NIGERIAN SECURITY IN AN ERA OF CITIZEN JOURNALISM

Abstract

There is no gain saying that insecurity in Nigeria has never been so rife since her political Independence. Every day, reports of various security breaches fill the air: kidnapping, banditry, terrorism, ritual killings, rape, armed robbery, phone theft, money-ritual, arson, trading in human body parts, herders-farmers clashes and unknown-gun-men phenomenon. Furthermore, with the inception of new media, cases of spam, account hacking, ponzi schemes, fake alerts, passing off, piracy, plagiarism, privacy invasion in term of release of sex-tapes, nude pictures and pornography among others are constant reminders of how poor and porous, warped and weakened our society and its security architecture have become. Insecurity being a negative global phenomenon and a hydra-headed monster, many reasons have been adduced as the causative factors of which citizen journalism is one. This study therefore attempts to not only unveil the various maladies confronting the Nigerian state in a new media environment but also explores past studies relating to insecurity and citizen journalism. It further recommends steps towards curbing the problem of insecurity and ways to appropriate the activities of citizen journalists for sustainable development in a highly volatile and democratized media sphere.