The purpose of this study is to analyze the system of personal income taxation in Nigeria, especially with respect to its administration, equity, and effects on efficient resource usage. There have, in the past, been numerous complaints that the personal income tax in Nigeria does not yield enough revenue for the state governments, primarily because of widespread avoidance and evasion of the tax, especially by persons who do not derive income from wages and salaries. This study examines this problem in light of questions as to how the tax evolved, how important it is to state governments, how efficient and equitable it is, what administrative problems it faces, and what reforms can be implemented to best solve existing problems.

Oil producing communities of Nigeria known as Niger Delta region has been a region characterized with fierce violent conflict for more than a decade. The conflict is between successive Nigerian Governments and their collaborating oil companies, and militant groups from the region. And the core issues in the conflict are the socio-economic deprivations and denial of resource control which were occasioned by corporate malfeasance and indifference of successive Nigerian Governments to the plight, demands and aspirations of the people of the region. The Nigerian Government who first aggravated the violent conflict in the region through the use of violent repression as an anti-protest measure however proposed an amnesty policy in June 2009 as a non-violent measure to address the crisis in the region. The policy aimed solely at disarming, rehabilitating and reintegrating the militants into the Nigerian state. The implementation of the policy brought a relative peace to the long troubled region for the first time, with the seeming compliance of the militants. This study however argues that the policy has no feasibility of ensuring a genuine and lasting peace in the long troubled region because its focus is not on the root cause of the crisis. Thus it argues that addressing the issue of human rights whose lack is the root cause of the crisis and whose provision has always been demands and the aspirations of the people will instead engender a genuine and lasting peace in the region.

Ce travail est une réflexion sur la place et le rôle institutionnels du Parlement au Niger ; au-delà de la simple présentation de ses fonctions législative et de contrôle du gouvernement, qui, au demeurant, ont été amplement étudiées, mais intégrées dans une approche dynamique et globale de la question. La première partie traite de l’apport du Parlement dans l’institutionnalisation de l’État nigérien. Il y a, d’abord, le rôle historique de l’Assemblée nationale dans la formation des institutions étatiques du Niger et l’accession du pays à la souveraineté internationale, en 1960. Il y a, ensuite, le fait que les structures de l’institution parlementaire donnent véritablement forme et corps à l’État nigérien. La seconde partie traite de l’apport du Parlement dans la démocratisation de l’État nigérien. Il y a, d’une part, son rôle de modérateur de pouvoir exécutif, en veillant à ce que ce dernier n’abuse pas du pouvoir d’État dans l’exercice de ses fonctions. Être en mesure d’arrêter le pouvoir exécutif, en renversant le gouvernement et/ou en provoquant la destitution du Président de la République. Il y a, d’autre part, la participation des citoyens à l’exercice du pouvoir d’État, à travers le mécanisme d’élaboration de la loi par le Parlement, représentant le peuple souverain. / This study is deals with the institutional place and role of the Nigerian Parliament. It is more than a mere presentation of its legislative and supervisory functions of government, which, have not only been extensively studied, but approached in a dynamic and comprehensive manner.This scientific work is divided into two parts. Part one deals with the Parliament’s contribution to the institutionalization of the State of Niger. It first presents the historical role of the National Assembly in establishing state institutions of Niger and attaining international sovereignty in 1960 before describing how the structures of the parliamentary institution really give shape and body to the government of Niger. Part two deals with the Parliament’s contribution in democratizating the State of Niger. It plays the role of executive power moderator as it ensures that there is no abuse of State power in the exercise of its duties by ousting the government and/or impeaching the President of the Republic. Moreover, citizens can have a say in the exercise of State power through the legislation-drafting mechanism of the Parliament which represents the sovereign people.