-Biafra groups to express their grievances, and for the government to channel them to the appropriate quarters for redress.
To develop a compendium of quick intervention measures by different actors including federal, state, and local governments, to address the grievances underlying the agitation for Biafra.
To formulate mechanisms for monitoring and evaluating how measures of redress will be recommended and implemented.
Secondly, the Nigerian Federal Government should retract the use of force and repression in tackling IPOB agitations but instead embrace peaceful resolution. The Nigerian government also needs to carry out a re-orientation of its security agencies to curtail any form of indiscriminate use of arms, while promoting respect for human rights as they work to maintain law and order.
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