©ARC Page | 32 The Impact of Insecurity and Poverty on Sustainable Economic Development in Nigeria

Abstract: The paper examines the impact of insecurity and poverty on sustainable economic development in Nigeria with special emphasis on the Boko Haraminsurgency. The paper employed OLS technique in estimating the relationship between economic growth rate, insecurity and poverty level, ADF technique was used in testing the presence of unit root in the data, Granger causality test was used establish the flow of causation between the variables of the model, ECM techniques was used to test the existence of long run relationship between the variables of the model, after which Ramsey RESET model specification techniques was used. The paper found a negative relationship between economic growth and insecurity and poverty; the result of causation revealed that economic growth cause poverty and poverty causes insecurity in Nigeria but not the other way round. The paper also found that one of the most vicious onslaughts on the Nigerian state is the terror unleashed by JamaatuAhlis-SunnaLiddaawati-an Islamic sect popularly known as Boko Haram This sectarian group have adopted several approaches including bombing strategic places; that were hitherto not vulnerable to security threats, waging murderous campaigns against individuals and institutions leading to wanton destruction of lives and property.Using the Frustration-Aggression theoretical framework, the paper argues rather succinctly that terrorism is caused by frustrate