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This study surveys the issue of military coups in Nigerian politics. An attempt is made to explain the causes of coups d'etat. To this end, Thompson's thesis of military grievances has been rigorously employed to explain the occurrences of military coups in Nigeria. The Thompson thesis asserts that coups occur because the military is aggrieved. A study of the opinions of expert observers familiar with Nigerian politics confirmed that four out of the six military coups occurred due to problems emanating from the Nigerian military establishment. Although military grievances such as its political positions, resource bases, ethnicity, and factions within the military caused most coups, there is sufficient evidence that societal factors like economic crises, election decisions, and the need for reforms also encouraged the military to overthrow governments in Nigeria.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine and re-evaluate the questions involved in federalism and political problems in Nigeria. The strategy adopted in this study is historical, The study examines past, recent, and current literature on federalism and political problems in Nigeria. Basically, the first two chapters outline the historical background and basis of Nigerian federalism and political problems. Chapters three and four consider the evolution of federalism, political problems, prospects of federalism, self-government, and attainment of complete independence on October 1, 1960. Chapters five and six deal with the activities of many groups, crises, military coups, and civil war. The conclusions and recommendations candidly argue that a decentralized federal system remains the safest way for keeping Nigeria together stably.

Thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment for the degree of Master of Science in Development Planning to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, School of Architecture and Planning at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2016 / Nigeria has earned huge revenues from the exploitation of oil resources in the Niger Delta since the discovery of oil in 1956. These huge economic gains have however, not been translated into sustainable growth and development. The Niger Delta is characterized by poverty and squalor which has been attributed to environmental degradation from the activities of oil exploitation by the Nigerian government and multi-national companies in the area and also poor governance. This study adopts an exploratory case study method to explores the interrelationship between Oil Exploitation, Environmental Impacts and Conflicts in the Niger Delta and tries to answer the question what is the nature of and inter-relationships between conflicts associated with oil exploitation in the Niger Delta Area? The Niger Delta area has experienced a lot of oil related conflicts over the decades, which have manifested in the form of peaceful protests, violence, combat with Nigerian military forces, rise of youth militia groups, illegal oil markets, vandalism of oil pipelines, hijacking of offshore and onshore oil vessels, hostage taking, kidnapping of expatriates and oil company workers in the region. Conflicts have also taken the form of inter-communal conflicts, intra-communal conflicts, inter-state conflicts and conflicts between the Nigerian Government Oil Companies and the affected communities. The root causes of conflicts include; the high dependence of the Niger government on oil revenue for economic growth, marginalisation and underdevelopment of the Niger Delta region, struggle for resource control and derivation formula, existing systems of neo-patrimonialism, corruption, land decrees and poor governance. The major findings include; the presence of crude oil in the Niger Delta is strongly linked to conflicts experienced in the area, rent seeking practices such as oil theft and bunkering, political thuggery, corruption and the struggle for economic and political power by political elites characterise the Niger Delta region. / XL2018

This study investigates the role of civil society in the Nigerian polity between 1985 and 1999. The institutions that constitute civil society, particularly human rights organizations, professional groups, non-governmental organizations have played crucial roles in checking the excesses of Nigerian governments. They have also -served not only as instruments for protecting human rights and guarding against the aouse-of the rule of law in the absence of a constitution but also in the advocacy of democracy in Nigeria. e study examines generally and in theoretical terms not only the relationship between 'state and civil society but also how far, and in what ways the state can affect or engage, purposefully, civil society in general. Drawing on de Tocquiville, Diamond, Gramsci, Hegel, Hobbes, Mamdani, Marx, and Mill, the study attempts to cut through the definitional quagmire by defining civil society as an arena made up of voluntary associations with differing interests and objectives and anchored within the space between state and society, which work towards those diverse societal interests with the aim either of promoting change or maintaining the status quo. The struggle against military dictatorshijJ in Nigeria gave rise to a large and complex civil society. The study examines the activities and / internal problems of these organizations. Specifically, it focuses on the role and effectiveness of civil society groups as instruments of democratic change in Nigeria. In this regard, it examines extensively their oppositional stance against military dictatorship and assesses their effectiveness in promoting transparency, accountability, and good governance in Nigeria. In essence, then, the study seeks to provide insight not only about the workings ofNigerian civil society organizations but also their potential as a vehicle for emplacing transparent and effective governance. To drive the point home, the study examines three major civil society organizations (representing different categories of civil society) that played crucial roles in the struggle for good governance and the protection of fundamental human rights in Nigeria. These are the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), and the Campaign for Democracy (CD). Looking ystematically at eacn of the three cases, it investigates the dangerous and, often, brutal struggle by members of the civil society as they sought to compel successive military regimes to adhere to pnnciples of good governance, respect for basic human rights, transformative development, arid-democracy. A testimony of their relative success in pursuit of their appositional agenda was reflected not only in the political transition activities of each military government but also in their ability to isolate recalcitrant regimes and externalize the struggle by sensitizing the internationalcommunity as happened under General Sani Abacha. Nevertheless, the ability and capacity of civil society to sustain its role as a balancing force between the Nigerian state and people remains in doubt due both to continuing uneasiness in its relationship with the state and to organizational and operational problems associated with internal factionalization, proneness to infiltration and sabotage, victimization by obnoxious laws and decrees, inadequacy of funding, weak operating capacity, fragile organizational struchlres, and poor alliance and networking arrangements. The Study argues that in order to provide a constructive challenge to the authority and power of the state and to achieve their transformative agenda for social, economic, and political development of Nigeria, civil society groups would need to wrestle effectively with some of these problems. / Thesis (Ph.D)-University of Kwazulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2002.

