Activities of religious actors as a factor in national security discourse

Abstract

Insecurity has become a hydra headed monster which security agents in Nigeria and other nations in Africa appear incapable of handling. Insecurity is a state of being subject to danger or threat. It has also been defined as a threat to the state which often accounted for the race for arms and nuclear weapons to defend the state. Insecurity has taken a centre stage in Nigeria and many other countries in Africa in the recent time. No day passes, without the news of one form of violence or the other, and this has turned the countries in Africa to almost a pariah state. After the country gained its independence from the colonial masters’ overs six decades ago, many Nigerians believed that the country would be ushered into the promised land. Rather, the country has been experiencing a plethora of conflicts ranging from the threat of secession, civil wars, regional conflicts, and internal crises (ethnic, religious etc.) which continue to affect the country's nascent democratic structure and development. The various conflicts have destabilized the country and their costs in terms of loss of human life and property are so enormous. Religion is being used by religious actors as tool to fan the embers of insecurity in Nigeria. The spate of insecurity that has engulfed Nigeria has forced many to flee their homes to more peaceful neighbouring countries. Existing scholarly studies on insecurity in Nigeria and other African countries like Achumba, 2013, Ede, 2014 and Awoniyi, 2019 have focused mainly on the traditional approach to security which is state-centric with little attention paid to how religious fundamentalism, fanaticism, blasphemy, extremism and hate speech have over the years been deployed by religious actors to grease the wheel of insecurity in Nigeria and Africa in general. The aim of this paper therefore, is to examine the activities of religious actors in relation to insecurity in Nigeria. This is the gap in study the researcher intends to fill.