NIGERIA-IMF RELATIONSHIP AND ITS IMPACT ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND STANDARD OF LIVING IN NIGERIA

This study examines the relationship between Nigeria and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and also traces its impact on Human Rights and Standard of living. Therefore, it assesses the impact of IMF on Human Rights and the living standards of Nigerians, as it was assumed that Nigeria's relationship with the IMF was the key cause of poverty, social insecurity, economic inequalities and a decrease in people's living standards. Primary data sources, such as official records, newspapers, journals, and books, were used to gather data for research, while the Theory of Human Rights and Dependency Theory was used as the basis for this study. The study discovered that externally enforced economic liberalization does not enhance economic development and degrades government human rights practices. The study also assumed that Nigeria's relationship with the IMF was more detrimental than positive and thus had a direct negative impact on the general standard of living of the people. It was suggested that the government should attempt to diversify the economy, reshape its relationship with international financial institutions, such as the IMF and the World Bank, and provide people with adequate facilities to raise their living standards.


I. Introduction
Owing to its abundance of natural resources and robust population growth, Nigeria had a very promising future following its independence from the British colonialists in 1960 (Sala-i-Martin & Subramanian, 2013). Like several other African countries in the region, Nigeria was not indebted to any foreign financial institution in the 1960s and 1970s, a clean slate that provided independent decision-making in the light of national economic interests (Claudious Chikozho & Nhemachena, 2017). Oil was discovered in the present state of Bayelsa in 1956, and by 1958 Nigeria exported valuable natural resources and began a long trend of earning oil dollars to sustain its development. Certainly, Nigeria was "blessed with an abundant and viable human resource base, a favourable climate and a vast expanse of land more than twice the size of Britain (Ndimele, 2017). Despite Nigeria's vast human and natural resources over the years, the country faces enormous challenges in setting a development agenda that meets the needs of its citizens. Much of Nigeria's population are living in severe poverty, which is why Nigeria sees the need to Nigeria-Imf Relationship and Its Impact... seek assistance from developed economies and international organizations. This results to the enforcement and implementation of several structural and economic policies in Nigeria (Ayuk, 2020).
Globalization and structural adjustment programs introduced by the IMF and World Bank, particularly in developing nations such as Nigeria, have contributed to the causes of poverty and dependency, while Nigeria's human rights plight continues to deteriorate (Hopper, Lassou, & Soobaroyen, 2017). The policies put in place by the lending institutions to reduce the borrowing country's lifesavings and educational needs to qualify for loans or to repay loans have inevitably increased the burden on the borrowing country's economic prosperity, especially Nigeria (Shehu, 2018). This problem was triggered by the globalization policy, which indirectly modified the current disparities in trade laws. Democracy and the influence of rulers and political leaders, however, have increased poverty and dependency (Ahmad, 2017). Poverty was not only an economic issue; it was also a political issue (Shah, 2005). People were hungry, not because of lack of food or overpopulation, but because they were too poor to afford basic food following government austerity policies by the IMF and the World Bank (Linarelli, Salomon, & Sornarajah, 2018). Despite its relationship with the IMF which was aimed at improving and developing the nation and also raise the general living standards of the people, Nigeria is still swimming in the ocean of poverty, unemployment, inflation, low living standards and economic stagnation; problems that its relationship with the IMF was supposed to address and solve (McFerson, 2009). International financial institutions may be held liable under international law for their cooperation in the implementation of economic policies that violate human rights. The causal link between international financial institutions' assistance (in the form of loans, surveillance, and technical assistance, as well as attached conditions) in the commission of an internationally wrongful act (complicity) and the harm done (human rights violations) is clear and well documented. It was also asserted that several governments with Structural reforms or under IMF advice pursued fiscal consolidation measures that reduced social expenditures to the point where national legislation and human rights standards contained in internationally agreed conventions and recommendations of the International Labour Organization were disregarded. In many cases, this resulted in drastic reductions in social protection coverage and the appropriateness of benefits and amenities, thereby dramatically increasing poverty and economic inequality. According to the guiding principles, international financial institutions must conduct human rights impact evaluations while designing economic reform projects. The systematic assessment of such initiatives' human rights implications attempts to guarantee that harm is avoided, compensated for, and not recur.
The aim of this study is to investigate the nature of relationship that exists between Nigeria and the IMF and its effects on human rights and standard of living in Nigeria.

