Terrorism and Moral Panic in Nigeria

Cyril O Ugwuoke,Patience N Iziga,Elias Chukwuemeka Ngwu

doi:10.5539/res.v8n3p92

Cyril O Ugwuoke, Patience N Iziga + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.5539/res.v8n3p92

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Abstract

<p>Terrorism and Moral Panic in Nigeria, is an investigation of the impact of terrorist attacks in the psyche of Nigerians. The sovereignty of the Nigerian state was threatened following the emergence of a terrorist group known as Boko Haram, which conquered a substantial part of Northeast Nigeria, using modern military hardware such as bombs, rockets, military tanks and high caliber machine guns. Boko Haram carried their terrorist attacks to many parts of Northern Nigeria, including Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), which made the entire country to panic by creating genuine fear of insecurity in Nigeria. The study was conducted in August and September, 2015, in Abuja. A cross-sectional survey method was used to select 276 respondents by accidental sampling technique through the use of administered questionnaire. The study indicates that there were rampant terrorist attacks in Abuja, and the frequency by which people felt panicked was high. Also, the study found the role of the mass media in spreading information about the activities of the terrorists to be high. The study indicated high perception of personal risk by the respondents with a greater percentage knowing at least one dead victim of the terrorist attacks in Nigeria. The study recommended the improvement of the nation’s security network and public enlightenment as the panacea to the security challenges facing Nigeria at the moment.</p>

Highlights

Towards the end of the 20th Century, there were numerous highlighted acts of terrorism targeted against foreign embassies, soldiers, politicians, religious leaders, economic investments, social infrastructures, worship places and defenseless members of the public
The publicity given to terrorist activities within the domestic and international landscapes brought the awareness to create apprehension among the global population which results to moral panic
The position of the respondents who suffer panics on everyday basis was strengthened by another set of data which indicated that 81% of those sampled have personal knowledge of somebody who had been killed through terrorist attacks

Summary

Introduction

Towards the end of the 20th Century, there were numerous highlighted acts of terrorism targeted against foreign embassies, soldiers, politicians, religious leaders, economic investments, social infrastructures, worship places and defenseless members of the public Early in this 21st Century, the destruction of the World Trade Centre (WTC) in New York on September 11, 2001, magnified the activities and impact of terrorism on global scale (Lyman, 2011; Miller, Hess, & Orthmann, 2011; Oyeniyi, 2010; Crenshaw, 2009; Burke, 2009; Hoffman & Graham, 2006; Furedi, 2005; Goodey, 2005).

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