Terrorism among Youths in Nigeria: Implication for National Stability and Integration

Abstract

Youth violence, terrorism and gangsterism had seriously affected on Nigeria's security, economy and social development. This study appraised terrorism among youths in Nigeria, looking at poor education, unemployment and poverty as some of the specific identified factors prompting the menace. The survey research design was adopted for this study. Data were collected from both primary and secondary sources. Multistage simple systematic random sampling technique was adopted in administering a questionnaire consisting four validated instruments to 300 youths (150 males and 150 females) in the study area. Secondary sources of data included the report of United Nations Secretary General 2003, poverty rate, unemployment level and damage incurred due to violence and terror attack. Pearson product moment correlation and multiple linear regression analysis were used in testing the stated research questions and hypotheses. The result of the findings in research question (1) showed that there was a significant positive relationship between independent variables (poverty, unemployment and poor education) and dependent variable (terrorism) among youths in Nigeria: poverty (r = 0.812, P < 0.05), unemployment (r = 0.835, P < 0.05), and poor education (r = 0.829, P < 0.05). The second research question as confirmed by the study showed that there was combined effect of poverty, unemployment and poor education on terrorism (Adj. R 2 = 0.748 = 75% of the variance at P < 0.05, df = 3/269). The result of the third research question also showed that there was a relative contribution of the independent variables to the explanation of the dependent variable; poverty (β = 0.384, t = 7.584, P < 0.05) followed by unemployment at (β = 1.585, t = 3.264, P < 0.05), and poor education at (β = 1.006, t = −2.213, P < 0.05) in that order. The study demonstrated that poverty, unemployment and poor education were very strong factors contributing to the rate of terrorism in Nigeria with unemployment ranking highest. The study recommended that various kinds of poverty reduction strategies and empowerment should be put in place to reduce the rate of poverty in the society. Mass education, nomadic, adult education, among others need to be vigorously pursued to enlighten the people against all sort of nefarious activities and criminal act. Furthermore, there must be a public education on prints media, church, mosque and other means on need for youth to eschew violence,