THE NIGERIAN ENVIRONMENT, “UNGOVERNED SPACES,” AND NATIONAL SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS: 1999 – 2022.

Abstract

Nigerian environment like every other nation-state is multifaceted –amongst it are business,socio-politics and geographical locations. The latter covers areas identified as ungovernedspaces which affect its national security. Going by the National Security Strategy in 2019,Nigeria recognizes ungoverned spaces as areas around the nation’s external boundaries,border communities and forest which provide a fertile ground for criminal activities. Theheight of these crimes is the acts of terrorism by Boko Haram which were at their peak in2014, though, has been “technically defeated”. An existential threat that has almost broughtNigeria’s national security to its knees. (Ukwuoma, Oke and Nimfel, 2020); argue that thefederal government has restrained its state control from reaching these spaces; an actionproffering haven for extreme criminals. However, non-physical spaces such as the internetand global finance which are not in the total ambit of the Nigerian state could pose a dangerto its national security, (Clunan, 2008). Adopting an array of relevant secondary data, thesecuritization theory explains the government’s failure to secure these places which thecriminal elements took advantage of to hatch their dangerous plans against nationalsecurity. The researcher recommends that it is high time the federal government refrainedfrom its lackadaisical attitude to national security towards securing these hot spots once andfor all. Hence, deploy and harness the energies of the many domestic security agenciesthrough their complementary services towards securing these places.