II. Research Method
A qualitative method of data collection has been used in the conduct of this research. Qualitative researchers frequently perform their research on the basis of a theoretical Nigeria-Imf Relationship and Its Impact... position that is often better suited to answering their research questions (Clark & Vealé, 2018). It is ideally suited for field investigation and best suited for the investigation of organizational behaviours (Wortmann, Barais, Combemale, & Wimmer, 2020) etc. Relevant journals, seminar papers, reports, and newspaper publications have also acted as a secondary source of data for this analysis.

A. The Theory of Human Rights
For the purpose of this research, Human Rights theory and Dependency theory was adopted in other to understand the relationship that exists between Nigeria and the international Monetary Fund (IMF) as well as its influence on standard of living.
Human rights have been widely regarded as universal, international, and unaffected by race, sex, religion, social status, or nationality since the United Nations General Assembly established the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) on December 10, 1948 (Sarkin, 1999). Human rights assert that "every human being, in every community, is entitled to have basic autonomy and freedoms respected and basic needs met," as Louis Henkin puts it. "If one possesses a human right, one is entitled to make a fundamental claim that an authority, or some other aspect of society, do or refrain from doing something that fundamentally impacts one's human dignity," according to the statement (Evans, 2005). Human rights are also considered to exist outside of national norms or legal systems, despite the fact that they are ineffective unless they are legally established and enforced (Steen, 2018). Finally, human rights serve as high-priority norms or prima facie rights that imply responsibilities for both persons and governments, even though the primary responsibility for protecting and upholding a citizen's rights lies with the citizen's own government (Arts, 2017).
Human rights are a product of a natural law, according to one of the earliest Western views on the subject, which stems from many philosophical or religious bases. Other views claim that human rights codify moral behavior, which is a human social product developed via biological and social evolution (as espoused by David Hume) (Williams & Hume, 1999). Human rights also are portrayed as a sociological pattern of rulemaking (as in Max Weber's work and the sociological theory of law) (Joas, 2006). The idea that individuals in a community accept rules from legitimate authority in exchange for security and economic advantage (as in John Rawls) -a social contract -is one of these ideas (Audard, 2014;Evans, 2005;Sarkin, 1999). The interest theory and the will theory are the two theories that dominate modern human rights debates. The fundamental function of human rights, according to interest theory, is to preserve and promote certain vital human Nigeria-Imf Relationship and Its Impact... interests, whereas the legitimacy of human rights is determined by the unique human capacity for freedom, according to will theory (Finlay, 2021;Nourie, 2021). The only way to '(i) make the world free of terrorism and war, as well as free of hunger, poverty, discrimination, and exploitation; (ii) establish rule of law and economic, political, and social justice; and (iii) confirm freedom of man, peace, and development worldwide,' according to Barrister Dr Mohammed Yeasin Khan, is to protect and promote human rights (Chwaszcza, 2017;Vecellio Segate, 2021).

B. The Dependency Theory
Dependency theorists characterize international aid and assistance as a mode of exploitation and self-enrichment in which peripheral nations are contingent on and dependent on core donor organizations and countries in most developed countries (S. Cornelissen, 2017;Lee & Usman, 2018). World countries are deeply divided in the direction of economic advancement (Mizero, 2018). Countries that are economically prosperous and politically stable are referred to as developed countries and countries that are financially, socially, and politically backward are referred to as developing countries or as Third World countries (Lee & Usman, 2018). While the centre is occupied by international aid organizations, Nigeria remains in the center of the periphery. On the basis of the proposal, foreign aid organizations operate: "the richer the country and the greater its investments in the fund, the more its weight in the decision-making process" (Ayinla & Folarin, 2019). International assistance, including democratization, transactional security, growth, humanitarian relief, and social welfare, is intended to have positive economic and political effects. At both the global and national levels, Andre Gunder Frank illustrates the divide. He says that in culture, the Metropolitan-Satellite relationship can also be seen (Mamphweli, 2018). The unfortunate class is abused by rich people in a nation if wealthy countries abuse the least developed countries (Ayinla & Folarin, 2019). The theory of dependency describes the link between the International Financial Institutions (IMF and World Bank) and the economy of the Nigerian nation, yet the nation suffers from extreme poverty, unemployment, and corruption (Gado & Sanusi;Nhlapo, 2020).

