چکیده:
The year 1999 marks a remarkable turnaround in Nigeria’s history and bid for global reckoning as a democratic nation having grappled with a sustained military rule for many decades after her independence. However, with the country’s return to democratic rule, many teething problems evolved which of course is not strange to young and emerging democracies such as Nigeria’s particularly after many years of military dictatorship. These problems include high rate of crime, mass protest and agitations by numerous groups alleging marginalization, militancy, kidnapping, oil theft and pipeline vandalisation, cross border trafficking in drugs and persons, armed smuggling and the prevalence of small and light weapons, religious fundamentalism, terrorism and insurgency among others all capable of undermining the internal security and even the defense of the country. Qualitatively driven with reliance on secondary sources of data, this paper examines the basic issues, the challenges and the strategic imperatives of the country’s defense and internal security measures needed to stem the spate of agitations and insurgency in the country. It submits that these issues and challenges remain imperative given the level of freedom associated with civil rule after long years of military dictatorship and more so because as the people partake in governance which democracy guarantees, they are also emboldened to voice out their grievances even to a level of criminalizing the process. The paper concludes that the task is for Nigeria’s leadership to address these challenges and create a peaceful and secure country for its citizens.
خلاصه ماشینی:
The Challenges and Strategic Imperatives of Nigeria’s Defense and Internal Security Measures since the Fourth Republic Nse Etim Akpan1 Department of Political Sciences, Federal University, Wukari, Taraba State, Nigeria Received 30 October 2018 Revised 5 November 2018 Accepted 26 December 2018 The year 1999 marks a remarkable turnaround in Nigeria’s history and bid for global reckoning as a democratic nation having grappled with a sustained military rule for many decades after her independence.
These problems include high rate of crime, mass protest and agitations by numerous groups alleging marginalization, militancy, kidnapping, oil theft and pipeline vandalisation, cross border trafficking in drugs and persons, armed smuggling and the prevalence of small and light weapons, religious fundamentalism, terrorism and insurgency among others all capable of undermining the internal security and even the defense of the country.
Conversely, a state that lacks the basic capabilities, political, economic and technological to establish and project strong national defense and security structure would become vulnerable and exposed to various threats and challenges that could undermine her independence and development.
As a matter of fact, the last decade in Nigeria has experienced various degrees of defense and internal security challenges as there has been increase in violent conflicts, criminality and terrorism, which manifests in the form of armed robbery, kidnapping, drug trafficking, arms smuggling, human trafficking, militancy and terrorism which undermine national security.
The high level of violence in the country since the return to civil rule has been attributed to the lack of enabling legislations and effective counter-strategy to tackle the deteriorating security situation so as to ensure the proper internal defense of Nigeria.