Politics

Nationalist movement in Nigeria or the Nigerian nationalism became formally felt after the end of British colonial rule within the country. The purposes of the movement were majorly to achieve both political and economic emancipation for the disparate groups who had come together courtesy of the amalgamation of the northern and southern protectorates in 1914, from the British colonialists. Its origin or early segment dates back to the 19th century wherein resistance struggles have been hooked up against the British penetration and activities in different territories that make up the modern-day Nigeria. This paper, consequently, examines the impacts of this movement on the actualization of Nigerian independence. A number of these affects, as discovered in this paper, have endured to bedevil the political environment of Nigeria in her efforts towards gaining political independence. Nigerians were very united in mobilizing all available resources to dislodge the colonialist that was the national enemy of the country without prejudice. It has been recommended among others that the resurgence of latest nationalist spirit in Nigerians within the face of the neocolonial global exploitations is a necessity and the battle for freedom needs to be won through the modern agents by the 21 st century's nationalists.

Political parties perform a number of functions in a political entity. Paramount amongst these functions is that of representation. In modern liberal democratic theory the electorate votes for people to represent them. Most times the platform for election is provided by political parties. Nigeria started experimenting with representative democracy in 1922. The extent of representation was so little, only four Nigerians were elected and they covered only Lagos and Calabar. With the advent of more political parties it was expected that this pattern would change. Unfortunately, even though we now have more political parties, this has not translated to representation. A number of factors have contributed to this lack of political representation in the country. These include but are not restricted to electoral fraud, the activities of godfathers, the partisan role of the electoral management body and the security agencies among other sundry reasons. This paper makes the case that in Nigeria and especially since 1999 party politics has not brought about political representation. It argues that as the number of political parties has increased in the country, there has been a paradoxical decrease in the extent and scope of representation in the country. The study the secondary method of data collection during the course of research. It is worthy to note that political parties that exist are not people centered, since the people are often manipulated out of the representational process and this ought to demise cum end.

The underlying causes of xenophobia are complex and varied. Xenophobia has to do with contemptuous of that which is foreign, especially of strangers or of people from different countries or cultures. Unemployment and mounting poverty among South Africans at the bottom of the economic ladder have provoked fears of the competition that better educated and experienced migrants can represent. South Africa's long track-record of violence as a means of protest and the targeting of foreigners in particular; and, the documented tensions over migration policy and the scale of repatriation serve a very good explanation for its xenophobia. It was clear that while most of the attacks were directed against foreign, primarily African, migrants, that this was not the rule. Attacks were also noted against Chinese-speakers, Pakistani migrants as well as against South Africans from minority language groups (in the conflict areas). Settlements that have recently experienced the expression of 'xenophobic' violence have also been the site of violent and other forms of protest around other issues, most notably service delivery. The failure of government in service delivery was vexed on this form of xenophobia (HSRC, 2008). Due to the increase in migration, this conflict is certainly not temporary in nature. Xenophobia manifests in different regions and communities, with devastating effects on the affected nationals. Nigerians living in South Africa have been objects of severe attacks and assault as a result of this xenophobic attitude. It is against this background that this study seeks to investigate the xenophobic attacks against Nigerians in South Africa. The methodology adopted by the paper is basically qualitative with the use of secondary sources such as Books, Journals, Newspapers and internet sources.

Marxist theory has continued to be a source of hypothesis to many theorists in the world, and which has created a “theorizing puzzle” in the realm of social reality. The quest to solve the puzzle has led to divergent paradigms of Marxism. The reasons for these are two fold . Ideology: which according to George Ritzer (2000) and Mihaly Vadja(1981) whom I shall continuously refer to in this thesis; was the nature of the ideology and not the existence of ideology as such that made many social theorist to have a strand on Marxism. Marx radical ideas and the social changes it professes at the early time does not fit into the social order and reality of time, this was because conservative to the disruptions of the Enlightenment and French Revolution and its dislocations. The capitalist West was uncomfortable with Marx theorizing as it hinges on the oppressiveness and emancipation of the masses (proletariats), of the emerging modern capitalist system been brought about by the industrial revolution of the 19th century in Europe, and the overthrow of the system. The capitalist (bourgeoisie), sought therefore, to develop counter theories that would demystify Marx paradigms. In view of the above, Marx prepositions were too dangerous and stood in contrast to Western bourgeois ideology and the interest it represents that professes conservative reforms and orderly social change in the system hence the urgency to tame the theory.

