ABSTRACT
This paper examines the effect of insecurity on the secondary schools in the north central states in Nigeria with particular focus on the students’ emotional behaviour. In the last decade, Nigeria has witnessed various potholes of insecurity and some kind of religious or political war that has greatly influenced the sensibility of every sane individual across the globe. The effect of this, especially on the female gender, children and the aged had been grievous and devastating. Recently, the abduction of over 200 school girls from a government college in Chibok, Borno state, Nigeria by a religious fundamentalists group gave terrorism and other criminal violence a new dimension and trend in Nigeria. It also portrays a great danger not only to Nigerian child but to all humanity residing in Nigeria. Unfortunately, instead of the situation to mitigate, it is rather worsening and the psychological effect on genders can only but imagined – from loss of life, displacement of persons, mental stress amongst others. The paper calls for a holistic approach including building a synergy amongst security agencies, enhance security awareness within the society, partnering with foreign forces and using concerted dialogue to end the menace amongst others as way forward in tackling the menace of political violence and war in Nigeria.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
In any education system, peace and tranquillity is an antidote for a successful teaching and learning. In recent times, however, millions of school children in Nigeria are caught up in conflicts that result to insecurity not only of their school attendance but to their lives and property. Regular school attendance is crucial to education and development of school children in any country. There is always negative impact on the educational development of the child, the school and the community when children do not attend school regularly.
Because of this, there are laws in many countries that require a child to attend school until eighteen years of age. A child who attends school regularly is likely to learn more and become more successful in school than those who do not. Parents who make regular school attendance a priority also are helping their children to learn. In addition, regular school attendance is an important ingredient for academic success and a successful life.
School attendance habit is formed early in life. A child who develops good attendance habit in the early years of education is more likely to continue throughout the school career. In addition, a child who misses school has missed a carefully planned sequences of instruction. Patrick (2012) observes that such a child misses active learning experiences and class participation, the opportunity to ask questions and is more likely to fall behind and drop out of the school. It is in the light of this that Fafunwa (1983) notes in the early 1980s that dropout was one of the most serious problems that have continued to bedevil the Nigerian educational system from the colonial administration up to independence in 1960 and even beyond. Different organizations and governments have advanced a variety of definitions of human security. The United Nations Development Programmes (UNDP) defines human security as freedom from fear and wants (Okorie, 2011). Japanese foreign policy’s view on human security may include all the menaces that threaten human survival, daily life and dignity – for example, environmental degradation, violations of human rights, transnational organized crime in illicit drugs, refugees, poverty, anti-personnel land mines and other infectious diseases such as Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS).
There are no agreed definitions of what precisely insecurity is, but there is a general agreement that insecurity is linked to chronic threats of disease, hunger, terrorism and poverty. Therefore, insecurity and poverty cannot be divorced from each other. Severe levels of poverty may expose people to all kinds of security threats. Poor people in developing countries frequently face relatively high risks from such things as domestic violence, crime, sickness and unemployment (McCawley, 2004). Nigeria in our current democratic dispensation is faced with different kinds of threats such as armed robbery, kidnapping, political thugs, ethno-religious conflicts, organized violent groups, economic based violence, gender-based violence, sexual abuse, trafficking and recently the menace of Boko Haram (Ibrahim, 2002).
In recent times, Yobe State and Damaturu Metropolis in particular and some parts of northern Nigeria have been experiencing security threats because of the activities of Boko Haram, which means ‘western education is sin’. The activities of this group alone have forced many children of formal education to abandon school in an already ill-educated and disadvantaged region. Eric (2012) reports that it is not just the pupils or students at the targeted schools that end up being affected, teachers and others are also affected. As a result of insecurity, school enrolment in the region has gone down by 28 percent more than any other region in the country (Bwala, 2012)