Insecurity in Nigeria: Towards Addressing the Drivers of Sustained Violent Attacks and Security Breakdown

Abstract

The upsurge in criminal terror attacks perpetrated by insurgent and other violent groups in Nigeria is despicable. With impunity they kill security operatives, massacre and kidnap innocent citizens for ransom, just to pursue a political cause or a quest for personal gain. Works by scholars on the subject argued that each uprising takes a cue from some underlying factors such as religious fundamentalism, political self determination and resource related cleavages that are likely to lead the country to a failed state. The paper interrogated the continued rise in terrorism and violence in Nigeria as it attempted to unravel the role of some critical factors that trigger and encourage incessant mayhem in the country. It anchored on Frustration-Aggression theory to explain the basis of hostilities using the secondary source of data collection and analysis. The travails of political instability and poverty, among others, were found to have engendered terrorism and other forms of violence that ravaged Nigeria. The government should seek pragmatic ways of attending to the root drivers of terrorism and widespread violence to curb the killings. Also, concerted effort to reduce poverty and unemployment levels among youths, so as to checkmate the propensity for violence and criminality, is suggested.