ARTICLE:
CRISIS IN NIGERIA
In 2002, an
international observation proclaimed the Niger Delta as one of the most
volatile regions of the world. This observation came on the heels of incessant
crisis which the region have been witnessing for decades but which took
alarming dimension in loosing years of the 1990’s and the opening years of the
new millennium. The region from one decade to another has witnessed
unprecedented crisis which revolve round political and most importantly
economic factors. Also from one decade to another the nature and dynamics of
crisis in the region have changed, the transformations which the crisis took from
the one period to another have paved way for its institutionalization in the
history of the region and Nigeria in general.1 If the institutionalization in
the history of the Niger Delta crisis in the politics and economy of the
country is something to discuss, the threat which it has been posing and still
posing to domestic and international security of the Nigerian nation state is
an aspect which requires critical academic enquiry.
A systematic analysis
of the crisis is informed by my intention to identify the changing dynamics of
what constitutes national security over the years and how the nation state of
Nigeria have been contending with the threat which the Niger Delta crisis is
posing to the so called national security. National security questions is a
complex of political, legal, social, economic, ideological and military
problems that arises in the course of a people struggling for political and
economic independence and for the establishment of equal and friendly relations
with other people in the bilateral and international affairs.
It is imperative to see
how regional based crisis affect the survival of the entire country and how the
political entity called Nigeria have been dealing with the changing dynamics of
the crisis, the current study therefore understands that the concept of
national security is fluid and dynamic. All nations of the world contend and
will continue to contend with the challenges arising from the national
security. To Nigeria, the complicated nature of the Niger Delta crisis poses
serious and enduring threat to the fragile nature of Nigerian democracy and the
ever volatile national security.
What this work explores
is the complexity involved in the maintenance of national security which arose
as a result of the crisis in the Niger Delta. For the purpose of this research,
the concept of National Security questions and the contributions of Niger Delta
crisis are both international and domestic in nature.
In this work, I attempt
to answer the entire questions of the place of crude oil in the escalation and
the reduction of the Niger Delta crisis. The significance of the other
exigencies or factors in the crisis? The contributions of the Multinational
Corporation and different political ferments in the region? The Niger Delta
crisis cannot be understood without a critical understanding of the
relationship between individual communities on the one hand and with the
federal government on the other hand which revolve round the control of
resources and retarded infrastructural, economic and social development in the
region.
To what extents have
the crisis constitutes threats to national security? Put differently, what is
the threat which the crisis is posing to the Nigeria’s nascent democracy? How
crisis have metamorphosed in the all-embracing concept of national security is
also analyzed and the entire attempts made by the federal government to preserve
legitimacy in the name of the fundamental national security are not left
undiscussed.
Niger Delta crisis at
every point in time have threatened the primacy responsibility of the
government in terms of security of lives and properties and the preservation of
oneness of Nigeria as a single political entity. National security transcends
the primary role of the government in the protection of lives and properties.
It also involves the international security and sovereignty. The gagging
question is: is the Niger Delta crisis posing any threat to the international
security and sovereignty of the Nigerian nation?
THE
MAJOR CRISES IN NIGERIA
Inter-communal &
Political Unrest
Jos, the capital of
Nigeria’s North-Central Plateau State, is located in the middle belt. The
middle belt has areas on each side of it comprised of distinct, majority
religious identities. Between 17-20 January 2010, Muslim-Christian tensions
turned violent in Jos, with at least 400 people killed and 18,000 displaced
before the military restored order. According to a statement issued by Nigerian
Civil Society on the crisis, by 19 January, “the incident had escalated into
mass violence, in which residents from different communities in the city
systematically attacked one another.” Media reports indicated that hate
messages transmitted through cell phones incited individuals to such attacks.
In response, Human Rights Watch (HRW) stated, “This is not the first outbreak
of deadly violence in Jos, but the government has shockingly failed to hold
anyone accountable.” Reports by HRW also surfaced accusing the Nigerian
military and police units of responding to the violence with excessive force
against civilians.
On 7 March 2010, HRW
reported a massacre south of Jos that left at least 200 Christian villagers
dead. The International Crisis Group recorded two other attacks on villages by
Muslim Fulani gangs the same day that were in “apparent retaliation for Jannurary
violence,” raising the day’s death count to 500, mostly Christian women and
children. Such events led the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect
(GCR2P) to suggest that these atrocities may “rise to the level of crimes
against humanity.”
