Terrorism and Its Effect to the Socioeconomic Development in Nigeria
CHAPTER ONE
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The following are the objectives of this study:
- To examine the effect of terrorism on the socioeconomic development of Nigeria.
- To examine the level of terrorism activities in Maiduguiri and Borno State.
- To identify the factors limiting the socioeconomic development of Nigeria.
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEWED OF RELATED LITERATURE
Contextualising Terrorism
The use of violence to create fear, often through the targeting of third parties and with the elements of surprise and the undermining of very personal security, is a tool used by a variety of historical and contemporary actors (Large, 2005). Terrorism is a term used to describe violence or other harmful acts. Walter Laqueur in 1999 counted over 100 definitions of terrorism and concludes that the only characteristics generally agreed upon are that terrorism involves, violence and the threat of violence (Laqueur, 2003 cited in Eke, 2013). The etymology of terrorism is derived from Latin words “terrere” which means “frighten”. Terrorism is a special crime associated with violent, victimization, threatening, frightening, and disruption of socio-political atmosphere in a particular society. It is an act of bombing, killing, kidnapping, maiming and destruction thereby creating socio-political tension, extremely fear,and destabilizing existing government or political opposition. It implies deadly attack on government agency and functionary, international organization, military and civilian in order to gain international recognition. Terrorism is the use of violence and intimidation to achieve political ends. Terrorists want to change the way governments and politicians behave. They do not do this by voting or by trying to convince people of their arguments. They do it by frightening people into behaving the way the terrorists want (BBC, Monday July 11 2005). Kydd & Walter (2006) cited in Atere & Alao (2012) define terrorism as actions focusing on harming some people in order to create fear in others by targeting civilians and facilities or system on which civilians rely (Eke, 2013). Terrorism may be viewed as a method of violence in which civilians are targeted with the objective of forcing a perceived enemy into submission by creating fear, demoralization and political friction in the population under attack (Schmid & Jongman, 2005). In most cases, their actions do lead to the loss of innocent lives. Just as non-state actors and rogues states are known to commit terrorism at home and abroad, democratic countries also do the same in order to achieve political, religious, or other objectives (The Punch Newspaper Editorial, May 23, 2012). Terrorism, in the most widely accepted contemporary usage of the term, is fundamentally and inherently political. It is also ineluctably about power: the pursuit of power, the acquisition of power, and the use of power to achieve political change. Terrorism is thus violence or, equally important, the threat of violence used and directed in pursuit of, or in service of, a political aim (Hoffman, 1998). As a form of unconventional warfare, terrorism is sometimes used when attempting to force socio-political change by convincing a government or population to agree to demands to avoid future harm or fear of harm, destabilization of existing government, motivating a discontented population to join a mutiny, escalating a conflict in the hope of upsetting the status quo, expressing an injustice, or drawing attention to a cause. The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) defined terrorism as violent acts or acts dangerous to human life that violate federal or state law, appear to be intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping. The United States Department of Defense defines terrorism as “the calculated use of unlawful violence or threat of unlawful violence to inculcate fear; intended to coerce or to intimidate Governments or Societies in the pursuit of goals that are generally political, religious, or ideological”. Within this definition, there are three key elements- violence, fear, and intimidation-and each element produces terror in its victims Political terrorism is the deliberate use or threats of violence against noncombatants, calculated to instill fear in an audience beyond the immediate victims. He says that because perpetrators of terrorism often strike symbolic targets in a horrific manner, the psychological impact of an attack can exceed the physical damage. He concluded that terrorism is a mixture of drama and dread. Despite the fact that terrorism could not be said to be a senseless violence, rather it is a premeditated political cum social strategy that threaten people with a coming danger that seem ubiquitous, unavoidable and sometimes unpreventable (Kegley, 2011 cited in Raji, 2013). The U.S. Department of State defines “Terrorism” as “premeditated politically-motivated violence perpetrated against non-combatant targets by sub-national groups or clandestine agents, usually intended to influence an audience (Zumve, Ingyoroko and Akuva, 2013).
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
INTRODUCTION
In this chapter, we described the research procedure for this study. A research methodology is a research process adopted or employed to systematically and scientifically present the results of a study to the research audience viz. a vis, the study beneficiaries.
RESEARCH DESIGN
Research designs are perceived to be an overall strategy adopted by the researcher whereby different components of the study are integrated in a logical manner to effectively address a research problem. In this study, the researcher employed the survey research design. This is due to the nature of the study whereby the opinion and views of people are sampled. According to Singleton & Straits, (2009), Survey research can use quantitative research strategies (e.g., using questionnaires with numerically rated items), qualitative research strategies (e.g., using open-ended questions), or both strategies (i.e., mixed methods). As it is often used to describe and explore human behaviour, surveys are therefore frequently used in social and psychological research.
