Insecurity

First what is security:

safety and protection those two major keys are what made up of security

Safety: the state of being free from danger or threat.

Protection: the action of protecting, or the state of being protected.

Now let me take you to the main topic of discussion "insecurity"

Insecurity :Insecurity: Insecurity is the state of being subject to danger or injury. The anxiety that is experienced when one feels vulnerable and insecure. Michael Ezemonye (2011) affirms the above definition of insecurity as “a state of being not secure, lack of confidence’. To enable us understand this term, we now turn to the meaning of the word ‘insecure’ which the Advance English Dictionary defines as ‘not confident about yourself or your relationships with other people; not safe or protected’. This definition further expounds the meaning of the term to include not just the general meaning but it touches the individual person “not being confident about oneself”.

Insecurity is a big problem to a society and the entire community at large

Insecurity is the stage of uncontenment and uncertainty of mind plus having not good mindset

Most of us feel insecure sometimes, but some of us feel insecure most of the time. The kind of childhood you had, pasttraumas, recent experiences of failure or rejection, loneliness, social anxiety, negative beliefs about yourself, perfectionism, or having a critical parent or partner can all contribute to insecurity

Let me draw you Attention about the matter for example let take Nigerian As case study

Nigeria :

Nigeria is a republic in western Africa, with a coast along the Atlantic Ocean on the Gulf of Guinea. Most of Nigeria consists of a low plateau cut by rivers, especially the Niger and its largest tributary, the Benue. The country takes its name from its chief river. Until 1991, the capital was the Lagos, the largest city, located on the South-western coast. However, a new city called Abuja, located at the centre of country became the capital in 1991.

Nigeria has a federal form of government and is divided into 36 states and a federal capital territory. Robert Stock (2011) opined that

The area that is now Nigeria was home to ethnically based kingdoms and tribal communities before it became a European colony. In spite of European contact that began in the 16th century, these kingdoms and communities maintained their autonomy until the 19th century. The colonial era began in earnest in the late 19th century, when Britain consolidated its rule over Nigeria. In 1914 the British merged their northern and southern protectorates into a single state called the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria. Nigeria became independent of British rule in 1960.

Nigeria is by far the most populated of Africa’s countries, with more than one hundred and fifty million people. The people belong to many different ethnic groups. These groups give the country a rich culture, but they also pose major challenges to nation building. Ethnic strife has plagued Nigeria since it gained independence in 1960.

CAUSES OF INSECURITY IN NIGERIA:

There is a dramatic increase in violence, terrorism and the like, in Nigeria today. Lawless sects are raising the tempo of their campaign in various parts of the country. We hear of series of bombings, shooting and killings, kidnappings, armed robbery, arson and so on. These take place from north to south, east to west and almost on daily basis.

The phenomenon ‘insecurity’ has been extended to cover other spheres like economic, ob and political insecurity. In this paper, our concentration will treat the topic holistically - as it affects the life and property of the citizenry. Let us now examine the cause of this problem.

1.1. Porous borders – the free flow of migrants from other countries to Nigeria through our unguarded borders allows criminals to enter the country without check.

1.2. Proliferation of Arms and Ammunitions: Several arms hauls have been ceased at our air and sea ports, some in very large quantities. This is not good for the country. These arms and ammunition end up in the hands of criminals who apply same in their nefarious activities in the country thereby making life insecure for the people of their locality.

1.3 Illegal Armed groups – Illegal importation of arms and ammunitions has made possession of arms by individuals and groups very easy. We can name groups like Niger Delta Militants, Oodua Peoples Congress, ‘Bakassi Boys’, MASSOB that possess arms and ammunitions.

1.4 Oil Bunkering – Nigeria being one of the largest oil producing nation suffers from the activities of illegal oil bunkering. This activity is promoted by the spate of insecurity in the country. This is back-up with criminals who are ready to die in Nigeria water-ways. This therefore makes the coastal areas of our oil producing states unsafe.

1.5 Labour activists – Early in 2012 the Nigerian Labour Congress call for a nation wide strike as a result of increase in price of fuel by government. They accused the government of insensitivity to the suffering of the people as well as ignoring the insecurity challenges in the country. Peaceful protests by Labour and other civil society groups have severally been high-jacked by miscreants and inflicted pains on people and made life in our cities insecure.

