Department of Political Science

Conflicts that are traceable to ethnic prisms and religious considerations constitute unceasing axial variables in the existence and prosecution of most intergroup conflicts in Nigeria. This paper is on the interface between leadership influence and the incidence of ethno-religious conflicts in parts of Nigeria. It examines and explains the potency or role of ethno-religious leaders' verbal and non-verbal communications in intergroup conflicts that boarder on ethnicity and religion. While using the Middlebelt geo-political region of Nigeria as a case, the paper relies largely on general analytic and case study techniques in the interrogation of the problematic. In line with the objectives, the paper hypothesizes that on account of particularistic considerations ethno-religious leaders exert significant influence on ethno-religious conflicts in the region. The key findings of the paper underline the potency of ethno-religious leaders' verbal and non-verbal communications in intergroup conflicts that boarder on ethnicity and religion as well as the fact that ethno-religious leaders exercise enormous authority and influence on the people. In the main, the paper recommends the convocation of town-hall forums at various levels, and the participation of broad spectra of persons including ethnic and religious leaders to, in the context of the social reality, deliberate and come up with consensus on various conflictive facets.

Whereas Hegel and Marx subscribed to the central role of the dialectics in the historical development of society, they held different standpoints on certain fundamental issues. This study identifies and examines the critical issues and how they contribute to the development of the duo's respective ideas on social transformation. In doing this, the study relies on documentary instrument of data generation and the technique of constant comparative analysis to underline the underlying uniformities and differences on the dialectics and social transformational content of Hegel and Marx. The study reaffirms that despite identifiable shortcomings, on the balance, dialectics, particularly Marxian dialectics remains an option, indeed a useful tool in philosophical analysis of not only how the world works, but a means on how to change it.

The phenomenon of oil wealth in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria has engendered militant revolts that escalated to the stage whereby militant youths declared the government its enemy and engaged the armed forces in armed battle. Their acceptance of unsolicited amnesty granted them by the government opened a new window for the crisis to be resolved. This paper is intended to examine the factors and context of the crisis with a view to advancing sustainable resolution of the crisis. In doing this, the paper relies on documentary and descriptive method of data collection and analysis and recommends for a truth and reconciliation commission on Niger Delta.

The existence and enormous potentials of the state as a force for good or evil have prompted philosophic reflections, from the earliest of times, on its origin and nature, and on how it can be better organised to serve the interests of its humanity. From Socrates to Plato, and down to contemporary times, the content of the exploration has remained almost the same, with variations only seen in the nature and manner of the investigations. However, Aristotle continues to stand out as unique in that he laid the foundation for scientific contemplations in political thought. Any wonder then why his writings remained so influential throughout the Middle Ages and up to the present day. This paper is an attempt to go back in time to trace the influence and substance of that era many political thinkers would agree was indeed the 'Golden Age' of philosophical thought. The paper contextualizes broad issues deemed critical in the cognition of Aristotle’s political thought. The focal poin...

The object of this paper is to reflect on the impact of ancient Africa's experiences, ideas and practices on the origination and character of the thought-content and practices widely associated with Socrates. It argues that Greek classical political thought and theorisation and indeed the entire Greek epoch was ignited or better still a by-product, reflection, extension or unacknowledged beneficiary of the Egyptian breakthroughs in political thought and praxis -breakthroughs that followed ancient Egypt's holistic and organic interaction with her social and physical environments.

Taxation, particularly income tax, is an indispensable source of government revenue. This paper examines the factors that affect tax administration in Nigeria. It explores statutory provisions and administrative challenges that affect the cost layout and actual returns of income tax revenue. While relying mainly on data generated through documentary sources, the data generated are analyzed descriptively. The study underlines the need for cost effective income tax administration in Nigeria.

