ARMED GROUPS, SECURITY CHALLENGES, AND DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTH EAST, NIGERIA

AN APPRAISAL

Abstract

The South East region of Nigeria has always been known for making developmental progress. In recent times, however, especially as from 2015, there has been an escalation of insecurity within the zone occasioned by armed groups. This came on the heels of renewed agitation by some groups within the region based on the perceived marginalization of the South East by the Federal Government as well as some other factors. This study examined the armed groups and non-state actors in the South East with a view to ascertaining how the security challenges arising from their activities have impacted on South East development. Though unbiased observations by the authors served useful purposes, this study relied mainly on qualitative descriptive method in generating data and, by implication, extracted documentary evidence from secondary sources whereupon content analysis was adopted in analyzing the data. The Tragedy of the Commons theory was adopted as the framework for analyzing the issues raised. The study found out that the insecurity occasioned by the activities of the armed groups poses great danger to South East development. We recommend that both the government and other stakeholders should make concerted efforts to reverse the trend of insecurity in the region for development to thrive.