Poverty, Social Injustice, Religion and Insecurity in Nigeria: The Imperative of Essencism as A Philosophy Towards The Restoration of Democratic Values

Despite unbroken democratic governance in Nigeria in the last twenty years, there has been an upsurge in poverty, social injustice, religious violence and insecurity. The logic that democracy is the government of the people, by the people and for the good of the people, which serves as a mechanism for the promotion of socio-economic development, peace stability and mass participation of the people in their affairs tends to be invalidated in Nigeria. It is reasoned that as the world headquarter of poverty, insecurity remains a constant decimal in Nigeria. This is because poverty breeds insecurity and an idle mind is the devil’s workshop. This paper analysis the correlations between poverty, social injustice, religion, and insecurity in Nigeria. It contends that violent conflicts characterize Nigerian democracy, and threatens the stability of governance institutions, promotes insecurity and creates the vicious cycle of poverty, and violent crimes in the country. This makes it difficult for the government to discharge its primary function of providing security of lives and property. The paper sees Boko Haram, banditry and kidnapping as socio-religious phenomenon that portray the socio-economic, political and ethnic problem that emerged due to bad leadership and governance. Consequently, Boko Haram and bandits have expanded their frontiers beyond Nigeria to other neighbouring countries. The theoretical framework of this paper is that insecurity as typified by Boko Haram, banditry and kidnapping have their roots in poverty and social injustice, which characterized the country’s governance system. It argues that corruption, human rights violations, marginalization, and other political vices that characterize state institutions and governance system can be eradicated through the educational system that is anchored on Essencism as a philosophy. This philosophy will through the educative process liberates the minds of the citizens, and implant in the citizens ethical values that will be presented as national ethics.