The debt-for democracy hypothesis is that undemocratic governments were largely responsible for not only the accumulation but also poor management of externally sourced capital resources. External borrowing had therefore failed to lead to growth of the economies of debtor countries under undemocratic political leadership. Despite this explanation of the debt problem conventional empirical analyses of the debt-growth relationship did not include political institutional variables. This study investigates the relationship between democratization and debt-led growth, using Nigeria, a typical debtor country whose politics was dominated by 'undemocratic ' governance, as a case study. Two broad research questions are investigated namely, whether available data support a negative or positive contribution of debt to the growth of the Nigeria economy during the period 1970-2000; and ifso was there any link between the levels of democratization in Nigeria and debt-led growth. Using a census of major political events in Nigeria around four dimensions of democratization, four primary indices of democratization and one composite index were constructed for the period. Using the Taylor (1983) marginal conditions to gauge the contribution of external debt to the growth of the Nigerian economy, the study found that external debt is capable of playing a double edged sword on the performance of the economy. Positive contributions coincided with the periods when Nigeria's oil dominated foreign exchange revenues were robust, and/ or when debt management strategies were better articulated and vice versa. The analyses of the link between democratization and debt-led growth using both correlation and regression techniques, yielded different results in two definitional contexts of debt-led growth. When defined purely in terms of the Taylor marginal conditions for a positive contribution of debt to the economy of a borrowing nation, the results support the pessimist view that democratization impeded growth. On the contrary, when debt-led growth was defined in a broader sense to incorporate variables such as domestic savings and investment, foreign direct investments, public and private consumption and debt burden, there was strong evidence that debt-led growth performed beller at higher levels of democratization than other wise. The result using the narrow definition was found to be a direct consequence of the overriding influence of export performance in the Taylor conditions. With Nigeria's exports almost entirely dominated by extractive industry the result derived using the narrow definition confirmed the theoretical links between natural resource endowment and regime type on the one hand, and external capital and the nature of the host country 's industry on the other. In the first resource dependence allowed the political leadership to be more detached and less accountable to the electorate since they did not need to levy taxes. Secondly foreign investors concerned with security of their sunk investments in the extractive oil induslly in particular favoured continuity of powerfol regimes with less democratic content. In both findings one thing was common: democratization was associated more with those factors whose decreases affect growth positively than with those whose increases improve growth. The conclusion from this is that the impact of democratization is stronger with negative than with positive growth factors. In other words, while democratization may be supportive of growth its greater impact appears to be in limiting the factors that themselves limit growth. To benefit from the favourable impact of democratisation on debt-led growth therefore the study suggests that improvements in the democratisation process in Nigeria is needed It identifies political education as central to this improvement. A model is developed to show how improvements in the political institutional framework may trickle down, through an enabling environment that is capable of engendering growth-enhancing domestic and international responses to lead in the direction of debt-led growth.

