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By Isaac C. Offiah
One of the most enduring concepts in political philosophy is the State of Nature—a condition imagined by thinkers such as Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Hobbes, in his Leviathan, described life in such a state as “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” In the absence of organized government, the strongest dominated the weak, and fear reigned. It was to escape this cycle of violence and insecurity that human beings agreed to form governments. The very essence of government, therefore, is the protection of lives, the preservation of property, and the creation of conditions where society can thrive in peace and security.
Looking at Nigeria today, it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the nation is drifting dangerously toward the state of nature. Insecurity has become the defining feature of national life. From one end of the country to the other, non-state actors wield sophisticated weapons, unleash violence on defenseless citizens. The state, which should be the guarantor of safety, often appears helpless—or absent thereby widening Frontiers of Insecurity
In the North-East, Boko Haram and the Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP), have terrorized communities for over a decade now. Despite years of military operations, they continue to stage attacks, ambush troops, and massacre innocent villagers. The North-West has become the theater of banditry, where gangs raid villages, rustle cattle, and kidnap en masse for ransom. In states such as Zamfara, Katsina, and Kaduna, whole communities live in fear of these marauders who sometimes impose “taxes” on hapless villagers.
The North-Central is not spared. Armed herders have clashed with farming communities, leaving trails of destruction, death and displacement. The once peaceful Middle Belt now witnesses killings that often assume ethno-religious dimensions. Meanwhile, in the South-East, the menace of “unknown gunmen” has paralyzed social and economic life in many communities. Besides, every Monday remains in official work free day by none state actors. Attacks on police stations, courts, and electoral offices have become routine, while kidnappers exploit the vacuum to prey on travelers and residents alike. In Southeast especially at Umulumgbe community in Udi LGA of Enugu state where travelers are kidnapped almost every week.
The South-South region, beyond its long history of militancy, has also witnessed criminal gangs engaged in piracy, illegal oil bunkering, and armed robbery. Even the South-West, once considered relatively safe, is no longer immuned. Kidnapping along highways, cult-related killings, and violent robberies have reached an alarming stage. From Sokoto to Enugu, from Maiduguri to Lagos, Nigerians speak with one voice: nowhere is safe anymore.
The central question is: what is the purpose of government if not the protection of life and property? When citizens no longer feel safe to travel on highways, send children to school, farm their land, or even sleep in their homes, the legitimacy of the state is called into question. Nigeria seems to be replicating the very chaos Hobbes warned against.
Part of the problem lies in the structure of Nigeria’s security system. The country copied the Presidential system of government from the United States but failed to copy its federal security framework. In the United States, every state has its police service, backed by local law enforcement agencies such as sheriffs and county police. This multi-layered system ensures security coverage at the federal, state, and local levels. Nigeria, by contrast, operates a unitary police structure under a federal system. What a strange mix up? The Nigeria Police Force, controlled from Abuja, is expected to police 36 states, 774 local governments, and over 200 million people. The result is predictable: overstretched manpower, poor community presence, and slow response to crime and emergency calls.
Nigeria cannot continue in this trajectory. To prevent a complete descent into a state of nature, urgent reforms are necessary. The National Assembly should, as a matter of urgency, invoke a Doctrine of Necessity to restructure the security architecture. Such reforms should include:
1. Creation of State Police – Each state should have its own police service, recruited locally, funded locally, and directly accountable to the state government. This will improve intelligence gathering and community trust.
2. Establishment of Home Guards at the grassroots – There should be Home Guards or Community Security Units, headquartered at the Local Government level, with branches at every ward and autonomous communities in South-East. This model, already in practice in parts of the South-East, can be expanded nationwide.
3. Dire need for legal empowerment – States must be authorized by law to properly arm and equip these security formations, where local security outfits are restricted to sticks and dane guns while criminals wield AK-47 and AK-49 will only be an excuse for failure.
4. Federal agencies, state and local security units should work in synergy with the Nigerian Army and the Department of State Services. Clear jurisdictions and accountability frameworks must be put in place to prevent abuses.
5. Cost of Inaction – If Nigeria continues on the present path, the consequences will be great .Already, insecurity has devastated the economy. Farmers in many parts of the North cannot access their farms, worsening food inflation and hunger. Investors, both local and foreign, are discouraged by the climate of fear and worship places are not even spared..Education is disrupted by mass abductions of schoolchildren. Citizens are turning to self-help, arming themselves or relying on vigilante groups, sometimes escalating violence.
6. More dangerously, insecurity erodes national unity. When people feel unprotected, they retreat into ethnic, regional, or religious cocoons, fueling distrust of the state. Turn out in elections remains very low because of collapse of confidence in government and these can only breed lawlessness. This is precisely the slide into the Hobbesian state of nature.
Nigeria stands at a crossroads. The social contract is fraying. The Nigerian people surrendered some of their freedoms to the state in exchange for security and order. Today, that promise is broken. Unless decisive action is taken to reform the security architecture—through the creation of state police, community-based security units, and effective collaboration with federal forces—the drift toward chaos will accelerate.
The nation must remember: the primary duty of any government is to protect life and property. Development, democracy, and prosperity are impossible without security. If Nigeria fails to act now, we risk returning to a time when might was right, and survival belonged only to the strongest—the very State of Nature humanity sought to escape centuries ago. No wonder the call for immediate resort to Doctrine of necessity not for constitutional amendment, which remains doubtful.
• Offia, Structural Engineer and project
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