scholarly journals COVID 19 and Increased Security Challenges in Northern Nigeria: Interrogating Armed Banditry in Northwestern Nigeria

SIASAT ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-44
Author(s):  
Noah Echa Attah ◽  
Usman Sambo ◽  
Babayo Sule ◽  
Muhammad A. Bello ◽  
M. Yoserizal Saragih

The COVID 19 pandemic has become a global health issue that now intersects with security issues, especially in African countries. The outbreak of the virus in Africa has halted political, economic and social activities, including countering armed violence. Nigeria is one of the African countries that is faced with security challenges, ranging from Boko Haram insurgency, rural banditry, farmers-herders clash, kidnapping, robbery to piracy among others. However, much attention has concentrated on mitigating the spread of COVID 19 pandemic and the provisions of palliatives to cushion the effects of the abrupt stoppage of formal and informal economic activities. This study examines the intersections between the pandemic and armed banditry in Northwestern. It appears that armed bandits have intensified attacks on communities, against the background of government’s anti-COVID policy. Government has equally re-strategized in responding to the bandits’ attacks. The study gathered data from documented sources and media reports and were analyzed, using content analysis. The study observed that the armed bandits used the COVID 19 lock down policy to increase attacks on some communities, thereby providing a complex dimension to rural banditry in Northwestern Nigeria. This led to increased air and land offensive by the Nigerian military against the bandits. This study recommends among others that government should increase surveillance and adopt strict measures on movements to curtail the activities of the bandits.    

2021 ◽  
Vol 108 (3) ◽  
pp. 3-18
Author(s):  
Bukola Alfred

This paper explores Nigerian media’s deployment of modality on editorials on security challenges in Nigeria. The study examines how such impress on the ideological position of the media on the security issues in Nigeria. The study relates to how well Nigerian newspaper organisations attempted to reveal or mask security cases across different regions of the country through modal options. The editorials were sourced from The Punch and The Guardian (South-Western region), Vanguard and The Sun (East) and Leadership and Daily Trust (Northern Region) between 2014 and 2016. The frequencies and percentages of occurrences of these modality markers were examined and their implications were interpreted to reflect the attitudes and dispositions of the newspapers to security issues. Our findings show that the six newspapers expressed unbiased concerns over the Boko-Haram Insurgency whether or not the newspaper is situated in the northern region. However, the fact that certain security issues emanated from particular regions also prompted the kinds of modal markers employed by specific newspapers representing such regions. The Sun’s choices of modal indirectly expressed support for their plights and protests of the pro-Biafra agitators. The Punch’s choices of modal verbs portrayed President Buhari as sharing some ethnic affinity with herders.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lydie Belporo

In the countries of the Lake Chad Basin, Boko Haram’s emergence has created major new security challenges for the region’s governments. Cameroon’s Far North region, the most populous in the country, is at the heart of these security issues. Since late 2020, Boko Haram has intensified attacks in Far North localities with assassinations targeting civilians, kidnappings, and looting in small towns along the Nigerian border. In response, the Cameroonian government has pursued a hardline strategy and militarized the affected localities. In addition to arbitrary arrests, prolonged pre-trial detention, prison overcrowding, and the death penalty are all sources of concern. This policy note outlines core findings from a case study of the Boko Haram ex-associates reintegration process in Cameroon. The note examines how existing community norms or mechanisms might be as useful as more standard approaches to disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR) in addressing challenges presented by Boko Haram ex-associates in Cameroon.


2020 ◽  
pp. 5-14
Author(s):  
Olga Konstantinova

The relations between Russia and Africa today go to a new level. This was successfully demonstrated by the first Russia-Africa Summit. The «soft power» that is capable of creating an atmosphere of trust and mutual understanding and supporting the further development of political, economic, and cultural relations between the Russian and African peoples is of great importance for the further advancement of Russia’s interests, which is considered in this article. Currently, the «soft power» of Russia in Africa is represented by the activities of the Russian centers of science and culture, the «Russkiy Mir» Foundation, schools at the Russian Embassies in African countries, the education of Africans in Russian universities and more. However, the author concludes that Russia does not fully use «soft power» on the continent. It is necessary to increase the number of Africans studying the Russian language, to more actively promote Russian education, to involve compatriots and graduates of Soviet / Russian universities to joint projects, which will undoubtedly contribute to the further development of mutually beneficial Russian-African ties.


2021 ◽  
pp. 263300242098491
Author(s):  
Philippe Buc

The plural Islams and the various Christianities deriving from late Antique Catholicism constitute two families of monotheisms whose relation to armed violence and to peace can be compared over the longue durée. In both, war and peace coexist as values, with the sense however that there can be a corrupting bad peace and a wicked bad war. Both—albeit through different media—produced norms governing warfare. For both, there is a strong correlation between holy war and societal reform. In both, the potential to sacralize a space that then has to be defended (New Jerusalems or second Hejaz) figures prominently. In both, radical warfare, reform, and purge of one’s own group can be triggered by apocalyptic or eschatological expectations (with figures such as a person anticipating typologically the return of the vengeful Christ, a last world emperor, a mujaddid, or a Mahdī). While this contribution focuses mainly on the pre-modern world, it ends on an attempt to relate the current war waged by Boko Haram to this past.


Author(s):  
Tatyana S. Denisova

The radicalization of Islam in Cameroon is quickly changing the country's religious landscape and contributing to the spread of religious intolerance. Unlike, for example, neighboring Nigeria and the Central African Republic, previously Cameroon rarely faced serious manifestations of sectarian tensions, but over the past 10-15 years traditional Sufi Islam has been increasingly supplanted by the ideology of Wahhabism. Wahhabism is rapidly spreading not only in the north of the country, but also in the south, which until recently was inhabited mainly by Christians and animists. The spread of Wahhabism is actively supported and funded by Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and Egypt. Sufism, the followers of which mainly include Fulani living in the northern regions, is gradually losing its position. The specific interpretation of Islam leads to the destabilization of religious and public political life, and Koranic schools and refugee camps become "incubators of terrorists". The growing influence of radical Islam in Cameroon is largely due to the expansion of the terrorist organization Boko Haram into the country; one of the consequences of this is the broadening affiliation of Cameroonians, inspired by calls for the cleansing of Islam and the introduction of Sharia law, with this armed Islamist group. As in other African countries, the radicalization of Islam is accompanied by the intensification of terrorist activities, leading to an exacerbation of the internal political situation, an increase in the number of refugees, and the deterioration of the socio-economic situation of the population, etc. The failure of the Cameroonian government to counter terrorist activities in the north of the country in the near future may lead to an escalation of the military-political conflict on religious grounds in the context of political instability that Cameroon is experiencing at the moment.


2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 15
Author(s):  
Chris I. Nwagboso

This paper examines the various internal security challenges confronting Nigeria in the 21st century. The paper adopts historical method and content analysis to investigate how the abysmal failure of the poorly formulated and ineffectively implemented National Security Policy has hitherto exacerbated internal security challenges in Nigeria. The paper further attempts a critical review of major internal security challenges hitherto confronting the country; such as the Niger Delta crises, kidnapping in the South-East geo-political zone, Jos crises, Boko Haram crises and crises by Fulani Herdsmen in the Northern part of Nigeria. The result of the analysis shows that these internal security challenges have not only been difficult to address by the National Security Policy, but have also impacted negatively on the country's desired socio-economic development in the 21st century. The paper, therefore, recommends among others, the need for a careful review of the Nigeria's National Security Policy that will not only be integrative/comprehensive in outlook, but will also take cognizance of some domestic factors that are currently responsible for internal security problems in the country; such as unemployment, inequality, poverty, fraudulent electoral process, corruption, skewed federalism, porous nature of the Nigeria’s borders, sabotage among politicalelites, bad governance, religious intolerance, citizen-settler controversies, among others.


2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 342
Author(s):  
Sri Haryati

ABSTRACTThisi study was aimed at to constructed the actual issues of national resilience ini thei developmenti of educational content of civici educationi as a description of knowledge about the actual issue of citizenship in the national resilience studies asi thei content of civici educationi in school.The research used qualitative descriptive approach. Source of informant data with purposive sampling technique, relevant document and literature study. Data collection was done throughi in-depthi interviewsi, FGD, iobservation, and documenti studyi. The validity of data was done by triangulation process of source and method. iData analysisi was done byireduction, data ipresentation, and iconclusion.Thei resultsi showedi thati the description of the content of civic education was based on the actual issues of national resilience concerning ideological, political, economic, socio-cultural and security issues in the form of basic competence study which translated into indicators to achieved the objectives of basic competence. Based on idataianalysis, it wasiinecessary to studiedi theiactual issue of national resilience to supported the content of civic education education in schoolABSTRAKPenelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengkonstruksi isu aktual bidang ketahanan nasional dalam pengembangan isi pendidikan kewarganegaraan persekolahan berupa deskripsi pengetahuan tentang isu aktual kewarganegaraan bidang ketahanan nasional sebagai isi pendidikan kewarganegaraan persekolahan.Penelitian menggunakan pendekatan deskriptif kualitatif. Sumber data informan dengan teknik purposive sampling, dokumen dan kepustakaan yang relevan. Data dikumpulkan dan diolah dengan cara wawancara mendalam, FGD, observasi, dan studi dokumen. Validitas data dilakukan melalui proses trianggulasi sumber dan metode. Data dianalisis melalui reduksi data, pemyajian data, dan penarikan kesimpulan.Penelitian ini menemukan rumusan tentang deskripsi isi pendidikan kewarganegaraan berdasarkan isu aktual bidang ketahanan nasional yaitu tentang isu-isu ipoleksosbudhankam berupa kajian kompetensi dasar yang diterjemahkan menjadi indikator-indikator untuk mencapai tujuan dari kompetensi dasar tersebut. Berdasarkan analisis data, diperlukan kajian isu aktual ketahanan nasional untuk mendukung isi pendidikan kewarganegaraan persekolahan


