Assessment of the Effects of Insurgency and Terrorism on Nigerian Politics

Abstract

Since the return to civil rule in May 1999, Nigeria faced with varying degree of security threats ranging from insurgency in the North East; banditry and kidnapping in the North West, the rise of separatists movement in the Southern part of the country, the violent crime of armed robbery, ritual, murders, rape, the cross-border criminal activities in arms, drugs and human trafficking and ethno-religious conflict resulting in violent destruction of lives and properties. Unemployment and chronic poverty accompanied by bad governance due to government’s failure to address inequality has provided a breeding ground for terrorism and insurgency. The study, thus, relates this to the Nigeria’s classification as one of the poorest countries in the world, according to the World Bank (2023) as the reasons for the rise in insurgency and terrorism and the impact it is having on Nigerian politics which has affected the stability of the country. To achieve this, the study adopted descriptive research design which is qualitative and explorative in nature, implying that data used in the study were derived from secondary sources, via books, journal publications, government official documents, internet and civil societies sources, among others. The paper adopts the structural conflict theory, to examine the reasons why people resort to insurgency/terrorism, crimes and other forms of unrests as alternative means to register their grievances against the government. It recommends that government should provide jobs and poverty alleviated programmes so as to reduce the rate of recruits amongst insurgent and terrorist groups.