HUMAN PERSON AND SOCIAL CONTRACT EXPERIENCE IN NIGERIA: LESSONS FROM JOHN LOCKE

Chukwuemeka Iloanya, Patrick Bosah, Chijioke Okoye

Abstract


Social contract in civil societies visible in periodic elections predicates on protection and preservation of human lives and properties. But consistent absence of this expectation in Nigerian state shows that successive governments have no regard for this contract. Instead, these governments engage in policies and governance that foster their personal aggrandizement and threaten human lives, properties and survival. This paper analytically examines social contracts in Nigerian state proposing John Locke’s theory as that which will be functional in Nigerian context. The study finds that the problem with Nigeria is that of poor leadership. And this has encouraged a culture of neglect in almost every sector of the public service. The paper believes that application of John Locke’s social contract theory will enhance a better understandingbetween Nigerian government and the citizenry. The paper therefore concludes that John Locke’s social contract theory has all it takes to make every government functional. This is especially the civil disobedience aspect of it which is a kind of revolution that topples governments, as well as an option left to the citizenry when the social contract is reneged by their representatives.

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