1. Describe the ways in which unemployment constitutes a social problem in Nigeria.
2. a) What is collective behavior?
b) Discuss any three types of collective behavior.
3. a) Using appropriate examples, explain the characteristics of rural societies.
b) Identify the setbacks to rural transformation in Nigeria.
4. Discuss the functions of government as a universal institution in the society.
Full Answers
# QUESTION 1 — Ways Unemployment Constitutes a Social Problem in Nigeria
**Introduction:**
Unemployment is a condition in which individuals who are willing, able, and actively seeking work are unable to find gainful employment. In Nigeria, unemployment has reached alarming levels, particularly among youth, and constitutes one of the most severe social problems facing the nation. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, Nigeria's unemployment rate has consistently remained among the highest in Africa.
**1. Poverty and Economic Hardship:**
Unemployment is the most direct cause of poverty in Nigeria. When individuals cannot earn income, they cannot meet basic needs — food, shelter, clothing, healthcare, and education. Unemployed households fall into cycles of deprivation that are extremely difficult to escape. Nigeria's high rate of unemployment directly correlates with its position as one of the countries with the highest number of people living in extreme poverty globally. Unemployment thus perpetuates intergenerational poverty, as children of unemployed parents are denied educational and developmental opportunities.
**2. Rising Crime Rate and Insecurity:**
One of the most visible social consequences of unemployment in Nigeria is the dramatic rise in criminal activity. Young people who cannot find legitimate employment are vulnerable to recruitment into criminal enterprises — armed robbery, kidnapping for ransom, cybercrime (Yahoo Yahoo), drug trafficking, and violent crime. The saying "an idle mind is the devil's workshop" has profound social relevance in Nigeria. The Boko Haram insurgency in the Northeast, banditry in the Northwest, and cult violence in the South have all been linked, in part, to the large pool of unemployed, desperate young men who can be recruited with the promise of money and belonging.
**3. Rural-Urban Migration and Urban Overcrowding:**
Unemployment in rural areas drives massive migration to urban centers — Lagos, Abuja, Kano, Port Harcourt — as people seek economic opportunities. This creates severe urban overcrowding, straining infrastructure, housing, water supply, and sanitation systems beyond their capacity. Urban slums expand — Makoko in Lagos being a prominent example — creating conditions of squalor, disease, and social disorganization. Ironically, migrants often find unemployment waiting for them in the cities as well, compounding their problems.
**4. Social Frustration, Mental Health Problems, and Substance Abuse:**
Prolonged unemployment causes profound psychological damage — depression, anxiety, loss of self-worth, hopelessness, and social withdrawal. In Nigeria, where a man's identity and social status are strongly tied to his ability to provide for himself and his family, unemployment carries enormous social stigma. This psychological burden frequently leads to substance abuse — alcohol, cannabis, tramadol, and other drugs — as people seek escape from their frustration and shame. Substance abuse further incapacitates individuals, deepening the cycle of unemployment and social dysfunction.
**5. Family Breakdown and Domestic Violence:**
Unemployment creates severe stress within families. Financial pressure leads to conflict between spouses, breakdown of marriages, and abandonment of children. Men who cannot provide for their families experience loss of authority and dignity, which can manifest as domestic violence — displaced aggression against partners and children. Children in unemployment-stricken households are more likely to drop out of school, engage in child labor, or become vulnerable to exploitation and trafficking.
**6. Political Instability and Social Unrest:**
Large numbers of unemployed, frustrated young people constitute a volatile social force. In Nigeria, unemployed youth have been mobilized as political thugs during elections, as foot soldiers for ethnic militias, and as participants in social protests that sometimes turn violent. The #EndSARS protests of 2020 were partly fueled by the frustration of unemployed youth who felt they had no future and faced daily harassment by security forces. Unemployment thus threatens democratic stability and national security.
**7. Brain Drain:**
Educated and skilled Nigerians who cannot find meaningful employment at home emigrate to other countries — the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, and Europe — in search of opportunities. This "Japa syndrome" (as it is popularly called in Nigeria) represents a massive loss of human capital that Nigeria urgently needs for its development. The healthcare sector has been particularly devastated, with thousands of Nigerian doctors, nurses, and other health professionals leaving the country annually.
