A critical examination of the ‘Trinity’ of civil-military relations in Nigeria’s liberal-democracy, 1999-2019

Abstract

Contemporary literature on civil-military relations identifies three pillars that define the scope and role of the military in a liberal-democratic setting. These pillars are: civilian control of the military institution, military effectiveness and military efficiency. Collectively, the literature refers to them as the ‘trinity’ of civil-military relations. Since 1999, Nigeria has witnessed an unbroken chain of successive civilian administrations with a subordinated military playing a number of roles as defined by constitutional and political directives. This paper therefore, examines these pillars and the implications they have in Nigeria’s twenty-year democratic journey. It adopts comparative, institutional, legal, philosophical and historical tools in the analysis of these important elements in Nigeria’s civil-military relations. The paper finds out that the unstable and fragile nature of Nigeria’s democratic institutions are major causes of weakness in civilian control of the military and limitations in military effectiveness and military inefficiency. The paper finds out that effective legislative oversight of the military, a transparent military budgeting system and deepening the involvement of relevant agencies of actors as appropriate substitutes to the use of military force.