Literature Review
Several studies have been undertaken to understand the mechanisms and effects by which borrowing countries' economies are influenced by the IMF, but the literature has not given an accepted response to this issue. Rather, analysts and policy makers were puzzled by it. Over the years, the following schools of thought have evolved (Dreher and Vaubel, 2004;Przeworski & Vreeland, 2000). The scholars argued that the IMF had a positive influence on the borrowing countries' social and economic development (Przeworski & Vreeland, 2000). Some scholars have thought that IMF programs and their conditionality had Nigeria-Imf Relationship and Its Impact... a negative influence on the borrowing nations (Dreher and Vaubel, 2004). As Stiglitz (2007) put it, "for those in the developing countries, it does seem like another incident of the rich old boys club imposing their will." While at this specific time he only referred to the World Bank, the IMF's situation is exactly the same. While the World Bank and the IMF have consistently argued that they are helping the developing countries to adapt, to flourish in the face of financial and economic problems and in different ways, their position has also been called into question. They were blamed for weak governance, marginalization of emerging society, selective policies and hypocrisy, damage, distressing technical and economic support, and safeguarding the West's interests (Freedman, 2008;Istifanus, 2006;Stiglitz, 2007). Serious concerns are raised when an IFI introduces conditionalities in its technical assistance, monitoring, and loans without evaluating if the terms imposed may be harmful to economic, social, and cultural rights (Asad, 2020; Woo & Murdie, 2017). When human rights violations occur as a result of the implementation of such conditionalities, it is critical to ascertain who is responsible, so that both the primary perpetrators-States-and their accomplices-International Financial Institutions-can be held responsible (Heupel, Hirschmann, & Zürn, 2018). By definition, such measures have a detrimental influence on the implementation of human rights because they affect economic growth, equality, and public resources, yet international financial institutions continue to recommend them (Asad, 2020; Woo & Murdie, 2017).

A. I.M.F and Emerging Economies
Conversely, the policies or political attitudes of the IMF and the World Bank were merely a way of intimidating governments and the working classes of society. The issue of peace and stability in today's world could not be isolated from the everyday lives of hundreds of millions of people (Sorensen, 2018). It was not possible to define economic globalization as a source of economic hardship, but some socio-economic gurus claimed that globalization and the loss of jobs caused some workers to become unemployed, which indirectly affected their living conditions, salaries, medical care and home ownership (Buheji, 2018). The setbacks suffered by the working class over the last few decades in any major capitalist nation have little to do with the shifts in the system of world capitalism (Caulfield & Schettini, 2017;Sorensen, 2018). As in the past, the global drop in living standards was not the result of a lack of productive capital (Gore, Brass, Baldwin, & MacLean, 2019). Poverty and globalization have also taken place in a time of rapid technological and scientific advances, despite the fact that technology has led to substantial increases in the potential capacity of the economic system to generate the goods and services required and to increase productivity, irrespective of the policies of the IMF and the World Bank against borrowing nations (Gore et al., 2019). While the IMF has helped developing countries save insolvent banks and governments Nigeria-Imf Relationship and Its Impact... economically, there has also been a longer-term cost of how bailouts have affected the country's political process. As a result, bailouts in emerging market economies encouraged crony capitalism and helped limit the growth of democracy and change (Babatunde, 2018;Sorensen, 2018).
Moreover, in developed nations, bailouts have also undermined the economy and economic stability of a region. In short, they were mostly little more than an instrument for the IMF to provide grants to international lenders and foreign governments, whether bailouts were channeled through the IMF or the World Bank (Dauda, Idagu, & Nwokedi;Titus Ayobami Ojeyinka & Yinusa, 2020). The real agenda of the IMF in African countries, considering the crisis, was to secure debt repayments, to open up some economic multinationals that are still helping some African countries find ways to repay their loans (Babatunde, 2018). However, as a result of the failure of individual governments to fulfill the main goals set by the IMF and the World Bank, the economic problems facing developing countries today have emerged. Somehow, the economy's income is nevertheless exceeded by government spending, triggering inflation, and hurting the underclass. Subsequently, based on its financial situation, IMF support was supposed to help a nation; it may be bad news that the IMF thought intervention was necessary (Olamide, Azeez, & Adewale, 2019). Yes, liquidity support has been strategically supported by the IMF to facilitate the functioning of the economy. When the IMF intervened and had substantial money, the messaging was used with liquidity support to attempt a half-run and minimize the negative consequences. However, the negative signaling effect could not be accounted for in the case of limited IMF resources, and the existence of the IMF could be skewed (Akinbode, Okeowo, & Azeez, 2017).

