COVID 19 PANDEMIC, INSECURITY AND STATE FRAGILITY: The Nigerian Experience

The outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic which took the world by surprise had devastating effects on the economic, political and socio-cultural wellbeing of various countries in the international system. It has led to an increase in violent activities such as banditry, kidnappings, ritual killings, violent extremism, often championed by terrorist groups and secessionists agitations. It has particularly led to serious infractions on the Nigerian security architecture thus exacerbating the hitherto challenged security status of the country. The various security apparatuses have found it difficult to secure the lives and properties of the citizenry or to forestall the proliferation of insecurity thereby plunging the country into a state of fragility. This paper examined the spate of insecurity in Nigeria in the face of Covid-19 pandemic and its implications for state fragility. Guided by the state fragility theory, the paper adopted a qualitative and descriptive approach with reliance on secondary data from peer-reviewed journal articles, government reports, newspaper articles, magazines, etc. The paper concluded that widespread poverty, hunger, lack of political will and government’s inability to provide for the needs of the people occasioned by the pandemic, made crime more attractive to the people. As a result, the level of insecurity in the country has risen sharply and threatens to push the country towards acute state fragility. Based on this premise, the study recommended that Nigerian government should pay dire attention to the economic, political and socio cultural deficits that precipitate crime, reform the security apparatuses and drive social inclusion, among others.