History and International Studies

The thrust of this paper is an examination into an essential and perhaps an overly underplayed character of Nigerian politics. Following a vast multi-cultural diversity crisscrossing Nigeria's society, ethnic/divisional politics has saddled Nigeria's over 50 years of statehood, dictating and influencing dynamics in and around socio-political and economic spheres. Like in most developing states, this has dramatically undermined Nigeria's politics overall growth and development, while limiting Nigeria's potentials and national power. Adopting the Instrumentalist paradigm, this survey finds that although colonial legacies among other structures, entrenched and sustain ethnic politics in Nigeria, on the whole, politicians and personal interests stand as principal exploiters of the ever-growing defect in Nigeria's polity. Current antecedents show that ethnic politics like in the past only holds more grave and dangerous spirals of conflict, political crises etc., of great magnitude going forward. Thus, robust and bold moves toward mitigating ethnic politics in Nigeria is of critical importance. Given this reality, this piece advocates more sincerity and commitment from all stakeholders: the government, individuals and the civil society. Also, qualitative investments must be made into political socialisation/education; while strengthening the institutions and activities that emphasise unity across the country.

Current and past realities in Nigeria's national security resonates a dominance as well as a reoccurrence of newly emerging and non-conventional security challenges as threats to public safety and stability in the country, despite a seeming propensity to concentrate on traditional and military threats. The attention garnered is enormous within and outside Nigeria following the constant danger to lives and order and other varying forms of social disruptions including heavy casualties. This research delves into a salient aspect of these new and emerging threats: Climate change. It finds that climate change is the most formidable threat security in Nigeria in recent time and going into the future; human and state alike. In addition to having a broader impact radius; including a high vulnerability as well as low adaptiveness among citizens being a developing country, the effects of climate change on the Nigerian society could be more destructive than analysts" project meaning current impacts may yet be minimal. Hence drawing a critical need for immediate response and action. The paper submits that the attempt to contain this rising threat must incorporate higher securitization of the threat and its various forms; investment into public sensitization on the phenomenon; a general capacity building on alertness and crisis response system as well as general adaptivity to harsh outcomes of climate change. This piece equally enjoins a general shift in attitude together with the total reform of the Nigerian security structure to comprise and target threats to human security especially.

Abstract
Rice is one of the chief foods consumed in various families in Nigeria today. Some communities in Igboland were major producers of rice. This formed part of the people’s subsistence living and economic activities with good incomes and revenues. Amid these potentials, there were still hunger, poverty, and low productivity of the crop in the area, leading to importation of foreign rice. To address this scenario, the government of Nigeria introduced various economic policies and programmes which included the National Fadama Development Programme; with a view to improving on agricultural (crops) production, hunting and fishery in the area. To this end, this work studies the National Fadama Development Programme on rice economy since its adoption in 1993.It addresses salient issues and questions such as: What is Fadama Programme? What impact had the Fadama project on rice economy of the area; north of Igboland? Is there any significant achievement in the said staple crop’s production, procession and marketing as an effect of the Fadama programme in the northern Igboland cuesta? Qualitative and quantitative methods of data presentation in themes were adopted. Content analysis was utilised in assessing data available for study. Few materials were gathered from primary sources such as oral tradition. Historical approach was also adopted in the thematic analysis of facts and findings in this work. It has a terminal period of 2013, when phase III of the project ended; whereas concludes with recommendations for more concerted and integrated measures for continuity and achievement of the programme on rice.

This essay attempts to reassess the colonial economies of East and West Africa under British and French administrations. An appraisal of vital sectors of colonial economies forms the basis of analysis; and this shows that the two regions of Africa were 'open economies', as aptly observed by A.G. Hopkins. For instance, while agriculture and mining sectors attracted 'special attention', no concerted effort was made in the vital industrial sector that could have laid the foundation for the desired post-independence economic growth and sustained development of the two regions of Africa. Relying on diverse sources of data, the essay argues that contrary to the portrayal of the colonial enterprise by Lord F.D. Lugard as a 'Dual Mandate', it was rather a 'Lopsided Mandate' solely undertaken by colonial officials and their agents. The paper concludes that the purported benefits to East and West Africa manifested in socio-economic exploitations, which effects lingers till date and have contributed to the current low level of economic growth and underdevelopment witnessed in this two regions of Africa.

