FORCED MIGRATION AND SECURITY INTEGRATION: IMPLICATIONS ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTHERN NIGERIA

This paper examines the security Integration and the sustainable development implications on the forced migrants of Northern Nigeria origin in Benin City, Nigeria. The study adopted a mixed method research design consisting of the quantitative and qualitative research methods. The cross-sectional survey was utilized to collect quantitative data while the phenomenology research design was employed for the collection of qualitative data. The study area was Benin City. The target populations were the forced migrants who migrated because of violent conflict in the Northern part of Nigeria to the relatively more peaceful southern part of the country who are not in the internally displaced camps or any other institutionally assisted holdings in Benin City, Nigeria. The sample size of 1,200 was drawn using mixed sampling methods because of the use of multiple instruments. The structured questionnaire was the instrument for the collection of quantitative data while the qualitative data was collected with the aid of focused group discussion guide and Key informant interview schedule. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the quantitative data, while the thematic and interpretive phenomenological methods were used to analyze the qualitative data obtained from the field. Although there was convergence as well as divergence in the lived and share experiences of the respondents, the findings in the study established that the security integration experiences of the forced migrants in Benin City are predominantly poor. Challenges such as apprehension and mistrust, harassment, accessibility and affordability of formal justice system, jungle justice, lack of data base, lack of permanent address and language were reported as barriers to security integration. Recommendations were therefore made to improve the conditions of the force migrant group in the process of integration into the host communities. The recommendations include the need for the creation of data base, government assisted prosecution of jungle justice, and removal of structural barriers to social connections between the migrant group and their hosts were proposed.