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EVAIA: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ETHICS AND VALUES Volume 1, NO. 1,  July, 2020 

 

1Chukwuemeka Iloanya, 2Patrick C. Bosah and 3Chijioke A.C. Okoye                                                                  Page 12 
 

HUMAN PERSON AND SOCIAL CONTRACT EXPERIENCE IN 

NIGERIA: LESSONS FROM JOHN LOCKE 
 

1Chukwuemeka Iloanya, 2Patrick C. Bosah and 3Chijioke A.C. Okoye 

 
1Department of Philosophy, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, University 

2 & 3Department of Political Science, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, 

University 
1cp.iloanya@coou.edu.ng; 2Padosa.padosa@yahoo.com; 

3ca.okoye@coou.edu.ng 

 

Abstract 
Social contract in civil societies visible in periodic elections predicates on 

protection and preservation of human lives and properties. But consistent 

absence of this expectation in Nigerian state shows that successive 

governments have no regard for this contract. Instead, these governments 

engage in policies and governance that foster their personal aggrandizement 

and threaten human lives, properties and survival. This paper analytically 

examines social contracts in Nigerian state proposing John Locke’s theory as 

that which will be functional in Nigerian context. The study finds that the 

problem with Nigeria is that of poor leadership. And this has encouraged a 

culture of neglect in almost every sector of the public service. The paper 

believes that application of John Locke’s social contract theory will enhance a 

better understanding between Nigerian government and the citizenry. The 

paper therefore concludes that John Locke’s social contract theory has all it 

takes to make every government functional. This is especially the civil 

disobedience aspect of it which is a kind of revolution that topples 

governments, as well as an option left to the citizenry when the social contract 

is reneged by their representatives. 

 

Key words: Human Person; Social Contract; Government; Good Governance 

 

Introduction 
It is an overstatement to state that Nigerian government has reneged the tenets 

of social contract. This is based on the fact that there is no evident protection 

of human life and properties, nor promotion of the wellbeing of the citizenry. 

In social contract as seen in periodic elections, individual Nigerian citizenry 

surrender the right to protect himself, property and promote his wellbeing to 

their representatives and the body that form the government. The main thrust 

of the social contract theory therefore is for government to exist at the behest 

of the citizens; to protect and to promote their wellbeing (Ajayi, n.d.).  

 

Unfortunately in Nigeria, successive governments do not accomplish this task 

for which the people give up some of their rights in order to get the benefits of 

mailto:cp.iloanya@coou.edu.ng


EVAIA: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ETHICS AND VALUES Volume 1, NO. 1,  July, 2020 

 

1Chukwuemeka Iloanya, 2Patrick C. Bosah and 3Chijioke A.C. Okoye                                                                  Page 13 
 

living in civil society. Rather these governments turn around to exploit and 

kill the people. On this note, Okwuagbala (2020) laments, It is so sad to hear 

that the government, which is set up to build the country and fight any form of 

corruption, is now stealing from her own people. In fact, Nigerian government 

is likened to an organized crime syndicate that illegally organizes every 

decision to be in their favour without offering anything to the people that gave 

them their mandate. They use coercion to make  people pay money to them 

for their personal aggrandizement. They are very corrupt, and reap where they 

did not sow.   Even when the governed do what the government ought to do, 

instead of them hiding their faces in shame, they sought for a way of forcing 

them to pay taxes on them. Most times the tax payers’ money is used in 

frivolous activities and inanities even to the extent of using it to sponsor 

terrorism and all manner of hardship! 

 

Many foreigners will find it hard to believe that in Nigeria almost everything 

that the government ought to provide to the electorate is provided by the 

electorate themselves. For instance, security that suppose to be provided by 

government is provided by the individuals, good education that the 

government suppose to provide are done by individuals, people give 

themselves water, roads to their various destinations, electricity (power), 

housing, health care, etc. What the government does is only to collect taxes on 

these essential responsibilities that the people have taken over from them. 

Against these backdrops, there seem to be no agreement between the citizenry 

and Nigerian successive governments. It is based on these that this paper 

seeks to consider John Locke’s social contract theory as a way of remedying 

the Nigerian dilapidating socio-political condition 

 

Conceptual analysis  
It is pertinent that some concepts are clarified and explained here especially as 

it is apt in the context here for easy comprehension of our discourse. The 

concepts that shall be elucidated here are those that formed the key words of 

this paper. 

 

Human person:  Human person is seen as “an individual substance of a 

rational nature” Boethius (cited in F.C. Copleston, 1950: p.92). Loyola 

University Chicago (2020) sees the human person as physical being, as 

knower, as responsible agent, as a person in relation to other persons, to 

society, to God, and to the end, or purpose, of human life. Human person is a 

being of inestimable value; that everything done in the globe ought to be in his 

favour. For our purpose here, the human person could also said to be that 

social and political being for whose sake social contract is made in order to 

protect his right to property, and ensure his peace, safety, and his good. 

Human person is that end to which all other things in the world should serve 

as a means to satisfy his comfort. May we also say here that the human person 



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is the being for which social contract is entered into for his protection, comfort 

and wellbeing. It is the being that all things that is done in government and 

governance ought to favour; a being that government was established to 

manage his affairs which is the reason he surrendered some of his rights and 

freedom to the magistrate/sovereign. Oguejiofor in Odumegwu (2008) 

concurs:  

…. The whole of ethics, social and political 

philosophy, philosophical anthropology, 

existentialism, etc are branches of philosophy 

among others that concentrate squarely on the 

human person and his operations in the world…. 

Philosophy is in its tradition, all embracing. But 

it is also true that the human person stands at the 

center and at the root of the whole enterprise 

since without it, there would be no philosophy 

at all. (ix)  

Social contract:  Palmer (1991) talking from Hobbesian perspective says that: 

 Social contract is the agreement of individuals 

in a state to transfer their right to violence and 

their right to sovereignty over themselves to a 

mutually agreed upon sovereign (a parliament or 

a monarch), who now has absolute and political 

authority over them. In exchange for absolute 

power (including an army), this sovereign 

promises to pass laws that create a state of 

peace…. The sovereign promises to restrain and 

punish anyone who breaks the initial part of the 

contract and uses violence against any other 

member of this newly created artificial body, 

state. (p. 326) 

From Locke’s perspective, Palmer (1991, p. 334) sees social contract as “the 

consent of citizens to submit to political state their political authority only 

with the condition that such political authority will do whatever is necessary 

to protect their natural right”. These rights include right to life, property, 

equality, etc. He went on to opine that the citizen is bound to contract only as 

long as the government upholds its end of the contract. For Moore & Bruder 

(2002, p. 272), social contract is “thus an agreement between individuals who, 

for the sake of peace, are willing to make this absolutely unconditional and 

irrevocable transfer of right and power to the sovereign or Leviathan…. It is 

the contract that delivers people from the evils of the natural state to civil 

society and a state of peace. From point of view of Lock, Moore & Bruder 

(2002, p. 276) holds that “social contract is individuals’ agreement among 

themselves to establish a state to govern them, because the state, chiefly 



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through its laws, offers the means to protect the right to property, and ensure 

‘the peace, safety, and public good of the people’”.  

 

Government:  Government is the body empowered by the people to see to 

their day to day management and every order thing that will ensure their well-

being and safety. Oxford English Dictionary (2010) sees government as the 

system or group of people governing an organized community, often a state. 

The Columbia Encyclopedia sees government as “a system of social control 

under which the right to make laws, and the right to enforce them, is vested in 

a particular group in society”. Way, holds that government is the agent, or 

instrument of political society of which the government is a part.  Governance 

involves interaction between the formal institutions and those in civil 

society.  For British Council, government refers to a process whereby 

elements in society wield power, authority and influence and enact policies 

and decisions concerning public life and social upliftment.  

 

Good governance:  Healey and Robinson define good governance as “a high 

level of organizational effectiveness in relation to policy-formulation and the 

policies actually pursued, especially in the conduct of economic policy and its 

contribution to growth, stability and popular welfare. Good governance also 

implies an act of accountability, transparency, participation, openness and the 

rule of law”. Good governance for Tamayao (2014), is the exercise of power 

or authority by political leaders for the well-being of their citizens or subjects.  

 

The state of social contract in Nigeria 

The government indeed has failed the Nigerian human person in so many 

areas. The first area that the government of Nigeria has failed the human 

person is security. A government must control the people it seeks to govern 

and protect. According to Way (n.d.), “the government must maintain internal 

peace--i.e., peace among individuals and groups within the society”. 

However, there is general insecurity in Nigeria. Day in day out, Nigerian’s 

lives are cut shot by different criminal groups such as Boko Haram, bandits, 

kidnappers, herdsmen, etc. Indeed, Okwuagbala (2020), affirms that the 

bombings, kidnappings, and other violent acts of Boko Haram prevent many 

Nigerians from feeling safe. The precarious condition of human life in Nigeria 

are therefore the rationale behind the Global Peace Index ranking of the 

country in 2016 as the fourth country in the world with the highest number of 

“international conflict deaths.” According to the 2018 Global Terrorism Index 

report however, Nigeria again maintains the third position in terrorism for that 

year. Boko Haram is a well-known agent of destruction in Nigeria. There are 

even rumours in some quarters that the Nigerian government is the one 

sponsoring some of these criminal groups to unleash mayhem on her citizens. 

