TOPICAL ISSUES IN NIGERIA'S POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT


Book Description

Nigerians love to debate. Even under colonial rule, the authorities realised that Nigerians could not be repressed and that they always expressed their views on topical issues of development. The topical issues that have driven Nigeria's political economy include Constitution and Constitutionalism, Democracy, the National Question, Civil-Military Relations, Federalism, State and Nation-Building, Local Governance, Leadership, the Role of Traditional Rulers, the Economy and Religion.This volume is a selection of some of Professor Elaigwu's contributions to these debates. In it, Elaigwu, a leading Nigerian political scientist, argues that the challenges facing the country are not unsurmountable and that Nigerians must take the destiny of their country in their hands and look inwards to deal with the country's weaknesses while strengthening her capacity and resolve to become an industrialised and powerful country within a limited space of time.




Contemporary Nigerian Politics


Book Description

In 2015, Nigeria's voters cast out the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP). Here, A. Carl LeVan traces the political vulnerability of Africa's largest party in the face of elite bargains that facilitated a democratic transition in 1999. These 'pacts' enabled electoral competition but ultimately undermined the party's coherence. LeVan also crucially examines the four critical barriers to Nigeria's democratic consolidation: the terrorism of Boko Haram in the northeast, threats of Igbo secession in the southeast, lingering ethnic resentments and rebellions in the Niger Delta, and farmer-pastoralist conflicts. While the PDP unsuccessfully stoked fears about the opposition's ability to stop Boko Haram's terrorism, the opposition built a winning electoral coalition on economic growth, anti-corruption, and electoral integrity. Drawing on extensive interviews with a number of politicians and generals and civilians and voters, he argues that electoral accountability is essential but insufficient for resolving the representational, distributional, and cultural components of these challenges.




Nigerian Politics


Book Description

This volume engages in an in-depth discussion of Nigerian politics. Written by an expert group of Nigerian researchers, the chapters provide an overarching, Afrocentric view of politics in Nigeria, from pre-colonial history to the current federal system. The book begins with a series of historical chapters analyzing the development of Nigeria from its traditional political institutions through the First Republic. After establishing the necessary historical context, the next few chapters shift the focus to specific political institutions and phenomena, including the National Assembly, local government and governance, party politics, and federalism. The remaining chapters discuss issues that continue to affect Nigerian politics: the debt crisis, oil politics in the Niger Delta, military intervention and civil-military relations, as well as nationalism and inter-group relations. Providing an overview of Nigerian politics that encompasses history, economics, and public administration, this volume will be useful to students and researchers interested in African politics, African studies, democracy, development, history, and legislative studies.




Contemporary Development Issues in Nigeria


Book Description

Africa today confronts, and is known for, daunting developmental challenges, despite the abundant human and material resources and significant global development assistance. A number of issues have been identified as causes of the continent’s poor development performance. However, a number of these implicated issues have been insufficiently unaccounted for, and the majority of existing analysis on them is too generic and misinformed. Against this background, this book uses Nigeria as an example to contribute knowledge and informed research to the wider African continent. Nigeria is the most populous nation in Africa, and is one of the continent’s most resource-endowed countries, but, despite this, it is one of the poorest countries in the entire world. While many studies have examined the country in depth, its continued development complications and its paradoxical status on the world stage suggest that there is still a need to better understand the country. Even though the issues of Nigeria are engaged with directly in this book, the findings have implications and relevance for the rest of the continent and many other developing countries in general. As such, this book will be of particular interest to all development students, scholars, practitioners and policy makers, especially those interested in the sustainable development of Africa, both now and in the future.




Nigeria in the Fourth Republic


Book Description

Nigeria is a bellwether, in an enormous continent, endowed with natural resources and human capital, whose development and greatness have been marred by political instability since gaining home-rule from Britain in 1960. The contemporary political, economic, and social quandaries that have stultified Nigeria’s growth project flows from difficulties in cultivating patriotic leaders with pluck to enact efficacious policies that will catapult the country to greater heights developmentally. Nigeria in the Fourth Republic: Confronting the Contemporary Political, Economic, and Social Dilemmas, edited by E. Ike Udogu, examines some of the vital issues responsible for the current political malaise and recommends strategies for exculpating the country from her current political quagmires. The contributors to this book argue, inter alia, for the avoidance of false starts reminiscent of the military interventions that aborted the democracy project and advocates the enactment of effective policies to supersede decision dictated by politics. This volume proposes national healthcare strategies to address the country’s healthcare needs and for dialogue to extinguish combustible inter-religious conflicts. The book recommends ways to assuage police highway malfeasance and explains why human rights observance is critical to further national cohesion while creating space for the subalterns to have their voices heard in discourses on how to advance peaceful coexistence.




