Description
Over the past decades, insecurity has been an issue of concern in Nigeria. Spanning from the Boko Haram terrorism to herdsmen attacks and kidnapping have tend to engulf the country’s landscape. Central to this concern is the paucity of research on public perspective of insecurity and the use of mercenaries as a basis for addressing the issue. This study draws on data from semi-structured interview with 53 participants recruited from Lagos states in Nigeria. Participants comprised of security representatives, non-governmental organisation, and lay members of the public. Informed by the principles of thematic analysis and a social identity theory it was found that there was a perceived sense of lack of trust for government approach in handling insecurity, resentment towards the perceived lack of support from the international community’s and a positive outlook towards the involvement of mercenaries in combating insecurity including terrorism in Nigeria. The study also found that there was a perceived disconnect with the identity of being a Nigerian and their support for the use of mercenaries. Hence, highlighting a need for existing policies to strengthen the Nigerian security apparatus in order to avoid a perceived trust for mercenaries as opposed to the states security agencies
