New wars in North eastern Nigeria: Towards overcoming the challenges of sustainable peacebuilding

Abstract

Events of insurgency since 2009 have caused numerous challenges to Politicians and Security apparatus in Nigeria. This forced the state to lay greater emphasis towards changing its tactics in dealing with violent conflicts in Northern Nigeria. Some of the apparently noted challenges were the increasing number of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and desire to restore peace in the country. This article follows the trend and investigates the challenges this phenomenon posed to sustainable peacebuilding in North-eastern states of Nigeria. The study argues that once the roots of new wars are not addressed through de-radicalization, checkmating corruption, enhanced border surveillance and the control of the proliferation of Small and Light Weapon (SALW), attention to intelligence reports and effective community policing, and commitment to poverty alleviation, overcoming the challenges of insurgency will not be achieved. It further shows that poor attention given to intelligence reports, religiosity and radicalism, effective community policing is what keep the reoccurrence of insurgency in North eastern Nigeria.