Most of the soldiers sent to fight some of these criminal groups are also not 

motivated. Sometime in March 2020 there was a video that went viral on 



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internet where one of the generals that was sent to combat Boko haram 

insurgents was complaining that they were not well equipped and that 

ammunitions were in short supply to them while the insurgents were well 

equipped. Instead of the government to hearken to his complaint and act 

accordingly they rather changed him after two days. There are also many 

instances of Nigerian security operatives being the ones abusing and in some 

cases killing the citizens that they were meant to protect as the social contract 

demands. This why Obiano (2020) laments: 

In any civilized society, there are rules of 

engagement, especially when it comes to the 

military interruption and face-off with the 

people, the civilians. However, in Nigeria it is 

anything goes…. The sad reality is that it is not 

new to see men on uniform, so arrogantly 

exercising powers that they shouldn’t. The men 

of Nigerian Army are at the fore front of this 

mess. They aren’t alone; lately also, men of 

Nigerain Police, attached Special Anti-robbery 

squad, SARS unit are guilty as well….The 

members of SARS intimidate, abuse, assault and 

even so recklessly, use their fire arms, many 

have died because of the foolishness of the men 

of SARS unit…. The men of Nigerian Army are 

sadly also, in the habit of so recklessly abusing 

and torturing Nigerians…. In Warri, Delta state, 

people were chased like thieves, abusively 

flogged, ruthlessly tortured, asked to swim in 

dirty mosquito-infested gutter water. Who does 

that? How can someone ask another to swim in 

swamp and ditch? Well, men of the Nigerian 

military did that, in the video that went 

viral….     

  

The above lamentation of Obiano is one of the so many Nigerian security 

brutality on the citizens that willingly entered into agreement with government 

with the anticipation of protection in exchange. In a nutshell, the Nigerian 

crime problem gives many citizens in the country sleepless nights. In many 

places, people feel they can no longer walk around their own neighborhoods 

unharmed. Public safety is the most fundamental responsibility of any state, 

and Nigeria has failed in this regard (Okwuagbala, 2020).  

 

Another area that the government of Nigeria has failed in keeping to its own 

part of social agreement is in the area of social welfare. Social welfare 

according to Way (n.d.), consists of government programs through which 



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assistance is provided to the poor. These programs are designed to alleviate 

existing poverty, providing aid to particular categories of persons who are 

unable to adequately support themselves, due to circumstances widely 

perceived within the society to be beyond the control of the indigent persons. 

The categories of persons eligible for public assistance generally include (1) 

women with dependent children in families where the father is absent or 

unemployed and (2) persons who, though aged, blind or disabled, are not 

covered by social-insurance programs and are therefore ineligible for benefits 

under them. Unfortunately, in Nigeria the reverse is the case. Instead of the 

government providing these set of people with assistance they impoverish 

them the more by using the money that ought to be used in carrying out these 

social responsibilities as security vaults and payment of sundry allowances to 

the politicians. This is why Okogie (2020) observes: 

we continue to run the affairs of our country 

with a constitution that impoverishes and 

disables the citizens by establishing offices that 

do not serve the people…. the humongous basic 

salaries and allowances of our political office 

holders should become a thing of the 

past…government in Nigeria is embarrassingly 

big, sinfully expensive, prone to corruption and 

scandalously inefficient. 

 

Indeed, it is not news again that more than half the population of Nigerians 

make and survive on less than $2 per day. In fact, about same half population 

manage to do two square meals per day. The rate of joblessness in Nigeria is 

one getting up to high heavens. Many Nigerians survive on daily pay jobs. 

There are no good and coordinated access to soft loans and grants from 

lending institutions for small and medium scale enterprises….Therefore, no 

miracle can sustain Nigerians, except when the government rises to the 

responsibility (Obiano, 2020). The money to sponsor this social welfare 

everyone know is available but the problem remains that those at the helm of 

affair always corner it for their own personal aggrandizement.  Falaiye 

&Okoregbe  (2016 ) Politicians and public officers therefore turn government 

into a “cash cow” for personal aggrandizement. Consequently, a culture of 

neglect in public service gradually creeps in, and there is utter neglect for the 

provision of basic amenities and infrastructure that promote the good life. (p. 

11).   

