Ungoverned Spaces and Alternative Sovereignties in Nigeria: Terror Groups, National Security and Sustainable Development

Nigeria is currently battling with threats that are potent enough to undermine its existence as a sovereign polity. These terrors are coming mostly from groups occupying and controlling diverse ungoverned spaces that littered the country’s landscape. From Boko Haram insurgents, Bandits, herdsmen to ethnic militias; these groups are becoming laws unto themselves and creating spheres of influence and jurisdictions due to government and state apparatus absence. This article examines the conditions that created ungoverned spaces, the activities of diverse groups inhabiting them and the implications on national security and sustainable development. The article adopts qualitative method and relies on secondary data sourced from newspapers, government documents, internet resources and extant scholarly works. The article findings reveal that achievement of the sustainable development goals 1-No Poverty, 2-Zero Hunger, 3-Good Health and Well-being, 4-Quality Education, 6-Clean Water and Sanitation, 8-The interrelatedness of the Sustainable Development Goals and 16-Peace, Justice and Strong Institution are seriously hindered as far as the atmosphere and conditions for peaceful co-existence becomes elusive as various groups continue to contest sovereignty with the Nigerian state. Conclusively therefore, it is recommended that a sustainable national security strategy to ensure peace and reduce

through government presence in the various ungoverned spaces must be pursued.

CONCEPTUAL CLARIFICATIONS
In a bid to understand the concept "Ungoverned Spaces or territories" there is need to first understand what "Ungovernability" imply. According to Rabasa, Steven, Peter, Kim, Theodore, Jennifer, Kevin, and John (2007), Ungovernabilty connotes the inability, unwillingness and the ineffectiveness of the state to perform its functions within a particular territory. In contrast, Governability means the ability, willingness and effectiveness of the State to perform its function over a given territory.
Ungoverned spaces, therefore, connotes both the nonexistence of effective state sovereignty and governmental control in both physical and non-physical geographical territory (Raleigh & Dowd, 2013). This implies that in such territories, the state is entirely non-physical; and such nonexistence results to ineffective governance and can lead to the rise of conflict and other forms of insecurities. Rabasa, Steven, Peter, Kim, Theodore, Jennifer, Kevin, and John (2007), in their own point of view sees ungoverned territory as places in which a state or government encounters prominent challenges in establishing control, in which the national government's authority does not reach these areas thereby serving as a breeding ground for terrorism, insecurities and conflict. Risse (2011), further emphasised that ungoverned areas or restricted statehood are territories in a country in which the national authority (governments) have no ability to enforce laws and decisions or in which the legal power over the means of violence is absent. Clunan and Trinkunas (2010)  These countries are witnessing various forms of insecurities as a result of the inability or unwillingness of the governments to perform certain functions and the breakdown or the absence of state power. These forms of insecurities are numerous such as banditry, civil war, terrorist activities, humanitarian issues, arms and drug, smuggling, piracy, and refugee flows among others which threatens national security and regional stability of the affected country.
The term "Ungoverned Spaces" according to Clunan and Trinkunas (2010), originate from the state-centered operationalisation originated by many governments and international organisations after the cold war of politically disordered territories in which state supply of effective governance had collapse. Ungoverned territories take place not only on poorly controlled land territories but also maritime borders which can also extend to airspace that the countries affected are unable to control. Ungoverned territories can be failed or failing nations, or states that are not able to effectively exercise sovereignty and can be seen along a continuum of state control in which healthy States when they loose control of some geographic or functional areas within their territories become ungoverned territories.
For instance, a state that otherwise functions effectively could be infected with a high level of illegal immigration across less controlled or porous borders which can lead to smuggling of small armed weapons and the presence of criminals. Inclusively, ungoverned territories can manifest as a result of weak states in which the organisations, most especially the security agencies of the national government are incapacitated that they cannot maintain authority or political law beyond the major cities. In other words, governmental security is seen as liberty from insecurity or absence of threats to multi-dimensional factors that may affect the nation's ability to safeguard and promote itself, promote its cherished values and national interests, as much as develop and foster the well-being of its people (Onuoha, 2008). It is the above context of national security that is relevant to this article as it promotes the achievement of the stated sustainable development goals.
Sustainable Development is seen as a call for the integration of economic growth, social development, security and environmental management as interdependent pillars for long-term growth and development (Bobadoye, 2015 Education and Clean Water and Sanitation, in a war-like or conflict situations, it will be near impossible to achieve all the aforementioned goals because of lack of access and/or reduced access to these basic facilities and the inability of service providers to access the people. A country can be said to attain development when it achieves the basic needs of the citizenry. This is buttressed by Todaro and Smith, (2006) ;Burkey, (1993) ;Edwards, (1993); the United Nations since 1970s and the World Bank in the 1990s where each emphasised on the distinct aspects of human needs ranging from the social, economic, political and human development, and this development must be sustainable to cater for future generations. attack, as well as providing public goods and services beyond security to their population. The concept implies a world of independent territorial entities and internationally recognised governed states in the International System (Clunan & Trinkunas, 2010). This connotes the nonintervention of external forces in the internal affairs or territories of a state. In recent times, sovereign states have failed, become inadequate, incompetent in their duties and undermined the physical security of the citizenry. In recent times, due to incessant occurrences of armed conflict, terrorist activities among others have led to the collapse of state authority in some parts of the affected state thereby leading to the existence of alternative sovereignties (Krasner, 2004).