B. Relationship of Nigeria with the IMF
The decision of the Nigerian government to withdraw from IMF programs was a promising move that would not last amid pressure from the economic powerhouses (Pierce, 2006;Watts, 2009). However, the IMF has had a great deal of influence over the Nigerian government, although the government has maintained that it owes its first allegiance to its own people rather than to the IFIs (Titus Ayobami Ojeyinka & Yinusa, 2020). An outline of Nigeria's colonial and post-colonial economies would therefore be very useful in understanding the complexities of the relationship between the International Monetary Fund and Nigeria (Pierce, 2006).

C. Colonial and Post-colonial Nigerian Economy: An Overview
In 1914, colonial Nigeria was the construction of England for economic exploitation, which was typical of imperial expansion during that period (A. A. Akaakar, 2019; Bakre, 2008). Dictatorial rule was a core function of the colonial state. Essentially, there were two classes-the colonizer who gave the orders, and the colonized one whose job was to carry out the instructions Nigeria-Imf Relationship and Its Impact... (Bakre, 2008;Zreik, 2016). The colonized were not in a position to refuse the orders of the "master," as this often resulted in serious punishment and often death (Zreik, 2016). No right was given to the colonized for their physical life, their territories, or even their land. The colonial state was one where everything from governance to economic production was dictated by dictatorial authority (A. A. Akaakar, 2019). Throughout Nigeria, the use of absolute force was unavoidable because the colonial state lost legitimacy as one political body with the various nationalities that were brought together in 1914 (A. A. Akaakar, 2019). Under this colonial state, the various nationalities that make up Nigeria were subjected to British political rule, whose legacy continues to dominate the political economy of Nigeria (Williams, 2019). During colonialism, policy centered on the use of force to manipulate the economic wealth of colonial territories. In accordance with that tradition, the post-colonial policy of Nigeria focuses on the "right to rule" of self-appointed military generals who, without authority, exercise a post-colonial style of governance like the colonial regime (Adeyeye, 2018).
From colonialism until now, for the highest degree of wealth expropriation, rent seeking and corruption, the state in Nigeria remains a prize to be earned by intimidation (Agbiboa, 2012;Obi, 2009). The colonial state structures were effectively "inherited" by Democratic Nigerian leaders without altering the state to reflect a post-colonial structure that represents all Nigerians equitably (Adeyeye, 2018). The state remains "completely dominant," uses it "arbitrarily," loses legitimacy with the people, and fails to mobilize them for effective economic activity at the national level. As a result, people in their ethnic communities are alienated from the state and quest for protection, warmth, and refuge. These situations make it difficult for national economic growth to develop (Hyving, 2017). In Nigeria, colonial British land nationalization had two significant implications: first, the need for fiscal self-sufficiency resulted in the use of policies that maximized Britain's revenue (Ikpeze, Soludo, & Elekwa, 2004). As a consequence, Britain encouraged regionalism and created the foster leaders of Nigeria to make its offer, mitigating the risk of the British government's overt official intervention in the production process. Second, in Nigeria, the international capitalist economic system created local producers who were stuck in a "world economy and global networks of capital" that operated on the rules and regulations that they had not helped to create, and therefore did not understand. Nonetheless, these local producers (Ikpeze et al., 2004). Furthermore, in the case of Nigeria, British imperialism's effect on the course of economic activity continues beyond the colonial era. During the first ten years of independence, the Nigerian economy witnessed rising exports of agricultural products (Korieh, 2010).
The substantial decrease in the production and export of palm oil between 1967-1968 was mainly due to the civil war, which made it difficult for the war-ravaged Eastern Region, the largest producer of palm oil, to Nigeria-Imf Relationship and Its Impact... engage in any serious economic activity (Ikpeze et al., 2004). Although agricultural production and exports remained essential components of the Nigerian economy from the colonial to the post-colonial era, their contribution to mining activity increased, but decreased compared to agricultural production and exports. For the convenience of exploiting resources to increase the wealth and power of Britain, the colonial state structure in Nigeria was established (Bryceson, 2002). In addition, the post-colonial state preserves its colonial structure to a large degree, and both politicians and colonial imperialist foster-elites continue to use it as a forum for manipulating Nigeria's national capital (Korieh, 2010). In the midst of a massive debt to international institutions and a lack of public accountability, the federal government implemented reform policies which rewarded political backers. Increased racial, religious and regional tensions, waste and corruption, financial mismanagement and misplaced economic goals ultimately forced Nigeria's structural adjustment plan by both the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to be adopted in 1986 as a prerequisite for further lending by the Fund (Manolopoulos, 2011). Over time, although unequal, the relations between Nigeria and her former colonizer and other existing representatives of the international capitalist system have remained constant (Obeng-Odoom, 2015).
However, the government has never pursued mass education, despite widespread recognition that education is a vital prerequisite for national economic development. Secondly, Nigeria's government has struggled to build infrastructure to promote industrialization. As Alexander Gerschenkron has argued about European industrialization, the state is central to the economic growth and industrialization of backward societies (Mignolo, 2002). According to Gerschenkron, the state plays a key role in the development of such important infrastructural facilities as railroads (Obeng-Odoom, 2015). Instead of concentrating on setting up public enterprises in areas such as air, rail and road transport, telecommunications, export promotion boards for agricultural goods, banking and other specialized public companies, the key decision-makers in Nigeria have sought personal wealth. In response, the central decision-makers acted as if the peasants had become the state's "enemy" and so every effort had to be made to defend the state from the people (Haggblade, Hazell, & Reardon, 2002). Academics, the IMF and the World Bank, conservative governments and their academic supporters have started to argue during this period that excessive government interference in the economy distorts prices and markets, thus slowing down economic activity. Instead of concentrating on setting up public enterprises in areas such as air, rail and road transport, telecommunications, export promotion boards for agricultural goods, banking and other specialized public companies, the key decision-makers in Nigeria have sought personal wealth (Balaam & Dillman, 2015).
Nigeria-Imf Relationship and Its Impact... In response, the central decision-makers acted as if the peasants had become the state's "enemy" and so every effort had to be made to defend the state from the people. Academics, the IMF and the World Bank, conservative governments and their academic supporters have started to argue during this period that excessive government interference in the economy distorts prices and markets, thus slowing down economic activity (Avilés, 2012). Instead of concentrating on setting up public enterprises in areas such as air, rail and road transport, telecommunications, export promotion boards for agricultural goods, banking and other specialized public companies, the key decision-makers in Nigeria have sought personal wealth. In response, the central decision-makers acted as if the peasants had become the state's "enemy" and so every effort had to be made to defend the state from the people (Schmidt, 2013). Academics, the IMF and the World Bank, conservative governments and their academic supporters have started to argue during this period that excessive government interference in the economy distorts prices and markets, thus slowing down economic activity. Palm kernels, cocoa, palm oil, groundnut, and raw cotton were the raw materials exported from Nigeria to Europe. Nigeria offers an example of an LDC economy that has long been "integrated" into the international capitalist system, contrary to the idea of liberal internationalism that lack of integration into the international capitalist system prevents development in the LDCs (Balaam & Dillman, 2015).

