This paper identified ethnicity, religious and boundary problems, urbanization a pattern of economic growth, dangerous political practices, and the consumption and sale of dangerous drugs.
Also, illegal importation and manufacture of arms and ammonitic reminiscences of military rule and misrule, poor methods of agriculture and high return employment as the causes of insecurity in Nigeria.
Introduction
The paper recommended citizens’ education, better management of our resources, and improvement of rural areas in terms of facilities such as roads, electricity and water.
Other suggestions include an emphasis on vocational science and technical education, better agricultural practices, fair play a patience among politicians.
It is the re-organisation of the police force and the government’s policy on the possession of arms and ammunition. It is the establishment of industries, reasonable population policy and population education.
The current state of insecurity in Nigeria is of great concern to every responsible citizen of the country.
Focus
There had been notorious cases of killings, assassinations, ethnic and communicates, religious riots, arson and armed robbery in the country. These incidents are currently on the increase at an alarming rate.
There had been civil unrest and agitation for sincere national conferences from some parts of the country. Investors are being scared to come and establish industries in the countries.
Management of resources has led to serious environmental crises and problems such as epidemics and loss of lives and properties. There is peace and tranquillity that the country can develop socially, economically and politically.
Objectives
The thrust of this paper is to achieve the following objectives:
To identify the remote and immediate causes of insecurity in Nigeria.
To offer suggestions aimed at alleviating the problem of insecurity in Nigeria.
Historical Roots of National Crisis and Insecurity in Nigeria
Nigeria is located between Longitude 3°E and Longitude 14°E, Latitude 14°E with an avenue. Within these broad regions are various intra and inter-ethnic groups, traditional politics and communities.
Coleman (1958) maintained that there are over 240 different ethnics in Nigeria. But based on dialects of forms of speech Adejuyigbe (1970) identified ethnic nations.
Focus
Nigeria was amalgamated in 1914 when the two British protectorates further and Southern Nigeria were brought together under the governorship of Sir FredrickLugard.
The name Nigeria was given to the country by Flora Shaw in 1898 (Adejuyigbe1968). Amalgamation gave birth to the marriage of convenience to the whims and caprices of the white men, to employee resources but politically inconvenient to the various ethnic groupings.
An earnest attempt to secede by the Igbos had led to the Biafran civil war between 1967 and970. Today there is a spate of agitations for state and local government creation and covariational conferences.
Factors of Insecurity in Nigeria
To address the problem of insecurity, the following geographical factors should be considered to reduce the alarming rate of insecurity in the country.
The cementing forces of any ethnic group are race, nationality, language or religion. In Nigeria, language has been the most crucial factor variable.
Ethnic considerations have led to the tor-ethnic competition for scarce resources where inequality is accepted as natural and wealth esteemed.
Focus 1
Ethnic and boundary crises are many all over different parts of Nigeria. They cut across ethnic territories and beyond jurisdictions leading to protracted litigation, (Plateau states do different border raids).
The Ife/Modakeke imbroglio, Jos crisis and Kano riots are incessant ethnic and religious crises which are still very fresh and in which many lives and property were lost.
A way of stabilizing the political map of Nigeria is to ensure that the boundaries of both Local Government Areas and States do not cut across primary communities and above all, that each unit comprises primary communities which have social and cultural activities.
Focus 2
Resources should be distributed in a way to ensures that no area is neglected while individuals are not discriminated against because of their places of birth.
Political events in Nigeria since independence have confirmed that a rapidly urbanizing society is socially and politically very volatile.
People flocking into cities are generally highly motivated individuals with high expectations and governments have to endeavour to satisfy them.
Their demands appear to be insatiable and yet a large number of migrants are not an imposition to contribute financially towards the cost of services which they demand as the right
Focus 3
Mounting unemployment in the cities is one of the main consequences of urbanization. Opportunities are not yet growing as fast as the number of migrants and a large number are qualified for available jobs.
So many migrants are obliged to live as parasites in relatives’ overcrowded rooms with excessive use of facilities.
Many others roam the streets by dwelling in all sorts of petty wares and sleeping at petrol stations and under the bridges in the country.
Many also take to pilfering in public places by day and armed robbery during the day and night.
Focus 4
Begging for alms by able-bodied men is also a common feature of life in Nigeria. Other include congestion of traffic, housing problems and attendant diseases, epidemics, pollution a deaths.
In Nigeria, the emphasis is on the provision of basic needs such as food, shelter, clothing and health facilities. So the demand for these basic facilities has been increasing at an alarming rate. Unfortunately, the technology of production is very poor.
Focus 5
Skill and knowledge are still very poor. The insulant effect is the breakdown of many of the resource processes resulting in serious environmental problems such as accelerated soil erosion, floods, doughnutfire, overgrazing etc.
