Ethno-Religious Crises and Terrorism as Bane of Economic Development and Good Governance in Contemporary Nigeria

Abstract

: The history of Nigeria is replete with ethno-religious crises and diverse acts of violence that have characterized its existence as a nation. Nigerian’s crises have taken an exponential dimension, from ethnic clientelistic tendencies to religious bigotry and now the new terrorism-killer herdsmen who go about as armed bandits and are kidnapping for ransom, sacking and uprooting communities, seizing farmlands from the autochthonous occupants who hitherto use to cultivate such farmlands for subsistent and commercial purposes. The main objective of this paper was to examine how ethno-religious crises and terrorism in Nigeria have hampered economic development and good governance and to show how the new terrorism originated, its causes and effects that have retarded economic growth and good governance and advance possible measures that could address the menace of these killer herdsmen/armed bandits. Giving the socio-historical nature of the theme, qualitative research methodology was used. This involved content analyses of available secondary sources and focus group discussions. From the data collection and technique of data analysis, the researchers were inspired to anchor the research on the attachment theory. From the non-statistical data gotten through personal communication and in various focus group discussions, the results revealed the starkest truths. It was revealed that religious fundamentalist jihadists lack childhood attachment to good parental upbringing, thus lending credence to the attachment theory discussed in the paper. The study also revealed that these jihadists have over the years been planning to overthrow the secular Nigerian government and that these new religious expantionists are bent on Islamizing the Nigerian state and that as conquering and apocalyptic warriors, they have links with other Fulani who share same Fulanization ideology and vow to enshrine Sharia law at whatever cost-including meaningful economic development and good governance. The paper concluded and recommended among other things that the restructuring of the Nigerian state to reflect true federalism is one of the surest ways of arresting the present insecurity situation in Nigeria.