Lake Chad Basin Region and The Rise of Insurgency: Issues on Governance Profiling

Insurgency has become a serious threat to the Lake Chad Basin region and this has undermined not only its peace and security but also the socio-economic development of this area. The Lake Chad Basin which stretches Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria has become a hub of insurgency which has witnessed most devastated humanitarian crises manifests in killings, maiming, kidnapping, and force displacement of people, castle rustling, and other forms of human rights violation. This paper examines the nexus between insurgency and governance in the Lake Chad region. This paper is a qualitative study with secondary source of data obtained from journals, textbooks, internet, newspapers etc. and is contently analysed. A governance and state fragility theory is the theoretical framework within which this paper is anchored. Finding of this paper revealed that the wave of insurgency in the Lake Chad Basin region has connection with poor governance in all the countries of the region which are characterized by weak democratic institutions and governance, brazen corruption, chronic poverty; unemployment, political uncertainties, socio-economic inequality, limited access to basic services and exclusionary governance which has created an environment ripe for insurgency and all kinds of insecurity to thrived. To address these challenges in the Lake Chad Basin region, countries within the region must as a matter of urgency strengthen their democratic institutions to entrenche governance that priorities security structure that focuses on economic welfare, emphasising the centrality of human being and human being at the heart of discourse and policy. Additionally, citizen participation in decision making process and collaboration that enhance governance and security in the respective LCBC countries should be entrenched.