Over the years, as a result of its strategic importance to national development, coupled with perennial and fierce resource-induced agitations, the Niger Delta, Nigeria has become a veritable laboratory for all sorts of government interventionist and management policy measures. Although the implementation of the peace building initiative has brought about cold peace to the conflict-ridden region, the paper argued that the Amnesty Programme does not have the capacity to engender genuine and durable peace to the crisis-ridden region. This is because the focus of the peace-building strategy is geared towards addressing the symptoms rather than the root causes of the Niger Delta conflicts. The post-amnesty security environment is characterized by kidnapping, hostage-taking, oil-bunkering and attacks on critical national oil assets, a vivid indication of the deceptive peace the programme may have fostered on the oil-rich region. This has given peace-loving humanity cause for anxiety. In appraising the amnesty peace initiative, the study adopted a combination of descriptive qualitative and case study research design, with insights from structural violence paradigm. The paper concluded that, until and unless the real drivers of restiveness and violence are holistically and constructively engaged, genuine and sustainable peace and security will continue to elude the region.
The issues of urban displacement and land rights question have become the attributes of modern Nigerian state. The Fourth Republic is characterised by the arrogation of land by government. The nationalisation of land remains a watershed in land matters across Nigeria. This is based on how such development precipitated the phenomenon of cities in crisis with attendant urban vulnerabilities and creation of informal settlements. The recurrent urban displacement across the country has aroused a sense of how the phenomenon of contesting the city has received inadequate scholarly attention. In fact, various works have not established the intersection between state's policies and urban crisis which raises a question of land rights in a nation that had customary land tenure prior to the 1978 Land Use Act. The demolition of so-called "illegal structures" has been a contentious issue owing to the fact that the process is usually characterised by controversies on whom or what determines an "illegal structure", and "illegal inhabitants". From Lagos to Owerri, Oyo, Ogun, Abia, Port Harcourt, to mention but a few extreme cases, where people living in the city and around waterfronts have been displaced; the issue of urban displacement remains prevalent. Using synthesised primary and secondary sources, this paper is a case study of state's leanings toward urban displacement. The government needs to review land laws and policies in order to promote urban cohesion, integration and cooperation from the various segments in the city especially the indigenous people rather than excluding and denying them access to the use of their land. The paper suggests that there is need to prioritise welfare and adequate compensation of identified real occupants of the affected structures as well as resettling the people residing at informal settlements. This paper concluded by asserting that, in order to prevent or mange conflicts and urban crisis, urban development or urban renewal projects should be carried out through a participatory approach and with appropriate resettlement programme for the occupiers or inhabitants of the proposed area or structure remarked for demolition or renewal
Currently, Nigeria’s security sector needs effective policing considering the spate of insecurity and frustrated relationship between the citizens and the police. Consequently, some officers are seen as dishonest and agents of complicity. Unlike most parts of the world where the people love, support the police, Nigeria still records threats to police-public relations owing to the attitudes of some officers who tarnish the image of the security agency through uncivilised, inhuman and unlawful acts while on duty and beyond. With qualitative data, this paper explores how training and people-oriented security education can enhance effective policing for a more secure Nigeria. This paper argues that police effectiveness should no longer be hinged only on equipping officers for counter-terrorism or establishment of special units to eradicate organised crime, but also on training them on weekly/monthly basis to respond to rapidly emerging threats to national security and trainings on enhancing collaborative police-public relations.
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