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This text provides an account of the dynamic interplay between the political and economic forces that have shaped government priorities and strategies in Africa's most populous country. The author examines efforts to build a stronger federal centre, to develop national policies, to counter uneven development, and to reduce conflicts that have arisen from ethnic, regional, class and religious differences. A final section analyzes the evolution of economic policy and performance, looking specifically at agrarian policy, the programme of economic liberalization, and the impact of oil revenues. ... Read more

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This book is an effort to condense the totality of Nigeria's externalrelations and foreign policy, activities, accomplishments andshortcomings, during the thirty years of military rule 1966 to 1999 into asingle volume. It intends to close a gap in the literature on this period;in which writers tended to concentrate on individual regimes and events,ignoring or glossing over the bigger picture. The work is organisedchronologically. It begins with a section on the foundation, principles ndpurposes of Nigerian foreign policy. It then discusses the Yakubu Gownperiod1966-1975 in the context of domestic instability civil war andforeign policy. Chapters follow on the period of Murtala Muhammed1975-1976, Obasanjo 1976-1979, and Nigeria as a new African power; Buhari,xenophobia and the beginning of isolation; the Babangida period and thenew optimism; and the return to the dark times and international isolationwith Sani Abacha. The final chapters consider the new civil beginnings inNigeria since 1999, and offer an overall evaluation of the outcomes ofmilitary rule. The author is a specialist in international relations basedat University of Ife, Nigeria. ... Read more

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Textbooks are out of date.
While this textbook is a reasonable exposition on the state of politics in Nigeria last year, as with most textbooks, it is already out of date.In a place that changes as rapidly as Nigeria, this book does provide a good snapshot of the situation in Nigeria a few years back by reputable and knowledgable observers. ... Read more

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The Foundations of Nigeria: Essays in Honor of Toyin Falola Vol. 2 captures within the borders of a single volume a wide range of themes that underline the foundations of modern Nigeria, notably nationalism, constitutional development, politics and government, economy, culture, ethnicity, and religion. A comprehensive compendium of colonial history of Nigeria, the book combines an interdisciplinary framework of analysis with critical discourse to produce a unique and fresh interpretation of colonial history.

This is the second of a two-volumefestschrift to celebrate the accomplishments of Professor Toyin Falola, a distinguished Africanist. Falola has established an impressive record as a researcher and teacher, and an enduring academic legacy. From early history to the contemporary period, his contributions to Nigerian studies are broad, unique, and unparalleled. If a festschrift is to honor a retired scholar with a future already behind him, this one is to celebrate both a remarkable past and an ever-unfolding future. "Ògá" (the boss), as his students and associates call him, continues to be as productive as ever and to exercise a leadership role that has made him one of the most famous historians of our era.

While the first volume, The Transformation of Nigeria, covers the major themes of postcolonial Nigeria, this one focuses on the colonial period when the country emerged as a political unit under the tutelage of the British. ... Read more

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Religion, History, and Politics in Nigeria is concerned with the problematic nature of religion and politics in Nigerian history. The book provides a lively and straightforward treatment of the relationship among religion, politics, and history in Nigeria, and how it affects public life today. ... Read more

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The democratic opening presented by Nigeria's successful transition to civil rule (June 1998 to May 1999) unleashed a host of hitherto repressed or dormant political forces. Unfortunately, it has become increasingly difficult to differentiate between genuine demands by these forces on the state and outright criminality and mayhem. Post-transition Nigeria is experiencing the proliferation of ethnic militia movements purportedly representing, and seeking to protect, their ethnic interests in a country, which appears incapable of providing the basic welfare needs of its citizens.

It is against the background of collective disenchantment with the Nigerian state, and the resurgence of ethnic identity politics that this research interrogates the growing challenge posed by ethnic militias to the Nigerian democracy project. The central thesis is that the over-centralization of power in Nigeria’s federal practice and the failure of post-transitional politics in genuinely addressing the "National Question," has resulted in the emergence of ethnic militias as a specific response to state incapacity. The short- and long-term threats posed by this development to Nigeria’s fragile democracy are real, and justify the call for a National Conference that will comprehensively address the demands of the ethnic nationalities. ... Read more

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This book investigates the relationship between Nigerian military governments and the Nigerian press in the context of press freedom over a period of twenty-three years. The largely historical legal study focuses on four objectives to wit: to examine the laws (decrees and edicts) which defined the limits of press freedom during military rule in Nigeria; to draw together in one document the pertinent Nigerian case law in the area of press freedom during military rule; to identify and analyze the institutional, legal and non-legal measures and mechanisms utilized by Nigerian military regimes in controlling the press; and to identify and analyze the socio-political factors that influenced or affected press freedom during military rule in Nigeria. ... Read more

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PEOPLE POWER AND DEMOCRACY: The Popular Movement against Military Despotism in Nigeria, 1989-1999 was spurred by the annulment of the 1993 presidential election in Nigeria, an arbitrary action of the military regime of General Ibrahim Babangida. The exercise which had been widely acknowledged as the freest and fairest election ever held in the country, had produced, for the first time in the checkered history of the West African nation, a southerner, the late Chief Moshood Abiola, as the nation’s [third] democratically-elected president.

