Department of Political Science
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- ItemOpen AccessTHE 2015 GENERAL ELECTIONS AND THE QUEST FOR CITIZENS’ DEMOCRACY IN NIGERIA(INEC, 2005) Odukoya, A.
- ItemOpen AccessAfrica'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.
- ItemOpen AccessAfrica's Health Burden: Assessing the Role of Community in Healthcare Delivery(2015) Quadri, MaryamOmolaraThe enormous health challenges confronting Africa and the lack of capacity of the health systems to address those challenges stimulate a new thinking on the role of the community in improving health systems’ performance in Africa. The health systems must respond effectively to these challenges if Africa as a continent must be free of all the burden of ill-health. The decline in most health indicators of some African countries were as a result of the inability of their health systems to address health problems confronting them. A failure of health service delivery in Africa is due to dysfunctional organization of the health system. The inadequacy of community involvement in community health services or the decline of the community participation in health planning and management has resulted in the poor performance of the health care system and its failure to solve the basic health problems in some countries. This paper using a case study of health care delivery in Lagos state, Nigeria examines the degree to which the people are involved in health care delivery and the implications for their health needs. The paper concludes that, since development is about people and their participation in the process that leads to such, effective participation of people especially at the community level is necessary to achieve development.
- ItemOpen AccessAnalysis of Local Government Proactive Sustainability Strategy in Nigeria and South Africa(Clarion University of Pennslyvania, 2017) Dibie, R; Quadri, M.OIn Nigeria and the Republic of South Africa, local governments are increasingly playing a major role in tackling environmental issues and promoting sustainability. Important element of this local government proactive sustainability initiative are local group advocacy, education and engagement programs. However, there are very few detailed literature on the nature of these proactive initiatives available in academic journals. This paper examines how local governments in Nigeria and South African are increasingly engaged in proactive sustainability programs respectively. It argues that the most profound changes that must take place in both countries in other to achieve a sustainable civilization is community participation. The paper uses data derived from questionnaire survey administered to 1800 local government staff, community members and advocacy groups in Nigeria and the Republic of South Africa. Interviews of 80 relevant local government officials were conducted, meetings between key community members and environmental inspectors were also observed. The secondary data consisted of desk research, review of related government reports in Nigeria and South Africa, standard text, academic and professional journals. Data were analyzed to understand the reasons for proactive environmental initiatives in local governments in both countries as well as to find out the types of proactive environmental and sustainability initiatives. The findings suggest that there is a negative correlation between the sustainability goals of local governments’ development programs in both countries and their proactive strategies in regions where group advocacy is low. The local governments of both countries must encourage more community participation in sustainable development initiatives. This is because participation offers new opportunities for creative thinking and innovative planning toward economic growth and sustainable development. Some challenges for further implementation of proactive environmental practices were identified and recommendations for appropriate policies that could address them are offered.
- ItemOpen AccessASUU: Principles and Praxis in the Service of the People(2019) Odukoya, A.
- ItemOpen AccessBade Onimode: The Political Economy of the African Crisis(2012) Odukoya, A.
- ItemOpen AccessBoko Haram Insurgency and the 2015 General Elections in Nigeria(2015) Onah, E.I.This is a study of the Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria, and how it affected the 2015 General Elections in the country. The Boko Haram is a Muslim fundamentalist sect founded in 2002, but the insurgency it mounted in Nigeria in 2009 has dovetailed into politics. By the time of the 2015 elections in Nigeria, the insurgency had become the foremost political issue in the country. Boko Haram was central in the campaigns for the elections, and the fortunes of the political parties and their candidates literally depended on where they stood concerning the Boko Haram matter. Interestingly, the elections also affected the fortunes of Boko Haram as the incumbent government at the time had to come out in full force against the sect as a way of shoring up its chances at the polls. Since after the polls, the viability of the insurgency has considerably reduced, although the sect continues to pose a threat to the country. This paper argues that beyond victory in the battlefi eld, the government of Nigeria must also improve on its governance practices in order to remove the socio-economic conditions that help to sustain Boko Haram and other such militant groups in Nigeria.
- ItemOpen AccessBureaucracy: A Tool for Scuttling Application of Innovative Ideas in the Nigerian Public Service(2014) Maduabum, C.It could be argued that Bureaucracy and Innovation are inextricably linked in that organizations that are desirous of survival and growth particularly in a turbulent environment requires the application of both concepts. For instance, whereas bureaucracy introduces specialization, structure, rules and regulations, , rationality and partial democracy amongst others, innovation brings about positive changes that quite often assist in surmounting impediments in the quest for growth. In practice however, reverse sometimes appears to be the case. In the Nigerian Public Service, for instance, superior officers employ the same bureaucracy as a means of scuttling the application of innovative ideas especially where such ideas emanate from their subordinates. Thus perceived, this article proposes a provision of opportunities for superior and subordinate officers to be similarly exposed to sources of acquisition of innovative ideas as a means of gaining the support of superior officers during the application of such ideas. In addition, opportunities could be created for innovators to occupy leadership positions where they will possess the authority to diffuse such ideas down the line.
- ItemOpen AccessChild Labour in Nigeria: Historical Perspective(2009) Odukoya, A.
