INSURGENCY, COUNTER-INSURGENCY AND HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN NIGERIA

Insurgents' activities and government's counter-insurgency operations have claimed hundreds of lives and destroyed many human habitations and sources of livelihoods across Nigeria. Essentially, the rising wave of insurgency has overwhelmed the internal security capacity of the police and has consequently increased the involvement of the military in internal security operations. Over the years various Joint Military Task Forces (JTFs) have been established and mandated to carry out counterinsurgency operations across the country. Insurgents' activities and counter-insurgency operations of the various JTFs have destroyed entire communities and killed hundreds of Nigerians including innocent civilians. The essay examines the human rights implications of government's counter-insurgency initiatives in Nigeria, and concludes that the operations of the JTFs have actually protracted the spate of violence against the civilian populations they are meant to protect. The essay proposes that the desirability of a counter-insurgency strategy should be determined by its capacity to protected civilians from human rights abuses and violent attacks.