D. Its Implication on Standards of Living in Nigeria
Some claim that a country's economic growth has a direct effect on poverty, as gains made from growth would flow down and support the poor, leading to poverty reduction (Avilés, 2012;Bruno, Ravallion, & Squire, 1996). However, the majority today accept that neither macroeconomic stability nor economic development is adequate to alleviate poverty. Inflation mitigation is a significant objective of structural reform programs (Frankel, 2005). It is generally accepted that high inflation levels have a negative effect on development and poverty. Lending for adjustment is commonly correlated with currency devaluation. Negative associations with currency devaluation, however, exist in developed nations (Frankel, 2005). For example, Currency devaluation decreases in the budget deficit and adjustments in growth rates, inflation rates and interest rates are policies and factors that could impact poverty and income distribution. Cuts in public sector jobs resulting in at least temporary rises in unemployment and lower wages and salaries for public sector workers, would appear to increase poverty and exacerbate the distribution of income, particularly when those reductions reach low-level government employees (Fallon & Lucas, 2002).
It is uncertain how these policies impact the prices of consumer products. Entry to domestic credit is also impacting poverty and the distribution of wealth. Increased interest rates or bank reserve thresholds, as well as credit Nigeria-Imf Relationship and Its Impact... ceilings levied, would decrease access to domestic credit and make it easier for large businesses to obtain loans relative to small and medium-sized firms (Fallon & Lucas, 2002). The urban sector is usually preferred over the rural one. Domestic demand is very likely to be reduced by spending cuts or higher levels of taxes, as well as decreases in real salaries and credit restrictions (Garuda, 2000;Heimlich & Anderson, 2001). This results in a reduction in total expenditure. However, if the Nigeria's participation in IMF programs is to increase overall growth, poverty rates will decrease because of job formation. It is necessary to know the composition of growth and the sectors of the economy in which poverty predominates, in order to determine the effects of unemployment (Garuda, 2000). Agricultural development, therefore, can lead to poverty reduction if rural poverty is controlled (Nooruddin & Simmons, 2006). Most of the times, IMF projects include trade liberalisation. Most studies indicate that trade liberalization has had or may have had a positive effect on the reduction of poverty but has contributed to greater inequality (Easterly, 2000). Foreign investors benefited more from Nigeria's deregulation and liberalization of trade policy by taking advantage of the situation to bring their companies and goods into the country, as Nigeria is an import-dependent country, making it a total consumer rather than a producer (Ajulor, 2018). It is also generally accepted that financial liberalization needs to be followed by sound economic policies and legal and regulatory underpinnings in order to boost economic efficiency, since they would otherwise have a very negative impact on certain poor classes (Badru, 2018;Obijiaku, 2019). Furthermore, the nation was exposed to the manipulation of independent industries by eliminating subsidies. This is because the full removal of subsidy would give these industrialists a reason or excuse to increase the price of fuel uncontrollably, and so the victims of abuse will still remain members of the public (Adebayo, 2018;ANAGUN, 2020;Inegbedion, Inegbedion, Obadiaru, & Asaleye, 2020;O'Neil, 2019;Sheyin, 2018). In most cases, however, Nigerian leaders were more interested about the satisfaction that they would achieve from any policy they would execute and not think about anything that would contribute to the growth of the people and the country (Babatunde, 2018;Sorensen, 2018). This is why the Nigerian government's general adoption of IMF policies was widely regarded as a wrong decision for achieving socio-economic growth and development (Adeyemi, Oseni, & Tella, 2020;Ajulor, 2018;A. Akaakar, 2019;Mohammed, Ahmed, & Adedeji, 2020).

