Legal And Socio-Political Constraints In Combating Terrorism In Nigeria

Abstract

Terrorism is widely recognised as a violation of human rights due to its reliance on violence. Terrorism for several years has been a daunting challenge in Nigeria, with of course, devastating consequences on its security, economy, and social order. Significantly, and notwithstanding the plethoric abundance of frameworks in Nigeria for combating terrorism, the rise in terrorism continue to be recorded on daily basis. Consequently, the authors critically examined the various laws and regulatory bodies charged with checkmating terrorism such as-the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, the Terrorism Prevention Act 2011, the Terrorism (Prevention) Amendment Act 2013 and the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act 2022. Against this backdrop, the paper therefore, aims to critically analyse the legal and socio-political constraints associated with counter-terrorism efforts in Nigeria, with a specific focus on potential violation of human rights. By exploring the intersection between counter-terrorism measures and human rights, the paper focused on the complex challenges confronted the Nigerian government in effectively combating terrorism while upholding the individual principles associated with human rights as contained in the constitution.