Human security and the Nigerian counterterrorism policy: Is the Nigerian counterterrorism policy human security centred?

Abstract

In 2014, the Nigerian government released the National Counter-Terrorism Strategy (NACTEST). This comprehensive strategy aims to tackle the root causes of terrorism. It combines elements of hard and soft approaches but it emphasis soft powers. The root causes of terrorism are grouped in the seven key elements of human security. It is essential to take into account all the aspects of human security because they are intrinsically linked.Therefore a human security centred counterterrorism policy is an effective way to tackle the leading factors to terrorism. This dissertation aims to establish whether the Nigerian counterterrorism policy is human security centred both in paper and in practice. This dissertation demonstrates that the counterterrorism policy is human security centred in the policy paper but not in practice. The author argues that the lack of human security in the policy conducted in the ground explains the failure of the government to eradicate Boko Haram.