TABLE OF CONTENT
Title page
Approval page
Dedication
Acknowledgment
Abstract
Table of content
CHAPETR ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the study
1.2 Statement of problem
1.3 Objective of the study
1.4 Research Hypotheses
1.5 Significance of the study
1.6 Scope and limitation of the study
1.7 Definition of terms
1.8 Organization of the study
CHAPETR TWO
2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW
CHAPETR THREE
3.0 Research methodology
3.1 sources of data collection
3.3 Population of the study
3.4 Sampling and sampling distribution
3.5 Validation of research instrument
3.6 Method of data analysis
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
4.1 Introductions
4.2 Data analysis
CHAPTER FIVE
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Summary
5.3 Conclusion
5.4 Recommendation
Appendix
Abstract
This study explored the political economy of Boko Haram insurgency in the North-east of Nigeria. The central argument of this study is that, the upsurge Boko Haram Insurgency has posed serious threats to economy and insecurities to human existence in Nigeria. Using both primary and secondary data collection method the study identify among other things that Boko Haram insurgency have claimed thousands of lives and displaced inestimable properties, rendering the northeast region as the most dangerous zone in Nigeria today. That such threat affects the nation’s stability and development prospects. The study identified various factors that precipitated the growth and development of Boko Haram insurgency in the northern Nigeria. These include: inequality and social injustices, ethnicity problem, sycophancy, favouritism and marginalization, bad governance and corruption, religious extremism, unemployment, poverty and social frustration. The study concludes that, the threats incurred by Boko Haram sects on Nigerian state have profound security and economic implications; Boko Haram insurgents today threaten the viability of Nigerian state thereby brings about economic crises, political instability, growth and development.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the study
Insurgency is a threat to the economic, political and social security of a nation and a major factor associated with underdevelopment; because it discourages both local and foreign investments. Also, it reduces the quality of life, destroys human and social capital, damages relationship between citizens and the states, undermining democracy, rule of law and the ability of the country to promote development (Akhain, 2012). On the state of the country, when people feel insecure, their appetite to invest, buy or rent from the product of investment reduces; and that is why all over the world today, any country that radiates an environment of insecurity naturally repels investment initiatives from both the international community and its own local investors. Every society across the globe has its peculiar problems and challenges in which Nigeria is not an exception. Today, insecurity is one of the greatest problems bedevilling various countries in varying degrees. It affects policies of government and also retards development (Ifijeh, 2011) A number of analysts have variously attributed the disturbing trend to political dissatisfaction, ethnic and religious differences, perceived societal neglect and pervasive poverty among the people. Some scholar attributed insecurity to the desire of man to satisfy his inordinate ambition of lust for power and this has often led to the irrational use of violence against the state, private organizations and the general public with the ultimate objective of achieving selfish goals (Akhain, 2012). Nigerian state has become war against humanity and survival of the fittest could be a better word to use. Base on operational indices of global conflict and failed state index, Nigeria is a country in a state of deep and ubiquitous crisis and political malaise. This development has been aggravated by insurgency in Niger Delta and Boko Haram in the northeast region (Bassey and Ubi, 2015). The Boko Haram insurgencies in the Northeast of Nigeria have threatened the very existence of the living beings, ranging from political, economic and cultural aspect. The sect has create a kind of Hobbessian state where life is solitary, nasty, brutish and short because of nihilism and violence of men. The country’s economy has been sunk into the river of distress which had recently called for disintegration of indissoluble entity of Nigerian state. Boko Haram insurgency since 2009 has created a state of palpable fear in Nigeria, while the helpless posture of the government is worrisome and intimidated (Olameji and Olusegun, 2012; Titus, 2016). Boko Haram insurgency has disastrous impacts on Nigeria’s economy. Boko Haram has caused most Nigerians injury and pains. The Nigeria economic growth with major focus on growth has witnessed an increase in spending on military hardware as well as equipping the personnel security systems and training to make them efficient to cope with the insurgent phenomenon and ensuring sustainability of economic growth (Ruys, 2004).Nigeria is considered to be an emerging power house, annual growth rates have averaged more than 7% per year, making the Nigeria economy one of the fast growing economies in the world, (www.gallaup.com). A study carried out by Salami, Fatimah, Gazi et al. (2012) shows that one unit of Foreign Direct Investment increase in the oil sector will increase the GDP by 15-16 units. As a result of insurgency, foreign direct investment has declined; FDI has dropped by 21.3% in 2012 from $8.9 billion in 2011 to $7 billion in 2012, (World Investment Report, 2013). It was recognized that this high dependency ratio is a center of weakness for Nigeria’s economy. Over the few years, insurgency has created widespread insecurity across regions in Nigeria, increased tensions between various ethnic communities, interrupted development activities, frightened off investors, inflamed religious tensions and upset the nation’s social cohesion (Eme and Ibietan, 2012) and this has generated concern among the Nigerian citizens. At a particular period in the history of Nigeria especially during the military era, the country witnessed serious economic crisis and political isolation. However, with the introduction of democratic government in 1999 the country was stabilizing albeit consciously. The peace and stability witnessed his threatened by religious fanaticism induced insurgency, corruption, political and ideological intolerance, ethnic confrontation and others. It has brought to Nigerians hunger and unleashed untold hardship on the Nigerian citizens, the economy is bleeding. The insurgents unchecked creates uncertainty, reduces confidence and increase risk perception and risk premium leading to low rates of investment and low economic growth (Titus, 2016). Economies which fail to combat terrorism and ensure the safety of trade and people movement could expect to incur significant cost in terms of lost of investment and trade opportunities; threat of Boko Haram reduces trade flows. It activities continued to deepening national economic crisis (Badejogbin, 2013). The contradictions caused by Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria manifested in its political economy ranging from abject poverty, poor quality education, lack of jobs among others, breeds the atmosphere of frustration expectations and these predicament find it expression in various shades of antisocial behaviours such as kidnapping, drug abuse and robbery among others. The damages it has done to Nigerian political economy are astronomical (Ogege, 2013). Nigeria is the most populated country in Africa and is blessed with a lot of mineral resources. But unfortunately its political economy is facing with contradictions ranging from lack of good governance, exploitation and stagnation, chaos and state of anarchy. To be sure, the post-colonial political economy of Nigerian state has been marked by missed opportunities; truncated development and frustration hope (Izah, 2014). The failures of governance manifested in poor socio-economic performance, causing suffering and unfulfilled expectations as well as facilitate insurgency, conflict and political instability.
