The Ethics of Care for “Others”: A Template for Addressing Security Problems in Nigeria

Abstract

Generally, insecurity in Nigeria is no longer news. This insecurity finds expression socially, politically, economically and physically. This paper, however, focuses on the threat to life and property that has become recurrent in recent times; especially earmarked by the recent cases of kidnapping, robbery, terrorism and genocide. Using the analytic and expository methods, findings show that an economic distributive injustice is a major factor contributing to the high rate of poverty and insecurity in the country today. The consciousness that everyone ought to fend for himself has left the vulnerable, the weak and the natural environment abandoned for decades. The result is what we are witnessing today– banditry, kidnapping for ransom, etc. However, the situation inadvertently reveals our interconnectedness in the society. The paper argues that the existential ethics of acknowledging and appreciating our interconnectedness with the ‘other ’is a moral sensitivity that can engender care for others, and reduce security challenges in Nigeria.