

























INTRODUCTION AND PROBLEM 
As earlier pointed out in my book entitled, The Idea of 

Spirit in African Philosophy, “the life experiences of African 
people are multidimensional and multifaceted, revealing and 
manifesting the nature of reality to African people in their 
own peculiar way. While many experiences are readily 
comprehensible some others may seem inexplicable, 

1particularly to non  Africans.”  In the book, we paid particular 
attention to one of those seemingly inexplicable experiences 
of spirits and world of spirits in African Philosophy. We shall 
endeavor in this paper to focus on one of those apparent and 
controvertible problems of our time that bothers on human 
and national security challenges that has caught the attention 
of all concerned citizens of the world today. And as one whose 
area of special interest, is integral development of the human 
person, and knowing fully well that there cannot be 
meaningful development without security, one cannot close 
his eyes and ears to the national quest for immediate remedies 
to our security quagmire.

153

NIGERIA'S NATIONAL AND HUMAN 

SECURITY PROBLEMATIC AS A 

CRISIS OF VALUES: 

A PHILOSOPHICAL REFLECTION

Gregory E. OGBENIKA



This paper studies in a conversational manner some 
key elements of the human and national security problem 
facing Nigeria. It seems imperative that we intensify the 
process of expanding the depth and scope of our national 
dialogues so as to stem the tide of violence, frustration, chaos, 
disunity, intolerance and needless fear that appears to have 
taken over the society. On this particular occasion we could 
have a dialogue on the reasons why Nigeria faces a serious 
problem of insecurity, violence, fear, instability, conflicts, 
inequity and social disorder. We may argue that the 
fundamental problems confronting Nigeria's nation-state 
project have not altered significantly in the past decades. The 
disorder can be summarized in the inability to tackle the basic 
problems of unity, security and social justice at the personal 
and institutional levels within the dynamics of the state. The 
security problem in Nigeria is easily seen in the inability of 
the Nigerian government and the country at large, to ensure 
the protection of its core values; its territories, infrastructure, 
officials, citizens, laws and institutions. This has ensured that 
the various governments and the state agencies have been 
unable to consistently and institutionally guarantee the 
adequate protection, peace and well being of the generality of 
the citizens. Scholars have aptly captured the essentials of the 
security challenge facing Nigeria. For instance, Philip Ujomu 
argues that the problem of security in the Nigerian nation-
state is seen in the fact that the idea of security was reduced to 
the personal security of the ruler and that of his immediate 

2supporters.  The security calculus of the Nigerian state failed 
because it was over militarized and there were conflicts of 
interest, undue competition and overlap of functions as well 
as a crisis of professionalism among the security forces. The 
Nigerian security paradigm did not securitize and include 
vital aspects of social existence in a multi-ethnic society such 
as social justice which correlates especially institutionalized 
dialogue, equity in resource distribution, anti-corruption and 
the provision of basic social amenities. The security problem 
is linked to a crisis in the system of values given that the statist 
militarist paradigm of Nigerian security gives so much room 
to the proliferation of military and militia forces and the use of 
brute physical force and psychological intimidation as a first 
choice in managing any conflict. So the statist- corporatist 

154



paradigm or value system is a combination of values such as 
fear, force, violence, corruption, insensitivity, lack of social 

3
justice and inequity as directing principles of the society.  The 
deficits in these critical areas have triggered feelings of 
neglect and abandonment by the bulk of the citizens hence 
creating alienated consciousness as a core value. 

WHAT ARE VALUES? WHY ARE VALUES IMPORTANT 
TO HUMAN EXISTENCE?

The problem of value has been well discussed in the 
domain of economics, politics and philosophy with special 
reference to ethics and aesthetics which some philosophers 
have called axiology. “Axiology is the branch of practical 

4philosophy which studies the nature of value in general.”  Put 
simply, value is a word that covers the whole gamut of aspects 
such as interest, importance, desire, choice, norms and so on. 
The issue of “the nature of value is one of the central and most 

5persistent problems of human existence.”  Value concerns the 
worth of something and the way we come to attain that worth, 
valuation is based on the decided weighted cost-benefit of the 
placement of a price or primacy on something as important, 
desirable or interesting. In either of these ways the concrete 
concern is to discover how people can live in peaceful 
cooperation, obedience to laws, and amenability to 
organization and loyalty to the state. We can understand the 
nature of values better when we realize that every society sets 
for itself “an ideal form of life or an image which it seeks to 
attain and to which it constantly refers to in the process of 

6
going through life.  More importantly, values form the basis 
of all cultural life, the foundation of all cognition and the 

