As an African nation experiencing the phenomenon of urbanization in expanded scale and in prominent pervasiveness, Nigeria is generally perceived as a newly-emerged modern state, which is characterized by rapid industrialization and extensive urbanization (Jiboye,2011).In particular, the term “State” is defined as the politically organized people of a particular land(Antai& Moradi, 2010). When it comes to the cohesion and stability of modernized state, it refers to the condition of a system which is the condition of Nigeria as a whole. In this essay, the threats on the cohesion and stability of Nigeria induced by industrialization and urbanization are assessed in threefold: health threats, criminal threat and threat regarding food insecurity. The aforementioned threats to be analyzed are intertwined with the concept of urbanization and industrialization and the repercussions of food insecurity and the physical health threat in urbanized cities are interrelated with the criminal threat, which could be accounted by mental illness(Antai& Moradi, 2010). With this introductory overview, the essay proceeds to outline the modern situation of urbanization and industrialization in Nigeria with definitions conceptualized. The following part is an evaluation of the health threats comprised of two section, in which the overcrowding issue is explored and illustrative case study focusing on health surveillance in Niger Delta is examined. The next part dwells on the positive correlation between crime rate and urbanization. In the final part, the risk of imperative food insecurity and its negative impact on political stability are analyzed.

Industrialization and Urbanization in Nigeria

The term ‘industrialization’ is used to describe the process in which a society transforms itself from a primarily agricultural society into an industrial one characterized by of the use of technological innovation in the production process (Amakom, 2008). In Nigeria, petroleum oil industry and manufacturing industry including leather and textiles play vital roles in industrialization (Jiboye,2011). Stemming from the growth in trade and manufactures, centralized sites of production and a stable network of communications and transport were required in a bid to minimize cost of production and maximize efficiency in production (Amakom, 2008). Thus, the demand for labour in the industrial areas was driven up and multiplied. When workers migrated to manufacturing hubs in cities to search jobs in industrial domain, the influx of labors conduces to a vast increase in urbanization which is defined as the growth of population in cities and towns relative to rural areas(Antai& Moradi, 2010). Thus, compared with other sub-Saharan African countries, Nigeria has more large urbanized cities and the highest urban population in total.

Health Threat

To commence with, industrialization and urbanization have posed health threat to the modern state. Data from Nigeria unveils that direct and indirect influence of urbanization and industrialization on health conditions could be observed. For the direct influence of urbanization, it is of essence to address the incidence of overcrowding and the accompanying health hazards(Antai& Moradi, 2010). Reports indicated that migration has accounted for almost two-thirds of urban growth, which is particularly prominent in some of the rapid developing cities in Nigeria like Lagos and Minna(Antai& Moradi, 2010). The population boom, which is a patent phenomenon of urbanization, in urban cities probably results in housing shortage. Thus, a myriad of workers could either live in some indecent accommodation such as the streets and tenements, where they have to cram themselves into tiny single rooms(Aduba,1993). In fact, alongside with Nigeria's remarkably prominent annual urban growth, which is almost 5% since the 1960s, the quality of the urban living environment has worsened in all likelihood(Amakom, 2008). To be specific, 85% of urban families reside in single unit(Antai& Moradi, 2010). Hindered by the unaffordable property prices and the low payment earned, the majority of urban citizens could only jam together in small units without kitchen to dispose the effluent waste, which does pose a severe threat to the health of Nigerians. Worse still, 55% of urban residents deposit their refuse or garbage in unauthorized places and only 14% of the urban households have toilet with flush(Antai& Moradi, 2010). Consequently, overcrowding issue has posed threat on the outbreak of rampant disease in Nigeria. As a matter of fact, Malaria, which is a disease caused by plasmodium species and transmitted by mosquito bites, is indeed a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in Nigeria(Antai& Moradi, 2010). Ironically, preventive measures like precluding bites and eradicating mosquitoes can be handily done by keeping a hygienic environment, clear drainages and gutters in most developed countries where urbanization is also prevalent. Notwithstanding that, this seemingly effective way to get rid of malaria has reminded hard to Nigeria and thus could not be extensively applied (Jiboye,2011). The difference lies between well-developed countries and Nigeria is whether the urbanization has been planned thoroughly. Indeed, urbanization in the initial stage of most, if not all, countries leads to considerable challenges(Antai& Moradi, 2010). Yet, upon evaluating the practical obstacles, the threat is likely to be addressed by the corresponding country like Nigeria, which is currently launching community health program in a bid to combat with the public health crisis (Jiboye,2011).