1.6 Kidnapping – this is another visible sign of insecurity in the country. The perpetrators of this crime do not spare any one in this new wave of crime that seems to have supplanted armed robbery and other non-contact crimes. Since this act began in Nigeria, aged, children, male and female have been kidnapped for ransom. This has made life unbearable to the citizens. People now live in fear of falling victims to these criminals.

1.7 Militancy – According to criminal law, militancy is violence, illegal force or the illegal use of unjustified force or the intimidating effect created by the threat of this act.

This word became pronounced in Nigeria when the Niger Deltans took up arms against government exploitation and environmental degradation of their area due to oil exploration and exploitation. This does not only exist in the Niger Delta area. Other parts of the country have witnessed militants who commit atrocities worse than the youths of Nigeria Delta whose area is given the ‘brand name’.

IMPLICATIONS OF INSECURITY IN NIGERIA:

2.1 Political Implication of Insecurity in Nigeria

The current security situation in Nigeria has forced the political leaders to a ‘rethinking national security’ as Ibrahim Bashir of the Daily Sun puts it. This situation demands Nigeria security agencies to rethink and refocus our national security resources on the unique character of security threats in Nigeria. (Ibrahim, Thursday, March 24, 2011). Nigerians are daily becoming more and more apprehensive about the security implications to the country before, during and after the elections. I agree with Shafiu S. Zurmi that the general anxiety over the nation’s security is germane and should be a source of concern to the government.” (Daily Sun, Friday January 21, 2011 p.19)

The weakness of Nigeria’s Criminal Justice System has been exposed greatly. This has posed a challenge and showed the ineffectiveness and delay in the implementation of the policy. General Owoye Andrew Azazi has given some imperative, one of which is

… the need for a more robust legislation on Anti-Terrorism. An effective and enabling Anti-Terrorism Act must provide the institutional and co-ordination framework for combating and elimination the acts of terrorism in and against the Federal Republic of Nigeria…provide for additional judicial guidelines to the Criminal Justice System for the effective and speedy prosecution of terrorists and must clearly enable NSO to conduct their anti-terrorism measures and activities across many of our national ethnic-centric, religious, political and social biases.

Very important is whether the government will be willing to take the bold steps necessary to clearly articulate, communicate and implement whatever policy that is in place. Political instability sometimes results from uncontrollable state of insecurity in a nation.

The growing insecurity challenges in Nigeria are signs of the growing popular discontent with the national political system and indications that past elections were not free and fair. Many years ago John Calvin condemned any practice that could harm or oppressed the poorest element in society as spiritually and politically illegitimate (qtd. by Brenda K. Savage). If the government is unable to control and solve the problem of insecurity it means that that government for the common has failed. This is because the basic goals of any civilized are the survival and security of life and property.

Karl Marx added a voice that “Insecurity as destabilizing” (qtd. By Benjamin Ryan: 2008). This is true in that when a nation is not secure it can destabilize the economy, agriculture, governance and increases criminality in the society. It can also destroy the structures put in place by the government for political stability.

2.2 RELIGIOUS IMPLICATION OF INSECURITY IN NIGERIA

The tendency to highjack any form of violence and branding it religious is possible. Based on this the ‘outsider’ of religion will give it a bad name in order to hang it.

Religious worship places are being desecrated through blood shedding resulting from indiscriminate bombing of religious worship centres. It scares members away from regular religious worship and fellowship.

Insecurity in a nation can help spread or promote fake religious faith and practice. Violent or an insecure situation drives people into various religious groups not by reason of believing but for security purposes. In an environment where a particular religion commands majority, the residents would like to align with the popular religion there for the sake of securing their lives and that of their relations and possibly their business investments. Nothing thrives in an insecure environment. Economic, religious activities, as well as governance can be frustrating in such an atmosphere.

Religion can play a positive roll of preaching peace and living out same in an environment that is prone to violence. Dialogue could be initiated amongst warring groups.

2.3 CULTURAL IMPLICATION OF INSECURITY IN NIGERIA

It is expected that the continuous growth and development of ethnic communities into an integrated society based on Islamic solidarity cemented by increased inter-dependence and harmonization of shared values and goals will bring about transformation of the relationship between the various ethnic groups. But in a situation where there is insecurity this desire cannot materialize. T. A. Imobighe (2002) commenting on Warri experience said “Rather than the expected evolutionary change towards ethnic integration and peaceful co-existence, what has taken place in Warri is a heightened awareness of ethnic identity, extreme communal disharmony and a more intense rivalry and hostility (p.66). The incessant taking of life through