7categorical structure of the human consciousness.”  To 
capture the essence of the notion of value, Perry affirms that a 
thing or anything has value when it is the object of an interest, 
which is a train of events determined by an expectation of its 

8outcome.  Singer, on his part, adds an extra dimension to the 
conceptual analysis of values when he suggests that a 
“person's values are what the person regards as or thinks 

9
important.”  The same is applicable to the society insofar as a 
society's values are what it considers important. According to 

10Ackermann.  “values must, then, be considered in intimate 
connection with what could be called the “collective interests 

155



of the very social groups that hold them.” If values are 
intended to make life meaningful and worthwhile, then it 
means that there is a need to zero in on the human person as 

11
the creator and carrier of values. According to Koch  values 
always involve some references to the human person, and 
thus are concerned with human ends. Values are understood 
in terms of features such as “human needs, instincts, powers 
to act, the natural environment, and the surrounding peoples 

12and cultures.”  As Dewey says every adult has acquired in the 
course of his experience and education certain measures of 

13
the worth of various sorts of experience.  He has learned to 
look upon qualities like honesty, amiability, perseverance, 
loyalty as moral goods. For Munker, the core values of social 
responsibility, caring for others are other dominant values 
that can make a difference in the human search for a better 

14
existential situation.  A value system is a combination of 
values that come together to form a holistic way of life. For 
instance, capitalism is a value system built around the values 
of profit, exploitation of natural and human resources, private 
ownership, use of surplus labour dividends and other 
elements.  

DEFICITS IN CORPORATE VALUES AS THREATS TO 
COLLECTIVE SECURITY IN NIGERIA

Security has to do with freedom from danger or peace 
and tranquility. Yet every human being or human system 
faces danger from real and potential events as well as threats. 
National security focuses on the classical view of protecting 
the country or state: its territory, assets, government, etc. 
Sometimes national security attempts to protect these values 
but does not succeed in protecting the population and other 
subsidiary interests hence there is a conflict because the 
actions of a government can threaten its own population or 
even the interests of neighboring states. Hence there could be 
internal or external intervention.

One important realm of the manifestation of the 
problem of national security has been the generally 
overlooked, but extremely important aspect of values. It is 
interesting to note that insecurity in Nigeria manifests in the 
form of competing values, beliefs and attitudes. Thus, central 
to the problem of national security in Nigeria has been that 

156



situation in which there existed a fundamental conflict of 
personal and social values among various interests and 
groups with regard to the proper meaning of, and the proper 
approach to national security, national integration, peace and 
stability within the polity. This conflict of values and the 
various abuses and injustices arising from it, ensured that 
there were no clearly defined and established rules for 
harmonizing the diverse interests, needs and values of the 
different groups and sectors in the society in view of 
achieving the urgent task of national development and the 
sustenance of security, peace and prosperity in the country. In 
short, the lack of shared beliefs, attitudes and values among 
the rulers and the ruled, as well as between the various 
segments of the Nigerian society ensured that conflicts 
remained endemic in the nation.

Recent comments on the pervasive insecurity and 
disorder in Nigeria are frightening. In tracking the 
fundamental, perennial levity, laxity, aversion and 
indifference of the Nigerian state to social justice and 
development we note the local contexts of the incapability 
and lack of power of the state to eradicate poverty, corruption, 
ineptness, authoritarianism, abuse of human rights, tribalistic 

15exclusiveness  dictatorship, poor public service delivery, 
unreliable courts, unreliable transport and power, inefficient 

16
education, health.   

According to the Center for constitutionalism and 
Demilitarization 2012 annual report (CENCOD ANNUAL 
REPORT) “the harsh economic policies foisted on the people 
by the ruling elites underpin the rising social violence in the 
country and were accountable for the upsurge of violence and 
violations recorded. The Boko Haram sect insurgent 
activities increased. The northern half of the country became 
a battle front with waves of suicide bombing and killing of 
innocent citizens culminating in the total collapse of 
governance and institutions of government in the affected 

17states.”  All of these constitute a threat to national survival. In 
Nigeria in the last couple of years crime and criminality have 
reached a crescendo. The combined activities of armed 
robbers, hired assassins, arsonists, political thugs and 
abductors have unleashed terror on the civil populace, 

18
making life extremely unbearable.”