The aim of this paper aims to interrogate the challenges of conducting credible elections in Nigeria’s current democratic dispensation. It specifically periscopes the role of the Election Management Body (EMB), namely the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the conduct of elections. Whilst acknowledging that the conduct of elections since 1999 has been regular and common, heralding democratic progress and optimism, these elections however, are fraught with irregularities and defects that not only undermine the entire democratic process more generally, but specifically also impinge on the capacity of the EMB to conduct credible elections. Although the study adopted the secondary means of data collection whilst finding out that the challenges faced by the election management body is mainly from its internal and external stakeholders such as the political parties, mass media and it’s staff. This has consequently necessitated the requirement for and implementation of electoral reforms, leading to improvements in the conduct of elections particularly as we approach the 2019 general elections. The paper concludes by highlighting the fact that the effectiveness of the EMB and consolidation of democracy in Nigeria depend to a considerable extent on the further implementation of electoral reforms which is quite paramount.

This study examines the political economy of Sino-African land acquisition with emphasis on land use for agriculture. Set within an institutions framework, it articulated a discourse on the motivation of Chinese cooperation with Africa. On China’s role in Africa, the chapter identifies pessimistic views that focus on the potential imperialist character of China in African development as well as optimistic views which posit that African states have a crucial role to play in being architects of their own development, by setting institutions in place to maximize gains from Chinese development cooperation. From an historical perspective, large-scale land acquisition involves dispossession of land capital, legal aspects of property rights - which have gendered perspectives - and information asymmetry, all of which are recognized challenges to foreign investment in Africa. The chapter amplifies the silent reality that other emerging economies such as India and Brazil can influence agrarian transformation of Africa.

Nigeria has over 7000 tourist centers, with more than 4000 yet to be explored. The Yankari Game Reserve in Bauchi State, Nigeria, is perhaps the most popular game reserve in the West African sub-region, a revenue generating natural edifice that has in years spoke volumes of the fact that tourism is becoming an essential part of the country's economy. The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) in 2014 also envisaged a growth of 6 percent per annum for period of ten years for the Nigerian tourism industry. In view of this, the study focuses on empirical investigation of the contribution of the rapidly developing tourism sector to economic growth in Nigeria. This study adopted the secondary method of data collection. The findings reveal a unilateral causality and positive long-run between tourism development and economic growth via tourism generated foreign exchange in Nigeria. The tourism-led growth is also thus confirmed for Nigeria. The study recommends adequate security, increase investment in infrastructure and tourist centers to boost tourism activities in the country.

The Nigerian economy slid into recession path in the first quarter of 2016. The negative consequence of the recession has led to the reduction of standard of living and the quality of life of the people and increase in poverty rate. This paper seeks to examine and analyzed the main reasons for the emergence of the current economic recession in Nigeria. The paper gives a theoretical exposition of how government policies can potentially curb the recession and enhance better economic well-being of the Nigerian populace. The finding of the study indicates that the main causes for the emergence of the economic recession in Nigeria can be group under three main factors: legacy factors, policy factors and political/security factors. The paper recommends among other, effective government intervention through an effective synchronization between measures of fiscal and monetary policy in the direction of increasing liquidity in the economy, decreasing interest rates, increasing investment and employment, increasing the income of economic entities and finally, in the direction of increasing aggregate demand as an exit from the phase of recession.