The unrest persists in
the region. HRW’s World Report 2013 addressed further episodes of inter-communal
violence in the Plateau and Kaduna States of the middle belt. Over 360 people
were killed in 2012 in these locations, with victims “hacked to death, shot,
and burned alive – in many cases simply based on their ethnic or religious
identity.” The report also mentioned discriminatory state and local policies
towards “non-indigenes” people, which “continue to exacerbate inter-communal
tensions and perpetuate ethnic-based divisions.” On 16 March 2014, Fulani
Muslim herders attacked three Christian villages and killed more than 100
civilians in Kano. The New York Times reported that middle belt violence is
typically separate from Boko Haramactivity (refer to Section III), but
“analysts say there is a risk that the insurgents will try to stoke the
conflict in central Nigeria.” While recorded attacks have been linked to
specific ethno-religious groups, an NPR article warned of attributing this
violence to religious or ethnic hatreds, explaining that social, economic and
political factors underpin the area’s cycles of violence.
BOKO HARAM
The group originated in
2002, in the capital of Nigeria’s northeastern Borno state, Maiduguri, under
the leadership of Islamist cleric Mohammed Yusef. It is commonly referred to as
Boko Haram, which colloquially translates to ‘Western education is sin.’
According to CFR, and with “aims to establish a fully Islamic state in
Nigeria,” Yusef’s followers consisted predominately of individuals from the
impoverished north: Islamic students, clerics, and the unemployed. Prior to
2009, the small group of Islamists openly challenged the state with impassioned
speeches. Kyari Mohammed, in ‘The Message and Methods of Boko Haram,’ explains
it was not until July 2009 that the group moved from this “dawah
(proselytisation) phase to violent armed struggle.” Yusuf was summarily
executed while in police custody, and following this development, the group not
only grew more radicalized, but it also broke into factions. Abubakar Shekau is
the current leader of the militant group.
Regarding the methods
of violence utilized in this new phase, Boko Haram has adopted targeted
assassinations, suicide bombings, and hostage-taking, with an increasingly
global reach. Since the middle of 2010, the group has targeted media outlets,
journalists and schools, as well as kidnapped both locals and foreigners. The
group’s strength and resilience has succeeded in posing a significant threat to
the government. CFR highlights that, “Boko Haram fighters often are, indeed,
better armed and equipped than the government’s forces.” Crisis Group furthers
that wealthy politicians and businessmen funded the group in the past, before,
as a former member of Nigeria’s State Security Service (SSS) puts it, “they
lost control of it.” Nevertheless, Boko Haram’s political ties have allegedly
continued.
July 2009 – December
2013
In July 2009, following
an alleged disagreement with police forces, 14 Boko Haram members were shot in
a joint military and police operation. The military suppressed the group’s
reprisal revolts in six northern states, with the crackdown leaving over 800
dead, the majority of which were sect members and civilians. Attacks continued,
culminating in the 30 July 2009 execution of Yusuf in custody. From August
2011–June 2012 Boko Haram violence significantly escalated, with the suicide
bombing of a UN building, and multiple attacks on security facilities, banks,
and churches, resulting in high numbers of civilian causalities. In October
2012, Human Rights Watch released a report accusing Boko Haram’s “widespread
and systematic murder and persecution” as likely amounting to “crimes against
humanity.” The second Boko Haram instigated ‘State of Emergency’ was declared
in Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa states, May 2013, and from June–October 2013
multiple confrontations between Boko Haram and state forces resulted in
hundreds of deaths. In September 2013, Boko Haram was suspected of an attack on
a college that killed 40 students. Crisis Group then reported in December 2013
that 200 insurgents, dressed in military uniform, coordinated an attack on
state military targets in Maiduguri, and later that month, several hundred
fighters attacked military barracks outside Bama.
