Volume : 1, Issue : 7, December - 2012

Arms Proliferation and Political Violence in Nigeria: A Case of Kogi State, Nigeria

Dr. Joseph O. Fayeye, Arome I. Abdulkadir

Abstract :

Political violence is becoming a serious threat to security and democratic governance in Nigeria. This study therefore examines the impact of arms proliferation on political violence with specific reference to Kogi. It adopted a descriptive survey design because of the paucity of data on arms proliferation and political violence in Kogi state. Three hundred (300) respondents were purposively sampled. A self–administered structured questionnaire was the major instrument adopted for this study, while it was used as an interview guide to obtain responses from semi–literate and illiterate respondents. Data were collected, collated, summarised and described using frequency tables and counts. The following are the major findings of the study: there is an imbalance power sharing among diverse ethnic groups; the imbalance of political power eeds aggression resulting from frustration, Politicians and their agents are responsible for the availability of arms and the state security agents were handicapped by the limit of their fire–power and logistic supply. The study recommends that: there should be power–shift in the interest of peace; power balance or fair representation of both majority and minority groups; and that weapon control should be intensified to limit arms availability.