Violent Protests in Nigeria: Causes, Dynamics and Viable Solutions

Abstract

Uprising against the state dotted the political history of Nigeria. The First, Second, Third and Fourth Republics as well as the intermittent interruptions by military regimes recorded quite a number of violent protests, demonstrations, secessionist attempts and insurgencies that have claimed thousands of lives and led to destruction of properties. Different interventions including militarisation, enquiries, litigation and negotiations have been deployed to quell uprising against the state with varying degrees of success. The aim of this explorative survey is to examine the trends of violent protests and efforts made in curtailing politically motivated conflicts against the state in Nigeria. Secondary data sourced from extant literature consisting of books, journals and newspapers were used. Findings revealed that inept leadership leads to exclusion of the masses from benefitting from the distribution of state resources and misdirected political participation led to violent behaviours. Many of the socio-politically motivated conflicts in Nigeria were sponsored by economic and political elites whose desire is to cling to the apparatus of the state; engaging foot soldiers from the crop of jobless youths, poverty stricken adults and ethnic jingoists. The use of force to address genuine grievances has not produced desired result. There is therefore the need for the state to engage dialogue as a non-adversarial technique with disenchanted masses.

Keywords: Insurgencies, protests, militarisation, political participation, behaviour, elite.