Al Chukwuma Okoli

This paper examines the phenomenon of kidnapping in northern Nigeria within the context of the bourgeoning incidence of banditry in that context. It situates kidnapping within the material context of violence-criminality dynamics in a fragile state. The paper posits that the scourge of kidnapping currently afflicting the wider northern Nigeria reflects the logic of criminal opportunism in a jurisdiction where the state lacks the coercive capabilities to deter criminal indulgence and impunity. In such a context, banditry has reproduced itself into strands of violent crime of which kidnapping is a veritable dimension. Plugging opportunities for kidnapping, destroying its reward system, as well as ensuring deterrence of its committal through stringent sanctioning of perpetrators would go a long way in bringing about the desired respite. This would entail, among others, de-incentivizing the kidnapping enterprise through a pragmatic community policing system that ensures effective protection of the vast forested and rural landscapes that dot Nigeria’s remote hinterlands.

Armed banditry is prevalent in Nigeria. It has competed with insurgency for the soul of Nigeria’s national security. Contemporary trajectories of armed banditry in Nigeria have been full of complications. One of the complications is the emergence of crime lords who engage in a self-aggrandizing but also socially sensitive criminal career. This paper seeks to explore the phenomenon of ‘crimelordism’ as a new trend in armed banditry in Nigeria. Utilizing a mixed qualitative method, the paper posits that the prevalence of grossly under-governed territorial spaces, especially in the countryside and borderlands of Nigeria, has created a vacuum of security that is being exploited by criminal kingpins to establish enclaves of criminality where they wield and exercise quasi-territorial powers. The paper submits that ‘crimelordism’ holds critical implications for Nigeria’s national security in view of its ruinous impacts.

The paper seeks to explore the transformative essence of intellectual feminism in Africa, with particular reference to the contributions of Amina Mama. Following textual and contextual exegeses of works by or on the focal scholar-activist, as well as insights drawn on extant literature on aspects of her gender/feminist engagements/scholarship, the paper posits that Amina Mama has made significant transformative contributions in various sites of intellectual feminism, especially in the areas of intellectual resourcing, academic leadership and mentoring, as well as strategic scholarly activism/advocacy. Among other things, the study intends to set an agenda on how to effectively link feminist scholarship to practice in an effort to mainstreaming social transformation in Africa.

Africa’s existential situation in the prevailing global order is such that no state thereof can afford to take national sovereignty too seriously. Apart from the myriad of structural challenges imposed on the continent by globalization, Africa is faced with a gamut of political and economic problems that can only be meaningfully addressed through some form of strategic multilateral collaboration. Africa’s aspiration to economic sovereignty has been constrained by the structural conditionalities of globalization, which have kept the continent overly weak, dependent and underdeveloped. The constraint is so immanent that individual African states can hardly afford even the relative sovereignty to harness a strategic balance in the fast ossifying asymmetries of interdependence that characterize the contemporary global political economy. It is posited in this paper that the remedy for Africa lies in the ability of her states to transcend their disempowering territorial-cum-nationalistic ...

This paper examines the phenomenon of Skolombo in Calabar (Nigeria) in relation to the challenge of urban subalternism in that context. This is against the backdrop of the evolution of the Skolombo into a rising urban subaltern category involved in the underworld and ant-social activities. By means of exploratory and conversational discourse that relies on extant literature as well as insights from personal communications, the paper posits that Skolombo phenomenon represents an existential struggle by abandoned and rejected street children who are surviving against structural societal victimization. Away from home, these children have found the streets, not only an inevitable abode but also a space for opportunistic survival. Over the years, they have evolved a pattern of street living characterized, among other things, by restiveness, touting, gangsterism, and criminality. Associated with this pattern of existence is an emerging subaltern identity that highlights a crisis of urbani...

Tourism is an important aspect of the contemporary international commerce. It accounts for a significant share of the foreign exchange of many nations, especially those with a thriving tourism sector. While scholarly works abound on the economic, cultural and social values of tourism, there has been a debate as regards the utility of tourism as an enabler for peace. This paper interrogates the pacific import of international tourism against the backdrop of the growing significance of the tourism sector globally. By way of a qualitative analysis of secondary data, anchored on the theory of internationalism, the paper interrogates the tourism-peace nexus in the light of emerging insights, positing that international tourism holds potentials that could be leveraged towards promoting international peace and stability.     Recebido em: março/2019 Aprovado em: janeiro/2020.

Boko Haram insurgency in North East Nigeria has exposed women (girls, ladies, and mothers) to a complex jeopardy. While some women have suffered untimely widowhood or child-lack as a result of the Boko Haram onslaught, others have suffered death, forced abduction, and allied assaults on the main and side lines of the insurgency. Often times, women have faced direct violence that essentially degrade their humanity. This is evident in the deployment of women as war-front sex slaves, human shields, and suicide bombers by the insurgents. The virtual expendability of women in the context of Boko Haram insurgency has been vividly demonstrated by the gale of female suicide bombings in Nigeria over the recent years. By means of a textual and contextual analysis of library sources and/or documentary data, as well as an adroit application of the theory of objectification, this study posits that, in addition to suffering collateral vulnerabilities, women have equally been instrumentalized as objects of terror in the context of Boko Haram insurgency. The paper further argues that the ‘weaponization’ of women’s bodies as bomb vessels and human shields by the insurgents highlights the height of women’s corporal victimization and objectification in contemporary asymmetric warfare. Thus, in addition to its complicated humanitarian outcomes that have adversely affected the society at large, Boko Haram insurgency has led to the corporal abuse and dehumanization of women in particular. Keywords: Boko Haram, gender, insurgency, objectification, women, victimhood.

