45 | p a g e adjustment strategies for new students hyacinth o. eze adjustment strategies for new students hyacinth o. eze abstract the new student is that child who gained admission into a new school outside his former environment. a lot has been written and said about adjustment. no final conclusion appears to have been reached. the nature of the concept itself is such that universal approaches cannot be evolved. this paper attempted to examine the issue as it affects the movement from primary to secondary school. in doing this it was considered appropriate to examine also the roles of a guidance counselor in the school to get new student adjusted consequently it was concluded that except all concerned (functionaries school authority) co-operate with the school counselor adjustment will remain a serious problem in our schools. introduction there is the general awareness of problems (adjustment) of new students and the implications for the growth and development of such students. -to admit, maintain and keep children in new environment, efforts would need he made to attract the new students to stay. provisions would also be made to resolve difficulties encountered while in school; the students would need to see progress1 in their new environment. to achieve these goals, guidance arid counselor to help remedy the situation. meaning of the term guidance and counselling guidance, as a concept has been defined in many ways and the term still sound vague to lay persons, who may see it as an effort to guide, direct and advice. according to shertzer and stone (1976) guidance is the process of helping individuals to understand themselves and their world. as an educational construct, it refers to the provision of help for pupils to understand themselves while in their new environment. durojaiye (1972) saw guidance as a complex process, which encompasses the total, needs of the individual, student to be directed or guided. this guide is to assist 'the student in educational, social, moral, emotional, health and leisure time needs and for the individual's preparation for a suitable career in future. the term counseling, on the other hand, has been wrongly used. counselling may be defined as a learning process in which individuals learn about themselves, their interpersonal relationship and behaviours/ that advance their personal development. olayinka (1972) defined counseling as a process in which one person assists another person in a. personon-person or face-to-face encounter. this assistance may take many forms: it may be educational; 46 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com vocational, social; recreational; emotional and or moral. guidance and counseling services for new entrants in schools today seems to be or should be organized around the following. warmth receiving: this concern her new students were received on arrival; so that the people and the place does not look strange as new students does not have any friend. information: norris, zeran & hatch (1976) defined educational information as valid and usable data about all types of present and probable future educational or training opportunities and requirements including curricular and co-curricular offerings requirements for success and problems of student life. orientation: organizing a programme, where people come and talk to the new entrants about the school, academic works and interpersonal relations, etc, placement: promoting the development of the students and aid him in the selection of subjects. appraisal: collection and analysis of various data on the individual for the purpose of understanding of the individual and assisting the individual to understand himself training: this includes academic and coping mechanism; skills in human relations and personal adjustment and remedial needs. c ounseling: facilitation of selfunderstanding through group counseling, individual counseling etc. fig. 1 adjustment circle. key: warmth reception information orientation placement appraisal training counseling the figure 1 above is an attempt to show the working of a school counselor with the school authority. the programme attempts to marshal all resources in co-ordinate way to bring the new students in this, adjusted level, the implication of the above illustration is that, for any new student, to adjust efforts to succeed 605 of the time should be given to (1, 2, 3; 4, & 5) the right side of the circle of service. the remaining 40% (6 % 7) of the time should be devoted to providing such service as training andcounseling 47 | p a g e adjustment strategies for new students hyacinth o. eze without which new students find it difficult to adjust within a short period of the time. counselors’ roles to get students adjusted the need for a counselor to help the students has been recognized. parents and school authorities also recognize the needs to decrease mal-adjustment behaviour while increasing their ability to adjust and adapt the proper school behaviour. the students themselves want to live a well-adjusted worthwhile life. add these seem to suggest the need for affective guidance and counseling for the new students. today, students need better adjustment programme to deal with increasing complex social and academic problems. to assist students the following adjustment programmes should be organized for students. recreational facilities: the counselor should request the school authority to provide some recreational facilities such as football, lawn table-tennis, badmiting; basketball; chess etc. these sporting activities helps student to release tension after six hours of academic work. provision of excursion: this helps students not only to be adjusted but helps them to collect information, verify. classify and evaluate the ones they already have. enlisting students to school clubs such as guidance club, young farmer; young engineers debating society, dramatic, cultural club, etc. this should be organized vertically or horizontally within the school. training in human relations here refers to the interaction of people in all. types of human transactions or endeavour whether social club, family school setting; business, etc. the counselor should employ actionorientated; goal-directed and operational-programme. this must generate some actions in interactions and such actions must be sustained by emotions. counselling programme: this counseling programme should focus on behaviour modification; such as truancy, quarrel; theft; choice of subjects skills in study habits; referral techniques-etc. mounting disciplinary programme. according to turner (1973), discipline is a structure, which is designed to facilitate the smooth working of some activity whether this is -acquisition of knowledge by the student the skill of craftsman, the 'training of professional soldier, or rearing and education, of children. 48 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com the counselor should endeavour to see that new students are disciplined to get them well accommodated by older students and the school authorities. conclusion in conclusion; it is very obvious that new students are faced with problems of adjustment. the future seems bleak for any student who is not well adjusted in this environment. the school counselor should mount adjustment programme. the school authorities should also provides the need facilities for the new student. where these are available, most students will not find it difficult to become well adjusted and accepted by others. though for the programme to succeed both the school authorities and counselor must cooperate arid work a hand in hand for a complete change in the students' adjustment problems. references durojaiye, m. o, a. (1972) psychological guidance of the school child (ny) 2nd ed evans brothers. norris, w; zeran p, and hatch t, c. (1976) information service in guidance chicago: rand i meanally & co. olayinka, m. s. (1972) the role of guidance and counselloing unit, federal ministry of education unpublished pap.er. s h e r t z e r b . & s t o n e s h e l l y g . ( 1 9 7 6 ) i fundam enta l s o f counse l l i ng . (2nd ed) bos ton : j houghton miffcin. tunner, h. c. (1973) career information in counseling and teaching (3rd) boston, allyn & baccon inc. 339 | p a g e the use of electronic aids, and its influence on english language achievement in enugu state college of education (technical) enugu eze, hyacinth osondu; chukwu, ebele georgina; onah, festus c. the use of electronic aids, and its influence on english language achievement in enugu state college of education (technical) enugu eze, hyacinth osondu (ph.d.) department of education, enugu state college education (technical), enugu chukwu, ebele georgina department of library and information science, enugu state college education (technical), enugu onah, festus c. department of social sciences and humanity, institute of management and technology, enugu abstract electronic teaching devices are modern tools employed in teaching and learning. the students are expected to gain much from the application and use of electronic devices. major belief has always been that electronic aids enhances achievement in schools. although several studies have been conducted in this field and it confirmed its use and achievement while some are contradictory. this study, conducted in enugu tertiary institution sheds doubts on the wide spread belief that electronic aids enhance students’ performance. this study equally found that the use of electronic teaching aids does not enhance english language achievement. the implication and recommendation were made. keywords: electronic, influence, english and achievement. introduction our society is currently technology driven, and our learning and life is highly affected by era of information. it is a known fact that technology plays an important role in today’s societal development (nkom 2000). it is on this strength that we try to find out if we can take advantage of this modern technological facilities in electronic in aiding the task of teaching and learning english for better achievement. in the studies of (ybara and green 2003) learning and achieving in english language need a practical approach/ practice in learning language; reading language, speaking language and writing language in order to develop their experience and skill. all these requirements can certainly be handled by using electronic aids. the term “electronic aids” includes aids for communication techniques; for language teaching, there are others for speaking, listening and writing. they are technological devices developed to facilitate the teaching and learning english language for better 340 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com achievement. electronic aids have made teaching and learning english language easy (sharma 2009) it has proved useful in facilitating modernization in the teaching learning ultimate. it has given the learners opportunities to be exposed to professionally designed programmes on video or computers (eze j 2016). according to (kartrick 2005) the use of electronic and other multi-media system has been popularly more effective. this is because the traditional concept of a teacher as the only source of knowledge and transmission has been changed due to advancement in science and technology, the traditional classroom with teacher teaching students where mainly one way of communication is no longer effective in modern times due to changes in our society. to adequately meet the demand of changes, innovation in teaching by using electronic aids is the most appropriate (kumar 2004). therefore, there is need to introduce modern teaching and learning in english language by using electronic aids is essential (ajelabi 2004) opined that the application of electronic aids can facilitate learning and better achievement. electronic aids have effect on student’s emotions and attitude which enhances comprehension and assimilation (ani 2016) some available electronic in escet are electronic board, video disk player, digital camera, pc-pc conferencing mode. the present study seek to find out if the use and application of electronic aids in the teaching english language has effects on their achievement in the courses. many authors have researched on electronic aids (gardener 2009) (ani 2016) (kumar 2004) evidence from their work showed that much has not been done on english languages studies. this is the reason this study investigated the effect of the use of electronic aid on english language achievement in english department of escet. statement of problem innovation through research have been globally recognized as instrument in driving improvement in teaching, learning and achievement. one of the objectives is establishing language lab. the lab is there but unfortunately almost half of the lecturers do not use the laboratory hence poor achievement in the course. the question is to what extent has the use of electronics aid influence english language achievement? research question 1. to what extent has electronic aids affects english language achievement in escet, enugu, nigeria. hypothesis ho1 electronic aids has no significant influence on english language achievement in escet. ho2: electronic teaching aids have significant influence on english language achievement. 341 | p a g e the use of electronic aids, and its influence on english language achievement in enugu state college of education (technical) enugu eze, hyacinth osondu; chukwu, ebele georgina; onah, festus c. delimitation of the study this study was limited to students in enugu state college of education (technical). they are those in english education department, social studies and english language combinations political science and english combinations. this environment gave the researcher the opportunity to monitor and supervise the experiment. methodology this study adopted quasi-experimental. the design involved the manipulation of variables (application of electronic aids and non application of electronic aids). control of extraneous variables, the use of control and treatment groups and the measure of dependent variable (students english language achievement). specifically, the study applied pre-test, post-test non-equivalent control group design. quasi-experiment design is considered appropriate for the study because intact classes were used to avoid disruption of normal class lesson. population the population consisted all the students that offer english language as option 3765. however stratified sampling technique was used to select the sample for the study. the sample size of 400 was determined using yammane (1967) formular eboh, (2009). sample and sampling technique out of two schools (education and social science and arts) two departments was selected. one intact class of 200 english students was randomly selected from each department making a total intact class of 400 english students. treatment procedure out of the two intact classes of 400, one of the intact classes consisting of 200 english students was assigned group i and was treated using electronic aids teaching methods, while the other students were assigned group ii and was taught without electronic aids. instruments for data collection a selfconstructed questionnaire “titled electronic aids teaching methods and english achievement test (eat) consisted of section a and b. section a consisted of demographic information while section b contained 8 items on the extent of effect of electronic teaching aids on english language. the four-point modified hikert scale format viz: to a very high extent. (4 pts) to a high extent (3 pts) to a low extent (2 pts) to a very low extent (1 pt). then 30 multiple choice objective questions developed after treatment were also used. the multiple-choice questions items were adopted from 2016/2017 jamb question papers. the questionnaire items were validated by experts in the developments of educational management and measurement and evaluation. the questionnaires were collected on the spot. with ancova the hypothesis of the study was formulated and tested at 0.05 level of insignificance and 2 degrees of freedom. 342 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com data presentation and analysis. research question: to what extent has electronic teaching aids influenced your achievement in enlisting language. source: field data 2018 in table i the very high extent group had a mean score 453.38 representing 39.47%, the high extent group mean score 318.38, which represents 27.72%. on the whole the high extent groups mean 761.76 represent the grand percentage of high extent to 66.32 percent. test of hypothesis ho1: electronic teaching aids have no significant influence on english language achievement. ho2 : electronic teaching aids have significant influence on english language achievement in escet. results considering the limited scope of this paper, many students tend to agree that electronics teaching aids has effects on the learning of english language. determining the level of significance at 0.05 level d.u (df error = n-1)= 32-131 d.v column (treatment) = c-1 table 1 respondents responses on the influence of electronic aids on their english language achievement in enugu state college of education (technical) escet. item scores no of respondent to a very high extent (vhe) no of respondent to a high extent (he) no of respondents to a low extent (le) no of respondent to a very low extent (vle) total 1 536 336 166 50 400 2 517 360 170 54 400 3 498 309 142 100 400 4 518 340 140 39 400 5 530 360 138 40 400 6 110 130 1132 360 400 7 398 342 200 48 400 8 520 370 178 58 400 total 3627 2547 2266 749 mean mean 453.38 318.38 283.25 93.63 331 | p a g e the use of electronic aids, and its influence on english language achievement in enugu state college of education (technical) enugu eze, hyacinth osondu; chukwu, ebele georgina; onah, festus c. = 4-1 =3 error = total error (d.v) d.v treatment = 31-3 -28 critical value (3 onto 28) table ratio = 19.14 sum of squares of total sst = £x2 cj (etj)2 n = 1787297.312 also sum of the squares for treatment sstr = £x2i (£tj)2 n] = 1309156.187 error sum of squares (sse) sse = sstsstr sse = 1787297.3121309156.187 sse = 478141.125 mean square error (for treatment) mstr = sstr = 1309156.187 c-1 4-1 = 139156.187 = 4368385.3957 3 mstr = 436385.3957 mst = sse = 478141.125 _____ decision rule if f-ractio cal > f-ractio critical we reject ho and therefore we accept alternative hoi 343 332 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com calculated f-ractio value 0.401 and f-ractio critical value 19.14 = 0.401 > 19.14 we accept ho conclusion: based on the data collected and analyzed electronic teaching aids has no significant influence on english language achievement in escet. discussion the findings of the present study indicate that the electronic aids do not influence english achievement, it does not significantly improve achievement in english language. this finding disagrees with many scholars anigbo (2016), james (216) which states that electronic aids reinforce achievements. also finding differs from paul (2000) which infers those electronic aids provides rich and concrete learning experience which enhance achievement. the result further indicates that students will achieve success in english error 28 mst = 17076.46875 sst df mse f-ratio bw 1787297.312 28 1787297.312 63832 05 28 = 63832.05 159380.375 within 478141.125 3 478141.125 3 = 159380.375 f -ratio = 0.401 total 1265438.437 31 223212.425 hi : electronic teaching aids have significant influence on english language achievement in escet. sst df mse f-ration b/w 1787297.312 28 1787297.312 28 = 63832.0 63832.05 159380.375 within 478141.125 3 478141 125 = 478141.125 3 = 159380.375 159380.375 = 0.407 total 1265438.437 31 223212.425 if f-ratio cal > f-ratio critical we reject ho, otherwise we accept now f ration calculated = 0.401 and f-ratio critical value of 19.14 = 0.401 19.14. based on the data collected and analyzed electronic teaching aids has no influence on english language achievement in escet. 344 331 | p a g e the use of electronic aids, and its influence on english language achievement in enugu state college of education (technical) enugu eze, hyacinth osondu; chukwu, ebele georgina; onah, festus c. language without the use and applications of electronic teaching devices. the need arises therefore that students need awareness exposure that can facilitate basic use and application of electronic devices. similarly, similansky (2000) emphasis that early preparation for scholastic success should be established early in childhood training. this assertion also holds in nigeria, that basic behavior repertoire, which a child must have to achieve academic success in formal school situation. this repertoire involves basic language skills (the child’s spoken language) attentional responses (responsiveness to verbal cues). the reality is that many students in enugu state college of education (technical) especially those in education and language departments have not acquired this minimum amount of knowledge on electronic devices. it is suggested that pre college attendance and acquisition of electronic usage may guarantee the acquisition of the skills and concepts required for formal academic pursuits and subsequent success in use of electronic devices. the implication is that the much dependent on electronic aids may not give the desired result in academic teaching and learning. the researchers recommended that further studies should be carried out in secondary and primary school. references ajalabi a. (2007) essential of education technology. raytel communication ltd. amadi r.n (2002) principles and methods of technology and learning. mcaajec publications ani c & eze j (2016) introduction to advanced education technology. enugu. count global publishers. gardner. h. ic (2009) the unschooled mind. how children think and how schools should teach: new york: basic books anigbo l.c (2016) factors affecting students interest in languages in secondary schools in enugu state. international journal of education 3 (3) 7378. shara. p (2009). controversies in using technology in language teaching retrieved from http/www.teaching english. similanesky y. (2013). recent developing in technology and language learning literature review and metaanalysis calico journal 21 (1) kumar .j.e (2004) planning and producing instructional technology for teaching and learning. thomas y. crowell 345 http://www.teaching/ 48 | p a g e a study of some factors in the students’ attitude towards library usage and their academic achievements in enugu state college of education (technical) eze, hycinth osondu; chukwu, ebele georgina a study of some factors in the students’ attitude towards library usage and their academic achievements in enugu state college of education (technical) eze, hycinth osondu (ph.d) department of education enugu state college of education (technical), enugu. chukwu, ebele georgina department of library and information science enugu state college of education (technical), enugu. abstract a descriptive survey study was conducted to find out the reasons behind some students’ behavior regarding use of libraries and its effects on academic achievement. the result generally indicated that students’ ‘background affects students’ library usage and that age and sex do not result in or promote competency in library usage and academic achievement. the researchers observed that the use of handsets, ipads, playfulness and impatience seem to be associated with the degree of lack of interest in the use of libraries. keywords: factors, students, attitude, library, academic achievement. introduction the motivating factor behind the study was the author’s observations of students’ pattern of library usage and the effect on their academic achievement. in recent years, with the rapid growth and development in technology, many students tend to ignore the importance of library in academic institution. this is to say that any factor that influences attitude could be said to be a barrier to academic achievement. the end result of poor usage of libraries may be failure in examination with its attendant consequences. literature review according to kaskus and aguila (1920), the importance of library cannot be overemphasized, because it is an integral part of quality education. this means that students who do not use the library may encounter academic problems (success). thus the role of library in the successes of students must be acknowledged. holmberg (1988) opined that the importance of libraries in schools and its usage provides information services, such that those who do not use library would result in producing learners with narrow experience in research-led inquiry. the graduates produced under this situation, would lack the vital skills necessary for independent thinking and research, which are fundamental aims of higher education. he stated that library visit enables students to be aware of the purpose, practice and predominant 49 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com expectations. in the same way, if students are properly oriented on the use of libraries, their performance will certainly improve for better. clemente (2013) carried out a study on the influence of library on the academic achievement of students and she concluded that the use of library is important for better output in academic pursuit, the above assertion, no doubt is applicable to use of libraries. of recent, many researchers have devoted time to investigating provision of information services and its adequacy oladukun (2002) msuya and maro (2002). they found that inadequate provision of library and information services result in poor achievement of students. this study has deviated from provision of psychological and intellectual factors that affect library usage in tertiary institutions. factors that affect library usage students are exposed to use library and its services. lack of usage or interest varies and according to hoskinson and harvey (1398), feelings, emotions, loneliness and poor intellectual ability affect library usage, which results in poor achievement. methodology sample: subjects were 230 students (130 females and 100 males) from 10 ranndomly selected departments out of the existing schools in enugu state college of education (technical) that are in their second year and have taken first semester examinations. instrument: four attitude scales on family background, economic background, sex and age and intellectual competence developed by researchers were used to gather data in this study. each consisted of two sections. in section a, the students were requested to provide personal information on sex, age, background, parents’ education and year of study and grade point average. section b of the instrument contained 10 attitudinal items on family background, age, sex, and intellectual competence respectively beside a four-point scale in which students were requested to indicate the extent of their agreement or otherwise to each item. attitude instructions were adopted for the study. data collection and analysis: data collection did not lend themselves to rigid statistical analysis. consequently, only appropriate descriptive statistics and the x2 test were employed in analysis of the data. in all, 215 of the forms given out were returned. considering that some of them were administered during examination period, the 93 percent response rate was sufficiently high. result: considering the limited scope of this paper, only a few of the typical examples can be highlighted here. the attitude is presented first. the items on attitude were selected to reflect only temporary attitudes, while the other section contains personal data items. here are some of the attitudinal behaviors for varying reasons, gleaned from students’ response. 50 | p a g e a study of some factors in the students’ attitude towards library usage and their academic achievements in enugu state college of education (technical) eze, hycinth osondu; chukwu, ebele georgina a) if my family has reading materials, why should i use library. b) students go to library to make friends. c) if i go to the library, boys will disturb me. d) if i am an intelligent student, why should i use the library. e) i cannot concentrate in the library. f) i am satisfied with my ipad phone than library. g) my parents urge me to be using the library. h) if i go to the library, girls disturb me. i) i can be a good student without using the library. j) i am shy to read in an open space like the library. indeed, it would appear that there are attitudinal behaviors with almost every student in the college. in response to items on questionnaire, many students said that the usage of library is influenced by attitude. others opined that students ‘background influences the usage while others claimed that activities in the library essentially affect students’ attitude in library usage. of a great note observed that students who have got high grade point average in their courses use libraries, it means libraries are still very necessary. of more relevance to this study were the responses of students to the items asking them to indicate their general feeling about ipad. some 56 percent of the respondents indicated that they still believe in ipad as against the use of library. about a quarter of the respondents said that they were not comfortable with the way boys and girls use libraries. forty-nine respondents said that some students achieve very well without using the libraries. but there were a handful of the students who said they still believe in library use. as to being shy in the use of library, some of the students’ responses vary. some are of the opinion that the use of library does not really matter. respondents were also asked to give an overall evaluation of attitude by ticking any of the options and were the trends observed; ninety percent said that attitude influences library usage, 60 said backgrounds sometimes affects, 36 believed that sex and age are true, while 15 said, lack of concentration. the students’ responses to the relevant item on the questionnaire indicates that in the nigerian institutions, students view library differently. it is seen as a place where they may not get exactly what they want. 51 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com table 1 background effects gender age intellectual o 91 60 36 15 e 50.5 50.5 50.5 50.5 n=202 the attitudes of the students were quite to those of other schools. in their responses to the item the x2 test carried out on these frequencies yielded a value of 47.78 which is significant at the 0.01 level. asked what they thought accounts for this, respondents severally gave such explanation as not properly guided, intimidating books, desire to be on oneself; a reflection of what the school wants. perhaps more relevant from the point of view of the orientation of the present study were the responses to items 8 and 9 on the power of parents to control students. discussion: from the sample of attitude and the views of the students presented in this paper, it would appear that to a considerable extent, nigerian students are influenced by parents, peers, and background in their attitude towards the use of libraries. it would not be any surprise that nigerian students see use of libraries as a transition or an end to a process (studies in school). what appear new in the study is conception of gender which tends to be a source of distraction to students. it is shown that students who use libraries tend to achieve more than others. the implications of the study/these findings for counseling are not very obvious, but the contention is that these aspects of nigerian students ‘personality are capable of influencing school guidance and counseling programmes and libraries in a number of ways. 1. students ordinarily have problems. they consult ipad, internet centres for information, but many find it difficult to use libraries. the school counselor will use this study to reinvigorate the way students are handled. 2. as the average nigerian students hold adults in suspicion and believe that others can be of harm to him/her, they often tend to believe in themselves and do what pleases them. the parents will benefit from the study, that students rely much on themselves than what parents would want them to be. 3. the nigerian society is largely authoritarian and the younger members are brought up to obey orders implicitly. thus suppression is common and the one who is able to keep his/her feelings and plans to himself be regarded as mature. the principles of school counseling programmes emphasize different values from their views. 52 | p a g e a study of some factors in the students’ attitude towards library usage and their academic achievements in enugu state college of education (technical) eze, hycinth osondu; chukwu, ebele georgina suggestions/recommendation the counselors, teachers and libraries who design the school programmes, and the students who are expected to benefit from them are not likely to develop appropriate attitudes towards libraries as a result of some aspects of their personality revealed in the result of this study. in order that schools could achieve its objective in institutions, the following recommendations are put forward to guide its principles and practice. i) school teachers should establish warm and reassuring relationship with the students and complement the efforts of other agencies in the society. ii) deliberate efforts should be made to ensure that both lecturers and counselors are very well trained to re-orientate nigerian students. iii) the policy of mass enlightenment is needed in schools. conclusion most findings of this study tend to corroborate available findings on nigerian students’ attitude. however, in view of the vast cultural diversities that constitute the nigerian institutions and in view of the rapid social and cultural changes taking place in nigeria, the results of this study could be subject to zonal variations. only a series of systematic studies conducted in various parts of the country can succeed in forming the basis for theories that can be generalized over the whole of the country. any revision of the outcome of this study must await the results of such studies. references aguilar, william and kascus, maria (1991), introduction (to-off) campus library programs in high education. library trend 39(4)367-74 clemente, d.h. (2013), instructional practices and students achievements. a correlation from a study. a correlation from a study of math’s curricula. university of denver morgride college of education. holmberg, b. (1998), concept of library in distance education, international perspective london routledge ogunjide, b. (2004), teaching and achievement in schools. new castle, hill paris. oladoitun, o.s. (2002), the practice of distance librarianship in africa library review. 51(6) 295-300. 57 | p a g e vocational technical education in manpower development and economic stability in nigeria by m.o. mkpozi dept. of technical ed. imt, enugu. eze h.o dept. of foundations of education. escet enugu abstract the paper focused on the production of craftsmen, technicians and other skilled personnel who would be enterprising and self-reliant. this type of education is concerned with the development of the skill, knowledge and attitudes needed for success in any given occupation. skill acquisition improves standard of living as well as the economic stability, industrial harmony and technological advancement of the nation. the need for vocational and technical education and the effects on employment are discussed. efforts made by both federal and state governments to reduce economic crunch through different educational industrial programmes are discussed and recommendations made. keyword: vocational, education, economic, stability introduction the development of a nation is to a large extent determined by the wealth of that nation. a nation economic stability if it is industrially buoyant, agriculturally sufficient and technically up-to-date. a country that manufactures its own good using indigenous skills and exports some of those goods to other countries is usually economically stable. vocational and technical education determines to achieve the economic stability of a nation by training and imparting the necessary skills that lead to the production of craftsmen, technicians and other skilled personnel to he enterprising and self-reliant. the continued survival of nigeria as a sovereign nation (olaitan, (1993) depends on the skills her people possess and the effectiveness with which these skills are passed on from one generation to the next. need for vocational and technical kducation nigeria is now suffering from economic depression and should need her own industrial revolution through sound and efficient vocational and technical education based on an independent indigenous technology. oranu (1990) described economic depression as the suppression of economic advancement due to lack of adequate economic activities which results in poverty and unemployment. he also described unemployment in 58 | p a g e itself as "a state of affairs where a good amount of labour in a country is not used and hence results in a waste of manpower." vocational and technical education should emphasize quality by providing for the learning of skills employed in using tools, machines and materials of on occupation for self-reliance. self-reliant in this regard implies relying on one's own facilities, forces, and capabilities etc to achieve genuine development individually and collectively through indigenous effort(s), indigenous institutions and programme designed and operated by the people themselves. okorie and ezeji (1988) advocated for vocational type of education which concerns itself with the development of the skill, knowledge and attitudes needed for success in any given occupation. osisioma (1993) defined vocational education as "that aspect of education which is mainly concerned with the preparation of individual for skilled performance on tasks." according to him, the central objective of vocational education resolve on the achievement of socioeconomic, industrial and technological objectives that will eventually manifest themselves in improved standard of living for the citizens as well as in economic stability, industrial harmony and technological advancement. the national policy on education (federal republic of nigeria, 1981) defined technical education as "that aspect of education which leads to the acquisition of practical and applied skills as well as basic scientific knowledge." the aims of technical education include training and imparting of necessary skills leading to the production of craftsmen, technicians, and other skilled personnel who will be enterprise and self-reliant. okoro (1990) classified the aim of technical education into these three major objectives. 1. to remove the attitude that technical education is inferior to academic or grammar: education affective objective. 2. to introduce technical and vocational courses into secondary schools so that pupil acquires practical skills and learns to use their hands in making, repairing and assenting things cognitive and psychomotor objectives. 3. to increase the employability of school leavers by improving students' technical vocational skills and to train craftsmen, technicians and other skilled personnel-cognitive and psychomotor objectives. the policy as classified by okoro (1990) has attempted to solve the following problems which hindered the development of technical and vocational education over the years. 1. lack of technical and vocational courses in most secondary schools. 2. unfavourable public attitude towards technical education. 3. inadequate institutions and facilities for the training of technical teachers. 4. insufficient number of technical colleges for the training of craftsmen, and 5. poor salary structure for technical personnel. 59 | p a g e the npe (1981) has generally acclaimed to have an increased emphasis to vocational and technical education by attempting to remove the bias that vocational/technical education has been relegate an insignificant value. according to ozoro (1982) the npe aims removing this bias against vocational and technical education by the inclusion of technical course, notably, technical drawing, wood-metal work, and electricity/electronics into the secondary school syllabus. he stressed that the inclusion of those courses could not be adequate remedy. okoro (1990) explained: that one major fault of the npe is that it still gives lower status to vocational and technical education and places unnecessary obstacles in the way of students who choose to pursue a vocational technical programme at the secondary school level according to the frn (1981) “trade centres and similar vocational centre” would be established to absorb junior secondary school leavers who could not proceed to senior secondary school. this be interpreted to mean that after the junior secondary school, students would be separated into groups for example, the privileged who would go to senior secondary school for admission into universities, polytechnics and colleges of education and the under-privileged who would go to centres and technical colleges and who would have eventually no prospects of furthering their educations beyond the technical college or trade centre level. okola (1993) stated that vocational education stereo-typed, designed for preparing individuals for various occupations as craftsmen, technicians of professional levels and that in nigeria individuals have held an equal false notion that vocational education was for those who could not cope with academic pursuit; that doing work with one’s hand less cognitive and therefore was meant for the less intelligent people. in attempting to correct this false notion osuala (1990) called for the need to redefine the mind of vocational technical education in contemporary nigeria when he stated that "what is particularly called into question is our ability to adapt rapidly to new situation, to apply knowledge and skills upon changing conditions, and skills through our own efforts." he cited angola, yemen, ethiopia, india and zibabwe as some of the developing countries which have introduced vocational technical education that emphasize the acquisition of abilities and skills in craftsmanship. effects of unemployment with the new national policy on education (frn, 1981) secondary education was divided into phases aimed at two main objectives: 1. preparing and selecting pupils for the next stage of education. 2. preparing those who will not proceed to the next stage of education for employment and useful living within the society. the changes and expansion at all levels of education according to izundu (1990) created the following reasons for the problems of unemployment: 60 | p a g e i) the shortfall in the provision of admissions for secondary school leavers to higher institutions: ii) the worldwide economic depression of the early 80's that caused rapid deterioration in nigeria's economy; iii) inadequate training efforts in relation to the enormous manpower requirements, especially the technical manpower. she also emphasized that unemployment could cause lots of frustration among youths which could in effect lead to high crime rates, alcoholism and drug addition. unemployment according to her could also have an adverse effect on the psychological well being of those who experience it. such people stand the risk of minor psychiatric disorder, low self-esteem and depression and emotional and social maladjustment. izundu (1990) also listed the following factors to be responsible for unemployment in nigeria: 1. the economic down turn that did not encourage no investments. 2. the restriction on import that exposed the weakness of the country's industrial process which has very little domestic inputs except manpower. 3. the manufacturing establishment with high import dependency that operated far below their installed capacity or was closed down completely, 4. the slash in government expenditure particularly on capital projects that reduced the level of activities in the construction industry apart from the massive retrenchment of workers in the public sector itself. 5. the number of unemployed graduates and fresh school leavers that increased rapidly as the recession deepened in all sectors of the economy. these potential problems caused by the unemployed youths have created a great concern to the federal and state governments. most manufacturers in nigeria today experience extreme difficulties in securing raw materials. many industries including automobile assembly plants, food processing and electronics industries have resulted in folding up or drastically curtailing their production capacity. this has automatically effected the employment atmosphere hence most youths in the country are not able to secure employment and many others working are being retrenched. efforts to reduce economic crunch the federal and state governments have formulated the following three approaches to alleviate economic hardship in order to provide gainful employment to nigeria youths: 1. educational programmes which include poly-and monotechnics and colleges of technologies with the aim of providing the youths with skills to be employed or to develop thenown industries and business. 2. institutional programmes such as the national board for technical education (nbte) which has the responsibility of developing national 61 | p a g e technical syllabuses in polytechnics and technical colleges and setting minimum standards of performance in the institutions. 3. employment programmes such as industrial training fund (itf), employment exchange programme, the national directorate of employment etc are all aimed at reducing unemployment among nigerian youths. the nde (1986) for example was charged to formulate policies and work out strategies for dealing with the problems of mass unemployment in the country especially among school leavers and graduates of universities, and polytechnics. the nde has four practical programmes nationwide as follows: 1. national youth employment and vocational skills development programme. 2. small scale industries and graduate employment programme 3. agricultural sector employment project. 4. special public works programme. nde (1986) listed and described the functions of such schemes as follows: 1. national open apprenticeship scheme aimed at providing unemployed youths with basic skills that are needed in the economy in different technical fields. 2. waste-to-wealth scheme created to encourage the conversion of hitherto neglected raw materials and other scrap and waste materials into useful and marketable products. 3. schools-on-wheels scheme which involves taking fully equipped mobile vocational training facilities to the rural areas in order to dissuade urban migration for the open apprenticeship scheme. 4. small scale industries and graduate employment programme designed to encourage and aid unemployed nigerians to set up and run their own business. 5. job creative guarantee scheme to enable applicant get loans from banks to establish business after the feasibility studies must have been approved. 6. mature people scheme targeted at those who are either retired or are preparing to retire from paid employment and willing to maintain an economically productive life. 7. entrepreneurship development programme involves recognizing a business opportunity mobilizing resources and persisting to exploit that opportunity. volunteer service agency volunteer service agency (vsa) (1990) is a body set up by the former anambra state government (now anambra and enugu states governments) to formulate policy and work out strategies for dealing with the problems of mass unemployment in the states especially among school leavers and graduates of universities and polytechnics: 1. to reduce the number of persons in the states who are unemployed. 62 | p a g e 2. to prepare participants for a self-employment so that they may become selfemployed after they have ceased to be participants. 3. to provide gainful employment for such persons as may be admitted into the scheme. 4. to inculcate in the youth the spirit of team work in industry, business and other ventures. 5. to help bring out improved agriculture in the state and 6. to encourage the populace to adopt in all things the spirit of self-reliance rather than one of the scope of the activities are involved in agriculture, indigenous technology and acquisition of skills. summary and recommendation nigeria needs full employment for sustainable and efficient economy where everyone who is willing and able to work at the prevailing wage rate can find a job in the line of work for which he is qualified. the society should without any bias support the federal and state governments efforts on the establishments of policies and programme for the development of relevant skills and appropriate technical and vocational knowledge for self-reliance. self-reliance in technology as pointed out by ukeje (1989) can be and has been achieved in some countries of the world through a variety of policy options for example: 1. china achieved her through shutting out the rest of the world and mobilizing its materials and human resources. 2. japan, specially achieved self-reliance in technology through the reformation of her education system. in the manner, nigeria could also achieve her own technological aims and goals in her industrial revolution through sound and efficient technical vocational education and policy options based on an independent indigenous technology guided by the concept of self-reliance. the derogatory phrase “aba or igbo-made” being associated to goods made in nigeria is a very unpatriotic attitude and should be discouraged and the bias attached to certain jobs that have been labeled “blue-collar jobs” or “black-coated” should also be eliminated for nigeria to have a technological break-through for economic development. 63 | p a g e references federal republic of nigeria (1981). national policy on education (revised edition) lagos: nerc. izundu, n.t. (1990) integrating nde’s technical trades into the senior secondary curriculum. implication for better vocational development and improved employment prospects for nigerian youths. nsukka nigerian vocation journal & (3) 121-131. nde, (1986) national directorate of employment information brochure ref. no. nde/ans/gaf/33/29. okola, o.f. (1993). funding vocational-technical education to meet future manpower needs and development in nigeria. nsukka: nigeria vocational journal, 4, 119123. okorie, j.u. and ezeji, s.c.o.a. (1988). elements of guidance, vocational and career education. onitsha: summer education. okoro, o.m. (1990). the national policy on education and the objectives of vocational and technical education. nsukka: nigerian vocational journal, (3) 116-122. olaitain, s.o. (1993). issues in vocational-technical teacher education for a self-reliant nigeria. vocational/technical education and self 99 | p a g e self-concept, a determinant to success in mathematics achievement among rural in nkanu east lga, enugu state nigerian. 1 eze, hyacinth osondu &2 onah, festus c. 1 deputy provost, enugu state college of education (technical), enugu. 2 department of social science and humanities, institute of management and technology, enugu. abstract this study investigated self-concept as determinant of success of rural students in mathematics achievement in nkanu east lga of enugu state, nigeria. a descriptive survey method was adopted. the population was n2500 students from nkanu secondary schools. traro yameni (1969) formula was used to pick sample size of 320 students, one research question and two hypotheses guided the study. thequestionnaire adopted the modified likert four point scales. two lecturers, one from department of psychology, the other from department of measurement and evaluation validated the instrument, using 100 students from nike grammar school. the reliability co-efficient was determined; using crombach alpha technique which yielded 0.89. the hypotheses was formulated and tested with chi-square statistics at 0.05, level of significance. the findings showed that sell concept significantly determine successes inmathematics achievement while gender also has such effect. the implications and recommendations were discussed. keywords: seat concept; deteruvent: success mathematics achievement introduction it has been a prevalent issue over the years that the level of student's achievement in mathematics has been considerably low among senior secondary schools in enugu stateand nkanu east local government in particular. this problem has been attributed toobvious factors such as social, economic, religious and psychological under which self-concepts according t o eze (2004) shatiane (2002) finds expression. the literature on psychological assessment is flooded with studies on self-concept; and its related construct designated as self-esteem, self-efficacy, self-image and others; (roda, sanchez (2007), anastasia & urbina (2007), dambulzo (2005). intriguingly, there seems to be diverse opinions on the definition of self-concept. while some authors refer to it as a construct closely related to personality, that is a relatively stable and destructive pattern of behaviour that characterizes an individual and his or her reactions; to the environment (kaplan and saccuzzo (2005), anasti urbina (2007), olunatayo (2011) some others view 100 | p a g e it as domain-specific evaluations of self. mcleod (1999) myers/ (2009) madcharyo (2004) opined that self-concept is the set of perception or referencepoints that the subject has about him/herself, the set of characteristics, attributes, qualities and deficiencies, capabilities and limits, values and relationships that the person knows to be .descriptive of him/herself, and which he/she perceives as data concerning his/her identity putting it in plain language. self-concept has to do with social competence since it influences how a person feels, how he or she thinks learns values himself or herself, relates to others and ultimately, how he or she behaves. clark (2000) considered self-concept to comprise various dimensions, areas or facets in academic and non-academic components. academic self-concepts is divided into selfconcept in particular subject areas (mathematics and english etc). while non -academic is divided into social, economical, and physical self-concepts, marsh (2000) latter test the academic self-concept portion of the shavelson, hubnor and stanton (1976) model and concludes that the model is supported when it is limited to self-concepts in academic core subjects as mathematics and english language. however, in the context of this study, self-concept is defined as the way an individual thinks, feels, acts values and evaluates self in relation to achievement in mathematics, it is upon this backdrop that this research studies the self-concept as a determinant to student's achievement in mathematics in nkanu east local government area of enugu state nigeria. statement of the problem it appears the question of whether relationship exists or does not exist between selfconcept and achievement has not been concisely answered because existing theoretical and empirical studies have produced diverse and contradictory results. similarly, the issue of gender differences in self-concept and achievement in mathematics has not been resolved and therefore subject to further studies. a large body of literature has also reported the relationship between gender and selfconcept and consequently academic achievement. some authors, eze (2004), obinna (2000) report that boys seem to have a more positive self-concept in a number of dimension such as mathematics and general selfesteem that do girls. relatedly, others ugo (2008), bakare (2001) reported differences hi strengths of relationship between self-concept and achievements johnson smaragali and johnson (1995). furthermore, others found that boys showed significantly higher mathematics and self-concept than girls (mango &eikeland (1978). in recent research in enugu, anigbo (2016) identified teacher factor, student factor, instructional strategy to have significant relative effects on mathematics. in sum, therefore, the issue remains thus; does self-concept determine success in mathematics achievements? does gender difference determine success in mathematics achievements? does gender difference determine success in. mathematics achievements? the answers still remain ambiguous. 101 | p a g e this ambiguity forms the worry of this research. the outcome of this study should provide concise answers to the questions raised. research question to what extent does self-concept determine success in mathematics achievement? hypotheses ho1: self-concept does significantly determine success in mathematics achievement. ho2: gender does not significantly determine success in mathematics achievement delimitation of the study this study was limited to students in nkanu east local government area senior secondary school (ssi) those who just passed out from external examinational of junior secondary school examination in enugu state. methodology this study adopted the descriptive survey research design. the populationconsisted of all the 2500 students in public secondary schools in nkanu east local: government of enugu state nigeria comprising nike garmmar school (240), abakpa girls (300), st. patrick's emene (300), ugwuogo community (260), trans-ekulu girls (320), new haven boys (28), ugwuomu community (240), ubahu community (200)/ and command secondary school (28). the stratified random sampling technique wasused to select sample for the study. the sample size of 320 was determined using traroyamane (1967) formula eboh (2009) applying bowley's proportional allocation formula, the sample size for each category of the respondents was determined, nike grammar; school (34), abakpa girls (51), st. patrick emene (48), ugwogo community secondary school (28), trans-ekulu girls (46), new haven boys (36), community secondary school ugwuomu (34), ubahu community secondary school (22) and command; secondary school (31). a total of 320 respondents were accessed through primary and secondary sources. some students were also interviewed. a self-constructed questionnaire titled "self-concept, a determinant of success in mathematics questionnaire (sdsmg)" was used to elicit information from the respondents. the instrument consists of two sections a and b. section a consists of demographic information while section b contained 8 items on the extent to which selfconcepts determine achievement in: mathematics in nkanu east local government area of enugu state nigeria. tb modified likert scale format viz: to a very high extent (4 points), to a high extents (3points), to a low extent (2 points) and to a very low extent (1 point). the questionnaireitems were validated by experts in the department of educational management andmeasurement and evaluation, using 100 students from nike grammar school of enugustate, the reliability co-efficient was determined using cronbach's alpha techniquewhich yielded 0.85. a teacher in each school assisted in administering the questionnaire. the questionnaire was collected on the spot with t-test analysis of the 102 | p a g e hypothesis of tin study was formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance and 2 degree of freedom. data presentation and analysis the research question: to what extent does self-concept determine success in mathematics in secondary schools examination? table i; respondents responses on self-concept as a determinant of success in mathematics examinations: items no of respondents (very high extent) no of respondents (high extent) no. of respondents (low extent) no. of respondents (very low extent) total 1 44 112 116 92 320 2 55 120 108 92 320 3 39 138 109 34 30 4 34 242 98 47 320 5 56 278 86 -320 6 48 129 97 46 320 7 50 133 86 57 320 total 292 951 700 368 2240 mean 36.5 118.9 87.5 46.00 in table i above, the very high extent group had a mean score of 36.05 representing 12.6 percentage; the high extent had mean of 118.9 with 41,5%, the low extent had mean of 87.5 and a percentage of 30.29, while the very low extent mean is 46 and a percentage of 15.92. test of hypotheses ho: self-concept does significantly determine success in mathematics achievement. ho: gender does not significantly determine success in mathematics achievement. hypothesis one 1. i feel bad about mathematics 2. mathematics subject is difficult 3. i fear mathematics 4. am usually anxious about mathematics 5. i was not encouraged at home 6. my preference is arts 103 | p a g e 7. mathematics teachers are not friendly. hypothesis ii 1. view mathematics as male dominated subject. 2. mathematics is not good for girls 3. mathematics lead to male jobs 4. males are encouraged more to do mathematics. 5. in school i consider what i want to be in future in choice of subject. 6. mathematics related jobs could affect my marriage 7. we hear that mathematics could run one mad. hypothesis one ho1: self-concept dose not significantly determine successes in mathematics. s/no. vhe he vle le total 1 44 (50.6) 112 (147.6) 92 (57.1) 116 (108.7) 364 2 55 (52.1) 120 (152/1) 02 (58/8) 108 (11-9) 320 3 39 (44.5) 138 (129.7) 34 (50.2) 109 (95/5) 320 4 34 (44.5) 141 (129.7) 47 (50.2) 98 (95.5) 320 5 56 (44.5) 178 (129.7) (50.2) 86 (95.5) 320 6 48 (44.5) 129 (129.7) 46 (50.2) 97 (95.5) 320 7 50 (45.3) 133 (132.2) 57 (51.2) 86 (97.3) 326 total 362 951 368 700 2345 104 | p a g e x2cal = ∑(01 – e l )2 el x2cal = (44 -50.6)2 + (112-147.6)6 + (112-147.692-57.1)2 + (116-108)2 + 50.6 147.6 57.1 107.8 (355-52.1)2 + (120-152.1)2 + (92-58.8)2 + (108-111.9)2 + 52.1 152.1 58.8 111.9 (39-445)2 + (141-129.7)2 + (34-50.2)2 + (109-95.5)2 + 44.5 129.7 50.2 95.5 (34-44.5)2 + (141-129.7)2 + (47-50.2)2 + (98-95.5)2 + 144.2 129.7 50.2 95.5 (48-44.5)2 + (129-129.7)2 + (46-50.2)2 + (97-95.5)2 + 44.5 129.7 50.2 95.5 (50-45.3)2 + (133-132.2) + (57-51.2)2 + (86-97.3)2 45.3 132.2 51.2 97.3 x2cal = 0.86+9.59+21.33+0.48 +0.16+6.77+18.75+0.14 +0.68+0.53+5.23+191 +2.48 +0.98 +0.20 +0.07 +2.97+17.99+50.2+0.95 +0.28+0.003+0.35+0.02 + 0.49+0.005+0.66+1.31 x2cal = 31.26 +25.82 +3.73 +72.11 0.653 +2.465 -x2cal =144.388, d.f(r-1) (c-1) = (7-1) (4-1) = 6 x 3 = 18 at 5% level of sign. x2 critical value =31.53 decision rule: if x2cal > x2 critical value then reject h0 conclusion: h0 rejected, hence self-concept is significantly a determinant to successes in mathematics. ho2: gender does not significantly determine successes in mathematics. s/n vhe he vle le total 1. 55(43.33) 120 (134) 64 (55.67) 81 (86.67) 320 2. 39(45.33) 138 (134) 34(55.67) 109 (86.67) 320 3. 34(45.33) 141 (134) 47 (55.67) 98 (86.67) 320 4. 50 (45.33) 100(134) 50(55.67) 60 (86.67) 320 5. 50(45.33) 133(134) 57 (55.67) 80 (86.67) 320 105 | p a g e 6. 