Public perception of restructuring as a solution to Nigeria’s security challenge: Evidence from Enugu State

Abstract

Background: For some time now, there have been agitations for the restructuring of Nigeria. Those championing the agitations believe that it holds the key for the  different security challenges facing the country.

Objectives: The objective of this study was to ascertain public perception of restructuring as solution to different security challenges facing Nigeria. The general objectives were further broken down into three others objectives from where research questions were derived.

Method: Descriptive survey research design was used for the study with questionnaire as the instrument for data collection. The sample size was made up of 385 respondents who were selected through multi-stage sampling technique.   The study was conducted in Enugu State, South-East Nigeria. 

Results: The result of the study showed that majority of the respondents reported that restructuring holds the key for  resolving Nigeria’s security challenges. The respondents were of the view that if Nigeria restructures, it will help the country, to a large extent, in addressing its security challenges. The current study has shown that most of the respondents were of the view that restructuring has the propensity to address the security challenges facing Nigeria by correcting  imbalance in the country, taking  away suspicion among the different groups in Nigeria, resulting to equitable distribution of wealth, resulting to more accountability, reducing  ethnic clash and  reducing class disparity. Finally, the result of this study has shown that despite the fact that restructuring is important, its implementation may be limited by a number of factors such as selfishness, lack of political will, ethnic considerations, lack of agreement among agitators and  constitutional limitations.

Conclusion: It is concluded that restructuring is an important tool for addressing the many security challenges facing Nigeria. 

Unique Contribution: This study has highlighted the pathways for addressing the current security challenges facing Nigeria.