**8. Dependency and Strain on Social Welfare:**
Unemployment increases the number of people dependent on others — family members, community networks, and the state. In Nigeria, where social welfare systems are extremely weak, the burden falls primarily on extended family networks, creating enormous strain on those who are employed. The culture of financial dependency bred by unemployment undermines individual initiative and entrepreneurship.
**Conclusion:**
Unemployment in Nigeria is not merely an economic statistic — it is a social catastrophe with cascading consequences across every dimension of national life. Addressing it requires urgent, sustained action: investment in education and vocational training, support for small and medium enterprises, agricultural development, industrialization, and governance reforms that create an enabling environment for job creation.
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# QUESTION 2
## (a) What is Collective Behavior?
Collective behavior refers to the relatively spontaneous, unstructured, and often temporary social action of a large number of people who respond to a common stimulus, situation, or event outside the framework of normal institutionalized social behavior. Unlike organized group behavior governed by established norms, roles, and rules, collective behavior emerges in situations where normal social structures and guidelines are unclear, absent, or inadequate. It is characterized by emotional intensity, suggestibility, and a temporary sense of shared identity and purpose. The concept was developed by sociologists including **Herbert Blumer** and **Neil Smelser**.
## (b) Three Types of Collective Behavior
**1. Crowds:**
A crowd is a temporary gathering of a large number of people who share a common focus of attention and influence one another's behavior. Sociologist Herbert Blumer identified several types of crowds:
- **Casual crowds** are loosely formed, temporary gatherings with minimal interaction — people watching a street performer.
- **Conventional crowds** gather for a specific, planned purpose — a church service or football match — governed by established norms.
- **Expressive crowds** gather primarily for emotional expression — religious revivals, concerts, or celebrations.
- **Acting crowds** are highly emotionally charged and action-oriented, capable of becoming mobs. A **mob** is an emotionally aroused crowd focused on a specific target — a lynching mob or a riot crowd.
In Nigeria, acting crowds have been witnessed during ethnic conflicts, religious riots (as in Kaduna and Plateau states), and political demonstrations that turned violent. The dynamics of crowd behavior — anonymity, contagion, and suggestibility — can transform ordinarily law-abiding individuals into participants in extreme collective violence.
**2. Rumors, Panics, and Mass Hysteria:**
These are forms of collective behavior that spread through populations without direct physical gathering.
- A **rumor** is unverified information transmitted rapidly through a social network, often in situations of uncertainty and anxiety. In Nigeria, rumors have triggered communal violence — false reports of attacks on one ethnic or religious group have repeatedly sparked retaliatory violence.
- A **panic** is a collective flight from a perceived threat, characterized by extreme fear and loss of rational judgment. Stampedes at crowded events — such as those that have occurred at Nigerian churches during vigils — are examples of collective panic.
- **Mass hysteria** involves the rapid spread of emotional disturbance through a community — unexplained illness, supernatural fears, or collective delusions spreading through a school or community.
**3. Social Movements:**
A social movement is a more organized, sustained, and purposeful form of collective behavior in which a large number of people work together to bring about or resist social change. Social movements are more structured than crowds or panics — they develop organizations, ideologies, leadership, and strategies.
Types include:
- **Reform movements** — seek to change specific aspects of society within the existing system (e.g., civil rights movements, anti-corruption movements).
- **Revolutionary movements** — seek fundamental transformation of the entire social order (e.g., the Bolshevik Revolution).
- **Resistance movements** — seek to prevent or reverse social change (e.g., conservative religious movements resisting secularization).
In Nigeria, notable social movements include the pro-democracy movements of the 1990s against military rule, the Niger Delta environmental and resource control movement, and the feminist and gender equality movements. The #EndSARS movement of 2020 began as a social media-driven collective behavior and rapidly evolved into a nationwide social movement demanding police reform.
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# QUESTION 3
## (a) Characteristics of Rural Societies (With Examples)
A rural society is a community characterized by low population density, agricultural economic activity, strong traditional values, and close-knit social relationships. Using Nigerian rural communities as examples:
**1. Low Population Density:**
Rural societies have sparse populations spread over large geographical areas. Villages in Kebbi State, for instance, may have populations of a few hundred to a few thousand people spread across vast farmlands. This contrasts sharply with the density of cities like Lagos (over 20,000 people per square kilometer). Low population density means less competition for resources but also less access to social services.
**2. Agricultural Economy:**
The primary occupation in rural Nigerian communities is subsistence and small-scale commercial agriculture. In Benue State — the "food basket of the nation" — rural communities are organized around the cultivation of yam, sorghum, and rice. Economic life follows seasonal agricultural cycles — planting and harvesting seasons determine the rhythm of social life, festivals, marriages, and community gatherings.
