Social Effects of Terrorism on Young Individuals in North-East Nigeria

Abstract

Terror and wars are not recent events as they had always existed with mankind since creation. According to Charles Darwin, in his concept of “survival of the fittest,” only the strong survive and this statement had gone ahead overtime to prove its validity both domestically and the world over. Although wars are not new, their effects (especially social effects) such as the effect on religion, destruction of social networks and support, functional impairment, conduct disorder (deviance), destruction of social capitals, destruction of social institutions and on young people cannot be ignored since every action is consequential. Nigeria is not an exception to terrorisms, wars and insurgencies as can be proven by her most recent histories; there had been the civil war, Niger-Delta insurgency and now the terroristic act of Boko Haram in the North-East. Due to the numerous effects of war, there are many scholarly works on psychological, biological and the economic dimensions but the social effects of terror such as is currently going on in North-East Nigeria are more trans-generational and have a more diverse outlook, despite this, there is the silence of literature on such effects thus, the aptness of this work. This paper underscores the social effects of the ongoing insurgence of Boko Haram in the North-East Nigeria on young individuals. Although United Nations in 1981 designated 15-24 years as youths, this study adopts 13-24 years for a wider coverage due to the historic-religious and cultural documentations and evidences of early marriages among the people under study. Theoretically, structural functionalism is apt in the explanation of this growing situation and it submits that the Nigerian state should pay much attention on development, Nigeria should explore the informal education sector and that religion of any kind should be de-radicalized and any iota of inciting messages should be expunged from worship places.
 Ujene, I. G. | Department of Sociology, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria