Unknown gunmen and insecurity in Nigeria: Dancing on the brink of state fragility
[ 1 ] Department of Political Science, Lagos State University of Education, Lagos-Badagry Expressway, 102101, Lagos, Nigeria | [ 2 ] Department of Political Science, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Benin, Lagos-Benin Expressway, Ugbowo, Benin City, 300214, Nigeria
2023
artykuł naukowy
angielski
- Bezpieczeństwo narodowe
- Bezpieczeństwo publiczne
- Konflikty zbrojne
- Korupcja
- Przestępczość
- Nigeria
- Armed conflicts
- Corruption
- Crime
- National security
- Public security
EN There is a compelling need to address the protracted and recurring multidimensional insecurity in Nigeria. The prevalence of insecurity in the country is multipronged and caught in a cyclic web. Insecurity in Nigeria comprises insurgency, killer herdsmen, extrajudicial killings, ethnoreligious conflict, armed robbery, militancy, banditry, cybercrime and attacks by unknown gunmen, among other things. The incidence of attacks by unknown gunmen is pervasive and symptomatic of a fragile state where the government’s monopoly of force is challenged and where marginalisation, crises and contested spaces are ubiquitous. The thrust of this paper is that the menace of unknown gunmen is pervasive and threatens to plunge Nigeria into a cesspit of fragility. The argument is predicated on the conceptual and theoretical suppositions of a fragile state. To this end, the paper adopts the documentary method of data collection and uses qualitative descriptive analysis to expound on the phenomenon. The findings reveal that the words unknown gunmen – terminology that is used to describe the spate of insecurity in the country – are a bane to peaceful coexistence. The paper also shows that the insecurity caused by these armed attacks and other forms of threat is emblematic of a fragile state. Consequently, policy recommendations – state-building and peace-building – are proffered.
18.05.2023
16 - 34
CC BY (uznanie autorstwa)
otwarte czasopismo
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18.05.2023
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