ABSTRACT

Poverty has been a recurring problem in Africa, especially as from the last quarter of the twentieth Century. The international community has equally shown concern to the problem. For instance, following the adoption of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by the international community in 2000, official development assistance (ODA) to sub-Saharan African countries continued to increase. Thus, it was estimated that by 2010, about twenty-five billion dollars ($25 billion) worth of official development assistance would be allocated to Africa (UNECA, 2005). The principal aims, being to enable the continent solve its recurring poverty. However, despite these assistances, the poverty trap continues to bedevil Africa. Against this backdrop, adopting diverse forms of secondary data, this essay examines the human factor to the problem of poverty in Africa. It argues that numerous political crises inherent in the region have continued to pauperize the African population. In the course of analysis, the essay stresses that the political economy approach adopted by successive African political leaders from the mid 1970s till date has led to political upheavals in different sections of sub-Saharan Africa that instituted the poverty trap. The paper concludes by outlining some measures that could reduce poverty in Africa such as favorable socio- political environment and equitable distribution of resources to the populace.  A major way to accomplish this would be the application of true democratic principles that would lead to the emergence of purposeful political leaders who would adopt proactive socio-economic policies that could favor the masses, thereby address the ‘poverty trap’ in the continent before the end of the 21st Century

The decolonization process in the last century led to the emergence of nationalists in many African states. In Nigeria, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe emerged as a foremost nationalist, and later became the first indigenous Governor-General, first indigenous President/ head of State and Commander in-Chief of the Armed forces of immediate post-independent Nigeria, and participated in active politics up till the Presidential elections of 1983. Although, Nnamdi Azikiwe was a Nigeria by birth, but his contributions during the anti-colonial struggles was beyond Nigeria. He acquired his higher education laurels in the United States, began his journalism career in Ghana, while his intellectual contributions during the anti-colonial struggles positively influenced many people in Africa, especially in the Anglophone states. Against this backdrop, with the use of diverse secondary sources, this paper appraises the contributions of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe to African socio-political and economic growth during the twentieth century. The paper concludes after a thorough appraisal that emerging African leaders should understudy the socio-political and economic philosophy of the late sage, which if well implemented could bring about the much desired good governance and sustainable socio-political growth in the continent before the end of the 21 st century.

Multilateral development banks as international donor institutions, oftentimes, are wholly blamed for the failures they encounter in their operational activities in African society. Many scholars have harped on the bourgeois development approach of such banks to fault everything about their operation in Africa. However, a cursory look at the problems that confronted those multilateral development institutions in some African societies tended to present a different scenario. This paper, therefore, examines the challenges of the African Development Bank as one of the international donor-development institutions in Nigeria. Methodology wise, it adopted the qualitative method of research but, as a study in economic history, relevant data were presented and analysed. The writer drew his sources of information mainly from oral respondents, official policy documents and reports. Also, books, newspapers and magazines served as sources. The paper having adopted the structural functionalist t...

The international arena where the intercourse between and amongst sovereign states occur accommodates cooperation and competition but most often, it is characterized by conflicts. The ‘zero-sum’ nature of the international system actuates states to always design strategies and policies which ensure that their interests are protected at all times. It has always been that the state(s) with the preponderance of clout always sets the agenda on security hence, the ‘Bush Doctrine’ formally known as “the National Security Strategy of the United States” is therefore nothing other than a foreign policy design of the United States which seeks to sustain American global hegemony by obliterating all obstacles - of which terrorism is topmost. The Bush Doctrine, in order to achieve its set goals, makes use of pre-emption, unilateralism and the so- called extension of “freedom”. The Bush Doctrine was essentially a reaction to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks against the U.S, and it has sin...

Scholars (like Kenny and Sumner, 2011) have contended that one of the immense benefits of the MDGs period (i.e. 2000 – 2015) was that this period saw the drive for creation of institutions, programmes and policies aimed at assisting the achievement of the development goals. The flagship of such programmes in Nigeria unarguably was the Conditional Grants Scheme (CGS) which was clearly designed by way of making freed financial grants (from debt relief gains of 2005) available to Federal, States and Local Governments in a clearly designed conditional partnership agreement to provide necessary social infrastructures covering sectors of education, health, water and sanitation, and agriculture. Since the MDGs ended in 2015, there appear questions raised as to what should happen to this programme? This study examined the CGS under the prism of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) situating probable options for maintaining the momentum gained during MDGs implementation. Using qualitative research methodology and descriptive statistics, the study answers the overall research question of what lessons and options are available for the CGS in a post-2015 environment in Nigeria. One conclusion which this paper reaches is that the CGS should not be discarded rather reviewed to work under the ambits of the SDGs which like the MDGs is time-bound, thus the need for quick action(s).