Abstract
It is impossible to achieve social peace without social justice. Where there are injustices of any kind, the tenability of peace is low. Peace is not peace if it only guarantees the absence of war. A state or society can be free from war but still grapple with chaos and conflict because of the deep-seated injustices in the system. For example, besides the civil war of 1967-1970, Nigeria has witnessed a long season of negative peace that is laced with generations of agitations and protests especially from the disgruntled elements in the country as a result of systemic injustices. This paper discusses the complementarity of social peace and social justice – arguing primarily, that peace cannot reign anywhere without justice. And even if such a society exists, the best it has is negative peace, which is the absence of war.