44(45.33) 102(134) jj2(55.67) 92(86.67) 320 total 272 804 334 520 1920 x2cal = ∑(01 – e l )2 el x2cal = (55 -45.33)2 + (120-134)2 + (64-55.67)2 + (81-86)2 45.33 134 67 57.1 + (39 -45.33)2 + (138-134)2 + (34-55.67)2 + (109-86.67)2 45.33 134 55.67 86.67 + (34 -45.33)2 + (160-134)2 + (50-55.67)2 + (80-86.67)2 45.33 134 55.67 86.67 2.06 + 1.46 + 1.25 _ 0.37 x2 = 0.88 + 0.12 + 8.4 + 5 +2.83 + 0.37 + 1.35 + 1.48 +0.48 + 5.04 + 0.58 + 8.21 +0.048 + 0.01 + 0.03 + 0.51 +0.05 + 7.64 + 12 + 45 + 0.33 x2cal = 5.14 +15.18 ++6.03+14.31+1.03+20.47 x2cal-62.14 x2 critical value « 27.49 decision rule: if x2cal > x2 critical value reject ho, otherwise accept. d.f = (r-1) (c-1) = (6-1) (4-1) = 5 x 3 =15 at 5% level of significant = 62.14 > 27.49 we then reject h0 and then accept alternative. conclusion: gender does significantly determine successes in mathematics. results the table one presents the result of the hypothesis which postulated that self concept does no significantly determine success in mathematics was rejected. hench, self-concept is significantly a determinant to success in mathematics. the result implies that the way student perceive self-influences then success in mathematics. the resultsupports eze (2004), hassan (2000), banyard and grayson (2000), anastasia and urbi (2007) bowing (2000). this is mainly because many youths tend to fear mathematics(ugo, 2007), marsh (2000). hypothesis two, which states that gender does not significantly determine success in mathematics. the analysis of the data showed that the hypothesis was rejected, then the analysis of the data showed that the hypothesis was rejected, then the alternative upheld, that gender significantly determine success in mathematics. the result confirmed recent studies by ezewu, 2002) using nigeria secondary students that is male students to achieve higher in mathematics that the females. a possible 106 | p a g e explanation for this result could be that the sex of the learner per se, after all has something to do with learner's achievement on a given subject. it appears that other factors than sex may not have significant role in determining success in mathematics. though this result did not support wozencraft, which stated that whether girl scores better or boy scores better would depend on which boy or which girl we are talking about. this finding has indicated that sex of the leaner per se, after all significantly determine success in mathematics. if other factors are studied, it could be given a clearer picture, but this study has shown that success in mathematics could be attribute to physiological sex make up of the learner. this implication is that nigerian teachers should engage in meaningful orientation, counselling and awareness campaign that will lead to development of positive selfconcept and gender inclination that the much talked about technology can be achieved. this is because mathematics is fundamental to technology development. conclusion the importance of research in the academic achievement of students specifically mathematics cannot be over-emphasized. most of the new product and services that people are enjoying at present were research in mathematics, and its usage could provide a breakthrough in development of the country. the study reveals that achievement in mathematics depends on self-concept and gender. the core consequences of this concept are low and self-esteem, misconception of the subject and failure in mathematics. recommendation based on the findings, of this study, the following recommendation arrived at improving achievement in mathematics was made, 1. government should properly trained qualified teachers in mathematics to helpstudents. 2. people should engage in more researches that would feed the government and private sector with useful information for improvement in self-concept of the youths. 3. institutions should enlighten teachers on the importance of self -concept onstudent achievements. 4. teachers should be transparent in the teaching and examinations in mathematic 5. schools should be research inclined in order to come up with solutions to the numerous problem facing the country. references 107 | p a g e ahmed, 1(1998): initial development and validation of academic self-concept public report. anastasia and urbina (2007): self-concept and academic achievement of students at higher school level: journal of education 2(3) 33-36. anigbo, l.c (2016): factors affecting student interest in mathematics in secondary school in enugu state. international journal of education and evaluation 2(1) 22.28 ayodele, o.j. (2011): self-concept and performance of secondary school students in mathematics. journal of education development psychology 1(11) 176183. bakare g.m.c. (2001): student achievements in secondary schools: university of ibadan publishers ltd. dambuzo, 1.1. (2005): the relationship between the learner, self-concept achievement in secondary schools in zimbabwe. unpublished ph.d. thesis. university of south africa zimbabwe marsh, h., martin, andrew j, (2001): academic self-concept and academic achievement relations and causal ordering: british journal of educational psychology 81(1) 59-77. mcleod, s.a. (2008): self-concept. retrieved from www. s implepsychology. org/selfconcepthtmi. myers, david (2009): social psychology (10th edition), new york. mcgraw-hill higher education. oluwatayo, j.a. (2011): self-concept and performance of secondary school students mathematics. journal of educational and developmental psychology 1(1) 176-183. sanchez, f.j.p. (2009): relationship between self-concept and achievement in primary students almeria spain, p. 97. shafique, a. (2002): relationship between academic self-concept and achievement among school children: national institute of psychology. quad-o-azam university islamabs pakistan. 48 | p a g e usage of electronic information resources among undergraduates in library and information science in nnamdi azikiwe university awka and enugu state college of education (technical) by dr. chukwu ebele georgina department of library and information science enugu state college of education technical, enugu 08035861074 chiebele@yahoo.com abstract this study of use of electronic information resources among undergraduates of library and information science in nnamdi azikiwe university, awka (nau) and enugu state college of education (technical), enugu (escet),. the major objectives of the study is to investigate the types of electronic information resources available in nau and escet digital libraries, respectively; the means through which undergraduates become aware and make use of these electronic resources in digital libraries; the extent of undergraduates awareness of these electronic resources. the total population of study is two hundred and eighty (280),consisting of 250 registered regular undergraduates of library and information science in nnamdi azikiwe university, and 30 registered undergraduate students of library and information science in enugu state college of education. the study utilized a finite population, and yaro yamenne’s statistical formula was used to establish a sample size of one hundred and sixty five (165). structured questionnaires were used to collect data. thereafter, descriptive statistics such as mean were used for data analysis. keyword: library and information science, undergraduates, population, electronic and resources introduction information technology has influenced all aspects of librarianship and information service delivery. the life–wire of any society especially the university environment is information, and its use is as old as man. advances in computer application during the past few decades has brought a radical change in the way information is gathered, stored, organized, accessed, retrieved and consumed. today, many students access information electronically via the internet using desktops, laptops, palmtops and mobile phones. electronic resources supply all the information that a library provides through computer network. these include electronic books, electronic journals, bibliographic databases, library web pages’ articles from magazines, encyclopedias, pamphlets and other mailto:chiebele@yahoo.com 49 | p a g e resources that are accessed on electronic devices. oduwole and akpati (2003) noted that cd-rom and electronic mail constitute a part of electronic resources. this is very important for university libraries since most of them call for more research work. this important fact is convincing many libraries to move towards digital e–resources, which are found to be less expensive and more accessible. this is especially helpful to the distant learners who have limited time to access the libraries from outside by dial-up access to commonly available electronic resources. in developed countries, studies have shown that students prefer electronic resources to print materials. bar-llan, peritz, and wolman (2003) remarked that the use of electronic resources is wide spread in israel. these resources are updated more often than printed materials. in addition, especially for distant learners, electronic resources can be accessed from outside the university library. indeed, without information, there cannot be communication (nnadi and okafor, 2014). libraries have witnessed a great metamorphosis in recent years both in their collection development and in their service structure. print media is increasingly giving way to the electronic form of materials. electronic information resources (e-resources) according to ekwelem, okafor and ukwuoma (2009), may be defined as information sources that are available and can be accessed electronically through computer network facilities, such as the online libraries, government portals and website, cd rom databases, online academic database such as medline, or subscription to databases such as ebscohost. also, e-resources provide access to literally thousands of magazines and newspapers, far more than the orthodox library could possibly subscribe to in a paper format. the e-resources are free to library users that can access them from any computer with internet access, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week (24/7). one does not have to wait for the library to open to access them. through e-resources researchers can find articles on particular topics at the same time without having to search each publication separately. commenting on the advantages of e-resources, daddies (2007) opined that e-resources gives access to information that might be restricted to the users due to geographical location or finances. library is a center for learning, storing and disseminating information, both in print and non-print formats. library is established to provide information to its users and the services are interwoven. it`s is a learning hub that engages and empowers students and lecturers to all kinds of format of information that traditional printing could never be able to cover. library is the heart and lifeline of any citadel of learning. the quality of teaching, learning and research is predicated on the robust availability, accessibility and utilization of library and information resources. library has been the repository for the wisdom of mankind for ages, and the source of educational inspiration and intellectual food on which students, lecturers, researchers and administrators are nourished (nnadi 2012). 50 | p a g e most academic libraries have fully computerized all routine activities and can boast of functional virtual library services which give students, and staff access to the web public access catalogue (webpac) and other electronic resources from offices, departments where there is a web browser anywhere in the globe and at all times. libraries facilitate services to its users and also provide access to electronic databases such as ebscohost, jstor, agora, and hinari. these databases permit access to over 40,000 electronic journals across all discipline, thus, creating an enhanced resource base for teaching, learning and research in educational institutions. electronic information resources are important to undergraduates because they need to have access to timely, accurate and relevant academic information (nnadi, 2012). computer services like the internet and other electronic sources have greatly increased the speed of searching for information. they have brought considerable relief to students in tertiary institutions, as students can conveniently walk into any library that has its holdings on the internet and have access to unlimited information sources. electronic information resources offer many advantages. according to nnadi (2012). an outstanding advantage of electronic resources is that the information needed can be delivered from the most appropriate source to the user. the user can re-specify his or her needs dynamically. the information is obtained when it is wanted, and so comes just in time. electronic information can therefore provide a number of advantages over print based resources. electronic information is often faster than consulting print indexes, especially when searching retrospectively. electronic resources can be printed and search results saved, to be recalled at a later date. they are updated more easily and more often than conventional resources. one main advantage, especially for those with limited time to access the library and distance learners, is their availability from outside the library by dial-up access. mobile phones and the internet are seen as easier and more convenient in the co-ordination of activities, for example, in planning, seeking information and communication. electronic resources also generate opportunities to find new interests, activities and friends which may be positive in terms of one’s quality of life. electronic resources provide an access to unlimited sources of information through search engines, which are continuously being upgraded to provide efficient ways to help users find what they want. they also offer the ability to integrate text with charts, graphs, photographs, sound, video and other forms of multimedia. it is apparent that the use of these electronic information resources requires special skill in information and communication technology that will help students navigate the maze of resources at their disposal via telecommunication channels (balogun, 2008). ultimately, electronic resources have much to offer, but their utility depends on awareness of users and extent of use. 51 | p a g e but these electronic resources are indispensable in this 21st century in our institutions. therefore, academic libraries are encouraged to provide and make these facilities available and accessible to students, although the challenges are enormous. in academic libraries in nigeria, poor electricity power, lack of funds, lack of formal training, slow internet connection, insufficient printing facilities and insufficient computers are some of the problems encountered in the use of electronic resources by students. with the introduction of information communication technology (ict), undergraduates in the universities under study are expected to make maximum use of electronic resources as one of their major sources of information for learning and research. hence, this study is to investigate the use of electronic resources by undergraduate students in nnamdi azikiwe university (nau), awka and enugu state college of education(technical) (escet), enugu, both in the eastern region of nigeria. nnamdi azikiwe university, awka, is a federal university in nigeria. it has two campuses, one at awka, the state capital and the second at nnewi in awka south local government. enugu state college of education (technical) enugu is a state institution, located in enugu, the state capital. the two tertiary institutions through a number of supported programmers have embarked on provision of electronic information to facilitate study programs and research. the transition from print to electronic medium, apart from resulting in the growth of electronic information, has provided users with new tools and applications for accessing information. nau and escet recognize the need to provide students, researchers and faculty members with electronic information facilities by provision of modern computer laboratories or cyber cafes equipped with advanced computer databases and internet connectivity. it has been found that e-resources are information resources that can be accessed and are available electronically and they include online database, e-journal, e-book, eencyclopedia, and internet, database cd-rom, etc. many reasons accounted for students' utilization of electronic information resources in libraries. among these include acquisition of knowledge, monitoring publications in the different fields of study, looking for information to fuel some academic or scientific debate, retrieving resources to carry out some assignment and they become aware of eresources through the institution’s website, library guide, library orientation, friends etc. also, empirical studies relate to the present study agreed to the fact that e-resources are important library resources that complements the print materials. the nnamdi azikiwe university library, awka and enugu state college education (technical), enugu, nigeria, were found to possess qualified librarians, print materials, computer and e-resources to support teaching learning among staff and students .from the literature reviewed, many researchers have studied so much on computer and internet usage in nigerian universities, but no one has carried out a study on use of electronic 52 | p a g e information resources among undergraduates in nnamdi azikiwe university, awka and enugu state college of education (technical), enugu . therefore this study is directed to achieve this in order to fill the gap of dearth of studies/research in this area of study. research method the method used in the research. it shows the design of the study, the population and selection of the respondent, the method/instrument used for collecting data, and method used for analyzing the data. research design this study adopted a qualitative approach due to the nature of the area of research. the study used a convenience sampling technique to take a sample. the focus on a small sample enabled the researcher to study the information-seeking behaviour of students in depth. according to nworgu (1991), a case study usually provides thorough, in-depth, comprehensive and well-ordered information concerning the social unit in question. area of the study the study was carried out in two of the higher institutions in nigeria, nnamdi azikiwe university, awka, anambra state and enugu state college of education (technical), enugu, enugu state, as specially carried out in the digital libraries of the two institutions in nigeria. population of the study the population of study consists of the 250 registered regular undergraduates of library and information science in nnamdi azikiwe university, awka and 30 registered undergraduate students of library and information in enugu state college of education (technical), enugu, totaling 280. sample and sampling technique since the study involved a finite population, yaro yamenne’s (1969) statistical formula was used. fortunately, this formula evolves a reliable sample size that ensures accurate results. the formula is expressed as seen in appendix a; 𝑛 = 𝑁 {1 + 𝑁(𝑒)2} the resultant sample space is 165. the proportionate figure for nnamdi azikiwe university, awka (nau), out of the sample space of 165 is 147. the proportionate figure for enugu state college of education (technical), enugu (escet), out of the sample space of 165 is 18 53 | p a g e instrument for data collection the questionnaire is one of the effective means of data collection for the research. the questionnaire in this research work is for the undergraduate students of library and information science, nau and escet. two types of questions are used. the unstructured and structured questions. the structured or open-ended questions allow the respondent freedom to supply their response, whereas structured or closed/fixed responses question provide options. the respondents are expected to tick their choices. also the questionnaire was structured using four-point rating scale of strongly agree (sa) agree (a) disagree (d) strongly disagree (sd) the questionnaire was titled: use of electronic information resources. questionnaire was developed by the researcher for the purpose of generating data for the study. the items on the instrument were generated from literature review. validation of the instrument the instrument used was validated by three experts, one in measurement and evaluation, two from library and information science department. the experts critically examine the items and made corrections where necessary. the instrument was finally rewritten by the researcher by integrating the suggestions and correction painted out by the lecturers. reliability of the instrument to test the reliability of instrument, the researcher administered questionnaire to 20 libraries and information science student of nnamdi azikiwe university, awka (nau), the reliability coefficient of instrument was established using cronbach technique. reliability coefficients obtained for the various parts of the instrument were; part i = 0.86; part ii = 0.61, part iii = 0.76, part iv = 0.64 and 0.73. the grand reliability coefficient value = 0.89. this value shows that the instrument is very reliable as it is above 0.50. method of data collection the collection of relevant data for the study was made through direct contact. the researcher distributed the questionnaire by hand and collected it through same method for analysis. the formular used = x =ef x/n where – x = mean x=nominal value n=frequency ef = summation or total = 4+3+2+1 =10/4 = 2.5 54 | p a g e decision rule. hence, any of the responses, therefore that have mean score of 2.5 and above is regarded as agreed while any value below 2.5 is regarded as disagreed. conclusion the researcher studied awareness and extent of use of electronic information resources among undergraduates in nnamdi azikiwe university and enugu state college of education (tech) library. descriptive research design was used and the population of the study consists of 120 registered regular undergraduate students of library and information science. the purpose of this study was to find out the awareness and extent of use of electronic information resources among the undergraduates, and the channels through which they become aware and use electronic information resources, problems they encounter in using electronic information resources, and strategies for improving awareness and extent of use of electronic information resources. in conclusion and based on the findings of this study, recommendations on how to alleviated the problems of the undergraduates' awareness and extent of use of electronic information resources in libraries were made, suggestions for further research, as well as limitations of this study were stated. 55 | p a g e references adeniran, p. (2013). usage of electronic resources by undergraduate at the redeemers university of mg. international journal of library and information sci, voi5 (10).pp 319 324. akankwasa, p.(2008). problems affecting the level of computer use for instructional purposes by technology teachers in government schools in uganda. unpublished bachelor’s research, uganda christian university, mukono, uganda akor, p.u. (2011). the use of internet by undergraduate students in the school of information and communication technology, federal university of technology, minna. global review of library and information science, 7, 47-64. akpoghiran, p. i. (2008). students’ usage of the library and the internet for academic needs. global review of library and information science, (4), 54-64. ani, a. ( 2008). towards effective development of e-resources in nigerian university library. lib mgt, (29), 504-514. asogwa, c. i. (2011). the challenges of optimizing e-learning opportunities for effective educational services delivery in university of nigeria, nsukka. in n. onyegegbu, & u. eze( eds.) optimizing e-learning opportunities for effective educational service delivery, (pp. 128-139). enugu: timex. audu, c. d. (2006). internet availability and use by postgraduate students of university of nigeria, nsukka. global review of library and information science, 2, 34-43. balogun (2008). the idea of an educated person in contemporary. retrieved from http://www.stu.edu.jm/education/pdf/issuesperspectura/ideaofaneducatedperson , accessed on 13th april 2018 dadzie, p. s. (2005). electronic resources: access & usage at ashesi university college campus. wide information system 22 (5),received from http/www.emeraidinsight.com accessed on oct 2016. david, k. (2015).what is an e-book,retrieved from the book esigner.com/2015/06/what is -ane-book dogara, l. (2012). availability and use of library and information services in special libraries in niger state of nigeria. (unpublished master’s these). university of nigeria, nsukka. http://www.stu.edu.jm/education/pdf/issuesperspectura/ideaofaneducatedperson http://www.stu.edu.jm/education/pdf/issuesperspectura/ideaofaneducatedperson 56 | p a g e egberongbe, h. s. (2011). the use and impact of electronic resources at the university of lagos. library philosophy and practice, pp472 retrievd from http digital commons.unl.edu/iibphilprac/472,accessed on 18th may 2018 ekwelem, v. 0.,okafor, v.n., &ukwoma, s. c. (2009). students use of electronic information sources at the university of nigeria, nsukka. afri journal of library, archive & information science, 19(1), 89-97 nnadi, c. u. &okafor, n. (2014). attitude of undergraduate students towards the academic use of electronic information resources in two federal universities in south-east nigeria. paper presented at the nigeria library association enugu state chapter proceedings of annual conference. nnadi, c. u. (2012). attitude of undergraduate students towards the academic use of electronic information resources in two federal universities in enugu and anambra states. (unpublished master’s theses).university of nigeria, nsukka. 139 | p a g e ethnicity and the national question by okechukwu, groupson-paul uc. phd groupsonpaul@yahoo.com, okechukwu.groupson@funai.edu.ng department of political science federal university ndufu alike ikwo (funai), abakaliki – ebonyi state, nigeria and arua christopher chukwu ceejakchioma@gmail.com department of political science federal university ndufu alike ikwo (funai), abakaliki ebonyi, state nigeria. abstract nigeria is still a house divided against itself. ethnic mistrust and tension run high, tribal loyalty remain stronger than national loyalty. ethnic problems have not only persisted but in some cases, intensified leading to meaningful suggestions in some quarters that the country should be broken up into two or three parts. this paper examines the nature of ethnicity in nigeria, how it has affected and negated national development. the study observed that nigeria is multi-ethnic and the inter-play of this ethnic factor has created more obstacles to the corporate existence of nigeria as a nation. consequently, politics by its nature and character constitutes a democratic structure capable of engendering stable development which is at the center of national question. this study analyses the need for democratic consolidation because of its volume impact of ethnic politics on national development. the problematic nature of ehnicism and its negative effect on nation-building is explained with elite pluralist theory. the study relies on analytical concepts and secondary source of data. the study recommends among others that political education and training are vital in creating a new social order and also the crisis of national integration needs to be solved before political parties should be allowed to appear. keywords: ethnicity, national question, democratic consolidation, nationbuilding, ethnic politics. mailto:ceejakchioma@gmail.com 140 | p a g e introduction the problem of evolving a political structure that would accommodate the interests of the various nationalities which constitute the “nigerian nation” started from independence. ninety-four year after the first (the clifford) constitution was drafted in 1922, and the several other constitutions since independence on october1, 1960, nigeria is still battling with a workable structure that has been severely challenged by the protraction of the ‘national question’. the national question is conceived by scholars as consisting of the political mobilizations and struggles by dissatisfied and aggrieved ethnic groups to redress and exact more just and equitable accommodation from the nigerian nation-state (ayokhai &peter, 2016). national question is tied to the erosion of the state and its failure to meet the needs of the citizens evident in the injustice in the protection of lives of the individuals of various groups inhabited in the nation space. the problem has to do with the politics of ethnicity and the intervention of the military in politics. levels of educational development between the northern and southern part of the country caused imbalance in the level of political development, and was to affect the direction of national politics even during the struggle for independence. in fact, while the southern part of the country was ready for and had indeed embraced self-governance in 1957, the north did not do so until 1959 (richard, 1999). post independence political history of nigeria, therefore, is more or less the story of how nigeria has since tied to grapple with its problem of apparent lack of unity and how best to accommodate the competing socio-political and ethno-cultural problems of its people. the problem must be examined against the background of certain colonial actions that in variably put the nigeria nation where it is. first, the balkanization of the country into three regions of unreasonably unequal sizes was a grievous error of political judgment on the part of the british. the northern region, the largest, was more than the eastern and western regions put together. this was as it ought to have been very clear to the british authorities, a perfect recipe for an unhealthy national diet. to make this worse, the division of the regions conformed, amazingly, with the british perception of the ethnic composition of the country (nnoli, 1980). the north was hausa-fulani, the east; igbo and the west, mainly yoruba. yet, there are over 250 and not three tribes in nigeria. there was no way that the social and political interests and aspirations of 247 distinct ethic groups, no matter how small in population each of them was, could be satisfied in a political arrangement that, subverted those interests. this however, explains the nature of ethnic relations and political dynamics that have shaped the content and direction of national unity irreconcilable differences among the peoples that constitute nigeria; educational 141 | p a g e imbalance, regional politics expressed in tribalism, disunity and fear of domination. all these prevented the development of real patriotism or national-spirit but rather paved the way for inter-ethnic hatred, bickering, nepotism, corruption, abuse of power, politicization of census, election and security system.this paper examines the impact of ethnicity as it effects national development in nigeria. conceptual clarification the major concepts that need some brief clarification especially with regard to their usage and meaning in the paper include ethnicity and the national question. ethnicity or tribalism is interchangeable. much of the difficulties and hazards that scholars face are of course based on the person’s perception and background. ethnicity or the related term tribalism is thus a psycho-social phenomenon. but more than this, ethnicity is confliction; it involves conflicts among diverse communal groups. nnoli (1980) define ethic groups in the african context and assert that ethnic groups are social formations distinguished by the communal characters of the boundaries. the relevant fact may be language, culture, or both. in africa, language has been the most curial variable. similarly tyler (1994) sees ethnicity as a culture that has complex whole, which include knowledge, belief, art, morals, laws, custom and other capacities and habits acquired by man as a member of society or group. writing in the same vein, stark (1996) believed that ethnic groups are groups that think of themselves as sharing special bounds of history and culture that set them apart from others. ethnic group is a social group which, within a large cultural and social system claims or is accorded a special status in terms of complex or traits (ethnic traits) which it inhibits or is believed to exhibit. such traits are diverse, and there is much variety in the complexes that they form (melvin 1979). irukwe (1989) opined that ethnicity is a belief in superiority of one’s own cultural group or corresponding hatred or misunderstanding of other such groups. cohen (1994) defined ethnic group as an informal interest group whose members are distinct from the members of other ethnic groups within the larger society because they share kinship, religious and linguistic ties. he further explained that ethnic groups are social formation distinguished by the communal boundaries. it is obvious from the definitions above that ethnicity as a concept has everything to do with identification of groups within a given country. this identification as enhagbe (2016) indicated is based on those common features that tend to distinguish the members of a group from other groups; stressing that an important feature of ethnic identification is the fact that relations among members of the group are based on origins, decent and the evolution overtime of common cultural features such as language. 142 | p a g e however, ethnicity has the capacity to acquire passionate attribute; where the ethic group are aware of socio-cultural difference with other group but continued to live together in peace, and aggressive attribute, when competition for socio-economic and political privileges or rights in a geo-political set-up is the case (omu, 1998). he further asserts that, political competition and rivalry seems to be the most flammable instrument of ethnic aggression. thus ethnicity has the potential of being manipulated to the level that it generates conflicts within society, as roderick (1999) avers that ethnicity is a social phenomenon which is capable of altering its form(s), place and role in the life of a society. in other words it can jeopardize meaningful development in general. that brings us to the concept of national question. national question is a term used for a variety of issues related to national development; how to structure the nigeria federation in order to accommodate groups and guarantee access to power and equitable distribution of resources. the national question focuses on the competition and conflict between different ethnic groups to control the political power and resources of the nation. the background to national question is the perceived domination of some ethnic groups by the other engendered by the structural nature of the nigerian federation, the heavy lopsidedness in center-state relations (ajayi, (2014). ajayi argued that the national question is the perennial debate as how to order the relations between the different ethnic, linguistic and cultural groupings so that they have the same rights and privileges, access to power and equitable share of national resources (edewo, aluko and folarin, 20014). momoh (2002) noted that the national question is fundamentally related to the question of rights and privileges of nations and peoples particularly in the context of oppression. the under-listed issues to adejumobi, (2000) are very vital to the national question:  what should be the component units and tiers of government in the nigeria federation?  how should they be constituted, based on ethnic contiguity or administrative expediency?  how should political power and administrative responsibilities be shared among the levels and tiers of government?  how should the ownership of economic resources be structure in the nigeria federation?  what should be the acceptable formulae for sharing federally collected revenue?  what should be the nature of inter-governmental relations in nigeria? virtually all the various ethnic groups in nigeria today talk about marginalization and domination; all the ethnic groups are affected one way or the other by the national question. for the niger delta and oil producing minority it is exploitation and environmental degradation; for the igbo it is marginalization; for the hausa fulani, 143 | p a g e it is uneven development; for the minorities of the north, particularly the middle belt it is one of internal colonialism; for the yoruba it is power exclusion. hence everybody is demanding empowerment on the basis of one assumption – xenophobia (momoh, 2002). adejumobi (2003) in his contribution, noted that the domination of some ethnic groups by the other engendered by the structural nature of the nigerian federation, the heavy lopsidedness in center-state relations. the fears and demands of ethnic militias basically revolve round the issues of national question. for instance, the concern of massob is marginalization of the east in the power equation in nigeria; that of opc is about “power shift” and restructuring of the federation and the quest for self-determination by group (avengers) in the niger delta region is based on the social injustice, neglect and marginalization that the area suffers in the nigerian nation. moreover, national question is believed to be at the question on the crisis of the nigerian state and the problem of peaceful co-existence. this question varies in time and in space, it depends on the inter group relations and on the issues of marginalization, domination, inequality fairness and justice among ethnic groups. theoretical explanation the negative aspect of ethnicity can be analyzed by linking it to the theoretical framework of the pluralist theory. pluralists posit that society is made up of several groups with interests which may be at variance; in the framework of the theory of pluralism, ethnic groups are perceived as folk groups from a former era that are now under transformation as a result of the individual freedom offered to individuals in a modern society (oladiran, 2013). pluralists stress the continuing viability of ethnic groups and they promote the idea of pluralistic and multi-cultural societies. thus, there could be conflicting interests such as economic, religious, power sharing etc. advocates of this theory sees social conflict as a struggle over values or claims to status, power and scarce resources in which the aim of the conflicting parties are not only to gain desirable value but also to neutralize, injure and/or relegate their opponents (saluwa &hassan, 2011). this could be applied to nigeria leadership, where personality interest in policy or decision making plays a vital role as a result of ethnic chauvinist when politics is involved. this human attitude manifests in form of prejudice and tribalism (ethnic conflict). prejudice can as well be turned to discrimination. if this happens, there will be strong pressure to exclude outsiders in the sharing of commonwealth of the nation. in the pre-colonial era and since the independence of nigeria, ethnicity played and is still playing manifest and latent roles in the body politics of nigeria. otite, rightly observed that, the ethnic virus has been one of the most important causes of social crisis and 144 | p a g e political instability in nigeria; and ethnicity has been perceived in general as a major obstacle to the overall politic-economic development of the country (oladiran, 2013). ethnicity in nigeria: a historical overview nigeria as a nation is a child of british colonialism. even its name came from lady lugard, wife of fredrick lugard, the country’s first governor –general. nigeria, therefore, did not exist as a national entity before the british, who had administered the northern and southern provinces more or less as separate and distinct territories, amalgamated them from 1914. nigeria’s problems were man-made partly tailored, if perfectly, by nature itself. it is man-made in the sense and manner of the country’s colonization, while problem created by nature concerns its geography and ethnic composition. by 1962, there were traceable political conflict, between action group (ag) and rival party, nigeria national democratic party (nndp) formed by akintola. the leader of ag, awolowo accused the npc of subverting western regional government by collaborating with s. l akintola (afigbo, 1986). as a result, by 1963, awolowo and his key political supporters were accused of the highest offences of treason and felony. they were tried and found guilty and awolowo was imprisoned for 10 years. however, it was not until 1964 that the western region election that witnessed a complete breakdown of law and order. they were also discriminate killing, confusion and massive looting that led to state of anarchy. as a result, some radical corps was drawn into nigeria politics, masterminded by major chukwuemeka nzeogwu and others (nnoli, 1991). notable among the victims killed were prime minister himself, tafawa belewa, saduna of sokoto, primier of western region, akintola, the most flamboyant nigerian politician, okotiebo. funny enough, the eastern region premier, michael i. opara was not involved because the military men sent to kill him failed in their duty, forty-eight hours after nzogwu’s coup. johnson aguiyi-ironsi, a major-general and general officer commanding the nigerian army, assumed power as head of a federal military government and commander-in-chief of the armed forces. nigerians began to do one of the things they do best; ask some pertinent questions. they found answers in the motives of the coup planners: a planned igbo-ethnic domination. whether this was correct or not, there was some evidence for those looking for some. for the fact that the coup planners were mainly igbo officers led by the late chukwuemeka kaduna nzeogwu (oyinlola &dazang,1994). the north and the west lost more people. in the north, nearly all its senior army officers; four of them while the west lost two. both regions also lost their premiers. the north also donated the prime minister and the mid-west lost a federal minister to the coup. ironsi 145 | p a g e strengthen the fears of the north about the alleged planned igbo domination of the ethnic politics of the country when he abolished the four regions and introduced a unitary system. this political move, whatever informed ironsi’s decision, was fatal to him, his regime and igbo in general. this to them, was unacceptable, as it was a threat to their socio-economic welfare and political aspirations. seven months after ironsi came to power, he was overthrown, and gowon took over as head of the federal military government. in discussing the steps which led to the collapse of nigerian first republic, the disastrous events of 1966, and the massacre of igbo in part of northern nigeria; many will still remember the 30-months biafra war of secession from july 1967 until january 1970, when the igbo people were regularly portrayed overseas as the victims of systematic oppression in the federation (richard, 1999). as inexact as these general opinions might be, they still touch on what remains a crucial feature of nigerian politics; the extent to which conflicts tend to take on the character of a struggle among sectional groups, whether defined by language, ethnicity, region or religion. from 1951-1962, three of the major parties; npc in the north, ncnc, in the east and action group in the west, controlled governmental regions. the major political parties were commonly identified with “ethnic” group interest in a misleading manner. since then till date, nigeria has never had what can be described as a nation-wide political party. rather, what it has had changed name of the old establishments. for instance, it is well known that the political parties of the first republic were the very ones that operated in the second republic with changes only in name(s). all had their roots in their different dominant regions. the effects of ethnicity on national development no matter what view one may take of nigeria, its politics and economics and national aspirations, all agree that has come of age, no doubt, nigeria emerged from british colonial rule as an unbalanced multi-ethnic federal state, the cultural diversity of whose component units could make political instability inevitable. unfortunately, the colonial rulership made no serious attempts at integrating the disparate primordial ethnic groups into a coherent political entity. it is, therefore not surprising that after exhibiting some semblance of unity in order rid themselves of the york of british colonial rule, the different nationalities latter gave vent to inter-ethnic animosities and ethno-cultural grievance in the struggle for power in nigeria, resulting in several political crisis each of which seriously threatened the country’s corporate existence. 146 | p a g e having been fragmented along regional and ethnic lines due to the organization of the colonial economy along enclaves isolated from each other, the nigerian leaders tended to regard this regional enclave as exclusive reservoirs of benefits for those of them the regional and ethnic homeland. therefore, under the prevailing socio-economic and political formation in nigeria, the issue of equity, fair play and internal self-determination among the federating ethnic nationalities becomes a mirage. accordingly, nnoli (1994) asserted that nigerian leaders have an objective interest in maintaining the ethnic pattern activities and imperialist structure, both of which are inimical to inter-ethnic harmony. the most pressing problem facing the nigerian state and one which must be tackled is to find a lasting solution to the issue of uneven national revenue allocation and development (national question). this is because, the inordinate and irreconcilable ambitions of the chauvinistic elites of the various ethnic groups, especially the big three ethno-cultural group; hausa-fulani, yoruba and igbo who want to dominate and control the country, had led to the overpoliticization of ethnicity in nigeria, with a resultant effect of the state’s failure to emerge as a reassuring instrument in the society. conclusion regarding the national question, beyond the effects of ethnicity with concerns on the disunity and prejudice challenges facing the country, it also has implications for the country’s socio-political system. social cohesion among various groups and interests is important in the process of national political and economic development. the activities of the niger-delta militants, militia groups like odua people’s congress (opc), movement for the actualization of sovereign state of biafra (massob), egbesu and constant sectarian turmoil exemplified by the activities of boko haramall expressing deep ethnic sentiments put together is a major obstacle to achieving sustainable development. unfortunately, all these developments are sure signs of disillusionment and tensions that are capable of tearing our country apart. they are all manifestations of the fear of marginalization, domination, inequality, unfairness and injustice apparent in our nation. they point to severe cracks in our inter-ethnic relations. and, they are a reminder of the national question, which must be tackled to save nigeria from disintegration. references adejumobi,s. 2003. civil society, ethnic militia and sovereign national conference in nigeria. in babawale, t. (ed), urban violence, ethnic militias and challenges of democratic consolidation in nigeria. lagos: malthouse press, 164-184. 147 | p a g e afigbo, a. e.1998.“ethnic pluralism and political instability in nigeria. preliminary remarke towards unmaking the ethnicity myth”. benin journal of historical studies, 2(1&2), 3952. 1986. federal character: its meaning and history. owerri: rada publishing company. ajayi, j. o. 2014. resurgence of crisis and instability in nigeria. research on humanities and social sciences; 4 (21), 40-44. ayokhai, f.e.f & peter, n. w. 2016. fiscal federalism, ethnic minorities and the national question in nigeria: revisiting the case of the niger delta people. african research review journal; 10(13), 246-260. cohen, a. 1994. custom and politics in urban africa. london: routledge and kegan paul. cortese, a. 1990. ethnic ethics: the restructuring of moral theory. new york: state university of new york press. edewo, p. a., aluko, y. a. & folarin, s. f. 2014. managing ethnic and cultural diversity for national integration in nigeria. developing country studies, 4(16). erhagbe, e. 2016. ethnicity in the matrix of peace and reconciliation in nigeria. european scientific journal; 8(16), 83-85. ibrahim, j. 2000. the transformation of etno-regional identities in nigeria. in jegs (ed). identity transformation and identity politics under structural adjustment in nigeria. kano: normadic african institute and center for research documentation, 41-61. irukwu, j.o. 1989. nigeria: the case for a better society. enugu: fourth dimension publishers. momoh, a. 2002. the philosophy and theory of the national question. in momoh, a & adejumobi (eds), the national question in nigeria: comparative perspecrive. aldershot: asgate. melvin, m. t. 1979. ethnicity and fractionalism in zimbabiwe nationalist politics. ethnic racial studies, 3 (1). nnoli, o. 1980. ethnic politics in nigeria. enugu: fourth dimension publishers. 1991. national identity. las vegas nevada: university of nevada press. 1994. ethnicity and democracy in africa, intervening variables. lagos: malthouse press. oladiran, a. 2013. ethnic politics and democratic consolidation in nigeria. international journal of academic research in business and social sciences, 3 (12). omu, f. i. a. 1998. ethnicity, nationalism and federation in nigeria: an interactive trinity of relationships. benin journal of historical studies, 2(1&2), 1-22. osaghea, e. 1995. structural adjustment and ethnicity in nigeria. research report. uppsale: nordiska afrikain institute. oyinola, d. & dazang. n. 1994 (may, 18).”we can’t forget the past”. tell magazine, pp 12-18. 148 | p a g e richard, j. 1999. democracy and prebendal politics in nigeria: the rise and fall of the second republic. ibaban: spectrum books ltd. rodrick, d.1999. where did all the growth go? external shocks, social conflict and growth collapses. journal of economic growth, 4(4). saluwa, b. & hassan, a. 2011. ethnic politics and its implication for survival of democracy in nigeria. journal of public administration and policy research, 3(2), 28-33. stark, r. 19996. sociology (6th edition). new york: wads worth publishing company. tylor, e. b. 1994. primitive culture. new york: brentano press. 186 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com utilization of computer device in teaching basic design: a reflective teaching practice approach ejim, joy nkiruka department of fine & applied art education enugu state college of education (technical), enugu email: enjoy21@hotmail.com chukwu ebele georgina department of library and information science enugu state college of education (technical), enugu email: chiebele@yahoo.com dr. anthonia onuora enugu state university of science &technology email: aeonuorah07@yahoo.com abstract this paper explored the utilization of computer device in teaching basic design to ensure a reflective teaching practice approach, in junior secondary schools in enugu education zone, nigeria. the study employed the descriptive cross-sectional study of randomly selected 62 fine arts teachers from frame of (31) thirty-one secondary schools residing in enugu state, nigeria. an in-depth interview using questionnaire instrument was administered to ascertain the quality and use of computer device to teach art subjects in the system. result: a total of 35% (31/62) respondents were analyzed since 10% (15/62) of the questionnaires lack essential competency in using computer devices when teaching art subject were hence discarded. analysis, revealed that 35% of art teachers can effectively utilize computer device as an instructional material for teaching basic design in junior secondary schools. findings: it was recommended among others that, government should employ applicants with b.sc. (ed.) and b.ed. computer education to teach the subject (basic design) in junior secondary schools, so as to create effective utilization of computer device in a reflective teaching practice approach. keywords: reflective teaching, computer device, basic design, instructional aids. introduction the essence of utilization of computer device to teach arts subject in junior secondary school is to aid the teachers to teach more effectively and efficiently in the system thereby impacting an advance method to the students. according to onyejemezi et al, (2009) he pointed out that instructional materials increase the rate of learning, save’s the teacher time and effort, increase the learners’ interest and facilitate retraction/retention of what is learned instruction aids promote quick mailto:enjoy21@hotmail.com mailto:chiebele@yahoo.com mailto:aeonuorah07@yahoo.com 187 | p a g e utilization of computer device in teaching basic design: a reflective teaching practice approach ejim, joy nkiruka; chukwu ebele georgina; dr. anthonia onuora understanding by arresting learner’s attention but teachers neglect the use which make teaching boring and abstract in nature. the effective use of instructional aids facilitates easy understanding of abstract concepts and promotes effective communication and interaction between the teachers and the students. it also excites the perceptual thinking of students and makes them completely involved in the teachinglearning situation. there are wide ranges of instructional materials from the simplest or low-tech chalkboard to hightech and more sophisticated ones such as videos, computers and the use of the world-wide web and the internet. many a time, teachers and teachertrainees do complain about not utilizing appropriate visual art tools and materials at the junior secondary schools and colleges of education. recent survey has shown that graduates from colleges of education do not have adequate knowledge and skills for the production, and use of instructional aids for art education in our junior secondary schools. the newly introduced syllabus, which places much emphasis on the teaching of creative activities or skills, is dominated by visual art activities. teaching and learning visual art, whether in developed or developing countries involves the use of diverse instructional aids. the use of technology is quite acceptable and highly recommended to enhance teaching and learning in most areas of our studies. researchers have made it clear, the potentialities of utilizing computer device to ameliorate students’ creative ability in visual art. visual art are art forms, such as ceramics, drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, design, crafts, photography, video, film-making, and architecture. many artistic disciplines (performing arts, conceptual art, textile arts) involve aspects of the visual arts as well as arts of other types. the effects of utilizing computer device in teaching basic design as a reflective teaching practice approach, which the teacher uses to recite what has been done in the classroom, and an evaluation of teaching processes. according to richard (2011), he stated that the primary goal of using reflective teaching practice approach is to improve the quality of teaching. the principles of doing this is by keen observation, written account of experiences, selfreports, auto biographies, journal writing, collaborative diary keeping and recording lessons, student’s feedback teacher’s stories (tice et al 2011). according to hornby (2012), visual arts is the use of imagination to express ideas or feelings particularly in painting, drawing or sculpture: modern/ contemporary arts. however, research shows that arts is the only subject that find’s practical use in other subject areas, for instance, the ability to draw and illustrate diagrams accurately can help the students in our science and 188 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com social science subjects for more understanding of the topics than student may be able to understand in words. it is well known among educators that the educational experience involving the learners’ active participation with concrete examples are retained longer than abstract experiences. it was shown that art graphics can function in diverse ways such as a record of events, objects and situation, which also can be substituted for a real thing; a stand in, or symbol, thus communicates ideas or events. it educates and also serves as a means of self-expression and it helps to release emotion thereby serve as a means of exploration of vision. it was verified that when exciting and well-designed teaching-learning materials or artifacts are produced and utilized, students in colleges of education as well as the pupils at the junior level of education will benefit greatly to improve human experience and better learning outcomes. therefore, essential skills needed for the production of visual material includes pen lettering skill, calligraphy writing skill, free hand writing skill, use of colour in graphics, modeling techniques, painting, weaving and other crafts’ skills. burton et al, (2009), noted that artistic development extends into early adulthood, though qualitative descriptions are needed of students’ thinking and pedagogical practices in art classes, which is an avenue for reflective teaching approach. early childhood developmental characteristics children of young school age range is active, hands-on learners. they have short attention spans, cannot sit still for long periods of time, and learn best through hands-on exploration and manipulation of materials from the world around them, stated by wood et al (2010). learners in early childhood are social and talkative, and a narrative impulse runs through many of their activities, from drawing to imaginary play. in the earliest segment of this age bracket, parents, teachers, and other caregivers are the primary social influences, but by early elementary age, friends can be highly socially influential as well. wood, (2010) opined that pre-school and early elementary students learn well from modeling, and need chances to practice new behavior. wexler (2009) suggested that learning experiences need to be simultaneously structured and exploratory, providing opportunities for open-ended exploration with materials and ideas that fit within a classroom routine that has a defined beginning and end. students of this age are very enthusiastic and eager to learn, but are generally more interested in process than product. by the later stages of early childhood, students’ fine motor coordination has begun to develop somewhat, but in general this stage is primarily concerned with the development of gross motor abilities, and precise movements or fine detail are not in the range of students’ interests or abilities. 189 | p a g e utilization of computer device in teaching basic design: a reflective teaching practice approach ejim, joy nkiruka; chukwu ebele georgina; dr. anthonia onuora moreover, the process of teaching involves what to teach, when to teach, how to teach and with what material’s. burton, (2009) defined the term “representation” as the infinite ways in which artists (of all ages) translate life experience in a tangible, aesthetic form that might be experienced by others who encounter the work. according to wood, (2010), he argued that the artistic development students of junior level need to actively play, explore, and learn best by moving large muscle groups. junior and early elementary education often involves hands-on time with a variety of materials: crayons, markers, and other drawing implements, paint, clay, and blocks and other manipulative. art making at this stage (especially age five and below) is about experimentation with materials and the kinesthetic experience of manipulating them much more than it is about trying to represent a particular object or idea, stated louis (2015). when a child begins to draw, he’s not very attentive to the visual characteristics of the marks he produces; his main concern is that he is able to make marks. he gradually begins to explore the relationship between marks and perhaps name the marks. gradually, students begin to develop intentional forms that grow into symbolic representations of things, as they come to realize that marks can convey meaning. typically, the first fully-developed symbol of a child depicts that of a person. olson (2013) stated that when children begin attempting to represent people, objects, ideas, or stories, they draw from their own personal experience, but these experiences as cited by thompson, (2013) includes the influences of family, community, and media. according to louis, (2015) he portrayed that students’ using graphic images such as a house, a person, a favorite character which become increasingly similar to other students’ drawings, reflecting a growing desire to communicate socially shared meaning. pearson, (2011) suggested that art making at this stage is primarily a social activity in addition to being an active and kinesthetic one. thompson, (2007) concurred that students often “think out loud” as they work, and are eager to retell the story of a drawing to anyone (especially adults) who would like to hear. olson, (2008) concluded that there is a very close relationship between language arts and visual arts at this age. however, before the nigerian independence, in 1960 and ten years after; there was what the government and the voluntary agencies could regard as joint management of secondary schools. after the civil war, the east central state government, in 1970, passed the public education edict, which took over the secondary schools from the missions. other states in the federation quickly followed suit. this culminated in what could be described as the “dawn” of rapid expansion of secondary schools, which they handed over to the ministry of education (moe) to manage through the help of 190 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com the various schools management boards. the supervision of schools and instruction then become the sole prerogative of the ministry of education & the region education boards and later the state schools management board. in order to make the lessons livelier and activity based, the moe in conjunction with the state schools management board insisted that teachers should utilize teaching aids in the teaching and learning process. this was the beginning of the utilization of instructional materials like computer device in the classroom instructional process. instruction aids are tools used in educational lessons, which include active learning and assessment. basically, any resource a teacher uses to teach his/her student is an instructional aid. types of instructional aids: traditional resource, graphic organizer, teacher made resources; 1. traditional resource: this includes any textbook and workbook used in the classroom. for example, language arts classrooms always have literature textbooks, writing textbooks, and even vocabulary and spelling workbooks. it also includes any supplementary reading materials like novels or poems outside of the textbook. the material enhances the introduction of a new concept or theme. 2. graphic organizer: also known as knowledge map, concept map, story map, cognitive organizer, advance, or concept diagram, is a communication tool that uses visual symbols to express knowledge, concepts, thoughts, or ideas, and the relationships between them. the main purpose of a graphic organizer is to provide a visual aid to facilitate learning and instruction. in language arts, venn diagrams and plot diagrams are clear instructional tools to use when comparing or analyzing event in a piece of literature. graphics organizers allow students to physically see relationships between ideas. this is imperative for learning majorly for students who are more virtually oriented. 