January - May 2014
In early 2014, the
frequency and scale of Boko Haram attacks, mainly targeting civilians,
increased significantly. In February, the group killed at least 59 people, when
they opened fire at a high school in Yobe State. In March, at least 75 people
were killed in Maiduguri blasts, attributed to Boko Haram. In April, Boko Harm
gunmen abducted 276 schoolgirls from their dormitory in northeastern Borno
state, merely hours after more than 70 people were killed in a bomb attack near
Abuja. In May, three separate attacks, a Boko Haram assault on the town of
Gamboru Ngala on the Cameroon border (at least 336 deaths), a car bombing in
Jos (at least 118 deaths), and an attack on a military base in Yobe State (49
deaths) killed more than 500. Throughout June and July at least another 2,000
casualties were recorded in multiple attacks, among which was the Gwoza massacre
killing at least 200, mostly Christian, in several villages in Borno State and
a series of attacks in the Middle Belt of Nigeria, killing around 171 people.
Until the end of 2014 at least another 6,000 deaths were recorded as a result
of continuous violence. In early January the deadliest single massacre to date
was recorded as a series of mass killings were carried out by Boko Haram
militants, destroying the entire town of Baga in north-east Nigeria, killing as
many as 2,000 people. Boko Haram now controls up to 70% of Borno State, which
has been most affected by the insurgency. The cumulative death toll varies
according to sources, ranging from 7,500 deaths in 2014 according to the
Nigerian Social Violence Project (John Hopkins University Africa Program) to
18,000 according to the Nigeria Security Tracker (Council on Foreign
Relations). Furthermore, cumulative deaths since the start of the insurgency
range from 11,121 to 33,000.
TRENDS
IN LEADERSHIP BAD GOVERNANCE IN NIGERIA AS A FORCE BEHIND POLITICAL CRISES IN
NIGERIA
According Ekeatte, 2004
(in Ademola, 2008), leadership in public service have been engaged in reckless
use of government properties and have been channels to corrupt practices
(wasteful spending and looting). Consequently, the cost of governance has
continued to escalate beyond imagination, arising mostly from the burden of
providing basic amenities to public servants (i.e. accommodation, transport,
medical service e utility services, fueling and maintenance of vehicles,
etc.).. The expenditure to these effects in 1997 was a recurrent expenditure of
N258,563 billion, in 1998 rose to N278,097 billion, 1999 was N449.670 billion,
2000 was N461,610 billion, 2001 was N579,330 billion, 2002 was 696,780 billion,
2003 was N984.270, 2004 was N1.2 trillion and 2005 was N1.11 trillion. While capital expenditure was N269,651
billion; N309,015 billion;N498,027 billion; N239,450 billion; N438,700 billion;
321,378 billion; 241,688 billion; 407,362 billion, 582,301 billion respectively
during the same period. Thus while
recurrent expenditure had steadily remained on the increase, the capital
expenditure had not only been erratic but remained far lower. There is no doubt that the greater percentage
of revenue ends up in recurrent expenditure at the expenses of capital
expenditure, which is the bedrock of a meaningful development. Even at that,
the extra looting through resource procurement and capital projects are
unimaginable.
Effects of Bad
Governance
Generally, good
governance, in its political, social and economic dimensions, underpins
sustainable human development, mass participation and economic empowerment and
poverty reduction. Poor governance can
be seen within the following context:
•
Prevalence of poor service delivery
• Ineffective public-complaints
mechanisms
• Ineffective anti-corruption mechanisms
(Due Process, ICPC, EFCC could not stop the devil)
• Lack of faith in the integrity of public
office holders - politico-bureaucracy (as they characterized and are instrument
of corrupt practices)
• Lack of effective popular participation
in policy making (most political elites rigged themselves to power and hence
becomes irresponsive to mass yearnings)
• General corruption in all spheres of
public life due to materialistic value/poverty
• Heightened insecurity
• The effect of these is constraints to
development, which include:
• Unemployment
• High cost of living
• Inflation
• Lack of adequate business financing
• Poor infrastructure
• Endemic Public-sector corrupt practices
• Pervasive poverty
CAUSES
OF POLITICAL CRISIS IN NIGERIA
Unemployment
and underemployment
Not paying rent may
lead to homelessness through foreclosure or eviction. Being unemployed, and the
financial difficulties and loss of health insurance benefits that come with it,
may cause malnutrition and illness, and are major sources of self-esteem which
may lead to depression, which may have a further negative impact on health.
Lacking a job often means lacking social contact with fellow employees, a
purpose for many hours of the day, lack of self-esteem, and mental stress.
