SECURITY OF THE HUMAN PERSONS AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT: A LEGAL PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

Apart from insecurity posed by Boko Haram and other terrorists, there are other different concepts of insecurities that exist side by side in social policy such as material, social, economic, financial, psychological, housing, and personal autonomy. Insecurity is closely related or allied to poverty, Wresinki postulated and defined - lack of basic security - “as the absence of one of more factors that enable individuals and families to assume basic responsibilities and to enjoy fundamental human rights… chronic poverty results, when the lack of basic security simultaneously affects several aspects of the people’s lives, when it is prolonged, and when it seriously compromises people’s chances of regaining their rights and resuming of their responsibilities in the foreseeable future.[1]” The root of insecurity is lack of resources, which means that each part of a person’s social life is compromised by the limitations that this places on each person’s capacity. The lack of resources is indirect poverty. Poor people are likely to be insecure, and his potentials are limited. Secondly, rights and responsibility are central to a place in society, and a place in the society is necessary for security. All over the world, even in the freest societies there exist laws, rules and regulations and a system of enforcement backed by sanctions for the protection of human persons in the overall interest of every citizen and the society at large. As it concerns, lives and properties, the nation will be impacted negatively and national development will suffer a decline as nobody will want to remain in a country where life, properties and investment will not be secure. Therefore this paper will not only examine security of human persons in Nigeria vis a vis other developed nations, the impact of insecurity of human persons on the country’s investment portfolio but will also consider the legal regime put in place by the various tiers of government in their bid to ensure security for every person living or doing business in Nigeria against the backdrop of increasing terrorist activities in the country. Therefore security of Human persons in Nigeria will be examined through the eye of terrorist activities which have left hundreds or thousands homeless and displaced, and its impact on national development.

[1] Wresinski, Report of the Economic and Social Council of France 1987, cited in Duff, 1995, p.35.