157



VULNERABILITY AND MARGINALITY IN THE 
POSTCOLONIAL NIGERIAN STATE

Insecurity and disorder are simply the real 
consequences of alienated consciousness. The threats to 
national security arising thereof, indicate that Nigeria, as it 
exists, may not have fully articulated the conditions for 
establishing a truly humane and progressive society. The 
reality of a system lacking in enduring principles of trust, 
social justice and moral action, which can promote genuine 
social reconciliation, suggests that Nigeria remains a terrain 
of conflicting identities after decades of independence. The 
state remains a battleground where individuals fight for 
whatever resource or power they can capture. This situation is 
worrisome because the long period of co-existence among 
various groupings has not yielded genuine mutual respect, 
understanding and common purpose. This is a significant 
pointer to the potential continuation of insecurity in the 

19country.  
We should note that certain levels of marginality are 

now beyond the merely ethnic factor. The insecurity of the 
ordinary peoples is seen in their marginality, which makes 
them highly vulnerable to various forms of vulnerability. The 
marginal peoples include the aged and neglected pensioners, 
the handicapped persons and poor people who have no hope 
of justice, the unemployed educated and uneducated youth, 
some of the ethnic minority groups especially of the southern 
Niger Delta of Nigeria and even those ravaged by religious 
violence and terrorism in the north, among others.  The fact is 
that these peoples are usually disadvantaged, exploited and 
oppressed and their lives are associated with hardship. 
Evidence of the defeat of national consciousness is seen in the 
increasing attacks on national leaders and citizens by violent 
mobs, armed robbers and other criminals. 

GAPS IN NIGERIA'S GOOD GOVERNANCE AND 
HUMAN SECURITY POLICY AS INADEQUACIES OF 
THE STATE

The Nigerian state could not meet the social, 
economic, as well as the military conditions of national 
security. The failure of the state and security organs to 
maintain national security in the country can be seen in the 

158



inefficiency of the police force and its abysmal failure to 
maintain law and order and provide security for the citizens 
continues to create a vacuum that is being filled by auxiliary 
ethnic militia, vigilante groups and militant civil society 
vanguards. The state has employed its repressive instruments, 
especially the army and the police, in order to regulate and 
regiment the political, social and economic freedom and 
space for the other subordinate groups in the society. Gaps in 
the establishment of good governance and security reform 
mechanisms have opened the floodgates to terrorists, armed 
robbers, assassins and kidnappers, ethnic militia groups, as 
well as the invading rebel forces from neighboring countries 
to the north of Nigeria to perpetrate their acts. 

Central to the crisis of security confronting the nation 
has been the general trend towards the misconception of the 
foundations of security. This has led to difficulties. The most 
pronounced is the deterioration of the quality of human 
personal and social life in Nigeria. The reality of alienated 
consciousness and the threats to national security arising 
thereof, indicate that Nigeria, as it exists, may not have fully 
articulated the conditions for establishing a truly humane and 
progressive society. The reality of a system lacking in 
enduring principles of social justice and moral action, which 
can promote genuine social reconciliation, suggests that 
Nigeria remains a terrain of conflicting identities after 
decades of independence. The state remains a battleground 
where individuals fight for whatever resource or power they 
can capture. This situation is worrisome because the long 
period of co-existence among various groupings has not 
yielded genuine mutual respect, understanding and common 
purpose. 

SHORTFALLS IN TRUST AND TOLERANCE AND THE 
ROLE OF SOCIAL CAPITAL IN THE QUEST FOR 
SECURITY 

The lack of trust between the rulers and the ruled in 
Nigeria ensured that there was an obstruction of national 
development at all levels of social existence.  Furthermore, 
we can say that the absence or lack of operation of some core 
social values such as trust, cooperation, compassion, justice, 
tolerance, etc, among the different interests and segments in 
the society, ensured that the country achieved little or no 

159



sustainable development and that the various levels of 
national government could not effectively and responsibly 
manage the nation's resources for the overall security, peace, 
prosperity and well being of all. 

T H E  R O L E  O F  R E L I G I O N  I N  N I G E R I A ' S  
DEVELOPMENT AND THE CHALLENGE OF 
TERRORISM

At another level, religion is a powerful tool for 
fostering peace and corporate existence among the members 
of the society. But with reference to most parts of Africa, the 
influx of different religions has created the fertile grounds for 
conflicts and instability. The abuse of religion in order to 
serve ethnic or political purposes has often led to severe 
consequences for the society and its members. This point is 
more significant in a multi-religious society such as Nigeria. 
The perversion and exploitation of the religious sentiments of 
the people can eventually lead to malice, disarray and 
violence. The reality on ground is that the problems of 
religions and social tolerance facing the society have been 
worsened by the elite, often motivated by violent struggles for 
benefits, power and influence within the society. 