The Roots of Political Instability in Nigeria


Book Description

The constant drumbeat of headlines about Darfur, Zimbabwe, Sudan, Somalia, as well as the other states in Africa that are beleaguered by political instability have made the causes of failed states and intra-state political conflicts a major issue, both academic and practical. Using Harry Eckstein and Ted R. Gurr's congruence-consonance theoretical framework of regime classification, E.C. Ejiogu examines the internal variations of society evident in the Nigerian state to explain why the country experiences political conflict and instability. The first time this theoretical framework has been applied to an African country; E.C. Ejiogu offers a balanced and interdisciplinary analysis of the evolution in the Nigerian political system and the role played by evolved social traits in society. Exploring themes such as colonial rule and legacies, economic development, political authority and religion, Ejiogu insists that it is critical to examine Africa's diverse nationalities in terms of their geography, social, economic and authority patterns as critical elements that are disregarded in accounts of their political development. At a time when the question of state building in Africa is still unresolved, this timely book is a major contribution to the literature on transition processes in African politics and is particularly relevant to scholars and policy makers wanting to grapple with the issues associated with Africa's political disorder and the other social problems it spawns.




Democratic Governance and Political Participation in Nigeria 1999 - 2014


Book Description

The year 1999 was a watershed in the history of Nigeria as it witnessed the peaceful transfer of power from the military to the political class. Given Nigerias tumultuous history of successive military interventions, this development was the first genuine transition that saw the military elite transferring political power to civilians without itching to stage a comeback. This edited volume, composed of 22 chapters discusses the form, trajectory and substance of democratic governance in post-military Nigeria between 1999 and 2014. It is a compilation of well researched essays and narratives on Nigerian government and politics. The book is a multi-disciplinary assessment of Nigerias democratic strides, including contributions from scholars in a broad range of disciplines such as history, sociology and anthropology, political science, economics, international relations, among others. The book examines the factors responsible for the resilience of the current democratic governance structures, in spite of centripetal and centrifugal forces frustrating democratic consolidation in the country. It equally interrogates these factors and makes appropriate recommendations for overcoming them. Key themes covered in the book in the Boko Haram insurgency, governance and corruption, militancy, sharia law, Islamic banking amongst others. It sheds light on contending issues affecting, afflicting and retarding the countrys progress. Issues like ethnicity, electoral corruption, human rights abuses, privatization of national assets, kidnapping and armed robbery, overbearing leadership personality and many more are critically discussed. Local government autonomy and the challenges of grassroots development and civil service administration are also thoroughly analysed. Democratic Governance and Political Participation in Nigeria 1999-2014 is a detailed, exhaustive, deep, stimulating and captivating narrative of the Nigerian situation. It is enthusiastically recommended for those who wish to know more about contemporary Nigerian history. As a collection of contemporary issues on the Nigerian government and politics, the book is recommended for courses in politics and governance in Nigeria in particular and Africa in general. It is an invaluable companion for both graduate and undergraduate students as well as scholars of African politics.







A Sleeping Giant?


Book Description

This edited volume explores Nigeria’s domestic and international politics and its implications for the country’s national development and international status. Coinciding with the twenty year anniversary of Nigeria’s return to democratic rule, this volume considers the state of democracy in Nigeria and examines its successes and challenges with a view towards offering possible solutions for the country’s future development. The first half of the volume addresses domestic politics, focusing on current issues such as the 2019 elections, Nigerian federalism, media, state-civil society relations, and Boko Haram terrorism. The second half looks at Nigeria’s relations with its African neighbors, discussing the relationships between Nigeria and South Africa, Egypt, Ghana, and Cameroon, among others. Engaging the full spectrum of the politics of a rising African power, this volume will be of interest to students and researchers of comparative politics, international relations, foreign policy, African studies, regional politics, peace, security, conflict, and development studies, as well as African policymakers.