Professor Dung Pam Sha of the Department of Political Science, University of Jos has advocated for decentralising resources and authority to state governments while keeping federal coordination to address violent extremism in Central Nigeria.
According to him, political will is urgently required to deal with foreign mercenaries, insurgents and bandits recruited to perpetrate violence and smoke them out from any ethnic colonies that harbour them.
Prof Sha stated this in a paper titled, “Violence Extremism in Central Nigeria: Nature, Drivers, Response and Remedies for Sustainable Development in Nigeria.”
The professor of Political Economy also argued that the federal government should address the demand for grazing land and the return of the homeland programme, ensure good governance at the state and local levels, and tackle poverty, inequality, and economic depression as a way of tackling this menace.
The university don also identified factors such as structural environment, institutional weakness and government failure, economic incentive, illicit economies, elite captive and political patronage as drivers of violence extremism in Central Nigeria.
He lamented that NGO intervention, even though it is useful, has little impact, adding that the state policing initiative, which is also legal, is being hampered. Community involvement is useful but marred by capacity challenges, adding that peace-building designs are weak and have not reduced the attacks.
According to him, the menace has created many security challenges in the region, adding that the correct identification of the phrase will help determine appropriate steps to address the problem.
“Political will is required to tackle internal and external drivers of violence extremism and in Central Nigeria . All society approach to address insecurity is key,” he said.
