IMPACTS OF INSURGENCY ON NIGERIA'S DEMOCRACY

Abstract

Insurgence is an act of violence that involves attack on human lives and properties. Since the democratic rule of government in Nigeria since 1999, the country has had to deal with huge cases of insurgency. In the same vein, lot of lives have been lost and properties destroyed in countless numbers, leaving the democracy of the country in jeopardy. Hence, this paper explored what it means for a country to be democratic, and how Nigeria's democracy has been vulnerable to the point that insurgency has thrived for many years. It adopted the Frustration-Aggression Theory as its analytical frameworks. The Frustration-Aggression theory postulates that “aggression is always a consequence of frustration, and that the occurrence of aggressive behaviour always presupposes the existence of frustration and, contrariwise, that the existence of frustration often leads to some form of aggression.” The paper also sampled the work of other researchers, carefully analysing them and trying to strike a balance through their opinions and submissions. It found that the impacts of insurgency on Nigeria's democracy are numerous and mind-boggling, and therefore examined a few of them. By way of recommendation, it urges government to do the needful and provide adequate security system to its citizens. Critical method of research was used.