Experience has shown that since independence, Nigerian elections have been typified by unbridled divisiveness that have always placed the nation on her toes; creating immeasurable tension that touch on the unity and indivisibility of the nation. Study show that the contentions were mainly generated by the post-independence political parties and their leadership as they manipulate elections, accept and reject election results and employ their massive resources to either defend the election results or reject it. Thus, up till 2007 General Elections, all election results were keenly contested. Such situation has led to loss of lives, wanton destruction of private and public property and stultification of democratic consolidation in Nigeria. This paper is therefore, concerned with this ugly trend as it argues that the inordinate ambition of political parties and their leaders to win and control state resources, party membership, fear of being pushed into the opposition or ousted from power and the refusal to accept election results, etc are behind this undemocratic act. It concludes that there is urgent need for the reorganization of political parties in Nigeria to reflect what they should stand for in a democratic system. Thus, ideology-based party arrangements and effective law enforcement could be very useful.

This study interrogates the interface between oil wealth, poverty and underdevelopment in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. It identifies the region as the nine of the seventeen states in the southern part of Nigeria. Rich in oil, gas and bitumen the region covers about 70,000sq km in land area. The region shares some geographical and human affinity with human and natural endowments with the broad mouth of the River Niger. In the main, the character of Nigeria's colonial experience, rentier status, dysfunctional growth, man-made and natural disasters and the attendant frustration are identified as the salient factors of poverty and underdevelopment in the Niger Delta. The paper also appraises how regimes in Nigeria, have, over the years, responded to the crisis of poverty and underdevelopment in the region. Using a case analysis approach the paper relies largely on observation and documentary instruments of data generation as well as description in the analysis of generated data. It concludes that poverty and underdevelopment in the Niger Delta are largely induced and indicative of an unjust system; and accordingly recommends a 'truth and reconciliation commission' that will serve as a launch pad for sustainable development based on justice and equity.

This paper identifies and examines two interrelated contradictions that affect Africa's contemporary material existence. They are dysfunctional or inorganic state and its structures and manipulated severance from Africa's roots. The paper aligns with the quest for a platform that provides more than a cursory prism for veritable insight into specificities and contradictions in the context of contemporary Africa. Anchored in Alavi's theory of overdeveloped state, the paper is essentially an exploratory analysis of Africa's concrete situation.

Experience has shown that since independence, Nigerian elections have been typified by unbridled divisiveness that have always placed the nation on her toes; creating immeasurable tension that touch on the unity and indivisibility of the nation. Study show that the contentions were mainly generated by the post-independence political parties and their leadership as they manipulate elections, accept and reject election results and employ their massive resources to either defend the election results or reject it. Thus, up till 2007 General Elections, all election results were keenly contested. Such situation has led to loss of lives, wanton destruction of private and public property and stultification of democratic consolidation in Nigeria. This paper is therefore, concerned with this ugly trend as it argues that the inordinate ambition of political parties and their leaders to win and control state resources, party membership, fear of being pushed into the opposition or ousted from power and the refusal to accept election results, etc are behind this undemocratic act. It concludes that there is urgent need for the reorganization of political parties in Nigeria to reflect what they should stand for in a democratic system. Thus, ideology-based party arrangements and effective law enforcement could be very useful.

Whereas Hegel and Marx subscribed to the central role of the dialectics in the historical development of society, they held different standpoints on certain fundamental issues. This study identifies and examines the critical issues and how they contribute to the development of the duo's respective ideas on social transformation. In doing this, the study relies on documentary instrument of data generation and the technique of constant comparative analysis to underline the underlying uniformities and differences on the dialectics and social transformational content of Hegel and Marx. The study reaffirms that despite identifiable shortcomings, on the balance, dialectics, particularly Marxian dialectics remains an option, indeed a useful tool in philosophical analysis of not only how the world works, but a means on how to change it.