3. teacher made resources: these include anything the teacher creates like handouts, workbooks, tests, quizzes and projects. thus, instructional materials are any material employed by a teacher or instruction to facilitate teaching and learning in terms of making learning interesting and easy. it may be in form of visual, audio and audiovisual. ekpo, (2015) aptly declared that instructional materials are often used to compensate for the inadequacies of sense organ or to reinforce the capacity of the dominant organs. they must be relevance for the realization of the intensive of curriculum. instructional materials add elements of reality by providing concrete examples to learning. seeing, aids understanding, in a teaching situation than words can do. one picture tells more stories than hundred words. sight and sound have to go together in a 191 | p a g e utilization of computer device in teaching basic design: a reflective teaching practice approach ejim, joy nkiruka; chukwu ebele georgina; dr. anthonia onuora classroom for effective teaching and learning to take place, especially in arts education. for instance, if the topic of the lesson as a teacher is “colour theory” in a class where they have not seen the different between pigments of colour before; it would be more ideal to show them a picture or sample or the symbols of colour than just giving them a mere written explanation or word. consequently, the teacher does not need to rely entirely on verbal explanations. he needs instructional materials which are tools that will enable him to deliver a particular topic to his students. this is to say that, there is no lesson that a teacher can teach successfully without using appropriate instructional materials. instructional materials are variety of materials in various formats which enhances or influence the effective teaching and learning process among the students in schools. it is very critical to the successful delivery of every subject particularly for the greater understanding and facilitation of the learning process. the importance of instructional material in teaching and learning is too obvious to be overemphasized. a lot has been written to show the indispensable role of utilizing instrumental materials in curricular implementation. it is pertinent to recall that onyejemezi et al, (2009) also pointed out that instructional materials increase the rate of learning, save the teacher time and effort, increase the learners’ interest and facilitate retraction/retention of what is learned. according to the article written by ar. sujit et, al stated that the abc of any design means: (a) aesthetics (b) basic design (c) creativity. basic designis rightly called the mother of all designs. its journey begins with the basic elements and culminates in a spatial perception. basic design studio serves an important purpose of initiating creativity and there by appreciating art in many forms. design is an expression of feeling and any creative act is a design. shaktinanda, in the longman dictionary of contemporary english, (2012) design is defines as a means of; 1. a drawing or pattern showing how something is to be made; 2. the art of making such drawings or patterns; 3. the arrangement of arts in any manmade product, such as a machine or work of art, as this influences the product’s practical usefulness; 4. a decorative pattern, especially one that is not repeated; 5. a plan in the mind. 6. the word design is also used as a verb with the following meanings. to make a drawing or pattern of something that will be made or built for a certain purpose or use. the importance of reflective teaching is stated as follows;  it is helpful in keeping a teaching journal: the best and least intrusive way to start the practice 192 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com of reflective teaching is to keep a ‘teacher diary.’ this is a purely personal action that will allow you to look objectively at what occurred in your lessons, and will force you to look at why things occurred as they did. it’s really important that you set aside time immediately after a lesson, when the experience is still fresh in your mind, to do this. when you keep a teacher diary try very hard to look at specifics, but don’t get in the habit of listing them. you most likely have an idea of what worked or did not and it is better that you honor yourself by writing how you felt about those successes or failures.  identification helps in creating a great improvement. according to taghilou, (2007) asserted that effective learning had been achieved through reflective teaching practice, by ‘encouraging growth and improving pedagogical knowledge and professional development for pre-service teachers’ rodman, (2010). this could be one of the possible ways of teacher’s professional development, in which teachers act as adult learners and the facilitators in education system borko, (2004) focus on student’s learning, includes training, practice, feedback, is on-going process, and collaborative. haqq et al (1999). the practice of reflective teaching as an approach of utilizing computer device as an instructional aid in teaching basic design could go a long way, to be integrated in the junior secondary schools educational zones of enugu state, nigeria. kumaravadivelu, (2006) also advocated three pedagogic parameters (p) that include;  particularity refers to a ‘context sensitive pedagogy’,  practicality means ‘theorize what teachers practice and practice what teachers theorize’,  possibility means ‘the social, political, educational and institutional forces that shape identity formation and social transformation’. the integration might be possible as primarily, in particularity and practicality parameters, teachers should have a reflection on what they teach, in what context and how they teach the subject which will facilitate professional development especially in utilizing computer device as an instruction aids in teaching basic design in junior secondary schools, in enugu state, nigeria. tice, (2011) defined reflective practice as a means of ‘’looking at what you do in the classroom, thinking about why you do it, and thinking about if it works a process of self-observation and self-evaluation’ through data collection bailey, (1997). 193 | p a g e utilization of computer device in teaching basic design: a reflective teaching practice approach ejim, joy nkiruka; chukwu ebele georgina; dr. anthonia onuora three structures of reflection van manen et al, (1993) identified it as follows:  ‘technical rationality’-this is the first level that emphasizes the ‘’efficient and effective application for educational knowledge’’ in achieving given goals. to reflect at this level is to question ‘’the appropriateness of various course of action in the classroom’’.  ‘practical reflection’second level accentuates on the clarification of the assumptions on moral, ethical and value considerations which are the basis of practical action. the reflection in this second level is ‘’concerned with the deciding the worth competing educational goal and experiences’’.  ‘critical reflection’-the third level focuses on the reflection of how ‘’educational goals and practices’’ are systematically and ideologically distorted by ‘’structural forces and constraints at work and various aspects of society including educational settings’’. from the explanation we may infer that reflection begins with the abstract concept to the complicated variables. reflective teaching has been proven to have learning effectiveness concluded by taghilou, (2007), ‘encouraging growth and improving pedagogical knowledge and professional development for pre-service teachers’ rodman, (2010). there are two kinds of approach:  individual approach  cooperative development. there are several reasons of doing professional developments;  to ‘overcome the sense of isolation’ from daily teaching activities,  to enable teachers to get in touch with positive people, finding colleagues for co-developing materials, providing contacts for next job search, offering new teaching ideas, conducting action research, can help expand teacher’s conceptual understanding of teaching, boosting confident as a professional, and gaining confirmation and re-affirmation that what teacher does is worthwhile bailey et al, (2001). finally, utilizing computer device in teaching basic design as pointed out by lee, (2011), that teacher’s active involvement as a presenter in continuing professional development seminars ‘enable them (teacher) to think and reflect more seriously on their practice” as well as greatly enrich teacher learning situation. statement of the problem today’s education cannot be adequately prepared for tomorrow’s computerized society without the use of computer aid. 194 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com computer is causing a revolution in our societies similar to that of industrial sector. nations are genuinely interested in high standard of education scientifically and technologically. this shows that, teachers must adopt the computer age by employing teaching techniques that will facilitate visual art teaching and learning. according to ekpo, (2015) aptly declared that instructional materials are often used to compensate for the inadequacies of sense organ or to reinforce the capacity of the dominant organs. there must be relevance of utilization of computer device for the realization of the intensive curriculums program in educational system. notwithstanding, the essentiality and the effectiveness of computer as an instructional material; tahir, (2009) admitted that there is a general lack of instructional materials in teaching and learning. on this note, the researcher has been urged to research on utilizing computer device in teaching basic design in junior secondary schools in enugu education zone, as a reflective teaching practice approach, to enhance active learning situation. objective of the study the objective of the study was to provide evidence that computer devices are incorporated into teaching and learning of basic design in art education. utilization of computer devices had caused revolution in our society. however, computer device utilization had gradually developed immensely in our educational system, making it affairs more relevant in many schools to enhance teaching and learning thus showing a strong tool for knowledge installation to ensure a reflective teaching practice approach. research question to what extent do art teachers, effectively explored the use of computer device as an instructional material in teaching basic design through a reflective teaching practice approach? purpose of the study the main purpose of this study is to find out the extent of utilizing computer device in teaching basic design as a reflective teaching practice approach in junior secondary schools in enugu education zone, enugu state. significance of the study learning new skills such as technology, computer and transferring skills already leant by the teachers to the students is the key to quality education in a rapidly changing technological environment. the findings of this study will be beneficial to visual art teachers, junior secondary school students, school administrators, ministry of education, post primary state management board, government, curriculum planners at teachers’ preparation stage and fellow researchers with keen interest in new innovation and computer skills needed by visual art teachers and students for 195 | p a g e utilization of computer device in teaching basic design: a reflective teaching practice approach ejim, joy nkiruka; chukwu ebele georgina; dr. anthonia onuora effective and quality instructional delivery in the system. moreover, it will not only help to increase the teachers’ level of awareness and understanding of some of the issues surrounding the use of computer as an instructional materials, its findings will also provide the teachers with a feedback on their teaching competencies as a basis for improvement in a reflective teaching practice approach, an assessment/evaluation of the teaching competencies of visual arts’ teachers is essential in order to find out the extent to which the subject is effectively taught in the junior secondary schools in enugu education zone and indeed, provide an insight into the extent to which the objectives of teaching the subject in the schools are being realized. curriculum planners and evaluators as well as government and educational administrators need empirical data on the overall teaching competences of art’ teachers in the junior secondary schools to facilitate appropriate curricular policies and programmes for effective teaching and learning and the educational media centre on the development of innovative materials used for teaching in schools. researchers will find it useful for further research. therefore, extent of utilizing computer device teaching basic design in junior secondary schools in enugu education zone, if successfully implemented, will have much significance on the above mentioned groups. research methodology this was a descriptive crosssectional study carried out in different junior secondary schools in enugu education zone, in enugu state. a random selection of 62 fine arts teachers from frame of (31) thirty-one secondary schools residing in enugu state, nigeria was accessed using computer device services to evaluate teaching mechanism and interviewed. 62 fine arts teachers from different schools was surveyed a pre-tested questionnaire was used to obtain information from the students undergoing advance technical training concept delivered by different fine arts teachers within urban areas of enugu state. an in-depth interview using questionnaire instrument was administered to ascertain the actual method of training capacity the fine arts teachers possess for impacting knowledge to their respective junior students irrespective of their previous traditional knowledge in various secondary schools that was accessed within enugu state educational zone. the dependent and independent variables on socio-demographic 196 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com data was derived using spss version 20 model. cross-tabulation method was also used to analysis the results on the association of sociodemographic characteristics against perception and attitudes of the respondent. scope and delimitation of study the study was undertaken in enugu state, south east nigeria and has been estimated with total population of about 3.6million, and a total land area of 7,618sqkm. the study was focused on teachers’ to effectively utilize computer device to teach basic design in junior secondary schools, in enugu education zone of enugu state. the major aim of the study has further showcased the value of impacting knowledge with the aid of teacher’s utilizing computer device to teach basic design in junior secondary schools existing in enugu educational zone, enugu state. research question 1. to what extent do art teachers, effectively explored the use of computer device as an instructional material in teaching basic design through a reflective teaching practice approach? table 1: mean rating of female and male students on the extent to which visual art teachers effectively utilize computer as an instructional material for teaching basic design in junior secondary schools in enugu education zone of enugu state s s/n description male=20 female= 12 the extent to which art teachers effectively utilize computer as an instructional material for teaching basic design are: v h e h e l e v l e x s d dec v h e h e l e v l e x s d dec 1 1 utilization of computer in teaching geometric shapes’ design makes it difficult for the students to acquire more knowledge and insight in developing a good creative ideas or concepts. 2 3 5 1 0 1. 8 5 1. 0 4 le 2 2 2 6 1 . 9 0 1 . 1 0 le 197 | p a g e utilization of computer device in teaching basic design: a reflective teaching practice approach ejim, joy nkiruka; chukwu ebele georgina; dr. anthonia onuora of the seven items in tables 2 above, male students agreed with 4 of the items (2, 3, 4, 5 and 6) as the recorded mean scores are 3.25, 2.80, 3.25, 3.00, and 3.15. they disagree with items 1 and 7 with mean scores of 1.85 and 1.80. for their male counterpart items (2, 3, 4 and 5) were agree on, as the recorded mean 2 students participate actively to lessons while using computer packages as instructional tool in teaching back drop pattern design. 9 7 2 2 3. 2 5 1. 0 6 he 6 3 2 1 3 . 3 1 . 0 7 he 3 improper and inconsistence use of the computer device can reduce reality into abstract in teaching design concepts. 9 4 3 4 2. 8 0 1. 0 5 he 4 3 3 2 2 . 8 0 1 . 0 3 he 4 the use of computer devices as instructional materials in teaching motif with spiral design makes lesson very interesting and easy 9 7 3 1 3. 2 5 1. 0 6 he 6 2 2 2 3 . 3 1 . 0 7 he 5 generating concept design with computer assisted instruction help students to develop high aptitude in imagination psychomotor activities. 1 0 7 3 0 3. 0 0 1. 0 6 he 6 3 1 2 3 . 3 1 . 0 7 he 6 students retain more ideas in basic design when it is taught with computer instructional tools. 1 2 6 3 2 3. 1 5 1. 0 6 he 6 3 1 2 3 . 3 1 . 0 7 he 7 computer assisted instructions help students to approach other subjects with ease. 2 2 6 1 0 1. 8 0 1. 0 4 le 2 2 2 6 1 . 7 0 1 . 1 0 le 198 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com scores are 3.3, 2.80, 3.3. 3.3, and 3.3. they also disagree with the remaining items 1 and 7 with mean scores of 1.90 and 1.70 however, the grand means of 2.77 and 2.90 for male and female teachers respectively indicates that the respondents accept that art teachers effectively utilize computer device as an instructional material for teaching basic design in junior secondary schools in enugu education zone of enugu state. hypothesis: there is no significant difference in the mean score of male and female secondary school teachers on utilizing computer device for teaching basic design. t-test result of mean scores of male and female secondary school teachers on utilizing computer device for teaching basic design in enugu education zone in enugu state, nigeria. gender n x s2 df t-cal t-crit decision female 20 2.77 ns male 12 2.90 1.05 30 0.86 +1.96 do not reject ho2 table 2 above shows that the calculated t-value is 0.86 which is less than the critical t-value 0.34 is less than the critical t-value ±1.96 at .05 level of significance and degree of freedom 30 going by the decision rule. there is no significant difference in the mean responses of male and female secondary school teachers on their utilization of computer as an instructional material for teaching basic design in enugu education zone of enugu state limitations of the study there were many limitations associated with this study. attitude of respondent when gathering data through questionnaires and interviews was a bit difficult. approval of consent letter from different educational sectors in enugu state was also a difficult task because it takes time and follow -up as several appointments were booked and cancelled most especially waiting for the approval of the heads of department in various sector heads. recommendation  the imperative value of ensuring that teachers develops basic technical skills by possessing “technological advances knowledge” should be a thing of priority that will enhance changes in every working environment especially in schools hence promotes the society with an evidence base knowledge.  according to farell, (2009) he stated that engaging on professional practice, teachers could “assess their professional 185 | p a g e utilization of computer device in teaching basic design: a reflective teaching practice approach ejim, joy nkiruka; chukwu ebele georgina; dr. anthonia onuora growth, develop and inform decision making skills, and become proactive and confident in their teaching’’ when utilizing computer device to access knowledge.  adequate number of computers devices should be made available in the classroom for participants residing within urban and rural areas;  curriculum planners should fix more time for computer class lessons; teachers should be trained on the application knowledge of computer device as an instructional tool, for effective teaching and learning situation through a reflective teaching practice approach.  for adequate input effective and efficient utilization of the computer device in basic design teaching in junior secondary school of enugu state, the process needs a high degree of interest and motivation in the teachers and the students with constant practice and observation of the experts. conclusion: to achieve quality and effective use of computer utilization among teachers operating in enugu state with the use of computer as an instructional material for teaching basic design in junior secondary schools in enugu state, nigeria through reflective teaching practice approach. inadequate and inconsistence use of computer device can reduce reality into abstract in teaching design concepts. however, generating concept design with computer assisted instruction will help students to develop high aptitude in imagination psychomotor activities and the use of computer as an instructional material in teaching which encourages students to go online for more ideas which makes lesson very interesting and easy to comprehend, thereby enhances teacher’s reflective teaching practice approach references tice, j. (2011), reflective teaching: exploring our own classroom practice. in http://www.teachingenglish.org.u k/articles/reflective-teachingexploring-our own-classroom practice accessed may (1, 2012). ar.sujit vasant jadhav (1997), (richard in http://www.tttjournal.co.uk; tice, 2011) through data collection bailey,( 1997). bailey, k. m. (2001). action research, teacher research, and classroom research in language teaching. in m. celce-murcia (ed.), teaching english as a second or foreign language (3rd ed., pp. 489-498). boston: heinle & heinle. farrell, t. s. c. (2009). teaching reading to english language learners: a reflective guide. thousand oaks, ca: corwin press. available from 199 http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/articles/reflective-teaching-exploring-our http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/articles/reflective-teaching-exploring-our http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/articles/reflective-teaching-exploring-our 186 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com http://www.corwinpress.com/boo ksproddesc .nav?prodid=book230708& richards, j. c., & farrell, t. s. c. (2005). professional development for language teachers. new york: cambridge university press. ekpo, o. e. (2004). instructional strategies and the challenges of implementing school curriculum in nigeria, lead paper presented at 17th annual conference of the curriculum organisation of nigeria (con) held at university of uyo, uyo, akwa ibom state, 14th – 17th september 200 http://www.corwinpress.com/booksproddesc http://www.corwinpress.com/booksproddesc 100 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com business and its environments: business opportunities open to small-scale enterprises during political transition periods in sub-sahara africa. akwara, azalahu francis; akwara, ngozi francis; udaw, joseph; odekina, felicia 1department of political science, the federal university wukari, taraba state, nigeria, email: aakwara@yahoo.com. 2department of office technology management, the federal polytechnic idah, kogi state, nigeria3 department of political science, the federal university wukari, taraba state, nigeria, 4odekina, felicia, department of business administration and management, the federal polytechnic, idah, kogi state, nigeria abstract the small-scale business enterprise operates in the same environment with its medium and large scale counterparts. due to its size, the small-scale business enterprise can adapt easily to changing environments and circumstances faster than the other forms of businesses. this paper examines the various political environments under which the small-scale business enterprise operates, and the business opportunities open to it during political transition periods in subsahara africa. the paper finds out that the democratic capitalist environment offers the smallscale enterprises the best opportunity to thrive and identifies several business opportunities open to them during political and regime transition periods in sub-sahara africa. the paper recommends that the small-scale enterprise should mix business with politics in order to exploit these business opportunities open to it in its area of operation during political transition periods in the region. keywords: small-scale enterprise; environment; ideology; political transition, regime transition; role perception; role expectation. introduction most countries in sub-sahara africa became independent from colonial rule in the 1960s. due to the inability of the civilians to rule well, and or, agree to adhere to peaceful means of transiting from one civil regime to the other, the military often intervene in the political administration of most of the countries in the region, the cases of mali and guinea-bissau being the most recent. some of the countries within the subregion have passed through several military regimes and several protracted transitions to civil rule and through civil wars that devastated their nations before finally transiting to civil democracies. within the transition periods, lots of business opportunities exist for the small-scale enterprises to exploit in order to contribute to the political and economic development of the region because the success or failure of any mailto:aakwara@yahoo.com 101 | p a g e business and its environments: business opportunities open to small-scale enterprises during political transition periods in sub-sahara africa. akwara, azalahu francis; akwara, ngozi francis; udaw, joseph; odekina, felicia business unit largely depends on its political environment. the political environment of a country shapes and influences investment patterns in the country. politically stable countries are in better positions to have stable economies and to attract foreign investments faster than politically unstable nations. and the political environment of the country has an impact on the global economy. when in 1976, the military administration of general olusegun obasanjo promulgated the indigenisation decree that led to the nationalisation of foreign businesses in nigeria, foreign investors saw nigeria as an unsafe area for investment. this affected the economic development of the country. furthermore, the prices of export commodities as oil, copper, gold, coffee, and exchange rates for local currencies oscillate with global political events because businesses are influenced by their political environments. in nigeria prior to the 1993 general elections, there were rumours of “uncle abiola’s” rice, zinc, milk, etc. and this led to a downward trend of prices of commodities in the country then. the naira appreciated against the dollar and other major currencies then. but with the annulments of the june 12, 1993 election results in nigeria, market prices changed overnight. these show that the political environment in a country determines the level of economic activities in the country and internationally. therefore, the performance of any business unit is a function of the political environments under which the business enterprises operates. statement of the problem various sizes of business units exist in the country, and they are categorised as either small, medium, or large scale businesses. they all operate under the same environments and are faced with almost the same opportunities, problems and prospects depending on the industry the firms or enterprises find themselves. it, therefore, becomes very pertinent to investigate or examine what constitutes a small-scale business enterprise; the nature of the environments under which it operates; and what business opportunities are open to the small-scale business enterprises in sub-sahara africa especially during political transition periods; and what the enterprises should do to exploit these business opportunities in the various countries within the sub-region. what is a small scale business enterprise? a small-scale business enterprise is a privately owned and operated business with a small capital base and relatively small number of employees. there are as many definitions of smallscale business enterprise as there are writers on business organisations. in the west african subregion, there is no generally agreed upon definition of what constitutes a small-scale enterprise. in nigeria for instance, the central bank of nigeria (1988) defines it as an enterprise having an annual turn-over not 102 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com exceeding n500,000, and the federal government of nigeria in its 1990 budget defined it in a similar tone for the purpose of granting of loans to business enterprises; and the merchant banks in nigeria saw it in terms of capital base those enterprises with capital investment not exceeding two million naira (n2,000,000) excluding cost of land or enterprises with a capital base not exceeding five million naira (n5,000,000); and the national economic reconstruction fund (nerfund) in nigeria sees it as one whose capital base does not exceed ten million naira (10,000,000). these definitions focus more on the capital base of an organization to categorise it as small-scale; medium scale or large scale organisation. some other definition of a small scale enterprise would look at the staff strength of the organisation as not being above fifty (50). within the countries of sub-sahara africa, there is no generally agreed upon definition of small-scale enterprise. a small-scale enterprise is generally seen in terms of the definition given above a privately owned and operated business enterprise with a small capital base and relatively small number of employees. however, the actions of the ghanian government against nigerian smallscale entrepreneurs in ghana between 2007 and 2012 seem to have added another dimension to the definition. to the ghanaians, a small scale enterprise is “a privately owned business operated by the nationals of a country, whose capital base and number of employees is relatively small. this view was adopted as the ghanian government has banned aliens in that country especially nigerians from engaging in a business venture whose capital base is less than $600,000. to understand what the small-scale enterprise is, we must take into consideration certain facts that make the definition problematic: whatever definition of a small-scale enterprise we take, if it fails to take into consideration those sets of businessmen and women whose businesses are unregistered as required by the laws of the country; if it fails to take into consideration those men and women whose incomes are unquantifiable like the vulcaniser at the street corner; or the groundnut seller at the campus gate; or hawkers of goods along our major highways, such definition is incomplete. there are still some other sets of africans whose annual net incomes or profits from their businesses are below the taxable income as stipulated by the tax law of their countries. such persons are in business but what sizes of businesses do they operate? there are still those in business whose capital and annual net profits are below their country’s gross national product (gnp) for each year, how do we categorise their businesses? there is also the need to know if small scale businesses need to be quoted in any of their nations’ stock exchanges for trading purposes or not. these make the definition of small scale 103 | p a g e business and its environments: business opportunities open to small-scale enterprises during political transition periods in sub-sahara africa. akwara, azalahu francis; akwara, ngozi francis; udaw, joseph; odekina, felicia enterprise problematic. for the purpose of this paper, a business qualifies as a small scale enterprise if it meets the following conditions: 1) the firm is independently owned and managed. 2) its geographical area of operation is unlimited; 3) its working capital is relatively small (may be below the nation’s gross national product for any particular year) 4) it is either registered or unregistered under the laws of their countries of operation 5) its stocks are not quoted for trading in any of the nation’s stock exchanges; 6) and its annual profit may or may not be within the taxable income level as stipulated by the tax policy for the year. any definition that fails to take these factors into consideration is faulty. governmental bodies and agencies may have their definitions and qualifications of a small scale enterprise for the smooth running of the polity and the economy. we can, therefore, see a small-scale business as a privately owned and operated business characterised by small capital base and a small number of employees and low turnover. what is an environment? an environment has been defined by mussleman and hughes (1970) as the total of all external factors that influence an individual or a community. our environment is composed of our surroundings, issues and events that affect us. these issues, events and surroundings, are always changing. every business entity operates within four distinct environments, and these are the physical; the social; the economic; and the legal/political environments (mussleman and hughes,1970). the physical environment is composed of the natural resources that are popularly referred to as land in economics. it consists of all god given resources available in a country that could be utilized in the production of goods and services. the economic environment is similar to the four fundamental questions that guide the production of goods and services in the country what goods are to be produced; in what a quantity are they to be produced; for whom are they to be produced; and how are they to be produced. the essence of these questions is for the optimal utilisation of available scarce resources in the country as the resources have alternative uses. the economic environment, therefore, is the sum total of the economic system in operation in the country. the social environment is composed of the attitudes and feelings of the individuals in the society towards business. it deals with the social needs and demands of the people on the business units in terms of their wellbeing. it further embraces what keith davis (1977) has referred to as 104 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com “role perception” and “role expectation”. while role expectation involves a pattern of action expected of a person or a group (including business units) in activities involving others; role perception refers to how an individual or group (including business units) thinks, it is supposed to act in a given situation when interacting with others. the political/legal environment involves the rules and regulations within which the business unit is supposed to conduct its affairs. the laws that regulate business conduct and the behaviour of people in any given society; the political and economic philosophies of the nation and the operation of the various regimes in the country. these go a long way to determine and influence the conduct of business activities. this particular environment determines the pattern of investment in the country by the citizens and aliens alike. when a polity is stable, and its laws have international acceptability, and are conducive to foreign investments, business activities are bound to flourish in such a country. the interaction between the business units and these environments enumerated above shape and determine the growth and profitability of any business venture on the one hand and the growth and development of the society on the other hand. the political environment conditions all the other environments. we can only conserve the physical environment but cannot increase it. the enabling laws on which the business units must operate are dependent on the political system of the country the political ideologies and philosophies that guide the country. ideology here means the guiding principles for the conduct of political and economic lives in a country. many scholars have written on the concept ideology”. (cohen,1982; easton,1965; benewick et. al.1973; miliband,1974; christenson et. al. 1972; and rodeeet. al. 1983) christenson et al. (1972) see it as a systematic pattern of political thought that provides a cognitive structure for individual and collective action and judgement in a society. and rodee et al (1983) see it as logically related ideas that identify the principles that lend legitimacy to political institutions and behaviour. these guiding principles not only regulate political actions and behaviour but also regulate economic activities. these principles are set by the members of the society as legitimate rules for the acquisition, disposal and inheritance of property in the society. since political and economic activities are interwoven in any given society, political actions are often explained through economic relations, and the economy is better understood only when the superstructures (laws) of the state are understood. the ideologies are further classified as either of the” left”, “center”, or, of the “right”. the terms left; center and right originated in france in the 17th century as political concepts when at the meetings of the estate-general, the nobility took their seats at the right hand 105 | p a g e business and its environments: business opportunities open to small-scale enterprises during political transition periods in sub-sahara africa. akwara, azalahu francis; akwara, ngozi francis; udaw, joseph; odekina, felicia side of the king and the third-estate took their seats on the left hand side of the king. this seating arrangement later progressed into the french assembly where the deputies sat in a semi-circular starting from the most radical deputy sitting, then the egalitarian on the left; to the most reactionary and aristocratic on the extreme right. thus we have ‘right wing” and “left wing” ideologies. in between, the left and the right is the center. the “right wings” are those who want change but in the backward direction, to the previous state of affairs (status-quo ante) may be because they are gradually losing their power and economic positions in the society. they are also called the reactionaries. and the “left wings” are those who want change to a new state of affairs, and they are known as the progressives while those of the center are in support of the status-quo or present state of affairs may be because they are being favoured by the present state of affairs, or are afraid of losing their privileges and positions in the event of any change in the status-quo. they are called conservatives. these ideologies of left, right and center have their economic interpretations too. in the 19th century, the dominance of capitalism as a mode of production and its support by the wealthy groups in the society who had much to gain by maintaining it became associated with the “right wing”. the existing order had to be preserved by the capitalists either by being in alliance with the rulers or by controlling the machinery of government. its supporters were the reactionary and conservative ideologies and capitalists. the “left wing” are those who espouse radical departure from existing order to an entirely new order. they espouse socialist ideals of state intervention in the economic life of the society through the public ownership and control of the means of production and distribution of goods and services in the interest of all rather than a few. the public ownership would further facilitate a fair distribution of the wealth of the society and all persons would have equal opportunity of making the most of their special abilities. the socialist society thus established from the views of karl marx would develop progressively to a communist state. the various ideologies, their characteristics and political environments provided to the business enterprise are as shown on table i: 106 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com table 1: political ideologies and their corresponding environments to the business enterprises in a polity. characteristics of business entity democratic capitalism socialism communism ownership of means of production there is private ownership of production resources which is protected by law there is public ownership of basic industries and some elements of private ownership of smaller production facilities virtually all agricultural and industrial production facilities are owned by the state. degree of central control products and pricing goals are established by private producers and consumers in a competitive market through demand and supply forces products and pricing goals are established by the government and personal freedom exists to any occupation production and consumption within this governmental framework products and pricing goals are established by the government as well as the resource proportions for production, distribution and consumption of goods and services pervasiveness of managerial decision making private managerial initiatives are supported by government to promote private enterprises managers of firms must obey the central control plans in making business decisions managers are selected by the state through political party, are highly bureaucratised and decisions are imposed through state administrative hierarchy occupational choices individuals are free to choose and bargain for jobs, factors of production and business locations individuals may own small enterprises and resources under the state controlled economy state owns all business enterprises and is the only employer incentives incentives are monetary and social in the forms of profits, prestige and self-control each contributes to the economy according to his ability and receives according to his needs there are nationalistic appeals through peer pressure to conformity; public recognition; threats of punishments for nonconformity to rules and work standards source: musselman and hughes (1977) p.42 from the table 1. above, it is clear that the most conducive political environment for business activities is democratic capitalism (free-market democracy) because it allows and grants the individuals the right to own property. every private enterprise is built on the idea of private property; that is, on a 107 | p a g e business and its environments: business opportunities open to small-scale enterprises during political transition periods in sub-sahara africa. akwara, azalahu francis; akwara, ngozi francis; udaw, joseph; odekina, felicia system under which individuals are free to supply their own capital and operate their own businesses be they smallscale, medium-scale or large-scale enterprises. it also allows private enterprises to be profit oriented. that is; earning profit is a necessary condition for the survival of any business enterprise as the absence of profit would imply business failure. democratic capitalism gives the individual the opportunity to compete with others in the economic sphere, with competition being seen as “the practise of trying to get something that is being sought by others under similar circumstances at the same time” (musselman and hughes,1977). finally, democratic capitalism allows the individual the freedom of choice and contract. an individual under the system decides whether to be an entrepreneur or an employee in another business. this freedom of choice is the hallmark of all free market democracies because all other things depend on it. the individual also has the right to exchange goods and services on terms that are acceptable to him and is protected by law. the economic and political freedoms, civil liberties and rights are so interwoven that capitalism is equal to and identical with democracy. democratic development and the small scale enterprise a host of scholars have written on the democratic theory (downs,1957; popper, 1950; christenson et.al. 1972; leeds, 1978; appadorai, 1975; cassinelli, 1961; schumpeter, 1950; lipset 1960; 1983; ollawa, 1983). a society is democratic if it upholds the political equality of all persons in the society; if it guarantees limited government involvement in the lives of the people; if it guarantees free enterprise, check on the abuse of power by those in authority through the separation of power and the rule of law; and if it guarantees the adoption of civilised methods in the struggle for state power and peaceful succession of national leaders. as popper (1963) observed, “democracy is not emphatically a rule of the people because it is the government that rules. but the rule of law that postulates the bloodless election and dismissal of the government or a political office holder by a majority vote. if the majority has mistakenly elected a dictatorship into power, democracy also implies that the people should have the ability to remove such government through the same process as it had installed it into power” this does not involve what rodee (1983) has called “dictated plebiscite” an election procedure employed by undemocratic regimes to coerce the electorate into expressing approval of a measure or candidate considered necessary by a regime. from downs’ (1957) point of view, a political system is democratic if it is “characterised by periodic elections, adult vote and suffrage, one-man-onevote, parties contesting elections, majority government, and rationally behaving political structures and 108 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com institutions” a nation that grants its citizens political liberties is democratic. political liberty in this context would involve equal rights of all normal adults to vote and to stand as candidates for election; equal eligibility for executive and judicial offices provided the essential qualifications for the performance of these duties are met; freedom of speech, publication and association (appadorai, 1983). in a pluralist society, democracy would further imply that no one ethnic group should be strong enough as to dominate the political process of the country. this can be done through separation of powers and check and balances; local self-government; wide distribution of resources among the citizens; a distinction between the duties and roles of the government, individuals and groups in the society. democracy would also involve the recognition of the rights of the minorities; organised opposition by the minorities to make government by dialogue possible; and the cultivation of the spirit of tolerance. it would also involve the operation of an open society for free communication of information and ideas by the people; a society where people are free to enter and leave the country without undue restrictions; and freedom to emigrate if possible. the political processes of the sub-sahara nations would be democratic if the democratic values enumerated above are prevalent and upheld by the governments of the countries. the democratization process in the subsahara africa should not only involve the institutionalization of rationally behaving political structures and processes conducive to the establishment of a democratic polity, but also a reform of the economy, giving it a free-market orientation that is characteristic of a true democracy. the economy can be given a free-market orientation by revisiting the privatisation and commercialization of government owned parastatals that were improperly done as the nations are yet to feel the impact of the exercises. political transition implies moving from one ideological orientation to the other, especially from the socialist and communist ideologies to a democratic ideology. and the transition is consolidated when a democratic regime transits from one government to another peacefully over a long period of time (regime transition). because each ideological orientation has its own characteristics, opportunities, privileges and business environments, a russian businessman anis mukhametshin (1995) during the democratisation process in russia said “little by little, the authorities are starting to realise that it is us the entrepreneurs who are going to help russia most” political transition and the smallscale enterprise during each transition period in the region, leaders of the political groups are busy working out strategies that would enable them meet the guidelines for the 109 | p a g e business and its environments: business opportunities open to small-scale enterprises during political transition periods in sub-sahara africa. akwara, azalahu francis; akwara, ngozi francis; udaw, joseph; odekina, felicia formation and registration of political parties. because of the stringent conditions attached to the formation and registration of political parties, and ethnoreligious diversities of the countries, it becomes imperative that the services of business enterprises would be required for the parties to be successful. in 1986, general ibrahim babangida released a transition to civil rule agenda for nigeria under which thirteen political associations applied for registration as political parties. the political associations were refused registration and were accused of ‘factionalism; falsification of claims; disregard to the registration guidelines; and frivolous spending” by general babangida’s military regime. in 1989, a new guideline that allowed four weeks to the political associations to register with the national electoral commission of nigeria (necon) stipulated new conditionalities for the associations to register as political parties. the conditionalities included: registration fee of n500,000 per party as opposed to the initial fee of n50,000 in 1986; a membership strength of 480,000 as opposed to 40,000 in 1986; and 15,000 members in the federal capital territory of abuja. in the new guideline, each political association was to furnish necon with the names, addresses and photographs of their members at all levels of governance to facilitate verification. and in the new guidelines, the amount of donation from an individual to the political association was limited to n100,000 whereas, in 1986, there was no limit to amounts to be donated. furthermore, the political associations were barred from receiving external grants from whatever sources for political purposes or any other activity relating to the association. the political associations were also barred from having youths and women’s wings, the use of thugs and para-military outfits. civil servants, traditional rulers and members of the armed forces were also barred from participating in politics. above all, political associations seeking registration as political parties must show evidence of national outlook having members across all ethnic nationalities in the country. with the stipulation on membership, it became obvious that only men and women in business can become members of the new political parties. and for the amount required for the registration, only businessmen and women can afford to contribute the amount within so short a period. this paved the way for politics to become a big business in nigeria. the conditionalities for transition to civil rule did not go down well with the citizens as the government and the electoral body came under heavy criticism from the public. the measures people said were too stringent for implementation, and that the time limit for registration was too short for prospective political associations to comply with the guidelines. this 110 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com argument notwithstanding, any serious political association that wished to beat the deadline would have sought for the services of small-scale business enterprises, but none did. the thirteen political associations that applied for registration failed to meet the guidelines and were disqualified and accused of factionalism, falsification of claims, disregard to the registration guidelines and frivolous spending. the military administration of general ibrahim babangida, therefore, formed and funded two political parties for the nation the national republican convention (nrc) and the social democratic party (sdp) for anyone that wanted to go into partisan politics to join either of the parties. business opportunities open to the small-scale enterprises in the political transition periods there is a great deal of business opportunities for the small-scale enterprises in the following areas: consultancy, lobbying, catering, freelancing and public relations; production and supplies of party consumables, and transportation. consultancy services in: 1. organization and management of party offices 2. membership drive 3. fund-raising 4. organization and management of political campaign 5. organization and management of political congresses 6. supply of office staff lobbying outfits 1. lobbying for party mergers 2. lobbying for compromises in candidates’ nomination 3. lobbying for reconciliation of factions within the party 4. lobbying for negotiations within and outside the party agents of party machines catering services 1. catering services during party meetings 2. catering services during party campaigns 3. catering services during party congresses 4. catering services during elections for party agents free lancing and public relations 1. speech writing 2. script writing (news analysis, situation reports, etc.) 3. propaganda and shadow debates 4. photographs for members 5. photo journalism 6. posters and stickers production 7. bill-boards and outdoor advertising 8. advert placement on print and electronic media 9. video coverage of campaigns and elections 10. biographies of members and candidates 11. image making for candidates public opinion research production and supplies of party consumables 1. party emblems 111 | p a g e business and its environments: business opportunities open to small-scale enterprises during political transition periods in sub-sahara africa. akwara, azalahu francis; akwara, ngozi francis; udaw, joseph; odekina, felicia 2. letter heads, envelopes and stationery 3. supply of office equipment 4. servicing of equipments (including vehicles and office equipment) 5. production of almanacs 6. production of party identity cards 7. production of posters and handbills 8. production of gift items. (party vests, blazers, caps, bags, calendars, pens, pencils and exercise books bearing party emblems/candidate’s photographs for distribution to pupils and students in schools). 9. automobiles and motor-bikes supplies and maintenance 10. sign writings on party property this in effect means that the small-scale enterprises have a lot to do before and during each transition period. the management consultancy firms and public relations firms for instance could help the parties in the membership drive. by combining the scalar principle and the functional principles in management to penetrate all nooks and corners of the society recruiting members for the parties. they also could get involved in opinion poll, forecasting and opinion analysis. the gathering and analysis of scientific data are essential in virtually all elections no matter their accuracies or inaccuracies. this helps the politicians to know what the people want and how the people feel about a candidate, party, or issue. (lemann,1980; bonafede, 1981) the small-scale enterprises can help the parties raise the necessary funds for their operations. they could do this by direct solicitation from targeted members of the public who due to their business interests would wish to remain anonymous or politically neutral. they could also sell party membership cards, items with party emblems; organise fund raising campaigns in favour of honest candidates that lack the financial base to engage actively in politics. they could also raise funds for the parties through the organisation of musical shows, football matches, dinners, etc. the small-scale enterprises could get involved in campaign management for parties and candidates. this phenomenon has become the most interesting aspect of national politics in europe and america. the old method of candidate selection by an “inner caucus” of the party or the party machine has been done away with, and candidates are now groomed for various political offices by professional campaign managers and consultants. this phenomenon is known as “the new politics”. politics is no longer ‘just a business”, but a big business in terms of the amount of money being spent on it by prospective candidates and interest groups. with politics turning into a big business, electioneering campaign outfits have dominated the advertising 112 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com and marketing industries. have you ever wondered why there are many privately owned newspapers, weekly magazines, radio and television houses across the region today? politics and money. professional political campaign managers are image makers for the politicians and political parties. during the 1983 general elections in nigeria, a particular campaign sticker produced for the late dr. sam mbakwe of the then imo state was reputed to have sold more than five million pieces in the state. the sticker simply read “mbakwe makes things happen”. mixing business with politics most of the business opportunities enumerated in this paper cannot be available to the small scale enterprises unless their owners are prepared to participate actively in politics. if the business unit as an entity cannot, their operators can. contracts for these jobs are only given out to faithful party members and sympathisers. where the business units are prepared to be partisan, they could: 1. form business pressure groups 2. form political parties 3. make financial and material contributions to parties and candidates where the law permits. 4. sponsor political discussion programmes on the radio and television for various parties and candidates campaign against any candidate of dubious character irrespective of his or her party affiliation. benefits of mixing business with politics through the patronage system, businessmen get appointments into key government positions where they are expected to use their vast knowledge in business in solving some of the administrative problems of the government. this alternation between political career and business career leads to stability and continuity in government and administration. businessmen that are active in partisan politics get contracts from the parties when the parties get into power. owners and managers of enterprises would benefit by applying their political experiences to business transactions and use their political experiences in practical business of the organisation. political considerations are essential in helping the managers or supervisors keep on top of situations in their enterprises and control conflicts for constructive purposes. politics within an enterprise implies maintaining a balance of power, saving face, horse trading, fence mending and making maneuvers in dynamic situations. organisational politics kept under the control of the manager will help him accomplish the organisational goals. if he lacks sufficient power, he will not be able to take effective decisions. even union officials with 113 | p a g e business and its environments: business opportunities open to small-scale enterprises during political transition periods in sub-sahara africa. akwara, azalahu francis; akwara, ngozi francis; udaw, joseph; odekina, felicia good knowledge of organisational politics would be able to get their ways. politics exists in the business enterprise and the managers and workers need to be aware of the political aspects of their environments. summary and conclusion as noted earlier, free market economy with its enabling democratic political practices is the only political environment that allows for free competition among the people. the competition takes place for the purpose of power and prestige among participants, security, economic growth and gains. the competition is not aimless but purposeful because the individuals and their businesses would want to shape the environment and circumstances that affect their lives and well-being. though the political parties are the major contestants for state power, without the business units aiding them one way or the other, the struggles and contests may be without positive results. as appadorai (1977) rightly observed, social inequalities as economic resources and natural endowments affect the extent to which individuals exercise their political rights in almost all democratic nations. this has necessitated the involvement of smallscale enterprises in national politics to help bridge the social inequalities. since conflict, competition, compromise and cooperation are inevitable orders of social life, and wealth, skills, and individual capabilities are unevenly distributed within any human population making conflicts and competition fiercer, the fortunes of both individuals and groups must oscillate with variations in the political arena (appadorai, 1977). the small scale business enterprises have great opportunities open to them through the political process. they only need to legitimately explore these opportunities during and after transitions, but these have to be done within the ambit of the law. references appadorai, a (1972) substance of politics. madras: oxford university press benewick, r. et. al. (1973) knowledge and belief in politics: the problem of ideology. london: george allen and unwin. cbn (1988) monetary policy circular no.22. lagos: central bank of nigeria cassinelli, c. w. (1961) the politics of freedom: an analysis of the modern democratic state. seatle: university of washington press chrietenson r. et. al. (1972) ideology in modern politics. nairobi: thomas nelson and sons. cohen, p. (1965) four system. new york: random house. caamc, (1990) section 37(b)(2) of corporate affairs and allied matters commission decree 1990. dahl, r (1963) modern political analysis. engle-wood cliffs: prentice-hall davis, keith. (1972) human behaviour at work: organisational 114 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com behaviour. new delhi: tata mcgraw hill donafede, d. (1981) “a pollstar to the president: wirthlin is where the action is” national journal, 13, (50), 284-288 downs, a. (1957) economic theory of democracy. new york: happer and row easton, d. (1965) a systems analysis of political life. new york: john wiley frn, (1990) 1990 budget of the federal republic of nigeria lemann, n. (1980) “industry” in richard harwood (ed) the pursuit of the presidency. new york: washington post berkley books. leeds, c. a. (1978) political studies. eastover: mcdonalds and evans lipset s. (1960) political man. new york: double day lipset s. (1963) the first new nations. new york: basic books milliband, r. (1974) the state in capitalist society. new yok: basic books. musselman, v. a. and eugene hughes (1977) introduction to modern business: issues and environment. engle-wood cliffs: prentice-hall ollawa, p. e. (1979) participatory democracy in zambia: the political economy of national development. devon; ilfracomb popper, k. (1983) “the open society and its enemies revisited” the economist. april 12-22 rodee, carlton et al. (1983) introduction to political science. auckland: mcgraw-hill schumpeter, j. a. (1950) capitalism, socialism and democracy. new york: harper and row 62 | p a g e national development and the gender gap in nigeria, lessons from the malaysian experience by amaka theresa oriaku emordi, phd email emordiamaka@gmail.com , phone +234 0803 573 7410 abstract at independence from britain in 1957, the malaysian economy was predominantly mining and agriculturally based. the government started a transition towards a more multi-sector economy with the formation of the malaysian 1st-8th development plans from 1963. the development plans encouraged improved women’s education, employment, and engagement in politics amongst others. compared to nigeria where there is no special place for women in nigerian’s development plans. consequently, adult literacy rate for women in malaysia rose from 74% in 1990 to 83 in 2000. by occupation, women are spread across all spheres of life endeavours. women represent 41% of all manufacturing employees, 40% of all finance, insurance, real estate and business services, 39% of wholesale and retail trade, hotel and restaurant employees. this paper used qualitative research design to interrogate the development plans of nigeria and malaysia and applied modernization theory of development to explain modernization processes of nigeria and malaysia since independence. in malaysia, women in political parties were included in the higher level public decision-making bodies against nigeria where women are relegated to women’s wing. the work explained that politically, in malaysia, the participation of women in politics was advanced because the government engaged women as view women veritable partners in development compare to nigeria where the percentage of women in politics is infinitesimal compared to that of men. the paper argues that the sluggish development experienced by nigerian compared to malaysia is due to gender gap and near exclusion of women in nigerian’s development plans. the active involvement of women in all facets of governance and development has been seen as a veritable tool for political development and nation-building. keyword national, development nigeria gender lessons introduction development theory is a conglomeration or collection of theories about how desirable change in society is best achieved. such theories draw on a variety of social science disciplines and approaches. depending on which theory that is being looked at, there are different explanations for the process of development and their inequalities. development theories can be regarded as a set of ostensibly logical propositions, which aim to explain how development has occurred in the past and/or how it should occur in mailto:emordiamaka@gmail.com 63 | p a g e the future, this explanation has been used both develop and developing countries of the world to explain development. development theories can either be normative, that is, they can aim to explain how development has occurred in the past and can generalize about what should happen or be the case in the ideal world or positive in the sense of dealing with what has generally been in the past. (hettne 1995) macmuarry (1955) argues that a theory can be a body of knowledge or collective vision. thomas (2007) theorized how to develop this body of knowledge and in (2008) explained that development economics is a branch of economics which deals with economic aspects of the development process in low-income countries. stressing that its focus is not only on methods of promoting economic development, economic growth, and structural change but also on improving the potential for the mass of the population and engenders economic growth, for example, through health, education and workplace conditions and through the public or private channel (khun 2008). cairncross (1961) pointed out that development economics involves the creation of theories and methods that aid in the determination of policies and practices and can be implemented at either the domestic or international level (cairncross 1961). this may involve restructuring market incentives by using mathematical methods such as inter-temporal optimization for project analysis, or it may involve a mixture of quantitative and qualitative methods. there are however, other views to development aside from the economic perspective that can explain different development agendas which will reflect different goals and objectives, social, economic, political, cultural, ethical, moral and even religious. influences of development. brundtland (1997) for instance defined development that can endure from generation to generation as sustainable development. by sustainability of development, they refer to that kind of development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the need for the future generation to meet their own needs. they argue that needs change, so it is unlikely that those of the future generation will be the same as those of the present generation. this further implies that development itself contributes to needs and thereby helping to define the needs and development direction differently for each generation and for different cultures. (brundtland 1997). development also have strategies which hettne (2005) defined as the practical paths to development which may be pursued by international agencies or states in both developing and developed worlds, non-governmental organizations and communitybased organizations or individuals, in an effort to stimulate change . arguing, that development strategy is an effort to change existing economic and social structures and institutions in order to find enduring solutions to the problems facing decision makers since development strategy implies an actor normally the state. 