Abstract
During the administration of Nigerian President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, there was a marked increase in the country's violence and frequency of terrorist attacks. The purpose of this study is to provide a descriptive analysis of terrorist incidents during the Jonathan administration. Using the START dataset, the study analyzed data over 84 months to examine the effect of Jonathan's presidency on terrorism in Nigeria. The study found a wide variation in the number of terrorist attacks between 2009 and 2015. The full presidency phase experienced a markedly more significant number of terrorist attacks than the post-presidency, acting presidency, and pre-presidency phases. On average, the full presidency and post-presidency phases experienced significantly greater rates of terrorist attacks per month than the acting presidency and pre-presidency phases. The casualty rates were consistent with this variation except that post-presidency appeared the bloodiest of all four phases. The study also revealed that Boko Haram was responsible for most terrorist attacks and casualties during the administration. Implications for these findings and recommendations for further research are discussed.
Highlights
The detection and prevention of terrorist attacks have become one of the most pressing global policy priorities
I hypothesized that the Jonathan administration led to more terrorist incidents and increases in casualties
A sizable body of qualitative research on the effect of the Jonathan administration on Nigeria's security challenges has accrued in recent years
Summary
The detection and prevention of terrorist attacks have become one of the most pressing global policy priorities. Despite domestic terrorism throughout the country's history, it was only during the Jonathan administration that Nigeria became internationally recognized as a country conducive to terrorist activity (Okpaga, Chijioke & Eme, 2012; Adepoju, 2012; Nsude, 2016). This was because of the increase in terrorist incidents and the severity of such attacks during the administration (Omede, 2011; Nsude, 2016). The most commonly held definition of terrorism was proffered by the United Nations in 1992 and defined terrorism as: an anxiety-inspiring method of repeated violent action, employed by (semi-) clandestine individual, group or state actors, for idiosyncratic, criminal or political reasons, whereby - in contrast to assassination - the direct targets of violence are not the primary targets (White, 2004, p.4)
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