Impact of Terrorism on Nigerian Development: The Socio-Economic Implications

Abstract

The study examines the impact of terrorism on development in Nigeria and its socio-economic implications with a view to suggesting possible remedies to the menace. The central focus is on terrorism being perpetuated by Boko-Haram insurgents. The paper asserts that the problems militating against Nigerian development process has been compounded by home-bred terrorism because development and insecurity are anti-thetical, thus, the trajectory of development in the nation is being stifled and truncated by intractable terrorist activities. The paper utilizes secondary data sourced mainly from journals both national and international, useful textbooks, government official gazettes among others to accomplish the onerous task. The paper was analyzed from the theoretical platform of Marxist theoretical paradigm because it captures the socio-economic conditions that gave rise to terrorism, the class of people likely to be used for terrorism and how the elites take advantage of insecurity to drain the resources meant for development for their personal aggrandizement at the detriment of the society. The causes of terrorism as posited in this paper include: corruption, rising poverty level in Nigeria, unemployment, porous border, social injustice, among others. The paper concludes that terrorism impacts negatively on development indices in Nigeria hence a call for re-strategisation in the onslaught against terrorist activities. The study recommends good governance, border control and youth empowerment as remedies to mitigate the activities of terrorist act in Nigeria.