 

Furthermore, accountability and transparency are like two sides of a coin; both 

have gone on holiday in Nigeria. Information in Nigeria is exclusive of those 

in power. Any attempt by any individual or group to bring the government to 

account or make them be open to the citizen are frowned at; and many ways 

have been devised  by the government ranging from use of force to 



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legislations all in the bid by them to evade accountability and  transparency. 

So many things are done in secrecy in Nigeria. It is on record that Nigerian 

government through the National Assembly has tried severally to pass anti-

information bill. They have suggested severally for banning of social media 

under the guise of hate speech and all what not while other nations of the 

world are passing information bill law in their countries. If not for the 

international outcry, social media may not be in existence in Nigeria by now. 

So many journalists are in custody today because they exposed the evil 

activities of the government. In Nigeria, the government is the harbinger of 

misinformation and deception while they ought to be the right source of 

information and accountability because accountability is said to be a key 

requirement of good governance (Sheng, 1997). Apart from the use of force, 

intimidation and legislation, Nigerian government has devised so many other 

means of evading accountability to the citizens.  Okogie (2020) captures it 

thus: 

On prime- time television, we witnessed the 

spectacle of naira notes, and a minister of the 

Federal Republic was doing the distribution. But 

government could and ought to have used this 

moment to encourage Nigerians to open bank 

accounts. A more transparent means of giving 

out the money would have been to ask each 

person for his or her bank verification number 

and to send the money into their accounts. Apart 

from the fact that it would have encouraged 

more Nigerians to open bank accounts, it would 

have made it possible to account for every naira 

that is given out. In the same vein, we have 

heard how billions of naira was being donated to 

government without government telling 

Nigerians how the donation will be spent. 

The above observation by Okogie was confirmed as some people set the 

Accountant General of the Federation’s office ablaze on Wednesday 8th April, 

2020, nine hours after the request by the National Assembly to give account of 

two trillion naira that they claimed to have disbursed to the poorest of the poor 

to cushion the effect of COVID -19 pandemic. On Thursday 9th April, 2020 

the finance minister Zainab Ahmed told Nigerians that 700 billion naira was 

lost in the inferno. The above is one among so many other means the 

government has failed in the area of accountability and transparency as part of 

keeping to and honoring their own end of social contract. 

 

Equity, inclusiveness and justice as the strongest tenets of social contract 

theory are not found anywhere in practice in Nigeria; not minding that it is 

enshrined in our constitution. Equity, inclusiveness and justice mean that all 



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the members of the society, especially the most vulnerable ones or the 

grassroots level, must be taken into consideration in policy-making. Everyone 

has a stake in the society and no one should feel alienated from it. Particularly, 

those who belong to the grassroots level must not only be the subject of 

legislation but they must be given the opportunity to participate in decision or 

policy making. Equity also refers to a kind of justice that gives more 

opportunity to the less fortunate members of the society. It is based on this 

principle that those who have less in life should have more in social law 

(Tamayao,  2014). Nigeria is made of more than 250 ethnic groups which 

mean that all of them ought to be involved in whatever good thing that come 

into the country but unfortunately caution is thrown to the wind and the 

opposite is the case. Justice, equity and inclusiveness are now seen as a 

privilege and no longer a right in Nigeria which is against the tenet of social 

contract. Currently offices are allotted based on nepotistic and religious 

ground. Once you are a northerner you are good to go. What happened with 

the appointment of the security service chiefs is a very good example, where 

almost all of them were selected from the same tribe, ethnicity and religion 

not minding their poor performances in securing the nations and 

heterogeneous nature of the country even when insecurity is at the point it has 

never gotten before in Nigeria. In fact, the neglect of equity, inclusiveness and 

justice has graduated from discriminating against an individual to the level of 

discriminating against a region or an ethnic group. The recent 22.7 billion 

dollars that the government wanted to borrow is a very good example of what 

this paper is saying. The loan was to be shared among every other region 

excluding the south-east. This is a loan that they are expected to contribute in 

repaying. If a whole region is discriminated against, just imagine what can 

happen to minorities and individual, especially the vulnerable ones in such a 

country. 

