Critical Analysis of Nigeria’s National Security Strategy Through a Peace Studies Lens

This study undertakes an original critical analysis of Nigeria's National Security Strategy documents, examining their conceptualisation of peace, conflict prevention, and human security through a peace studies theoretical lens, and assessing the gap between strategic articulation and implementation outcomes across Nigeria's conflict-affected geopolitical zones. National security strategy is the highest-level expression of a state's conflict management doctrine, yet Nigerian national security strategy has not been subjected to rigorous peace studies critique that examines its underlying assumptions, blind spots, and implementation mechanisms. Employing a critical policy analysis methodology, the study analyses the 2019 National Security Strategy and its 2023 revision alongside 60 key informant interviews with national security council officials, peace studies scholars, civil society security analysts, and conflict-affected community representatives from the North East, North West, and South South zones. The theoretical framework integrates critical security studies, human security theory, and comprehensive peace frameworks. The theoretical contribution is an original Peace Studies Audit Framework for National Security Strategy evaluation, which assesses strategies across conflict prevention adequacy, human security integration, gender sensitivity, structural violence recognition, and community peace architecture alignment dimensions. Findings reveal that Nigeria's National Security Strategy is predominantly militaristic in orientation, with human security and conflict prevention dimensions treated as ancillary to traditional defence and counter-terrorism priorities. Structural conflict drivers including poverty and political exclusion receive minimal strategic attention. Recommendations include incorporating a comprehensive peace studies review process in future strategy revisions, mandating human security indicators in national security strategy implementation monitoring, and increasing civil society participation in national security strategy development processes. Keywords: national security strategy, peace studies, critical analysis, Nigeria, human security.