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS
INTRODUCTION
This chapter presents the analysis of data derived through the questionnaire and key informant interview administered on the respondents in the study area. The analysis and interpretation were derived from the findings of the study. The data analysis depicts the simple frequency and percentage of the respondents as well as interpretation of the information gathered. A total of eighty (80) questionnaires were administered to respondents of which only seventy-seven (77) were returned and validated. This was due to irregular, incomplete and inappropriate responses to some questionnaire. For this study a total of 77 was validated for the analysis.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Introduction
It is important to ascertain that the objective of this study was to ascertain terrorism and its effect to the socioeconomic development 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 terrorism and its effect to the socioeconomic development in Nigeria.
Summary
This study was on terrorism and its effect to the socioeconomic development in Nigeria. Three objectives were raised which included: To examine the effect of terrorism on the socioeconomic development of Nigeria, to examine the level of terrorism activities in Maiduguiri and Borno State and to identify the factors limiting the socioeconomic development of Nigeria. A total of 77 responses were received and validated from the enrolled participants where all respondents were drawn from pension scheme in Borno state. Hypothesis was tested using Chi-Square statistical tool (SPSS).
Conclusion
This study has shown that terrorism is a crude political weapon. To corroborate this thesis, the English Dictionary describes terrorism as: “Political violence: violence or the threat of violence, especially bombing, kidnapping and assassination carried out for political purposes.” So, the symbiotic relationship between politics and terrorism started long ago. Hence, it becomes the norm for desperate politicians to hire, retain and use thugs in their struggle for absolute political power at all costs. By all standards, give it any name you like, thuggery is the criminal perpetration of violence. And violence of any kind is an act of terrorising or subjecting the innocent and law abiding citizens to trepidation and dehumanisation. So, today, terrorism has become a vicious problem in Nigeria. And it thrives because it is financed by those who have access to public funds. And it also gets foreign support sometimes in the name of oil, religion or ethnicity. All of these criminal attributes give terrorism terrifying worldwide recognition. At present, Nigeria is facing the devastating experience of the Islamic sect, Boko Haram, mostly in the northeastern part of the country. The challenge for the Northern states, today, is to make primary and secondary school education free and widely available in the region, while the Federal Government does all it can to assist them, because of the enormity of the problem. This is an important shared responsibility, which does not call for throwing of unhelpful brick brats and public castigation of the affected governors, former president or the current president. For the majority of Nigerians, the greatest desire is for the authorities to end this mindless insurgency. One thing that is certain is that the measures so far adopted to confront terrorism in Northern Nigeria are not enough. It has become necessary to re-tool the campaign against Boko Haram to end the menace and restore peace in the affected parts of the country
Recommendation
The Presidential Committee on security challenges in the North East Zone had identified security lapses, inter-service rivalry and lack of collaboration as factors that have encouraged the proliferation of security crises in the Northern part of the country. It also blamed the security breaches on high level of poverty, unemployment and other social ills. This paper is however of the considered opinion that serious security collaboration and intelligence sharing must be urgently evolved to arrest security breaches and these needs to go beyond the shores of Nigeria. The federal government must build interagency cooperation through diplomatic channels/pacts, and international intelligence to ensure that crime of whatever scale is nipped in the bud. The current Lake Chad Basin countries’ collaborations are a welcome development. Again, there is the overriding need to promptly move to demilitarize the Nigerian society and reduce the heavy influx of small and light arms and ammunition in the country which have unfortunately gone into the wrong hands. To this extent, the Customs and Immigration Services, in tandem with the Ministry of Interior should work round the clock to protect and police the porous Nigerian borders. Related to the above and more fundamental is the need to reduce, if not totally eliminate the existence of private militias that were established, funded and used by politicians and individuals who later dumped them after having been trained to handle arms. Also, the various security agencies, beside the need to be technologically equipped and funded to carry out their assigned tasks, would need to be restructured. The structure and duties of our security agencies must be revisited so as to ensure that each organ very well knows its specific roles and function, while the laws establishing these agencies must be made clear on who does what. The government at all levels, particularly the federal government, urgently needs to carry out reforms in the security sub-sector to eliminate inertia created by inter-agency rivalry and react decisively to security threats with dispatch. On their part, the citizens must cooperate with the security agencies by supplying them with prompt, useful and relevant information on likely security breaches. This can be facilitated by the existence of a well-coordinated biometric database of Nigerians and non-Nigerians alike indicating where people live, their nature of jobs and background. This will assist in fishing out the bad eggs in the society. Finally, decisive steps should be taken to cripple Boko Haram Sect and their funding, operations as well as end their menacing reign. If anything, a safe, secure and peaceful environment is what the present democracy needs to be strengthened and sustained as such the government and people of Nigeria cannot afford to leave this to the whims and caprices of miscreants.
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