64 | p a g e scientists such as david apter (1986), on the political system and history of democracy; seymour lipset (1959), maintained that economic development leads to social changes which tend to lead to democracy. they explained development using modernization theory. modernization theory analysed development as the processes in which modernization in societies take place. the theory looks at which aspects of countries are beneficial and which constitute obstacles to economic development. the idea is that development assistance targeted at those particular aspects can lead to the modernization of 'traditional' or 'backward' societies. modernization theory observes traditions and pre-existing institutions of so-called "primitive" societies as obstacles to modern economic growth. modernization which is forced from outside upon a society might induce violent and radical change. however, while modernization theory explained modernization as a process of transforming from traditional to modernism, structuralism theorists like rostow (1960) viewed development from the structural aspects which impede the economic growth of developing countries. for structuralism, the unit of analysis is the transformation of a country’s economy from, mainly, subsistence agriculture to a modern, urbanized manufacturing and service economy. to them, policy prescriptions resulting from structuralist thinking would include major government intervention in the economy to fuel the industrial sector, known as import substitution industrialization (isi). rostow (1960) supports the structuralism argument and maintained that development of the developing country can be enhanced through isi import substitution industrialization. arguing that structural transformation of the developing country is pursued in order to create an economy which in the end enjoys self-sustaining growth. this can only be reached by ending the reliance of the underdeveloped country on exports of primary goods (agricultural and mining products) and pursuing inward-oriented development by shielding the domestic economy from that of the developed economies. stressing that trade with advanced economies is should be minimized through the erection of all kinds of trade barriers and an overvaluation of the domestic exchange rate; in this way, the production of domestic substitutes of formerly imported industrial products is encouraged. the logic of the strategy rests on the infant industry argument, which states that young industries initially do not have the economies of scale and experience to be able to compete with foreign competitors and thus need to be protected until they are able to compete in the free market. proponents of basic needs have argued that elimination of absolute poverty is a good way to make the people active in society so that they can provide labour more easily and act as consumers and savers. the structuralists argue that the only way third world countries can develop is through action by the state. third world countries have to push industrialization and have to reduce their dependency on trade with the first world, and trade among themselves. 65 | p a g e on the other hand, dependency theory which is essentially a follow up of structuralism thinking, shares many of structuralism core ideas. the point of divergence between the structuralists and the dependency theorist is that structuralists did not consider that development would be possible at all unless a strategy of delinking and rigorous isi was pursued; dependency thinking could allow development with external links with the developed parts of the globe. dependency thinking starts from the notion that resources flow from the ‘periphery’ of poor and underdeveloped states to a ‘core’ of wealthy countries, which leads to accumulation of wealth in the rich states at the expense of the poor states. contrary to modernization theory, dependency theory states that not all society’s progress through similar stages of development. to them, periphery states have unique features, structures and institutions of their own and are considered weaker with regards to the world market economy, while the developed nations have never been in this colonized position in the past. dependency theorists argue that underdeveloped countries remain economically vulnerable unless they reduce their connections to the world market. dependency theory states that poor nations provide natural resources and cheap labour for developed nations without which the developed nations could not have the standard of living which they enjoy. when underdeveloped countries try to remove the core's influence, the developed countries hinder their attempts to keep control. this means that poverty of developing nations is not the result of the disintegration of these countries in the world system but because of the way in which they are integrated into this system. the basic needs model was introduced by the international labour organization in 1976, mainly in reaction to prevalent modernizationand structuralism-inspired development approaches, which were not achieving satisfactory results in terms of poverty alleviation and combating inequality in developing countries. it tried to define an absolute minimum of resources necessary for long-term physical well-being. the poverty line which follows from this is the amount of income needed to satisfy those basic needs. the approach has been applied in the sphere of development assistance, to determine what a society needs for subsistence, and for poor population groups to rise above the poverty line. again, rostow on the linear stages of growth model accentuated that there are stages of growth model which is a well-known example of the linear stages of growth model today. in it, rostow explained five stages through which developing countries had to pass to reach an advanced economy status: (1) traditional society, (2) preconditions for takeoff, (3) take-off, (4) drive to maturity, (5) age of high mass consumption. he argued that economic development could be led by certain strong sectors; this is in contrast to marxism which states that sectors should develop equally. according to rostow’s model, a country needed to follow some rules of development to reach the take-off stage, to progress through the stages and to maintain the age of high consumption stage. 66 | p a g e this paper explained the developmental stages of nigeria from her independence and compared them with malaysian developmental stages. the paper examined the developmental strategies employed by both countries in their quest to move from traditional to modernised societies, from infant industries to manufacturing and servicesoriented industries and underscored the lessons nigeria could learn from the industrial growth place of malaysia today in the global world. development plan: the nigerian experience development plan in nigeria can be classified into three eras. the first development plan 1966-1968 implementation extended to 1969-70 due to the nigerian civil war. one major employment promotion scheme in the first national development plan was the establishment of the national manpower (nmb) in 1962 first national development plan. the first national development plan 1966-68 aimed at and required cooperation between public and private sectors, and as expected between federal and regional governments. it also aimed at a high level or rate of development expected to supersede the colonial plan before it. obiekeze and obi (2004), reported that the plan which was expected to last for six years had a proposed total investment expenditure of about n2, 132 million. however, the subsequent crisis culminating in the thirty-month nigerian civil war 19671970 punctured the implementation of this. osifo-whiskey 1997 in okigbo argued that: in the 1st national development plan that each region's programs are like the others. apart from the nigerian civil war (1966-1967) aborted 1st national development plan nigeria had other developmental plan these include the second national plan (1970-74) can be referred to as “oil-boom development plan” because it coincided with the period that nigeria made high earnings from the sale of crude oil and allied products having emerged from a devastating civil war and with lessons to learn (ujo in ugwu 2009). third (1975-80) national development plan also fell within the ‘oil-boom’ years, and in that era was seen as the largest and the most ambitious ever launched (compared to the ones that preceded it. the plan aimed to achieve objectives such as to increase per capita income; even distribution of income; reduction in the level of unemployment; increasing the supply of high-level manpower, diversification of the economy; balanced development and indigenization of economic activities. the initial total expenditure for this plan was put at n30 billion over five years. (osifo whiskey 1987) the fourth national development according to ijaiya and usman (2000). the fourth national development plan (1981-85) like the ones before it reaffirmed the long-term national objectives of the preceding plan corroborated that this “was also launched simply to consolidate the third national development plans and with much more commitment to petroleum resources”. the industrial policy objectives of this plan were; promotion of export-oriented industries. 67 | p a g e the plan according to an annual review of population law (1984) calls for the establishment of a benchmark for population censuses through the activities of a newly established national population commission. the plan seeks a decline in the fertility rate through the voluntary use of family planning services and an increase in formal education. during the plan period, the question of liberalizing the abortion law will be under consideration; the delivery of health care will be improved to strengthen the downward trend in child, infant, and maternal mortality and morbidity rates; efforts to prevent illegal immigration will be intensified; and the government will attempt to encourage trained and skilled personnel to remain in the country. to combat over urbanization, the government will also pursue a policy of integrated urban and rural development. the enhancement of local value-added through the development of small-scale industries, local sourcing of inputs; improving the efficiency of government-owned enterprises and acquisition of technical skills and development worth noting here is the integrated development initiatives: structural adjustment programme which obikeze and obi (2004) attempted to articulate their discourse on structural adjustment programme sap under the caption of “fifth national development plan”; onah (2006) submitted with finality that “the idea of a fifth national development plan, mooted in late 1980 never materialized”. the launch of the purported plan was postponed twice in a row in 1987 and 1988. instead of the plan were series of integrated development initiatives which okoli and ona (2002) referred to as rural development strategies such as agricultural development scheme, national accelerated food production programme (nafpp); and directorate for food, road and rural infrastructure (dfrri). again the nigerian rolling plans 1990-1999 and vision 2020 were also some of the national development initiatives of nigeria in her quest for development. in this, nigeria resorted to the use of (ad-hoc) short-term instruments for economic management and as daggash (2008) asserted, the era of rolling plans (1990-1999) which he derisively tagged an era of the rolling stones that gathered no moss”. daggash (2008) added that in a bid “to have a long-term national vision on which development could be anchored, a bold attempt was made in 1996 to articulate a national vision document, the nigeria vision 2010. this development effort had the vision of transforming the nigerian nation by 2010 into “a united, industrious, caring and god fearing democratic society, committed to making the basic needs of life affordable for everyone and creating africa’s leading economy (ugwu 2009) the national economic empowerment and development strategy (needs) offered nigeria an opportunity to experiment with medium-term economic development plan from 2004 to 2007. onah (2006:46) posited that needs focused on wealth creation, employment generation, poverty reduction and re-orientating values. these goals, he corroborated can be realized “by creating an environment in which business can thrive and the government 68 | p a g e is redirected to providing basic services and people are empowered to take advantage of the opportunities which the plan will usher in. in all of these programs, the government failed to integrate the role of women and smes as active partners in development as is done in malaysia. this can be adduced to be the undoing of the government in realizing the principles and ideas inherent in all the failed national development plans in nigeria. malaysian development plans malaysia, formerly known as malaya, is regarded as one of the most successful examples of a multi-racial society. chinese had migrated to malaya when portuguese captured malaya in the sixteenth century. during the british colonial period, malaysia witnessed a huge number of chinese and indian immigrants flocking into the country. nature and living condition in the china mainland and india had respectively become the pushing factor for them to leave the countries. malaysian’s political stability and prosperity were seen as the pulling factor for their immigrants to seek for better prospects in malaya. as such, the immigrants played an important role in influencing the changing lifestyle of the early inhabitants in malaysia. malaysia was an agricultural based economy mainly producing rubber and tin. the indigenous people including the malays mostly lived in the rural areas and predominantly engaged in the agricultural sector. thus, the natural segregation of the main ethnic groups based on geographical areas was clearly painted. the chinese who mostly engaged in business activities had a relatively higher standard of living compared to the malays and the indians. after the 1957 independence, the country witnessed a disproportionate pattern of wealth distribution. the chinese held a big chunk of the wealth compared to the other two main ethnic groups in the country. poverty was largely prevalent among the malays since the malays occupied the rural area while the indians are in the estates, and whereas the chinese were concentrated in urban locations of the country. this situation reflected the differences in the incidence of poverty by race, particularly in peninsular malaysia. in all of these, women were highly marginal in all spheres of life endeavour and also poor uneducated the role of entrepreneurship in economic development and poverty reduction especially in developing countries nations has been asserted in the literature. this is galbraith (2008) argued that the economy of developing nations can be improved through entrepreneurship development. he, however, added that economic development is multidimensional; not only dependent on the traditional economic model of factor inputs but issues such as culture, gender, type of enterprises etc need be considered. (cunha 2007). considering the situation and economic disparity in malay then the government decided to embark on national development agenda for the nation. the 1st national development plan was tagged new economic policy (nep). basically, the nep plays a vital role in the history of both economy and politics in malaysia today. during the period of nep, malaysia had substantially reduced its poverty level and led to the growth of malay‘s middle and business classes. apart from 69 | p a g e successfully achieving its objectives, the nep did come up with various consequences which proved to be influential to the wellbeing of the country and people. the new economic policy of malaysia (nep) the nep was formulated and implemented in 1970 for the duration of 20 years. the main initiator of nep was tun abdul razak, malaysia’s second prime minister and was later taken further by the third and fourth prime ministers, tun hussein onn and dr mahathir mohammed. the nep was implemented to attain two-pronged objectives. the first was to eradicate poverty in the country irrespective of race and gender. according to the nep, the bumiputra population was to be given 30% share in the modern sector of the economy in order to enhance their participation in the industrial sector and at the same time to raise their living standards. furthermore, the nep required the state to intervene in the economy for resources allocation and to control the business enterprises so that the objectives of the nep could be achieved and to assist the bumiputra in the areas. these are instances of the government initiatives to preserve the special privileges for the natives. eventually, the government was to encourage the malaysians and the indigenous people to participate in the economy so that their living standard could be raised. this indirectly opened up more opportunities for other races especially the chinese to accumulate wealth (mohamad, 1970). the nep encouraged the development of manufacturing industries which like a vicious circle empowered women to venture in smes. the influx of women into the workforce has been seen as one of the dominant global social trends during the past thirty years (noor rhanmah 2012), (desjardin 2009). this is also seen in malaysia’s development since political independence in 1957 and has emphasized steady economic growth, diversification of the economy, reduction of unemployment and improvement in income and wealth distribution (jamilah 1994). the implementation of new economic policy (nep), during the second malaysian development plan from 1971 -75 continued until 1990 and induced rapid economic development in the last three decades (1970-2000). the major structural shift has been from the primary to the secondary sector especially in the manufacturing activities. malaysian efforts in industrialization started with import substitution in the late 1950s and then switched to export-orientation in the late 1960s (jamilah, 1994). the emphasis was on the development of resource-based and labourintensive industries in which malaysia had a comparative advantage. the labourintensive industries were mainly textiles, garments, electronics, electrical products, and food processing. in all of these, the government encouraged the active involvement of women in all areas of the new development plan. socio-economic factors, as mentioned, have, among others, contributed to this shift since the 1970s. it all began when malaysia decided to transform from an agricultural to an industrial nation. foreign direct investment and the setup of manufacturing and electronic 70 | p a g e industries have further increased employment opportunities for women. the malaysian culture has also been seen to shifted somewhat, accepting the participation of women in employment, to improve the economic status and quality of life of family units although they are also expected to play an equally important role as a wife, mother and family manager at home. in addition to socio-economic factors, political and legal factors have contributed to the increasing women’s participation in the malaysian workforce. the government has always been supportive in developing the female workforce through its educational, economic and human resource policies to support the economic growth agenda. with higher educational attainments, women competed with the males in technical and nontechnical disciplines, covering all job scopes such as engineering, medicine, teaching, management, etc. the employment act 1955, in fact, has been revised to include special provisions for employers to comply, to consider the welfare of women in employment. for example, women at work may now apply for maternity leave at 28 weeks of pregnancy. women have also been given a legal right to enjoy 60 days of paid maternity leave and a further 90 daas at first april 2012 further provisions were included in sexual harassment matters to protect the dignity to protect the dignity of women at work. the government has even set up the ministry of women, family and community development to explicitly show the commitment and recognition of women’s significant role in the malaysian society, apart from addressing specific issues peculiar to women as a human right. while these developments may be seen to be a strength as well as opportunity to sustain continued economic growth in malaysia and they also helped to earn respect for women and women’s rights in an employment context. according to ahmad (1998) before the 1970’s, most women in malaysia, especially the malaysian muslims were homemakers. it was a cultural norm, particularly in the eastern society for women to stay at home and manage the family while husbands played the roles of breadwinners. women’s role at home was seen to be noble, raising and nurturing children to be good citizens. on several occasions, qualified women may have to sacrifice their careers for a better family life to reduce stress while trying to balance family life with work life. some have personally declined promotion opportunities or in the worst scenario, they quit their jobs and find other options such as starting a homebased business which allows them to look after their children while performing work commitments as their own bosses. with the proliferation of manufacturing industries and smes many women entered into smes and as bosses of their own business at least they do not have to face the challenges of being questioned by employers now and then when they have problems at home while managing children etc. malaysian economy and women with the support of the government, quite a number of malaysian women became involved in the economy. by 2013, the world bank reports that 44 percent of women are part of formal labour force while men have a formal labour force participation rate of 56 71 | p a g e percent in malaysia. for nearly three decades the rate for women has stagnated between 44 and 47 percent. in order to change this, the mwfcd has funded over 32 projects with over 87 million usd in an effort to help women overcome the barriers that they face in the formal labour market. however, the government is not the only stakeholder interested in empowering malaysian women. there are many other contributors to this movement, such as grassroots organizations, international ngos, and various private sector organizations. ys of extended unpaid leave to manage a new-born baby. politically female representation has not increased as quickly as the other sectors mentioned; the percentage of female senators rose from 18.2 in 1990 to 25.8% in 2014. female state legislature representation has increased from 3.4% in 1990 to 11.5% in 2014. 2012, only 15% of women own their own businesses (mwfcd, 2014). however, there is potential for growth in this area, as the malaysian government has begun to streamline the ease of doing business to benefit women in malaysia. in fact, malaysia ranks 18th in the 2015 ease of doing business report produced by the world bank. streamlining business measures will facilitate women starting businesses once other barriers are overcome. while educational opportunities have expanded and health care has improved. politically, and by the law, malaysia has a dual justice system. all malaysian citizens are subject to federal law while muslims are additional subject to sharia law. both of these entities have a significant influence on gender and different sets of rights that are affordable to man and women. the federal government is actively attempting to implement mechanisms that empower women and protect their human rights. in part, the government understands that by empowering women and enabling them to be active participants in the formal labour force, they will benefit and the country’s overall economy and spur economic growth. in 1995, the malaysian constitution amended article 8(2) to bar gender-based discrimination. other laws have also been created to grant women paid maternity leave and ensure fairness when facing divorce and inheritance issues malaysia ratified cedaw in 1995, with several reservations of articles that were in conflict with the provisions of sharia law and participation of women in the malaysian labour force, (mwfcd/undp, 2014). after attending the beijing platform for action the same year, the malaysian governments sought to not only eradicate gender-based discrimination but to also enact laws that protect women. there were also laws that directly opened space for women to join the labour force. however, in terms of political representation, the number of women in parliament remains low at 10% since there was no quota in place to the advantaged of women in politics. (roushdy 2015). 72 | p a g e conclusion today, malaysia is fast emerging as one of the worlds' most preferred business destinations. malaysia attracts over 20 million tourists yearly to its economy, unlike nigeria due to the experience of the military dictatorship which has derailed the country’s momentum towards greater progress and prosperity. nigeria like malaysia hopes that by 2020 both countries would be able to achieve the goals of vision 2020. that shows the importance malaysia pays great attention to education and human resources development and training. consequently, malaysia spends lion share of the budget in educating the people. malaysia makes a lot of investment in human resources. the other thing is that they have been able to build necessary infrastructure which would help to propel the economy, unlike nigeria where the industries are suffering because of bad roads, poor supply of electricity, inadequate potable water and other infrastructure that drive development. malaysia also encourages the growth of the smes through incentives and training this nigeria is yet to realize and pursue. malaysia has long recognized smes are the engine of growth. there is so much that the government can do before the multinational can come to the country to invest. nigeria need to empower private sector, and in the case of malaysia, 99% of establishments belong to the smes and there are many agencies providing assistance to smes in the areas incentives and training with the intention that if the smes prosper it then means so much in terms of export for the country, employment of youths as well as helping the country register higher growth rate. in malaysia, the smes are doing a lot in bridging the linkages between industries including the multinationals. they are actually very important and you cannot hope to have economic prosperity and stability without paying attention to smes. many smes are owned by women especially women who find it difficult to manage paid employment and the family responsibilities. smes empower the private sector and, in the case malaysia, 99% of private establishment belongs to the smes and malaysia has agencies providing assistance to smes in terms of incentives and training. malaysia, believe that if the smes prosper, then it means so much export for the country, employment of youths as well as helping the country register higher growth rate. smes serve as the linkages between the industries including the multinationals and the government. another unique thing about malaysia is that it never compromised on good quality products. when it comes to producing quality products, what is vision and inspiration that drives nigeria culture of quality in nigerian’s economy? when malaysia got independence in 1957 they realized that with a population of about 7million they knew that they do not have a big domestic market, so they need to sell abroad and to do that your product must have quality, knowing that once people know that your product is of good quality they will not mind to pay more for your goods, but if your goods don does not have quality they think your products are bad and as such, they would not patronize them. in this stretch, it makes 73 | p a g e sense to do a lot to improve your product’s quality. this means that you will continue to improve and do a lot of innovation on your products. in nigeria prices of a hotel accommodation and other products that promote economic growth are very high when compared to what is obtainable in malaysia. malaysia, like nigeria, is blessed are blessed with a lot of resources, but malaysia, unlike nigeria. nigeria needs to keep the prices of goods and services low bearing in mind that they are competing with singapore, china, and india which also produce very good quality products at very low prices. for instance, in nigeria, five-star hotels cost well over two hundred dollars but in malaysia, you do not have to stay in a five-star hotel which cost a hundred dollars to get good services because of there so many three or four-star hotels that can provide very good services. malaysia does not want have customers once but again and again, whether to visit the country, to stay, to get medical attention .that way the country’s gdp continued to grow. however, for nigeria to consolidate these economic gains and move higher in the frontlines of growth and development, it must deepen reforms that improve human capital, promote high-quality public infrastructure and encourage competition (sanusi, 2010). the pillars to sustain this consolidation must include a firm fiscal policy, transparent fiscal operations, development-oriented monetary and exchange rate policies, strengthening of the financial sector and strict adherence to the rule-of-law and respect for the sanctity of contract, as well as commitment to fighting corruption and corrupt practices. in all of these, nigeria has the opportunity for progress. we must break away from the past to deliver a new nigeria that the future generations of nigerians would be proud of. our electoral process must not only be credible but must be seen to be credible, since robust economic performance necessarily requires a robust political environment to happen. lessons from all nigerian’s national development plans the performance indicators/indices revealed negative growth in major sectors of the economy in 1985. the strategies that were ushered in grossly affected sourcing of loans and doing business with financial institutions, the manufacturing, and other sectors could not survive, as the economy was wobbling, unemployment and poverty rates increased as a result of this policy option. it can, therefore, be persuasively argued that the nigerian governing elite started the march towards economic regression from the period as a result of fiscal and financial indiscipline. again in 1970-74 plan periods in nigeria was expected to fully participate in the private sector which witnessed the enactment in 1972 of the nigerian enterprises promotion decree and meant to encourage certain companies and increase nigerian participation from 40% to 60% ownership. 74 | p a g e lessons for nigeria from the malaysia experience also include the fact nigeria and malaysia share common historical antecedents, gained their independence from british rule yet malaysia is industrialized and nigeria is yet to be, therefore, nigeria need to borrow industrialization strategies from malaysia. the federal system of government is the bicameral legislature and the regions are inhabited by different racial and ethnic nationalities although, nigeria has changed from bicameral to the presidential system. both economies were relatively rich in resource. at independence, malaysia in 1957 and nigeria in 1960 was leading exporters of primary products because basically the climate in the countries is tropical. a comparison of malaysia and nigeria’s growth record shows divergence in growth rates and different structural changes to the economy. strategies implored by the government include industrialization and active engagement of women in nation building. nigeria needs to adopt development plan that is womenfriendly and close the gender gap for nigeria to be developed and build resilience. more women need to come on board in nigerian’s quest to build economically rotund and politically viral nation as malaysia. malaysia, on average has grown at a faster rate than nigeria. in contrast to malaysia’s post-independent experience, political instability was more pronounced in nigeria. the military has ruled for 25 out of its 50 years as an independent nation, while in malaysia there was, relatively, political stability and continuity. the two countries have adopted almost the same ideology in their developmental efforts, while malaysia plans and moves vigorously towards the attainment of its vision of becoming an advanced economy in 2020. nigeria in its vision 2020 wishes to become one of the 20 most industrialized economies by the year 2020, not much yet has been seen in this direction. 75 | p a g e references aminah ahmad( 1998) women in malaysia , country briefing paper apter, david e. (1973). political change. frank cass & company. cairncross, a. k. (1961). "the stages of economic growth". the economic history review. cunha, m. p. (2007). entrepreneurship as decision-making: rational, intuitive and improvisational approaches. journal of enterprising culture. daggash, m. s. (2008) “why nigeria needs a national development master plan”. vanguard (october 14) . dennis conway and nikolas heynen (2008) the he companion to development studies holder education part of hactte livre uk desjardins j. (2009 )an introduction to business ethics 3rd ed. ) singapore, mcgraw hill higher education galbraith, c. s. (2008). editorial: economic development and entrepreneurship research. international journal of entrepreneurship and small business. harriot in vandana desai and brundtland (2008) the companion to development studies holder education part of hactte livre uk hettne 2005---in vandana desai and robert b potter (2008) the companion to development studies holder education part of hactte livre uk ijaiya g.t and usman (2000) , a.l (2000) development in disarray : an overview of the nigerian experience in usman , a.l and ijaiya g.t (eds) selected essays on the contradictions of economic development theories in nigeria . ilori: haytee press and publishing company ltd jjamilah 1994 jamilah ariffin (1994), readings on women and development in malaysia 1994 by siti rohani yahya mph publishing kuala lumpur malaysia readings on women and development in malaysia, khun, ale ourdevelopment inform educate action : critical review of modernization theory. the division of labor in society 1893 durkheim.uchicago.edu. lipset, seymour martin (march 1959). some special requisites of democracy: economic development and political legitimacy america can political science review marisa gracia etal --------nathan associates inc. a capstone project in partial fulfillment mcmurray, foster (july 1955). preface to an autonomous discipline of education . educational theory. mohamad (1970) idris, a. m. m. & mahmood, r. (2003). bank managers' perceptions of the characteristics of successful entrepreneurs. retrieved august 25, 2009, from malaysian management review: http://www.google.com noor rhanmah( 2012 )hj. abu bakar . malaysian women in management, journal of society and space 8 issues 4 http://www.google.com/ 76 | p a g e obikeze and obi 2004 public administration in nigeria: a development approach. onitsha bookpoint ltd onah f.o 2006 managing public programmes and projects. nsukka great ap express publishers ltd osifo whisky o 1987 economic planning /management: top speed in the slow lane news watch october 5 page 32-35 required for the degree of master’s of international development studies from the george washington university. thomas, gary (2007). education and theory: strangers in paradigms. maidenhead: open univ. press. ujo and ugwu 2009 the imperative of national development programmes harmonization in nigeria vision 2020, millenium goals and seven point agenda in nigerian journal of public and local government united nations fund for population activities; international advisory committee on population and law; united nations population fund; harvard law school library. nlm title abbreviation: annu rev popul law williams, david. condorcet and modernity (cambridge university press. 2004)w.w. rostow the stages of economic growth: a non-communist manifesto cambridge university press 75 | p a g e the place of women in the fourth industrial revolution and the post covid-19 pandemic in nigeria by amaka theresa oriaku emordi lecturer, department of political science, obafemic awolowo university, ile-ife, nigeria email: amakaemordi@gmail.com abstract the united nations' celebration of the international women's day in 1975 was an occasion to stand together to advance gender equality around the world. this equality is yet to be evident in stem and technological applications than any other area. women are more analog than their male counterparts. most of the new technological equipment such as phones, remote control, laptops, and other technological appliances women use are managed by their digital children and their male relatives. today, technology has advanced from quantum physicists to artificial intelligence yet women are still grappling to understand the use of basic personal technological equipment. the increase in the number of women academics over the past 60 years has increased these gender differences in the used tech but much is yet to be achieved for women to be relevant in the technological ecosystem of the fourth industrial revolution. the dawn of this new dispensation of the fourth industrial revolution is presenting technology as a tool for solving human problems amidst unpredictable socio-economic and political quagmires of our new world. from a frustrated youth who set himself ablaze thereby igniting the arab springs of 2011, to the ousting of an incumbent president to install an opposition president in 2019 nigerian elections, to the black life matters revolutions in the usa precipitated by the murder of george floyd amongst others. all these point to the new realities of the fourth industrial revolution as new mode of production for goods, services, war or peace in the hands of the youths. applying the ecosystem theory, and online quantitative research design, this paper seeks to answer the following questions: what is the place of women in the fourth industrial revolution? to what extent can women be crucial in the use of technology as a tool for peace? how can women's technological know-how in the fourth industrial revolution bridge the gender gap? to sustain and increase their presence in this new mode of production as the invasion of the covid-19 pandemic has proven to be an eye-opener for all, women must either latch in this emerging era and be mainstreamed or widen the gender gap by being lethargic to technology. keywords: industrial revolution, post-covid, nigeria mailto:amakaemordi@gmail.com 76 | p a g e introduction mainstreaming a gender perspective is the process of assessing the implications for women and men of any planned action, including legislation, policies or programs, in all areas and at all levels. the essence of mainstreaming gender is to ensure that men and women benefit in all political, economic and social spheres and that gender equality is achieved and sustained especially in stem and that inequality is not perpetuated. in recent times, technology has become a powerful tool for peace and war. technology today is used as a political tool for peace and war, exposing sensitive political and governmental information to the benefit of the public (www.acquia.com). traditionally, women have been found to play an important role in the prevention and resolution of conflicts and in peace-building (nwolise 2014). paradoxically, women are very marginal in stem than any other sphere of life. the un has made efforts for the maintenance and promotion of peace and security, and the need to increase the role of women in decision-making with regard to conflict prevention and resolution (peacewomen.org/scr-1325). the big question then is; since women have continued to lag behind in science and technology how is this very tall ambition of the un going to be realized in a world that is technologically driven? the covid-19 pandemic has opened the eyes of the world especially nigeria that technology and perhaps artificial intelligence is the way to go for the production of goods and services, peace, and war. the aftermath of this evolving change in the mode of production of goods and services is that social positions would change again as in other previous industrial revolutions. in this industrial revolution those who do not own the means of production (technology and technological know-how) would become modern slaves and serfs of those who own property and means of production of goods and services hence the bourgeoisie would always in every history dominate the nagging and irritant proletariat. the covid-19 invasion of the world has further changed the world and proved that technology is as a means of production is inevitable. our world has and we are also changed but if the change is not balanced, if the change is skewed towards the men then it may be counterproductive. as albert, (2014) maintained that every society is like an aircraft having two wings, “male and female wings”. any society that fails to include women in development processes can be said to be flying on one wing (male wing) and such a society could easily crash (albert 2014). confirming this assertion emordi, (2018) conceded that the world without women will be like the hobbesian state of nature while planning development and managing situations like insecurity without women could mean effort in futility. http://www.acquia.com/ 77 | p a g e in line with the above argument biodiversity as we understand it is the processes of disturbance and succession and that the ecosystems provide a variety of goods and services upon which people depend. for the circle of the ecosystem to be complete there is a need for the biotic and abiotic components to synthesize to produce a healthy environment and to improve the quality of both biotic and abiotic components involved (chapin, stuart, pamela, matson, peter & vitousek (2011) the exclusion of any of the two components would lead to environmental degradation and negative climatic conditions that would spell disaster to humans and the environment. in political science, david easton system the theory sees the political system as the interaction of all the elements involved in policymaking. in it, he believes that any defect in any of the elements involved in the political system will affect the holistic function of the political system (hauss 2006) consequently, there is need for components of a system to be actively involved in the maintenance of the system, be it in the ecosystem or the political system or transition from one mode of production to another. the negation of any of the elements’ or components of the system will alter the comprehensive and healthy function of the whole. this is because the elements in a cyclic manner impact each other and together through nutrient cycles and energy maintain and sustain the system. therefore, negating women as important elements in stem in nigeria and elsewhere in the emerging fourth industrial revolution will not benefit the county in her quest to succeed in the use of technology as the next mode of production. industrialization has changed man and have impacted the environment positively and negatively but the vital and very crucial role of women in the fourth industrial revolution cannot be over-emphasized and neglected. consequently, this survey research on the place of women in the fourth industrial revolution interrogated the extent women can be crucial in the use of technology as a tool for peace in the new mode of production. how women's technological know-how in the fourth industrial revolution would bridge the gender gap, and what can be done to sustain and increase the presence of women in science and technology that is evolving like a specter around the world as the new mode of production. women must either latch in this emerging era and be mainstreamed or widen the gender gap by being lethargic to technology. the paper is, however, divided into sessions which starts with understanding the concept of the industrial revolution, data analysis where quantitative data was analyzed using inferential and descriptive statistics, then the revelation which buttresses the findings of the data was followed by the summary and recommendation for the way forward. understanding concept of industrial revolution there are three industrial revolutions that transformed our modern society. each of these three advancements signified a change in the mode of production. the first industrial https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/disturbance_(ecology) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ecological_succession https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ecosystem_services https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ecosystem_services 78 | p a g e revolution from 1760 to sometime between 1820 and 1840, now also known as the first industrial revolution, was the transition to new manufacturing processes in europe and the united states. the revolution caused the growth of industries, such as coal, iron, railroads, and textiles. the second industrial revolution the 1870s witnessed the expansion of electricity, petroleum, and steel (david, 1969)). the third industrial revolution, the cyber revolution 1950s-2019 brought us to the fourth industrial revolution. the revolution fundamentally changed our world and thereby changing our ecosystem. each change that occurred had to do with new products simply replacing old ones and a shift in the mode of production (horn, jeff; rosenband, leonard; smith & merritt 2010). consequently, the industrial revolution which began in england in the second half of the eighteenth century spread in due course to belgium, france, and other parts of western europe (appadorai, 2004). in the economic sphere, the revolution substituted machine production for hand production. the small –scale production of goods in private homes was supplanted by mass production in factories. with the new mode of production women had their loved oneschildren and husbands; migrate from farm to factories, from country to city, from agriculture to industry while women kept the homes. following this philosophers such as hegel and rousseau stressed that the natural and spontaneous division of labor within the family also naturally paved the way for the social position of men and women in society (bryson, 2003). marx on the other hand, stressed that the changes in the mode of production and the industrial revolution birthed capitalism which divided the society into two hostile camps the protectorate and the bourgeoisie. to him, the proletariat grew larger and larger with their miseries and pauperization attenuated while the bourgeoisie becomes numerically smaller, prosperous, and well-off with wages pushed lower and lower. unfortunately, women who were neither the bourgeoisie nor the proletariats in that industrial epoch kept the home while men worked either as bourgeoisie or the proletariat. this resonated in women been some kind of cartel for men where he regarded his wife and children as his property and slaves. the man had power over them and could do with their labor as he chooses. women were rather properties of either the bourgeoisies (men) or proletariats (men) as wives (heir breeders) or slaves. the home position women occupied made them lose out in the changing mode of production and the subsequent industrial revolutions. the two social classes, the bourgeoisie, and the proletariat being owners of the mode of production one way or the other. the proletariats having women in their homes wives, breeders of their heirs, and maintainers of the proletariat private property. on the other hand, the bourgeoisie owns boththeir wives, children, and the proletariat. the class difference between the bourgeoisie and proletariats was sharply differentiated in function 79 | p a g e and interest. appadorai (2004) explained that the industrial revolution destroyed forever, the preponderance weight of the agricultural classes in the community, and brought into being a new middle class who generally and year by year become more insistent in their demand for political recognition (appadorai 2004). again, the second industrial revolution in 1870 the century which was the age of science and mass production. with it, things started to speed up and a number of key inventions were recorded. owners of means of production now richer started thinking of gasoline engines, airplanes, chemical fertilizer,s and inventions that helped them go faster and do more. scientific principles were brought right into the factories. most notably, the assembly line effectively powered mass production. by the early part of the 20th century, henry ford’s company was mass-producing the groundbreaking ford model t, a car with a gasoline engine built on an assembly line in his factories. people follow the jobs, and in the early 1900s large number of workers left their rural homes behind to move to urban areas to work in factories. by 1900, 40% of the people in the rural areas especially in the us lived in cities, compared to just 6% in 1800. cities were getting more and more urbanized. inventions such as electric lighting, the radio, and telephones transformed the way people lived and communicated and this ushered in the modern worldthe third industrial revolution. the third industrial revolution beginning in the 1950s fundamentally changed with the discovery of electricity and mass production ushering in the digital industrial revolution. with the third industrial the revolution came the magical internet which replaced the steam engines and the ford mainframe computers with some kind of miniature mobile and handy devices that lets you access both the cloud (soft) and the( earth hard copies)that was the wonders of the digital internet cloud. the third industrial revolution brought semiconductors, mainframe, and personal computers. things that used to be analog moved to digital technologies, like an old television you used to tune in with an antenna (analog) being replaced by an internet-connected tablet that lets you stream movies (digital). the move from analog electronic and mechanical devices to pervasive digital technology dramatically disrupted industries, especially global communications and energy. electronics and information technology, internet commerce, and trade eclipse the cloud. the third industrial revolution provided access to gargantuan information explosion and knowledge consumption thereby exacerbating good and bad information consumption especially in the hand of the youth. each of these (first -third industrial revolutions) represented profound change with the major societal transformation of the way people lived and work and communicated. the discovery in the third industrial revolution advanced profoundly and has equally launched us into the fourth industrial revolution. at the moment, many of the 80 | p a g e technologies people dreamed of in the 1950s and 60s have become a reality in the emerging fourth of the industrial revolution and we are going to be more changed as the fourth industrial revolution completely emerged. with it, we may have flying cars as we already have robots. full-blown genetic sequencing and editing, artificial intelligence, miniaturized sensors, and 3d revolutions (printing, to name a few (trailhead.salesforce.com 2020). what then will be the fate of women who are still grappling with the mastering the use of basic personal technological equipment? philosophical perspective of women marginalization in industrial revolutions for rousseau men and women differed in virtues. while a man’s virtue was his rational capacity, a woman‘s virtue was her sexuality which meant chastity, gentleness, and obedience. since the functions of men and women differed, their education would also have to be different (rousseau) disagreeing with rousseau, wollstonecraft argued that the fulfillment of maturity and the eventual emancipation of women would come only when women are treated as persons and not merely as sexual beings. contending that women like men were endowed with reason enabling them to make rational decisions and were entitled to natural rights. she stretches further that men and women should be given equal education. analyzing the origin of the family, private property and state and drawing heavily on the work of the 19th-century anthropologist lewis morgan, engels traced the supposed evolution and subordination of women in the family and society from the earliest savage society to the present day (mukherjee, & sheila 2011). according to him, primitive societies differed from modern society in that relations between the sexes were based on equality. then he argued that there was a sexual division of labor whereby women were responsible for domestic work and men for agriculture and animal husbandry and there was the practice of paring family (which was not the same as strict monogamy) from the account of engel in the primitive society this did not involve subordination; the women reigned supreme in the home and decent was calculated through the female line.) engels called this motherrights). the egalitarian situation was, however, changed by the development of new sources of wealth in the male sphere of activity through the domestication of animals and the breeding of herbs. as some men gained property and power over others, their position within the family was strengthened, and they wanted to pass their property to their children. to do this they have to overthrow the traditional order of inheritance and ensure strict monogamy on the part of each woman, who became the mere oppression of her husband, the means of producing an heir. in eagles’ vivid phrase, the overthrow of the 81 | p a g e mother right was the world’s historical defeat of the female sex (mukherjee, & sheila 2011). consequently, the man took command in the home, the woman was degraded and reduced to servitude, and she became the slave of his lust and a mere instrument for the production of children. this account of engels can be inferred that the subordination of women coincided with the first private property and class society, for it was then that women lost control in the home and became economically dependent upon men; it also means that female oppression has no other material cause-it is a part of class society, but not necessarily a permanent feature of human relationships. therefore, the abolition of private property will mean an end to sex oppression. for men will no longer have any motive to exploit women; the supremacy the man in marriage is a simple consequence of his economic supremacy and with the abolition of the later, it disappears of itself engels in bryson (2003) argued that good equality in the society could not be achieved by will but only at a particular state of historical and economic development. following the account of engels women marginal representation in societies started from the transition from agrarian to the acquisition of private property and animal husbandry through the overthrow of mother-right. from the first phase of change of production to the industrial revolution up to the third, women have remained stocked in the family and are hardly represented in governance, science and technology. mill (1806-1873) argued that women were marginalized because women acquiesced themselves to the situation and also police their own marginalization by fighting women who try to live outside the gender norm. for example, the widows’ right are performed and executed by women. invectives are usually hurled on women by women who live outside of expected cultural and patriarchal norms for women. consequently, the united nations' celebration of international women's day in 1975 was an occasion to stand together to advance gender equality around the world but this equality is yet to be evident in stem and technological applications than any other area. according to mayanja (2020), this year marks ten years the united nations security council resolution 1325 which anchored mainly on the mainstreaming of women in peace and conflict issues yet women are still marginalized in that sector at the dawn of the fourth industrial revolution when previously unimaginable technological productions is staring at the world. it has presented itself to substitute the third industrial revolution of internet and electricity (mayanja 2020). do women stand a chance of being mainstreamed in this new era? what is the place of women in the fourth industrial revolution? to what extent can women be crucial in the use of technology as a tool for peace? how can women's technological know-how in the fourth industrial revolution bridge the gender gap? 82 | p a g e data analysis quantitative data from an online survey for this paper were analyzed using inferential and descriptive statistics are hereby revealed below. starting table1.1: with an array of questions aimed at showing the place of women in the fourth industrial revolution. this is followed by two other tables according to the research questions for this paper. table1.1: the place of women in the fourth industrial revolution statement ag sa da sd u d su m women still trying to understand the use of basic personal technologies such as laptops and phones 30.3% 13.2% 10.1% 43.3 % 3.1 % 10 0 do women have equal representation in sciences and technology 32% 29.3% 12.3% 17.2 % 9.2 % 10 0 who helps women solve their technological equipment problems-sons, husbands , male relatives , sons 30.3% male relativ es 32.4% daugh ters 18% wom en 12% 7.3 % 10 0 do you think women have distractions? multiple task 50% husba nds 20% marria ge, 14% inter est 10% 6% 10 0 total source: online survey by amaka t.o. emordi 2020 are women still trying to understand the use of basic personal technologies such as laptops and phones? 