COUNTER TERRORISM STRATEGIES AND NIGERIA’S FOREIGN POLICY OBJECTIVES

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Content Page
Title Page i
Certification ii
Dedication iii
Acknowledgements iv
Abstract v
Table of Contents vi
List of Tables ix
List of Appendices xi
CERTIFICATION ii
DEDICATION iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iv
ABSTRACT vi
CHAPTER ONE 1
INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 Background to the Study 1
1.2 Statement of the Problem 4
1.3 Objective of the Study 4
1.4 Research Questions 5
1.5 Hypotheses 5
1.6 Scope of the Study 5
1.7 Significance of the Study 5
CHAPTER TWO 7
REVIEW OF LITERATURE 7
2.0 Introduction 7
2.1 Overview of Terrorism 7
2.1.1 Causes of Terrorism 10
2.1.3 Barriers to Effective Counterterrorism Policy Implementation in Nigeria 12
2.2 Nigerian Foreign Policy Objectives 13
2.3 Terrorism and Global Security 15
2.4 Global Counter Terrorism Strategies 16
2.5.1 Compliance Theories 33
2.5.2 Game-theoretic Models 34
CHAPTER THREE 37
METHODOLOGY 37
3.0 Introduction 37
3.1 Research Design 37
3.2 Population 37
3.3 Sampling size and sampling Technique 37
3.4 Research Instrument 38
3.6 Method of Data Collection 39
3.7 Method of Data Analysis 39
3.8 Ethical Considerations 40
DATA ANALYSIS, RESULTS AND DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS 41
4.0 Introduction 41
4.1 Data Presentation 41
4.3 Testing of Hypotheses 49
CHAPTER FIVE 54
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 54
5.1 Summary 54
5.3 Recommendations 55
REFERENCES 57

 
LIST OF TABLES

Table Page
3.1 Test of Reliability of the Research Instrument 41
4.1 Respondents Socio demographic Characteristics 45
4.2 Nigeria’s Foreign Policy Objectives 45
4.3 Nigeria’s Counter terrorism Policy 48
4.4 Barriers to Implementing Counterterrorism Policy in Nigeria 51
4.5 Prospect for Achieving Credible Counterterrorism strategies
through Nigeria’s dynamic foreign policy 52
4.6 Relationship between foreign policy objective and effective
counter terrorism policy implementation in Nigeria 53
4.7 Barriers militating against effective counter terrorism policy
implementation in Nigeria 54
5.1 Summary 58
5.2 Conclusion 58
5.3 Recommendation 59
5.4 Contribution to Knowledge 60
5.5 References 61

