BACKGROUND
OF THE STUDY
Political
stability according to David Sanders is the discontinuity of a system or the
frequency of unstable of unstable events in a political system (sanders
1981:49).Political instability has become a common place in Nigeria’s
socio-economic and political society due to the heterogeneous background in
which she is composed of. This instability most often arises from the
interaction among members of the society of different; ethnicity political,
cultural and religious affiliation to mention but these few. This interaction
at times leads to misunderstanding, disagreement and confrontation.
According
to professor Ango Abdusalahi (paper presented at the 50TH anniversary
of Sam Nda-Isaiah, publishers of leadership Newspaper) “tribalism, ethnicity
and sectionalism plays the most part of Nigeria’s political instability” most
of the military intervention experienced in Nigeria from January 15th
1960 to 1998 where inspired by tribal and ethnic tendencies inherent in the
country’s social diversity in which Kogi state is a component. The civil war of
1967 to 1970 the creation of states and response to continuing pressure arising
from tribal and ethnic affiliations and loyalties. The constitution of the
country has been several times since independence in 1960 till date to address
political instability arising from tribalism, ethnicity sectional sentiments.
Against
the background , one is not surprised that heterogeneous, society like Kogi
state that has many ethnic diversions, cleavages and attachment to ethnic
tribal and sectional feelings coupled with the issue of economic mismanagement,
bad political leader and socially disoriented nation could be faced with such
gruesome and inhuman plague that has been witnessed since independence. It is
also surprising as it is funny that this unending political instability that
thrived during colonial era still thrives in Nigeria after her independence as
Nigeria colonial history and heritage unfortunately provides an atmosphere that
is conducive for breeding of political instability.
Having
studied the instability in Nigeria, Mathew Hassan cited Basic Davidson in his
study of crisis surrounding the African states of which Nigeria is a member. He
came to a sobering conclusion that colonial Africans had sowed seeds that would
make the project of states craft in Africa a long, tiresome, oppressive
exercise in frustration, that leading her to refer to it as a cures (Mathew
2000:19).
Many
would argue that the post colonial projects was bound to fail due to its
inherent use of legitimacy and literal
contractions which existed with the system inherited by the Nigeria elites.
This inherited system has aggravated the country on the dependence on foreign
ideas and foreign technologies. The overall consequence is that the country has
virtually lost control of the commanding height of her economy. That is why
Nigeria in which Kogi state is a part of its paradoxically rich and poor at the
same time. Many factors has been observed by many scholars to be responsible
for Nigeria political instability such as: arrest of charismatic leaders e.g.
chief Obafemi Awolowo, M.K.O Abiola etc. issues of Nigeria and salaries,
rigging of election, military coup etc all these factors calls for people for
peoples protest by way of rioting, which may result to indefinite strike as
seen in the unending strike in the educational section and crisis. All these
invariably disintegrated the socio- economic system of the country.
S.E
Okoh cited plato and Aristotle on the need for state formation. They both said:
”State formation is to enable the citizens to achieve happiness and good life. This interpreted in our modern day means that this is the responsibility of government to help improve the socio-economic welfare of its citizens and quality of life of its people” (Okoh 1987:39)
However
this research work is geared towards explaining Impact of of political instability on the socio
economic development of Nigeria( A case study
of Kogi state).
Anonymous, U (2020). Impact of Political Instability on the Socio-Economic Development of Nigeria. Afribary.com: Retrieved January 22, 2021, from https://afribary.com/works/impact-of-political-instability-on-the-socio-economic-development-of-nigeria
User, Anonymous. "Impact of Political Instability on the Socio-Economic Development of Nigeria" Afribary.com. Afribary.com, 04 Sep. 2020, https://afribary.com/works/impact-of-political-instability-on-the-socio-economic-development-of-nigeria . Accessed 22 Jan. 2021.
User, Anonymous. "Impact of Political Instability on the Socio-Economic Development of Nigeria". Afribary.com, Afribary.com, 04 Sep. 2020. Web. 22 Jan. 2021. < https://afribary.com/works/impact-of-political-instability-on-the-socio-economic-development-of-nigeria >.
User, Anonymous. "Impact of Political Instability on the Socio-Economic Development of Nigeria" Afribary.com (2020). Accessed January 22, 2021. https://afribary.com/works/impact-of-political-instability-on-the-socio-economic-development-of-nigeria