Abstract This paper contributes to the debate on the limited efficacy of civil society in Africa. It examines the complex interface between notions of civil society and citizenship within the context of the postcolonial state in Africa. It argues that the bifurcated character of citizenship is implicated in the inefficacy of civil society. This is underlined by the limited achievements in social citizenship, aggravated by the economic crisis and neoliberal reforms of the 1980s and 1990s as w...
The security situation in Nigeria at the moment has deteriorated at a geometric rate. This paints a very ugly writing on the wall and thus elicited very fundamental questions: is the heightened insecurity political or is it a function of a failed state? ...
ABSTRACT Globalisation is a multi-dimensional phenomenon with diverse consequences. The nature of the consequences has, however, remained contentious. There are contending perspectives on the effects of globalisation on modern states, particularly developing countries. In-depth studies that examined the cogency of these perspectives in relation to the Nigerian State are sparse. This study examined the manifestation of globalisation in Nigeria between 1985 and 2007 and its effects on the Stat...
Abstract This work studies the intellectuals in Nigeria and their roles in the policy process. After a careful identification of the roles which have been played by Nigeria’s intellectuals since Nigeria’s independence, the paper adopts the belief system framework of public policy analysis together with three ideological categorization of individual personalities. It provides a theoretical cum ideological explanation for the different roles played by these intellectuals in different areas...
Abstract Perception studies of corruption have proliferated in the last decade. However, there is a lingering controversy over the proper us of the outputs from such studies to benefit anti-corruption efforts. Against this backdrop, these paper reviews the theoretical context of the perception studies of corruption and their justifications. It examined key perception studies of corruption at the global, regional and national levels in relation to Nigeria and discusses key issues associated w...
ABSTRACT Nigeria marked her 50 years of independence in October 2010. More than three decades of this period were under autocratic military rule. The current experiment with democracy, the Fourth Republic, which commenced on 29 May 1999 when retired General Olusegun Obasanjo was swornin as president, is the longest attempt of practicing democratic governance in the history of the country. Indeed, the successful transition from one democratic government to another in 2007 and the peaceful tran...
ABSTRACT The relatively low level of women political representation between 1999 (7.5%) and 2011 (14.0%), at the federal level, is an indication that women are marginalised in governance in Nigeria. Previous studies on gender relations and governance in Nigeria largely focused on the marginalisation of women by men with negligible attention on the role of women in this gender-based political imbalance. This study, therefore, investigated the role of women in women‟s marginalisation in gove...
ABSTRACT In spite of their critical role and strategic importance as a check on the executive and a bridge between the government and the people, sub-national legislatures have remained largely understudied in Nigeria. This study, therefore, examined the performance of the Ogun State legislature in law-making, representation and oversight, as one of the most volatile and conflictual legislatures in Nigeria between 1999 and 2011. The theory of institutionalisation focusing on autonomy, intern...
ABSTRACT Nigeria’s federal public service had been subjected to a series of reforms since the reinventing government ideas came with the structural adjustment programmes in the late 1980s and became fully embraced in 1999 as part of democratic reforms. More recently, the reforms have been driven by the need to make the public service supportive of the government’s vision of a globally competitive economy. This broad goal of global competitiveness provides a basis for evaluating the reform...
ABSTRACT Nigeria began to reform its security sector as part of the transition from military to civilian rule at the start of the new millennium. The reforms began with an effort to convince the armed forces to return to their barracks and keep to their constitutional role as guardians of the state. Elections were conducted and a civilian administration took control of the government and military in a short transition programme organised by General Abdulsalami Abubakar’s regime. The Obasanj...
ABSTRACT The Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) was established by an Act of Parliament in 2000, Act 581, to promote the development of education in the country. Notwithstanding the wellcrafted nature and noble intentions of the GETFund policy, its implementation has suffered setbacks. Analysis of data collected revealed that GETFund has been politicized. Its implementation has generated conflict among competing forces including disagreements, suspicions and an effort to sidestep frontline ...
ABSTRACT Ghana’s steady progress toward democratic consolidation has received significant applause worldwide. Notwithstanding this achievement, the selection of beneficiaries of poverty alleviation programmes by incumbent government has often been compromised for political gains. Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme was introduced a decade ago by the state with the aim of using it to alleviate the suffering of the extremely poor and the vulnerable. This study set o...
ABSTRACT The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were a pledge to uphold the principles of human dignity, equality and equity, and free the world from extreme poverty. The MDGs, with eight goals and a set of measurable time bound targets were established to tackle the most pressing development challenges of our time (MDGs Report, 2014).The main objective of the MDGs is to make the world a global village, which will eventually; make everyone proud of their environment (MDGs Report, 2012)....
ABSTRACT It is expected that there will be a cordial relationship between the mining companies and their host communities due to their (gold mining companies and host communities) supposed interdependence, However, the extraction of gold has caused widespread disaffection between gold mining companies and their host communities leading to significant backlash and occasionally, violent conflict. The research therefore, sorts to find the causes of the conflict between gold mining companies and ...
Abstract The objective of the research conducted for the purpose of this report was to collect data that gave an overview of the socio-economic profiles of constituents across the Northern Province which could be assessed to analyse voting behaviour and identify key action points for future programme work and research. There is very little data currently available in Sierra Leone, especially research that focusses on political participation and governance related issues. Exit poll surveys and...