Youth Violence and Human Security in Nigeria

Kingsley Emeka Ezemenaka

doi:10.3390/socsci10070267

Abstract

The failures of governance and statehood in Nigeria breed an anarchical or disruptive system in the state and provide a platform for youth violence and justification for disruptive behaviour against the state systems and structures. Contributing to the available research, this study shifts its focus to understand and address the linkage of disruptive behaviour by studying and discussing Human Security through the lens of youth violence in Nigeria. In doing so, this study adopts a mixed method approach of quantitative and qualitative data with Ted Robert Gurr’s theory of relative deprivation to investigate, analyse and discuss the issues herein. From the findings, cultism and ethnic factors were identified as major causes of youth violence among others. Thus, effective institutions, quality education, economic and security regional or geopolitical zones programs is noted as a means to address youth violence in Nigeria.

Highlights

In recent times, the study of security has undergone a paradigm shift and emphasis previously focused on issues of national security and state sovereignty is currently centred on the issues of human security
All of these are indices that affect development just as was explained by (Adah and Abasilim 2015), and (Joseph 2014).The general objective of this article is to detail the summary of the evidence and category of youth violence pervasive in Nigeria as it influences human security, or the other way around, so that policymakers and the individuals who execute projects to forestall youth violence might be made aware of the basic requirement for mediations that depend on the proof for adequacy, and planned in a way that considers the causes
This study has considered human security and youth violence in great details by contextualising, presenting its findings and discussing the issues through relative deprivation theory

Summary

Introduction

The study of security has undergone a paradigm shift and emphasis previously focused on issues of national security and state sovereignty is currently centred on the issues of human security. 23) opines that security has expanded from its traditional military origin to include ‘non-military dimension such as environment, migration, ethno-religious and nationalist identities, poverty and human security and disease’. Entails a holistic measure that ensures the safety of individuals, including the environment inhabited by the people. What constitutes the ‘safety of individuals’ remains quite ambiguous, but human security is a foremost goal of the United Nations. The ambiguity of human security lies in the non-availability of a conventionally acceptable parameter used to determine the level of safety of individuals. Some clauses constituting human security such as ‘freedom from want’ and ‘absence of fear’

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion