Politico-Ethical Appraisal of The Nigerian State As The Actuality of Concrete Freedom: The Kantian Perspective (original) (raw)
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2020
In the 19th century, G. W. F. Hegel in his Philosophy of Right wrote that "the state is the actuality of concrete freedom." The logical import of that assertion is that individuals lack concrete freedom outside the civil state. It further implies that the state, for all practical purposes, is meant to protect the freedom of its individual members. All states can thus be understood to be the product of a compact or covenant and the Nigerian state is no exception to this rule. A logical outcome of this contract then is that the citizens of the instituted state must possess an actual freedom which the state is required to protect and preserve at all costs. This paper, therefore, conducts an assessment of the authenticity of freedom as expressed in the Nigerian state, using Kantian political and ethical thought as a guide.
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The ideal purpose of the state has been variously conceived in political theory, leading to competing theories of state, one of which is the Social Contract Theory. With its earliest systematic postulation in the political philosophy of Thomas Hobbes, this theory gained much currency in the modern era. Although it was briefly eclipsed towards the turn of that era after Kant, it has been revived in contemporary political discourse, such as it is posited by John Rawls. The Social Contract Theory is both a theory of morality as well as a theory of the state. This study focuses on the latter dimension of the theory, in which it attempts to provide philosophical basis for the existence of the state and offers justifications for political obligation. It regards the state as the product of a pact or covenant. Perhaps most importantly, it offers a rational framework for reconciling the imperatives of governmental authority with the rights of the governed. It follows from this theory that the Constitution of the state must originate from the people or at least, according to some versions of it, be a hypothetical expression of their rational will. From that premise, this work suggests that the Nigerian state should be governed on the basis of commonly shared principles of justice. It goes further to argue that the Social Contract Theory of the state is an ideal model for reconstructing Nigeria into a truly united nation-state.
APPRAISAL OF OBLIGATIONS OF THE STATE TO PROTECT HUMAN RIGHTS IN NIGERIA. By
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The concern for human rights is as old as humanity itself. In fact, the expression ‘human rights’ as term or art is of recent origin, but the idea of the inalienable rights’ of man predates the very political system, which produces the law-making institutes, as we know them today. The thrust of this paper, however, is to fill the yearning gap in the extant literature on the need to appraise the institutional mechanisms for the safeguard of the inalienable rights’ of man in Nigeria’s contemporary democratic experiment. We juxtaposed same with what obtained in precolonial Africa most especially Nigeria. Following the new thinking in the literature, we also extend our searchlight to groups rights’. Nigeria, being a plural and divided society, the paper, infers that there are a lot of loopholes in the contemporary observance of human rights’, most especially in the present euphoria of the nascent democracy. We however make some policy recommendations that can assist in sustaining, nurtu...
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