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
The existence of alternative sovereignties within a state due to ineffective governance has challenged the traditional notion of state sovereignty and state impermeability. Clunan and Trinkunas (2010) and Risse (2011) The existence of alternative sovereignties often bred large scale insecurities in states. There are diverse forms of armed challenges to a state's control of its territory, which are terrorism, insurgency, and banditry among others. The two major ones are terrorism and insurgency; and terrorism remains the most influential threat to peace and security across nations of the world. Terrorism means the use of terror-by-terror groups and other certain groups in attaining specific goals. Terrorism as a result of ungoverned spaces/territories has persisted in many African countries due to the collapse of state authority which are conducive for their growth and also to mount devastating attacks.
Insurgency is defined by the Department of Defense as "an organized movement with the goal to overthrow a constituted government with the use of subversion and armed conflict." Insurgents do use terror as a method, but they generally conduct military operations against government formations and seek to seize and hold territory and create "liberated zones," where they establish a "counter-state." Unlike terrorists, who in most cases are isolated from the mass of the population, insurgents sometimes have substantial popular support and achievable aims. Therefore, political solutions in some cases can bring an end to insurgencies. Terrorists, on the other hand, operate in little clandestine cells, lack mass support, sometimes have millenarian, unachievable goals, and attack majorly noncombatants. Their methods, in many cases, alienate the population and result in the ultimate defeat of the terrorist movement. The occurrence and implications of their activities on African growth is intense (Rabasa, Steven, Peter, Kim, Theodore, Jennifer, Kevin, & John, 2007).

B. Indicators of Governability and Ungoverned Territory:
An overview Rabasa, Steven, Peter, Kim, Theodore, Jennifer, Kevin, and John (2007)   In explaining the dimension of conduciveness, not all ungoverned spaces are favourable to the presence or growth of terrorist organisations and insurgent groups.

C. Ungoverned Territories and Alternative Sovereignties and the Nigeria Experience
Conduciveness is the extent to which these areas lend themselves to exploitation by terrorist or insurgent groups. Conduciveness is measured by the following four variables: (1) adequacy of infrastructural amenities and operational access, (2) availability of sources of income, (3) favorable demographics, and (4) invisibility.
Favourable demographics can be measured in the presence of extremist groups or communities vulnerable to co-option or violence; supportive social norms among the population; a pre-existing state of violence that could be engineered to fit with extremist agendas; informal social assistance programs or networks open to exploitation; and the presence of criminal syndicates available for hire.
Conduciveness therefore means the extent to which these territories lend themselves to exploitation by terrorist or insurgent groups.
Another attribute that gives rise to terrorist presence is a favourable demographic and social condition. This condition comprises of extremist groups, supportive social norms among the population, a pre-existing state of conflict, the presence of informal social networks that can be exploited by terrorists, and the presence of criminal syndicates that can stand as contractors to terrorist groups.
Another attribute is Social and cultural resistance which is closely related to demographic and social condition, which indicate the lack of state security penetration in these areas.
Another attribute is an absence of border control or porous borders, this suggests that border control is a key indicator in explaining ungoverned territories and may be a strategic factor in managing them. Robert (2009)  Haram has been using it as safe haven where they train, recuperate, and spring to carry out attacks and then retreat back. Also, on the eastern border with Cameroon, there are the Mandara Mountains, which are also considered hard-toreach areas. More broadly, the federal government of Nigeria is encountering structural problems including "lack of coordination and cooperation between security agencies; corruption; misallocation of resources; limited requisite databases; the slow pace of the judicial system; and lack of sufficient training for prosecutors and judges to implement anti-terrorism laws (Abasa, 2015). The Boko Haram insurgency is seen as a symptom of state fragility. There is no doubt that continuous struggle for the total eradication of this sect has sapped the Government capacity towards ensuring a better life for its citizen especially those in the According to Okoli and Okpaleke (2014)

D. From Ungoverned Space to Good Governance-Proffering some Solutions
This study recommends strengthening governance which is critical to emphasize security cooperation and military aid in dealing with the security issues of ungoverned territories in the North-eastern region.
Inclusively, domestic and international interventions through bilateral, regional, and multilateral mechanisms both national and sub-regional level.

DECLARATION OF CONFLICTING INTERESTS
The Author declares that there is no potential conflict of interest in the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.