LIST OF APPENDICES
Appendix Page

1 Questionnaire 71
2 Informed Consent Form
3 BUHREC Ethical Clearance
4 Turnitin Report
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
Over the centuries, mankind has searched for the best way of ensuring the security of lives, properties, territories, states and institutions. In all places and countries, security has been considered as a “first order value” that is worth preserving. The concept of security is generally multi-dimensional and it has, in the last century, been the subject of frequent debate among scholars across the world (Olomojobi, 2015). Security can be described as a situation where a person is not exposed to any form of danger or risk of physical or moral aggression, accident, theft or deterioration. Hitherto, the concept of security has always been associated with the safety and survival of the state and its citizens from harm, destruction or dangerous threats (Yaqub, 2004).
Today, the need for national security has become a global concern particularly in the face of terrorism. Braithwaite (1988:9) defines national security as the ability of a nation to protect its internal values from external threat. National security is the requirement to maintain the survival of the state through the use of economic power, diplomacy, power projection and political power. Efforts have been directed towards safeguarding national security although not much success has been recorded by community of nations. An example is Nigeria. Measures taken to implement the national security policy include the use of diplomacy to isolate threats; marshalling economic power to facilitate or compel cooperation; maintaining effective armed forces; implementing civil defense and emergency preparedness measures (including anti-terrorism legislation); ensuring the resilience and redundancy of critical infrastructure; using intelligence services to detect and defeat or avoid threats and espionage, and to protect classified information; using counterintelligence services or secret police to protect the nation from internal threats (Yaqub, 2004).
Nigeria like many other countries around the world has its foreign policy objectives which focus on peace, development and democracy. The extant literature shows that Nigeria’s foreign policy has inclined towards general discussion rather than specific, covering virtually every conceivable topic. Despite the good motive behind Nigeria’s foreign policy objectives, the policy has been unsystematic, basically idiosyncratic and lacking in theoretical and empirical rigor. Also, foreign policy studies in Nigeria have generally been narrative-inclined; they are not analytical and offer little if any basis for a choice of scientific framework to guide conceptualization, implementation, or study and understanding of Nigeria’s foreign policy.
Nonetheless, the existing structure, processes and machinery of foreign policy formulation and implementation which have served Nigeria relatively well up to the early 1980’s, now leave much to be desired. Henceforward, the urgent need to strengthen and re-evaluate policy in line with requirements of a fast-changing and rapidly globalizing world cannot be overemphasized. Also, the present-day foreign policy decisions and actions need to focus on addressing the challenges of national survival, human security, progress and development.
The definition of terrorism has emerged as a central focus of power politics and propaganda. Differential and ideological posturing, the absence of boundaries of conflict and fixed enemies, messages of fear, legal narratives, and creating, remaking and reconfiguring judicial reality have a profound tendency to make terrorism a never-ending battle. Terrorism is a psychological phenomenon, with criminal acts being used to fight political power or to maintain a political status quo. This particular characteristic of terrorism and the techniques employed to eliminate it, create a narrative, on normative scale, that threatens the potential for global consensus in defining terrorism (Acharya, 2009).
While the old issues of protection of sovereignty, territorial integrity and national security are still relevant, new emerging issues, for example, pertaining to national competitiveness in the globalized economy, promotion and defense of universal rights, protection of the environment and sustainable development, as well as the promotion of peaceful co-existence and democratization have assumed primacy around the world (Jega, 2014). According to Jega, (2014), as Nigeria increasingly comes to terms with these additional concerns in its foreign policy pursuits, there is need for a carefully defined framework to guide decisions and actions. Related studies on Nigeria’s foreign policy have pointed to the incapacity of the structure and processes of conceptualizing and implementing foreign policy decisions to meet the challenges of the rapidly changing reality of the contemporary international system (Akindele, Ojo, &Olusanya, 1990; Adebajo&Mustapha, 2008). According to these scholars, this inadequacy will only worsen unless reforms are introduced and institutionalized to address it. At the conceptual and theoretical levels, as Asobie (1990) has observed, ‘the study of Nigeria’s foreign policy is grossly underdeveloped.
Major issues in Nigeria foreign policy objectives are related to readiness to implement on the part of the implementing agencies such as the Nigerian army and the Office of the National Security Adviser. Lack of readiness to implement occurs when the supposed military officers were unwilling to face the terrorist due to substandard and outdated ammunitions to combat terrorist activities. This is evident in the court-marshaling cases all over Nigeria against the affected officers who refused to report at the battle field. Besides, there is the issue with the lack of political will on the part of the government comprising the legislative and the executive arms. Notable evidence has to do with the executive not willing to identify the sponsors of the terrorists in Nigeria, as evident in the presidential broadcast indicating that the terrorists are known but due to the then political loyalty, the known terrorists’ sponsors are difficult to be dealt with. All these suggest that implementing counter terrorism in Nigeria is complex and multifaceted. On one hand, it may have some financial implications, on the other hand, it is politically motivated and hence has contributed to the country losing a sizeable part to the terrorist. Furthermore, insincerity, indiscipline and corruption among the leadership of counter terrorism agencies and the politicians as published by the current regime as well as the current plea bargaining between the anticorruption agency and top military brass is an indication that more still need to the done to effectively implement counter-terrorism policy in the country.
From the foregoing, it is clear that counter terrorism strategies are to a large extent missing from Nigeria’s foreign policy objectives. The reason however is not farfetched as the policy was developed at the birth of Nigeria as an independent state in 1960, when serious domestic and international terrorism attacks in the country were not known or full blown as they are today. Therefore, there is an urgent need for the review of the country’s foreign policy objectives so that defeating a terrorist group that emerges as a result of political and socioeconomic grievances can be achieved. The situation requires urgent attention because it is the major factor that has caused the nation dearly since 2009 when Boko Haram insurgents unleashed terror especially in the North-East area of Nigeria.
 
1.2 Statement of the Problem
In recent years, the terrorist activities in different dimensions have constituted a major menace to the Nigerian society and the global community at large (Yusif, 2008). Scholars have established a relationship between terrorist activities and national development globally (Akpan, Akpan&Lofu-Adeoye, 2014). Hitherto, the Nigerian government has made concerted efforts towards eradicating terrorism activities in the country but this has yielded little success even with the support of different foreign counterparts. The reason for the little success so far is due to the fact that terrorism has reached a high degree both at home and abroad. Besides, the spread and availability of guns and ammunition in the nooks and crannies of Nigeria, occasioned by numerous porous borders, past military experiences, corruptions, repressive attacks by government against communities and leading spokes persons, have resulted in the significant spread of terror in the North eastern part of Nigeria witnessedtoday. This reality constitutes a major motivation for the current study. Hence, this study seeks to evaluate the counter-terrorism efforts and Nigeria’s foreign policy objectives with a view to strengthening the areas of weaknesses and suggest strategies for effective counter-terrorism and sustainable development.
1.3 Objective of the Study