Governance, Violence and the Challenge of Internal Security in Rivers State, Nigeria

Abstract

Governance, the world over, has become the main framework for assessing the effective utilization of human and material resources for the development of a nation or an organization. This paper explores the link between governance failure, violence and its implication for internal security in Rivers State. The level of violence in the state is high and increasing particularly since 1999 when the nation returned to civil rule. Violence such as inter and intra communal conflicts, cult violence, armed robbery, kidnapping, political violence among others, now writ large in the state. The study utilized the qualitative and content analysis. The paper reveals that the pervasive nature of violence with negative effect on the internal security is the fall out of the failure of the governance in the state. The paper recommends, among other things that, good governance is a tool for empowering the people, which in turn, will reduce unemployment, poverty, marginalization and the recourse to violent aggression in the state.