THE CONCEPT OF NATIONAL SECURITY IN NIGERIA: CONSIDERING THE MORAL RESOURCES OF TRUST AMONG THE ETHNIC GROUPS

Abstract

Democracy is often epitomized with forms of differences in which it spells ambiguity in the national security. It varies from state to state with its private, public and national interest. In respect to this, the idea of national interest has been a subject of criticism on the imperative of what actually defines it as a political process in Nigeria. In what way could it be regarded as a national security? What constitutes the idea of a national security by bearing in mind the fragmented nature of Nigeria state with its much ethnic divides? The sum of the interests of the several members of ethnic groups who compose it have different agenda of the national security. So, the finding of this paper corroborates the thesis that the symbol of national security is nothing but a stimulus to semantic confusion and that, if used without specifications, it leaves room for more confusion in Nigeria’s democracy. There are so many ethnic groups in Nigeria with different values of interests. So, it is this way that different individual ethnic group are capable of defining what that interest is. It is in this perspective that any notion of a public interest is perhaps bogus; the interests of the community are at best with the gross benefit of all others who subscribe to it. The interest is very beneficial to those who want it. So, this paper examines the reality of genuine national security interest in Nigeria by bearing in mind its position of a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, multi-lingual and multi-religious nature. Our share in private ethnic interest interfaces with the genuine national security interest. This invariably, leads into crises in Nigeria. The tension for political control and demands for more open political communities has been the problem of genuine national security in Nigeria. Thus, it is on a related note, that we will come to the conclusion by saying that any forms of national security must be accompanied with the general approach of creating values in the whole society. It will adopt the general system of inclusion, collaboration, collectiveness and reciprocity in the national constitution.