This study will examine political party systems, with particular emphasis on the impact of ethnicity on party formation in both Nigeria (1951-1961) and Sierra Leone (1950-1967). Particularly in terms of this study, the hypothesis will be advanced that in countries as ethnically divided as Nigeria and Sierra Leone, political parties formed from a nucleus of members from one or another subsystem, such as an ethnic group, which engage in competitive elections will create sectional and ethnic tensions. The major finding of the study, is that a country or countries with sharp ethnic-cleavages, will tend to produce a multi-party system unless there are intervening factors to mitigate against such party-formation. / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate

This thesis is to indicate the positive British role in developing Nigeria during the Colonial period to the point that effective self-government became possible. The study is approached analytically, utilizing information primarily from printed sources, but including conclusions from the author's experience and informal interviews from local chiefs who lived through much of the Colonial period. Between 1849 and 1906, West African territories were occupied by several European powers who subjected the peoples to a new type of administration. In Nigeria, Britain was the Colonial master. The British unquestionably benefited economically from their control of Nigeria, but, to their credit, they also endeavored to create a colony in which the subject peoples would ultimately be able to take over the country's administration. Side by side with the British Government / commercial and religious groups with economic and religious motives, moved into Nigeria and introduced new concepts and practices of the western world. Barriers to effective administration and rapid advancement of native authority during the initial stages of British control were due, not to the shortcomings of the British Administrators, but, rather, in large measure to the traditions and social structures of the various peoples. Moreover, sufficient revenue was not available due to the underdeveloped economic resources and because local taxation was not introduced in the early days of the British administration. Assistance in the form of revenue came from the British Government and commercial groups. By the end of the Second World War administrative progress was encouraging, and radical approaches to democratic self-government reached a high peak. The process of transition to full-scale democracy on the British model proceeded rapidly. The British Government assisted the establishment of popularly elected majorities. The executive councils were taken over by politicians drawn from and responsible to the majorities. The system of one man, one vote was initiated. In general, Britain was remarkably successful in training Nigerians to assume control of their country, and the British efforts cannot be erased from the history books or from the minds of many Nigerians. The result was a united, viable, and independent Nigeria.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study concerned the piratical attacks occurring along the East and West coasts of Africa. Although maritime piracy along the coasts of Africa is not a new phenomenon, recent upsurges in piratical attacks have attracted a great deal of attention. Despite Nigeria being long considered as the hotspot for piratical activity in Africa, the greatest upsurge of piratical activity has been seen in the areas surrounding Somalia, including the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean. The primary objective of this study is to identify the main causes of maritime piracy in Somalia and Nigeria. Also the correlation between state capacity (failed or weak) and the motivations for piracy (greed or grievance) is investigated. The secondary objectives of this study are to investigate the direct manifestations of piracy, as well as the current counter piracy initiatives. This is done in order to evaluate the successes and failures of current counter-piracy approaches in order to create more viable and successful counter measures. It is found that historical factors, as well as political, economic, social and environmental factors contribute greatly to the rise of maritime piracy in both Somalia and Nigeria. Furthermore, it has been found that there are numerous direct causes of piracy in these two countries. These differences and similarities have been investigated using a comparative analysis framework. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie het betrekking tot die seerowery wat langs die Oos-en Weskus van Afrika plaasvind. Alhoewel seerowery langs die kus van Afrika nie 'n nuwe verskynsel is nie, het die onlangse oplewing van seerower-aanvalle baie aandag geniet in verskeie oorde. Ten spyte daarvan dat Nigerië lank beskou was as die probleem-area vir seerower aktiwiteit in Afrika, word die grootste toename van seerowery in die gebiede rondom Somalië, insluitend die Golf van Aden en die Indiese Oseaan ervaar. Die primêre doel van hierdie studie is om die oorsake van seerowery in Somalië en Nigerië te identifiseer. Die verband tussen staat-kapasiteit (mislukte of swak) en die motiverings vir seerowery (gierigheid of griewe) word ondersoek. Die sekondêre doelwitte van hierdie studie is om die direkte manifestasies van seerowery te ondersoek, sowel as die huidige teen-seerower inisiatiewe. Dit word gedoen om die suksesse en mislukkings van die huidige teen-seerower benaderings te evalueer ten einde meer lewensvatbare en suksesvolle teenmaatreels te skep. Dit is gevind dat historiese faktore, sowel as die politieke-, ekonomiese-, sosiale- en omgewings- faktore baie bydra tot die ontstaan en opbloei van seerowery in Somalië en Nigerië. Dit is gevind dat daar talle direkte oorsake van seerowery in hierdie twee lande is. Hierdie verskille en ooreenkomste is ondersoek met behulp van vergelykende analises.