30.3% of the respondents strongly agreed that many women are still trying to understand the use of basic personal technologies such as laptops and phones while 32.4% agreed to make it a total of 62.7% of the respondents that are in agreement that women are still are trying to understand the use of basic personal technologies such as laptops and phones. 18% strongly disagreed while 12% agreed while1 7.2 was undecided on the issue. however, the result showed that more of the respondents 62.7% were of the opinion that women are can conveniently use their basic technological equipment at the dawn of the fourth industrial revolution. again to the question do women have equal representation in sciences and technology? 32% agreed while 29.3% strongly agreed. 12.3% disagreed as 17.2% disagreed. while 9.2% were undecided. the report revealed that 29.5 % disagreed while 61.3% are in agreement. to unveil who helps women solve their technological equipment problems -sons, male relatives daughters or women? the respondents 30.3% said that the women are helped by their sons while 32.4% stressed that women’s male relatives help women help women 83 | p a g e in solving their technical problems but 18% confirmed that it was the female children (daughters) while 12% maintained that women fix their minor technological problems by themselves. 7.3% were undecided on who helps on who help women solve their problems. to discover if women have things that distracts women from science and technology 50% of the respondents agreed that women are distracted by multiple tasks and 20% believed that women are distracted by their husbands. on the other hands, 14% of the respondents argue that women are distracted by marriage while 10% argue that women are not interested in science and technology while 6% were undecided about what distracts women. table 1.2: women be crucial in the use of technology as a tool for peace? statement ag sa ds sd ud sum the fourth industrial revolution present technology as a tool for peace and war? 47.1% 21.2% 20.1% 6.5% 5.1% 100 women stand a chance of bridging the gender gap using technology 35% 29% 15% 13% 8% 100 it is very crucial for women to advance in technology to be mainstreamed in the fourth ir. 44.2% 26% 10.6% 13% 6.2% 100 technology can be a veritable tool in solving unpredictable social political and gender problems 35.2% 30.3% 10.3% 14.2% 10% 100 technologically poor women will be left behind in the wheel of progress in the ir 38.3% 32.1% 15.5% 9.1% 5% 100 source: online survey by amaka t.o. emordi 2020. how crucial are women in the use of technology as too for peace and war? responding to this question 47.1% agreed that women will be useful in using technology as a tool for peace than war. 21.2% strongly supported this statement. on the contrary, 20.1% disagreed while 6.5% strongly disagreed while 5.1 were undecided. therefore 68.3 % were of the opinion that women could be useful in the use of technology as an instrument of peace. the result showed that 68.3% maintained that women will be very useful using technology as an instrument for peace in the fourth industrial revolution. 84 | p a g e to uncover if women stand a chance of bridging the gender gap using technology? the respondents 35% agreed and 29% strongly supported the statement while 15% strongly disagreed and 13% disagreed while 8% were undecided. their responses revealed that 64% were of the opinion that women could bridge the gender gap using technology or widen it without efforts to latch in on the emerging fourth industrial revolution. if women as revealed in the findings are competent in the use of their personal technological equip they can be explored and improved upon. to discover how crucial it is for women to advance in technology so as to be mainstreamed in the fourth ir. 44.2% of the respondents responded by agreeing that it is very crucial for women to be mainstreamed in the fourth industrial revolution. 26% strongly support the statement while 10.6% disagreed and 13% strongly disagreed while 6.2 were undecided. however, the total of 70.2 that affirmatively in the fact that women mainstreaming in the fourth industrial revolution is very crucial. in using technology as a veritable tool in solving unpredictable social political and gender problems 35.2% agreed while 30.3% strongly agreed 10.3% disagreed while 14.2% strongly disagreed while 10% was undecided on the statement. the respondents 65.5% agreed that technology will a veritable tool in the fourth industrial revolution and it will be better used by women to bridge the gender gap. to uncover the fate of technologically poor women in the fourth industrial revolution: the findings revealed that technologically poor women will be left behind in the wheel of progress in the ir as 38.3% agreed while 32.1% strongly agreed to make it a total of 70.4% of them confirmed the statement. while 15.5% disagreed and 9.1% strongly disagreed. 5% of the respondents were not able to decide but were undecided. table. 1.3: how women’s technological know-how in the fourth industrial revolution bridge the gender gap? statement ag sa da sd ud sum women will play a positive role in gendering peace in our society using technology 38 % 25.6% 13.7% 12.4% 10.3 100 the emerging technology of the fourth ir will further marginalize women? 25.5% 18.6% 35.2% 10.3% 10.4 100 women marginalization in science and technology is due to women’s lack of interest? 21.4% 16.2% 38.3% 12.1% 12% 100 85 | p a g e women’s poor representation in science and technology is because of their nature? 20.1% 19.1% 40% 12.8% 8% 100 women’s inability to embrace technology in the new era will widen the gender gap 29.8% 32.2% 20.8% 12.1% 5.1 100 source: online survey by amaka t.o. emordi 2020. to discover if women will play a positive role in gendering peace in our society using technology? to this question, 38 % were in agreement and 25.6% strongly supported the statement. however, 13.7% disagreed while 12.4% strongly disagreed that women will play a positive role in gendering peace in our society using technology while 10.3 was undecided. the statement showed 64.6% of the respondents agreeing that women playing a positive role to engender peace in the fourth industrial revolution. the emerging technology of the fourth ir will further marginalize women? respondents 25.5% of them agreed that the emerging technology of the fourth ir will further marginalize women and widen the gender gap and 18.6% strongly agreed to the assertion. 35.2% disagreed and 10.1% of the respondents strongly disagreed while 12% was undecided. this infers that 44% conceded that the gender gap could be widened in the fourth industrial revolution if women do not embrace technology 45.2% however, disagreed. women marginalization in science and technology is due to women’s interest? in answering this question the respondents 21.4% agreed and 16.2 strongly agreed. 38.3% disagreed. 12.1 strongly disagreed and 12% was undecided. 37.6% argued that women marginal present in science and technology is because women lack interest while 50.4% disagreed, arguing that women marginal presence in science and technology is not because women lack interest. while 12.1% strongly disagreed while 5.1% was undecided on why women are not duly represented in science and technology. women’s poor representation in science and technology is because of their nature? 20.1% agreed and 19.1 strongly agreed 40% disagreed 12.8% strongly disagreed and 8% was undecided. this revealed that women little presence in science and technology is not naturally determined but environmentally determined since 52.8% of the respondents disputed the statement that nature is the reason women are marginal in science and technology. the reason for women’s poor representation in technology is due to women’s inability to embrace technology in the new era will widen the gender gap 29.8% agreed and was supported by 32.2% this made it a total of 62% of the respondents stressing that women 86 | p a g e need to embrace technology in the fourth industrial revolution or be further marginalized.20.8% disagreed as 12.1% strongly disagreed and 5.1% was undecided. the revelation the result of the survey based on 62.7% of the respondents is that women can conveniently use their personal basic their basic technological equipment though theoretically and could have equal representation in sciences and technology but they are not able to solve their technological problems by themselves.61.3% believe that women still depend on their male relatives (sons or husbands) to solve their technological minor issues. women were discovered to be distracted by a lot of factors which in reality affect both imputes and outputs of women in science and technology. women are engaged in multiple tasks such as marriage, husbands, and children but there is also the women factor which is a lack of interest. many of these factors are germane and therefore hinder women from benefiting in science and technology. although a few women have made inroads in stem, lisa (2003) argued that the reason women are marginal in politics and stem by extension is not the historical context and economic imperative of women participation in politics. no, according to her the reason is women’s lack. women lack skills, drive, charisma, and political savvy all of which are symbolized by having a penis. as women lack this important piece of political equipment, being male seems to be a key criterion for growing up to occupy an important social position in the society such as becoming the president in the usa. consequently using this as a political strategy, the state as a neutral referee approach and recommends women changing to become more like normative political actors, presumptively masculine. women are required women to accept androcentric political priorities and standards to become like men (lisa 2003). in our contemporary time, most women who go beyond the glass ceiling are either not married or are divorced and often times without children. if they remain married and with children, they must fight thrice as hard as the men worked to combine all of that to make headway. sarah (2005) upholds lisa’s position that either through nature or nurture women and men experience different treatments and outcomes when they run for office, lobby for policy, claim benefits, seek protection, compete for government contracts, join the military, call for, or run from the cops or otherwise, bump up against state institutions (sarah 2005). differences in treatment and outcome result because people are already divided into masculine and feminine lines in the society and in their perception. the findings from the survey also revealed that women can bridge the gender gap easily with the use of technology when they are mainstreamed in it. this confirmed why 64% were of the respondents in this survey maintained that women could bridge the gender 87 | p a g e gap using technology or widen it without efforts to latch in on the emerging fourth industrial revolution. if women as revealed in the findings can be competent in the use of their personal technological equip they can explored and improved upon. this is very crucial for women to occupy an enviable place in the fourth industrial revolution. 70.2% of the research respondents argue that for women to advance in technology so as to be mainstreamed in the fourth ir that affirmatively in the fact that women mainstreaming in the fourth industrial revolution is very crucial. furthermore, 65.5% stressed that with technology women can find solutions to unpredictable social-political, and gender problems. the respondents agreed that technology is a veritable tool in the fourth industrial revolution and it will be better used by women to bridge the gender gap. consequently, 70.4% of them confirmed of technologically poor women in the fourth industrial revolution. this shows that without the majority of women been techy in the fourth industrial revolution which is the way the world is going then the gender gap will be further widened and women will be left behind again in the fourth industrial revolution as in the previous industrial revolutions. therefore, technologically poor women will be left behind in the wheel of progress in the ir as the statement. exclusion, on the other hand, is referred to as an extension of gender inequality which expresses the roles the society and culture ascribes to male and female in social situations and institutions needs to be revisited by those interested in peace and security issues in our contemporary times based on biological determinism. it is on this kind of the biological exclusion which has implications on the number of women in policy making circles especially in the security sector ((danjibo 2013), and (nwolise 2014). this may be inevitable in the fourth industrial revolution according to nona (2013) around the globe the potentials of mothers have thus far been neglected in counter-terrorism strategy for peace women have their roles to play because they are more peaceful in nature but the fact that they are not equal with men in governance, peace, and security development cumulate in insecurity around the world and nigeria (nwolise 2014). summary in traditional african society, it is not in the best interest of women to be childless, or widows, or fugitives, or refugees, or captives of war because the society dehumanizes in some extreme cases ostracized such women. for this reason, african women play significant roles in nurturing societies aside from their caring nature. this largely informs their commitment to peace and conflict, yet women are rarely opportune to contribute to peace initiatives in their society due to cultural practices and gender conjectures emordi 2018). 88 | p a g e however, the struggle for gender equality has been one of the hallmarks of the 20th c feminists and women empowerment stakeholders. since the first wave of feminism to date much has been achieved but a lot still remained undone as the agenda remains unfinished especially in nigeria much is yet to be achieved in mainstreaming women in science and technology. the united nations' celebration of the international women's day in 1975 was an occasion to stand together to advance gender equality around the world. this equality is yet to be evident in stem and technological applications than any other area. women are more analog than their male counterparts. most of the new technological equipment such as phones, remote control, laptops, and other technological appliances women use are managed by their digital children and their male relatives. today, technology has advanced from quantum physicists to artificial intelligence yet women are still grappling to understand the use of basic personal technological equipment. the increase in the number of women academics over the past 60 years has increased these gender differences in the used tech but much is yet to be achieved for women to be relevant in the technological ecosystem of the fourth industrial revolution. the findings of this survey expressly revealed that in the fourth industrial revolution women will be marginalized further if they are not mainstreamed in science and technology and will be left behind if urgent and effective action is not taken to mainstream women in science and technology in nigeria. furthermore, 65.5%stressed with technology women can find solutions to unpredictable social political and gender problems. the respondents agreed that technology will a veritable tool in the fourth industrial revolution and it will be better used by women to bridge the gender gap. consequently, 70.4% of them confirmed technologically poor women in the fourth industrial revolution will be left behind in the wheel of progress. this shows that without the majority of women been techy in the fourth industrial revolution which is the way the world is going then the gender gap will be further widened. o way forward o since women can conveniently use their personal basic their basic technological equipment o the government need to create means of managing those things that distract from science and technology to enable them concentrate on techy needs. o women have been found to multiple tasks and this is also one of the banes of women in stem. to this end, women need to be trained to focus a few things and be encouraged by their husbands even as they space the birth of their children and train to be independent o engaging women in science and technology will help to solve many of the peace and security quagmires the world especially nigeria is facing today. everything must be done to have women mainstreamed in stem now. 89 | p a g e o women, must as a matter of necessity encourage their female children to go into science related courses. o government, and stakeholders making efforts to bridge the wide gap in stem should endeavor to train young female children to compete favorably in stem, o women who are already empowered should encourage fellow women in the lower rung of the ladder to in science o women, stakeholders of women mainstreaming in science and technology should make use effectiveness of technology to connect millions and millions of women all over the world to be involved in stem. as we saw it happen with the black life matters’ campaign in the wake of police brutality and death of george floyd in the usa. o women were discovered to be distracted by a lot of factors which in reality affect both imputes and outputs of women in science and technology. o the un through undp should ensure to reduce multi tasks for women moving towards stem without the society shaming them. women are engaged in multiple tasks such as marriage, husbands, and children sometimes because culture and society pressure them to do so and this in turn reduce their interest in stem. o the effectiveness of legislation cannot be over-emphasized for nigeria and other states to achieve positive improvement in stem. therefore there is need for legislation to support and encourage women to embrace technology in the emerging fourth industrial revolution. references albert 2014) quoted in emordi a.t.o. (2018) gender inequality, the exclusion of women in governance and security issues: establishing the cost and role of women in inequality: a journal of opinion on world affairs, nigerian institute of international affairs ( niia). appadorai a. (2004) the substance of politics india oxford university press new delhi chapin, f. staurt pamela a., matson, harold a. mooney (2002) the principles of terrestrial ecosystem ecology, (second ed.) new york: springer chapin, f. staurt pamela a., matson, peter m. vitousek (2011) principles of terrestrial ecosystem ecology, (second ed.) new york: springer david s. landes (1969). the unbound prometheus. press syndicate of the university of cambridge universty press. desai & potter (2008) the third world, developing countries, the south, poor countries in the companion to development studies 90 | p a g e emordi a.t.o. (2018) gender inequality, the exclusion of women in governance and security issues: establishing the cost and role of women in inequality: a journal of opinion on world affairs, nigerian institute of international affairs ( niia) emordi a.t.o. (2018) gender inequality, the exclusion of women in governance and security issues: establishing the cost and role of women in inequality: a journal of opinion on world affairs, nigerian institute of international affairs ( niia). hauss charles comparative politics fifth edition domestic responses to global challenges . thomson wadsworth henry heller (2020) the industrial revolution: marxist perspectives: birth of capitalism a 21st century perspective book published by: pluto press stable url: http://www.jstor.com/stable/j.ctt183p671.10. this content downloaded from 197.210.84.113 on mon, 24 aug 2020 https://about.jstor.org/terms horn, jeff; rosenband, leonard; smith, merritt (2010). reconceptualizing the industrial revolution. cambridge ma, london: mit press. isbn 978-0-262-51562-7. in desai, v., & potter, r. b. (2013). the companion to development studies. new york, routledg in eagles’quoted in subrata, m. & sushila, r.2007.a history of political thought:plato tomarx. prentice hall john stuart mill (1806-1873) quoted in bryson v., feminist political theory an introduction palgrave macmillan new york klaus (2008) the third world, developing countries, the south, poor countries in the companion to development studies. klaus in desai, v., & potter, r. b. (2013). the companion to development studies. new york, routledge lawal, o. o. (2011). democratic corruption, good governance and development: the prospect and challenges of institution building in nigeria. a paper presented at the ipsa mid-term international conference in abuja. lisa d. brush (2003) gender and governance, altamira, division of rowman and littlefield publishers uk lisa d. brush (2003) gender and governance, altamira, division of rowman and littlefield publishers uk mona lena krook and fiona mackay (2011) gender, politics and institutions towards a feminist institutionalism palgrave macmillan mayanja r., (2020) special adviser to the united nations secretary-general on gender issues and advancement of women the johns hopkins university press, usa. nah liang tuang s. rajaratnam 2018the fourth industrial revolution’s impact on smaller militaries: boon or bane? school of international studies (2018) nwolise , quoted in emordi, a.t.o., (2018) gender inequality, the exclusion of women in governance and security issues: establishing the cost and role of women in inequality: a journal of opinion on world affairs, nigerian institute of international affairs (niia) https://about.jstor.org/terms https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/isbn_(identifier) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/special:booksources/978-0-262-51562-7 https://www.jstor.org/publisher/jhup https://www.jstor.org/publisher/jhup 91 | p a g e odum, eugene p., (1971) fundamental of ecology (http://archive .org/details/ fundamentalsoffec0000odum) third ed) new york saunders. onah, f.o. (2006). managing public programmes and projects. nsukka: great ap. express publishers ltd. onah, v. c. (2005). democratic governance and crisis of development in nigeria. american journal of international politics and development studies, 1(1): 129137 sarah, quoted in lisa osatergaard, gender and development; a practical guide2.(usa: routledge 1997) schwab, k., 2017. the fourth industrial revolution. united kingdom: penguin random house subrata, m. & sushila, r.2007.a history of political thought:plato tomarx. prentice hall tansley, a.g. (1939) the british island and their vegetation (http://books.google.com/books?id=1iobaaaajaaj&pg=pp1). cambridge university press. todaro, m. p. (1979). economics for developing nations. london: longman group limited. undp, (2013). sudan country programme action plan. vaisekauskaite, z.m., 2017. security strategies of small states in a changing world. journal on baltic security, 3 (2), 7–15 walter r., (2009) how europe underdeveloped africa, panaf publishing inc. nigeria women, women’s history and and the industrial revolution 1994 vol. 61, no. 1 pp. 115-137 (23 pages) ecosoc, a/52/3, chapter iv, concepts and principles (1997/2). (peacewomen.org/scr-1325) https://www.acquia.com/blog/how-doestechnology-impact-politics https://study.com/academy/lesson/the-secondindustrial-revolution-timeline inventions.html#:~:text=historians%20have%20labeled%20the%20years,of%20e lectricity%2c%20petroleum%20and%20steel. https://www.peacewomen.org/scr-1325 https://trailhead.salesforce.com/en/content/learn/modules/learn-about-the-fourthindustrial-revolution/meet-the-three-industrialrevolutions#:~:text=beginning%20in%20the%201950s%2c%20the,the%20inter net%e2%80%94the%20digital%20revolution. http://books.google.com/books?id=1iobaaaajaaj&pg=pp1 https://www.acquia.com/blog/how-does-technology-impact-politics https://www.acquia.com/blog/how-does-technology-impact-politics https://www.peacewomen.org/scr-1325 136 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com elections and crisis of accountability in nigeria governance: a causal analysis samuel ugwuozor phd *chibuike, e madubuegwu, ogbonna moses agudiegwu, okechukwu, groupson-paul phd, onyejegbu emeka dominic 'department of political science, godfrey okoye university, enugu, enugu state, nigeria. 2doctoral candidate, department of political science, nnamdi azikwe university, awka, anambra state, nigeria. department of political science, alex ekwueme federal university, ikwo, ebonyi, nigeria. 4department of political science, university of nigeria, nsukka, enugu state. abstract nigeria is a troubled nation-state grappling with myriad challenges of national development. accordingly, this paper argued that these daunting challenges stem from failure of accountability in governance exacerbated by flawed process of election. in reference to secondary source of data collection and, nonobservational method, the researchers explored issues underlying irregularities that fraught nigerian election process and its effects in the process of state governance. theory of structural-functionalism was applied to illuminate the vicious cycle of failed elections and crises of accountable governance from the perspective of dysfunctionality of structures and roles in nigerian political system. the discourse further revealed that election chaos in nigeria is historic (despite intermittent efforts to strengthen its process) with multifarious effects on governance structures and process. from these findings, the discourse recommends plausible measures for new attitudinal orientation among other fundamentals to strengthen state institutions for credible elections and accountability in governance. keywords: elections, governance, accountability, structures. introduction elections and accountable governance are interfaced variables fundamental to liberal democracy. hence, the two concepts are key indicators to measure the resonance of democracy as value and process in neocapitalist states in african continent. hence, nigeria as a western african country represents a lab bench to assess the functionality of election and governance in third world democracies. it is often emphasized that credible election is imperative to ensure responsible governance and reverse of it portends adverse effects on the “will of the state”. in other words, the process to entrench accountability in governance undoubtedly begins with credible elections where the preference of the 137 | p a g e elections and crisis of accountability in nigeria governance: a causal analysis samuel ugwuozor; chibuike, e madubuegwu; ogbonna moses agudiegwu; okechukwu, groupson-paul; onyejegbu emeka dominic electorate is upheld in deference to popular sovereignty and equality. in credence, asaka (2010) opines that without free and fair election the right to demand and obtain accountability in the most significant and important manner is denied the true holders of a state sovereignty. even in advanced democracies, periodic election remains the most portent way to obtain accountability with people and power to kick out nonperformers. arguably, credibility in the choice-driven process (elections) serve as a bedrock for the emergence of a democratic government readily disposed to take responsibility and protect interests and civil liberty of the masses. on this premise, this discourse sought to examine the factuality of this assertion in reference to nigerian elections and governance. in nigeria, the historical event of election is traced to the era of british colonalization. precisely in 1922, the british imperial government in nigeria under sir hugh clifford promulgated a constitution which remarkably introduced the ''elective principle”. thus, the elective principle marked the beginning of elections as the bedrock for accountable governance first ever in the history of british west africa countries. corresponding author: chibuike, e madubuegwu, doctoral candidate, department of political science, nnamdi azikwe university, awka, anambra state, nigeria. emphatically, the first election in 1923, (though undermined by gender and income suffrage) set the pace for accountability in governmental process seen in the presence of four elected nigerians in the colonial legislative council at lagos. at the exit of british imperialism in 1960, the crisis that trailed the process and outcome of first national election in 1964 established an ugly precedent in nigerian electoral democracy. in this sense, kirk-green (1971), ojiako (1981) and nnadozie (2007) opined that 1964 national election was marred with irregularities and violence which undermined the country's national unity and political development. hence, the chaos of 1964 national election is indeed a chronicle of turmoil and upheavals that have marred subsequent elections in the country which invariably constituted the bane of crisis of accountability in governance. similarly, the history of elections has not shown that the masses can look forward to them as a significant force in changing the material condition of their existence. during these elections the moral values of the country were also corrupted by the blatant disregard of cherished rules, norms and regulations by politicians obsessed with winning power at all costs. under conditions in which the politicians regard election as warfare in which all is fair that brings victory, pervasive indiscipline is inescapable and the clarion call for ethical revolution can only fall on deaf ears (nnoli, 2003:222). indicatively, the preceding analysis revealed that nigeria is grappling with challenges of electoral democracy. this discourse therefore attempts to establish a correlation between irregularities of elections and crises of governance in 138 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com nigeria. the paper is therefore streamlined into six sections; introduction, conceptual discourse, theoretical discourse, crises of elections and effects on governance and conclusion and recommendation. conceptual discourse election is a basic concept in political science. it is a concept replete with varied definitions and conceptualizations. in a specific sense, international encyclopedia of social science vol 5, defined election as a procedure and preference of a kind. thus, election is a process regulated by law and precedents for the expression of choice or alternatives in a context. in a broad perspective, nnoli (2003), conceived election as a process of choice agreed upon by a group of people. it enables them to select one or few people out of many to occupy one or a number of authority positions. from nnoli's view, an election facilitates expression of civil liberty to legitimatize political authority of the state. in a similar perspective to illuminate the essence of elections as a regulated process, dowse and hughes (1983) noted that election is a procedure recognized by the rule of an organisation be it a state or a club, a voluntary organisation on whatever, where all or some of the members choose a similar number of persons to hold an office or offices of authority within that organisation. in ideological sense to underline the essence of civility and tranquility in the process of transition to political power, yayi (2005) conceived election as the medium by which different interest groups within the bourgeoisie nationstate can state and resolve their claims through peaceful means. succinctly, madubuegwu (2010:111), illustrated elections in the context of state and nonstate institution to underscore the imperatives of liberty and accountability in governance; basically, an election is an inclusive process where every adult citizen is at liberty to decide or express their choice for persons aspiring for public offices. invariably, election is a modern form of political recruitment and accountability. it provides a process of choice expression and makes elected persons or public officials to work towards the public expectation of their office. subsequently, an election is not exclusively limited to politics of the state but extend to politics of the informal groups in the state. therefore, an election is a process for electing leaders in church, social clubs, professional bodies etc. in the internal process of these social institutions, it is fundamental for leadership change and deciding on vital issues of organizational objective. to this extent, election constituted one of the tents of liberal democracy as abbas (2008) argued that it is one of the fundamental aspects of democratic values in a representative democracy. it is therefore crucial to note that 139 | p a g e elections and crisis of accountability in nigeria governance: a causal analysis samuel ugwuozor; chibuike, e madubuegwu; ogbonna moses agudiegwu; okechukwu, groupson-paul; onyejegbu emeka dominic democratic system and government can only be meaningful and entrenched through electoral process. in other words, without elections there cannot be democracy and legitimacy in governance and all institutions. it is therefore instructive to note that the nexus between elections and representative government accentuate the importance of accountable governance as seen below: • the electorate elect persons to serve in government in anticipation of responsive governance. • the elected persons in government are expected to respond to the plights and expectations of the people through governance. furthermore, accountability as a hybrid concept elicits plethora of definitions among scholars of political science and public administration. akindele and adeyemi (2011:56) identified the terms and further explicate: accountability as a concept has been variously defined and classified; it has been conceptualized as a way of being answerable and liable for one's actions and/or in actions and conduct in office or position. it has equally been defined as the process of making elected officials and other office holders accountable and responsible to the people who elected or appointed them for their action while in office. thus, accountability connotes the state or quality of being liable and required by a specified person or group of people to report and justify their actions in relation to specific matters or assigned duties. akindele and adeyemi's expository conceptualization implied that accountability is a norm of responsibility and answerability which is pervasive in every organizational context. in apt sense, it is argued that accountability involves two critical stagesanswerability and enforceability. answerability refers to the obligation of the government, its agencies and public officials to provide information about their decisions and actions and to justify them to public and those institutions of accountability tasked with providing oversight. enforcement on the other hand, suggests that the public or institution responsible for accountability can sanction the offending party or remedy the contravening behavior. as such different institutions of accountability might be responsible for either or both of these stages. a review of the definition of accountability also implied that it is contractual obligation between government and masses. in illustrative sense, the relevant structures of governance are expected to take responsibility and be answerable to the prompts of the masses. conversely, the masses are expected to make legitimate demands on the actions and decisions of the government. in a broad sense, accountability is also viewed as process of institutionalizing a system of checks 140 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com and balances in order to check excesses or abuse. public service has to do with the business of government at all levels including all that preoccupies the politicians elected and appointed, the elite leadership, the intelligentsia, the armed forces and other laws enforcement agencies and not just the civil service in the parastatals. accountability is an encompassing concept, which has to do with the full and faithful discharge of assignment, responsibility, covenant or trust. this is considered central in all social relation whether between individuals or between servants of the state and government or between public servants and people they are meant to serve (osakwe, 2018:56). it further implied that accountability is beyond norm and expectations, but represents a system designed to check against excesses or abuses and cutting across institutions of public sector service. hence, adeyemi et al., (2017) identified and classified various forms of accountability as seen in social accountability, financial accountability, ethical accountability, political accountability and administrative accountability. in other words, accountability is a norm and practice which demands responsibility from elected persons in government and administrative personnel of the state. and, the responsiveness of the government to public stream of pressure is assessed from the nature and propensity of governance. in exclusive sense, governance is the responsibility of government. thus, governance serves as process and channel of articulating and realizing the will of the state. as a concept, governance is replete with ambiguities and definitional perspectives among scholars and research institutions. kaumann et al., (2012) conceptualize governance as the process and institutions by which authority in a country is exercised. specifically, governance is: • the process by which government are selected, held accountable, monitored and replaced. • the capacity of government to manage resources efficiently and to formulate, implement and enforce sound policies and regulations. • the respect for the institutions that govern economic and social institutions among them. kaumann's view of governance underlines the imperative of election and accountability. as an institution, it lends credence to the viability of the authority structures of the political system (legislature and executive arms of government) on legislations and administration of policies. subsequently, the definition also takes cognizance of obligatory responsibility in deference to the institutions of the government. thus, governance reflects in institutions, process and obligation in realizing the general will of the state. to this end, the undp report on governance for sustainable human development (1997) defined governance as the exercise of economic, political and administrative authority to 141 | p a g e elections and crisis of accountability in nigeria governance: a causal analysis samuel ugwuozor; chibuike, e madubuegwu; ogbonna moses agudiegwu; okechukwu, groupson-paul; onyejegbu emeka dominic manage a country's affairs at all levels. it comprises mechanism, processes and institutions through which citizens and groups articulate their interests, exercise their legal rights, meet their obligations and mediate their differences. in the same vein, nnoli (2003) conceptualized governance as social engagement between the rulers and the ruled in a society. it is based on that understanding that government cannot carry out its functions without using or depending on the ruled in one form or another. hence, undp and nnoli's views therefore underscore the fact that governance is a process of synergized responsibilities where authority is exercised and obligations elicited in the process of realization of socio-political and economic ideals. in this regard, european commission report (2009) highlights the pivotal indices of governance as seen below: • in essence, governance is about rules, interest, resources and power. • in principles, governance is about participation, inclusion, transparency and accountability. • governance encompasses several themes or governmental cluster: ■ support to democratization ■ promotion and protection of human rights ■ reinforcement of the rule of law and administration of justice ■ enhancement of the role of the civil society. ■ public administration reform, management of public finances and civil service reform. ■ decentralization and local government. in a specific sense, rule of law, accountability and transparency represents the hallmark of governance. thus, the reverse of these principles leads to dysfunctionality in the political administration of the state. from this indication, land mills and seregeldin (1992) argued that governance depends on the extent to which a government is perceived and accepted as legitimately committed to improving the public welfare and responsive to the needs of the citizens, competent to ensure law and order and deliver public service, create enabling environment for productive activities and equitable in its conduct. from this indication, it is pertinent to establish the theoretical relevance of election process and accountability in the analysis of structures and roles. theoretical discourse structural-functionalism is the appropriate framework to scientifically dissect the nexus between elections, governance, and accountability. thus, the framework establishes empirical analysis of functionality of structures and process in the survival and development of the political system. in reference to history, the theory was first popularized in the literature of social anthropology. in this vein, gauba (2003) noted that the theory originated in the sphere of social anthropology in the writings of redcliff-brown and b, malinowski. it was later developed in the field of sociology by talcott parsons, robert merton, and marion levy. 142 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com gabriel almond and his associates developed it into a tool of political analysis. almond therefore introduced structuralfunctionalism to further demystify input-output analysis of the political system. again, gauba (2003:36) further explicate the motive of gabriel almond on structural functionalism, this approach was developed by gabriel almond and g.b. powell in comparative politics. a developmental approach (1966). almond and his associates argued that all political systems regardless of their type must perform a specific set of task if they are to remain in existence a system in a working or in equilibrium i.e. as ongoing system. these are the functional requirement of the system. with this assumption, they sought to modify david easton's model of the political system, suggesting that “input” and “output’ recognized by easton can best understood as functions or functional requisites of political system. they sought to redefine these inputs and outputs with a deeper understanding of the political process and precedent to identify various structures corresponding to these functions in order to evolve a structural-functional framework. as such, structural functionalism becomes a requisite analysis in a framework that specifies a set of functions as necessary and sufficient for the persistence of a system. descriptively, structural functionalism empirically explains that there are fundamental roles performed by structures in the dynamics and development of the political system. invariably, almond proceeds to define political system as that system of interaction to be found in all independent societies which perform the functions of integration and adaptation (both internally and vis-a-vis other societies) by means of employment of more or less legitimate physical compulsion (verma, 1974:205). impliedly, what define the character of the political system are the functions performed by its structures. hence, political scientist sought to understand the development, nature, dynamics and process of these structures through the roles they perform in the political system. hence, the efficiency and effectiveness of these structures can be evaluated through task they perform in the overall socio-political and economic development of the political system. to highlight the structures and functions of the political system, verma (1975:213) writes that almond has used a sevenvariable list of functional categories. four of these are input functions • political socialization and recruitment • interest articulation • interest aggregation • political communication; and the remaining three are output functions • rule-making • rule-application and • rule-adjudication. 143 | p a g e elections and crisis of accountability in nigeria governance: a causal analysis samuel ugwuozor; chibuike, e madubuegwu; ogbonna moses agudiegwu; okechukwu, groupson-paul; onyejegbu emeka dominic the input functions are performed by governmental sub-systems by the society and the general environment while the output functions are governmental ones. this further illustrated in the figure below; figure 1. model of structural functional analysis environment environment function structure function structure i n o political family, political rulelegislature u p socialization peer making t u and group p t recruitment school u s church t etc s interest interest ruleexecutive articulation groups application interest political system rulejudiciary aggregation parties adjudication political mass communication media source: gauba (2003:97) essentially the basic thrust of structural functionalism includes: • that every political system irrespective of style of governance, ideological orientation and socioeconomic formation is made up of structures. • that these structures are entrusted with defined and specified roles within the political system. • that from the analysis of task or functions performed, political scientists can classify these structures as governmental and nongovernmental structures. • established network of relation and interaction expressed through input and output matrix. to further underscore the methodological essence of the framework, david apter (cited in hara das and choudhury, 1997) noted that; • it delineates change in systematic terms and forces the observer to examine the meaning on the basis of 144 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com function. • it points out the core problems facing the systems. • it provides orderly way of examining large number of cases in order to develop comparative theories. • it is quite attractive for comparative analysis of the political system • it deals for the most past with a manageable collection of variables and it provides a set of standardized categories that can be applied successfully to various political system. • almond's analysis provides conflict resolution mechanism along with continuous reaction of the system as a whole to demands made on it. • the approach is therefore has been accepted as one of the important techniques of empirical investigation in modern political science. • finally, like systems analysis, structural functionalism is a wideranging analysis which knit together insight into interest, socialization and group analysis into a relatively coherent body of ideas. variably, the inadequacies of structural-functional framework are aptly identified by johari (2005:108); • the structural-functional analysis tends to focus primarily on static relationship rather than one dynamics. the approach is concerned above all with problems of systematic survival, the requirements of the stable adaptation and the operation of various functions and structures system maintenance. therefore, the approach is accused of being antichange. • the functionalists defeat the very purpose of their approach by misapplying their tools of empirical investigation while studying the political system of the third world, one may easily ask a question as to how the principles of empirical investigation devised in the sophisticated study rooms of chicago or harvard university's can be rigorously applied to the study of poor and backward countries of the afro-asian world and that too for the state of commanding social and political reality. • this approach suffers from what is termed by marion levy, “the fallacy of functional technologies” it suffers from tendency to explain the organisation of a condition or pattern or action in terms or its being a functional necessary for the survival of the system. also, structural-functional framework fails to examine the essence of behavior of political elite and masses on the assumption that political process is a function of attitudinal orientation and behavioral disposition of persons who perform roles within its framework of structures. the application of theory of structural-functionalism in the analysis of election and crises of accountability in nigeria governance is useful. in 145 | p a g e elections and crisis of accountability in nigeria governance: a causal analysis samuel ugwuozor; chibuike, e madubuegwu; ogbonna moses agudiegwu; okechukwu, groupson-paul; onyejegbu emeka dominic relation to elections and governance, the structural functionalism with emphasis on input and output variables lent credence to the fact that the trends and dynamics of political process are determined by the roles performed by the structures of the political system. to this extent, election as a process is a synergized responsibility of structures of nigerian political system. the independent national electoral commission, inec, nigeria political parties (apc, pdp, apga), the media and social orientation institutions, etc perform crucial roles in engineering the election process to realize its lofty ideals. hence, the fundamental task of these structures or institutions is to entrench credibility and transparency in the process of transition to power. however, when this fundamental responsibility is compromised to satisfy ordinate interests then the credibility of the election is undermined which adversely leads to emergence of unpopular persons in output structures of government (executive and legislature) occasioned with dysfunctional outputs (crisis of governance) which are detrimental to the stability and development of the political system. in nigeria today, there is a glare loss of public confidence in the functional responsibilities of the national assembly, and the presidency inclusive of other sub national tiers of government. to this extent, the failure of governance in nigeria is the failure of structures of nigeria political system. and, this ugly trend is largely attributed to elections fraught with irregularities. furthermore, the failure of governance is also underlined in the failure of our value-system which is within the functional responsibility of the social structures of the political system such as the family, peer group, school and church. in nigeria ethnodiverse society, the family values have been eroded, educational system is sinking and widespread immoralities in religious institutions which would have serve as check against the excesses of the governmental structures of the political system. inclusive is the mass media which perform the task of political communication immersed in deviances that contributes to the crises of governance. subsequently, the function of accountability is also expressed by interest articulation. the interest group serves as a link between the government and expectations of the masses. hence, the redundancy or alertness of these groups may mar or improve governance. in nigeria today, the nigeria labour congress, nlc has over the decades remained resilient to challenge arbitrary actions and excesses of this present government. in a nutshell, structuralfunctionalism in this discourse serve as scientific and empirical tool to examine and analyze trends and challenges of elections, governance and accountability in nigeria from the perspectives of structures and functions of the political system. therefore, the matrix of input and output functions as expressed in the structures serve as a framework of causal analysis of nigeria political system. 146 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com crises of elections and effects on governance in nigeria as earlier indicated, nigeria's electoral democracy is fraught with irregularities and chaos. the unpleasant development has over the decades undermined genuine process towards the country's democratic consolidation. in credence to this factuality, madubuegwu (2015) argued that nigeria as an emerging democracy is bedeviled with myriad of challenges especially irregularities which have tendered to undermine her efforts towards democratization. however, an election in nigeria since her political independence has had a chequered history of irregularities and violence. before the advent of the current dispensation in 1999, state-wide elections held in 1964, 1979 and 1983 were warfare influenced by murky interparty politicking, political thuggery and centrifugal tendencies of ethnic politics and regionalism. moreover, the past elections under the present democratic dispensation with reference to 2003 and 2007 elections illuminates the abuse of power of the incumbent and structural deficiencies of the electoral management body with adverse effects on governance and political stability in a fragile democratizing federation. reflecting on the uncertainties of the 2003 general elections, iyayi (2005:11) assert, .... twenty-nine of the registered political parties that either contested or did not contest the elections have variously rejected the results as announced by the inec declaring the results as fraudulent. both domestic and international election observers documented massive irregularities that characterized the elections and refused to endorse the elections as free and fair. some political parties and their candidates decided to challenge some of the results before the various election petition tribunals and have gone ahead to do so while others declared “mass action” to pressurize a government without popular mandate to abdicate power. invariably, the uncivil political culture of desperation and egocentric quest for power among nigeria political elites grossly marred the 2007 elections as revealed by adele (2012:211) the 2007 elections when it actually came were most deadly and frightening in nature. thus in rivers state, a police station was attacked and burnt by unknown assailant a night before the election day. in anambra and rivers states, voters were faced with violence and intimidations. the inec offices in onitsha north, onitsha south, nnewi south and local government office in awka north, anambra were burnt in protest. in the same vein, violence marred election in 147 | p a g e elections and crisis of accountability in nigeria governance: a causal analysis samuel ugwuozor; chibuike, e madubuegwu; ogbonna moses agudiegwu; okechukwu, groupson-paul; onyejegbu emeka dominic other parts of the nation. ekiti state, there was a confrontation between the pdp and action congress supporters and election results were blatantly falsified in many areas. violence was equally reported in the northern state of kastina where opposition supporters burnt down government buildings in protest as the announcement that the pdp had swept the state's gubernational polls, soldiers clashed with angry voters in nasarawa state. in oyo state, pdp thugs beat up opposition party officials and hijacked ballot boxes. the 2007 election therefore was generally perceived as the worst in the history of election administration in nigeria. notwithstanding the irregularities and trenchant views that trailed the history of elections in nigeria, the 2011 general elections indeed represent a shift in paradigm. the election at initial stage experienced logistic difficulties in reference to unavailability of electoral materials. however, the april general elections of 2011 were conducted in atmosphere of peace and orderliness with isolated disruptions in some parts of the country. hence, nigeria electors voted for their choice candidates and political parties in isolation of usual intimidation and victimization. also, there was no recorded killings and arson even in most restive parts of the country during the elections. this positive development therefore resonates the optimism to sustain and advance the electoral reform efforts as averred by the international research agency “crisis group” (2011:1); with the april 2011 general elections, nigerians may have taken steps towards reversing the degeneration of its previous elections but work is not finished. despite some progress, early and intensive preparations for the 2015 elections need to start now. voter registration need not be as chaotic and expensive as it was this year if done on continued basis. farreaching technical and administrative reforms of, and by, the independent national electoral commission (inec), notably internal restructuring and constituency delineation, should be undertaken and accompanied by broad political and economic reforms that make the state more relevant to citizens and help guarantee an electoral and democratic culture. sadly, the 2015 general election came with unprecedented logistic crises and arson that reversed the gains of 2011 election reform efforts. the pvcs crisis enormously undermined the credibility of the historic 2015 general election that for the first in the country's transition led to the defeat of incumbent president. in this vein, eme (2015), stressed that inec attempted to improve the integrity of voter registration and identification 148 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com introducing biometric measures. inec reports registering 68.8 million voters, an estimated 78% of the total voting age population with approximately 82% of registrants permanent voter cards, pvcs being collected. however, in 11 states over 92% pvcs collection reported which is implausible given that the deceased have not been removed from the list since 2010. regrettably, up to 100, 000 pvcs which are necessary for voting, remained unproduced a day before 28th march election day. in an explicit manner, madubuegwu (2016: 149) revealed the statistics of millions of nigerian voters disenfranchised by the inability of independent national electoral commission to distribute pvcs. it was observed that 37,377,108 represent the total number of the registered voters of the three geopolitical zones in the north. furthermore, 32.1milliion prospective voters collected their pvcs and 5.2 million pvcs were not collected. therefore, the north had 90% rate of pvcs collection before the 28th march presidential and national assembly elections. subsequently, 31,539,941 represent the total number of the eligible voters in the three geo-political zones of the south. hence, 24.2 million electors collected their pvcs and 7.2 million pvcs were not collected which indicated a 40% rate of pvcs collection. it is therefore instructive to note that over 12 million nigeria voters were disenfranchised by the administrative and institutional lapses of inec. beyond maubuegwu's revelation, the smart card reader also failed to read, it was indeed a very frustrating period for millions of nigerians voters. and, the recent national election in 2019 was immersed with infractions, arson and thuggery raising serious doubt on the credibility of future elections in nigeria. undoubtedly, nigeria state is bedeviled with crises of governance and challenges of public sector accountability. many nigerians today are disillusioned with the abysmal failure of governance at the national, state and local levels. daunting among the myriad crises of governance is the insecurity challenge which has in the recent time engulfed the nation-state. in a stretch of four years, 2017 to 2020, over two thousand nigerians have lost their lives and properties worth over 500 million dollars destroyed in insurgency, fulani herdsmen killings and banditry across parts of the country. currently, there is widespread and consistent abduction of school children in states of the north occasioned with proliferation of insurrectional movements and activities in southern nigeria. the heightened unpleasant security challenges today is an indication of failed institutional responsibilities in a system of collapsed network of checks and accountability and cynical attitude of persons in governance to do what is needful. all points to flawed election process where popular choice is swindled to satisfy ordinate interests. inadequacy of social infrastructure and basic services essential to improve living standard of people is one of the visibility of governance deficit in nigeria. today, the poverty index is alarming and has consistently accelerated over the years 149 | p a g e elections and crisis of accountability in nigeria governance: a causal analysis samuel ugwuozor; chibuike, e madubuegwu; ogbonna moses agudiegwu; okechukwu, groupson-paul; onyejegbu emeka dominic as millions of nigerians grapple in extreme penury and agony. it has been a recurring fact that over 50% of 200 million people in nigeria today live below 1$ while 70% of its population cannot have a good meal for nutrition, access quality medical service, cannot boast of portable drinking water and denied opportunity of good education in a county where hundreds of trillions of dollars are yearly planned (as appropriation bill or budgets) and released at levels of national and other tiers of governments to meet the plights and expectations of the people. the fundamental question is what is the impact of all these monies in situation of infrastructural deficit, inadequacy of essential services, double digits of unemployment? etc. and, the answer to this fundamental question is diversion and mismanagement of public fund by persons entrusted with governance mandate in a system where there is absence of culture and mechanism of checks, accountability and stewardship. and, this ugly precedent is attributed to elitist political recruitment process driven by patronage-client relationship that is in contrary to the ideals of competition and liberty which represents the hallmark of democratic process. conclusion and recommendation the failure of nigerian elections is the failure of state institutional roles. as nigerian election is unabatedly immersed in infractions, it has persistently entrenched crises of accountability and stewardship in governance. this is on the premise that flawed elections adversely facilitate emergence of unpopular persons and interests in governance structures to the dysfunctionality of state institutions and misery of the people. in other words, sanity and responsiveness in governance begins when there is concerted genuine efforts to restore lost public confidence in the political recruitment process in deference to the ideals of electoral democracy. to this extent, there is need to develop positive orientation complemented by sincere and plausible actions to save a nation at the verge of collapse. the first step begins with the consciousness of the political class to realize the fact that the country is in mess and sinking. hence, there is exigent need for collective drive and synergized efforts which translate in public policies and legislations to strengthen relevant state institutions, independent national electoral commission and other statutory agencies to improve on the transparency of the election process. the need for advocacy and consensus among the political parties and politicians from varied interests and opinions to decide on certain civil practices and refrain from politics of bitterness that often create upheavals in the political process. and, to educate their members on the essence of tolerance and civility during elections and restrain their youth supporters from disruptive behaviour that undermines the stability of the process. most importantly, devise collective modalities to assist the enforcement agencies in ensuring a credible process in atmosphere of peace 150 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com and order. the advocacy for national rebirth is also instructive. hence, federal ministry of information and national orientation agency, should provide robust blue print and framework for attitudinal reorientation and advocacy on national unity and development. again, the federal government should complement these efforts by initiating a process of national conservation among the ethnic nationalities in nigeria to examine challenges of nationhood and chart a way forward towards mitigating against divisive interests. the need for the governing elite to realize the fact that there is widespread agony and anger among the nigerian population because of failed governance. nigerians desired and demand accountable governance process from the persons in the authority structures of the state. failure to the realisation of this factuality, the public agony and anger may snowball into unprecedented chaos far than what was witnessed in endsars protest in october, 2020. in other words, the government should explore efficiently the available resources to respond to public plights. subsequently, nigerians should show enthusiasm on issues of governance and demand more accountability from persons in governance authority structures. this effort should be sustained by the activism of civil society organisations to advocate for governance process which observes: • strict adherence to the practices of checks and compliance to the provisions of the constitution. • sense of responsibility and indulgence among persons in governance structures. • sanction of erring persons and infractions. • periodic public interaction between persons in governance and the public. on the level of accountability, the culture and practice of responsibility, answerability and enforceability should be strengthened in governance process through relevant legislations and policies. suffice to state dlakawa triangle model of accountability. 