INSURGENCY AND THE SEARCH FOR SUSTAINABLE PEACE BUILDING IN NORTHEAST NIGERIA: THE ERA OF GLOBAL PANDEMIC

Abstract

The Nigerian State appears to have gone through several stages in its history and development as a nation. For almost two decades, the northeast Nigeria in particular has been subject to the insurgency of the Islamist terrorist group (Boko Haram). This region is also known for its poor environmental conditions that mostly manifest in land desertification and water scarcity. Since the civil War the nation had continued to witness different forms of violence and conflicts, sometimes in the form of uprisings, inter-communal clashes or struggles related to resources, such as the Niger Delta Militancy and of recent, the Boko Haram insurgency which is by far the most devastating armed conflict that has ever taken place in the country since the civil War. Thus, as the COVID-19 pandemic has spread to fragile and conflict-affected contexts, there has been an impulse among some donors to focus on public health and humanitarian assistance, while cutting back on peacebuilding and governance programs that are not viewed as producing immediate, tangible impacts on the spread of the disease. These perceptions can simultaneously limit the willingness of communities to comply with public health regulations and can amplify other drivers of violent conflict, including increased resource scarcity, opportunistic behavior by armed groups, fraying social cohesion, and rapidly proliferating misinformation and disinformation. This paper tries to look at the Post-Conflict Peace-Building and Economic Recovery Efforts in the North East region of Nigeria and offer some recommendations among others; that the exercise of military power should be used to create the space for political progress while, tackling armed insurgents, increasing efforts should as well be channeled to economic, social and infrastructural development in the affected areas, in the bid to win the hearts and minds of the local people.