INSECURITY IN NORTHERN NIGERIA CAUSES CONSEQUENCES AND RESOLUTIONS
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
un quantifiable 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.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
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 capital 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.
INSECURITY IN NORTHERN NIGERIA CAUSES CONSEQUENCES AND RESOLUTIONS