JOURNALS

ABSTRACT

This paper seeks to bring out the relevance of philosophy to the development of the different security apparatus in the tackling of the numerous security challenges in Nigeria. This is premised on the different forms of crimes that are perpetrated on a daily basis that are making Nigerians live in fear. Crimes like Boko Haram insurgency, farmer-herder clashes, the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN), Niger Delta Avengers, armed robbery, kidnapping, vote-buying, rigging of elections and all forms of corruption in the state. As unfortunate as these may seem, this is the reality that the ‘Giant of Africa' will need to overcome in order to achieve its true potentials as the greatest black nation in the world. Following Plato’s political utopia, it is said that only the philosopher in the guardian class can ‘stir up the ship of the State’ in order to guarantee the safety of lives and properties. This paper, therefore, argues that it takes a dose of philosophy to be able to tackle most of these challenges that are capable of bringing the giant of Africa to her kneels. The work concludes that the security agencies in Nigeria like the National Intelligence Agencies (NIA), State Security Services (SSS), Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI), Defense Intelligence Agency (DMI), Armed Forces and a host of others, need ideological overhauling in the intelligence and technical expertise, a thorough review of the recruitment processes, and the overall welfare of security agencies. This welfare scheme for security agencies will also feature proper language formation since Nigeria is a multicultural State. The paper adopts the analytic, speculative and the prescriptive methods of philosophy.