Civil Society Actors and Alternative Approach to Peace in South East Nigeria

Unfortunately, it is no longer news that the South-Eastern Nigeria is gradually moving into competition with the Northern region in who retains the title of the capital of poverty, underdevelopment, and insecurity in Nigeria. This is as a result of the long period of unrest and fear of unknown gunmen, activities of IPOB, incessant arrest of young men across the region, arson on police stations across the southeast and jailbreak across different locations in the region. The study adopts the theory of Economic Structuralism. Structuralism is one of the development theories which emphasises the structural aspects that impede the socio-economic development of the third world countries, in this case the South East region. The study adopted the time series research design and underpinned its theoretical framework on the theory of Economic Structuralism. The study relied on documentary method of data collection by means of which secondary data were gathered. These data were sourced from various relevant scholarly documents, including books, journal articles, newspapers, and official documents from various civil society groups. As part of her findings, Civil society has become across the world, the nonstate emergent agent for providing critical social welfare, social services, humanitarian services, socio- economic empowerment, political participation, human capital development and productive economic activities. But unfortunately, the civil society has not done enough to proffer alternate sources of livelihood in the South east region. The study recommended that the civil society must do more to promote good governance and leadership in the region