Threats to security and stability in Nigeria: perceptions and reality

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Periodical article

Title:	Threats to security and stability in Nigeria: perceptions and reality
Author:	Akinrinade, Olusola
Year:	1988
Periodical:	Genève-Afrique: acta africana
Volume:	26
Issue:	2
Pages:	47-82
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Nigeria
Subjects:	political stability defence
Abstract:	Throughout its postindependence history, Nigeria has faced serious challenges to its internal security and national stability. This paper examines both the internal and external dimensions of these threats. In spite of the relative advantage it enjoys (in terms of economic and military power) in the subregional system, the chief source of external threats is found to be the frictions in its relations with its neighbours. These include boundary problems with Cameroon, the implications of the civil war in Chad and the dangerous flirtations of Equatorial Guinea with South Africa. Internally, the primary sources of insecurity include sectarian rivalries and mistrust, economic dislocation and corruption, religious fundamentalism and the implications of the perennial military intervention in the national political process. In the conclusion, the paper brings out the relationship between internal developments and external threats. Notes, ref., sum. also in French and German.