HISTORY OF VIOLENCE AND NIGERIAM SECURITY DYNAMICS

   Since the emergence of the Westphalian state system in 1648, security has always been looked at from state-centric and military perspectives Thus, security became synonymous with the ability of a state to defend herself militarily. Informs the provision of Section 217 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. 

prescribes the duties of the military as

 

}(a) defending Nigeria from external aggression;
}(b) maintaining its territorial integrity and securing its borders from violation on land, sea, or air;
}(c) suppressing insurrection and acting in aid of civil authorities to restore order

 

This initial comprehension of security as being interwoven with the defence of the state is narrow and fails to take into cognizance other complexities in the security matrix.

 

 

   It also Assumes that a secured state automatically implies that the citizens are secured. Yet, as the African experience has shown, the state could become a threat to the security of her citizens. Following the postulations of T. Hobbes, J. Locke and JJ Rousseau, we argue that central to the existence of the state is the security of lives and property of the inhabitants of a state. In contemporary parlance, security as a concept is nebulous. It encompasses virtually all other aspects of life.