 

Infrastructural provision is another area that the government of Nigeria has 

failed woefully. Infrastructure is important that no country can make serious 

progress without it. One will wonder little why Nigeria remain 

underdeveloped irrespective of all the resources both mineral and human that 

it is blessed with. In Nigeria the power sector is corrupt and mismanaged, and 

many workers in the electricity sector are not equipped with the proper skills 

or training. Domestic production suffers under these conditions; many foreign 

companies also find it difficult to conduct business in Nigeria because of 

frequent power failures. This problem keeps Nigeria a third world country 

year after year (Okwuagbala, 2020). Business suffers without a dependable 

road system. Corruption and the embezzlement of public funds keep roadways 

in disrepair. Many road accidents in Nigeria that have claimed a lot of lives of 

the citizens of Nigeria would not have happened if the roads are well fixed. It 

is because our Federal Government failed to fix federal roads that make some 

of these accidents happen. They do not fulfill their function to protect lives 



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and properties of the people through this channel. In 2011, according to 

Okwuagbala (2020), the World Bank reported that only 67% of paved roads 

and 33% of unpaved roads were in good or fair condition. Between 2001 and 

2006, only $50 million of the needed $240 million were allocated for road 

maintenance. Similar issues of inadequacy and corruption can be seen in water 

resources, railways and education. At the time of writing this paper the 

Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) are on strike due to 

government neglect, attempt to hoodwink them, and poor state of public 

universities. The government’s failure to invest adequately in the health-care 

system is also evident especially during this era of COVID-19 pandemic. 

Based on this Okogie (2020), avers that “…COVID-19 is also revelatory, a 

blessing in disguise, because it has exposed Nigeria as a country where quality 

of leadership is of low grade. Okogie (2020) again observes that “rather than 

invest in good health care service delivery in Nigeria, we have a political 

arrangement that makes it possible, even encouraging, to waste Nigeria’s 

money on government officials and health tourism abroad”. Thus, the health 

services available are dysfunctional and inadequate which has led to high 

mortality rate especially on the side of expectant mothers, children and the 

aged people. It has also resulted to migration of talented doctors and nurses to 

advance countries; the remaining good ones are found in the cities, leaving 

Nigerians staying in the rural areas to their fate. The foregoing have been 

issues that have bedeviled Nigerians from the beginning of time and these 

infrastructural deficiencies are yet to end and the government never cares. 

 

Effects of government irresponsibility to social contract in Nigeria 
For every act of irresponsibility, there is commensurate repercussion, be it 

individually or generally. Along this line, the breach of social contract by 

Nigerian government has among other effects led to incessant revolt, endemic 

corruption, fear and mistrust. 

 

Incessant revolt: Due to government failure in keeping their own end of the 

social contract, there are so many agitations in various regions of the country. 

These agitations are not strange but in line with the dictates of John Locke’s 

social contract theory that call for revolution or change of government when 

they fail in keeping their own end of the contract that they willingly entered 

with the people. Locke (1964) captures it thus: 

…government are dissolved, and that is when 

the legislative or the prince, either of them, act 

contrary to their trust….The legislative acts 

against the trust reposed in them when they 

endavour to invade the property of the subject 

and to make themselves or any part of the 

community masters or arbitrary disposers of the 

lives, liberties, or fortunes of the people….Since 



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it can never be supposed to be the will of the 

society that the legislative should have a power 

to destroy that which everyone designs to secure 

by entering into society, and for which the 

people submitted themselves to legislators of 

their own making. Whenever the legislators 

endavour to take away and destroy the property 

of the people, or to reduce them to slavery under 

arbitrary power, they put themselves into a state 

of war with the people who are thereupon 

absolved from any further obedience. (233)   

 

All the things that Locke said that can lead to rebellion have all happened in 

Nigeria. Hence, most people believe that Nigeria is sitting on keg of gun 

powder. The government has in all ramifications failed the citizens with no 

hope of any change in the nearest future. one will now wonder little why the 

Boko Haram are fighting in the North-East, Niger Delta militants agitating in 

the South-South, IPOB looking for secession in the South-East and others 

carrying out civil disobedience in respective zones. All these are the 

repercussions of the government failure in keeping to the mandate and 

agreement that they willingly entered with the people. And when tyranny and 

irresponsibility becomes the order of the day; social disobedience becomes an 

obligation. From the preceding subheading one could see that the government 

of the country has failed her people and there is nothing that remains than to 

agitate. It is even a thing of wonder that Nigeria still exist today as a nation 

because the irresponsibility and insensitivity of her leaders right from 

independent has gotten to an elastic limit. 

 

Endemic corruption: another serious effect of government irresponsibility to 

the Nigerian human person is corruption. It is experienced in every sphere of 

Nigerian public and private existence. Be it in politics, education, judiciary, 

businesses, religion, police, legislature, banks, ministries, etc (Ugwuja, 2008). 

In Nigeria corruption has become a culture; to the extent that it is synonymous 

with her (Iloanya, et al., 2011, p. 242). Irrespective of the fact that Chapter II, 

section 15, subsections 5 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of 

Nigeria states thus; “The State shall abolish all corrupt practices”. 

