Date of Conferral

2021

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Public Policy and Administration

Advisor

Marcel Kitissou

Abstract

The experience of youth with violence in the Niger Delta (ND) of Nigeria and the negative consequences to the nation are well-documented in the literature. Youth violence poses a significant threat to national security, economic survival, and Nigeria’s unity and regional peace stabilization. Literature on youths’ experiences with postamnesty violence in the ND is scant. Postamnesty represents the period immediately after the disarmament and demobilization of combatant youth following the proclamation of the presidential amnesty program in Nigeria’s ND. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to bring an understanding to postamnesty youth violence (PAYV) through the lived experiences of 20 beneficiaries of the Presidential Amnesty Program(PAP). Gurr’s relative deprivation and Ostrom’s rational choice theories undergird this study with an epoche phenomenological research design. The central research question was on what motivates PAYV among beneficiaries of the presidential amnesty program in the ND. Data were collected using in-depth, semistructured, face-to-face interviews with participants selected through criterion purposive sampling. Data were manually coded and analyzed through clustering, categorization, and theming. Common textural and structural themes (motivation for PAYV, neglect and deprivation, limited opportunities for beneficiaries, gender-based discrimination) were identified and categorized for ease of analysis. The results contribute to positive social change by providing additional resources to scholarship, new information for joint problem-solving, a road map for future interventions to governments, and social policy makers seeking a better Nigeria through sustainable peace in the ND.

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