University of Hradec Králové Philosophical Faculty Department of Political Science HUMAN SECURITY AND THE CULTURE OF YOUTH VIOLENCE IN NIGERIA Dissertation thesis Author: Kingsley Emeka Ezemenaka Study programme: P6701 Political Science Field of Study: 6701V026 African Studies Tutor: Mgr. Jan Prouza, Ph.D. Hradec Králové, 2020 Table of content HUMAN SECURITY AND THE CULTURE OF YOUTH VIOLENCE IN NIGERIA .... ERROR! BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED. TABLE OF CONTENT ........................................................................... 2 ANNOTATION ........................................................................................ 5 ACKNOWLEDGMENT.......................................................................... 6 INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................... 8 RESEARCH PROBLEM ............................................................................................. 12 SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY ........................................................................................ 14 SCOPE OF STUDY ..................................................................................................... 15 ORGANISATION OF STUDY ...................................................................................... 16 CURRENT STATE OF KNOWLEDGE ......................................................................... 16 CHAPTER ONE ..................................................................................... 19 1 DEFINITION OF KEY CONCEPTS ............................................ 19 1.1 SECURITY .................................................................................................... 19 1.1.1 Traditional perception of security ..................................................................... 20 1.1.2 Copenhagen School of security studies ............................................................. 22 1.1.3 Human security ................................................................................................. 23 1.1.4 Applicability of security concepts on Africa ...................................................... 30 1.1.5 Security in Nigeria ............................................................................................ 34 1.2 YOUTH ........................................................................................................ 40 1.3 VIOLENCE ................................................................................................... 42 1.3.1 Youth violence ................................................................................................... 42 1.3.1.1 Culture of youth violence ..................................................................................... 46 1.3.1.2 Youth violence and its culture in Nigeria ............................................................. 48 1.3.2 Radicalization of youths .................................................................................... 58 1.3.2.1 Radicalization of youths in Nigeria ...................................................................... 59 1.4 CULTISM ..................................................................................................... 61 1.4.1 Cultism in Nigeria ............................................................................................. 62 1.4.1.1 Dimensions of cultism in secondary schools ........................................................ 64 CHAPTER TWO ................................................................................... 67 2 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK: THEORY OF RELATIVE DEPRIVATION ..................................................................................... 67 2.1 ORIGINS OF THE THEORY ........................................................................... 67 2 2.2 GURR’S THEORETICAL MODELS OF RELATIVE DEPRIVATION ................. 68 2.3 HORIZONTAL INEQUALITIES ...................................................................... 71 2.4 CRITICISM OF RD ....................................................................................... 74 2.6 ADJUSTED MODEL OF RD ........................................................................... 76 2.6.1 Explaining the factors in the adjusted model .................................................... 77 2.6.2 Rationalization of the adopted deprivation explanatory variables............................. 78 2.6.3 Clarification and justification of theoretical approach ..................................... 79 CHAPTER THREE ............................................................................... 87 3 METHODOLOGY .......................................................................... 87 3.1 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ....................................................................... 87 3.2 POPULATION ............................................................................................... 87 3.3 Sampling size and Technique ............................................................................ 88 3.3.1 Measures ........................................................................................................... 89 3.3.2 Data Analysis .................................................................................................... 90 3.4 Ethical considerations ....................................................................................... 90 CHAPTER FOUR .................................................................................. 92 4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION .................................................... 92 4.1 QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS .......................................................................... 92 4.1.1 Qualitative Analysis .......................................................................................... 94 4.1.2 Interview cohesion ........................................................................................... 101 4.1.3 Visualization of questionnaire results ............................................................. 101 4.2 DISCUSSION .............................................................................................. 105 4.2.1 Social causes of youth violence in Nigeria ...................................................... 105 THEORETICAL LINKAGE WITH FIELDWORK FINDINGS ........................................ 107 4.2.2 Explaining youth participation in violence with Relative deprivation ............ 107 4.2.3 Political causes of youth violence in Nigeria .................................................. 108 4.2.4 Religious causes of youth violence in Nigeria ................................................. 109 4.2.5 Economic causes of youth violence in Nigeria ................................................ 116 4.2.6 Resource-based causes of youth violence in Nigeria ...................................... 119 4.2.7 Ethnic/ Geopolitical zone causes of youth violence in Nigeria ....................... 120 4.3 CASES OF YOUTH VIOLENCE IN NIGERIA ................................................. 123 4.3.1 South East Nigeria: The Bakassi Boys ............................................................ 124 4.3.2 South West Nigeria: The Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) ........................... 125 4.3.3 North East Nigeria: The Almajiri .................................................................... 127 3 4.3.4 Cultism and violent behaviours among secondary school .............................. 128 4.3.5 The effect of cultism ......................................................................................... 130 CHAPTER FIVE .................................................................................. 133 5 RECOMMENDATIONS .............................................................. 133 CONCLUSION ..................................................................................... 137 REFERENCES ..................................................................................... 141 LITERATURES ....................................................................................................... 141 SOURCES ............................................................................................................... 159 APPENDIX ........................................................................................... 170 4 Annotation Human security as a concept and an approach to solving the problems traditional security cannot solve in Nigeria in referent to non-absolute security is at its cradle stage and facing many challenges such as the socio-political situations of the Nigerian state. Although there have been researches on both human security and youth violence, few have studied human security through the lens of youth violence in Nigeria. Therefore, this research investigates the challenges of human security through the lens of youth violence. For this research a mixed methodological approach was adopted to aid a robust investigation. The mixed method comprises a qualitative and quantitative exploratory approach. Relative Deprivation was used as part of the framework of the research. The purposeful type of non-probability sampling technique was employed for selection of security professionals and authorities for the study. A semi-structured questionnaire was administered. In addition, a total of 4989 cases from a dataset concerning crime in Nigeria was used and a total of 17 interviews involving security scholars and practitioner in the Nigerian government sector from Centre for Strategic Research and Studies, National Defense College, Abuja, journalist on security issues