Unfortunately, no one is adhering to this instruction.The government 

personnel who are constituted to abolish corruption are careless about what is 

expected of them. Also, the non-governing citizens who are also expected to 

be free from corruption are guilty of it (Okwuagabala, 2020). Indeed, Nigerian 

leaders have made life difficult that everyone is looking for a way of survival, 

Falaiye & Okoregbe (2016, p. 12).Nigeria has unjustifiably become a land of 

suffering, poverty, anguish, pain and hopelessness. It is all over the news that 

during the COVID-19 pandemic lock down, that the law enforcement agents 



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were asked to monitor the people and restrain them from moving around. But 

as usual they collected money from Nigerians and allowed them to move 

around, even from one state to the other. This is one among many instances of 

corruption in Nigeria. According to Watch tower (2000 p. 4), “This endemic 

corruption is as a result of selfishness and greed” of Nigerian leaders. When 

the leaders out of greed and selfishness violet the social contract by 

embezzling the common wealth, the citizens out of frustration engage in any 

means be it by hook or crook to secure some economic, political, financial or 

other advantages of their own so as to approximate some of such privileges 

flaunted by the leaders (Iloanya, et al., 2011 p. 247). The corruption of the 

government makes them have lukewarm attitude towards matters of 

corruption knowing fully well that they are guilty of the same offence, hence, 

making corruption to escalate. Iloanya, et al. (2011) aptly put it: 

 The lukewarm attitude of those who are 

supposed to enforce the laws of the land 

(judges, police officers and public officials) 

could lead people to engage in corrupt practices, 

knowing full well that they would get away with 

it. The weakness of institutions established to 

interpret and enforce laws against corruption 

exacerbates and institutionalize corruption in 

Nigeria. (249) 

More so, the current ruling government just like the previous ones is not 

performing its functions as promised, and officials are too busy filling their 

pockets instead of governing effectively. Transparency International (2020) 

deemed Nigeria one of the most corrupt nations in the world with 148th 

position as the highest in 2017 and 134 as the lowest in 2014 respectively. In 

2019 ranking Nigeria came 146th in Corruption Perception Index out of the 

180 countries measured. This shows that Nigeria was the 34th most corrupt 

country in 2019. The above instances show how endemic corruption is in 

Nigeria following the failure of the government to keep to their own end of 

social contract they willingly entered with the Nigerian human person.  

 

Mistrust: This is the height of repercussion of government persistent and 

consistent failure in keeping to their end of social contract. Nobody in Nigeria 

takes the government serious, the same with anything coming from them. 

Following years of disappointment, failed campaign promises, unfulfilled 

state programmes, large-scale corruption and failure to deliver on the 

dividends of democracy; Nigerian citizens largely distrust the government. In 

a 2016 Afro barometer survey on the level of trust citizens hold for their 

governments in 36 African countries, Nigeria recorded the least score with a 

mere 31 per cent indicating a positive attitude towards the government. In 

addition, in 2018, the World Economic Forum (WEF) found that Nigeria 

ranked 130 of 137 countries for citizen distrust of government officials 



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(Onapajo & Adebiyi, 2020). Consequently, anything the government wishes 

to do for the people is looked at with suspicion even when they have genuine 

intention. The fear and mistrust in government is instantiated in Onapajo & 

Adebiyi (2020) thus: 

 In the wake of the rapidly spreading novel 

coronavirus (COVID-19), with its debilitating 

effects on humanity, the Nigerian government 

launched a social distancing campaign, 

restricting movements in certain parts of the 

country…. A major aspect of Nigeria’s 

approach to the COVID-19 pandemic has been 

the prohibition of gatherings that exceed 50 

people, including worship places and all forms 

of social events… With much surprise, many 

Nigerians have continued to defy the state 

directives. As at last week, churches and 

mosques opened their doors for worship, fun-

lovers continued with their normal parties and 

clubbed like nothing was happening around 

them. When questioned about their refusal to 

follow precautionary measures established by 

the government, most of them dismissed the 

reality of the disease. One of the reasons being 

that several Nigerians perceived the virus to be 

an attempt by political elites to create an 

emergency and siphon public money. For 

example, a middle-aged respondent confidently 

told reporters with Legit.ng that he is a scientist 

and can confirm that, ‘Nigeria’s weather is so 

harsh for Coronavirus to survive…no individual 

has the virus in the country…there is no trace 

for the so-called confirmed cases…it is an 

opportunity to steal our money.’ 