- ItemOpen AccessCitizenship Question in Cote d’Ivoire and its Implications for African States(2011) Onah, E.I.Texts attached
- ItemOpen AccessConceptual Issues in Civil Society in Nigeria(2005) Odukoya, A.
- ItemOpen AccessConflict between bureaucracy and innovation in Nigerian public service(1990) Maduabum, C.P.IN NIGERIA, those charged with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the country had at several times enunciated policies, programmes and projects ostensibly in reaction to environmental pressures. The latest of such policies/programmes is the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP). However, the Nigerian Government, just like any other government, implements its policies and programmes through the instrumentality of the Public Service. This government's organ has variously undergone several changes, arguably, to make it more responsive to the demands of a development-oriented society. The latest of such changes is the ."Civil Service Reforms" which is legally backed by Decree 43 (on the Re-organisation of the civil service) of 1988. Our search-light is, thus, ·being beamed on the Public Service which is Federal Government's Central Bureaucracy. Positive changes within a society or elsewhere normally come in the form of innovation. The vital question of interest to us is: How responsive is the Federal Governments Central Bureaucracy-the Public Service--to innovation? To answer this question, we attempt in this study to survey the literature on innovation and bureaucracy and the relationships between them. Variables derivable from such a survey are used to analyse the Nigerian situation; where lapses are identified, possible treatments are prescribed.
- ItemOpen AccessContinuity and Change in Urban Politics(2005) Odukoya, A.
- ItemOpen Access
- ItemOpen AccessCrisis of Citizenship and Nationhood in Africa: Reflections on Hegemony and the State(2017) Fadakinte, M.M.; Amolegbe, B.One major challenge which post-colonial Africa faces, today, is crisis of citizenship and nationhood, which this paper attempts to explain by arguing that Africa is made up of countries where none is a nation that is made up of one people. Therefore, in post-colonial Africa, the remarkable and fundamental differences in character, attitudes, habits, feelings and ways of life of the different peoples that make up a country, create a situation where the differences make the peoples to be antagonistic and bitterly hostile to each other, especially in their struggle for power and control of resources. This paper therefore interrogates the idea of hegemony and the state, how their nature and character accentuate the crisis of citizenship and nationhood and how the dynamics of colonialism and colonial rule continue to “terrorize” post-colonial Africa, because hegemony and the state that ought to unite the peoples and build a nation are bedeviled with internal crisis. In conclusion, the paper suggests that the constitution of each African country should make provision for each nation to have the opportunity for self determination.
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- ItemOpen AccessCulture and creativity in post-colonial Africa: Whither the state(2017) Fadakinte, M.M.This paper relates the state to culture and creativity. And that is precisely because the three are interrelated. The paper argues that, culture, being an embodiment of the arts, modes of life, value systems, traditions and belief systems of the people, determines the nature of people’s creativity in society. Again, the paper further argues that, the dominant values in society at any historical epoch are the values of the dominant class, which explains why cultural values are the reflections of those of the dominant class. And that is because the dominant class dominates society at all the levels of thoughts. Furthermore, the paper argues that the nature and character of the dominant class determine those of the state because the state is a representative of the dominant class. Thus, if the state is an institution that represents the values of the dominant class it therefore means that the prevailing values and ideas in any society, which are those of the dominant class, are strongly influenced by the activities and character of the state. Finally, it is important, as argued in this paper, that we understand the nature and character of the dominant class in Africa and by extension, the African state, to enable us understand the dominant post-colonial culture in Africa and by implication the nature of creativity on the continent. That is the explanation that has been made here.
- ItemOpen AccessDecentralisation of Healthcare Delivery in Nigeria:Issues in Governance and Citizens' Participation in Local Health Care(University of Lagos, 2017) Quadri, M.OIssues of citizens’ participation in democracy continue to be a recurring decimal in governance discourse. This is more so as it is widely believed that promoting the main tenets of democracy and increasing people’s participation will engender development. The inference from this is that, since development is about people, when people are part of the decisions that affect their lives, then, they would be able to make meaningful contributions to issues that concern their own development. It is therefore argued that popular participation is in essence the empowerment of the people to involve themselves in creating structures and in designing policies and programmes that serve the interests of all and contribute optimally to the development process. Decentralisation emerged as a result of global trend to local autonomy and self-determination, and as a result of a trend to reduce reliance on centralised planning and be more responsive to market forces as well as local needs. In relation to the health sector, decentralisation is concerned with changing the way health systems are organised to produce effective service delivery. The point has been made that decentralisation could be useful in supporting and developing health services and bring it closer to people. This paper therefore examines the process of decentralisation and how it impacts on primary health care (PHC) service delivery in Nigeria.
- ItemOpen AccessDemocracy, Elections, Election Monitoring and Peace-Building in West Africa(CODESRIA, 2007) Odukoya, A.This essay explores the linkages between elections, democracy and peace-building in West Africa. It engages in a radical critique of neo-liberal democracy and its ramifications for peace and development. This provides the context for explaining some of the limitations of multi-party democracy, elections and election monitoring in Africa. Drawing on illustrations from Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Ghana, the nature of democracy in West Africa is explored, and some suggestions are then made towards strengthening the democracy–peace linkage in the region.
- ItemOpen AccessDemocracy, Elections, Election Monitoring and Peace-Building in West-Africa(2007) Odukoya, A.