151 | p a g e elections and crisis of accountability in nigeria governance: a causal analysis samuel ugwuozor; chibuike, e madubuegwu; ogbonna moses agudiegwu; okechukwu, groupson-paul; onyejegbu emeka dominic accountability triangle model • timely release of reliable information • involvement of beneficiaries on decisionmaking • proper and timely documentations source: dlakwa h.d.) cited adefila and adeoti (1992) references agi, s. (2006). an approach to the study of organization of government. calabar, pigasians and grace internal publishers. abubakar, h. (2010). transparency and accountability in local government administration in nigeria”. national workshop on local government structure and potentials for socioeconomic development of nigeria. achua, j.k. (2009). reinvesting governmental accounting for accountability assurance in nigeria. the institute of chartered accountant of nigeria lagos. nigeria vol. 1 no. 1. adeyemi, o. akindele, s.t., aluko, o. a. and agesin, b. (2012). institutionalizing the culture of accountability in local government administration in nigeria. africa journal of political science and international relations vol. 6(4). adele, b (2012). electoral violence and nigeria's 2011 general elections. international review of social sciences and humanities vol. 4, no1. abbass, m. (2008). electoral violence in nigeria and the problem of democratic politics”. being a paper presented at the 27th annual conference of the nigeria political science association on electoral reform, political succession and democratization in afrifmca held at benue state university makurdi from 16th to 19th nov. 2008. abiola, o (2014). “jonathan's joker for 2015” in ayodele akinkuotu, ed: tell magazine lagos. tell 152 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com communications limited no. 33. anayochukwu a (2014). “jonathan's lost war’ in nosa igiebor, ed: tell magazine lagos. tell communication limited. no. 1. abiola, o (2014). “jonathan's joker for 2015” in ayodele akinkuotu, ed: tell magazine lagos. tell communications limited no. 33. anayochukwu agbo (2014). “jonathan's lost war’ in nosa igiebor, ed: tell magazine lagos. tell communication limited. no. 1. beetseh kwaghga (2012). good governance and credible elections in nigeria. journal of social science and policy vol. 4. dele, o. kayode and adesayo, w. (1995). governance and democratization in nigeria. ibadan, spectrum books limited. ezeoke, j. (2010). “feeding fat on the masses” in ayodele akinkotu ed: tell magazine lagos. tell communications limited no. 33. gauba, o.p. (2003). introduction to political theory. new delhi, rajiv beri for macmillan india ltd. hara das, h. and b.c. choudhury (1997). introduction to political sociology. new delhi, vikas publishing hous pvt ltd. iyayi, f. (2005). elections and electoral practices in nigeria”: dynamics and implications. the journal of constitution vol 10 (12). johari, j.c. (1982) comparative politics. new delhi, sterling publishers pvt ltd. madubuegwu, c (2010). the dynamics of group politics in nigeria: a conceptual approach on political parties, pressure groups, elections, public opinion and propaganda in the political process. enugu: sky printing press. madubuegwu, c (2016). the crisis of permanent voter cards and 2015 general elections: exploring measures to strengthen nigeria's electoral democracy. south east journal of political science vol 2. no. 2. nnadozie, u. (2002). history of elections in nigeria in jega a. and ibeanu o. “elections and future of democracy in nigeria”, abuja npsa. nnoli, o. (2003). introduction to politics. enugu, snaap press ltd. verma, s.p. (1974). modern political theory. new delhi, vikas publishing house pvt ltd. osakwe, e. (2011). democracy and crisis of accountability in the public service in nigeria. art and social science journal vol 26 (19). saker, a. (2009). “the new mode of public governance and public accountability in developing countries”an analysis with particular reference to bangladesh. international journal of public administration. vol. 32. sylvester, f. akinbuli (2013). an assessment of accountability in the public sector in nigeria. arabian journal of business and management review. vol. 1, no. 3. uganden, v. adoo (2010). political accountability in nigeria governance. implications for longterm development. 151 | p a g e availability and use of library resources in selected secondary schools in nnewi education zone of anambra state by ibe peter nnamdi peteribe2016@gmail.com okonkwo perpetua c. pep4christ404@gmail.com alor rose amaka. ammyugoamaka@gmail.com onyekwelu ifeoma ifeonyekwes@gmail.com abstract the study investigated the availability and use of library resources in selected private secondary schools in nnewi education zone of anambra state. the study was prompted by the fact that former studies mainly focused on government-owned institutions, with little or no attention paid to happenings in the privately – owned secondary schools. the design of the study was descriptive survey. a sample of 60 respondents were conveniently sampled from the institutions at the ratio of 20 respondents per institution. observation checklist and structured interview were instruments used for data collection of the study. data generated in the study were analyzed with descriptive statistics using tables, frequency counts and percentages. findings from the study show that all the schools have school libraries; they also have books in various subjects offered in the schools as well as computers in varying numbers. also, usage of the library resources is low; resources mostly consulted by the respondents are science books; none of the schools has qualified librarian and library hour. moreso, findings also show that the respondents have unrestricted access to the school libraries, but they rated their school libraries as fair, thereby implying lack of contentment. based on the findings, the study recommended continuous awareness creation through visits by library bodies and other stakeholders to continually sensitize students on the need for them to be patronizing their school libraries. the study also recommended creation of library hour in all schools by policy makers to encourage students’ use of school libraries; investigating the information need of students and incorporating such need during acquisition of school library resources, as well as employment/posting of qualified librarians in all school libraries. keywords: availability, use, library resources, school libraries, nnewi education zone. 152 | p a g e introduction secondary school, as the name implies is the second level of education in the education hierarchy. it is that level of education that exists just after the primary school level and before the tertiary level of education. secondary school occupies a very important position in the education agenda of all nations, as it prepares individuals for higher education by imparting in them, the necessary knowledge, skills and qualification needed for them to excel in future educational endeavours. it is able to do this because; it is equipped with both human and material resources. hornby(2006) defined resource as something that can be used to help achieve an aim, especially a book, equipment and others, that provides: information for teachers and students. the human resources are the personnel working at various levels in the school, while the material resources encompass the books of various types, equipment such as tables, chairs and other type of media in print and non-print formats that are acquired to facilitate and make this skill, knowledge acquisition and transfer feasible. the repository of all the information resources in the secondary' school is the library. hornby(2006) defines library as a building in which collections of books, tapes, newspapers and others are kept for people to read, study or borrow. it is the store house of knowledge. the type of library that exist in the secondary school is known as the school library. the importance of the school library is such that adeniji (as cited in idiegbeyan-ose of okoedian, 2012) described it as the heart and soul of the educational system. according to the author, the role of the school library in any school in nigeria cannot be over-emphasized, as the library provides the necessary impetus to all categories of learners in the schools, from the slowest learner in the kindergarten, to the most intelligent senior in the high school through the provision of print and non-print materials to aid learning. achebe (2008) listed the roles of the school library as provision of library hours and materials, teaching of reading through story-telling and games, teaching – information literacy skills, provision of readers guide and preservation of library materials. idiegbeyan-ose and okoedian (2012) assert that the educational aims of the school library are to stimulate and enhance the reading habit and promotion of life-long learning, developing the ability to read in children, to help pupils to increase, and improve their knowledge of reading, speaking and writing, to train children to care for books and make good and intelligent use of the library. others are to enhance children's reading and communication skills, to provide children with both current and retrospective information and to provide recreation. the school library therefore cannot perform it's numerous functions without the availability of necessary books and non-book materials, as well as personnel to direct and co-ordinate usage of the material resources. availability is crucial to usage. according to idiegbeyan-ose and okoedian (2012) a school library that is adequately 153 | p a g e staffed, resourced and funded can lead to higher student achievement, regardless of the socio-economic or educational levels of the community. it is also by using the resources that the expected educational development and societal transformation are hoped to be attained (ibe, 2014). sharma (as cited in busayo 2011) stresses that to know about the world and it's environment, a child helps himself/herself through reading of books, newspapers and magazines. also, stressing the importance of using the library books, panda, as cited in busayo 2011 posit that once the child has been taught to read and develop a love for books, he can explore for himself/herself, the wealth of human experience and knowledge. making rightful use of the resources of the school libraries is also very important to future development of the users of the school libraries. this therefore also raised the need to determine what materials that are mostly utilized by the students, as this will help to guard against abuse and also .help the authorities during acquisition so as to avoid wastage. aruah (2011) stated that the school library is as good as wasted if it is not properly used by the students. in recognition of the crucial roles of school libraries in ensuring overall development, the anambra state government released the sum of one hundred million naira (n100,000,000) for the development of libraries in two hundred secondary schools, in the state (nzeagwu,2012). in making the release, the governor of the state emphasized that the libraries will serve as information centres, promote reading culture in children and act as store-house of knowledge for both teachers and students. it is however not known how much of this attention are being directed towards the development of privately owned secondary schools in the state, as preliminary observation by the researchers cast a big doubt as regards the availability and use of the resources of the privately owned secondary schools especially in nnewi education zone of anambra state. the role of the privately-owned institutions in the educational development of the state cannot be over-emphasized. it has therefore become imperative to investigate whether the privately-owned secondary schools are lagging behind in terms of school library development hence this study titled availability and use of library resources in selected private secondary schools in nnewi education zone of anambra state. statement of the problem school library plays a very important role in educational development. there is therefore the need to equip it with the requisite human and material resources so as to enable it to play its roles very effectively. there is also the need to ensure that the resources of the school library are put to adequate use so as to ensure attainment of goals of its establishment. this is because, according to aruah(2011), the school library is as good as wasted if it is not properly used by students. the researcher observed that whenever the need for development of this vital educational facility arises, attention is always focused on the publicly-owned schools, with little or no attention paid to the privately 154 | p a g e owned schools. in view of the crucial role the private schools play in educational development, it has become imperative to investigate whether the private schools are lagging behind in terms of provision and use of library resources as preliminary observation suggests, with the view to proffering the ways forward, and avert decadence in education. this is what necessitated the study on availability and use of library resources in selected private secondary schools in nnewi education zone of anambra state. purpose of the study the purpose of the study was to determine the availability and use of library resources in selected private secondary schools in nnewi education zone of anambra state. specifically the study sought to: 1. identify the resources available in the school libraries. 2. determine the availability of library hour in the schools. 3. determine the availability of librarians in the school libraries 4. ascertain the level of use of the school libraries by the students 5. ascertain the rating of the school libraries by the students 6. determine the most used information resources in the school libraries 7. identify possible impediments to effective use of the school library resources by the students. significance of the study the study will be very beneficial to many stakeholders in education including proprietors of private schools, students, researchers and supervising agencies of private schools. it is hoped that through the findings of the study proprietors of private schools will be better informed on ways to ensure library development in their schools, as well as ensure effective usage by students. the findings of the study is also hoped to help students to appreciate the need for library use in their schools. the findings of the study is hoped to serve as rich source of literature to researchers on related topics as it can be easily consulted by them. also the findings of the study will assist policy-makers and supervising agencies of private schools in making policy decisions that will translate to overall school library development in anambra state. research questions seven research questions were formulated to guide the study as follows: 1. what are the resources available in the school libraries? 2. are there slated hours for library use in the schools? 3. are there professional librarians in the school libraries? 4. what is the level of use of the school library resources by the students? 155 | p a g e 5. what is the rating of the school libraries by the students? 6. what is the most used information resource in the school libraries? 7. what are the possible impediments to effective use of the school libraries by the students? literature review achebe (2008) defined school library as a library that is found in primary and secondary schools. school library is a library established to take care of the information and educational resources needs of pupils, students and teachers in the primary and secondary schools. busayo(2011) asserts that the school library is an integral part of the educational system that cannot be ignored without jeopardizing the quality of education in schools. the author stated that the school library is an important part of elementary, middle and high and school programme without which students would not thrive academically and would find it difficult to do research before reaching college level. school library is therefore programmed to groom and nurture .pupils and students to imbibe the culture of reading and succeed educationally in life. as a result, it is always equipped with various resources such as books on various subjects taught in the schools and those for reference purposes. developed ones also have computers, internet sources and are stocked with such media like television, radio, newspapers, magazines, films, projectors, tapes, maps, atlases, all housed in a conducive and comfortable accommodation. they also have furniture and qualified personnel to facilitate easy use of the library resources. the federal ministry of education stresses that books that should be in a school library are reference books such as encyclopedia and dictionaries, books on non-fiction such as textbooks on subject taught in the schools, supplementary orders such as easy to read books and fiction materials such as novels, story books and cartoons (aruah, 2011). fayose, as cited in aruah, 2011 stated that resources of school libraries are books, magazines, newspapers, films and film strips, video tape recording of all types, slides, computers and study kits. nnadozie (2007) posit that resources in school libraries include such media like books, journals, magazines, newspapers, film strips, computers, tape recordings, cartoons, regalia, study kits, games, simulations, among others. ibe (2014) stated that school library resources encompass both the materials and human resources such as books, newspaper, magazine stands, as well as personnel like librarians, library officers, assistants and other support staff. aruah (2011) posit that employee such as librarians, teacher-librarians, library officers, library assistants, library attendants and library prefects are necessary to help school libraries to fulfill their mission depending on the school enrollment, staff collection and academic programme. in terms of use, nnadozie (2007) stresses that contemporary school libraries are centres for acquisition, processing and utilization of an extensive variety of educational mediateaching aids and learning resources. according to anyaoku (2015) library use involves 156 | p a g e the consulting, reading, borrowing and obtaining information, to socialize with friends and colleagues, to do class assignments, to get direction or to consult with library staff on topics of interest. orji, as cited in dulle and bernard 2014 said that users patronize the school library for various reasons such as to prepare for examination, for leisure, recreation, serious academic work or to see a friend. sote, aramide and gbotoso (2011) posit that the library, as the hub of educational set-up, provides information and ideas that are fundamental to functioning successfully in the increasingly information and knowledge based society. in ideal situations, school libraries always, have hours for use by students and pupils, so as to aid monitoring and avoid mis-use. this is because some unruly students may be hiding in the libraries under the guise of reading, while in actual fact, they may be running away from punishment, avoiding a particular teacher or for the joy of being contented in playing truancy in the school. library hour also aids in creating needed awareness among users, as even the classroom teachers join in urging the pupils and students to go to the library. this also highlights the need for adequate and qualified personnel to monitor and guide usage of the library resources. authors such as anyaoku (2015); ibe (2014) and aruah (2011) revealed that library use is always hampered by a lot of factors such as lack pf adequate resources, lack of accommodation, poor lighting, lack of qualified personnel, lack of internet resources, lack of computers and poor attitude of management. anyaoku (2015) identified factors against students' use of libraries as lack of computers and internet, lack of current materials, hot environment, insufficient space and seats for reading and poor lighting. onuoha and subair (2013) attributed the problem of poor use of library resources to lack of awareness and presence of outdated books. aruah (2011) identified factors against use of libraries as lack of current and up-to-date information materials, poor accommodation, poor library orientation, restricted library hours and lack of professional librarians. ibe (2014) posit that challenges to use of libraries include poor reading culture of our people, un-conducive reading environment, economic situation with its negative impact on the people, funding problems that has made acquisition of vital resources impossible and lack of current books. there is therefore need to maximize use of school library resources for attainment of the objectives for establishing them, otherwise it will be a colossal failure. other efforts in this direction have been focused on the public-owned schools with little or none on the privately-owned schools despite their numerous contributions to educational development, thereby drawing the attention of the researchers to carry out the study. methodology the descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. a total of sixty respondents were conveniently sampled from each of the three private secondary-schools located at nnewi, amichi and ozubulu, at the ratio of twenty students per school. they were selected for the purpose of responding to questions posed in the structured interview 157 | p a g e to support observation made by the researchers. thus, observation checklist and structured interview were adopted as instruments for data collection of the study. while observation checklist was adopted for collecting data in respect of research questions 1 – 3, structured interview was used to collect data for research questions 4–7. descriptive statistics using tables, frequencies was used to analyze data collected from the study. findings: research questions 1, 2 & 3: availability of resources, library hour and library staff. . table: 1 resources & library hour private secondary schools ozubulu nnewi amichi library staff books on reference books on non-fiction books on fiction shelves reading tables chairs catalogue cabinet — — photocopiers — — computers journals — — newspapers — — magazines — — internet — — — radio — — — television — — — projectors — — — video tapes — — audio tapes — — — films — — — library hour — — — observation checklist as shown in table 1 reveals that all the secondary schools have library staffs that are in charge of their libraries. they also have books on reference, fiction and non-fiction, as well as reading tables, chairs, shelves and computers in varying numbers. they however do not have internet connection, library hour, projectors and 158 | p a g e such media like television, radio and films. interview by the researchers revealed that the library staffs in the libraries are not professional librarians. students are also given unrestricted access to the libraries. research questions 4: what is the level of use of the library resources by the students? table 2: level of use of the library resources options response rate percentage (%) high 8 13.33 moderate 15 25 low 37 61.67 total 60 100 responses as shown in table 2 shows that the level of use of the library resources by the students is low (61.67%) research question 5: what is the rating of the school libraries by the students? table 3: rating of the school library by the students options response rate percentage (%) excellent 6 10 good 18 30 fair 36 60 total 60 100 responses as shown in table 3 revealed that majority of the students rated their school libraries as fair. this is despite availability of various resources in the libraries and unrestricted access given to the students. research questions 6: what is the most used information resource in the libraries? 159 | p a g e table 4: most used information resource in the libraries information resources response rate percentage (%) newspapers — — computers — — dictionaries 15 25 encyclopedia — — books on languages — — literature books 15 25 novels — — religious books — — science textbooks 24 40 social science textbooks mathematics textbooks 6 10 magazines art textbooks books on travels geography textbooks computer textbooks total 60 100 responses as shown in table 4 show that the few students that patronize the libraries mostly consult science textbooks. 160 | p a g e research question 7: what are the challenges to use of the libraries by the students? table 5: challenges to use of the libraries by the students challenges response rate percentage (%) lack of current books — — poor reading culture 30 50 lack of awareness — — lack of internet 18 30 restricted library hours — — unfriendly staff — — funding problems — — poor orientation 12 20 total 60 100 responses as shown in table 5 shows that there is no reason behind poor use of the school library resources other than poor reading culture. it can also be seen that lack of internet connection has its negative impact on the students' use of the library resources. summary of the findings  the private secondary school libraries have enough resources to guarantee effective and rewarding use by students, although they have no internet connection.  the schools have no library hour, but students have unrestricted access to the libraries.  the private secondary school libraries have library staffs that are in charge of operations, but they are not professional librarians.  the level of use of the library resources was low.  the students rated their school libraries as fair despite presence of resources and personnel.  the few students that patronize the libraries mostly consult science books. 161 | p a g e  the students have no major reason for not using the school libraries other than poor reading culture prevalent among them, although lack of internet seem to have negative effect on them. implications of the findings  that the secondary school libraries have enough resources, but are not used as expected, implies the need for continuous awareness creation.  that the schools have no library hour, internet and professional librarians implies that there is need for library hour, internet connection and employment of professional librarians.  that the level of use of the school libraries by students was low implies the need for more awareness creation by the schools and other stakeholders.  that the students rated the school libraries as fair despite presence of resources implies that there is need to determine the information need of the students to act asguide during acquisition of the library resources.  that the students have no major reason for not using the school libraries still implies need for continuous awareness creation by all stakeholders. recommendations the following recommendations are hereby made based on the findings of the study and implications.  there should be continuous awareness creation through visits to school by library bodies and other stakeholders so as to continually sensitize students on the need and gains of using their school libraries.  government and other policy makers should make library hour compulsory in all schools as it helps in sensitization.  effort should be made to effect internet connection in the schools as the schools already have computers.  government should make posting of qualified librarians compulsory in all schools and encourage the privately-owned ones to do so.  the information need of students should be ascertained so as to incorporate such needs during acquisition of school library resources. 162 | p a g e references achebe, n.e (2008) library and information literacy for higher education enugu. the nigerian library association, enugu state chapter. anyaoku, e. (2015) evaluating undergraduate students' awareness and use of medical library resources. a study of nnamdi azikiwe university, nigeria. international journal of library science 4(3): pp 53 58. retrieved 8th august, 2019 from www. article.sapub. org> 10>5923.j library 201 aruah, u.(2011) use of library resources by staff and students of secondary schools in umuahia north l.g.a. of abia state. library philosophy of practice. accessed on 18th june, 2019 fromhttp://www. webpages. vidaho. edu bernard & dulle (2014). assessment of access and use of school library information resources by secondary schools students in morogoro municipality, tanzania. busayo, i.o 92011) the school library as a foundation step to children's effective reading habits. library philosophy & practice. retrieved on 8th may, 2019 from http://unlib. unl.edu/lpp hornby, a.s (2006) oxford advanced learners dictionary: new york: oxford university press. ibe, p. (2014) availability and use of resources and services of public libraries in anambra state. library and information science digest 7. journal of the nigeria library association, anambra state chapter. idiegbeyan-ose, j & okoedian, i. (2012) a survey of the present state of school libraries in benin city library philosophy and practice. retrieved on 12th october, 2019 from http://www. unlib. uni. edu/lpp/ nnadozie, c.o(2007) foundation of library practice, owerri: springfield. nzeagwu, u (2013) anambra steps up library development in secondary school. the guardians, tues. july 10, p. 7. onuoha,u.d. & subair, m.o. (2013) undergraduates use of libraries in federal universities in south-west nigeria. josr journal of research & method in education (josr-)rme)e issn: 2320 7388, pisnn: 2320 737 3(5) retrieved 8th november, 2019 from www.josrjournals.org>josrjournal> papers. sote, a, aramide, k.l & gbotoso, a (2011) an evaluation of state of universal basic education board (subeb) libraries in selected states in south-west nigeria. library philosophy and practice. accessed on 6th november, 2019 from http.//www.webpages.vidaho.edu/...mbolin/sote-aramide-gbato. 102 | p a g e the media and national development issues from the nigerian national question okechukwu egwu ibiam, (phd) department of political science, alex ekwueme federal university ndufu-alike, pmb: 1010, abakaliki, ebonyi state, nigeria e-mail: okeyibiamegwu@gmail.com phone no. +2348039331875 abstract the role of the media in addressing issues of national question through remains a critical issue among developing nations such as nigeria. its critical role in the development of nations has grown over the decades to constitute an unavoidable subject of discourse in societies’ journey through civilization mostly in contemporary times when most developing nations such as nigeria, are facing multiple challenges. this realm of society has come through the ages of anti-colonial struggle to the independence and post independence military rule and other anti-democratic processes to become defenders of the rule of law, justice and equity in nigeria. the media in nigeria have been adjudged variously by observers and commentators on nigerian development. prominent among such observations include the findings of this study which reveal various dimensions to the interpretations of the role of the media in nigeria’s national development. here the analysis reveals the nigerian media as having contributed a very high quota of service to nigeria’s national development. these efforts are evidenced from the dividends of democracy which stand as lasting testimonies of the role the media have played and continue to play in nigeria’s national development. it therefore becomes of great importance for social science scholars, nationalists and other concerned citizens to join the media as they continue this task of society building. introduction the media have come over ages to constitute un-avoidable institutions of society’s advancement. they have remained not just the watch dogs of society, but also stake holders in the development projects of nations, in many spheres of life, especially as agents of mass education. according to appadorai, (1975), the turn of the 16th century led to increased revival of learning, as men took to thinking for themselves against the previous centuries of mostly the dark ages of restraint of the human mind. he continued that this era arising from the renaissance as well as the reform movements facilitated the invention of printing that helped record and spread discoveries and events, across frontiers. by the turn of the 18th century enlightenment, printing had formed the basic channel for the spread of information across societies that natural frontiers were breached facilitating the rapid transfer and diffusion of knowledge among mankind. out mailto:okeyibiamegwu@gmail.com 103 | p a g e of these events emerged various institutions of society which began to assume specific fundamental importance and thus were given acronyms and definitions accordingly. among these institutions was the mass media that assume the position of the “fourth estate of the realm” (encyelopaedia britanica vol. 14 1976). the media have since its emergence played roles that have advanced society through the instrumentality of communication in varying degrees. the word media “is a derivative of the latin word “medium” which means “path/or “way” and “means”. the adaptation of the media into the field of mass communication is in the plural form, “media, to denote the multiplicity of the various forms and channels employed in the art of communicating within society, which involves dealing with a mass or large number of people in their different categories (igwe (2005). defleur and dennis, (1975), conceive of the mass media as “devices for moving message across distances and time to accomplish the goals of communication”. there are many channels of the mass media. these include the newspapers (and newsletters), magazines, (and journals), film documentaries, radio, televisions, books as well as direct mail communications among others. all these are categorized into two viz; 1. the print (press) media that include newspapers, magazines, newsletters, pamphlets, journals, books, directories, directional circulars bill boards, sky writing and other technical devices that appeal specifically to the sense of sight of the masses as well as still pictures and cartoons etc. 2. the electronic media include: (a) radio; i.e. audio message received from the air waves, audio recordings, public address systems and (b) television i.e. motion pictures received through the airwaves, video and cinema recordings and the latest ict networks system. (encyclopedia britannica, 1976: 21). message is invariably the central element in any art of communication. it is therefore in the effort to underscore the implications of the role of the media in society that we seek to examine the media in nigeria, to systematize and analyze its role as a catalyst to the development of nigeria. the media as had earlier been mentioned at the introductory stage of this paper, the media have come to play very important roles for society. the media therefore are the means of communicating with large numbers of people across distances and time through the print and electronic channels. the media has thus come through various processes and centuries along with the forces of industrialization in both the developed and underdeveloped societies (encyclopedia britannica vol. 21. 1976). 104 | p a g e forester (1964) lends a voice in this spot light on the media when he takes an over view of the phenomena and holds that historically, the growth of the media in most societies have been tedious and painstaking. the circumstances under which the media have operated depended to a large extent on the level of civilization the given society has attained, as well as the prevalent political and socio-economic order that goes a long way to determine the trajectory of events in such societies. here the ideological posture of a society pre-disposes it towards a particular behavior regarding its media. in europe and the americas, the growth of the media came through travails that the quest for press freedom became the arrowhead of all other activities of the media. media practitioners were initially of the print media called the press before the emergence of other sectors and channels in the pursuit of the same noble task, hence we see both press and media as the same in this paper. zachariah, (1946) argues that; despite these efforts and after the demise of the medieval order, the modern state arose and sustained the press censorship that it continued to constitute contentious issue between the government and the practitioners of this fourth estate of the realm. among censorship mechanism employed by the british government to censor the press within both its territories and their colonies which the post colonial nigerian state has sustained include: licensing and forbidding any press work and sales without government approval. this order met with consistent criticism and antagonism that culminated in the emergence of the work of john milton, an english poet, “areopagitica”, in which he called for the stoppage of government caging of the press. he campaigned for the right and freedom to know, to utter and to argue freely according to conscience. his efforts in conjunction with other scholars and those of the press led to the 1695 discontinuation of licensing of the press in england. (zachariah1946). other restrictions such as the law of seditious libel, etc continued and were faced with struggles to set the press on a better footing for the dissemination of information in society. in america such struggles took various dimensions that culminated in the 1935 trial of job peter zenger, a new york editor accused of seditious libel for criticizing the colonial governor, he was acquitted by the jury, when his lawyer invoked the ethical order of ‘the right to print matters supported with truth’ in his defense, (encyclopedia americana, 1979). on the international level, conflicts over press (media) freedom continued that in 1948, the united nations general assembly in adopting the universal declaration of human rights; enumerated the principle which held that; very one has the right to freedom of opinion and expression and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media, 105 | p a g e regardless of frontiers” (united nations 1948 declarations. cited in dashe, ed., (1995). despite the fact that all member nations are bound by this united nation principles, many nation-states still operate laws that restrict the press through instrumentalities such as: i. government licensing of journalists. ii. heavy taxation on equipments such as printing machines, papers, inks, etc (to curtail investments in the sector) iii. press council, designed to regulate, punish and even withdraw licenses of “erring” practitioners. iv. cases of libel for obscene publications that elicit negative consequences through literary and artistic publications as well as emotive issues in political, religious and cultural life of society that leads to tension and crisis, (egwu, ed. 2003). in the third world countries in general and nigeria in particular the media have remained the paradox in which circumstantial inclinations of both the government under different regimes and the practitioners have each played the media to the gallery of particular interests in the society, by either caging press freedom or undermining the ethics of the profession through state patronage to repress freedom of expression. the media served as a veritable instrument in the death knell on colonialism, which informed one of the early institutions that had effective spread in the particular case of nigeria, in which its functions have continued to grow and elicit reactions from various quarters. specifically the functions of the media have come to include among others: 1. political socialization and mobilization. 2. surveillance over the environment and society. 3. correlation of parts of society in response to the environment. 4. transmission of the societies’ heritage from one generation to the next. 5. entertainment, education and mass-communication related issues. 6. the duty of watchdog of society in all spheres of life. (egwu . ed (2003). development development is a complex phenomenon that involves many aspects of life. it ranges from the social and the political to the economic and other phases of the life of men as they interact with each other, nature and the society. development deals with motivating people towards improvement in their lives as well as the entire society. here some form of profound transformation occurs from stages of 106 | p a g e stagnation and decay to improved standard of life in a progressive manner that causes existence to appreciate positively. many definitions of development exist in the literature. each scholar’s ideological position determines the form of his interpretation of the phenomena. among these are theories that range from the economic growth to the modernization theories, the distributive justice and the classical political economy theories of development, as well as the dependency theory. for keith, cited in egwu (2005), …the ultimate purpose of development is to expand the capabilities of people, to increase their ability to lead long and healthy lives, to enable them to cultivate their talents and interests, and to afford them an opportunity to live in dignity and with self respect… development, as posited by keith, is a sine-qua-non-for the actualization or fulfillment of man’s efforts as he interacts with matter and his fellow men. the world summit for social development, held in copenhagen 1995, concluded that poverty reduction and full employment should be crucial aims for developing countries. the summit recognized that a necessary condition to meet these objectives was an appreciable increase in the rates of growth experienced over the 1980s and 1990s in these countries. but it was implicitly acknowledged that economic growth is not in itself sufficient to achieve all the goals set by the summit. the quality of these growths also matters. (unrisd 2000 publications) issues arise here to cause scholars like osiruemu (2004) to argue that socio-economic development deals with the relationship between economic activity and social life. in many cases, socio-economists focus on the social impact of some sort of economic change, as a unit of analyses of development. as communities continue to grow, local officials and community members are constantly challenged by the need to balance fiscal, social, economic and environmental goals. one aspect of this challenge is deciding how much and what type of new development the community can accommodate without compromising the day-to-day quality of life for citizens, through socio-economic development. socio-economic development promotes long-term sustainability, including economic prosperity, a healthy community and social well-being. it also preserves the rural character of the community, by embracing improvement in the living standard of the citizenry, seeking to create a high level of employment, reduction of poverty, infrastructures and other essentials of life, (egwu, 2005). 107 | p a g e according to onyemeluke, (1977), development in national context refers to the processes of change, particularly on infrastructure, superstructure, human dimensions targeted towards the enhancement of a people’s socio-economic welfare and the average individual’s scope for self-fulfillment. on his part nnoli, (1981), opines that development is not the collection of western artifacts with an index of how one is able to acquire industrialization, economic affluence, advanced technology, urbanization and democracy. rather he sees it as a dialectical phenomenon in which the individual and society interact with their environment to create general transformation of life from stages of stagnation and decay to an improved standard. these entails among other things a more equal distribution of income, more and better paid job, more gender equality and more gender inclusiveness and other social security imperatives which governments must not only encourage but also must create in their societies. all these with their significant objectives spelt out point to people oriented processes of development that go beyond the lip services of the world and indeed nigerian leaders. our contentions are located within the broad objectives spelt out by unrised (1991), which involves the promotion of international comparative studies that facilitate exchange of experiences. this is possible through the creation of greater national comparability that enhances sustainability on all fronts of life based on specific life patterns that encourage the improvement of the lives of all peoples. in this order, we adopt as our guiding principle unrisd’s four broad aims of qualitative development indicators. these are: 1. to help orientate national development and support of international cooperation by assisting governments to formulate and follow polices better geared to the well being of the population. 2. to promote and evaluate progress among all peoples as they develop. 3. to promote the application of policies for the pursuit of concerted projects. 4. to provide early warnings regarding conditions that demand attention and action in the attainment of development goals. (unrisd (1991). the media and national development the media in nigeria has come a long way through the colonial era under which it suffered repression and stiff opposition from the colonial administrators, till date to be celebrated despite the drawbacks that have been witnessed by its practitioners. according to rodney (1988:287) 108 | p a g e …colonialism fettered the development of the enslaved people. to facilitate colonial exploitation, the imperialists deliberately hampered economic and socio-cultural progress (socio-cultural progress here encapsulating the functions of the media in pursuing the people’s socio-cultural development) in the colonies, preserved and restored obsolete form of social relations and fomented discord between the various nationalities, groups and sections of the society. the indigenous media of colonial nigeria were among the sections of the society that faced stiff opposition from the colonial order that an antagonism between it and the colonial state persisted leading to conflicts. here the media became the vanguard for political independence and nationalist struggles, as a fusion of interests emerged between journalism and politics, within which every indigenous nigerian politician became a potential journalist and vice verse. at this juncture there emerged a collaborative effort in the struggle for independence in which the media through the few available newspapers like the “west african pilot” iwe iroyin” a western nigerian based newspaper, etc, engaged in the political education of nigerians about the ills of colonial rule as well as the need for the people’s support of the nationalist struggle (nnoli 1978). under the colonial order the media was active as an agent of national development via, its collective and active enlightenment of the masses towards the opposition of the exploitative colonial masters as well as the quest for the people’s liberation and self rule actualized on 1st october 1960. from the 1960 independence through the various republics (civil rule) and military dictatorship, the media in nigeria have undergone various processes of both horrendous and nostalgic dimensions. the media have played great roles in some aspects of nigeria’s national development as agents of mass enlightenment against misrule and totalitarianism. the military rulers have all through their years of hegemony over the people of nigeria declared an unofficial war on the media. efforts were made to apply all forms of draconian decree and jungle justice against the media, because this was a major source of exposing the appropriation tactics of the military juntas that held the people hostage in their land. the media were so embattled that many such as dele giwa and others paid with their lives while pro-democracy activists such as pa rewane, kudirat abiola, and others who collaborated with the media to oppose military dictatorship paid the same painful price. the media was therefore muscled to the point it became an unofficial practice for various political office holders under the military juntas, to turn the media into punching bags. 109 | p a g e nigeria being a nation-state whose political leadership psyche has difficulty in adjusting to change has without surprise to continued the same violent political behavior into the democratic dispensation that started in 1999 when the military disengaged from and relinquished political power, thanks to the media and international pressures. it is therefore not surprising that the political cum democratic rulers have ganged up since 1999 till date to either loot the peoples’ resources or seek to elongate and perpetuate their stay in office so that the brigandage will continue. this, the media has continued to expose leading to the attempts to once again muscle the media. however, the media have maintained their ground that their voice continues to reverberate not just longer but louder, that the obasanjo led civilian dictators bowed to the will of the masses; alas the entry of the yar’adu and goodluck jonathan led team, an indication that the media is still awake. thanks to the media and the relentless efforts of other well meaning nigerians, this new team of civilian rulers led by president jonathan has since its entry into political office began to adjust to the true meaning of their calling which is democratic rule. the media’s unwavering hold to their pen have caused hope to rise like the early morning sun to soothe the people’s hearts as they look forward to better days of sustainable democracy anchored on good governance. analysis national development is an historical and dialectical phenomenon. it is a desire of the various institutions and peoples that constitute the country; each imbued with various interests and goals, aspire to accomplish. such goals have on many occasions had opposing forces rear their heads so high above the overall national interest that crisis and conflicts have resulted leading to diverse forms of assertiveness that threaten nigeria’s corporate existence. ita, (1978), in a reaction to sectional sentiments and the attendant consequences warns that the greatest need of nigerians today is to become a community, to evolve a national selfhood and that nigerians should seek coordination among the ethnic (and sectional) unions in a way that will help to build a strong national consciousness. here the consciousness of the people towards national development will involve a process of politically socializing the people into becoming good and patriotic citizens and making them feel they have a stake in the community worth fighting for. here a sense of mutuality of interests and identities must be fostered among the multiple and diverse ethnic configurations. it is this consciousness building as well as exposing and 110 | p a g e frowning at the ills of each society that the media’s avowed role of pursuing uprightness without reverence to any sacred cows becomes obvious. this researcher therefore submits that the media in nigeria have come a long way in an antagonistic environment and generally debilitating socio-economic order to be identified as part of the institutions in nigeria that competes with their peers in the committee of nations. they have grown from being professional organs into that which takes on all available human and societal development strides; on politics, the economy, socio-cultural issues etc; and have continued to break into new frontiers of the emerging globalization processes, (egwu 2005). today in nigeria, the media have come of age that they continue to watch the society exposing ills such as the celebrated sectional interests’ intent on scuttling the visitation of the law on any erring nigeria leaders and the followers. the media have taken their position as the watch dog of the society as they continues to cover the young democracy, seeking for accountability, war against all social vices as well as calling on the society to look into the needs of the marginalized people such as the minorities of the niger delta, human rights abuses of the civil war, and others perpetrated by past military regimes, as well as present civilian despots. we submit that the journey has been rough so far. the horizon is getting clearer with the media playing the leading role as well as calling society’s attention to fundamental national issues. with caution and sustained effort against the ills of sectionalism, unfounded rumour mongering and witch hunting of any one or section of the country, the media will successfully occupy their proper place in nigeria’s quest for national development. the effectiveness of the media’s role in this aspect involves locating the concept of development within the ambits of efforts that can transform the people and society into positions of improved living standard as well as the transformation of the economic and infrastructural base for good life. development is about people and society moving in unity towards excellence, good life and order. it is a process of interaction between men and their environment being transformed in that process, for the creation of an egalitarian system for the benefit of all mankind. the goals sought by this paper entail sustained education and information dissemination, unrestrained and unfettered; for the benefit of a class-less society. these are the goals of the media and this is the essence of national development. the media therefore has the 111 | p a g e functional duty of ensuring that society does not decay into “nothingness”. they should keep their heads above waters in this noble task of ensuring the success of the people’s quest for development through the profound transformation of society involving changes in property relationship and access for various social classes to public good. conclusion this study has been an exposition of the role of the media in the national development efforts nigerians. it is established here that indeed the media have come to stay as both the watchdogs of society and motivators of men in their efforts to cause development in their entire ways of life. the media in nigeria have lived up to their responsibility in all phases of nation building. the citizens have shown their appreciation of these roles of the media in various ways as have been stated in this study. however, much still remain to be done by all involved in the struggle by the people to sustain the dividends of democracy in not just the political institutions but also the economic and other areas of national life of the people. to achieve the much desired accelerated development of the nigerian society, the media’s role identified here and many more to be discovered elsewhere must be sustained. the media have indeed been effective and patriotic in their service to their mother land. the gentlemen and ladies of this fourth realm of the society are indeed heroes and heroines of the people that deserve all the citizens’ support as they sustain their avowed struggle for the sustenance of the nation’s development efforts. recommendations it is evident from this study that nigerians have attained enviable heights in the various frontiers of human endeavor. among such frontiers include the media whose efforts this researcher has painstakingly undertaken to study here. despite these successes, there are still some gray areas of set back and lapses on the part of both the media and the citizens deserving attention for greater heights to be achieved by the media in the nigerian development efforts. these areas are hereby discussed as recommendations of this study. such areas include: (1) the media should strengthen their members’ professionalism through periodic training and other services that can reposition them in the development of our society. (2) there must be concerted efforts at ensuring that only qualified journalists are engaged to practice the profession by the various media establishments, to avoid miss—information and other vices that may cause loss of faith in the media by the citizens. when the practice is left in the hands of the professionals, their effective service delivery to the nation can be guaranteed. 112 | p a g e (3) contemporary efforts at sustaining the dividends of democracy in nigeria must ensure the protection of journalists’ rights. here the rule of law must be ensured and guaranteed on behalf of both the people and the media practitioners. (4) all citizens must put their hands to the plough in the anti-corruption war by providing information to the media to help them bring unscrupulous public and private office holders to the public glare. this will facilitate the efforts of the long arms of the law at bringing such persons to book. (5) national development is a holistic affair deserving the total commitment of the citizenry irrespective of creed, profession and other affiliations. all efforts must therefore be put in place by the people to work in association with the media to achieve the task of nation building in nigeria. nigerians must therefore join forces with the media and all involved in the struggle to take the nation to higher heights. references ake, c. (1996) “development options for the 21st century”. lagos. vanguard newspapers feb. 6th. appadorai, a. (1975) the substance of politics: london: oxford university press. coleman, j.s. (1977) nigeria: background to nationalism: los angeles university press, california usa. igwe, o. (2005) politics and globe dictionary: aba: eagle publishers. nnoli, o. (1978) ethnic politics in nigeria: lagos: fourth dimension press. egwu, e.u. (ed) (2003) political culture and behaviour in nigeria: abakaliki, pack publisher ltd. egwu, o.i. (2005) federalism and federations in a new world order: enugu: john jacob publishers ltd. rodney walter (1982) how europe underdeveloped africa: enugu. aka ikenga press. dashe y.b. (ed) (1995) “journal of political administration”. jos. university of jos press. zachariah, c.j. (1946) government and mass communication: chicago, university press. encyclopaedia americana (international edition) (1997) vol.2 connecticutt. groleir incorporated. usa. encyclopaedia britanica: (1976) vol 21. american corporation danbur, chicago.world book encyclopaedia: (1992) world book inc. london. unrisd (united nations research institute for social development) (2000) unrisd, geneva. 92 | p a g e the psyco – social implications of hiv/aids transmission in nigerian prison by okechukwu, groupson-paul uc. phd groupsonpaul@yahoo.com, okechukwu.groupson@funai.edu.ng department of political science alex ekwueme federal university ndufu alike ikwo (funai), abakaliki – ebonyi state, nigeria, okechukwu, ibiam egwu phd okeyibiamegwu@gmail.com department of political science alex ekwueme federal university ndufu alike ikwo (aefunai) abakaliki – ebonyi state, nigeria, ayodeji o.adedeji adeayo2000s@yahoo.com department of political science alex ekwueme federal university ndufu alike ikwo (funai), abakaliki – ebonyi state, nigeria, onyejegbu emeka dominic divinemercy_f@yahoo.com department of political science university of nigeria nsukka (unn), enugu state, nigeria chibuike emmanuel madubuegwu department of political science nnamdi azikwe university awka, anambra state. okechukwu, prisca chinyere prispella medical diagnositic consultant emene, enugu nigeria abstract the scourge of hiv/aids disease has remained an endemic plague among prison inmates in nigeria over the years, owing to the unrestrained and unwarranted sexually related abuses among prison inmates and the administrative laxity on the part of officials charged with correctional services among the inmates. also, governments at all levels mailto:groupsonpaul@yahoo.com mailto:okechukwu.groupson@funai.edu.ng mailto:divinemercy_f@yahoo.com 93 | p a g e have failed to decongest prisons amidst the failure of the prison managers to control the spread of this deadly disease. this study interrogated the psycho-social implications of hiv/aids transmission among inmates of in enugu and awka correctional centers. to achieve this objective the study utilized both primary and secondary data. primary data was obtained through interviews and questionnaires administered on the prison managers and prison inmates as respondents. secondary data were generated from academic journals, internet materials, official documents from the nigerian prisons as well as other archival materials. this study raised some problematic in areas of: what measures have governments put in place to tackle the spread of hiv/aids and other related abuses in nigerian prisons? what are the challenges been face by the government towards decongesting prisons? what are the psycho-social practices that are prevalent among prison inmates? this paper sought for answers to these questions in relation to the various psycho-social practices among these inmates. the findings revealed a high prevalence of sexually related immoral acts through which hiv/aids has been spreading in prisons. it also exposed the contour of official complicity in encouraging the use of illicit drugs, diversion of allocations of funds and materials meant for inmates. the study explicates the negative trend that disposes the inmates to criminal practices which generally impact on the system adversely. the study thereby suggests the introduction of effective administrative inquiries and reforms in these prisons; the government should enthronement modern inmates’ correctional practices that de-emphasize inmates’ institutionalization through probation services to reduce the spread of hiv/aids in prisons. introduction human civilization is probably passing through a most critical moment of this millennium while its existence is being challenged by the surfacing of strange illnesses among which is hiv/aids. hiv stands for human immunodeficiency virus. it is the virus that can lead to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, or aids, if not treated. the hiv/aids outbreak has been declared an international public health emergency by the world health organization (who). the hiv and aids epidemic remains one of the greatest health and growth challenges of our time. the number of adults acquiring hiv each year has not declined considerably over the past ten years. the epidemic keeps claiming more than one million lives each year. nigeria country report, (2018). prisoners are key populations for hiv and other sexually transmitted infections (stis). penal institutions all over the world anxious about the fast and uncontrolled distribution of hiv in prisons due to many specific risk factors, including availability of illegal drugs in prisons despite the sustained efforts of prison systems to prevent it, consensual and non-consensual sex occurrences in prisons, no withstanding laws or policies prohibiting sex in the prison, sharing of tattooing equipment by prisoners.. according to bamigbose (2010), other risk factors like -body piercing, sharing of razor blades, exposure to 94 | p a g e human blood and body fluids through fights, assaults, and accidents also occur in the prisons. the disease remained pervasive in cramped, poorly ventilated prison facilities, which had chronic shortages of medical supplies as is the case in nigeria prison. inadequate medical treatment and bad living conditions caused many people in prisons to die from treatable illnesses such as hiv and aids. factors related to the prison infrastructure, prison management and the criminal justice system also contribute to the increased vulnerability to hiv/aids and other health risks in prisons. a report of people in prisons’ mortality in nigerian prisons from 2007 to 2019 put the figure of deaths at 1066 persons out of which 85 are aids-related deaths. prison statistics.