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THE NIGERIAN ECONOMY AND SECURITY

Background In America, there exists a philosophy of thought which is aptly captured as in pursuit of Happiness. This idea contends the belief that every American has the right to life, liberty and the numerous benefits of life. This thought dates back to the early days of the American Revolution and was the guiding principle for their founding fathers. In Africa, a country which holds tenaciously to this principle of this thought is Nigeria. The average Nigerian has the hope that one day e go beta Nigerias idea of in pursuit of Happiness. The government and all the concerned agencies a trying to ensure that the dream of every Nigerian is actualized, thus living up to the expectation of all. How could this be achieved in the face of the current security challenges and threat in the country? Herein lays the argument of all Nigerians and the international community. In 1999 when the Fourth Republic was inaugurated, Nigerias economy was at a critical condition as she had enormous external debt as there was as less as a 0.474 % change in her previous GDP1. Thus the Olusegun Obasanjo administration had a lot on its hand. Since then the Nigerian economy has improve (according to International rating), but still yet to make the desired impact on her populace. With the Goodluck Jonathan administration trying its possible best to see there this growth in the economy has commensurate impact on Nigerian lives; the current trend of security challenges has been identified as a militating agent towards Nigerias economic development.

Security and the Economy In any nation of the world, security has a large part to play in economic development. Since the 9/11 attacks, security issues have been identified as key to development challenges and thus should be tackled as such. In addition to this, volumes of documents have been published on the nexus between security and economic development2. Unarguably, the connection between security and economic development is one which has not been taken for granted in most parts of the world. A case of point is the numerous bi-lateral security and economic agreements between major countries in Eastern Europe and parts of Asia (areas which have higher security challenges). According to John Rouke3, Security connections with economy could be in two folds the intra and inter security concerns. Within this purview, security concerns have geographic connotations as well as economic concerns within this same area. Threat to Nigerias Economic Development The current wave of security challenges within Nigeria has and would continue to deter every effort toward economic Eldorado. Today, the continuous bombing and in the North, the renewed activities of militants in the South and the incidence of kidnapping in the South South and South East have in so many way deter the economic improvement of the country. In
1. Information was sourced from www.indexmundi.com an online database for GDP and powered by the CIA World Fact Book 2. See John Andrew McNeish and Jon Harald Sand (eds), Security and Development, Berghan Books: Oslo, 2010 3. See John Rouke, International Relations, McGraw Hill: New York, 2005

2 tracing the antecedent of these security concerns in Nigeria, analysts have identified under development and absence of social justice as key to these security issues. In the writers view and in-depth look into this could be true. For example, the most disturbing security concern in Nigeria- the Boko Haram issues- still has economic undertone to it. Little wonder the Northern Governors Forum advocated for better formula for sharing the national wealth, which would in turn assist developmental efforts in these states. Unemployment could also be identified as a factor to security challenges in Nigeria. This is so because an unemployed person can always offer himself to social vices as a means to demonstrate his grievance against society. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the unemployment rate in Nigeria is pegged at 23.9% of the countrys total population. Most people (even the current writer) believe that this figure is grossly under estimated, as someone once said if you multiply the number of all the motorbikes okada- in Nigeria by five, you will get a close figure of the number of unemployed in the country. Initiatives by the Nigerian government to tackle these problems associated with unemployment could prove to nothing if the current waves of security challenges continue. For example the governments youth entrepreneur initiative (YouWin) as well as out laudable programs cannot be sustained in an environment where insecurity exists. Young entrepreneur who might want to start up key activities in these crisis areas would be easily discouraged. On a larger scale, it is a known fact that insecurity discourages investments. In the Nigerias external trade with the West African sub region, the security challenge has reduced significantly the volume of trade. Only recently, an entrepreneur based in the Northern part of Nigeria aptly captured the effects of insecurity by saying that some parts of West Africa were going hungry. His stance on this was fecundated by the fact that Northern Nigeria mainly states like Kano, Kaduna, Kastina and Jigawa- contributed to the volume of trade in the Sahel region of West Africa. Another alarming situation to this is the external investments in Nigeria. Thus, Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) in Nigeria would witness a slow and steady decline if the situation continues. Other areas would include decline in technical support from international development agencies and persons, mass migration away from crisis prone areas thereby abandoning their means of livelihood. On the flip side, Nigerias image to the international community would be battered amidst the security challenges as she would find it hard to convince the world that the country is safe for investment. Already the monetary effects of the security challenge to the Nigerian economy can be seen. This was seen in the 2012 Budget as over nine hundred billion naira was allocated to security.

The Future We Want It is not in the place of the current writer to instruct the government on its job, but as a Nigerian in pursuit of happiness I would say if the government cannot fulfill one of the basic elements of governance which is to provide security to its nationals from internal and external

3 aggression, then there is a need to review why the government exists in the first place. It is understandable that the government did not expect this magnitude of security challenge, but should we keep arms akimbo and mouth ajar while our path to economic development is threatened by security challenge. Solution to this security challenge could be in three (3) phases. The first would be to tackle the immediate security challenge by actively engaging community leaders and enhanced intelligence gathering within security agencies and not their usual brute force. This could include infiltration of the ranks of suspected groups and gathering information on their activities as well as monitoring the level of information release to the public (security agents should stop talking in press conferences and act more). The second phase would be to reassuring Nigerians that their dreams and aspiration to pursue happiness could be achieved by strengthening institutions which would promote employment and reduce economic hardship, while the last phase would be the promotion of social justice and reducing to the barest minimum corruption in Nigeria. This would go a long way to encourage the feeling of unity and promote brotherhood in Nigeria. In the end Nigerians are still hopeful that one day it will get better, but the political class should remember that like the Americans, everyone will not wait for happiness to come, but can do what it takes to achieve this.