**3. Homogeneity of Population:**
Rural societies tend to be socially, culturally, and ethnically homogeneous. A rural Yoruba community in Oyo State is likely to share a common language, religion, cultural practices, and worldview. This homogeneity fosters strong social cohesion and shared identity but can also breed insularity and resistance to outsiders.
**4. Strong Primary Relationships and Community Solidarity:**
Rural societies are characterized by deep, personal, face-to-face relationships — what Ferdinand Tönnies called *Gemeinschaft* (community). In rural Igbo communities, extended family networks (*umunna*) provide economic support, social welfare, conflict resolution, and emotional belonging. People know their neighbors intimately; social life is collective rather than individualistic.
**5. Dominance of Traditional Values and Customs:**
Rural Nigerian communities are governed by strong traditional norms, values, and institutions. Village elders, traditional rulers, and religious leaders hold significant authority. Customary law governs marriage, inheritance, and land ownership. Traditional festivals — like the Argungu Fishing Festival in Kebbi or the New Yam Festival among the Igbo — are central to community identity and social cohesion.
**6. Limited Access to Social Services and Infrastructure:**
Rural communities in Nigeria typically lack adequate schools, hospitals, electricity, pipe-borne water, and good roads. A village in rural Zamfara or Taraba may have no secondary school within reasonable distance, forcing children either to abandon education or travel far from home. This infrastructural deficit is both a characteristic and a challenge of rural life.
**7. Low Social Mobility:**
Rural societies offer limited opportunities for individuals to change their social status. Occupations are often inherited — farmers' children become farmers — and social positions (chiefs, elders, priests) are largely ascribed rather than achieved. Mobility tends to occur when individuals migrate to urban areas.
## (b) Setbacks to Rural Transformation in Nigeria
Rural transformation refers to the process of developing rural areas — modernizing agriculture, improving infrastructure, diversifying economic activities, and improving living standards — so that rural communities can participate fully in national development.
**1. Poor Infrastructure:**
The lack of good roads, electricity, clean water, and telecommunications in rural Nigeria is perhaps the greatest obstacle to transformation. Without roads, farmers cannot transport produce to markets; without electricity, agro-processing industries cannot operate; without internet connectivity, rural communities are excluded from the digital economy. The infrastructure deficit makes investment in rural areas unattractive to private capital.
**2. Neglect by Government and Poor Funding:**
Despite Nigeria's agricultural potential, rural areas have been chronically neglected by successive governments that prioritized urban development and oil revenues. Agricultural budgets have been consistently underfunded, extension services have collapsed, and rural development programs have been plagued by corruption and mismanagement. Government funds meant for rural transformation are frequently diverted by corrupt officials.
**3. Rural-Urban Migration (Brain Drain):**
The migration of young, educated, and ambitious people from rural to urban areas deprives rural communities of the human capital needed for transformation. When the most productive members of rural society leave — seeking education, employment, and better living standards in cities — communities are left with aging populations unable to drive dynamic change.
**4. Insecurity and Conflict:**
Farmer-herder conflicts — particularly violent in Benue, Plateau, Nasarawa, and Zamfara states — have devastated rural agricultural communities, displacing millions of farmers, destroying crops and property, and creating an environment of fear that discourages investment. Banditry in Northwestern Nigeria has emptied entire villages. Without security, rural transformation is impossible.
**5. Low Level of Education and Illiteracy:**
High rates of illiteracy in rural Nigeria limit farmers' ability to adopt modern agricultural techniques, access credit, use agricultural extension services, or participate in cooperative organizations. Without education, rural communities cannot effectively advocate for their interests or take advantage of development opportunities.
**6. Land Tenure Problems:**
Nigeria's land tenure system — governed by the Land Use Act of 1978 — vests all land in state governors, creating difficulties for rural farmers who cannot use land as collateral for bank loans. Customary land tenure systems also create fragmentation of landholdings across generations, making large-scale, mechanized farming economically unviable for most rural households.
**7. Climate Change and Environmental Degradation:**
Desertification in Northern Nigeria, erosion in the Southeast, and flooding across the Niger Delta and Middle Belt are increasingly devastating rural agricultural communities. Climate change threatens food security, disrupts agricultural calendars, and forces communities to abandon ancestral lands.