(2019). this high hiv prevalence has a health and psycho-social impact not only to the people in prisons but also those who manage them. the 1999 constitution of the federal republic of nigeria guarantees the welfare of every citizen of the country. apart from this, the united nations standard minimum rule for the treatment of offenders (unsmr) emphasized the welfare of prisoners in its section 20 (1) & (20). the rationale behind these provisions are meant to ensure that ex-prisoners are able to return to the society as rehabilitated individuals who will be able to live a normal life and contribute to national development. however, the above mentioned provisions and similar ones only remain a document in the country and not the practice. on may 29, 2014, gov. ibikunle amosun of ogun state was reported to have broken into tears at the pitiable sight of inmates at oba prison in abeokuta (sun newspapers, may 2014). the enugu prison, found in the heart of the coal city, were established in 1915. the prison from inception have a grave management problem due to the fact that out of the 638 spaces meant for the inmate, that it was overrun by 1,800 inmates who were faced on the environment with the issue of congestion at first instance. (premium times, 2016). a problem, uchenwa (2016) observed that underage inmates were kept with much older and hardened criminals. the institution for juveniles at hill-top, ngwo are no longer maintained thereby forcing the weak to be at the mercy of the strong. as weighty as this revelation is, the available or known policies for manning prison and rehabilitating minors are not operational. to accentuate this observation further, it was noted that the jail do not offer appropriate hiv treatment due to poor policies managements, among other abnormalities, in the handling of prisoners is a pointer to the fact that the rate of hiv/aids among prison inmates might be in ratio of 5 is to 7 times compared to the general population. in 2010 alone, it was generally observed that 20,000 people living with hiv/aids were held in states and federal prisons in nigeria notwithstanding the poor environmental condition prevalence there in. 95 | p a g e this unpredictable, fast spreading infectious disease has been causing universal awareness, anxiety and distress, all of which according to bamigbose (2010) are natural psychological responses to the randomly changing condition. most patients with serious, progressive illness face a range of psychological challenges, including the prospect of real and anticipated losses, worsening quality of life, the fear of physical decline and death, and coping with uncertainty, they are often reluctant to mention mood problems to their physicians. also, depressive symptoms, such as fatigue or loss of appetite, can be attributable to hiv infection or medications. some researchers are of the view that female prisoners suffer more psychological trauma than their male counterpart. because of the risk of transmission, major and permanent changes are called for in sexual behavior and management of substance use, neither of which may be easily modifiable in the reality of nigerian prison. this study is set to determine the various ways in which hiv/aids epidemic have impacted the prisoners’ mental health. based on this background, the researcher is set to evaluate the relevant psychosocial consequences or implication of hiv/aids transmission in nigeria prison. stigma as defined by jombo (2016) as the presence of an undesirable or discrediting feature that an individual possesses which may lessen the status of an individual from a societal point of view. stigma is a one of the psychosocial impacts of hiv/aids. it links a person to an undesirable stereotype, leading others to reduce the bearer from a whole and usual person to a tainted, discounted one. in the prison setting, a stigmatized patient is prone to seek medical care late and hide important medical history. this behavior, in sequence, increases the risk of disease transmission. health crime as a result of the fear of being hiv positive has also been reported in the prisons, orakwe, (2012). the who issued specific psychosocial considerations for abating the growing stigma of hiv/aids. the pains of the weak and suppression by the strong among inmates makes the exposure and tackling of the ills/vices difficult in the prison. the prison is a vertically structured community consisting of three social classes resulting from physical violence and suppression among inmates: (1) the physically strong ones who are able to suppress others; (2) those who are respected; and (3) those who are suppressed. also underage inmates were kept with much older and hardened criminals. there is the need for government to put appropriate measures in place to fix these conditions, in other to abate the resultant psychosocial implication on the prison inmate. uchenwa (2016) prison managers turned blind eyes to the ills/vices going on in the prison. the prison services are, therefore, being blamed for the growth of criminal gangs in jails. there is no clear strategy for dealing with criminal gangs in prison, or adequate assessment of the 96 | p a g e danger prisoners pose, worsening the case of hiv/aids prison inmate. the journal.ie (2019). this results in the prisoners being abused by fellow inmates without any one to report to. this prison management attitude to work should be tackled in line with the behavioral reformation objective of keeping criminals in prison. gender psychosocial implication of hiv/aids prisoners transmission is not clear. some researchers are of the view that a female hiv infected person are more strongly stigmatized and exposed than their male counterparts because of a sterotype in african society, that a woman who insists on use of condom during sexual intercourse is promiscuous, only men can. but other studies say that male and female are stigmatized equally since the both experience the same condition in the prison confinement. according to a report by prawa, vice president yemi osinbajo lamented over the deplorable state of the country’s prison and enouncement of the savage treatment of inmates is a remark that must be taken seriously if nigerians have some regard for the overall health of the society. at an official presentation of nigerian prisons survey report in abuja, he said that there is no room for prisoners and anybody who goes into that place as a human being coming out as an animal. prawa (2018). literature search revealed insufficient research reports on the psycho-social consequences of hiv/aid in prison inmates odekunle, (2007). more so, the few studies on impact of hiv/aid on prison inmates in nigeria are inconclusive on whether gender has any relevance on the nature of psycho-social implication suffered in the nigerian prison and calls for further investigation. this study intends to fill this gap by contributing to the existing discussions. research problem nigeria has a high hiv epidemic in the world, naca (2017), and the prison population is at high risk of hiv and aids transmission. this is so because infection with this virus can occur as a result high rate of vulnerable behaviors that occur on daily basis, therein. according to onuigwe, (2018), these unhealthy behaviors account for around 32% of new hiv infections in nigeria. most people infected with hiv and aids in the prison struggle with psycho-social problems such as stigma, suppression, negligence, guilt, isolation, distress, fear of rejection, depression and psychiatric disorder, shock and hopelessness among others. there appears to be paucity of research evidence available to the researcher on the psycho-social factors that affects the prison inmates in nigeria. there is also no consensus on whether gender has any relevance on the nature of psycho-social implication suffered in the nigerian prison. 97 | p a g e the question therefore is “what is the psycho-social implication of hiv/aids transmission in nigeria prison ? purpose of the study the main purpose of the study was to find out the psycho – social implications of hiv/aids transmission in nigerian prison. specifically, the study tried to determine the psycho social implication of hiv/aids transmission in enugu prison and the association between gender and psycho-social implication of hiv/aids transmission in prisons. research hypotheses the following null hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. ho1: there is no psycho-social implication of hiv/aids transmission in prisons ho2: there is no association between gender and prisoners' psycho-social implication of hiv/aids transmission. methodology the design for this study is the case study research design. the study was carried out in enugu prison nigeria. the population for the study comprised of 227 respondents, made up of 115 males and 112 females all of whom are prisoners in enugu prison. the entire population was used as the number was within manageable size. the instrument used for data collection was the psyco–social implications of hiv/aids transmission in nigerian prison, (piht). the questionnaire was a four point likert scale. respondents were required to tick () the option that best expresses their views about the statement made. values of 4,3,2,and 1 were attached to sa, a, d, and sd, respectively. the chisquare statistic was used to test hypotheses. the hypotheses with negative correlation coefficient (v) were rejected, while those with positive correlation (v) were accepted. results ho1: there is no psycho-social implication of hiv/aids transmission in enugu prison. table1: psycho-social implication of hiv/aids transmission in enugu prison. chi-square tests value df asymp. sig. (2-sided) pearson chi-square 672.000a 9 .000 likelihood ratio 578.046 9 .000 linear-by-linear association 223.000 1 .000 n of valid cases 224 98 | p a g e a. 1 cells (6.2%) have expected count less than 5. the minimum expected count is 4.02. table 1 shows that the calculated p-value is less than our chosen significance level (α = 0.05). the null hypothesis is therefore rejected. there are psycho-social implications of hiv/aids transmission in prison prisons in nigeria. this was so because χ2(9)< = 672.000, p = 0.000. ho2: there is no association between gender and prisoners' psycho-social implication of hiv/aids transmission. table 2: prisoners' psycho-social implication of hiv/aids transmission by gender chi-square tests value df asymp. sig. (2-sided) pearson chi-square .616a 3 .893 likelihood ratio .618 3 .892 linear-by-linear association .037 1 .848 n of valid cases 224 99 | p a g e a. 0 cells (0.0%) have expected count less than 5. the minimum expected count is 15.00. table 2 shows that the calculated p-value is greater than our chosen significance level (α = 0.05). the null hypothesis is therefore not rejected. there is no association between gender and psycho-social implications of hiv/aids transmission in prison prisons in nigeria. this was so because χ2(9)> = 0.616, p = 0.893. findings based on the analysis of data as presented in this study, the following major findings were made: there are psycho-social implications of hiv/aids transmission in prison prisons in nigeria. there is no association between gender and psycho-social implications of hiv/aids transmission in prison prisons in nigeria discussions of findings table 1 revealed that there is psycho-social implications of hiv/aids transmission in prisons in nigeria. this findings is in line with earlier findings of bamigbose (2010), who stated that the prisoners encounter anxiety and depression, which are natural psychological responses to the randomly changing condition. the findings of this study corresponds also with the findings of goffman (2010), orakwe, (2012). uchennwa (2016). they all found that the prisoners suffer serious personality degradation as a result of abuses and inappropriate environmental condition prevalence in nigeria prison. 100 | p a g e the result of the findings in table 2 shows that there is no association between gender and psycho-social implications of hiv/aids transmission in prisons in nigeria. the result of the present study contradicts an earlier study by taiwo (2015), who found out gender sterotype, sexual assertiveness and health locus of control were significant predictors of perceived vulnerability of female hiv patient prisoners. on the other hand, the finding of abah (2014), agrees with the findings of the present study, he found out that both male and female are equally stigmatized. conclusions the results of this study have clearly indicated that psychosocial implications are suffered by prisoners who are infected with hiv/aids. also the study suggest that inmate of nigeria prisons are composed of male and female and did not find any association between gender and psycho-social implication of hiv/aid. both male and female are equally affected. recommendations generally, the neglect of the prison population may be a reflection of the penal policy of the country, which emphasizes punishment and retribution at the expense of reformation and rehabilitation of offenders. if the nation must meet the millennium development goal of eradicating hiv/aids and the stigma that is associated with it, then the penal philosophy, which guarantee the well-being of inmates in line with global developments must be put in place. when inmates in various prisons are not condemned and ostracized but are seen as part of the society. even though our findings did not associate gender with psychosocial impact of hiv/aids, more inclusive study to ascertain the influence of gender factors as well as design of gender sensitivity programme is required in nigeria prisons. it has become more imperative now, that nigeria is among the 5 significant nations in the world that require attention to stem the next global wave of hiv/aids.usnic (2012). references abah rc (2014), the implications of hiv prevalence trend in nigeria. journal of public health in africa 5: 19-22. bamigbose, o. a. (2010): the sentence, the sentence, and the sentenced: towards prison reform in nigeria. ibadan university press. ibadan. cdc. rockville, md: u.s department of health and human services; 2007. hiv/aids surveillance report, 2005. goffman, e. (1963). stigma: notes on the management of spoiled ldentity. englewood cliffs, new jersey: prentice-hall. hellard and aitken, (2014). the prevalence and the risk behaviors associated with the transmission of hiv/aids virus in africa correctional facilities. epid & inf; 2014:132(3):409-15 101 | p a g e national strategic framework on hiv and aids (2017) the development of a national hiv strategy for prisoners with alignment with effort to reduce hiv/aids, www.ilo.org. accessed march,2017. nation agency for the control of aids (2017), survey of hiv situation in nigeria prison. msang ptrick. nigerian prison services. prison statistics. http://www.prisons.gov.ng/statistics . accessed feb, 2019. nigerian prison services. prison statistics. http://www.prisons.gov.ng/statistics . accessed feb, 2019. odekunle, (2007). sociology of hiv/aids pandemic in nigeria. developing country studies. onyekachi j (2016), problems and prospects of administration of nigerian prison: need for proper rehabilitation of the inmates in nigeria prisons.j tourism hospit 5:228. doi: 10.4172/2167-0269.1000228 orakwe, i.w. (2012) the role of nigeria prisons service in international politics and security. the reformer, a bulletin of the nigerian prison services. prison rehabilitation and welfare action. (2016), nigerian prisons survey report in abuja: www.prawa.org.on.the.condition.of.nigerias.prisons the constitution of the federal republic of nigeria section 35 (4) of the 1999 taiwo a. o. (2015) the role of gender and psychosocial factors on perceived vulnerability to hiv/aids infection among young and middle aged adults in benin city, nigeria. teague s.m, (2009), perceptions of vulnerability to hiv/aids a comparison of two college cohort, 1990 and 2005. aids educ. preview. 21 525537. united state national intelligence council, (2012). the next waive of hiv/aids: nigeria, ethiopia, russia, india and china. www.journal.ie /prison/news/ retrieve 21 november, 2012 world health organization. global reporting repository (2018), the hiv/aids outbreak an international public health emergency. nigeria country report, 2018. the sun newspaper (2014), at the pitiable sight of inmates. www.sunnewsonline.com/long-awaited-nigeria-prison-reform. retrieved, may 2014 ibikunle a. the journal.ie (2018) the worsening case of hiv/aids prison inmate. www.thejournal.ie.prison-service.criminalgang. accesed in june 2018) http://www.ilo.org/ https://www.childrenandaids.org/sites/default/files/2017-11/national-hiv-and-aids-strategic-framework.pdf http://www.prawa.org.on.the.condition.of.nigerias.prisons/ http://www.journal.ie/ http://www.thejournal.ie.prison-service.criminalgang/ 27 | p a g e urbanization and insecurity in africa: issues, problems and prospects otu, otu akanu alex ekwueme federal university ndufu-alike, ebonyi state, nigeria abstract: urbanization as an agent of development is currently shifting to agent of underdevelopment in many continents of the world, especially in africa. urban development in africa continues to be threatened by high rate of insecurity which impedes the progress of individuals and society at large. this study is necessitated by the current trend of insecurity in many urban sectors. this assessment depends on the broadwriting survey and narrative gathering of documentaries on issues pertaining to urbanization vis-à-vis insecurity in africa anchored on optimists/pessimists theory. these involve overpopulation, rapid structural change, unemployment, rural-urban migration, high social pressures and social injustices, politicizing security issues with respect to administration of urban areas, et cetera. the paper further assessed the dimensions of these challenges comparable to the issue of insecurity in urban zones. it therefore maintained that urban areas if properly streamlined ameliorates persistence insecurity challenges, promote emotional stability and socio-economic development in africa. keywords: urbanization, insecurity; issues, problems and prospects. introduction the issue of insecurity has been a global concern due to incessant loss of lives and properties in many continents of the world, particularly in africa. african continent has witnessed several forms of attacks which have affected its human and material resources both in the rural and urban areas. mostly, urban areas are characterized by overpopulation, rapid structural change, unemployment, insecurity, high social pressures and social injustices. lately, in the quest for greener pastures people migrate from the rural to urban areas. [1] this rural-urban migration seems to have constituted an overcrowded urban environment in most african countries. evidently, there has been a sporadic increase in number of people living in urban areas ranging from 13% in 1900 to 49% in 2005.[2] it is further submitted that rural-urban migration increased to three billion as at 2012 and will continue to skyrocket by 2050 to about five billion or more.[2] despite this increase in migration of people from rural to urban areas, urban populace has not witnessed improved developmental standard.[3] research has shown that africans will meet urban standard by 2030 when most of its populace migrates from rural to urban areas.[4] it was reported that urbanization in africa is bedeviled with a lot of intrigues, especially in nigeria.[5] nigeria as a country is the most jam-packed african nation and is driven by population explosion.[6] at the interval, the current development pace of 28 | p a g e lagos city as the third biggest city on the planet has a population of 24m.[7] however, this situation is not peculiar to nigeria as other nations like cameroon, south-africa among others are also driven by high population index. globally, urbanization is the driving force of the economy especially in developing nations. [8] according to [2] urban areas offer individual a lot of opportunities to improve one’s standard of living. it was further maintained that urbanization is characterized with improved access to good housing facilities, transportation, employment, merchandise and other basic amenities for inhabitants in creating a better livelihood. collaboratively, it is clear that urbanization is the crux for individual development and societal change that offer business opportunities, affluent, security and social incorporation among others.[3] however, urbanization in africa has shifted from achieving those developmental components of social and economic sustenance to conglomerates of social unrest and economic despondency.[9] for instance, many developing nations like nigeria, chad, cameroon and niger republic had been witnessing incessant attacks and killings by boko haram insurgence, armed bandits, fulani herdsmen among others. these violent operations of boko haram, a nigeria-based jihadi terrorist group which began in nigeria’s northeastern borno state in 2009, have affected several other countries in the region of the lake chad basin. explicitly, cameroon has been experiencing the spread of boko haram’s operations on its soil since 2013.[10] the socio-cultural, linguistic and religious ties that cameroon’s far north region shares with northern nigeria eased boko haram’s spillover into cameroon by combatants and fleeing nigerians.[10] this sparked a military response from the government, supported in january 2015 by a multi-national joint task force (mnjtf) from the lake chad basin countries, overseen by the african union which yielded little or no result. nevertheless, thousands of cameroonians eventually joined boko haram at different times due to ideological or religious conviction, out of opportunism or under duress. [11] this enabled the jihadist movement to gather support and gain ground in cameroon’s far north region. after nigeria, cameroon is the second largest victim of boko haram’s attacks which have led to multiple displacements and persistent insecurity in the country’s far north region. moreover, the region shelters more than 100,000 nigerian refugees who have fled boko haram’s violence in their country with close to 60,000 of them living in the minawao camp which was specifically built for nigerian refugees in 2013.[12] although the intensity of the war between boko haram and cameroon deescalated in 2016, the humanitarian situation remains precarious and the resurgence of attacks by the extremist group on cameroon’s northern border with nigeria, still poses a major threat to national security. while boko haram is again recruiting fighters in cameroon and attacking the northern border, separatists on the other hand are fighting in the north west and south west regions to create an english-speaking state called ambazonia.[13] also, there exists lingering conflict between cameroon and nigeria over 29 | p a g e the bakassi peninsula, governance challenges, security issues in the east region that emanated from the crisis in the central african republic, piracy along the gulf of guinea, highway robbery in the north and terrorist insecurity in the far north. again, longstanding grievances of anglophones in the north west and south west regions against the francophone-dominated government escalated since october 2016 into what is today known as the “anglophone crisis”.[13] subsequently, nigeria as the giant of africa witnessed another dimension of agonizing imbroglio such that in 2014, about 260 chibok school girls were kidnapped; in 2020, more than 300 students were also kidnapped in katsina and presently the wife of nigerian president-aisha buhari ran away to dubai after a sporadic shooting by unidentified armed men in aso-rock presidential villa, abuja (urban area).[14, 59, 60] it therefore becomes pertinent to ask: if the wife of the chief security officer and commander-in-chief of the armed forces of the federal republic of nigeria flew away to another country over insecurity, what is the place of ordinary citizen? these tragedies have imposed brouhaha and insecurity of lives and properties among the entire populace with thousands of persons dead and millions internally displaced. sadly, not only have these issues of insecurity caused societal unrest and economic decay, it has as well triggered mental health problems among these migrant youths in urban areas. previous research with youths has found that those who experience multiple traumas such as boko haram insurgence, armed bandit and herdsmen attack are more likely to develop post-traumatic stress disorder or depression than those who experience one traumatic event [15] and are also more likely to experience more subsequent traumas [16]. also, low socio-economic status is a factor for developing post-traumatic stress disorder among youths that results to abuse of substance and criminal tendencies. [17, 18, 19] this could be the reason why many individuals who were unable to have access to quality standard of living in urban areas resort to crime, thereby, threatening the existence of security and permeating insecurity in the area. indeed, insecurity of lives and properties in not only urban but also rural areas in africa has risen to unimaginable state to warrant global attention and response from various international agencies such as united nations, african union peace and security council (psc), international crisis group among others. these organizations/agencies have sent scores of soldiers, armed personnel on boot, relieve materials among others to various african countries with high rate of insecurity to curb it. despite interventions by these agencies to curb the issue of insecurity in most african countries, the menace still escalates. in most cases, government officials and other stakeholders responsible for tackling insecurity in many urban areas politicize it. as a result, addressing the issue of insecurity in urban areas in africa is a jamboree messed in strategy irregularity, political class insensitivity, politics and politicking, lack of sufficient funds to counter security challenges and diversion of accessible funds among others.[3] consequently, it is 30 | p a g e maintained that urbanization process in africa has subsequently been portrayed as pseudo-urbanization.[9] this assertion could be as a result of deteriorating insecurity in the continent’s urban areas which has threatened its human and material resources. based on this scenario, this paper examined issues pertaining to urbanization as it relates to insecurity in urban areas with prospects of achieving economic and social development in africa. statement of the problem urbanization as a global phenomenon is considered a major index for development in various continents of the world especially in africa. this is because african continent is still regarded as third world countries or developing nations due to shortfalls in its developmental stride compared to other continents like europe, asia, et cetera. it is worth note that collection of people of different tribe, race or ethnic groups in urban areas begets exchange of ideas and resources that propel development of any continent. unfortunately, this collection of people in urban areas comprised mainly of rural migrants prompted a high degree of insecurity of lives and properties presumably in the quest for survival. however, most of these migrants are believed to be youths with low socio-economic background who on the course of migration experience varying traumatic events such as insurgence that invariably affects their mental health. this is because low socioeconomic status is a factor for developing post-traumatic stress disorder among youths that results to abuse of substance and criminal tendencies. evidently, it has been noted that those who experience multiple traumas are prone to develop post-traumatic stress disorder or depression than those who experience one traumatic event and are also more disposed to exhibiting tendencies for criminal activities. this situation could be the cause of high rate of insecurity in many urban areas, especially among youths in african nations. regrettably, insecurity of lives and properties in urban areas has eroded or rather threatened the essence of african existence as of late with an end goal to handle the security challenges in urban areas. perhaps, the continent has directed an impressive piece of her national financial plan to re-establishing security in many urban areas. in spite of these gigantic costs on security, the degree of insecurity in the continent is still high particularly in urban areas. with the enduring insecurity challenges and the failure of the security contraption of the legislature to guarantee wellbeing and security in the continent, prompted this investigation. therefore, this research sought to explore various issues surrounding urbanization and insecurity with prospects to achieving development in africa. 31 | p a g e objectives of the study generally, the study sought to determine the issue of urbanization and insecurity bearing in mind its problems with prospect for african development. specifically, the study sought to: 1) ascertain the major functional elements of urbanization; 2) evaluate issues pertaining to insecurity in africa; 3) ascertain the problems of urban insecurity in africa; 4) estimate prospects to achieving urban security in relation to attainment of socioeconomic development in africa. significance of the study this paper has both theoretical and practical significance. theoretically, this study is anchored on optimists and pessimists theory by [20, 21] which proposes that urbanization facilitates greater efficiency, either through acting on growth, providing innovations or making more important economies of scale, specialization or agglomeration. while, pessimists argue that urbanization may have a detrimental impact on financial execution in the event that it is inordinate or heedless. it is therefore paramount that africans understand the need to maintain a security threat free society in its urban areas so as to improve on the growth and development of the continent’s socio-economic base. practically, this study will be beneficial to government officials, security agencies, urban and regional policymakers/planners as well as the entire populace. hopefully, government officials will benefit from this study if published and lobbied for legislation in various government agencies. it would enable them understand the damage meted by insecurity in urban areas and hasten move to control such. again, security agencies will benefit from this study if published and used as a manual of instruction to enlighten various security apparatus of the government during their training and recruitment exercise. it would enable them to effectively and efficiently utilize various technological security machineries within their disposal. also, if this study is published and used by government and non-governmental organizations to enlighten urban and regional policymakers/planners during workshops/seminars will help them make better policies that would ameliorate urban security bridge. finally, if this study is published in the internet hopefully will be beneficial to the public as they would understand the need to always monitor activities capable of causing security threat in their environment and report any suspicious movement to the security agencies. methodology the data used for this study was obtained from archival materials and documented evidence from secondary sources such as newspapers, magazines, journals, internet among others. this was complimented by direct observations and professional experience of the researcher who had travelled in many african nations for 32 | p a g e conferences/workshops. the aforementioned provided sufficient data needed to clarify the issues of urbanization and insecurity in africa as it affects socio-economic development. therefore, data analysis was logically based on content analysis. review of literature this section is carried out under the following sub-headings: conceptual frameworks, theoretical frameworks and summary of literature reviewed. conceptual framework concept of urbanization urbanization is an overall event that has modified and will keep on changing events and the manners by which social orders operate. [22] ref [8] opined that, urban communities are characterized by improved business, training, medicinal services administrations, culture that contribute optimally to national economies. urbanization is one of the significant segments of economic development in developing nations, with substantial complications for the financial turn of events. [2] however, [23] in the oxford advanced learners dictionary affirmed that urbanization is the circumstance of having loads of towns, roads, processing plants, and so forth as opposed to open country. moreover, urbanization is the physical development of urban zones because of rural movement and even suburban fixation into urban communities especially the exceptionally enormous ones. urban areas vary from country to country. however, urbanization is the move from rural to an urban culture which includes an expansion in the number of individuals in urban regions during a specific period [8, 2]. the united nations habitat in 2006 refers to urbanization as the expanded centralization of individuals in urban communities instead of in rural regions. urbanization is the result of social, monetary, and political advancements that lead to development of enormous urban areas, changes in land use and change from rural to the metropolitan. [24] outside europe, the biggest urban cities were tokyo and beijing. [25] today, the appropriation of the world's biggest urban areas is notably extraordinary being commanded by urban communities in developing nations. it was evidenced that, by 2011 just three urban areas from the created nations, specifically tokyo (37.2 million), new york (20.4 million) and los angeles (13.4 million) were among the world's best twenty urban areas. [26] lagos, nigeria was positioned nineteenth (11.2 million)"whereas, the urban populace of ukraine declined by 2 million and bulgaria by 0.2 million. [6] the world's urban populace is relied upon to increment by 72% by 2050, from 3.6 billion out of 2011 to 6.3 billion out of 2050. for all reasons, the typical advancement including its populace will be sure to be amassed in urban networks of developing nations whose populace is expected to increase from 2.7 billion of every 2011 to 5.1 billion out of 2050. [6] lagos, nigeria, for instance, is expected to have a populace of 18.9 million, making it the eleventh most jam-packed city. this indicates 33 | p a g e that most of the urban advancement occurs in developed nations with developing african nations struggling to attain urban standard. regardless of the way that the world has accomplished a portion of urbanization in 2007, africa is probably going to arrive at the half-pace of urbanization benchmark in 2035. [6] as indicated by the 2011 world urban planning correction project, 1.4 billion individuals are relied upon to profit by urban regions around the globe somewhere in the range of 2011 and 2030, of which 37 percent will originate from china (276 million) and india (218 million). the report predicts that a further 1.3 billion individuals will be added to the world's urban populace somewhere in the range of 2030 and 2050. with an all-out extension of 121 million people, nigeria will be the second biggest contributor to india (270 million). it is therefore clear that african continent irrespective of high population index in various urban areas have not met urbanization criteria. concepts of security/insecurity lately, efforts have been made to move the conceptualization of security from a statedriven perspective to a more extensive view that puts a premium on individuals, where human security which is part of national security of human rights and national progression clarify this fact. at the core of this conversation, efforts have been made to widen and expand the idea of security from the degree of states to individual and social context. however, the conceptualization of human security in this study is based on neopragmatist theoretical system which is dependent on the force and centrality of the state. it explains security from the perspective of the fundamental commitment of the state. it is posited that human security consolidates political, money related, social and common risks, including those that are prepared for the fight to come. [27] along these lines, buzan plot a tripartite security examination that is subject to the worldwide system, state-level, and individual level which contended that sovereign states ought to remain the best security supplier. the ensuing strategy is a post-innovator or pluralistic view that looks to remove the state as a significant security supplier, however rather puts more accentuation on non-state characters on the screen. as a rule, the defenders of this approach will contend that the possibility of security goes past the military confirmation of dangers. as shown in [28], states and governments ought to never again be the key referents of security, since governments that ought to be the shields of their social orders' have rather become the primary wellspring of insecurity for the numerous people who live under their capacity. for instance, the massacre of many african inhabitants in the fight between nigerian government and cameroonian counterpart over bakassi pennusula; the genocide on nigerians by south-africans is another pointer to this and the anglophone region of cameroon crisis also known as ambazonia war which claimed more than 3,000 lives with millions internally displaced among others are all clear indications of governments insensitivity to the security of its people. along these lines, 34 | p a g e [28] likewise contended that human security is finally more significant than state security. this is in line with the assertion that the security of individuals ought to be of far more important to the society than the security of the state. [29] security therefore, is the condition or sentiment of prosperity brought about by harm or peril, the gatekeeper, protection, and the non-appearance of risks that offer ascent to regard.[30] security in the objective sense challenge the non-appearance of danger which theoretically connotes non-participation of dread that such characteristics would be assaulted.[31] regardless of its determined unpredictability, the understanding of the term indicates that security is critical for national association, concordance, and sensible improvement. security has to do with circumstances from danger to the limit of a nation to guarantee and make itself, to propel its esteemed characteristics and genuine interests, and to improve the flourishing of its family members. in this regard, interior security could be viewed as a chance or absence of help to those inclinations that could subvert inner association and co-ordinate proximity of the nation and its ability to keep up its basic establishments for the progression of its core value and socio-political and money related destinations, just as to meet the genuine targets of people. internal security also hypothesizes an opportunity from threat to life and achievement. [32] it subsequently alludes to the chase for avoiding, premonition, diminishing, or resolve serious conflicts – regardless of whether the hazard starts from different states, non-state on-screen characters, or subordinate budgetary conditions. [33] it is obvious from the prior that national security is an objective, a sine qua non for financial turn of events and improvement of any country. [34] security is fundamental in each nation's life, as it pulls in and pushes ahead. the possibility of headway has been a progressive condition for all records since the end of the subsequent universal war. in the mid-1940s, the ideological contrasts between the communist east and the industrial west appear to have influenced the significance of security issues and conceptualization of the term. it is posited that the way of thinking itself has become an issue of progress because of lethargic limit or rather some degree of complacency in tackling securityrelated issues.[35] various scholars proposed models of headway by maintaining that adequate security plays a greater role to the advancement of a nation and thus should be maintained.[36, 37, 38] the supposition that fiscal advancement would make resources for hypothesis and infrastructural improvement that would guarantee a better day to day environment friendly for people erode insecurity. insecurity has different meanings such as: lack of safety; threat; danger; vagueness; absence of protection and defense. insecurity refers to a condition of terror or apprehension owing to lack of security. [39] insecurity is also defined from two dimensions. first, insecurity is the condition of being volatile or prone to risk or threat of danger, where danger is the state of being vulnerable to harm or hurt. second, 35 | p a g e insecurity is the condition of being exposed to fretfulness or anxiety, where anxiety is an indistinct obnoxious feeling that is experienced in expectation of some calamity. [40] these definitions of insecurity emphasize foremost that those affected by insecurity are not only unsure or ignorant of what would happen but they are also susceptible to the threats and dangers when they happen. in this study, insecurity is defined as a violation of tranquility and security, whether religious, regional, socio-economic and political that begets frequent conflicts, and cause indiscriminate destruction of human lives and property. human insecurity has reached alarming levels in africa, particularly in subsaharan africa (ssa). more than 40 percent of its 800 million people live below poverty level and this percentage is expected to increase. [41] furthermore, incident of conflicts and instability is high in africa. presently, ivory coast, the great lakes region, somalia, darfur (sudan), and the horn remain very much unstable. africa at present has the biggest group of un peacekeepers – 17,000 strong in the democratic republic of congo (drc).[42] also, africa is devastated by a range of diseases, and at present the universal epicenter of the dreaded hiv/aids.[43] more so, food and nutritional shortages have escalated to the extent that over 28 percent of all children in ssa are underfed as a result of undernourishment.[43] and, while the typical percentage of undernourishment in the developing world is 17, that for ssa is 33 percent. southern, central and the horn of africa recurrently remain susceptible to droughts, painting a bleak picture for food security. the mixture of all these distressing developments presents ssa as an irrefutable area of high human insecurity. while there is a huge agreement on the incidence of human insecurity there has been little investigation on its basic causes. in the case of ssa, the propensity has been to assume the usual neo-classical formula and point to factors that are mostly internal to the area. [44, 45] one may argue that what is often regarded as internal causes of insecurity such as poverty, disputes, ecological dilapidation, food, health and educational insecurities are, in fact, signs of the crisis. in viewpoint, these are the product of more essential causes, as well as widespread structures and practices within the international system. poverty is not natural; in africa no one is born to be poor and fated to lead an insecure life. neither does poverty come down from the skies like rain; instead it is the result of other basic causes. this is similar to conflicts. no persons in their correct senses like to always exist under circumstances of violence and crisis that threaten their individual or collective security. there are always rooted issues that instigate or predispose individuals to violence. it is thus not sufficient to tip to human insecurity devoid of identifying its basis or cause, particularly when the problem is threatening. so, in order to proffer efficient solution to a crisis, it is crucial to identify its root causes. to elucidate the core causes of human insecurity in africa, [46] maintained that human insecurity is consequences of violence, which can be direct or indirect. directly, the executor of violence is known. indirectly, variously referred to as “structural violence”, violence is built into structures in the form of unequal power relations. this scenario accentuates a good background for 36 | p a g e comprehending human insecurity in ssa. although some may argue that the structural violence argument is deficient in failing to explain environmental insecurity, the study demonstrated that urbanization is another factor to insecurity in ssa. summary of review on urbanization in fact, urbanization in africa is especially conflicting due to each political and monetary motive. [25, 47, 48] economically, statutory allocations to states are stimulated with the aid of their populace. as an end result, states with reputedly low populations are distracted from asset allocation and other stage benefits or incentives from the authorities. strategically, the general public rule commencing legislative problems is a chain of numbers, and ideological companies controlling great populations may be at a favored position. similarly, the population is one of the indices on which parliamentary representation is based. in spite of the disputes, available information gives good enough indicators of the city-state of affairs in africa. for instance, prior to the british colonial administration in nigeria and french’s colonial administration in cameroon, there had been genuinely huge human settlements at that factor. [49] they were determined especially in phases of the profession (inclusive of the alternate of slaves) and management. however, pre-independence in nigeria and cameroon had an extremely low city population much like city populace development. [50] starting in 1921, the best ten nigerian settlements had city fame and by way of 1931, best urban communities, lagos and ibadan, had more than one hundred thousand populations each. post-independence nigeria and cameroon have seen a regularly rapid pace of urbanization turned out to be an increasingly more urbanized and concrete society considering independence. specifically, by the mid-1960s, lagos and ibadan had a large part of a million people in abundance. [50, 51, 52] in addition, there have been 24 urban regions with populations of at the least 100,000 humans. nevertheless, until 70’s owing to technological advancement, nigeria and cameroon witnessed a dramatic upward thrust in urbanization, taken into consideration the very best pace of urbanization at the globe at that level. [53] africa's economic and environmental indices monitor horrible facts, irrespective of how one takes a look at it. destitution is a chief hassle in africa. nigeria has one of the maximum prices of need in sub-saharan africa and the 0.33 biggest number of negative within the international after china and india. [54] urban poverty rose from 28% in 1980 to 66% in 1996. 55% of urban residents surely live underneath what one dollar a day of purchasing power on an equal footing. [54] according to america international advancement office (usaid) in 2006, the maternal loss of life charge in nigeria was estimated at 800 deaths in keeping with 1000 births in 2000. the future is the most important degree of a country's well-being. nigeria’s future becomes 44.9 years old in 2003, down from 47.5 years in 1999. it is one of the lowest on the earth, behind that of 37 | p a g e ghana (55.4) years and cameroon (48.0 years). [55] in this context, it is clear that urbanization and insecurity in africa is faced with myriads of problems that require sincere commitment to handling it. theoretical frameworks optimists/pessimists theory this study is premised on optimists and pessimists classes theories. ref [20, 21] proposed that urbanization facilitates greater efficiency, either through acting on growth, providing innovations or making more important economies of scale, specialization or agglomeration. pessimists maintained that urbanization may have a detrimental impact on financial execution in the event that it is inordinate or heedless. this is because urban development implies a high collection of individuals. with a greater workforce, each worker would have fewer profit-making elements (especially capital) both collected and uncollected to deal with. therefore, irrespective of how the average yield grows, the per capita yield would usually be smaller. this cynical view depends on the malthusian convention, but with significant changes and upgrades. pessimists, however, suggest that rapid urbanization would be beneficial if there is a large capital structure or other substantial boosts that would be necessary to mitigate the low-level balance-sheet trap that may be triggered by rapid population growth. frustration–aggression theory frustration-aggression theory, also called frustration-aggression hypothesis was proposed in 1939 by john dollard and colleagues. the theory posits that frustration always produces an aggressive urge and aggression is always the result of previous frustrations. neal e. miller, one of the proponents of this theory, afterward maintained that frustration can lead to several kinds of actions but noted that the urge to aggression will dominate as the upsetting persists. the theorist proposed that if we experience frustration, this leads to aggression. the aggression is a therapeutic discharge of the build-up of frustration. [56] it was further stated that if the person is prohibited from achieving an aim by few external factors, then frustration sets in which begets aggression. [56] the aggression cannot always be aimed at the basis of aggression, which may be intangible such as lack of money, or too powerful, as the risk of punishment is too high. this is because frustration is a feeling of anxiety that results when our efforts to achieve certain goal are hindered. when this arises, it can produce feelings of anger, which invariably can cause feelings of aggression and aggressive behavior. this could be the reason why many people migrating to the urban areas in search of greener pastures got frustrated when they could not meet their desired goals and invariably become aggressive. as a result, when such persons become aggressive they resort to exhibiting abnormal behavioral tendencies capable of bridging the security apparatus of the urban areas in which they live. for instance, due to high cost of living in urban sectors and incessant quest for material acquisition among youths teeming population, many of them https://dictionary.apa.org/frustration-aggression-hypothesis https://dictionary.apa.org/frustration-aggression-hypothesis 38 | p a g e engage in criminal activities such as vandalism, armed robbery, cyber-crime among others in order to meet up those challenges or rather earn a living. securitization theory securitization theory [57] further advanced this study by showing that national security policy is not a natural given, but cautiously chosen by politicians and decision-makers. according to securitization theory, political issues are constituted as intense security issues to be dealt with at once when they have been labeled as ‘unsafe’, ‘threatening’, ‘frightening’, ‘distressing’ and so on by a ‘securitizing actor’ who has the social and institutional authority to shift the issue ‘beyond politics’. so, security issues are not just ‘out there’ but somewhat ought to be expressed as problems by securitizing actors. in contrast, politics and politicking have bedeviled many africa countries to the point that many political actors politicize security issues. for example, in nigeria and cameroon evidence abound of diverting funds meant for securing arms in fighting boko haram insurgency in the nations by the politicians. in some cases, many security agencies have been compromised by the politicians and the security architecture of the states infiltrated through security agencies’ collaboration. therefore, messing up the fight against boko haramic extremists which has resulted to unquantifiable loss of lives and properties with thousands of persons displaced internally. calling insurgency, a ‘threat to national security’, for instance, shifts insurgency from a low priority political concern to a high priority issue that needed action, like procuring sophisticated arms with modern tracking devices, safeguarding security agencies information data base, securing borders among others. securitization theory challenges conventional approaches to security and affirm that issues are not really frightening in themselves; to a certain extent, it is by referring to them as ‘security’ issues that they become security problems. securitization theorists determined five sectors: the economic, the societal, the military, the political and the environmental sector. in each sector, a specific threat is articulated as threatening to others like in the case of african nations where each of the five sectors aforementioned have witnessed the detrimental effect of the extremists group. insecurity in many urban areas rose to unimaginable state that all and sundry including the securitizing actors (political class) is gripped with tension. issues and challenges of insecurity in urban areas evidence has shown that majority of urban centers have a significant number of ghetto settlements, and these ghettos are known for a significant level of social unrest, which tend to be a grooming ground for most persons exhibiting unlawful acts that affect urban centers. these included: (a) criminal hideouts for hoodlums: owing to the random environment with ghettos, lawbreakers and people with criminal motives are easily infiltrated. there are people who take part in night-time drills using the ghettos as their base and/or camps. also, because of the location of these wretched ghettos, there is high 39 | p a g e tendency of prevalence of terrorist activities in these communities and its environs. the consequences of this ghetto camps degenerates into grooming hoodlums with criminal tendencies. (b) indiscriminate sexual activities: the high rates of sexual impunity are also witnessed among these ghetto inhabitants. most of these ghetto dwellers lack good parental upbringing thereby exposing them to susceptibility of indiscriminate sexual conduct. it is presumed that individuals who lived in ghettos at early childhood are prone to sexual wantonness, which causes high rates of unwanted pregnancy, premature births and the prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases. consequently, children born from this ghetto parents mostly end up not being cared for, thereby, constituting nuisance to not only the urban areas but society at large by resorting to criminal activities later in life. (c) high rate of school drop-outs: i-do-not-care attitude predominant in ghettos predisposes its inhabitant to incessant quest for material things or immediate gratification. the quest could be to achieve or satisfy individual interest or to contribute to family upkeep which invariably results to a high rate of school dropouts among young people. this issue is further complicated by extreme poverty of their parents who hardly put food on the table daily, talk more of paying school fees. as such these inhabitants are eager to do anything whether legitimate or illegitimate in order to earn a living or rather improve one’s standard of living and that of their parents. (d) illicit drug hawking, abuse and addiction: it is clear that in ghettos there exist prevalence of illicit drug hawkers, drug consumers whom have become habitual consumers or takers. these categories of people constitute nuisance in the areas of residence and the society at large, perpetuating all forms of social vices such as breaking into peoples’ home, snatch of peoples’ belongings, harassing and molesting both passer-by and residential among others which negatively influence other young ones. they have little or no regard for the security agencies or the law and most of the times engage security personnel in gun battle killing many of them. (e) fire arms dealing: most ghetto settlements are center point for dealing in arms and other deadly weapons. subsequently, the inhabitants are predisposed to the evil exercises of hoodlums and bandits occupying the areas as their refuges. the problem of arms dealing in ghettos becomes rampant. this situation has triggered climate of insecurity given rise to anarchical situation, such as kidnapping, armed robbery, assaulting, vandalism and looting among other vices. results of insecurity in africa lately, instability and political warfare have been a major challenge to the african government and its urban population. the activity of the islamic group (boko haram) led to the loss of life and property in the continent, especially in northern nigeria. some of these activities include kidnapping or taking hostage, suicide bombing attacks, assault, 40 | p a g e armed robbery, sporadic shooting of citizens, burning of police headquarters and religious worship centres et cetera. politicization of security and political brouhaha among politicians or rather government officials were another major challenge facing the continent. this ugly situation has eroded african’s cultural heritage of being one’s brothers’ keeper and instill fear of known and/or unknown into the nucleus of its inhabitants as well as driven away peace and harmony previously existing in its social order. this has adversely affected the advancement of the african economy. collaboratively, this review has indicated that fear-based oppression and insecurity have adversely affected economic improvement in african countries. it has made it possible for the political class to mismanage the security votes resources meant for improving the security apparatus of various nations. this finding is consistent with the various findings made by the different nations of the world. nigeria and cameroon has been included as one of the world's fearful monger nations. numerous lives and property have been destroyed, and an overwhelming number of people have been destitute. youngsters are becoming vagabonds with no desire for what is to come. many african leaders has made some little but insignificant attempts to address these challenges posed by psychological warfare and insecurity in the continent, but the pace of fear-based oppression and insecurity is still overwhelming. furthermore, insecurity in africa has impeded socioeconomic, emotional and political stability of the continent in different ways to include: social disengagement and displacement; social stress, increases citizenship outcry; disengagement and disturbance of family and shared life relationships; uneasiness, dehumanization of citizens, uproar of war and/or genocide among others. insecurity in africa has hindered its financial development in various ways. these include: i) social disconnection and public relocation ii) social strains and displacement which caused muslims/christians or persons from an ethnic group migrating to muslim/christian commanded enclaves. iii) increases citizenship agitations that beget hostile vibe among inhabitants. iv) detachment and interruption of family and shared life. v) the overall atmosphere of distrust, fear, apprehension, and commotion vi) dehumanization of women, men and even children mainly in areas where assault, child trafficking and disregard are used as instruments of war. vii) extending of yearning and poverty in the nation. viii) stampedes local and international business enterprises. ix) ends business activities in a period of violence and circumvention of numerous ventures in the areas or zones where high levels of insecurity exist. x) high cost of security expenditure by business empires and governments. xi) relocation of individuals from zone or locale where there is a pervasiveness of insecurity. 41 | p a g e prospects of urbanization/insecurity in africa economic emancipation is the essential objective of every good government, and is essentially dependent on the degree of economic activities of any nation. therefore, the degree of economic activities is enhanced by an environment free of chaos or any form of security threat on individuals and other social structures. without security, economic liberation cannot be supported because it affects financial, human and social capital. likewise, the activities of other state armed forces in different nations in africa pose a real risk to the monetary strength of these regions. security emergencies in various parts of countries in africa are crushing the existing foundation and making a serene situation in order to improve the future framework and the protected domain. for the economic activities of people to give them financial boost that will empower family units to be independent and improve their standard of living, security of lives and properties in urban areas is paramount. in concordance, the world bank report on "struggle, security and improvement" showed that about 1.5billion individuals live in nations influenced by political and criminal savagery, exacerbating human wretchedness, and upsetting urban advancement. insecurity is the most contemptible aspect of advancement in africa, especially in urban areas. [58] insecurity is costing many countries like nigeria and cameroon its dominant role in africa as far as development is concerned. subsequently, more and more constructive measures to tackle the danger of urban instability and fear-based exploitation are required in africa, as stability is vital to socio-economic development, and no continent advancement can be accomplished if the urban environment is not secured. therefore, the need be of different apparatus of government such as security agencies to devise means of liaising with the citizens especially those in the urban areas to tackle the menace caused by insecurity in africa. this could be achieved through formulation of community policing and neighborhood watch across the continent with regional cooperation of its leaders. conclusion from the above discourse, it is clear that insecurity is a cankerworm to africa’s development and has instigated violence conflicts and other social vices in the continent’s urban areas. urban communities present the bait of improved business, training, medicinal services administrations, culture and they contribute excessively to national economies. to guarantee development in many african nations, adequate security of lives and properties of citizens, especially in urban areas is paramount. the study concludes therefore that security is fundamental in each nation's life, as it enhances infrastructural improvement that would guarantee a better day to day environment for people. 