E. Its Implication on Human Rights
Although the IMF and the World Bank have long professed to be concerned about the health implications of their policy advice, evidence suggests that many of the conditions contained in structural adjustment programs violate these obligations and are harmful to health outcomes Nigeria-Imf Relationship and Its Impact... (Bohoslavsky & Rulli, 2021). Conditions of the IMF have a direct influence on the right to health in various ways. Poverty reduction, budgetary, institutional, and labor conditions, in particular, can influence the quantity and quality of services offered (like health facilities and medical supplies) (Hepzibah, 2021). As a result, countries are experiencing medical supply shortages and conventional initiatives are being used to substitute defunded health services (Uroko & Nwaoga, 2021). Institutional conditions contained in structural adjustment programs can limit the accessibility and affordability of healthcare, in addition to economic conditions limiting government spending on health. The establishment of user fees for healthcare access and co-payments for medicines or services has been a common measure. The rationale for imposing such fees was to generate more resources, improve efficiency, and increasing access (Bohoslavsky & Rulli, 2021;Hepzibah, 2021). In actuality, they have hindered the right to health of the poor and vulnerable, both by decreasing their use of such services due to exorbitant fees and by impoverishing them as a result of inevitable health expenses. In terms of labor market liberalization, the IMF has included conditions that directly affect the right to work and to decent working conditions. Their reasoning is based on supply-side economics, which states that when labor markets are flexible and labor protection costs are low, firms will invest more (Nolan & Bohoslavsky, 2020).
Critics, on the other hand, say that the IMF overlooks the human rights consequences of decreasing labor market rigidities (ALOH, IGBOKE, & EZE, 2020;Hepzibah, 2021;Ortiz & Cummins, 2021). The UN Human Rights Council concluded in a recent report on structural adjustment programs that such policies have violated international human rights obligations by weakening labor rights. Arguments linking structural adjustment programs to abuses of civil and political rights are based on two causal relationships (Bohoslavsky & Rulli, 2021). First, a direct pathway implies that conditionality-based power transfers from the state to the market can lead to an increase in rights violations by diminishing the government's ability to enforce rights (Nolan & Bohoslavsky, 2020). For example, the preservation of civil rights necessitates government spending on appropriately qualified and compensated courts, police, and military personnel, as well as institutions to monitor the activities of the latter enforcement bodies (Toussaint, 2021). Second, an indirect pathway implies that conditionality's infringement of health and labor rights leads to increased social unrest and instability, which in turn leads to violent repression by the governing government, resulting in violations of civil and political rights (Uroko & Nwaoga, 2021). Cross-national scientific work also backup the idea that structural adjustment programs are linked to increased social and political instability, such as mass protests, strikes, riots, conflict, and coups d'états (Nolan & Bohoslavsky, 2020).
Nigeria-Imf Relationship and Its Impact...

