Wave-Propagation Method

UNIT 4 POLITICAL ECONOMY OF INSECURITY

new international order of nation states. It was Thomas Hobbes in his 1651 work Leviathan who stated that citizens yield to a powerful sovereign who in turn promises an end to civil and religious war, and to bring forth a lasting peace, and give him the right to conduct policy, including wage war or negotiate for peace for the good of the

"commonwealth", i.e., a mandate for national security.

Like many concepts in the social sciences, national security is ambiguous and not amenable to any single and universally acceptable definition. One of the definitions which may capture its essence of usage in this context is the one provided by Paleri (2008: 521) that national security is

The measurable state of the capability of a nation to overcome the multi-dimensional threats to the apparent well-being of its people and its survival as a nation-state at any given time, by balancing all instruments of state policy through governance, that can be indexed by computation, empirically or otherwise, and is extendable to global security by variables external to it.

Nnoli (2003:20) argues that the relative success of violence in drawing attention to the injustice has made this a strategy for promoting identity politics. This has given rise to the phase of provoking ethnic violence as a means of attracting attention to political issues and interests, and of proving political relevance. This suggests that the end of identity-politics-spurned violence is not in sight. The implication of this is in two-fold. It means more lives will be lost and more property will be destroyed. It also means that lives and property in Nigeria becomes more insecure.

Using violence for identity politics spells doom for national integration.

Instead of Nigerians to come together, violent conflict will drive Nigerian citizens more apart. As it has been observed earlier, using informal identity politics does not augur well for the country. Using informal identity politics means the proliferation of more militia groups.

Nigeria is yet to curtail the activities of the ones on ground, having more of them will be disastrous for the polity.

One of the manifestations of insecurity in Nigeria is insurgency.

Insurgents adopt hit and run approach. Their operational tactics is

usually unconventional, hence making a military option sometimes futile in curbing their activities. It has been observed that insurgents and terrorists are likely to exist and thrive in countries where the leaders are not doing enough to alleviate the plights of the people. For instance, Ibeanu (2008:8), in his development-conflict compass, asserts that, “as development increases, conflict decreases. When this happens, the peace space expands, while the violence space contracts.” Peter and Asogwa (2009), however, note that the porosity of Nigeria’s border gives room for the infiltration of the country by all sorts of criminals.

One of the probably most devastating dimension of insurgency is the recurrent unleash of terror by the Islamic militant group fondly called Boko Haram (meaning western education is sacrilege) Predominantly in North Eastern part of the country. What has often made the war against this group difficult is the ideological dimension underlying the operation of the group. It is acclaimed to be a religious war, whose emphasis is on the complete annihilation of western education, philosophy, and ideology

The slight victory of the Nigerian government over Boko Haram has been swallowed in the current spate of banditry. All these have combined to wreak havoc on Nigeria and her citizens. Therefore, violence is antithetical to political development.

The other manifestations and purveyors of insecurity in Nigeria hinge on the activities of the Independent People of Biafra (IPOB), escalating spate of kidnapping and hostage taking, armed robbery, banditry, ethno-religious violence, pipeline vandalism, the activities of the movement for the emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND), border clashes, among others. These has occasioned the proliferation of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) in the society.

Apart from the inability to contemplate political development as a consequence of insecurity, it also has the following consequences for Nigeria;

a. Incessant violence in the polity dents the international identity of Nigeria.

b. It impacts Nigeria’s foreign relations negatively and drives away foreign direct investment (FDI).

c. The country is already rated as a “risky” state in the international system, compounding this through ethno-religious violence will affect Nigeria’s image abroad the more.

d. Economic life of the people directly affected by violent conflicts are always devastated with consequent loss of means of livelihood and businesses.

e. The activities of herdsmen may lead to food emergency in the country as farmers could no longer attend to their farming business.

The resources of the state that should ordinarily be used to provide critical infrastructure are ‘wasted’ on addressing these ‘unnecessary’

violent conflicts.

SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE

Which of the following is an implication of violent conflict in Nigeria?

(a) It will drive Nigerian citizens more apart (b) It is a force of unity (c) It helps to address food emergency (d) It shows the conflict management skill of the Nigerian government

4.0 CONCLUSION

Nigeria has been a theatre of violent conflicts. These particularly become widespread since independence in 1960. The latest manifestation of this ugly development is insurgency and herders/farmers violent conflicts. If these crises are not mitigated, they will continue to affect the country negatively and deplete the economic potentials and opportunities of Nigeria.

5.0 SUMMARY

Insecurity in Nigeria is manifested at the ethnic-religious, communal, political levels among others. This has cumulated into the emergence of several militia groups whose latest dimension is the emergence of insurgent groups that have wreck untold havoc on Nigeria, Nigerians and the Nigerian economy. Bulk of state resources that could have been probably deployed to the provision of critical infrastructure have been used to fight insecurity in the country. It has given Nigeria and Nigerians negative image abroad and has depleted investment opportunities in the country. All hands must be on deck to address this ugly scenario as that will be the panacea for development in the country.

6.0 TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT

1. The notion of national security as a means of maintaining a stable nation state can be traced to the peace treaty of ___ (a) Western India (b) Westphalia (c) Hiroshima (d) Oxford.

2. All the following are ways insecurity has affected Nigerian economy except? (a) It dents the international identity of Nigeria.

(b) It drives away foreign direct investment (FDI). (c) Shortage in food supply (d) It leads to the breaking forth of health pandemic

6.0 REFERENCES/FURTHER READING

Akintola, E. O. & Peter, M. A.(2019). Identity, violence and development in Nigeria. Journal of Research and Development in Arts and Social Sciences(JDRASS), 4, 194–219.

Ibeanu, O. (2008, February 20). Affluence and affliction: The Niger Delta as a critique of political science in Nigeria. An Inaugural Lecture of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

Nnoli,O. (2003). Ethnic Violence in Nigeria: A Historical Perspective.

Retrieved from

http://omworkshop.indiana.edu/papers/nnoli_021003.pdf

Paleri, P. (2008).National Security: Imperatives and Challenges. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill.

Peter, M. A. & Asogwa, N. O. M. (2011). The minimal state and state intervention in economic crisis: An interrogation of the lockean theory of social contract. Journal of Arid Zone Economy.12 (2), 46–54.

Peter, M. A. (2009). A Review of National security in Africa: a radical new perspective by Okwudiba Nnoli, National Development Review, (2), 139–141.

UNIT 5 POLITICAL ECONOMY OF ELECTIONS