The military and human rights violations in post-1999 Nigeria: Assessing the problems and prospects of effective internal enforcement in an era of insecurity

Nigeria is currently faced with a series of internal security challenges that threaten the very existence of the country. In the areas where conflict has erupted, the military has been consistently accused of violating human rights during its operations. The aim of this article is to explore the claims of human rights abuses levelled against the military and assess the prospect of an effective internal enforcement mechanism. The study that forms the basis of this article involved interviews with 18 high-ranking serving and retired military officers. The empirical results suggest that there are four main areas that need to be strengthened to limit the alleged cases of human rights violations.