Analysis and Discussions
The study reveals that the IMF -Nigeria relationship is an exploitative one in nature. Nigeria's experience with adopting IMF supported adjustment policies has not been positive. The IMF's approach to adjustment policies has had serious social and economic consequences for the country, including a drop in output and growth rates, an increase in unemployment, and a detrimental effect on income distribution, all of which have resulted in a significant drop in the general living standards of Nigerians. These adjustment policies also have implications on the enjoyments of human rights by both the government and the populace. This result is in agreement with Taye (2021)'s observations, which states that a typical funding program usually prescribes policies that entail excessive domestic demand compression, wage cuts, and government spending reductions; these are often followed by sharp currency depreciation and import liberalization reforms, with little regard for their socially and economically destructive impact on domestic economies (Taye, 2021). This is also in line with the perception that most of the countries fully adopting the IMF's structural reforms are currently experiencing mass unemployment, poverty, increased indebtedness and dependence, low living standards, and budget deficits due to their inability to develop (Mohammed et al., 2020;Samuel, Collins, & Atama, 2019;Shafiu & Salleh, 2020). When we looked into the specific policy content of these policies, we discovered that conditionalities have largely negative consequences for the enjoyment of health, labor, civil, and political rights. This also coincides with the submissions of Ortiz (2021) and Uroko (2021) that structural adjustment programs are associated to lower economic growth, which is linked to a reduction in respect of human rights (Ortiz & Cummins, 2021;Uroko & Nwaoga, 2021).
Trade liberalization was also discovered to play an important role in economic exploitation, globalization, and dependence It was also found that the subsidy funds removed was not put into infrastructural development projects that would support the economy and bring about positive change in the country, as well as raise the living standards of the people. This coincides with number of studies relating to IMF structural policies and Nigerian Socio-economic development (DAASI & IMOH;Ejeh, 2019;Titus A Ojeyinka & Adegboye, 2017). Proponents of the Dependency Theory contends that developing economies' backwardness is caused by external conditions and influences, and that neoliberal capitalism is the root cause. What is perhaps more concerning about the IMF is the common perception among beneficiaries that they will not be able to survive any possible economic downturn without the assistance or "handout" of Western "rich" countries (Blum, 2019;L. Cornelissen, 2020;Ghosh, 2019). However, the core claim of the human rights theory is that the importance of human rights to human dignity is predicated on the reality that life would be unlivable without human rights. Despite the fact that human rights violations were rampant in Nigeria under military rule, the country's return to democracy in 1999 did Nigeria-Imf Relationship and Its Impact... not improve the situation. This was in direct opposition to expectations and predictions. However, in order to be effective, the IMF conditionality as a means of attaining development must be human-centered.

IV. Conclusion and Recommendation
Consequently, the study concluded that the relationship between Nigeria and the IMF is merely an exploitative one that contributes to dependency, economic stagnation, and underdevelopment. However, IMF programs and policies have intensified the levels of poverty and unemployment in the country, and also increases corruption among political leaders, which directly or indirectly influence resource allocation methods and adversely affect people's overall living standards. In deciding the way of achieving a policy, political leaders play an important role. Therefore, IMF policies are most likely to be structured in a way that hurts politically influential people the least, mostly at the detriment of the poor masses. The study suggested that the Nigerian government should make practicable attempts to diversify the economy, adjust the way it relates to foreign financial institutions, such as the IMF, the World Bank, etc., and provide adequate facilities for people to improve their standards of living. As a result, a human rights impact assessment should be conducted prior to the commencement of any program. It should include engagement with key parties, such as public health professionals, labor unions, the International Labor Organization, and the United Nations Human Rights Council. Programmes should also be reviewed and evaluated on a regular basis, not just in terms of their economic and budgetary goals, but also in terms of their social policy goals, such as reducing unemployment, poverty, and social exclusion, as well as increasing access to affordable health care.