Pages: 12-28

Abstract

Objective of this paper is to examine the relationship between the absence of human security and security challenges using Boko Haram activities as a case. In spite of the successful changeover to civil rule in May 1999, the problem of ethno-religious clash and radicalism remains a serious threat to the social-political unity and economic stability of Nigeria. The Boko Haram insurgency since July 2009 is historic, in that it reinforced the attempts by Islamic extremists at superimposing a variant of Islamic religious ideology on a secular Nigerian state, making the security situation of the country most precarious and inflammable. This spate of insurgency in Nigeria is influenced by both internal factors and external factors. This paper seeks to examine this security problem and its implications on human existence in a heterogeneous society like Nigeria. Among the causative factors of Boko Haram insurgency and human security challenges examined in this paper, were inadequate state security apparatus, endemic corruption level, illiteracy, developmental imbalances and economic disparities in the country. With the available data, one is convinced that the security problem needs an urgent practical solution to save the country from the predicted fragmentation. Therefore, this paper recommends the practice of genuine secular federalism, effective state security, developmental and people oriented and participatory democracy as radical ways of curbing violent ethno-religious insurgency and insecurity in Nigeria.