Department of Political Science

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Browsing Department of Political Science by Subject "Africa"

Now showing 1 - 9 of 9
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    Africa's Debt Crisis: Perspectives on Nigeria's Escape from External Debt Trap
    (2010) Akinboye, S.O.
    In sharp contrast with the image of an "oil-rich" country, Nigeria is paradoxically a heavily indebted poor country. While the country's oil production reached 2.5 million barrels per day in 2004, its total external debt stock at the end of 2004 was estimated at $35.9 billion. The debt crisis has been aggravated by the burden of debt servicing, which has absorbed the nation's budgetary and foreign exchange resources with deleterious impact on the critical sectors of the economy. The paper critically examines Nigeria's external debt profile and efforts toward its alleviation. It argues that the debt burden constitutes a major constraint to the revitalization of the nation's economy, and that its alleviation is imperative for sustainable growth and development.
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    Ethno-religious conflicts and state fragility in Africa: Trends and prospects for the 21st century
    (2013) Onuoha, B.
    This paper focuses on the Mano River Basin in West Africa, Nigeria, Sudan/Chad,Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the Great Lakes region of East Central Africa, and argues that the structure of ethno-religious conflicts in Africa, which are largely the aftermath of colonialism, intensify state fragility, lack of governmental capacity, and inability to sustain democracy. The paper argues that ethnicity and religion in Africa are more than aspects of politics in the struggle for power. They are indications of unresolved issues of citizenship,ineffective leadership, and the failure of ill-defined nation-building efforts bereft of ideology, and a compelling need for territorial restructuring as in EasternEurope in the 1990s. Examining several key ethno-religious African conflicts,the paper concludes that a combination of good governance and territorial restructuring are fundamental to Africa's stable future and development in the 21st century
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    Millennium Development Goals in Africa, Policies and Achievement Strategies: An Appraisal and Ways Forward
    (2015) Maduabum, C.; Onwe, O.
    The major focus of this paper was on the problems associated with the achievement of Millennium Development Goals in Africa. The baseline was that, for over thirteen years of inception of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Africa remains wanting in human development indices, poverty eradication, literate population, health development, economic, political, and social development. These have been the case despite the introduction of a number of strategies aimed at achieving the MDGs and associated cost estimates by the Millennium Project and the World Bank. Our aim was to appraise the extent of achievement of the MDGs in Africa, guided by the question of whether practical policy initiatives for achieving the MDGs can be identified for Africa. We would like to contribute significantly to the policy initiatives. Methodologically, we concentrated on a survey of the policy prescriptions for the achievement of MDGs in Africa and the extent to which these policies had contributed to achievement of the MDGs. The data sources were basically from: (i) the African regional development indicators; (ii) Millennium Development Goals Reports; (iii) the MDG Africa Steering Group; and, other relevant literature. The analysis of data was highly descriptive and appropriate enough for assessment of the extent of achievement of the MDGs in Africa. In a nutshell, our assessments indicate the following constraints to the achievement of MDGs in Africa: (i) discouragingly low human development indices in Africa compared to the global average; (ii) inappropriate policy recommendations for achievement of the MDGs in Africa; (iii) non-applicable predictive models; (iv) the problem of paucity of data in Africa; (v) low level of infrastructural development in rural areas; (vi) high rate of underemployment; (vii) deficiencies in policy implementation processes; and, (viii) lack of research and development culture. Based on these observations, the paper makes the following recommendations: (i) regional partnerships in development projects;(ii) development and application of country-specific strategy models; (iii) country-wide emphasis on availability of relevant data, complemented with research and development activities; (iv) emphasis on infrastructural development especially in the rural areas; and, (v) refined policy implementation processes based on the use of appropriate personnel and other policy implementation instruments, such as monitoring and evaluation.
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    Nigeria and South Africa: Collaboration or competition?
    (2017) Odubajo, T.; Akinboye, S.O.
    This article focuses on the dynamics of the relationship between Nigeria and South Africa, arguably the two most prominent states on the African continent. Each of the two states continues to make attempts at extending its hegemony beyond its respective sub-region to emerge as Africa’s foremost state. These efforts are not pursued in isolation, but affect their bilateral relations and are tied to the guiding principles of the national interest. Through data gathered from secondary sources, we analyse the trajectory of the relationship between Nigeria and South Africa, from the intensely politically contentious to the strongest of warm relations. In the final analysis, the article concludes that collaboration and competition are critical variables in the conduct of inter-state relations. Nigeria and South Africa have an historic opportunity to collaborate in the current period, in order to promote the general interest of the African continent in the international system. Will their respective pursuit of their own national interests encourage, or derail, this role?
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    Publishing postcolonial Africa: Nigeria and Ekeh’s two publics a generation after
    (2014) Onuoha, B.
    This paper interrogates Peter Ekeh’s “two publics” in Africa in the context of African studies. It argues that what Ekeh analysed was a society in transition. Thirty-eight years after Ekeh’s publication, also using a Nigerian case study, the “attacks” on the “civil public” which Ekeh theorised, are suggested to have extended to the “primordial public”: amorality is presently ubiquitous in the “two publics.” The paper identifies a combination of three elements pushing the “attack”: military rule, a civil war and enormous resource from mineral oil (oil boom). Furthermore, the paper suggests that “two publics” evolved largely because before colonialism, there was no hegemony built in any known “state” in what was Nigeria at the time to sustain any common (moral) value system that could have resisted the “civilising” ideology of colonialism. The paper underscores the fact that knowledge production in African studies has not paid sufficient attention to the gap created in nation building in Africa because of the inability of pre-colonial African states to establish hegemony which is critical in state and nation building in other civilisations. In conclusion, the paper argues that the inability to build hegemonic order before colonial rule, not only in Nigeria, but in most parts of sub-Saharan Africa largely explains why 50 years after colonial rule, there may still be debate about and delay in resolving the problem of the “two publics.”
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    The Role of Trans-border Ethnic Groups in Intra-state and Inter-state Conflict in Africa
    (2015) Onah, E.I.
    Trans-border ethnic relations in Africa have led to intra-state conflicts, including those between the state and the fraction of the trans-border ethnic group falling within its borders, and, others between the fraction of the trans-border ethnic group and the other ethnic groups in the state. Trans-border ethnic relations have also led to inter-state conflict between the state and other neighboring states that also have fractions of the trans-border ethnic group. Making use of case studies, the paper found that fractions of trans-border groups are driven to conflict whenever they are deprived from meaningfully participating in the affairs of the state. These conflicts can thus be handled only when the state system and individual states ensure that all citizens, irrespective of ethnic grouping, can participate effectively in the affairs of the state.