This situation has led to the vitiation of the Nigerian 
state in the social, political and economic realms of life. The 
mistrust and hatred emanating among groups, and the 
heightened intolerance have led to the proliferation of 
religiously conscious militia groupings that ostensibly claim 
to be social liberators. In actual fact, these militia committed 
to religious violence have opened the opportunity for 
individuals to foment tension in the society and to violate the 
vital laws necessary for the sustenance of order, peace and 
stability. This circumstance has created problems for national 
development and social reconciliation. Terrorism is more 
than anything else an attack on our sense of trust and feeling 
of confidence as human beings in ourselves and in the 
institutions that we have built to protect us and ensure our 
safety.  It is a challenge to our values and the idea of being 
human. It is an attempt to place a different price on our 
individual and collective humanity. These threats are 
struggles between the forces of order and disorder, freedom 
and tyranny, tolerance and repression, hope and fear.  They 

160



threaten not just peoples and nations but values and ideas”. 
This is a very important and sensitive issue for the survival of 
humanity and human institutions. In fact, it is the question of 
whether we are in need of a redefinition of civilization, 
security and its associated values. 

RECOMMENDATIONS;
1. We strongly suggest that schools that were taken over by 

government should as a matter of urgency, be returned 
back to their original owners so that as a nation we shall 
once again experience the revival of moral instructions 
that will help in no small measure in inculcating moral 
and religious values into our children and our future 
generations.

2. Adherents of all religions should be enlightened on the 
need for constant dialogue, and religious tolerance 
considering the multifarious nature of religion and our 
multi - ethnic society in order to promote peace, harmony 
and mutual coexistence.

3.  Different religions in Nigeria should identify a common 
ground and common values that could form the nucleus of 
religious and moral instructions at all levels of our 
education system to minimize if not eradicate the 
decadence and suspicion that is prevalent in our country 
today.

4. There should be a de-emphasis on the use of religion as an 
instrument or tool for wealth and prosperity, with a 
renewed emphasis on the values of conversion, 
repentance, reconciliation, holiness, love and salvation 
that are fundamentally parts of the major values of 
religiosity.

5. On the part of government, modern day military 
equipment and ammunitions should be procured in an 

20appropriate manner  to arrest and combat the increase 
wave of terrorism and radical extremism in our country

6. Occasional seminars and conferences should be 
organized by government at all levels and religious bodies 
to enlighten leaders of various religions and their 
followers of the need to promote their unity despite their 
diversities on doctrinal issues and faith.

7. Private individuals, corporate bodies and governmental 

161



parastatals should create employment opportunities for 
all cadres of our Labour force to avoid idleness that could 
lead to these class of people being used  for violent crimes 
like terrorism, kidnapping, armed robbery, political 
thuggery with 2015 elections close at hand.

8. Government should closely monitor the movement and 
flow of hard currency within and outside the country 
through the appropriate agencies in order to avoid money 
laundering that could lead to the misuse of such money for 
illegal purchase of arms and mercenaries to promote 
terrorism and similar crimes. 

9. We would also like to reiterate the need for axiology (the 
science concerned with the study of values) should be 
introduced into the curriculum of our senior secondary 
schools and tertiary institutions of learning.

CONCLUSION
In setting up a framework for the critical and 

discursive analysis of the national security problem in 
Nigeria, we are in need of seeking a new idea or vision of 
security that can effectively ensure the redemption and 
rectification of the Nigerian situation. Apart from the 
aforementioned recommendations, at the heart of the study of 
national security in Nigeria is the urgent and persistent search 
for the rules and patterns of action that will guarantee human 
survival and national integration in the Nigerian nation. 

This reconstructive task is more significant, owing to 
the failure of existing approaches to national security 
employed within the country. The failures of these 
approaches have led to insecurity. The real context of the 
spectral insecurity that has continually plagued the Nigerian 
state which is an indication of the urgent need for a conceptual 
and theoretical examination of the core visions and values 
embedded in the idea of national security in Nigeria. As an 
example, there is a need to determine the unique approaches 
to security such as are relevant to the needs of a particular 
country. The good society aims at its own notion of the 
common good through the provision of greater opportunities 
for participation and responsibility among citizens. 
Underlying this feeling of mutual responsibility is 
presumably, the attitude of trust or faith in a unique pattern of 

162



political administration and social conduct that seeks the 
inclusion of as many as possible in the management of its 
affairs. The question then is: how can we establish and sustain 
rules and values that can propel human actions for positive 
ends? This issue is more significant in the context of 
organizations that centre on cultural, educational and 
expressive functions.