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Leanard Otwori Juma ◽  
Fredrick Adol Gogo ◽  
Ahmed Abduletif Abdulkadr ◽  
Dénes Dávid Lóránt

Despite most African countries having immense natural and human resources potential, the continent has mostly been lagging on matters of economic development. This scenario could primarily be attributed to weak intra-regional and inter-country trade given the poor connectivity, quality, and diversity in transportation services and infrastructure. In this regard, the governments of the greater East African Region representing Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, South Sudan, Ethiopia and Kenya, therefore, mooted a coordinated vision to develop interlinked regional infrastructure in road and rail transport to allow smooth movement of goods and services.  This paper aimed to critically review the impact of the SGR development on Kenya in the context of regional planning and development. The methodology of the study was a critical review of existing literature and secondary data. Study findings indicated that the development of the (Standard Gauge Railway) SGR is in tandem with the development strategies of other East African Countries. Its development is incorporated in national spatial plans with the rail route targeting regions with viable populations and sustainable economic activities. Criticisms, however, revolve around the ballooning debt to finance infrastructural development and lack of prioritization f mega projects. In conclusion, despite the financial constraints, the SGR is viewed to significantly influence the socio-economic spheres while presenting challenges in the management of landscapes where it traverses in Kenya and the Region.


2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 209-217
Author(s):  
Vincent PK Titanji

The ongoing SARS CoV-2 pandemic also known as COVID-19 is a highly infectious and deadly disease that has disrupted socio- economic activities  and killed over 500 000 people worldwide during the past six months since it first erupted in Wuhan China in December 2019.While intensive efforts  are under way in the developed countries to find a vaccine and cure for the disease, Cameroon and other African countries should not fold their hands and wait , but join the search for new remedies including from cures from traditional herbs while rigorously applying barrier and social  distancing measures that have proven effective in in curbing the spread of the disease. Herein we enumerate a short list of research priorities that are feasible in our milieu and that could improve on diagnostics, treatment and prevention of the disease in the short and medium terms. Key Words: SARS CoV-2, COVID-19, research, diagnostics, medicinal plants, traditional medicine, pandemic, Cameroon.


2020 ◽  
pp. 137-142
Author(s):  
Ruslan Prohorov ◽  

The article discusses the political, economic and cultural cooperation of Pakistan with France in the twenty-first century. Attention is drawn to a peculiar bias towards France in the frequency of political and diplomatic visits by representatives of Pakistan. Due to the fact that France is a traditional donor of the Pakistani economy, attention is drawn to the desire of the parties to increase the role of public diplomacy in the development of trade and economic relations. Meanwhile, France is Pakistan’s long-standing export partner, one of the top ten countries in which Pakistan exports its goods. The importance of developing such areas of cooperation as energy and transport is emphasized. Military-technical cooperation is singled out as a traditional area of cooperation between Pakistan and France. The role of France in the creation and development of the naval forces of Pakistan is indicated. The complicated relations between countries on the issue of nuclear cooperation are shown. The article also discusses security issues, namely, current bilateral documents, joint efforts to combat terrorism, and there gime of non-proliferation of nuclear weapons are presented. Interaction in the field of culture is presented on the example of the work of the three centers of the French public organization Alliance de Frances. Separately, attention is drawn to the interaction of state structures of the two countries regarding the return of relics illegally exported from Pakistan. In conclusion, it is concluded that Pakistan’s orientation towards France is quite justified, since this European state has always been friendly to it, is powerful in its economic potential and resources, and the development of relations with this country does not conflict with the orientation towards the United States.


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