1.0 Introduction
1.1 Background of Study
The world's efforts to maintain peace and security have been undermined by the sporadic acts of terrorists who use violence to pursue their political objectives. From the year 2015 to 2021, the world experienced fresh attacks which were aided by advanced technology. The advancing twenty-first century technology provides sophisticated methods of unleashing terror, murder, kidnapping and victimization of the civilians. This has made people to live in constant fear and that one day humanity will be wiped out by such threats. This is because terrorists are not bound by the rules of international law, neither do they have a government as understood in the conventional sense of statehood but they clandestinely perform covert and overt operations.
The twenty-first century terrorists seek to weaken governments, attack the strong bonds between the government and its subjects. Their activities cause political, economic, social and environmental damage. Terrorists activities are transnational and have inevitably crossed porous borders. This has made it difficult for governments to control security systems since technology observes no borders. This has left governments exposed and its power and responsibility to protect its citizens diminished.
Humphries (2002:732), defines terrorism as, the “use of violence, sometimes indiscriminately against persons and property for nominal purpose of making a political statement.” The use of violence may be perpetrated by the state, guerrillas, death squads, international terrorist and dissidents, nationalists, religious fundamentalists and fanatics. The definition of terrorism is a subject of immense debate within the United Nations (UN) and other world bodies. There is no consensus definition of terrorism at the UN level thus terrorists take advantage of that weakness to pursue their clandestine political objectives. There is need to build a more effective and pragmatic system of international peace such that terrorists will find very difficult to operate at the micro and macro-level.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Investigation revealed that terrorists’ activities weaken state's ability to provide peace to its citizens. Women, children and men have all suffered the consequences of terrorism. The attack of the Nigeria on 9/11 has indicated that it is not only the small actors in the international system who can succumb to the ills of terrorism but also the most powerful states and dominant players in the system. The damage of infrastructure is impulsive to an extent that billions of dollars are wasted in rebuilding structures.
Environmentally, the ecosystem is affected by bombings and toxic gases. But the humans always pay a heavy price in the form of killings, kidnapping, hostage-taking and unleashing of violence such that their memories always bear traumatic and tormenting events. All the above have affected education systems in Africa and beyond. Colleges, Universities, High Schools and Primary Schools are affected in so many ways thus distorting the whole educational system of states.
1.3 Aim and Objectives of Study
The aim of the study is to assess the Implication of Terrorism and Security Awareness on Sustainable Peace in Lokoja Local Government Area of Kogi State 2015-2021. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:
- To identify the factors influencing terrorist activities between the period of 2015 to 2021;
- To establish why terrorism is inevitable despite the collective state efforts;
- To examine the effects of terrorist activities on peace and security from 2015 to 2021;
- To examine how terrorism has affected education systems; and
- To provide recommendations on how to effectively combat the effects of terrorism in the Nigeria system.
1.4 Research Questions
The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:
- What are the types of terrorism and the methods they are using to effect terror?
- What are the factors that influence terrorist activities?
- What are the threats brought by terrorists in the international system?
- What is the future of terrorism and what needs to be done to reduce or eradicate terrorism?
1.5 Research Hypothesis
In order to pursue the objective of this study, the following generalized statements have been designed to guide and aids in obtaining the result for the experiment to be conducted. For this work, the null hypothesis will be represented with H0 while the alternative hypothesis will be represented with hypothesis H1.
Hypothesis One
- H0: Terrorism does not negatively affect collective effort towards the maintenance of peace and security.
- H1: Terrorism negatively affects collective effort towards the maintenance of peace and security.
1.6 Significance of Study
This result of the findings justifies the importance of providing an analysis on the effects of terrorism in maintaining international peace and security from 2015 to 2021. The research findings will be of great significance to the world and regional organizations concerned with world peace, educationists, security and state institutions, concerned with tackling terrorism. It is against this background that Open Distance Learning (ODL) plays a pivotal role in providing education under these circumstances.
Terrorism disrupts livelihoods, increases violence and fear, affects production in all sectors of economy, destroys infrastructure and has resulted in bloodshed. In all cases of terrorist attacks, it has disrupted normal education life, stalled production in the economy and international effort to provide peace and security.
1.7 Scope of Study
The scope of this research is focused on the assessment of the Implication of Terrorism and Security Awareness on sustainable peace in Lokoja Local Government Area of Kogi State from the year 2015 – 2021
1.8 Limitations of the Study
During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:
- Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
- Establishment Policies: Establishment policies posed a serious limitation as most staffs are not ready to release information needed for this research work. There were lots of information needed from the staffs of this establishment to enhance the study which took them time to release or they did not release at all for security purposes, hence the scope was reduced.
- Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).
- Lack of Initial Cooperation from Respondents: A particular limitation of this work came as a result of the respondent refusal to offer their cooperation at the initial time they were contacted. This contributed in making the success of this research study difficult.
1.9 Definition of Terms
Terrorism:
This is the use of violence, sometimes indiscriminately against persons and property for nominal purpose of making a political statement
