Introduction: Understanding the Crisis of Internal Security Management in Nigeria

Abstract

Globally the discourse about internal security management has gained serious attention since the events of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in the United States. It was the 9/11 attacks in the United States, together with similar attacks such as the one in Istanbul on November 15, 2001 and the Madrid train bombing in Spain on March 11, 2004, that brought to fore the need for states to reinforce their internal security mechanisms to meet up with the challenge of protecting citizens and other nationals living within their territorial boundaries. The resultant effect of these global indices of insecurity is that in contemporary international politics, the ability of a state to ensure adequate security has become a principal variable in measuring the success or failure of the state. Thus, state failure is associated with countries that have lost control over the instruments of security maintenance. Nigeria exemplifies the insecurity situation in the African continent. Admittedly, the rising concern about insecurity cannot be explained outside the numerous terrorist attacks by the Boko Haram and other similar sects, the litany of kidnappings, increasing crime rate, the emerging culture of violence perpetuated by legal and illegal revenue collectors, youth militancy and cultism, the herdsmen-farmers conflict and other factors of insecurity that have been a regular feature of life in the country. Against the reoccurring incidents of these factors of insecurity and the continued reassurance of the Nigerian government to control the situation, there is widespread doubt about the capability of the Nigerian government to provide adequate security for her citizens and others living within its territorial boundaries. This introductory chapter sets out to provide the rationale for the study which is encapsulated in the book. The chapter lays out the structure of the book and also provides a synopsis of the entire chapters. Overall, a careful reading of the various chapters in this book leads to some inevitable conclusions about the Nigerian state and internal security management. The Nigerian state is daily threatened by many factors of insecurity that have not been properly managed by the state. In its present form and character, the Nigerian state does not appear to have a clear and definite internal security policy to deal with the challenges of internal insecurity. This in so many ways is affecting the capacity of the security agencies to effectively discharge their responsibilities to the country’s citizenry.