Many cities do not have enough space for expansion and renewal and slum and poor drainage continue to be a serious problem.
Resource ecology emphasizes management. In this management, the population factor is very important. This is because all resource processes are subject to pressure exerted by population growth.
Focus 6
Population determines the demand for resources and the greater the rate of population growth, the greater the demand for resources and the greater the press for resource processes.
The demand for resources particularly cultural product tend to increase with the standard of living of the population. The more the consumption of cultural products
Another cause of insecurity is that the pattern of growth of our economy is lopsided. Television, cream, gold, fertilizer, rice, fish, and clothing among others.
Focus 7
Per capita income in the country is extremely low so many Nigerians still live below the poverty line. The rural areas are at the receiving end where poverty is very great. (migrants) into towns.
This included international migrants from neighbouring countries. Prostitution, robberies, rural depopulation, broken homes, lack of respect for elders, sexual immorality and others.
The practice of politics and politicking in Nigeria is also a source of insecurity, cities are major sites for political activities.
Focus 8
The idle and semi-idle young men tend to form dissidents that oppose governments. The dissident groups sometimes succeed in changing the tenement of the day.
Associated with these are campaigns of calumny, and inconsistent. ideological bitterness.
It is the winner-takes-all-all attitude of most politicians, egocentric behaviour, corruption embezzlement of government money, electoral malpractice, use of political thugs mass racy and hired assassins.
All these are the root causes of insecurity leading to all sorts of fascination, armed robbery, theft and arsons and the attendant national insecurity.
Focus 9
In Nigeria, about 85% of the total population is engaged in Agricultural activities (FMANR!). Yet we are unable to feed ourselves whereas in North America only 5% of the population aged in farming.
They can feed themselves and produce a surplus for exportation. Most farmers are peasants using crude implements and methods.
Also, the man/land ratio is small as a result of rapid population growth. Other agricultural problems include inadequate credit facilities and expensive farm inputs. All these have led to the food crisis in Nigeria.
Focus 10
In most cases, the military rulers have not performed better than the maligned politicians because they are part and parcel of the system they attempted to change.
Most coups and counter coups are master-minded by ethnic power struggles. The military rulers were unable to correct the political and economic evils of the society.
They have contributed to social injustice, political instability and national insecurity. Many lives were lost during the rule and misrule of most of the military leaders.
The sale and consumption of dangerous drugs, hemp and others is another cause of insecurity. Many plantations of loops of hemp had been discovered with the men of the world is a major source of insecurity.
Recommendations
Having identified some of the remote and immediate causes of insecurity in Nigeria, the following recommendations which require an urgent application to the Nigerian situation are put forward.
Focus 1
There is a need to educate the citizens about the need to tolerate one another. In addition, there is the need to review the local boundaries to ensure that they do not cut across primary communities and that individuals are not discriminated against because of their place of birth.
(Olatunbosun1975,Oyebanji 1981).Rural areas must be improved and provided with a lot of social facilities like good roads, hospitals, schools, electricity and portable/treated pipe-borne water.
There is a need to attract dissident groups away from cities by improving rural areas reported above. (Olatunbosun 1975).
Focus 2
Priority should be given to the development of the agricultural sector of the economy by three tiers of government.
Vocational science and technical education must be emphasized in schools to reduce the alarming rate of unemployment and underemployment in the country.
There is a need to improve agricultural practices through education of farmer mechanization, provision of credit facilities and farm inputs at subsidized rates. (Anikwe2000).
There is a need to compel citizens to surrender arms and ammunition illegally acquired like it recently happened in the Niger Delta area.
Focus 3
There is also the need to beef up the security situation in the country and set up a police task force to fish out bad eggs among the police force and para-military.
There is also the need for patience, fair play, and careful planning in all aspects of our. Political activities. The current crops of politicians are too hungry and impatience.
We should be wear, of the current political trend which involves the return of military personnel in civilian dress.
Their return to wolf cloth may not be the panacea for rapid economic development in the country.
Focus 4
More viable industries should be established by both governments and private individuals to reduce the rush for importation and unemployment of graduates roaming the streets.
There should also be a clear policy on population education via family planning. National Drug Law Enforcement Agency The NDLEA should continue to curb the importation and consumption of dangerous drugs.
Conclusion
National security should be the major concern of all Nigerians. Security in the homes,onNo multinationals will want to invest in a country with such a high level of insecurity.
To be able to look seriously into the causes of insecurity and encourage things that can unite us.
This improves the rural areas, our agricultural practices and methods, and the creation of employment opportunities by filling the existing vacancies in government establishments. Read more similar posts on our research page of the site.
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