  

 The above quotation is talking about the corona virus, a deadly pandemic that 

is raving the whole world. Just that the information on the necessary 

precaution to be followed to stay safe is coming from the government of 

Nigeria. The people chose to die because of their previous experiences in the 

hands of the government.  Also, the current donations made by some 

Nigerians to cushion the effect of Corona Virus pandemic is already believed 

to be cornered by the government for their private aggrandizement. Little 

wonder some people like Pastor David Ogbueli the General Overseer of 

Dominion City church and Apostle Johnson Suleiman of Omega Fire Ministry 

refused to make any donations to the government, but rather reached out to the 



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citizens themselves. The reason is because they believe that the government 

will not do justice in ensuring that their donations will get to the poorest of the 

poor whom it is meant for. Moreover, majority of Nigerians are of the same 

view because of consistent and persistent failure of the government in keeping 

to their own end of social agreement.  The fear and mistrust in the government 

is not just observed in the economy but also in other aspects of their 

responsibilities. Once more, our past experiences with nationwide threats 

provide enough examples. In 2015, the country got to know that most of the 

money meant to fight insurgency—about $2 billion—in north-eastern Nigeria 

was actually pocketed by a few individuals. This was despite official 

assurances that Nigeria was committed to fighting Boko Haram and that the 

terrorist group would soon be confined to history. In December 2015, six 

months after assuming office, President Muhammadu Buhari declared that 

Boko Haram had been ‘technically defeated’ and claimed displaced people in 

the epicenter of the conflict zone could start returning to their homes. Among 

the Buhari-led government’s campaign promises was to ‘kill corruption before 

it kills Nigeria’. Many Nigerians rejoiced over the statement and voted for 

President Buhari in 2015. However, since President Buhari emerged as 

president, the reverse has been the case. Corruption continues like before. One 

will now wonder little why the mistrust in Nigerian government. 

 

John Lock’s Social Contract Theory: an antidote to Social contract 

violation in Nigeria 
Rufus & Eyo (2017) avers that in every social phenomenon the easy part has 

always been identifying the problem whilst the difficulty lies in proffering a 

solution. This paper having depicted these failures seeks to proffer solutions, 

hence, the position of John Locke’s social contract theory as an antidote.  

Locke’s social contract theory is deemed very apt in arresting the persistent 

bridge of social contract by Nigerian government because it is the model for 

every modern state in dealing with her people to ensure that common good is 

achieved. Nigeria being one of the modern states needs strictly to adhere to 

it.  In Locke’s social contract theory, the responsibility of the government is 

well spelt out while the obligations of the citizens were spelt out too, all 

geared towards the achievement of common good of all the parties in the 

contract.  Palmer (1991) opines, “The function of the political state is to 

guarantee our moral state…. The citizens consent to submit to political 

authority only with the proviso that such political authority will do whatever is 

necessary to protect our natural right”. (p. 334) According to Locke (1997), 

contract was an agreement of each with all, a surrender by the individual of 

his personal right to fulfill the commands of the laws of Nature in return for 

the guarantee that his rights as nature ordains them life, liberty and property 

should be well-maintained. The end for which this contract is made is the 

protection and preservation of property, in the broad sense of the word, that is, 



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life, liberty and estate-against the dangers both from within and without the 

community (civilserviceindia.com). 

From the above one could vividly see that the reason for entering into social 

contract everywhere is for the society to have a strong institution that will 

ensure everybody’s survival. Unfortunately as could be seen in the case of 

Nigeria the reverse is the case.  But with Lockean social contract theory being 

posited as the template for an ideal social contract the Nigerian leaders will 

see that the contract is not entered just for their self aggrandizement. Rather, it 

is for the purpose of forming a formidable society where all that gave them 

their mandate can survive, their property protected and their lives saved. 

When this is well understood, it will enable our government to eschew the 

heightened culture of impunity that encourages incessant high level official 

rascality and dubious unconstitutional devices deployed in the steering of the 

state, and think on how to work for the good and safety of everyone in the 

state.  

 

Again, Lockean social contract theory will go a long way in making the 

Nigerian government to buckle up on the areas of security. According to 

Locke (1690) the end of people’s unity or living in the society is to build a 

commonwealth, preserve human life and properties. (p. 124) Unfortunately 

the Nigerian government has not lived up to this part of social contract. In 

Nigeria just as has mentioned elsewhere in this work there is always harvest 

of blood and destruction of property, people’s wellbeing are not cared for and 

liberty is nowhere to be found. However, having Lockean social contract 

theory as a model, the government will be made to live to their responsibility 

of protecting the people. When this is done nothing or less will be heard of 

Boko Haram, herdsmen, kidnappers etc. that in the recent time have been 

thorns in the flesh of human persons living in Nigeria.  

