CRISIS OF NATIONAL VALUES AND NATIONAL SECURITY IN NIGERIA: ETHICAL GOVERNANCE, DEMOCRATIC CONSOLIDATION AND SUSTAINABLE STABILITY

The consolidation of democracy in developing states remains deeply intertwined with the moral and normative foundations. While national security strategies have predominantly emphasized military and coercive responses to threats such as the Boko Haram insurgency in the North- East, banditry and mass kidnapping in the North –West, farmer – herder conflicts in the middle belt and militancy in the Niger Delta, limited attention has been given to the underlying crisis of National values that perpetuates these challenges. This study interrogates the nexus between the value erosion of and national security in Nigeria arguing that insecurity is not solely a function of weak security architecture but also of normative decline within the polity. Drawing on a theoretical triangulation of the Social Contract Theory, Institutional Theory, and the Human Security framework or approach, the article contends that the erosion of integrity, accountability, rule of law, civic responsibility and national cohesion has significantly weakened state legitimacy and undermined governance effectiveness. Relying on qualitative analysis of secondary data, including policy reports and scholarly literature, the study finds that systemic corruption, identitybased politics, youth unemployment and institutional fragility both reflect and reinforce moral decay, thereby intensifying violence, distrust and socio- political instability. The paper concludes that sustainable national security in Nigeria requires more than military interventions; it demands ethical leadership, comprehensive civic re-orientation, institutional strengthening and inclusive governance reforms aimed at rebuilding public trust and fostering durable democratic stability.