Social protests and government responsiveness in Nigeria: a study on Bring Back Our Girls Movement

Abstract

Socio-political movements in any country seek to ensure what they perceive to be equity in governance, accountability of government personnel and prevent issues that could lead to injustice and violence if left unattended. Socio-political movements exist worldwide and, thus, are not peculiar to developing countries. They are excellent tools for expressing democratic nature of a given society and a tool for contestation against undemocratic governments. This paper analyses the actions and reactions of the Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) socio-political movement in Nigeria. The research question is to what extent has the movement been able to achieve accountability from the government in the quest of restoring the missing Chibok girls? The relative deprivation theoretical framework and political settlement analysis are employed to show the impact of the group reactions on the actions of the government. The analysis domiciles on the government of Nigeria. The paper concludes that democratic growth and development are sustained whenever citizens are able to approach the government by means of social movements and peaceful contestation