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# QUESTION 4 — Functions of Government as a Universal Institution in Society
**Introduction:**
Government is a universal social institution — found in every known human society, from the smallest tribe to the largest nation-state. It is the organized system through which a society exercises collective authority, makes binding decisions, and manages public affairs. While governments differ enormously in their forms — monarchy, democracy, theocracy, military rule — their fundamental functions are universal.
**1. Maintenance of Law and Order:**
The most fundamental function of government is to maintain peace, security, and social order within its territory. Through the legal system (legislation, courts, and law enforcement — police, military), government establishes rules of conduct, punishes violations, and protects citizens from internal and external threats. Without this function, society would descend into the "state of nature" described by Thomas Hobbes — a condition of perpetual conflict where life is "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short." In Nigeria, this function is exercised through the Nigerian Police Force, the Armed Forces, the judiciary, and the correctional services.
**2. Protection of Citizens and National Defense:**
Government is responsible for protecting its citizens from external aggression and internal threats. Every government maintains armed forces to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity. In Nigeria, the military has been deployed not only against external threats but against internal insurgencies — Boko Haram in the Northeast, banditry in the Northwest, and separatist agitation in the Southeast. National defense is an exclusively governmental function that no private institution can perform.
**3. Provision of Public Goods and Services:**
Governments provide essential services that the private market cannot efficiently supply — roads, bridges, public schools, hospitals, water supply, electricity, and sanitation. These "public goods" are characterized by non-exclusivity and non-rivalry — once provided, they benefit all members of society. In Nigeria, the federal, state, and local governments are constitutionally responsible for providing these services, though their performance has been consistently inadequate.
**4. Economic Regulation and Development:**
Government regulates economic activity to prevent monopoly, protect consumers, ensure fair competition, and promote national development. In Nigeria, agencies like the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), and the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) regulate various sectors of the economy. Government also plays a direct role in economic development through fiscal policy (taxation and public expenditure), monetary policy, and investment in infrastructure.
**5. Social Welfare and Redistribution:**
Government manages social welfare programs to protect vulnerable members of society — the poor, elderly, disabled, unemployed, and sick. Through taxation of the wealthy and transfer payments to the needy, government redistributes resources to reduce extreme inequality. In Nigeria, the National Social Investment Programme (NSIP), the Conditional Cash Transfer scheme, and state social welfare programs represent efforts to fulfill this function. A government that ignores this function risks social instability and legitimacy crises.
**6. Conflict Resolution and Administration of Justice:**
Government provides peaceful, legitimate mechanisms for resolving disputes between citizens, between citizens and the state, and between institutions. The court system — from magistrate courts to the Supreme Court — adjudicates conflicts and ensures justice. Without formal mechanisms of conflict resolution, disputes would be settled through private violence and vengeance. The rule of law — the principle that all are subject to the law equally — is the foundation of governmental justice.
**7. Socialization and Education:**
Government shapes national identity and civic values through the education system, national symbols, public ceremonies, and media regulation. Public schools teach not only academic subjects but also civic values — patriotism, respect for law, democratic participation, and national history. In Nigeria, the National Orientation Agency (NOA) and the curricula of public schools serve this socialization function. Government also regulates the media to prevent the spread of harmful content while (ideally) promoting freedom of expression.
**8. Diplomatic Relations and International Representation:**
Government represents the nation in international affairs — negotiating treaties, entering alliances, participating in international organizations, and managing relations with other states. Nigeria's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, its embassies, and its participation in the United Nations, African Union, and ECOWAS fulfill this function. No private institution can legitimately represent a nation internationally — this is an exclusively governmental role.
**9. Environmental Protection:**
Modern governments are increasingly responsible for protecting the natural environment — regulating pollution, managing natural resources, and addressing climate change. In Nigeria, the Federal Ministry of Environment and agencies like the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) fulfill this function, though enforcement remains a major challenge, particularly in the oil-polluted Niger Delta.
**Conclusion:**
Government as a universal institution reflects the fundamental human need for organized collective life — for security, justice, welfare, and development. Its effectiveness determines the quality of life of its citizens. A government that performs its functions well creates the conditions for human flourishing; one that fails in these functions — through corruption, incompetence, or authoritarianism — condemns its people to poverty, insecurity, and underdevelopment. For Nigeria, strengthening governmental institutions and accountability remains the central challenge of national development.