With the increase in general demands for socioeconomic and developmental services, along several plans and resources committed to public services by Nigerian government, poor service delivery has continued to bedeviled development in post-independence Nigeria. The findings of this study links factors such as lack of accountability, political instability, governance constraints, corruption, bad-governance and Western penetration among others to developmental failure via service delivery in Nigeria. However, this study adopts the secondary method of data collection and argues that poor service delivery attitudes have impacted negatively on developmental programmes in Nigeria. Thus, for Nigeria to achieve speedy development, there must be a positive change in the attitudes of government and its officials towards service delivery the following recommendations of this study is to ensure fairness, responsiveness, equity, accountability and justifiable profit maximization which are necessary ingredients for boosting peoples' confidence in the government and its institutions, which would help the government to garner peoples support required for developmental programmes and discourage or minimize other anti-developmental pathologies in Nigeria.

Growing Entrepreneurship is the engine room that is critical to the development of societies. Entrepreneurs however, cannot work in isolation; they need the right environment to thrive.the paper adopted the interview method of the primary methodology in data sourcing, The findings of this paper is for the judicial system, the educational system, the financial system and general government policies should be such that encourage and promote entrepreneurship. Thus the paper recommends the that Basic infrastructures such as power, water, and transport systems are necessary to boost entrepreneurship thus creating a better entrepreneurial society via creating an enabling environment and support for entrepreneur, creation of a curriculum of entrepreneurship and rebasing of the private sector.

Procurement is an integral part of policy implementation process as it sees to the actual acquisition of materials that help to concretize policies by governments at all levels. The focus of this paper is an assessment of the electronic procurement otherwise known as e-procurement and accountability in Nigeria with special attention on the Gwagwalada Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja-Nigeria. It was discovered that most contracts that are awarded in the area council have had to go through the rigorous processes of physical submission of tenders, bidding, signing of contracts as well as procurements. These have affected the level of transparency, credibility and efficiency of procurement in the administration of the Council. Data were collected through both primary and secondary method with the use of the Adaptive Structuration Theory (AST) of DeSanctis and Poole as the theoretical framework. The conclusion is that the Area Council, like other local government areas of the federation has serious challenge in its procurement process with attendant effects on policy implementation, hence, the need to adopt the e-procurement system by the area council. It is recommended among others that the entire procurement process in Nigeria should be electronically carried out, there is need to train the local government procurement officers on the use of ICT devices for procurements, and also create electronic platforms for residents of the Area Council to adequately take part in policy implementation through e-procurements.

The phenomenon of displacement continues to elicit real momentum and global attention especially as a result of increased terrorist activities happening in virtually all continents of the world. From the Americas to Asia, from Europe to Africa, terrorism has since taken firm foothold in several nations, challenging their sovereignties, ossifying development possibilities, straining social relations and stampeding citizens' existentialism. In the case of Nigeria, Boko Haram terrorism or Boko Haramism has led to the displacement of families, communities, whole local government areas, a situation which has naturally created a deluge of internally displaced persons (IDPs), forced migrants and refugees with some victims suffering multiple displacements within a very short period of time. Adopting the Eastonian Systems Theory and the Descriptive Analysis as its Methodology, the study showed the causes and costs of Boko Haramism purely from the point of view of development ossification-unveiling that this negative trend has led to loss of economic manpower, resources; destruction and degradation of viable structures, forcing the Nigerian State to divert funds meant for development to rescuing, rehabilitating and reintegrating displaced persons-and so-called repentant terrorists. The study concluded by asserting that Boko Haram-instigated displacement has inevitably negated development in the Northeast region. It thus recommended that while the Nigerian State find lasting solution to the intractable 'curse' of Boko Haramism in the Northeast, it cautions that the proposed North East Development Commission (NEDC) should be properly managed so that it will not turn out like the NDDC which has hitherto been unable to effect any meaningful development in the Niger Delta, hence the continued spate of militancy in that region.