Capturing the essence of this unique historical event in Nigeria, this book highlights the consequential growth and development of a formidable resistance movement against arbitrary military rule in the country, manifested in the emergence of various national pro-democracy and human rights activist groups.Among these were the Campaign for Democracy (CD), the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), and the United Democratic Front of Nigeria (UDFN). The intense political activities and unyielding agitation of these populist groups in the 1990’s ultimately led to the downfall of the Babangida regime in 1993 and eventually paved the way for the return to democratic governance in the country and the establishment of Nigeria’s Fourth Republic in 1999.

In this landmark publication, Rita Kiki Edozie provides in-depth scholarly analyses of the activities of the various groups within the Nigerian pro-democracy movement from 1989 to 1999, with a view to facilitating a general understanding of the political dynamic in Nigeria during the turbulent ten-year period. She examines the groups’ various efforts at social mobilization of Nigeria’s civil society in the process of collective action against corrupt and arbitrary military rule. She puts to careful scrutiny the strategies, behavior patterns and actions of the individual groups and their combined efforts to facilitate a popular-based democratic transition for Africa’s most populous nation.

This is a serious and highly critical, but well-balanced study on Nigeria’s turbulent national politics during the last decade of the twentieth century. It culminates with an optimistic prognosis that anticipates the country’s political recovery and the sustenance of popular democracy in the advent of a new century and millenium. ... Read more

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This work examines public management and the trend of sustainable development in Nigeria from 1966 to 1999. The text analyzes the trend of change that occurred in Nigeria during the several military regimes and the short democratic government. It argues that Nigeria needs to change in both its public administration and its military institutions in order to attain sustainable development. The text addresses why public administrators in Nigeria are happy with the status quo. It uses several cases to present an argument that Nigeria must come to terms with its lack of capable public administrators. Extended family committments, corruption and ethnic ties have affected the impartiality of public managers and private invested interests in competition for state patronage, crucial factors in a nation where the state has been the main agent of development. Thus, the text maintains that the effective performance of public administration in the sustainable development process will require a high level of creative assessment and innovation on the part of political leaders. It goes on to analyze the implication of the profound transformation these change instruments will bring about.The mode of analysis adopted by the author, though specific to Nigeria in this text, should be easily adaptable to other countries. ... Read more

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In the more than three decades of political independence,many African states have gone through several violent civil warsgenerated by ethnic animosities and intolerance. These wars haveresulted in a total collapse of the civil society and a fragile socialorder that is often accompanied by organized pogroms as was recentlythe case in Rwanda. Today, the political picture of many Africannations is characterized by the disintegration of the politicalstructure and a disorganized national economy incapable of providingsubsistence for the masses of the people. One explanation for this maybe found in the role ethnicity continues to play in the new emergingstates, the majority of these artificial state entities were puttogether and defined by the selfishness of former colonial powers,especially France and Britain. The on going human disasters, includingfamine, genocide, and massacres of innocent civilians in Rwanda,Burundi and elsewhere in Africa, shows clearly the severity of theethnic issue in black Africa. There is no other place where thisethnic time bomb is more frightening than Nigeria, which already hasgone through a major civil war. This book is an attempt to understandthe role ethnicity plays in nation building and its implication forthe instability of the neocolonial state in the developing world andNigeria in particular. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

a mixed bag at best
This book is not what it seems according to either of the above book reviews.More about the mistreatment of Nigeria by Britain, France, the US and the IMF, the author spends very little of his time on ethnic politics in Nigeria.Instead, Badru focuses on the very real but off-topic problems of economic imperialism and neo-colonialism, giving us a good history of post-independence Nigeria in addition to an introductory chapter about Marxist sociology's view of the state.While relevant to those protesting in Prague, this analysis is not helpful to those of us who want to know more about ethnicity in Nigeria, the most populous country in black Africa.Badru's only take on ethnic politics is the typical Marxist stance that it is less important than class politics.

Oh, and the proof-reading on this book was really bad, with lots of mispellings and missed words.

Don't waste your time. ... Read more

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A study of Nigerian public affairs, in which the author argues that Nigeria has failed to install and operate modern national institutions, resulting in hindered political development. ... Read more

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Nigeria is a pivotal nation in both African and world politics and has passed through many troubling years since gaining its independence in 1960. The last twenty years have seen the emergence of a new generation of Nigerians with fundamentally different perspectives, experiences and drives from the preceding generations. This book examines the birth, traits and challenges facing this new generation and the necessity for socio-political and economic change in present Nigeria. ... Read more

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A collection of essays, commissioned to honour one of Nigeria's and Africa's most outstanding political scientists of his generation, brings together twenty six contri-butions from scholars of all generations, who all have connections with the University of Ibadan. These include: Wale Adebanwi, Adigun Agbaje, LaRay Denzer, L. Adele Jinadu, Richard Sklar, Rotimi Suberu and Adebayo Williams. The essays are organised into four sections; the structure, history, processes and dynamics of Nigeria's federal system, governance issues, the formulations and transformations of identity politics and global contexts of the production and reproductions of the Nigerian state and society. ... Read more

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This is an important and exciting essay in Nigerian studies. It deals with the painful aftermath of post-colonial euphoria and the grim realities of ethnic, regional and cultural conflict in the new Republic. Awotokun discusses legislative reform and implementation and its great problems vis-Á -vis the military and the political elite and suggests a pattern for the future. ... Read more