Economic
An economic crisis is a
sharp transition to a recession. See for example 1994 economic crisis in
Mexico, Argentine economic crisis (1999–2002), South American economic crisis
of 2002, Economic crisis of Cameroon. Crisis theory is a central achievement in
the conclusions of Karl Marx's critique of Capital.
A financial crisis may
be a banking crisis or currency crisis.
In order to aid someone
in crisis, it is crucial to be able to identify the signs that indicate they
are undergoing an internal conflict. These signs, as well as the aforementioned
coping mechanisms, include:
•
Irrational and/or narrow thinking
•
Lowered attention span
•
Unclear motives
•
Disorganized approach to problem solving
•
Resistance to communication
•
Inability to differ between large and small issues
•
Change/alteration to social networks
WAYS
WE CAN MANAGE CRISIS IN NIGERIA
As aforementioned, a
crisis can be overcome by implementing mechanisms such as: sleep, rejection,
physical exercise, meditation and thinking. To assist individuals in regaining
emotional equilibrium, intervention can be used. The overall goal of a crisis
intervention is to get the individual back to a pre-crisis level of functioning
or higher with the help of a social support group. As said by Judith Swan,
there's a strong correlation between the client's emotional balance and the
trust in their support system in helping them throughout their crisis. The
steps of crisis intervention are: to assess the situation based on behaviour
patterns of the individual, decide what type of help is needed (make a plan of
action) and finally to take action/intervention, based on the individual's
skills to regain equilibrium.
The Registered Nurses’
Association of Ontario proposed the ABC model for dealing with client’s
interventions in crises:
A - Basic attending
skills (making the person comfortable, remaining calm, etc.)
B - Identifying the
problem and therapeutic interaction (explore their perceptions, identify
sources of emotional distress, identify impairments in behavioural functioning,
use therapeutic interactions)
C - Coping (identify
coping attempts, present alternative coping strategies, follow up post-crisis)
In March 2014, United
Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms. Navi Pillay, stated that
Nigeria was “currently facing its most daunting set of challenges for decades.”
The country is split between Muslims and Christians, with an area called the
middle belt edging the predominately Muslim north and Christian south. Ten
percent of the country follows indigenous sects, constituting over 174 million
people, and close to 350 ethnic groups speak 250 languages. The country is also
divided along economic lines. As of February 2014, CFR recorded poverty levels
at 72 percent in the north, starkly contrasting the 27 percent in the south and
35 percent in the Niger Delta.
These divisions and
inequalities, and the existence of vulnerable peoples, alongside ongoing
battles against insurgent groups and high levels of corruption, have
contributed to the current security crisis in Nigeria. Human Rights Watch (HRW)
and the CFR Nigeria Security Tracker purport that over 25,000 people have been
killed in the country since 1999, and events since the start of 2014 have
reached unprecedented levels. In April 2014, Amnesty International published a
briefing expressing concern over actions by both Boko Haram, the Nigerian
militant Islamist group, and the Nigerian state security forces that may
constitute “war crimes” and “crimes against humanity,” urging the immediate
investigation of violations of international humanitarian law. The Global
Centre for the Responsibility to Protect (GCR2P) also warned of the gravity of
such acts, stating, “indiscriminate violence heightens the risk of further mass
atrocities, including possible crimes against humanity.”
Targeted violence,
increased lawlessness, escalating sectarian tensions, the state’s inability to
protect, and its military’s own contribution to human rights violations, has
raised significant alarm as to whether the international community is bearing
witness to mass atrocity crimes – or could in the near future. In May 2014, one
month after Boko Haram’s abduction and continued detention of 276 schoolgirls,
the International Criminal Court Prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, said that crimes
committed by Boko Haram fell within the jurisdiction of the Court, which has
authority over cases of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide.
