National Security and Development in Nigeria: A Study of Bayelsa State of Nigeria

Security is presently a major challenge in Nigeria especially in Northern Nigeria. Nigerians and non-Nigerians are killed on daily basis and in their numbers even the United Nations building and the Police Headquarters at the Federal Capital were bombed. Though the government claims to be on top of the situation, the problem persists. This work examines the nexus between National security and development in Nigeria. It uses public spending on security as proxy for security and the gross domestic product (GDP) as proxy for development. The work observes that there is a positive relationship between security and development in accordance with literature. The study is confined to Bayelsa State of Nigeria. The research design adopted for this study is the cross-sectional survey method. To ensure that the twelve (12) communities chosen from the six (6) local government areas that were chosen out of the eight (8) local government areas of Bayelsa State of Nigeria and their respondents were truly representative of the population. The stratified random and purposive sampling techniques were adopted. The researcher used 180 questionnaires, and the questionnaire was the major instrument for the collection of data for this study. The theoretical framework for this study employed Ralf Dahrendolf’s conflict perspective paradigm. In the data analysis the researcher employed the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) and the chi-square statistics was used to test the hypotheses of the study. Keywords: National security, development, and economic growth