Rethinking Insecurity and Scoping Security Threat in Nigeria: Looking Ahead
Daniel Chigudu 
Issue: Vol.5 No.5 Issue Article 9 pp.690-700
DOI: https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.2024559 | Published online 10th May, 2024
© 2024 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Early in the 2000s, Boko Haram emerged with an Islamisation agenda concentrating mostly on Nigeria the largest African economy. There is empirical evidence suggesting that the government of Nigeria has not successfully warded off this group’s hostility. Yet there are gaps in security threats and extant literature. This study therefore examined the instability and anomic conditions resulting from this insurgency using the document analysis method and the Containment Theory employed as the theoretical framework. The analysis showed that there is no clear reason why the Nigerian military has failed to contain the Boko Haram insurgency given the army’s undoubted gallantry after excelling in several international peacekeeping assignments. It was recommended that public programs for enlightenment through community engagement and transparency would influence positively the government’s efforts to contain these terrorist activities. Given the complex nature of terrorism, there is a need for robust empirical studies that have to be done before any meaningful policy implementation can be considered. This study will amplify the international awareness of violent extremist activities in this most populated African nation. It will significantly provide the Nigerian government, human rights groups, researchers, civil society, policymakers, and public and private security agents with more knowledge to understand these terrorists better.
Keywords: Nigeria, Threat, Peace, Security, Boko Haram
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Prof. Daniel Chigudu is currently a Research Professor at the University of South Africa, College of Economic Management Sciences, Office of Graduate Studies and Research. Former independent Contractor for the African Union Agenda 2063 under the University of South Africa (2017-2023). An expert for sustainable development who was engaged as part of the team of experts in 2022 by the African Union Commission to review the First-Ten-Year Implementation Plan of the African Union Agenda 2063 based on the competencies and understanding of all the sustainable development goals especially, those concerned with, strong institutions, peace and justice (SDG16) and partnerships for sustainable development (SDG-17), and reducing inequalities (SDG-10), gender equality (SDG-5), and SDG 13 for urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts (which is linked intrinsically to all the other 16 Goals of the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development. The report was presented to African Heads of State and Government in 2023 informing the second ten-year implementation plan (STYIP) of Agenda 2063. A scholar of repute with an interdisciplinary approach and published extensively 60 journal articles on the African context concerning sustainable development in areas such as peace and security, social protection, corporate governance, migration and conflict, electoral democracy, gender equality, politics and constitutionalism, democracy and development, development and governance systems, climate action and public administration and management. He has a passion for Africa’s culture and heritage, its future and development. Inspired and believes in collaborative research, its value and the strength of diversity.
Chigudu, Daniel. “Rethinking Insecurity and Scoping Security Threat in Nigeria: Looking Ahead,” E-Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences 5, no.5 (2024): 690-700. https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.2024559
© 2024 The Author(s). Published and Maintained by Noyam Journals. This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