As for the indirect health threat posed on the stability of the state, environmental degradation has been aggravated as a result of industrialization. The foreign direct investment(FDI) of multinational companies, which are generally defined as incorporated enterprises comprising a parent company and its foreign affiliates, has accelerated the pace of natural resources extraction in Nigeria(Antai& Moradi, 2010). As the FDI entry is predominantly in the natural resource sector by the major investors from China and European nations for exports, the accelerated natural resources extraction could jeopardize the nature in terms of soil erosion and pollution of scarce reservoirs for agricultural application(Antai& Moradi, 2010). More importantly, in the era of industrialization, pollution from industrial effluent remains prominent in Nigerian cities. In Nigeria, the business of multinational companies have operated in an array of pollution-intensive manufacturing industries whose production process may harm the environment(Nduka, 2011).

A case study on the health threat and thereby the differential health surveillance in Niger Delta is discussed to evaluate the impact on the livelihood of affected residents and thus the cohesion of the state. Ogoniland located in the Niger Delta region of south-eastern Nigeria is an area inhabited by approximately 500,000 Ogoni people. For people in the region, environmental quality and sustainable development are fundamental to their daily wellbeing. Report revealed over 60 per cent Ogoni people rely on the natural environment for their living(Nduka, 2011). In particular, the resource reserve, which enables them to do farming, fishing, is likely to be their major, if not sole, source of food. Yet, once Shell, which carrys out its oil exploitation in Nigeria under the name of “Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria”, started to extract petroleum from the Niger Delta in 1958, the prolonged petroleum extraction has given rise to a mountain of pollution issues including the devastation of water and the deterioration of air quality (Varma, 2013). What makes matter worse is the ‘blowout,’ which refers to uncontrolled release of oil from wells. Not only do the volumes of petroleum severely aggravate the water pollution, numerous oil spills due to inappropriate maintenance also pollute the delta under loose monitor of the state (Varma, 2013). Therefore, multitudes of the people of the Niger Delta do not have adequate and justified access to clean water and the accompanying health-care.

In fact, another focus of the case study is that the level of health surveillance in the local level and the state level over this issue turned out to be seemingly differential. In local level, ever since the pollution concern was noticed in the Niger Delta, responses from various local communities were seemingly vigorous. In 2006, a team of Nigerian and international environmental experts carried out local health surveillance to investigate the damage from oil operations and concluded that the Niger Delta is "one of the world's most severely petroleum-impacted ecosystems" and "The damage from oil operations is chronic and cumulative and compromised the livelihoods and health of the region's impoverished residents." (as cited in Varma, 2013) Thereafter, advocation to put a pause in the petroleum extraction gained momentum and radical demonstrations had been conducted by local residents.

On the other hand, proven that the health threat is enormous, the Nigerian government seems unlikely and unwillingly to strengthen its environmental laws to a stricter level as those enacted by developed countries. It is generally believed that a concern regarding that strict environmental regulations would discourage Multinational companies from locating their operations in Nigeria limits the government’s extent of surveillance and enacting relevant regulatory measures (Antony, 2000). In addition, the establishment of environmental controls seems to jeopardize the domestic economy. Indeed, since most domestic companies lack the advanced pollution control technologies required to satisfy the strengthened controls, the local production could be adversely affected (Antony, 2000). Thus, as Nigerian government outweigh economic development in the broad sense over the environmental quality and the health threat posed by the environmental-unfriendly industrialization. The difference in the level of surveillance and response could be accounted by the distinctive priority of health threat to the two parties, in which the locals values the health hazards most whereas the government concerns the overall economic development (Antai& Moradi, 2010). Thus, a flaw in the cohesion of the state could be resulted.