THE ROLE OF POVERTY ON YOUTH BASED CONFLICT

Abstract

This study examined the role of poverty on youth based conflict within the Nigerian setting. The phenomenon of poverty has become so endemic in Nigeria to the extent that all recent statistics point in the direction that a greater proportion of the Nigerian population lives in poverty. High poverty rate in Nigeria has been attributed to a number of factors including inept leadership that breeds monumental corruption in all facets of life. Corruption ensures that the wealth of the nation is not equitably distributed among its citizens leading to very high level of inequality. Few people have appropriated far more than their fair of the commonwealth thereby pushing the majority of the people to the margin of society. Poverty in Nigeria has been exacerbated by the fact that the poor do not have any voice in the political process. This situation generates massive frustration within the population that also leads to varying degrees of conflict. The study therefore contends that the numerous conflict situations and violent criminal activities witnessed frequently in Nigeria are directly linked to poverty.

TABLE OF CONTENT

Title page

Approval page

Dedication

Acknowledgment

Abstract

Table of content

CHAPETR ONE

1.0   INTRODUCTION 

1.1        Background of the study

1.2        Statement of problem

1.3        Objective of the study

1.4        Research Hypotheses

1.5        Significance of the study

1.6        Scope and limitation of the study

1.7       Definition of terms

1.8       Organization of the study

CHAPETR TWO

2.0   LITERATURE REVIEW

CHAPETR THREE

3.0        Research methodology

3.1    sources of data collection

3.3        Population of the study

3.4        Sampling and sampling distribution

3.5        Validation of research instrument

3.6        Method of data analysis

CHAPTER FOUR

DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

4.1 Introductions

4.2 Data analysis

CHAPTER FIVE

5.1 Introduction

5.2 Summary

5.3 Conclusion

5.4 Recommendation

Appendix

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

• Background of the study

The poverty level in Nigeria is assuming a very worrisome dimension as more and more Nigerians drift towards the margin of society. This situation was aptly captured by the World Bank President Jim Yong Kim at the IMF/World Bank spring meeting held in April, 2014 where he restated that Nigeria is one the five countries that have the highest number of poor people. Nigeria according to him ranks third in the world behind India and China. The Director-General of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) stated in his written press conference address in 2011 that about 112 million Nigerians were living in poverty (Punch Editorial, 2014). Five years down the line, the situation instead of improving is even getting worse. The current Vice President of Nigeria Mr Yemi Osinbajo in August, 2015 stated that over 100 million Nigerians were still living below poverty line despite the policies of past governments to improve their welfare. He further stated that the policies were wrongly formulated and as a result did not have direct impact on the people. The high level of poverty in Nigeria has been attributed to a number of factors including poor leadership that breeds corruption which has become institutionalized. Corruption ensures that the wealth of the nation is not evenly distributed among its teeming population generating very high level of inequality to extent that the gap between individuals in terms of material wealth is one of the widest in the world. The people that have appropriated the wealth of the nation are in the minority while the poor are in the majority. The poverty situation in Nigeria has been made worse by the fact that the poor are completely excluded from the political process ensuring that they do not make any input in decisions that pertain to their lives. Nigeria is also currently plagued by a number of security challenges, posing a variety threats to Africa’s most populous nation. These security issues are fall-outs of the activities of the Boko Haram Islamic Sect, militancy in the Niger Delta region of the country, armed robbery, cult activities, kidnapping, herdsmen/farmers clashes, communal clashes, activities of ethnic militia groups among others (Mac-Leva, 2016). Even domestic conflicts have also heightened as a result of the biting economic situation in the country presently. In Nigeria, conflict is very often the result of political, economic and social instability frequently stemming from bad governance, failed economic policies and inappropriate development programmes (Epkenyong, 2011). The failure of governance is core to the socioeconomic and political development challenges confronting Nigeria and the spate of violence that threatens national security (Omodia, 2012). Given that democratic governance reinforces the social bond that exists between the government and the governed, the expectation is that public policies and programmes should reflect majorly appropriate citizens’ demands and aspirations made upon the political system. In Nigeria, the extent to which government policies have their origin in the people is minimal (Omodia & Aliu, 2013). According to Jega (2007), the political leadership is characterized by blatant personalization of power, predatory, parochial, prebendal and patrimonial tendencies. These ills no doubt undermine popular participation and the critical role of the masses in setting the agenda of governance (Olaniyi, 2001). The fact that in most cases the outcome of the elitist imposed policies consists of widespread unemployment, corruption and poverty tend to worsen the peoples sense of alienation and frustration in the political system which often translate into disobedience of the state and the resort to violence as a means to challenge the legitimacy of the state. This explains in part the Niger Delta militancy and the Boko Haram insurgency in the North (Omodia, 2012). In the light of the foregoing, this study sets out to examine the relationship between massive poverty in Nigeria and the numerous conflict situations that often generate security challenges in the country Chronic poverty and violent conflict have, in the main, been treated as separate spheres of academic inquiry and policy. It is argued in this paper that development policy needs to be better attuned to the links between the two, in order to respond to the challenges of growing conflict and chronic poverty. There is some consensus amongst Northern and Southern governments about the need to address poverty and to achieve international development targets. However, during the last 20 years one half of the world’s poorest countries have been seriously affected by civil strife or war; one third of them since 1990. If the problem of endemic instability is not tackled, donors’ poverty-focused goals will be undermined. Violent conflict is therefore not merely a ‘side issue’ that can be ignored by developmentalists. It needs to be better understood, accounted for and tackled if development goals are to be achieved. To date however, there has been limited empirical research, which examines the nature of the relationship between poverty and conflict. There has been virtually no research, which focuses on chronic poverty and conflict. Theoretical and empirical work have tended to treat the poor as an undifferentiated category. Most of the literature on poverty and conflict has focused on largely descriptive accounts of the impact of conflict on poverty ie. poverty as a consequence of protracted conflict. There has also been a small body of work, which examines poverty as an underlying cause of violent conflict. While there is a level of agreement that chronic conflict is likely to lead to chronic poverty, the reverse argument is more contentious. Recent research, mainly by political economists argues that greed (opportunities for predatory accumulation), rather than grievance, (generated by poverty and social exclusion) tends to cause violent conflict. This debate about cause and consequence, greed and grievance, has important policy implications and deserves to be explored further. Current donor policy for instance tends to be underpinned by the assumption that poverty and social exclusion cause conflict. Poverty eradication programmes are therefore justified (in addition to their impacts on poverty) as a form of conflict prevention or management. There is however, limited empirical evidence to support or refute this claim. If there is only a loose correlation between today’s conflicts and chronic poverty, as argued by the political economists, this suggests that the policy focus might shift towards addressing more immediate incentives systems related to ‘greed’. We will argue in this paper that rather than setting the debate in ‘either’-‘or’ terms, there is a need to examine in more detail the interaction between ‘greed’ and ‘grievance’ in particular contexts.

• STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

In a world where boundaries and borders have blurred, and where seemingly distant threats can metastasize into immediate problems, the fight against global poverty has become a fight for global security. American policymakers, who traditionally have viewed security threats as involving bullets and bombs, are increasingly focused on the link between poverty and conflict; for instance, the Pentagon’s 2006 Quadrennial Defense Review focuses on fighting the “long war,” declaring that the U.S. military has a humanitarian role in “alleviating suffering, helping prevent disorder from spiraling into wider conflict or crisis. It is on this backdrop that the researcher intends to investigate the role of poverty on youth based conflicts in Ekeremor local government area of Bayelsa state.

• OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

The main objective of this study is to examine the role of poverty on youth based conflict in Ekeremor local government area of Bayelsa state, but to aid the completion of the study, the researcher intend to achieve the following specific objectives;

1. To ascertain the role of poverty on youth based conflict in Ekeremor local government area of Bayelsa state
2. To examine the effect of poverty in conflict ignition among youths in Ekeremor LGA of Bayelsa state

• To ascertain if there is any significant relationship between poverty and conflict among the youth

1. To examine the impact of poverty on youth restiveness
   • RESEARCH HYPOTHESES

The following research hypotheses were formulated by the researcher to aid the completion of the study

H₀: poverty does not play any role on youth based conflict in Ekeremor local government area of Bayelsa state

H₁: poverty does play a role on youth based conflict in Ekeremor local government area of Bayelsa state

H₀: there is no significant relationship between poverty and conflict among the youth

H₂: there is a significant relationship between poverty and conflict among the youth

• SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

It is believed that at the completion of the study, the findings will be of importance to the federal ministry of labor and productivity as the study will help in policy formulation in combating poverty among the youth as this will serve as a deterrent to conflict in the study area, the study will also be useful to the state government in ensuring that the teeming population of the youth are gainfully employed so as to avert conflict as an idle mind is the devils workshop. The study will also be of benefit to intending researchers who intend to embark on a study in a similar topic as the study will serve as a reference point to further research, finally, the study will be useful to students, teachers lecturers, academia’s and the general public as the study will add to the pool of existing literature on the subject matter and also contribute to knowledge

• SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

The scope of the study covers the role of poverty on youth based conflict in Ekeremor local government area of Bayelsa state; but in the cause of the study, there were some factors that limited the scope of the study;

Time constraint: The researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work. This consequently will cut down on the time devoted for the research work.

Inadequate Materials: Scarcity of material is also another hindrance. The researcher finds it difficult to long hands in several required material which could contribute immensely to the success of this research work.

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).

1.7 OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF TERMS

Poverty

Poverty is the scarcity or the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money. Poverty is a multifaceted concept, which may include social, economic, and political elements

Youth

Youth is the time of life when one is young, and often means the time between childhood and adulthood (maturity). It is also defined as “the appearance, freshness, vigor, spirit, etc., characteristic of one who is young

Conflict

Conflict refers to some form of friction, or discord arising within a group when the beliefs or actions of one or more members of the group are either resisted by or unacceptable to one or more members of another group

1.8 ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY

This research work is presented in five (5) chapters in accordance with the standard presentation of research work.

Chapter one contains the introduction which include; background of the study, statement of the problem, aim and objectives of study, research questions, significance of study, scope of study and overview of the study. Chapter two deals with review of related literature. Chapter three dwelt on research methodology which include; brief description of the study area, research design, sources of data, population of the study, sample size and sampling technique, instrument of data collection, validity of instrument, reliability of instrument and method of data presentation and analysis. Chapter four consists of data presentation and analysis while chapter five is the summary of findings, recommendations and conclusion.

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