Conflicts that are traceable to ethnic prisms and religious considerations constitute unceasing axial variables in the existence and prosecution of most intergroup conflicts in Nigeria. This paper is on the interface between leadership influence and the incidence of ethno-religious conflicts in parts of Nigeria. It examines and explains the potency or role of ethno-religious leaders' verbal and non-verbal communications in intergroup conflicts that boarder on ethnicity and religion. While using the Middlebelt geo-political region of Nigeria as a case, the paper relies largely on general analytic and case study techniques in the interrogation of the problematic. In line with the objectives, the paper hypothesizes that on account of particularistic considerations ethno-religious leaders exert significant influence on ethno-religious conflicts in the region. The key findings of the paper underline the potency of ethno-religious leaders' verbal and non-verbal communications in intergroup conflicts that boarder on ethnicity and religion as well as the fact that ethno-religious leaders exercise enormous authority and influence on the people. In the main, the paper recommends the convocation of town-hall forums at various levels, and the participation of broad spectra of persons including ethnic and religious leaders to, in the context of the social reality, deliberate and come up with consensus on various conflictive facets.

The major thrust of this paper is to look at the socio-cultural values and women political participation, socio-cultural values that prevent them from actively participating in politics. The work made use of secondary data anchored on feminist theory of analysis. Comparatively, women constitute almost half of the population, despite their numerical significance; women do not actively participate in political activities. The rate at which men participate in politics is incredibly higher than their female counterparts. This is not to say, however, that there has not been a progressive increase in the trend of women participation in politics in terms of elections, but the participation is considered low, due to various inhibiting sociocultural values, religious inclinations, low educational levels, Purdah (i.e. house seclusion of women) prevent women from intermingling freely with men during political activities. Consequently, only very few men allow their wives to come out and participate in politics which makes them second class citizens and inferior to men. This has significantly reduced the number of women in active political participation. Therefore, the study recommended among other things that there should be re-education and reorientation of our men on the issues of patriarchal culture and stereotyping of sex role in the society. Patriarchy as a system recognizes the superiority of men over women; patriarchy has equally led to the unacceptability of women by men as leaders, the men should be sensitized towards indigenous cultural values concerning the status of women. There should also be urgent need for political education; expanding educational opportunities for women is another panacea in solving women marginalization in politics, especially beyond primary schools' level. This will surely increase their knowledge in knowing how to protect their constitutional right.

Border points in Nigeria have over the years, been characterized by its porous nature, weak control and a dearth of security personnel. Consequently, the development has led to the influx of smuggled arms and ammunitions on daily basis into the country, resulting in a gruesome phenomenon of violent conflicts, terrorism, war etc, which poses a great challenge to national security. The porous border situation presents a security problem demanding coordinated and collaborative national efforts of border security agencies and the inhabitants of borderline communities to address the issue effectively. The deficiencies and shortage of border security personnel, facilities, and training, combined with Nigeria’s prevalent penchant for graft and corruption complicate the problem even further. Thus, in a bid to capture the position of this research, the researcher adopted qualitative design to justify the essence of the study. The study was anchored on a combination of structural functionalis...

The quest for urgent solution to resolve the world liquidity problem has continued to generate enthusiastic debates among political economists, policy makers and the academia. The argument has focused on whether the World Bank Group was established to enhance the stability of international financial system or meant to enrich the developed nations. This study argues that the existing political interest of the World Bank Group in Africa may serve as lesson learned to other ambitious African Monetary Union.

Russia-United Kingdom Diplomatic ties have been banter of ally-crises-ally relations and have not fared well since its first diplomatic contact in 1553 during the era of Tsardom of Russia, and currently at its most tensed point occasioned by the alleged poison attack on Sergei Skripal in Salisbury. While it remains unclear which exactly of the Novichok variants were used to poison Skripal and his daughter? The medical effect of the poison is well understood and Britain with their allies points at Russia as the culprit. This single act has turn sour the diplomatic relations of these great powers. However, it raised multiplicity of arguments among scholars and analysts, who try to highlight and analyse views on who seeks to gain from the cold war between the power megalomaniacs. It is on this ground that the paper looks at the diplomatic crisis between Russia and United Kingdom over the attempted poisoning of Skripal and his daughter. The paper employed a combination of Psycho-Cultura...

