The Nigerian internal security policy : an assessment of the human security threats to Nigeria in the post – military era (2006 – 2021)
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Date
2022
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Abstract
The Nigerian internal security policy is designed to deter all forms of real or perceived
physical and human security threats to the people’s lives, property, interest and personal
welfare. Since the post-military era, measures put in place to actualize this objective
seems not to have yielded much needed outcomes. To understand this reality, this study
examines the sources of internal security threat to Nigeria that are endemic across the
country’s six geo-political zones. The study critically appraises the ideas, opinions and
belief of the various public policy makers and stakeholders across academia, and civil
society who form the study population, on the key threat to human security and the
measures to address it The human security and securitization theories were the main
ideas of human security that were advanced to elucidate the country’s human security
issues.
The study adopted a mixed method research approach where quantitative and qualitative
information was sought. A sample of 95 participants was drawn from the identified strata
within the study population in the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), while secondary
data sources were also explored. The main sources of primary data collection were survey
instruments (questionnaires) that engaged 60 participants, and in-depth interviews were
conducted among 10 out of 35 participants due to the Covid-19 challenges.
The study found that the present situation of human insecurity in Nigeria is abysmal,
alarming, and scary, expressed in the high rate of crime, widespread of poverty, high rate
of unemployment, economic inequality, and corruption. The study identified human
displacement, human insecurity, lack of access to basic health, recurrent flood disaster
and desperation for wealth as the major socio-economic consequences of human
insecurity in Nigeria.
The study recommends the decentralization of Nigerian internal security architecture,
rehabilitation of victims of crime, legislation for education rights, and the formation of
youth empowerment programs. In addition to effective economic development policy, the right to self-determination, de-emphasizing ethnic and religious sentiment and adherence
to democratic principles and the rule of law, as part of measures to mitigate Nigerian
internal human security.
The study concludes that so long as the Nigerian authorities continue to prioritize physical
security and infrastructure development over human security, welfare and wellbeing, the
threat of human insecurity will remain unabated.
Description
Doctoral Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg.