CHAPTER ONE

Introduction

1.1     Background Of The Study

The menace of domestic violence on national security can never be over emphasis seeing to the fact that it’s a pattern of abusive behavior in a relationship that is used by one partner to gain or maintain power and control over another intimate partner (Office on Violence against Women 2015). An intimate partner may be a current or former married spouse, common-law or civil union spouse, domestic partner, boyfriend/girlfriend, dating partner, or ongoing sexual partner (Breiding, 2014). It is human right to live happily and without pain and no one have any constitutional right to give pain to any one in any form. Domestic violence is a worldwide problem and can affect any women at any point. It can take place in any form like physical abuse, sexual, psychological bullying, harassment, neglect, abandonment, teasing, financial exploitation and emotional abuse etc.

Webster et al reported (23.5%) of women faced severe level of physical violence i.e. being pushed forcefully, shoved, slapped and kicked while 13.2% faced violence in the form of being bitten and hit with the fist2. Any kind of traumatic experiences lead to impaired activities of daily living and make it impossible to meet the daily needs. Domestic violence purportedly only has one intention: to control over and to make the person feel inferior.

Moreover, national security is commonly used to mean safety from danger and protection from internal, external attack or infiltration. This usage is tied on the apron string of defense and security forces. The cold war era gave the highest currency to the conventional security doctrine that rested on the assumption that only a strong military can effectively deter attacks and threats of force (Chris, 1997). On the contrary, John (1991) conceives security in terms of arms, armament and military personnel. He posits that security is the „relative freedom from harmful threat‟. In the post-cold war period, the concept of security has attracted a new thinking by contemporary scholars who condemned the militaristic thought of security insisting on the concepts of rehabilitation, transformation and expansion. (Booth, 1991) observed that „one of the themes of new thinking is the idea that security policy should have political accommodation as a primary aim, the adverse effects of identifying security almost exclusively with military strength was evident throughout the cold war.

Violence is the intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or against a group or community that either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, mal development or deprivation. Abdulsalami, A. (2005)

It was stressed that at the heart of many of these conflicts is access to resources and control over the distribution of benefits. This struggle for resources has led to a broad sense of insecurity, opportunism, and the pursuit of self- help strategies across the country. Many Nigerians argue that the real reason for the violence isn't ethnic or religious differences but the scramble for land, scarce resources and political clout. Poverty, joblessness and corrupt politics drive extremists from both sides to commit horrendous atrocities. Although the nation rakes in billions of dollars in oil revenue annually, the majority of Nigerians live with less than a dollar a day. For example, in Plateau State, where Jos is located, Muslim cattle herders from the north and Christian farmers from the south vie for control of the fertile plains. That poor distribution of wealth has also sparked conflict in Nigeria's oil-rich southern Delta region, where militants lobbying for a greater share of oil revenue regularly blow up pipelines and kidnap foreign oil workers. Jekayinfa, (2002).

Some of the major security problems currently confronting the nation have been identified to include: political and electioneering conflicts, socio-economic agitations, ethno-religious crises, ethnic militias, boundary disputes, cultism, criminality and organized crimes. These problems individually and collectively constitute threats to the peace, security and development of the country. Lawal, (2010).

1.2     Statement of the Problem

The problem of domestic violence in Nigerian society has become apparent over political and economic control of political positions and resources and these have a negative effect on national peace and security. In spite of the sanitization by government and local and international non governmental agencies against domestic violence more is expected to be done to assess the effect of domestic violence on national security.

Based on the aforementioned, problem of this study is to make assessment of domestic violence and national security.

1.3     Objectives of the Study

The main study of the study is to investigate the effect of domestic violence on national security. Specifically, the study aimed at the following objectives:

1.  To examine the effect of different forms of domestic violence on national security 

2            To examine the causes of domestic violence in Nigerian society

3            To examine factors militating against effective national security

3.1     Research Questions

The research questions for the study were formulated as follows;

1.    How do different forms of domestic violence affect national security 

2.    What are the causes of domestic violence in Nigerian society

3.    what are the factors militating against effective national security

1.5  Research Hypotheses

The following hypotheses were formulated to guide the study.

1.    Different forms of domestic violence does not significantly influence national security 

2.    Causes of domestic violence does not significantly influence National security in Nigerian society

3.    There is no significant influence of factors militating against effective national security 

 1.6 Significance of the Study

       The Study is significant in a number of ways. First, the study encourages citizens to admit the fact that when they get involved in domestic violence, this result in numerous number of crime related issues in the society.

       The study draws government, private individual and cooperate bodies to accept the fact that violence from home has a proportional effect on national security issues.

1.7  Delimitation of the study

This study was delimitated to the effect of domestic violence and national security using Uyo local government area as study focus.

1.8  Limitation of the Study

       It was also difficult to gather materials especially relevant and current information related to the study variables, since the study is not common. This caused scarcity of relevant research materials from local journals, the researcher had to rely greatly on the foreign materials in order to put up this work.

       Another difficulty faced was limited time given to researcher to complete the study. Limited fund was also a constraint to this work.

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