1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
It is worthy of note that over the years, different sets of groups had risen in Nigeria with real militancy approach in prosecuting their objectives. Notable among these group are the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) within Yorubas, Bakassi Boys and Movement for Actualisation of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) among Igbos, Niger-Delta Militant in the South – South as well as Boko Haram in the North. Ekanem, et.al (2012) revealed that Boko Haram have been in existence right from the 1960s but only started to draw attention in 2002. It is on record that this particular group have been operating under the name Shabaab Muslim Youth Organisation with Mallam Lawal as the leader since 1995 but leadership of the group shifted to Mallam Mohammed Yusuf when Mallam Lawal left Nigeria. The emergence of Boko Haram insurgence has introduced a terrorist dimension hitherto unknown in the criminal space of Nigeria. Series of bombings have been carried out by the sect as well as taking hostage of innocent citizens including over 200 students in Chibok in 2014. This has raised both international and national concern which had also led to a campaign by civil societies called the Bring back our girls’ campaign. The Islamic terrorist group is growing in number and brutality. The continued rise in insecurity in Nigeria if not checked, may result into greater investor apathy for the country and low inflow of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). It would make institutional investors look for other stable economies to invest their capital as the goal of every political economy is to attract foreign direct investors to her economy. It is on this premise that the researcher intend to examine the political economy of insurgency in northeast Nigeria with emphasis on 2011-2018.
1.3 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The main objective of this study is to examine the political economy of insurgency in Northeast Nigeria 2011-2018, but to aid the completion of the study, the researcher intend to achieve the following specific objective;
- i) To examine the effect of insurgency on the political stability of North Eastern Nigeria.
- ii) To ascertain if there is any significant relationship between insurgency and political economy in the study area
iii) To examine the impact of insurgency on the economic growth and development of northern Nigeria
- iv) To examine the role of government in ensuring safety and security of lives and property in the region.
1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
The following research questions were formulated by the researcher to aid the completion of the study;
- i) Does the activities of insurgency have any effect on the political stability of North Eastern Nigeria?
- ii) Is there any significant relationship between insurgency and political economy in the study area?
iii) Are the negative impact of insurgency on the economic growth and development of northern Nigeria?
- iv) Has the government play her role in ensuring safety and security of lives and property in the region?
1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
It is believed that at the completion of the study, the findings will be of great importance to the federal and state government whose primary responsibility is to ensure the safety of lives and property in Nigeria as the study will give them an insight on effective strategies that will help in policy formulation and implementation. The study will also be useful to the security apparatus of the country as the study seek to uncover the effect of insurgency on the economic stability of the area and ensuring peaceful co-existence among citizens, the study will also be of importance to researchers who intend to embark on a study in a similar topic as the study will serve as a reference point to further studies. Finally, the study will be of great benefit to students, teachers, scholars, academia's lecturers' and the general public as the study will contribute to the pool of existing literature on the subject matter and also contribute to knowledge.
1.6 SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF THE STUDY
The scope of the study covers political economy of insurgency in northeast Nigeria with emphasis on their activity between 2011 -2018. However in the course of the study, there are a lot of factors that hinders the scope of the study, notably among this factors are:
Security: the prevailing rate of insecurity in the study area was a major constrain to the scope of the study as it was very perilous to obtain firsthand information from the target population which eventually reduced the population of the study.
Education: most of the respondent in the study area are mostly uneducated and as such the need to be guided in the completion of the research instrument.
Finance: the finance at the disposal of the researcher was a major constrain to the scope of the study due to the cost of transportation and logistics
1.7 OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF TERMS
Politics
Politics refers to a set of activities associated with the governance of a country, or an area. It involves making decisions that apply to members of a group. It refers to achieving and exercising positions of governance organized control over a human community, particularly a state
Political economy
Political economy is the study of production and trade and their relations with law, custom and government; and with the distribution of national income and wealth
Terrorism
Terrorism is, in the broadest sense, the use of intentionally indiscriminate violence as a means to create terror among masses of people; or fear to achieve a religious or political aim
Insurgency
An insurgency is a rebellion against authority when those taking part in the rebellion are not recognized as belligerents
Economic stability
Real macroeconomic output can be decomposed into a trend and a cyclical part, where the variance of the cyclical series derived from the filtering technique serves as the primary measure of departure from economic stability.
Insecurity
The state of being open to danger or threat; lack of protection. ‘growing job insecurity’
1.8 ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY
This research work is organized in five chapters, for easy understanding, as follows
Chapter one is concern with the introduction, which consist of the (overview, of the study), historical background, statement of problem, objectives of the study, research hypotheses, significance of the study, scope and limitation of the study, definition of terms and historical background of the study. Chapter two highlights the theoretical framework on which the study is based, thus the review of related literature. Chapter three deals on the research design and methodology adopted in the study. Chapter four concentrate on the data collection and analysis and presentation of finding. Chapter five gives summary, conclusion, and recommendations made of the study
