Nigerian Economy and Security

7/31/2019 Nigerian Economy and Security

1/3

1. In format ion w as sourced f rom www. indexmund i . com an onl ine dat abase for GDP and po w ered by t he CIA Wo rld Fact Book

2. SeeJohn Andrew M cNeish and Jon Harald Sand (eds), Secur i ty and Development, Berghan Books: Oslo, 2010

3. See John Rouke, Internat io nal Relat ion s, McGraw Hi l l : New York, 2005

1

THE NIGERIAN ECONOMY AND SECURITY

Background

In America, there exists a philosophy of thought which is aptly captured as in pursuit of

Happiness. This idea contends the belief that every American has the right to life, liberty and

the numerous benefits of life. This thought dates back to the early days of the AmericanRevolution and was the guiding principle for their founding fathers. In Africa, a country which

holds tenaciously to this principle of this thought is Nigeria. The average Nigerian has the hope

that one day e go bet aNigerias idea of in pursuit of Happiness. The government and all the

concerned agencies a trying to ensure that the dream of every Nigerian is actualized, thus living

up to the expectation of all. How could this be achieved in the face of the current security

challenges and threat in the country? Herein lays the argument of all Nigerians and the

international community.

In 1999 when the Fourth Republic was inaugurated, Nigerias economy was at a critical

condition as she had enormous external debt as there was as less as a 0.474 % change in her

previous GDP1. Thus the Olusegun Obasanjo administration had a lot on its hand. Since then

the Nigerian economy has improve (according to International rating), but still yet to make the

desired impact on her populace. With the Goodluck Jonathan administration trying its possible

best to see there this growth in the economy has commensurate impact on Nigerian lives; the

current trend of security challenges has been identified as a militating agent towards Nigerias

economic development.

Security and the Economy

In any nation of the world, security has a large part to play in economic development. Since the

9/11 attacks, security issues have been identified as key to development challenges and thus

should be tackled as such. In addition to this, volumes of documents have been published on

the nexus between security and economic development2. Unarguably, the connection between

security and economic development is one which has not been taken for granted in most parts

of the world. A case of point is the numerous bi-lateral security and economic agreements

between major countries in Eastern Europe and parts of Asia (areas which have higher security

challenges).

According to John Rouke3, Security connections with economy could be in two folds the intra

and inter security concerns. Within this purview, security concerns have geographic

connotations as well as economic concerns within this same area.

Threat to Nigerias Economic Development

The current wave of security challenges within Nigeria has and would continue to deter every

effort toward economic Eldorado. Today, the continuous bombing and in the North, the

renewed activities of militants in the South and the incidence of kidnapping in the South South

and South East have in so many way deter the economic improvement of the country. In


2/3

2

tracing the antecedent of these security concerns in Nigeria, analysts have identified under

development and absence of social justice as key to these security issues. In the writers view

and in-depth look into this could be true. For example, the most disturbing security concern in

Nigeria- the Boko Haram issues- still has economic undertone to it. Little wonder the Northern

Governors Forum advocated for better formula for sharing the national wealth, which would in

turn assist developmental efforts in these states. Unemployment could also be identified as afactor to security challenges in Nigeria. This is so because an unemployed person can always

offer himself to social vices as a means to demonstrate his grievance against society. According

to the National Bureau of Statistics, the unemployment rate in Nigeria is pegged at 23.9% of

the countrys total population. Most people (even the current writer) believe that this figure is

grossly under estimated, as someone once said if you multiply the number of all the motorbikes

okada- in Nigeria by five, you will get a close figure of the number of unemployed in the

country.

Initiatives by the Nigerian government to tackle these problems associated with unemployment

could prove to nothing if the current waves of security challenges continue. For example thegovernments youth entrepreneur initiative (YouWin) as well as out laudable programs cannot

be sustained in an environment where insecurity exists. Young entrepreneur who might want to

start up key activities in these crisis areas would be easily discouraged. On a larger scale, it is a

known fact that insecurity discourages investments.

In the Nigerias external trade with the West African sub region, the security challenge has

reduced significantly the volume of trade. Only recently, an entrepreneur based in the Northern

part of Nigeria aptly captured the effects of insecurity by saying that some parts of West Africa

were going hungry. His stance on this was fecundated by the fact that Northern Nigeria mainly

states like Kano, Kaduna, Kastina and Jigawa- contributed to the volume of trade in the Sahel

region of West Africa.

Another alarming situation to this is the external investments in Nigeria. Thus, Foreign Direct

Investments (FDIs) in Nigeria would witness a slow and steady decline if the situation

continues. Other areas would include decline in technical support from international

development agencies and persons, mass migration away from crisis prone areas thereby

abandoning their means of livelihood. On the flip side, Nigerias image to the international

community would be battered amidst the security challenges as she would find it hard to

convince the world that the country is safe for investment. Already the monetary effects of the

security challenge to the Nigerian economy can be seen. This was seen in the 2012 Budget as

over nine hundred billion naira was allocated to security.

The Future We Want

It is not in the place of the current writer to instruct the government on its job, but as a

Nigerian in pursuit of happiness I would say if the government cannot fulfill one of the basic

elements of governance which is to provide security to its nationals from internal and external


3/3

3

aggression, then there is a need to review why the government exists in the first place. It is

understandable that the government did not expect this magnitude of security challenge, but

should we keep arms akimbo and mouth ajar while our path to economic development is

threatened by security challenge.

Solution to this security challenge could be in three (3) phases. The first would be to tackle the

immediate security challenge by actively engaging community leaders and enhancedintelligence gathering within security agencies and not their usual brute force. This could

include infiltration of the ranks of suspected groups and gathering information on their activities

as well as monitoring the level of information release to the public (security agents should stop

talking in press conferences and act more).

The second phase would be to reassuring Nigerians that their dreams and aspiration to pursue

happiness could be achieved by strengthening institutions which would promote employment

and reduce economic hardship, while the last phase would be the promotion of social justice

and reducing to the barest minimum corruption in Nigeria. This would go a long way to

encourage the feeling of unity and promote brotherhood in Nigeria.

In the end Nigerians are still hopeful that one day it will get better, but the political class should

remember that like the Americans, everyone will not wait for happiness to come, but can do

what it takes to achieve this.

Documents

Nigerian Economy and Security