HOOLIGANISM AND VIOLENCE AMONG NIGERIAN YOUTHS

DEVELOPING INTERVENTIONS TO PROMOTE SUSTAINABLE PEACE IN ONITSHA, ANAMBRA STATE OF NIGERIA

Abstract

The study examines hooliganism and violence among the Nigerian youth with the purpose of developing interventions to promote sustainable peace in Onitsha, Anambra State, of Nigeria. Onitsha was regarded as the most “peaceful” mega city in the south eastern geo-political zone due to rare outburst of violence and criminality. However, in the recent past, the peaceful atmosphere of Onitsha has been under serious threat owing to frequent outburst of youth violence, particularly in socially disadvantaged neighborhoods (SDNs). Consequently, youth violence has attracted the attention of policy makers and stakeholders in the State, thereby occupying an important space in local discourses.This study adopted descriptive survey research design, the population is the people living in Onitsha, the targeted size consists of 350 respondents from major cities in Onitsha between the ages of 18 and 45 years, 299 questionnaires were properly filled and returned which served as the sample size. The data was analyzed with simple percentage. The investigation reveals that the hooliganism and youth violence in Onitsha has a historical antecedence and traceable to socio-economic, socio-political and bad governance issues. The study concluded that the abysmal failure of successive administrations in Nigeria to address challenges such as poverty, youth unemployment and inequitable distribution of wealth among ethnic nationalities, ultimately resulted to diverse negative impact of anger, agitation and violent crimes against the Nigerian state by some individuals and groups. The study however, recommends the formulation and effective implementation of policies and programmes capable of addressing the root causes of insecurity in Nigeria.