DEBT, TIME VIOLENCE, AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to analyze government‘s borrowings in the purview of time violence with recourse to the adverse effects that bad debts could have on succeeding generations. Using Nigeria as a case, we argue that there is a nexus between debt, its management, time violence, and sustainable development. If the purpose of debt acquisition is altruistic, and the processes of the utilization of its proceeds are transparent, it is likely to be sustainable and self- servicing. Otherwise, debt would become a menace over time and culminate in time violence to generations who neither incurred nor benefited from the debt. Consequently, debt should be conceived and analyzed as a security threat that is capable of hurting and destabilizing a country through a myriad of ways. While borrowing may be inevitable, debt must be properly securitized to foreclose its attendant violence. This study, thus, offers a security dimension to extant studies and analyses on Nigerian sovereign debt. The study is qualitative with data sourced from primary and secondary sources.