This research examined the nexus between power devolution and economic diversification in Nigeria. It did this by undertaking an intellectual introspection into how the prevailing monocultural economy and monocratic polity were imposed on Nigeria during the epoch of colonial rule and how they were subsequently retained by Nigerian politicians who are largely abdullistic capitalists because the inherited reality served their rapacious intents for primitive accumulation and political domination. The research employed the Marxian theory of Economic Determinism as its framework of analysis and Content Analysis as its methodology. In the end it was able to establish that Nigeria's current monocratic political posture has inevitably negated any attempt at diversification because it has made the country excessively centrist, statist and ipso facto totalistic. It further established that as the nation's center became over-empowered the component states and local councils were simultaneously disempowered and so were encouraged to be lazy and beggarly to the end that political patronage rather than economic productivity became the only recognizable access to the national cake which continues to get narrower and increasingly monocultural. The study also discovered that Nigeria of today is far more monocultural than it was in the colonial times. This is so because in the colonial era at least no fewer than four commodity exports were produced, namely cocoa, cotton, rubber, palm oil, groundnut, etc. But today, the only recognizable export commodity is oil at its crude state. It thus recommended among other things that: Government should make conscious and concerted effort at reviewing the country's constitution in a way that transfers land management and resource control to the states and councils while the center maintains defence and external relations; and that, at the state and council levels, Government should encourage diversification by making available credit facilities at minimal interest rates.

ABSTRACT Based on historical antecedent, the Nigeria Police constitutes a crop of public servants who enforces civil and criminal laws. However, they are notorious for abressive corrupt acts such as bribe collection. If the enforcers of the law are breakers of the law, who is to be trusted in the society? This paper examined how corruption constitutes obstacles to effective policing and undermines professionalism of the Nigeria Police Force. The methodology adopted in the study was secondary source of data collection and structured interviews. The findings of the study indicated that The Nigeria Police Force has been compromised by corruption, and this has maligned its image as an effective organ for maintaining peace and order in Nigeria. The paper recommended that professionalism should be the philosophy that guides the Police Force. Circuit televisions and tapes should be provided to highway police men and majority of the police men should be given high incentives.

This article seeks to shed more light on the correlation between insecurity and National development in a bid to make findings on the gains made towards the fight against insecurity and the loses it has brought with it.

In democratization of any nation political parties play a very critical role. Central to the successes and failures of electoral politics is the cardinal and strategic functions of this all important and an integral organ of democratization which is core to its development, and this organ has not lived up to expectation in its supposed role of consolidating democracy in Nigeria, via its inability to tackle its challenges towards that drive. The dawn of the Nigerian fourth republic has witnessed renewed and sustained activities of political parties which are the most complex and critical institutions of democracy but undoubtedly has either shaped or stagnated the deepening and consolidation of democracy. With heavy reliance on secondary data supported by analytical approach, the paper x-rayed the role of political parties in consolidating democratic process in the Nigeria's Fourth Republic. The paper identified the challenges plaguing democratic consolidation since the commencement of the fourth republic to include: Lack of institutionalization and personalization of political parties; Godfatherism; absence of internal democracy within the political parties and incessant party/political violence. The party system in Nigeria is still weak and vulnerable with no visible signs of adding value to the democratic consolidation. It is recommended that for the political party to achieve its role in consolidating democracy, it ought to imbibe and inculcate organizational capacity, effective leadership, internal democracy, discipline, institutionalization and personalization, ideological platforms of mobilization and linkage to civil society.

The Nigerian public administration mission statement anchors on providing a professional public administration fit for sound public sector management. Using a qualitative methodology that focuses on descriptive analysis, this paper examines professionalism of public administration in line with the various policy and regulatory frameworks put in place to enforce professional conducts. The impact of unprofessionalism in the Country's public administration is a large scale unethical behavior which has over the years resulted in the compromise of basic principles and values. This subverts the very essence of public administration existence in terms of providing efficient, responsible and professional service in line with sustainable public interest. The paper reflects on public administration practices, identifies some obstacles to professionalism and amongst other propositions strongly recommends for good governance in the Country. The paper contributes to current discussions on enhancing professionalism of public administration in Nigeria and elsewhere.