WHY SEPARATIST AGITATION IN SOUTHEAST NIGERIA IS INTRACTABLE

Abstract

The southeast geopolitical zone has in recent times experienced death, destruction and high level of kidnapping as a result of separatist activities in the region. The activities of the separatists, which have contributed to the kidnapping of about 40.2 percent of civilians in 2022, attack on security personnel, targeted killings of politicians has likened the region, akin to war zone. These separatist attacks, although engendered by genuine grievances over the economic and political marginalization of Southeasterners by the Nigerian government, has been hijacked by opportunists to actualize their economic ambitions. In interrogating this phenomenon, data was collected through the use of the documentary method and analyzed using the content analysis. The ex-post factor research design was employed. The grievances and greed theory was employed as our theoretical framework. The study argues that separatist conflict in southeast, Nigeria have become intractable. We further highlighted that the conflict is been sustained by greed, as the conflict has created a war economy that has enabled opportunistic behavior by Nigerian Security forces, separatists and criminals, thus escalating and prolonging the conflict leading to its intractability. In stemming this tide, we recommended that the adoption of both the kinetic and non-kinetic measures by the Nigerian State in managing separatist conflict in the southeast.