The study examined the Effect of the EndSars Protest on the Nigerian economy; with specific set objectives to find out the causes of the EndSars protest in Nigeria; ascertain the effect of the EndSars protest in Nigeria and proffer possible solutions to the causes of the EndSars protest in Nigeria. The study adopted the structural-functionalist theory and used the survey research method given the work coverage. Thus, the method of study was qualitative. Data were generated from secondary sources which included journal articles, news papers and other online sources. Literature review however shows that, SARS is notorious for its brutality and human rights abuses and the lack of accountability for their actions while the Nigerian economy suffered huge losses of billions of naira resulting from the protest. The Police Act, which was adopted in 1943, has broad discretionary powers in the hands of police officers,making the abuse of power possible. The study concludes that, EndSars prote...

Living in the community is the nature of the man. The evidence of this fact can be collected from every part of history and prehistory. Living together has certainly some disadvantages like conflict. People always indulge themselves in to competitions/ race to fulfill the basic needs. Every race should have some rules and regulations. Else we are stirring to the state of nature as articulated by Thomas Hobbes. Therefore, the existence of rules and regulations becomes a sine qua non to the peaceful coexistence of people. Politics tends to involve people of different beliefs, character, thinking and ideology. Due to huge future scope, the study of law and politics has been of great interest to scholars. For instance, an early philosopher Aristotle, asserted the inevitability of the constitutions in the political life of a society. Scholars such as Lasswell (1965); Herman Pritchett et al (1941); Vines (1976); Murphy (1966); and Schubert (1965) have contributed substantially to the study of the courts in politics (cited in Becker, 1970). 2. Conceptual Interpretations Various communities, scholars have defined Law in different manners. For William (1977), it is a specification about right and wrong. Davidson (1998:3) called it a set of rules need to be conducted by the members of the society. It helps to reflect choices and willingness. Law helps to define arrangement that coordinates or confines people's behaviours. It provides a risk of sanctions against disobedient behaviours (Lawal, 2010). It is also pertinent to state briefly some of the code of conduct for the judiciary officers which is independent, strong, respected and respectable judiciary, should be indispensable for the impartial administration of justice in a democratic state, should also be actively participate, maintaining, enforcing, and himself observing a high standard of conduct so that the integrity and respect for the independence of the judiciary may be preserved, all duties of his office prescribed by law, take precedence over all his other activities which of course needs to be reviewed.(Code of conduct for Judiciary officer). On the other hand, Politics can be defined in various ways but for the purpose of this study, Politics is viewed as the struggle to obtain, maintain and retain power. This struggle is further regulated by law, so as to avoid and reduce conflict and violence which is bound to be generated by this struggle. In addition to that, Harold Lasswell's definition of politics which is 'who gets what, when and how', suits into the study. Politics in Nigeria is therefore summarized as a survival of the fittest as drawn from the above definitions, the most powerful gets to whatever and wherever dimed fit in the society without fear or sanction from the law. Law and politics as social phenomena are two releases of the same entity (a monistic ontological conception) (Miro Cerar, 2009). The relationship between politics and law has both a progressive function and a safeguarding function. Therefore, the ability of the law to surpass political games in Nigeria lies on the

Nigeria's elections so far have been characterized by unprecedented ferocious and violent outcome due to various forms of electoral manipulations which have denied the country credible free and fair elections in her body politics. The scenario has not only marred democratic consolidation in Nigeria but has also violated the fundamental human rights (right to life) of so many Nigerians. Elections and democratic consolidation in Nigeria with a study of the 2015 general elections as the focus of the research, posits that democracy sits on the horn of a dilemma in Nigeria. The inadequacies of democracy and its practice as a political ideology in Nigeria is illustrated by the tactics and tantrums of her political leaders and faulty political process. Free and fair election is still a mirage. In as much of the paradigm shift in the 2015 general election, as scholars and analyst acknowledged as free fair and credible. Hence, the research study will focus on the meaning and content of democracy and highlight the problems and assesses the prospects for consolidating democracy in Nigeria under the prevailing national, socioeconomic and political conditions. The study will further examine the interface between credible election and democratic consolidation with specific reference to the 2015 general election. Finally examines the place of morals in democratic consolidation and how electoral frauds have become a threat to the survival, growth and consolidation of democracy in Nigeria with observed recommendations for further studies.