THE EFFECTS OF POLITICAL INSTABILITY ON EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT OF CHILDREN A CASE STUDY OF WAMBA L.G.A UNDER SOCIAL STUDIES

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1. BACKGROUND OF STUDY

The issue of political instability is a common phenomenon that continues to dominate the political terrain in Nigeria. Although Nigeria is regarded as the “giant of Africa”, yet the country has passed and is still passing through several restless stages of conflict and violence. The process of gaining entrance into the corridor political power is replete with violence and conflicts, resulting from rivalry and suspicions among the various ethnic groups in the country that have culminated in political instability across the entire country. From the pre-independence era till date, Nigeria is still being affected by injustices and oppressions system that were handed down by the past colonial leaders. The resultant effect of which is the weak institutions of the state and incessant struggle for political power. This, in many instances, is to the detriment of the well-being of the masses and the development of the country at large. This is despite the abundant human and natural resources prevalent in the nation.

Although Nigeria got her independence in 1960, the struggle for national development and political stability continue to be a mirage. This must not be unconnected with the stormy political and social condition in the country manifesting in poverty, corruption, poor planning and implementation and general indiscipline in the society. The issue of political instability has been a major challenge rocking the country with violence over the decade of Nigeria’s independence as a nation and the period after the country’s civil war between 1967 and 1970. There had been series of sporadic violence and counter attacks by different regions due to suspicion and mistrust in Nigeria’s geo-political landscape. The fundamental taproots of violence in the country always lead to unpredictable and unpleasant experiences, such as, bombing, murdering of innocent people and destabilization of the existing vulnerable regions into political uncertainty.

This is with no thanks to the series of tension and threats that have been engulfing the nation to date Political instability in Nigeria started two years after independence, with the leadership crises within the Action Group (AG) (which eventually led to the declaration of a state emergency in 1962), the controversial population census of 1962/63, and the “Operation Wet E” in the Western Region (which eventually led to the military take-over of government in the country in 1966) These marked the commencement of the series of violence and conflicts which the country is witnessing to date. The trend continued unabated, hence, tension, violence and counter-threats which were deliberately invited by some elites to the destruction of the country’s political plan between 1962 and 1966 in the Western region and the whole of the country. Raji and Ajibade (2014) opine that the appearance of violence and political conflicts has never been separated from the country’s politics neither in the past nor in the Present.