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.