Finally, behaviour is modified as a result of 
experiences.  As individuals go through life, they strive to 
attain certain goals and avoid some situations.  They 
associate many objects in the environment with either success 
or failure.  Hence, they develop positive attitudes to objects 
that serve their purpose, while showing negative attitude to 
objects that thwart their needs.  The main conditions for the 
change of attitudes revolve around the definition and 
redefinition of threats or actual deprivation of needs, creation 
of new needs or new levels of aspirations.  Attitudinal change 
depends on reviewing the scope of social adjustment, the 
means of control, the attractiveness of the project, the 
courage, the reward system and credibility that go with the 
new vision. This essay has attempted a theoretical and 
conceptual interrogation of the idea of national security using 
the typological, philosophical and prolegomenon 
approaches. It has situated the problem in the context of a 
postcolonial setting and has tried to engage the core ideas and 
values  required  for  a  proper  methodologica l  
conceptualization of security. 

ENDNOTES
1. Gregory. E. Ogbenika, The Idea of Spirit in African Philosophy, Ibadan: 

Safmos Publishers, 2011, P. X1V.  
2.  Ujomu P. O, “The Bounds Of Security Theorizing: Envisioning 

Discursive Inputs For The Rectification Of A Postcolonial Situation.” 
D. Adelugba D and P. Ujomu (2008);  Rethinking Security in Nigeria:  
Conceptual issues in the quest for social order and national 
integration. (Dakar: Senegal CODESRIA). ISBN 2- 86978-211- X. 
2008.

3.  Ibid
4.  Concise Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, London: Routledge, 

2000. S.V. “Axiology” by Barry Smith and Allan Thomas.
5.  Titus Harold.,  Living issues in Philosophy.  New York: Van Nostrand, 

1970. P. 313.

163



6.  Sogolo Godwin., Foundations of African Philosophy. Ibadan: Ibadan 
University Press. 1993. 119.

7.  Brunner. A. and Raemers S., Fundamental Questions of Philosophy. 
London: Herder Books. 1937. Pp. 87-88.

8.  Perry 1968, p. 336
9.  Singer Marcus., “Value Judgements and Normative Claims” in A. P. 

Griffiths edited Key Themes in Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge 
University Press, 1989. P.145.

10.  Ackermann, Werner., “Cultural Values and Social Choice of 
Technology” International Social Science Journal.  vol. XXXIII, No. 
3. 1981, p. 451

11. Koch, Adrienne., 1958, “The Status of Values and Democratic Theory” 
Ethics.  Vol. lxviii. No.3. (April). P. 166.

12. McInerney Peter., Introduction to Philosophy. New York: Harper 
Collins, 1992. P. 154.

13. John Dewey, “Reconstruction in Moral Conceptions & Morality is 
Social” Mann, Jesse & Kreyche, Gerald (eds.) approaches to morality.  
(New York: Harcourt, Brace & World).  1966. P. 234.

14. st Munkner Hans. H., “Which Values for Africa of the 21  Century?” 
Africana Marburgensia Special Issue 17, 1998, P.87.

15. Samatar Abdi Ismail and Samatar Ahmed .I. (eds.) The African State, 
Portsmouth: Heinemann 2002. P. 4.

16.  Collier Paul and Gunning Jan Willem. “Why Has Africa Grown 
Slowly” Journal of Economic Perspectives. Vol.13. No. 3. (Summer). 
1999. P. 10-11.

17.  CENCOD Center for constitutionalism and Demilitarization 2012 
Annual Report. State of Human Rights in Nigeria. Lagos: CENCOD. 
2012, pp. 10-11

18.  Ozohu-Suleiman Abdulhamid and Baba Samuel. Crime prevention and 
control in Nigeria: Institutional failure and the option of food security. 
The Constitution, Vol.9.no.4. December. 2009. P. 47.

19.  Ujomu P. O, “The Bounds Of Security Theorizing: Envisioning 
Discursive Inputs For The Rectification Of A Postcolonial Situation.” 
Professor D. Adelugba D and Dr P. Ujomu (2008);  Rethinking Security 
in Nigeria:  Conceptual issues in the quest for social order and national 
integration. (Dakar: Senegal CODESRIA). ISBN 2- 86978-211- X. 
2008. Pp. 35-36.

20.  Governments should use recognized and licensed arms dealers in the 
procurement of military equipment and ammunitions to avoid mutual 
suspicion among members of various religious groups and affiliation. A 
case in point is the recent 9.3million US dollar scam involving the 
president of CAN which has generated a lot of controversies in our 
polity today.

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