TITLE:
Reflections on State Security and Violence in Africa: A Prognostic Analysis
AUTHORS:
Chinedu C. Ike, Ken Ifesinachi, Nnamani G. Rebecca
KEYWORDS:
State Security, Violence, Corruption, Africa
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Political Science,
Vol.4 No.3,
July
31,
2014
ABSTRACT: The 21st century beginning
from 2000 to 2014 portrays Africa’s current situation as beset by conflicts and
violence, drawing attention from every part of the world. As in decades
earlier, it is no good news! Prominent among these are terrorism with its
devastating impact, revolutions, uprisings, turmoil, communal conflicts, coup
d’état, hatred and malicious actions towards ethnic groups, institutionalised
division, deep rooted enmity between ethnic groups, dangerous religious sects,
criminal political groups, corruption and all sorts of deprivation. This paper
is however, a broad reflection of the general situation in the continent that
we narrowed to Nigeria and its peculiarities. The Marxist theory of the
post-colonial state was chosen as the tool for analysis. Further, we adopted
quantitative descriptive analysis with secondary literature forming the base of
our information source. In addition, we had personal discussions with security
agents, though not systemised. Finally, we seek to make a further contribution
to the ongoing intellectual efforts by identifying some areas that demand
urgent attention. It is hoped that the strategic suggestions that this paper
discusses, will provide a theoretical and practical platform for further
studies and subsequent solution towards the negative news reports, thereby
making news from Africa to be really, “good news”.