1. Terrorism and Insecurity in Nigeria
National
security is a premise for national economic growth and development of nations.
This is because peaceful nations attract foreign investors while the domestic
investors freely operate the economy with little or no tensions and
apprehensions. Security is the pillar
upon which every meaningful development could be achieved and sustained.
Nigeria as a nation state has witnessed unprecedented series of agitations in
the forms of kidnapping and abduction, armed robberies, bombing, and carnages
of all forms and magnitude in the past decade and a half. The most dastard so
far is the activities of a group of some Islamic militants that called
themselves the ‘Boko Haram’, interpreted to mean ‘western education is evil’.
With the coming to the scene by Boko Haram in 2002, the insecurity situation in
Nigeria seemed to have assumed higher and more complex dimensions. A part from
the frequency and intensity of deadly attacks and carnages, insecurity
situation in Nigeria cuts across cities, towns and villages that there is hardly
anywhere to run to for cover. Lives and properties are not safe for urban dwellers
as well as for the rural dwellers. People live in apprehension almost every
day. Terrorism is of both national and
international concern. This is because their activities most times are not
concentrated in a particular place. Its waves span across geographical
boundaries both local and international.
