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Security leading concern for African countries than poverty

Security was a leading concern for the countries under study, followed by unemployment, health, education, infrastructure/transport, water supply, and poverty.

 

Focusing on three regional “hotspots” for violent extremism – the Lake Chad region, Sahel, and Horn of Africa, the study analysed six sub-Saharan countries where questions on violent extremism were asked: Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger, Mali, Kenya, and Uganda.

Security was a leading concern for the countries under study, followed by unemployment, health, education, infrastructure or transport, water supply, and poverty.

These “Security-related issues” combines the categories of crime and security, political violence, political instability, ethnic tensions, interstate war, civil war and terrorism.

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The survey interviews with almost 54,000 citizens in 36 represent the views of more than three-fourths of the continent’s population.

Kenya (cited by 45% of respondents, placing it first among all problems), Nigeria (39%), and Mali (38%), all of which experienced significant threats from violent extremist groups prior to the time of their respective surveys.

The proportion of citizens who cited security among the top three national problems was significantly lower in Cameroon (22%), Niger (14%), and Uganda (10%), the report said.

“When asked which of six key sectors should be prioritized if their governments could increase their expenditures, only 17% of citizens across 36 countries cited security as their first or second priority for future investment. This is significantly lower than the responses for education (55%), health care (51%), agriculture (30%), and infrastructure (27%),” the report indicated.

Preferences of citizens varied considerably by national context. Prioritization of investment in security was higher than average in Nigeria (43%), Kenya (34%), Cameroon (22%), Mali (21%), and Niger (19%).

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According to the report, public trust in security forces varies widely by country, with trust generally being lower in the police than in the army.

Public approval of government counter-extremist efforts ranged from about four in 10 in Nigeria and Kenya to three-fourths or more in Mali, Cameroon, Niger, and Uganda. Personal gain more than religious beliefs also happen to be the main reasons why people join extremist groups.

Afrobarometer conducts face-to-face interviews in the language of the respondent’s choice with nationally representative samples, which yield country level results with a margin of sampling error of +/-2% (for a sample of 2,400) or +/-3% (for a sample of 1,200) at a 95% confidence level.

Click here for full Afrobarometer report: Afrobarometer on Extremism.pdf

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