The Giant of Africa? Explaining the Nigerian Governance, Security, and Development Paradox

Abstract

With about 200 million people, Nigeria has the largest population and also the largest economy in Africa; the country has the world’s 10th largest proven crude oil and the 9th largest natural gas reserves (Oxford Business Group 2019a; UK DfID 2019). With an expanding middle class and the global population projection of the country set to reach 300 m by 2030 and 400 m by 2050, Nigeria is seen to potentially provide growth for Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (Oxford Business Group Report 2020b). Nigeria is therefore a significant emerging and investment partner for global competitiveness and in the best place to reap the opportunities of global new industrial technologies for governance, development, and security. It is important to stress from the standpoint of certain political, economic, and sociodemographic base factors that Nigeria is arguably seen as the giant of Africa. However, Nigeria has continued to struggle with Boko Haram terrorism and insurgency in the North east, economic sabotage on its strategic oil facilities and infrastructure in the Niger Delta, and the menace of cattle rustling and armed banditry in the north-central and west geopolitical zones. The missing link associated with these poor development and insecurity indices is lack of good governance as abundance of resources cannot guarantee security and development when there is absence of active commitment to political governance (Akahalu 2014). It is against this backdrop that this chapter examines the prevailing challenges to governance, security, and development in Nigeria. The chapter captures an exploration of the governance, security, and development nexus in Nigeria, and provides a sectoral analysis of Nigeria based on the performance of key sectors, as well as the key challenges of security and development besetting the country. The chapter thus concludes that for Nigeria to reclaim its continental hegemony, it needs to address those multi-faced challenges counting the cost on the country’s peace, security, and international outlook.