 

Furthermore, the incessant revolutions and agitations that occur in Nigeria 

will naturally disappear if the government and the leaders understand that 

their occurrences is due to their failure in keeping to their own end of social 

contract bargain, which the Lockean social contract theory will expose to 

them. Friend (n.d.) captures it thus: 

 When the executive power of a government 

devolves into tyranny… therefore denying the 

people the ability to make laws for their own 

preservation, then the resulting tyrant puts 

himself into a State of Nature, and specifically 

into a state of war with the people, and they then 

have the same right to self-defense as they had 

before making a compact to establish society in 

the first place. In other words, the justification 

of the authority of the executive component of 



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government is the protection of the people’s 

property and well-being, so when such 

protection is no longer present, or when the king 

becomes a tyrant and acts against the interests of 

the people, they have a right, if not an outright 

obligation, to resist his authority. The social 

compact can be dissolved and the process to 

create political society begun anew. 

Seeing that tyranny and no clear adjudication are among the remote causes of 

most revolutions in the country as exposed by Lockean contract theory; the 

government will now shun the manner at which they manipulate the 

constitution to their favor which left every one with the feeling that there is a 

lack of an established law known and acceptable to all. Secondly, the 

dependence of the judiciary on the executive which portray an absence or lack 

of an independent/impartial judiciary to adjudicate the law will be 

discouraged. Also the orientation that the Nigerian judicial system is weak and 

can be easily manipulated by the elite/ruling class thereby making the 

common man to resort to jungle justice at every slightest opportunity should 

be changed.  And improved effort by the government to keep to their part of 

the contract by ensuring that the lives and property of the populace is secured 

will stop the people from resorting to self actions and responsibilities towards 

surviving and coping with insecurities.  

 

Finally, John Locke’s social contract theory will make it possible for the 

people to see and understand that the time for social disobedience and ousting 

of the present leaders in government is long overdue. Since the government 

has violated all the social contract agreement among which are: respecting the 

social contract, upholding the citizen’s rights to life, health, liberty, and 

possessions. Palmer (1991) concurs:  

The citizen is bound to contract only so long as 

the government upholds its end of the contract. 

Locke thought that the populace should not go 

lightly into a condition of revolt. Because of 

seriousness of such a condition, all sorts of 

attempts should be made to correct the abuses of 

power before a revolution is declared. But if the 

state not only fails to uphold the citizen’s rights 

to life, health, liberty, and possessions but also 

becomes the violator of those rights, then 

revolution is justified. (p. 334) 

The above quotation is typical of the situation in Nigeria. So the lesson learnt 

from Locke’s social contract theory should encourage the people to revolt and 

not to shy away from it, since it is the basis for establishing most modern 

political state. Moreover, it will bring to the awareness of the people that it is 



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not a vice to over throw an erring government and that it is the only option 

remaining for them to make Nigeria work like most developed countries of the 

world. Some of the countries that revolted in the past such as: France, England 

and America, etc. though paid heavily but they are better for it. And 

considering the nature of Nigeria, it seems that it is only civil disobedience 

will open up the corrupt leaders, tyrants and everything, hence, usher in the 

positive change that the Nigerian human person for long desired. 

Consciousness of the civil disobedience as an obligation in a country as 

Nigeria will enable all the tribes in Nigeria to understand that various 

agitations going on in different regions in Nigeria is not geared towards 

fighting each other. Rather it is geared towards their common enemies who 

are the politicians that do not have tribes, religion or sex when it comes to 

exploiting and breaching the social contract. Armed with this idea they will 

join forces to either oust them as the Locke’s social contract theory demands 

or make them to be responsible. 

 

Conclusion 
The persistent and consistent failure of Nigerian government in keeping to 

their own part of social contract bargain is redeemable; irrespective of the fact 

that it has had so many negative effects on the people and has led to under 

development and frustration among human persons. However, as this paper 

projects, a strict adherence to the dictates of Lockean social contract theory 

will correct the anomaly currently experienced, because it has established the 

fact to Nigerians that the civil society is a collection of individuals and groups 

with visible leadership that take responsibility for the protection and security 

of the people and their property. It has also provided framework for the 

organization of socio-economic interactions, in such a way that if the various 

political structures are properly harnessed then human person’s progress and 

security are better ensured. It is believed by this paper that when the needful 

as contained in John Locke’s social contract theory are done the desecrated 

social contract of Nigerian human person will be amended.  

 

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