According to Ibrahim (2009) International Index for Good
Governance, the following variables are critical factors to measuring good
governance in any civilized society:
• Safety and Rule of Law
• Participation and Human Rights
• Sustainable Economic Opportunity
• Human Development
Safety and Rule of Law
entails (a) Personal safety: safety of the person, violent crime, social
unrest, human trafficking, domestic political persecution (b) Rule of law:
strength of judicial process, judicial independence, property rights, time
taken to settle a contract dispute, orderly transfers of power, UN sanctions;
(c) Accountability and corruption: transparency and corruption, accountability
of public officials, corruption in government and public officials, prosecution
of abuse of office, corruption, accountability, transparency and corruption in
rural areas; (d) National security: domestic armed conflict, government
involvement in armed conflict, battle deaths (civilian and combatants, civilian
deaths from civilian targeted violence, refugees from the country, internally
displayed persons, international tensions
Participation and Human
Rights (a) Participation: political participation, strength of democracy, free
and fair elections, electorate self-determination (b) Rights: human rights,
political rights, collective rights, freedom of expression, freedom of
association, press freedom, civil liberties, ratification of international
human rights conventions (c) Gender: gender equality, primary school completion
rate, female ratio of girls to boys in primary and secondary education, women
participation in the labour force, women in parliament
Sustainable Economic
Opportunity (a) Economic Management: quality of public administration, quality
of budget management, currency inside banks, ratio of total revenue to total expenditure,
ratio of budget deficit or surplus to GDP,, management of public debt,
inflation, ratio of external debt service to exports, imports covered by
reserves (b) Private Sector: competitive environment, investment climate for
rural businesses, investment climate, access to credit, extent of bureaucracy
and red tape, dealing with licenses, time take to start a business, trading
costs across borders (c) Infrastructure: quality of infrastructure, reliability
of electricity supply, mobile phone subscribers, computer usage, internet usage
(d) Environmental and rural sector: policies and institutions for environmental
sustainability, role of environment in policy formulation, access to land and
water for agriculture, access to agricultural input and produce markets, rural
financial services development, policy and legal framework for rural
organizations, allocation and management of public resources for rural
development, dialogue between government and rural organizations.
Human Development (a)
Poverty and Health: people living with HIV, incidence of TB, child mortality,
immunizations, welfare regime, policies for social protection and labour,
degree of social exclusion (b) Education: education provision and quality,
ratio of pupils to teachers in primary school, primary school completion rate,
progression to secondary school, tertiary enrolment rates. One of the greatest
problems in the efficient management of government business in Nigeria today is
the lack of adherence to rules and regulation. The many years of military rule,
the “immediate effect” psychosis of the military has helped to jettison
procedures or due processes. This is because the issues of accountability,
transparency and service ethical values have been highly abused through
financial and procurement processes to the detriment of the image of the
Nigeria public service institution and, indeed, characterized the country
before the international community as one of the most corrupt nation in the
world.
REFERENCES
Abubakar, H.I. (2008)
Reforms and Future of Good Governance in Nigeria. Seminar Paper presented in Department of
Public Administration, ABU Zaria.
Ademola, O. A. (2008)
Impact Assessment of Corruption in the Management of Public Organisation: Case
of NITEL. PGDPA Project, Department of Public Administration, ABU, Zaria.
Adamolekun, L. (2006)
Politics, Bureaucracy and Development in Africa. Ibadan Spectrum Books Ltd,
Ibadan.
Argyle, M. (1989), The Social Psychology of Work. 2nd Ed.
Penguin.
Bass, B.M. and
Stogdili, R.M. (1990) Handbook of Leadership.
Free Press.
Bello-Imam, I.B. (2005)
The War Against Corruption in Nigeria: Problems and Prospects. College Press,
Ibadan
Buhari, M. (1998)
“Leadership and Accountablity in a Period of Moral Crisis” (in Mahadi, A. and
Kwanashie, G. Leadership, Aqccountability and the Future of Nigheria, 1999,
Arewa House, ABU, Kaduna Annual Lecture Series.
Ekumankama, D.U. (2002),
Law, Corruption and Other Economic Crimes in Nigeria Today: Problems and
Solution. New World Publishers, Jos.
Falana, F. (2007)
“Governance, Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption” in The Punch
December 10.
Fiedler, F.E. (1967), A
Theory of Leadership Effectiveness.
McGraw-Hill.
Hambagda, O.A. (1995)
The Civil Service, Accountability and Good Governance, Paper presented at
National Conferences on Good Governance and Accountability in Nigeria,
University of Maiduguri
Jago, A.G. (1988), The
New Leadership Managing Participation in Organisations. Prentice-Hall.
Mullins, L.J. (1996)
Management and Organisation Behaviour. Pitman Publishing, London