The practice of federalism in Nigeria has come a long way. In its chequered history that has spanned through some six decades, Nigerian federalism has thrived amidst problems and prospects. Although the system has been sustained over the years despite obvious contradictions and challenges, there is no gainsaying the platitude that it is has been so for everything but true federalism. In this study, an attempt is made to reexamine the practice of federalism in Nigeria from the standpoint of some of its observable historical, structural and operational specificities with the view to proffering refreshing understanding on the essence of the practice. The paper recommends, among other things, urgent convocation of supreme national conference as an avenue to addressing and resolving nagging federalist questions in the interest of the nation.

The significance of forests as an existential threat to national security in Nigeria has been underscored in the phenomenon of Boko Haram insurgency. The occupation and apparent 'weaponisation' of Sambisa and the adjoining forests by Boko Haram insurgents have continued to pose an enervating tactical challenge that complicates the ongoing counter-insurgency efforts in northeast Nigeria. The instrumentalisation of forests as an operational and defensive stronghold by the insurgents in the lower Lake Chad Basin has been enabled by the existence of large expanses of dispersed, uninhabited and un-policed forested spheres in the area. This study examines the imperative for transnational forestland governance in the lower Lake Chad Basin, in the light of a continual incidence of Boko Haram insurgency in that context. Drawing discursively from the 'ungoverned spaces' (territorial ungovernability) hypothesis, the study 38 Al Chukwuma Okoli posits that the prevailing vacuum of effective forestland governance in the region must be filled in order to mitigate the security challenge. To that end, the study prescribes a strategic trans-territorial forestland governance regime whereby Nigeria and Cameroon synergise efforts in bringing about effective reclamation and occupation of the volatile forested landscapes.

The phenomenon of climate change has been associated with a trend of weather extremity and volatility across the world. This global trend has often occasioned dire climato-ecological dynamics that threaten human security and societal sustainability. This paper seeks to examine the correlation between climate change and weather-related disasters in the Niger Delta from the standpoint of a threat-analysis. Relying on secondary sources of data, the paper posits that the Niger Delta is highly susceptible to climate-change-induced weather disasters in view of its proximity to the continental waters, which makes it vulnerable to ocean surge, coastal erosion and flooding. The paper makes a case for a contingency approach to disaster remediation as the way forward.
Keywords: Climate change; weather volatility; disaster; weather disaster; Niger Delta; vulnerability; human security.

This paper reviews the concepts of security and securitization in an attempt to underscore the bourgeoning complexion of the security problematique in the contemporary world. By means of a discursive exegesis of select extant themes, the paper posits that the transformation of the security praxis from the orthodox traditional tradition to the critical modern tradition has compelled a new understanding of security; necessitating, thereby, a new disciplinary orientation: Liberal Security Studies.

The concern of food security and sustainability constitutes an integral part of Nigeria's contemporary national security problematic. This paper explores the food security and sustainability discourse in Nigeria within the paradigm of political ecology with a view to situating the notions and nuances that are associated therewith. By means of a discursive analysis, predicated on secondary data, the paper x-rays the socio-structural issues underlying food security as well as food vulnerability in Nigeria, positing that Nigeria's quest for food security/sustainability has been vitiated by a myriad of complex social, political, ecological and developmental factors negating food availability, access, safety and sustainability. The paper submits that these factors must be organically understood and addressed in order to overcome the threat of food insecurity/crisis in Nigeria.

This paper examines the complications of SALWs in the context of armed connlict with particular reference to the Liberian civil war. Using an exploratory analysis that relied on documentary data, as complemented by insights from Key Informant Interview (KII), the paper observed that the incidence of SALWs proliferation was one of the factors that complicated the Liberian crisis. The paper posits that the complications of SALWs proliferation in Liberia during and after the National crisis (1989-2003) posed a threat to the country's national security. The threat is evident in the collateral impact of armed violence that characterized the Liberian crisis as well as the wave of armed criminali-ty that has punctuated the country's history in the aftermath of the crisis. In the light of its dire effects vis-à-vis sustainable peace, security and stability, this paper submit that SALWs proliferation has posed a threat to Liberian national security both in the connlict and post-connlict eras.

Boko Haram insurgency in North East Nigeria has exposed women (girls, ladies, and mothers) to a complex jeopardy. While some women have suffered untimely widowhood or child-lack as a result of the Boko Haram onslaught, others have suffered death, forced abduction, and allied assaults on the main and side lines of the insurgency. Often times, women have faced direct violence that essentially degrade their humanity. This is evident in the deployment of women as war-front sex slaves, human shields, and suicide bombers by the insurgents.  The virtual expendability of women in the context of Boko Haram insurgency has been vividly demonstrated by the gale of female suicide bombings in Nigeria over the recent years. By means of a textual and contextual analysis of library sources and/or documentary data, as well as an adroit application of the theory of objectification, this study posits that, in addition to suffering collateral vulnerabilities, women have equally been instrumentalized as objects of terror in the context of Boko Haram insurgency. The paper further argues that the ‘weaponization’ of women’s bodies as bomb vessels and human shields by the insurgents highlights the height of women’s corporal victimization and objectification in contemporary asymmetric warfare. Thus, in addition to its complicated humanitarian outcomes that have adversely affected the society at large, Boko Haram insurgency has led to the corporal abuse and dehumanization of women in particular.
Keywords: Boko Haram, gender, insurgency, objectification, women, victimhood.