42 | p a g e recommendations based on the findings of this study, the following recommendations were made: 1. government and non-governmental agencies should make security-related issues a priority in africa, since the continent cannot make any significant progress amidst insecurity. 2. the administration must be proactive in managing security issues through the use of modern technological apparatus and information based facilities in the coordination and supervision of security threats. 3. governments at all levels should ensure that there are adequate social welfare packages designed and duly implemented for its citizens to enable citizenship engagement. this will help occupy their minds and avoid all sorts of negative thought because it is said that an idle mind is a devil’s workshop. 4. government should liaise with other non-governmental agencies in creating employment opportunities for its teeming unemployed youths who parade in the street aimlessly. this will enable these youths who constitute majority of the populace to earn a better living. 5. citizens should also use their creativity to eke-out other skills inherent in them so as to empower themselves and not always depend on government provisions. 6. adequate housing and other basic facilities should be made available through government housing scheme and other intervention scheme. this will assist the citizens meet their basic needs and avoid living in ghettos which is believed to be a grooming ground for criminal elements. 43 | p a g e references muggah, r. “researching the urban dilemma: urbanization, poverty and violence,” idrc, ottawa (2012). o’neill, b.c., ren, x., jiang, l. and dalton, m. “the effect of urbanization on energy use in india and china in the ipets model energy economics” (2012). celik, a.p., zyman, r. and mahdi, r. (eds). “sustainable urbanization in the information and technology era.” new haven, ct: yale university press (2009):302-311 united nations-natural surroundings “world urbanization prospects: the 2011 revision highlights esajp/wp1224,” department of economic and social affairs population division, united nations, new york (2004). united nations environmental programme unep, “africa environment outlook: past, present and future perspectives.” http://www. grida.no/aeo/209.htm 9/12/04; (2004). joined countries “age st/esajpad/ser.e/1 37, department of economic and social affairs division for public administration and development management” united nations new york, newyork (2012). dung-gwom, j.y., hirse, s.0. & pwat, s.p. “four year strategic plan for urban development and housing in plateau state” (2008-2011) submitted to the plateau state strategic plan committee (2008). trivedi, j.k., sareen, h. and dhyani, m. rapid urbanization — its impact on mental health: a south asian perspective. indian journal of psychiatr, 50(3); (2008):161-165. lwasa, s. “managing city growth and development in the context of environmental changes within sub-saharan africa.” ugec viewpoints, no. 2, (september, 2009). mechan, p. and speier, j. “boko haram, threat to the u.s. homeland”. washington: u.s. house of representatives committee on homeland security subcommittee on counterterrorism and intelligence (2011). undp “human development report” (new york: oxford university press) (2005). https://data2.unhcr.org; news.un.org www.africaresearchinstitute.org sun newspaper, 15th dec., 2020 https://data2.unhcr.org/ http://www.africaresearchinstitute.org/ 44 | p a g e suliman, t., kohrt ba, rasmussen a, & kaiser bn “cultural concepts of distress and psychiatric disorders: literature review and research recommendations for global mental health epidemiology”. int j epidemiol; 43: (2009): 365‐406. [pmc free article] [pubmed] [google scholar] cook, j., mclaughlin ka, costello ej, & leblanc w. “post-traumatic stress disorder and adolescent mental disorders”. am j publ health; 102; (2009): 42‐50. [pmc free article] [pubmed] [google scholar] cox, j., kotch e. & everson, h., “mental health issues”. journal of the international medical association vol. 38 no 1 (2003): 33-43. hanson, fen osler (2008) “a concept in need of a global policy response” security dialogue 35(3): 349-350. hunt, d., martens, b., & betcher t.0. “challenges of sustainability and urban development in nigeria: journal of international affairs, vol.10, no.1, lagos, niia. (2011): 212-219. boserup, k. “a security regime in southern africa”: theoretical considerations. southern african perspectives no. 30, csas; (1994). hoover, d., “human security relevance and implications” parameters: us army war college 35(2); (1948): 91-106. griffith, c. (2009). introduction to the issue, ugec viewpoints no. 2 september 2009. hornby, a.s “oxford advanced learner’s dictionary of current english (6th. ed.).” new york: oxford university press. (2003). potts, d. “whatever happened to africa’s rapid urbanization? africa research institute” (2012). gould, w.t.s. “migration and recent economic and environmental change” in baker, j. and akin ama, t. (eds.), the migration experience in africa, nordiska afrika institutet, uppsala (1995). united nations “world population monitoring: focusing on population distribution, urbanization, internal migration and development: a concise report” (st/esaiser.a/284, sales no. e.09.xii.3), united nations, new york. (2017). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmc3997373/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmc3997373/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24366490 https://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?journal=int+j+epidemiol&title=cultural+concepts+of+distress+and+psychiatric+disorders:+literature+review+and+research+recommendations+for+global+mental+health+epidemiology&volume=43&publication_year=2013&pages=365-406&pmid=24366490& https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmc3482020/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmc3482020/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22873479 https://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?journal=am+j+publ+health&title=socioeconomic+status+and+adolescent+mental+disorders&volume=102&publication_year=2012&pages=1742-50& 45 | p a g e buzan, b. “new patterns of global security in the 2lth century”. international affruir vol. 67, no. 3, pp. (1991): 431-451. corner, b. “urbanization in developing countries: current trends, future projections, and key challenges for sustainability technology, society,” (1994): 63-80. nwabueze b. “social security in nigeria”. a lecture delivered at the 10th anniversary of nigerian institute of advanced legal studies. lagos: (august 28, 1980). igbuzor .0. “peace and security education: a critical factor for sustainable peace and national development”. international journal of peace and development studies vol. 2, no.1: (2011). wolfers .a “national security as an ambiguous symbol” in walfer .a. discord and collaboration. essay on international politics. baltimore: john hopkins university pr (1962). oche, 0. “democratization and the management of african security” in akindele, r. and ate, .b (eds) in nigerian journal of international affairs, vol.13, no.1, lagos, niia: (2001). stan .f. “the security-development nexus: conflict, peace and development in the 21st century.” new york: ipa report (2004). oladeji .s.i. and folorunso b. a. “the imperative of national security and stability for development process in contemporary nigeria.” african economic and business review vol. 5 no 2: (2007). ake, c. “democracy and development in africa”. ibadan: spectrum books limited (2001): 45-56. rostow, w. “the process of economic growth.” new york. norton and co. inc. (1952). harrod r.f and domar .e. “essays on the theory of economic growth”. oxford university press london (1957). otto g. and ukpere w. (2012), national security and development in nigeria. african journal of business management. vol 6 no 23. 46 | p a g e beland, d. “the political construction of collective insecurity: from moral panic to blame avoidance and organized irresponsibility”. center for european studies, working paper series (2005):126. achumba, i. c., ighomereho, o. s., & akpan-robaro, m. o. m. “security challenges in nigeria and the implications for business activities and sustainable development”. journal of economics and sustainable development, 4(2); (2013): 79-99. callaghy, thomas “africa and the world’s economy: still caught between a rock and a hard place” in john harbeson and donald rothchild (eds.) africa in world politics: post-cold war challenges (oxford: westview press) (1995). timberlake, lloyd “africa in crisis: the causes and cure of environmental bankruptcy” (london: earthscan) (1991) world bank “intensifying action against hiv/aids in africa, responding to a development crisis” (new york: oxford university press) (2000) adedeji, adebayo “comprehending africa’s conflicts” in adebayo adedeji (ed.) comprehending and mastering african conflicts: the search for sustainable peace and good governance (london: zed books) (1999): 3-21. laremont, ricardo rene “the causes of warfare and the implications of peacekeeping in africa” in ricardo r. laremont (ed.) the causes of war and the consequences of peacekeeping in africa (portsmouth, nh: heinemann): (2002): 1-18. galtung, johan “violence, peace and peace research” journal of peace research 6(3): (1969): 167-191 adepoju, a. “migration in africa”: an overview, in baker, j. and ama, a.t. (eds) the migration experience in africa, nordiska afrika institutet, and uppsala (1995) 22. oucho, j. “recent internal migration processes in sub-saharan africa: determinants, consequences and data adequacy issues,” in r.e. bilsborrow (ed.) migration, urbanization, and development: new directions and issues, united nations population fund (unfpa) and kluwer academic publishers, new york, (1998): pp. 89-120. mabogunje, a.l. (2004). the new national policy on housing and urban development and its implications. hud perspectives, july 2004, pp. 14-15. 47 | p a g e aniah, e.j. “the role of secondary cities in regional economic development in nigeria”. journal of environmental sciences 4(2); (2001): 112-119. federal republic of nigeria “national population census (5th ed.)” lagos: nerdc press (1997). rotimi, m.a. “trends in industrial and residential development in nigeria: implications for health and safety.” an invited paper presented at the 39th national conference/scientific workshop of the environmental health officer association of nigeria (ehoan), (october, 2003). us library of congress “report of a staff study mission to great britain, ghana, senegal, cote d' ivoire and france, november 29-december 20, 1988, to the committee on foreign affairs, us house of representatives” (washington d.c.: us government printing office) (2013). united states agency for international development (usaid)“nigeria economic performance assessment 2006” usaid, abuja (2006). us international co-operation organization “urban population-environment dynamics in the developing world: case studies and lessons learned,” committee for international cooperation in national research in demography (cicred), paris (2006). dollard, j., miller, n. e., doob, l. w., mowrer, o. h., & sears, r. r. “frustration and aggression”. new haven, ct: yale university press (1939). eroukhmanoff, c., “securitization theory: https://www.e-ir.info//securitisation-theoryan-introduction/. e-international relations (2018): issn 2053-8626. world bank “report on accelerated development in sub-saharan africa: an agenda for action” (washington, d.c.: world bank) (2011).https://www.lindaikejisblog.com › 2020/12 › first-lady-disappear-to-dubai-cites-insecurity. https://www.bbc.com › pidgin › world-55344636 where is aisha buhari now: nigeria first lady go dubai? dis ... 240 | p a g e sex differences in discipline as a control measure in school administration. eze osundu hyacinth sex differences in discipline as a control measure in school administration. eze osundu hyacinth abstract very often many people get worried when they are disciplined in their places of work for their offence. this study is concerned with sex differences (altitude) to discipline as a control measure in school administration. the hypothesis is that there is every likelihood that the males will more likely show superior endurance in any disciplinary measure that administration can give. a group of one hundred teachers randomly selected from six schools were drawn to represent a wide range of school environment. a discipline questionnaire was used to collect response from the subjects. t-test analysis test was employed lo establish the difference. it was apparent from the results that caution as a discipline measure has a significant difference on teachers, while query threat and discussion showed no significant differences (effects) among female and male objects, introduction discipline means different things to different individuals. since human beings are the most essential tools in an organization (schools), ii is also noted that human beings are different to handle. this is so because of the inherent biological and environmental differences surrounding individuals. based on these we expect differences in human behaviours. it has long been recognized that differences are found in the studies of attentional response dimensions. male subjects showed a preference for less complex stimulus pattern than female subjects. walter (1964) indicated that normally, females are more receptive to stimuli and less disorganized by them than are males. very often, many school teachers become victims of discipline and embarrassment. quite often, a large number of the teachers feel dejected, depressed and unhappy whenever a disciplinary measure is exerted on them. a sample of complaint they verbalize arc usually in the following manner: "what have i done?" this man don’t like to see my face. i don’t even know what i have done wrong. "these and so many others, in fact, an endless list; are the statement of people who feel that they have seen nothing in their behaviour that would merit disciplinary action. in other words, they have seen no need to work in a place where little mistakes affect their lives; hence they change their approach to administration and work in general. not everyone recognizes the importance of control in school administration and other organizations. according to 241 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com ukeje (1992) discipline in the best sense is "the control of behaviour in the light of purpose". he further stated that an individual has self-discipline when he can set a goal for himself and then make whatever sacrifices and efforts that are necessary to obtain it. hall (1975) sees discipline as an "important factor in any form or type of organization which can no longer be enforced by threats of "sacking" and there is much to be said for the application of law of the situation in this connections”. the writer advocates that absence of discipline leads to failure in an organization. certainty of punishment is definitely a deterrent. after all, fear is a primary emotion in man. it plays an important part in his training. of course, it is wrong to rely exhaustively on fear of punishment, but it is equally wrong to do away with this deterrent (donson 1984). some deviant behaviours that can attract disciplinary actions are disobedience, insubordination, poor attitude to work, lateness, malingering, stealing, fraud and disrespect for work. however, if a threatening situation arises, the administrator (school head) must probe to find out the cause. employees should be consulted on a number of things before disciplinary measure is taken, it is important to note however, that discipline is a major source of staff grievances and correct procedure must be established to ensure that justice is seen to be done. the following study, therefore, aimed at finding out teachers’ response to the use of four different types of discipline control measure, in the school. these are: writing query verbal caution threat, and discussion. in view of the following objectives four null hypotheses (corresponding with the four areas of control) were tested at the 0.05 level of significance using ttest. (1) there is no significant difference in the attitude to query as a discipline control measure in schools between male and female subjects. (2) there is no significant difference in the attitude of male and female subjects to caution as a discipline control measure in school. (3) there is no significant difference between-male and female subjects in their attitude to threat as a discipline control measure in school. there is no significant difference in the attitude of male and female subjects 10 discussion as a discipline control measure in school. method subjects and design. the subjects were one hundred randomly selected teachers form six 242 | p a g e sex differences in discipline as a control measure in school administration. eze osundu hyacinth schools in nsukka urban. the subjects participated in answering the questionnaire distributed to them in their school. the subjects are made up of 50 males and 50 females teachers. the average age of the subjects was 26.4 with range of 21-50 years. the least qualification is the nce while the highest qualification is m.sc. procedure: the questionnaire was administered during break period in the school by the investigator assisted by the head teacher or vice principal of the schools used. the questionnaire forms were anonymously "completed. furthermore, the respondents were assured of complete confidentiality in the treatment of the information supplied by them. results: the data collected from this study through (sd1qaamis.) were1 analyzed using the t-test to find the level of significance of differences in the four disciplinary control measure for male and female subjects u.ied in this study. the findings of this study clearly indicated that three of the four null hypotheses (stated in this study) was confirmed, in other words, there was no significant differences in the subjects' attitude to query, threat, and discussion as a discipline control measure in the school. but .the subjects showed significant difference in their attitude to caution as a discipline control measure -(see table i ) . table 1: comparison of sex differences in attitude to discipline control measure: source of discipline males females n x so n x sd i.obs p a 37 23.90 3.21 37 25.51 . 3.14.' 4.01. n5 b -j ! 28.53 2.56 37 20.78 3.00 . ': 0.23-' 5 c 37 22.47 3.13 37 22.51 21.51 • -3.35 175 d 37 28.55 3.35 37 29.92 3.10 3;i7 175 key = discipline source. a = writing query. b = caution (verbal). c = threat. d = discussion. 234 | p a g e sex differences in discipline as a control measure in school administration. eze osundu hyacinth discussion the findings of the study indicate that three of the four null hypotheses stated in this study were confirmed. in other words, there is no significant difference in query, threat, and discussion as a discipline control measure. caution which is significant to the subjects (male and female) could be that the subjects used for the study could be regarded as people who are used to caution. this could be that they use caution in their families or their places of work and then become used to it. the finding of this study has shown that both male and female subjects used in this study are almost equal in their perception about disciplinary measures in school. a good administrator with these subjects can achieve high discipline in their school, because, with the application of the three acceptable control measures the staff will be con-trolled. conclusion although there were no significant differences in three of the four hypotheses stated in this study, it is pertinent to observe that male teachers had slight (though not significant) edge over female subjects. the female subjects are slightly belter compared (though not significant) for discussion than the male subjects. the subjects showed marked maturity in grappling with the four disciplinary control measures in school. the findings of this study, it is hoped, will help in giving some green light to educational administrators in their bid to forestall discipline of the teachers in schools. references james d. (1982) dare to discipline. jos challenge publishing co.. hall l. (1975) business administration englewood of cliff, prentice hall inc. walter, j; (1964) 109-270 male and female differences in underwater sensory isolation: british journal of psychology ukeje b.o et al (1992) education administration, fourth dimension publishing co 243 115 | p a g e contents and applications of citizens diplomacy and transformation agenda: a contemporary discourse okechukwu, groupson-paul uc.; offu, peter contents and applications of citizens diplomacy and transformation agenda: a contemporary discourse okechukwu, groupson-paul uc. phd groupsonpaul@yahoo.com federal university ndufu alike ikwo(funai), abakaliki – ebonyi state, nigeria offu, peter. phd peteroffu@gmail.com federal university ndufu alike ikwo(funai), abakaliki – ebonyi state, nigeria introduction citizen diplomacy, which is one among the several types of diplomacy, stands out as people based and oriented. this is owing to its daily usage for human interactions. in the contemporary era, its value apart from the consistent and continuous utilization, suggest a dynamic import of the changing world. for while, diplomacy according to hamihton (1996), walton (1954), mcdermott (1976), alken (2005), stinnett (2005), brahm (2005), shultz (2005), lund (1996) and zartman (2007) among others points at being a peaceful conduct,… necessity for organised dialogue…honest person sent to lie abroad… management of international relations… and, the political scheming and intrigues that are well sustained among others, citizen diplomacy, on the other hand, not only been very important, is the concept that informs that every global citizens has the rights, even the responsibility, to engage across cultures and create understanding through meaningful person-to-person interactions (clinton, 2003). in the words of hoffman (1981), citizen diplomacy is recognized as a powerful force in building and sustaining a secure, economically sound, and socially interconnected world because it brings leaders and people from across the public, private and social sectors of the world to see the value in their citizens. thus, fuller (1970), one of the key pioneer of the concept, argued that citizen diplomacy is a grassroots initiative, geared towards promoting peace and development. this idea was initiated in the period of cold war between the west and east, to which the hatred and restriction puts the citizens of both regimes afar from each other. but, against the barrier, the citizen continued to travel frequently to both side, especially the americans to alleviate the cold war. according to fuller (1970), with the collapse of the soviet union, mailto:groupsonpaul@yahoo.com 116 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com the degree of interactions and the idea of working in a hot political spots around the world helped to develop the intents and intentions of citizen diplomacy while trying to reducing tension, racism, and hates to promoting peace. this was simply because citizen diplomacy takes place when official channels are not reliable or desirable. then, as peoples’ diplomacy, it is also a political concept of average citizens engaging as a representative of a country or cause, either inadvertently or by design. evidence to these events show that with the first coining of the words by hoffman (1981), that citizen diplomacy is actually a grassroots initiative, which transcend cultural bound, exchange of ideas and possible transformation of the society from one particular or many decadence to a more value proven ideals that attract and at the same time build confidence on the populace and visitors alike. more examples of these could be seen in the growing zeal for relationship and interaction between israel and her arab neighbours, north and south korea and the kind of racism that had vanished amongst south africans and afrikaners or white colors among others. citizenship diplomacy, which is people driven for changing the system for better goes in line with transformation agenda because the key factor of transformation is that it is the peoples’ aspiration and must be people driven. but before the expected transformation can take place, the level of orientation and mindsets of the people, government and society must be tainted towards what is best for the nation? what do the people want? what do they want to make of the country values? how can the transformation in the country attract both friends and foes, how do the citizen project or sale the country to the outside world? how is the image of the country valued or cleave for by outsiders? then, is the government meeting up with its expectation and responsibilities? and, have it fulfill its duty to the citizens and so on? premised on this, the study attempts the analysis of the basic contents and applications of citizen diplomacy, citizen diplomacy in the contemporary interactions, the impact of citizen diplomacy and state transformation agenda in nigeria with the intention of looking at the foreign policy posture, economic strength programmes and the kind of citizen qua citizen interactions and engagements, resulting from it and other effects of the concept to the general public vis-à-vis the desire for transformation. conceptualization of citizen diplomacy citizen diplomacy arguably is very interesting and vibrant in the contemporary era, as it seems to contain several array of actions and activities, existing between individuals, communities and people with a deepened ties of relationship that holistically makes the world a common village; a door-to-door neighbourhood 117 | p a g e contents and applications of citizens diplomacy and transformation agenda: a contemporary discourse okechukwu, groupson-paul uc.; offu, peter interactions; a person-to-person familiarization; and a nation – citizen to a nation – citizen interrelations. it is an act that did not only enhance wellbeing, but boost and projects foreign policy of participating states to mutual understanding of the core values of their existence. just as the scholars of this school like robert fuller, david hoffman, jenifer clinton, diane chigas, colin powell, sharon teninson, cate malek, alan goodman, christopher washington, fulbright and jody william et al among others, sees citizen diplomacy as an embodiment of change, cooperation and peace amongst the people of the world. to them, it is a mission meant to promote excellence in citizens’ world over. it is a network of peacemakers, peace builders and development oriented minds away from conflicts and carnage and destructions. citizen diplomacy helps to foster international understanding and cooperation, constructive economic connections, and peaceful interactions among cultures. it is imperative on these reasons that goodman (2011:4-6) contend that citizen diplomacy is a concept that involves two seemingly disparate ideas: private citizens engaging in individual endeavours that serve their own interest, and diplomacy, which includes a framework for cooperation between countries. he further asserts that it is important to understand the impact of such activities on their home and host institutions; the wider communities and public diplomacy activities at large. people-to-people contact is becoming one of the key elements of diplomacy, and citizen diplomats increasingly complement the traditional forms of political diplomacy. agreeing with this contention, national council for international visitors (nciv) (2008:1) notes that citizen diplomacy is the concept that the individual citizen has the right, even the responsibility, to help shape foreign relations “one handshake at a time”. in it, resources of participant’s communities are matched with the needs of foreign leaders and specialist. it helps to opening their homes, offices and schools to foreign visitors participating in exchange programmes. to this effect, chigas (2003) argued that citizen diplomacy speaks of transformation of attitude and communication, which is inextricably tied to the establishment of deep relationship of mutual trust amongst participants in official processes. to further expatiate this thought, he inferred that being both the friend or enemy at breakfast, in the meeting themselves, and at the bar at night, rehumanized the conflict, crises, and help the participants recognize that they share many fears, needs, concerns and reasoning, while this new found trust and in some cases friendship, does not always extend beyond the boundaries of workshops to the outside as a whole, these helps personal relationship are critical to developing a processes for 118 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com coming to the table and dealing with the hurdles in negotiation. this is because citizen diplomacy gives voice to silenced or marginalized moderate perspectives in the public discourses. however, while agreeing with the notions of citizen diplomacy, williams, goose and wareham (2008: xvii-xviii), posits that citizen diplomacy can complement official diplomacy or subvert it. this is sequelled to the fact that it can be taken as a practice and a form of intervention that can be extended to many part of the world, especially those in conflict, as existed in syria. it also served as peacebuilding mechanism, of which in the latter, it was a combination of citizen diplomacy acting as specializes form of religious and conflict resolution platform. in a differing view, however, malek (2013) reiterated that citizen diplomacy refers to unofficial contacts between people of different nations, as opposed to official contacts between government representatives, which may include direct contacts in joint activities of various sorts or in situation mediated or facilitated by unofficial third parties, private, peacemakers, scholars or any other unofficial bridge builder. to him, citizen diplomacy can help participants break down negative stereotypes they have of each other. meanwhile, in a confessional statement about the working of citizen diplomacy, washington (2014) revealed that “my first trip abroad introduced me to the customs and hospitality of people who were very different from the people back home, and ignited my ongoing commitment to citizen diplomacy… and that the more we are exposed to other cultures, the more effective we become at increasing the connectedness of our universe and global community”. in agreement to this, powell (2005) affirmed that “i believe that our greatest strength in dealing with the world is the openness of our society and the welcoming nature of our people. a good stay in our country is the best citizen diplomacy tool we have”. to this end, tennison (1987), summed up all about the value of citizenship diplomacy to the society as she posited that in early ‘80s, we americans, determined in a period of desperation to try to reduce the tension between america and soviet union, begins by making decision to try their hands at diplomacy and put together the first trips to the land of the enemy. upon arriving in moscow, leningrad and tblisi, the care citizen initiative travelers spread to soviet sidewalks, market places, schools and to rare apartment at the invitation of the soviet who risked dancing encounters with the kgb. the trip changed the lives of the travelers – each came back to america committed to public educators. this is citizen diplomacy at work. these contentious invariably, informed that as a citizen diplomat, you bring world issues home to doorstep of the people in the most direct way possible. 119 | p a g e contents and applications of citizens diplomacy and transformation agenda: a contemporary discourse okechukwu, groupson-paul uc.; offu, peter in view of the contentious and revelations of scholars above, this study, not satisfied with the kind of citizen diplomacy in most of the developing states like nigeria and african continent as a whole wish to query certain government policies vis-à-vis dwarf foreign relations with other states, the poor manner of opening up of the system, and the level of poverty of leadership in existence in the latter. this is because, nigerians, most of the african states citizen and other developing states’ citizen in particular has suffered rejections, deportation, imprisonment and other forms of maltreatments in other countries. a situation, which encouraged me to join issues with idumange (2010) to query why is it that the kind of citizen diplomacy adopted, if any, by the present regime does not seem to have change the poor perception about the country? why are the developing countries like nigeria, ghana, sierra leone and kenya among others always at the receiving end of humiliations when wanting to receive and not having to give to other states citizens? what kind of structures and or projects of citizen diplomacy driven can we say that replicates those of the western world in nigeria and africa as a whole? can the transformation agenda/amnesty training programmes of the citizens outside the country by the present government be a light at the end of tunnel? is the transformation agenda well-armed in contents and applications in exploring the values of citizen diplomacy to be initiated for the interest of the state or is it another hocus-pocus political agenda? can there be a drastic change in the citizen diplomacy outlook at the end of this regime and or with a continuous order in regimes to come? what are the possible elements of citizen diplomacy advocacy on the ground in nigeria and how has these organizations or policies helped to transform the state in closing the gap between nigeria and other states in terms of relationship? can one vehemently beat the chest and thumb-up for the unofficial bodies (ngo) in the country in promoting citizen diplomacy outside the country or is their attitudes and operations still suspicious to other countries? on this basis, it is affirmative true that citizen diplomacy is current and not yet fully imbibed or appropriated by most nigerians both inside and outside our shore, not to talk of other african states that things are still in its crude stage. this is simply because the level of poverty is not only very high, the level of the quest for primitive accumulation has out-grown desires and bad and aspiring leaders who see the state treasury as an opportunity to cut and carry – home is still much with many nigerians who also sees the nigerian projects with misgivings. but if the concept placed on our table are properly and thoroughly scrutinized and generally accepted as a way forward in re-writing the name of this great country with golden pen, then, citizen diplomacy and the transformation agenda of the present regime and thereafter will 120 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com enthrone the much desired light of development in the nation. citizen diplomacy in the contemporary interrelations construing from the point of view of both fuller (1970) and tennison (1987) above, it is evidence to note that the essence of citizen diplomacy was to creating an understanding among friends and foes, to strengthen the ties between old friends while harnessing new ones in a free world of interactions and interconnectivities; and to discovering the unknown friend/person that was never met, never dream about. the basic reasons for this, is that there might not only be an avenue to exploring the true value of the world, but to let others also know what you know and to help many to advance the course of knowledge they possess by making all to understanding themselves. thus, citizen diplomacy being a new way of interactions, interrelations and understanding among men without any restriction or otherwise, also emphases on mutual acceptance according to rasmussen (2014), that it is not only an experience, but a lifetime continuum of opportunities to learn and enhance one’s cultural competency because everything as embedded in foreign relations promotion is inclusive in the activities of citizen diplomacy. thereby, holding the postulations of washington (2014), that citizen diplomacy explains the future of global prosperity, peace and stability, which depends also on the increased international cooperation, collaboration and mutual understanding. meaning that the transformation agenda of the present regime can only be consummated by allowing the citizen to go out and sell or market the policies of the government, which in turn will boost the government foreign relations. obviously, not overlooking the importance of citizen diplomacy, one would be quick to agree that it is the personal relationship that make a difference in every society, but with the relevancy of its activities, the legislatures in the present time cannot promote better international relations. alternatively, it all depends on the citizens. it is the civic engagement of the citizen diplomats that leads to cooperation and mutual understanding; it is the values placed on it that is much cheaper and far more effective than war in the contemporary society (gelder, 2006). an example to this is the kind of cooperation, openness and interconnectivity exhibited by the west and other aware citizens of the world in ousting col. mamman gadhafi of libya and others in the wake of the arab spring, which showed the true value of citizen diplomacy to what many termed as odd and detestable. the replication of that protest to all the seat-tight rulers of the arab world, can also lead to the kind of change of government and the possible transformation of the state regimes to a new one in the latter. in addition to this, the fact should equally not be forgotten, about the role 121 | p a g e contents and applications of citizens diplomacy and transformation agenda: a contemporary discourse okechukwu, groupson-paul uc.; offu, peter of citizens, especially as it might equally be due to the level of the growing increase in citizen diplomacy from the unofficial agents (the ngos) that doubled the size, awareness and campaign on the ‘bring back our girls’ protest, both inside and outside nigeria on the adopted chibok school girls by boko haram terrorist groups. sequel to these deductions, it suffices then to say that the working of citizen diplomacy has made the world a smaller place, since it has been recognized as a powerful force in building and sustaining a secure, economically sound, and socially interconnected world with a uniting network (zimpleman, 2014). this assertion has not only explained the new face of citizen diplomacy as a more unique and sophisticated tool in both individual and international dealings but it has also go in tandem with the contention of eisenbower (1956), when he reiterated that, ‘i have long believed, as have many before me, that peaceful relations between nations requires understanding and mutual respect between individuals. if only people will get together, then so eventually will nations. in the same continuum, and from the look of things, one fact remains very clear, and that is, that citizen diplomacy is well-nurtured and profoundly established in the developed world like america, britain, france, german, portugal, sweden, denmark and spain among others. this is simply because it engendered development, sustained development and advance technology of these states; unlike in the developing countries like nigeria, ghana, south africa, egypt, angola and congo dr among others where the level of interaction is moribund by several hiccups and terribly sterilized by the havoc of poverty and poor leadership problems. this is why many aspiring leaders or assumed leaders in african in particular, comes to the throne with contradictions of owned wind-hooked and white-washed programmes that turned out to be a conduit pipe to stealing funds meant for development and promoting citizenship diplomacy. these defects, deficiencies and decimations, most find in the developing states of africa like nigeria during the long years of military aberrational rule and at the onset of democratic governance under gen. olusegun obasanjo; the self-made life president of zimbabwe – robert mugabe, dennis sasso ngueso of congo republic, paul biya of cameroon, yoweri museveni of uganda and many other deadwoods on the throne of several african states governance replicating the opposites to establishing a platform where everything about citizenship diplomacy and contemporary interrelations are not only killed but daily monitored and restricted, thereby making the development of such under a social civility context impossible, because they cannot give what they have denied themselves to the citizen who are increasingly aware as the days goes by. forgetting therefore, the common igbo 122 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com adage that one cannot be a witch and at the same time, a poor man/woman. to, therefore, demanding that they must choose one, as their times are up. so that the citizen can involve themselves in the development of the contents and applications of citizen diplomacy goodwill, that invariably helps and encourage the transformation of the states; bearing in mind that citizen diplomacy in the contemporary interrelation helps to build individual while increasing the collective global fluency, which in turn creates economic opportunity, contributes to peace and stability, and develops leadership skills through global problem solving. the basic contents and applications of citizen diplomacy: an analysis agreeing that citizen diplomacy is the right – if not the obligation of the individual citizen to be personally engaged in international relations in the contemporary era, shows that persons or groups engaging with people from other countries is an important boost to the host economy with adequate security guaranty. in countries where such is practiced, you notice that the essence is not only to exchange ideas, make friends and gain an understanding of each other’s culture and way of life, but it makes all the parties believe in the power of citizen diplomacy and involvement in the state governance through international exchanges. in view of this, according to centre for citizen initiative (1983), institute of international education (2011) and national council for international visitors (2008), the basic contents and applications of citizen diplomacy include: cultural/social exchanges programmes, educational/scientific exchange programmes, international exchanges programmes, agricultural initiative, environmental initiatives, developmental programmes, productivity enhancement programmes, economic development programmes, citizen initiative centres, and c.i.c. smaller programmes among others, meaning that, any other programmes not listed can be incorporated provided it is meant to promote citizen diplomacy. it is arguably to point out that the programmes contents cannot be the same everywhere, but instead there should be resemblance or a linkage, much as there is no standardization in the project of citizen diplomacy (muller, 2008). meanwhile, beside the argument on the non-uniformity of programmes, one should not lose sight that there one some countries that these programmes are not known to, and neither do they understand the processes, plans and or workings of it at all. while this gap might have weakened most of the countries that it is unknown to, it might also have impacted greatly to advance the courses of the countries that practice it to an immeasurable height and wealth. on the other hand, there are countries that had engaged in it unknown to them, but because of the lack in knowledge, they had remained where they are till 123 | p a g e contents and applications of citizens diplomacy and transformation agenda: a contemporary discourse okechukwu, groupson-paul uc.; offu, peter date. meaning that, international relations had gone beyond legislative officialdom into the hand of the common citizens who have the time and opportunities to interact with other countries’ citizens in a more decent and interconnected frequencies. with meaningful objective to explaining the workings of the above stated contents, let’s look at some critical questions, such as: how are organizations creating citizen diplomacy opportunities for the individuals from the outlined contents? what are the reasons for involving citizens instead of the normal technocrats or politicians? what programmes are being designed to address the emerging needs? what tools and information are available to advance purposeful global engagements? why has the message of citizen diplomacy failed to reach every citizens of the world, particularly in the developing countries? why has the government machinery failed to inform the citizens adequately on what they ought to know? and what are the possible impacts of citizen diplomacy to states in the contemporary discourse? with attentions drawn to the raised questions above, the study at the same time will be attempting to evaluate the workings of the stated contents of citizen diplomacy side by side: (i) cultural and social exchanges programmes among nation and citizen culture is a very vital issue. the culture of the people speaks for itself. it projects the value of the people or group. thus, according to zimpleman (2014), through people-to-people exchanges of cultural values, activities, friendship among others is established, which also in the word of orbach (2010), we envision a world that thrives because of true global engagement, where individuals and communities’ benefits from person-to-person interactions that results in greater understanding between people and cultures. the greatest asset to this is the citizen diplomacy. hence, citizen diplomacy does a lot in engaging people across culture, makes people to learn others’ culture, like dancing, music, relic, language and believes toward creating shared understanding and mutual benefits. it can be either way, that is, one traveling to the other and vise-versa, as we usually and always see people from different cultural backgrounds coming to osun-oshogbo festival every year. they not only visit the country but they learn many things about her while at the same time helping to publish the country’s image in a good light. just as rourke (2001) argued in the opposite that cultural misunderstanding can lead to tragic result, while the positiveness of it makes people to exchange idea, makes fund and gain an 124 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com understanding of each other’s way of life. (ii) educational/scientific exchanges programmes citizen diplomacy has tremendous impact on the effectiveness of education, through exchange programmes. it impacts the ability of entire countries, regions and people. school exchange programme among students both in sciences and humanities helps to boost the international relations of nations. this exchange programme can be done through scholarship, fellowship, grant and even seminar/conferences. citizen diplomats can be students, teachers, athletes and artists. it helps to engage undergraduates, graduates and researchers to explore their futures as globally competent leader. apart from creating innovation, students are oriented into campus life, connect to resources opportunities in the school and, adequately equipped for future. citizen diplomats need not work for only government; they can be teachers, students or anyone who has the opportunity to interact with people from other countries. as a citizen diplomat, student exchange programmes is ideal, the benefits are immense (zimpleman, 2010). (iii) international exchange programmes this is a process whereby both individual and group may engage in exchange programmes. the international exchange programmes include business and academic communities with expressed intent of pursuing strategies to strengthen a country’s commitment to citizen diplomacy. international exchange can be by way of tourism, exhibition, shows, films, seminar and or other manners of showcasing wealth, culture, fashion and beauty contest among others. as contributors to a global community, every individual understand and acquired positive impact they expect as a citizen diplomats and are empowered to acting meaningful and purposeful to their society, because citizen diplomacy is a builder of bridges (albright, 2001). (iv) agricultural initiative to enhance food sufficiency, especially in countries where urban migration and rural drift has rendered the agricultural sector impotent, nigeria and many other poor countries inclusive, citizen diplomacy on agricultural initiative is established to involve every citizen in order to get food on their table for survival. with government credit facilities, everyone is encouraged to plant crops in the areas which includes: urban garden, rooftop garden, 125 | p a g e contents and applications of citizens diplomacy and transformation agenda: a contemporary discourse okechukwu, groupson-paul uc.; offu, peter support for new and old private farmers, massive seeds lifts, ocean shipments of food for supplies. application of modern techniques of farming is important into the country to engage farmers. these new way of carrying out citizen diplomacy are geared toward food sufficiency and economic growth. of which away from all the previous failures, the groundnut pyramid, millets, maize and cotton in the northern nigeria wouldn’t have today being a history; that the palm oil and fruits in the eastern nigeria wouldn’t have now be a dirty job; that cocoa and rubber plantations in the south-west nigeria may have even be rhetoric as it is today; that yams, rice, pumpkins among others always found in benue, abakaliki, rivers and calabar may not have been stories today, but all could well be blamed on lack of citizenship diplomacy and moribund officialdom. the youths who are supposed to market all these farm products then are otherwise caught up in frivolities and lost in chase of ego, get rich quick syndrome and other meaningless things owing to poor guidance and direction. (v) environmental initiatives this is the idea of every citizen being involved in solving environmental problems like ecological hazard, erosion control, promote the building of dam, quality water cleanup, nuclear cleanup and avoiding land distortion and exertions, planting tree to preserve environmental degradation. citizen diplomacy makes it easier for everyone to be involved in protecting the environment. being environmental-earth friendly (davis, 1999). groups, volunteers, organisation and individual are involved. (vi) economic development programmes this involves organizing a business training programme for young people. granting empowerment loan to graduate and trained business aspirants who will in turn employ others to reduce unemployment. the u – win programme in the transformation agenda could serve but it is not open enough to accommodate the aspirations of the jobless youths. private funds and financial contribution from government and individual are made available to train, fund and sponsor or grant small loans to the candidates to start something that in the long run, will boost the state economy. (vii) productivity enhancement programmes this could be a process of involving the citizen diplomacy in renovating, experimenting and evolving policies of old that promote productivity. in this 126 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com respect, volunteers are absorbed, trained, sent out to teach and train others in order to enhance efficiency and productivity. experts on a particular field are brought to lecture, inform and encourage others with weak ability or lives in fear to succeed. (viii) citizen initiative centre smaller programmes according to tennison (2008), individual are encouraged to take up self-employed schemes, small medium enterprises (sme), microenterprises businesses and a nonprofit management initiative among others, so as to contribute to the economic posterity of the nation. in the same process, computer training and business centre for call and receive are established. in view of the above stated contents and brief highlights of how such programes can be applied or made to work, the citizen diplomat in their states of host or at home are expected to be seen doing something unique to project the states’ interests, even when the contents are not standardized. it is also imperative to accentuate according to nye (2010) that it is the inability of those who initiated such programmes, coupled with poor information delivery and possible failure in influencing the citizen diplomats could well be one of the causes and weak acceptance of the policies. he was also of the view that for a citizen diplomacy to work in sustaining the system internationally, that the recruitment of private citizen with soft sell of ideas and intentions are better accepted rather than hard sell that goes with threat, intimidation, attacks and blackmail. complementing the facts of the above notions, skidmore (2011), notes that most organizations or agencies that involves in citizen diplomacy are private non-profit organisation (ngos), institutions that sponsored, civil society groups among others, who should not in any way be neglected. in the same continuum, nye (2010) argued that in the current epoch, where public diplomacy has done more by publics, that both democratic and autocratic government has find themselves caught on different sides of a clift stick, because citizen diplomacy is increasingly important, but far from easy in global information age, where decentralization and diminished control may be central to the creation of soft power. with the existence of this kind of refined citizen diplomacy working in the civilized society to enhance the foreign policy of their states, could this also happened in the developing society, like nigeria and many others states, where many are still grappling with the endemic menace of corruption, where 127 | p a g e contents and applications of citizens diplomacy and transformation agenda: a contemporary discourse okechukwu, groupson-paul uc.; offu, peter poverty, misplaced priorities and bad leadership thrives? to examining that, the next section where the former in the present dispensation is engendering a transformation agenda programme shall be vividly discussed with comparism on whether there is anything like citizen diplomacy, and if it does exist, is the kind of citizen diplomacy masses driven, since it is very clear that this is not the first time such elusive programmes or policies are being introduced to the people without any success attached to it. citizen diplomacy and state transformation agenda: the nigeria experience evaluated. in the present statecrafts, apart from deviating from the past stereotyped and conservative system of interrelations among men, has gradually come to see and accept the involvement of everyone in the international governance of the state away from the officialdom of international relations and foreign policy processes and procedures. hence, citizen diplomacy is now a powerful tool in defining one’s own nation to the rest of the world. to which, gottermoeller (2014), notes that citizen diplomacy has the potential to create a group of individual relationships to maintain goodwill when formal diplomacy undergoes disruptions. this is because, it is a kind of people-to-people interaction that was almost impossible in the past due to huge distance, but, which had till this day become the world’s best and most available means of interrelations. much so, the rise in internet system and the subsequent collapse of distance that had instead increased travel in international stage, initiate an effective communication and influence one another greatly to become very important useful tool. a fact, nye (2010), confessed by saying that citizen diplomacy is the best way for a country to sell its story to a foreign country; the selling of a positive image of a country is often best accomplished by private citizens. the above contentions when considered in respect of nigeria, tends to make one to be troubled as to whether the presupposed giant of africa has actually explored this new platform in boosting her diplomatic relations with the outside world. however, record had shown that nigeria adopted the concept of citizen diplomacy in 2007, but in a wrong footing as adejumo (2011) reiterated from the stands point of the then minister of foreign affairs – chief ojo maduekwe, who posits that citizen diplomacy in nigeria is construed from a different angle of understanding; simply because nigerian foreign policy still focuses on the nigeria citizen at home and abroad. the foreign minister further argued that nigeria is not shifting away from the traditional approach to foreign relations, but that they will focus more on the citizen. meaning that the kind of citizen diplomacy in nigeria is a mechanism meant to protect the image and integrity of the country and reacts against nations that are hostile and 128 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com nation who had labeled the country as a corrupt state. complementing the critic against the minister’s policy statement, nwozor (2012) noted that since the idea was mooted in 2007, that there does not seem to be any structure on the ground for its logical pursuit, depicting the achilles heel of nigeria’s foreign policy – making that is covered with lack of continuity and extreme personalization of its processes. however, in counting the faults in the nigerian foreign policy of yester-years that had focused on afro-centric philosophy, to which idumange (2010) faulted as failed leadership inability to define her national interest and the nation sudden loss of its competitive edge in african diplomacy; coupled with the shallow view of the minister’s policy statement, okeke and aniche (2014) admits that the initiators of the contradictory citizen diplomacy in 2007 failed or ignored the interface between domestic politics and international politics and erroneously thought that the two can be separated from each other. they however, placed the shortfall on the intense class struggle for power and the long years of military rule and its militarization, which everything was marginalized including the citizen welfare at home let along abroad where citizen diplomacy was at zero level. premised on this identified hiccups in engendering sound citizen diplomacy in nigeria vis-à-vis the enumerated contents and possible workability guides of the contents, the present regime under president goodluck jonathan did launched a transformation agenda, meant to tackle not only the floors in the nigerian foreign policy among others but also to cover all facets of the nigerian economy and the state politics. the study, mindful of the intrigues in state governance, however, examines the transformation agenda, the experience so far, and the place of citizen diplomacy vis-à-vis nigerian foreign relations. to elucidate on this, the following questions may act as a poser and guide: what are the responsibilities and possible failures on duties of the previous regimes? why are nigerians looked at with great suspicion everywhere even in the present dispensation? what are the basic factors that informed the present government to seek for the transformation of the society? what are the possible solutions acting as a linkage toward promoting the country’s images? how strong is citizen diplomacy under the transformation agenda guidelines? and how have the government efforts been towards confronting the failed value of the country outside her domain? in accepting to put on course the transformation agenda programmes, the government admitted that there were challenges facing the nation and from which are expected solutions and achievement by making use of human and natural resources to reducing 129 | p a g e contents and applications of citizens diplomacy and transformation agenda: a contemporary discourse okechukwu, groupson-paul uc.; offu, peter poverty, creating wealth, employment generation, value re-orientation, economic transformation, telecommunication reform, agricultural rejuvenation and improvement of security generally among others. the baseline was to increasing investment opportunities and accelerate network development that could thereby, positively impacting greatly on the national economic development of the country. it also sought to developing effective public and private sector partnership, especially towards designing and implementing economic reform programmes and to give effect to specific goals of the vision 20:2020. the government intentions under the transformation agenda was also to be a key player in the world economy; the largest and strongest economy in african; to achieve a great height in reforming government institutions; growing private sectors initiatives and improving social development (alton, 2009) among others. specifically, the transformation agenda did not spell out any major intention toward foreign relations (citizen diplomacy), even when the notion of battered image abroad still hunt the citizens outside the shore of nigeria. the only area one could commend the government is in the area of maintaining the existence of technical aid corp (tac), that are narrow in scope and the amnesty training programmes of the niger-delta militants, thereby suggesting that the regime is as good as making the mistake of other regimes before it. and, to which all had failed in their responsibilities and duties in projecting a sound citizen diplomacy outlook. the effect of tac and amnesty trained persons are not being felt in our foreign policy relations. thereby agreeing with idumange (2010) that in most countries, nigeria is represented by diplomats who have no idea of their functional responsibility, hence, they cannot defend nigeria’s national interest feverishly even in the face of brazen violations. the transformation agenda look more of domestic instead of being a balance project touching both domestic and international sphere. simply, because most of the programmes are in the hand of official diplomats who may as well not be able to sell its details favourably to the outsiders, which also support the reaction of oyetunde (2008), that unfortunately, nigeria foreign policy relations is static, unprogressive and that it is not benevolent to most nigerians outside the shore. a nigerian citizen visiting the embassy for help will likely be given every reason possible not to render help in a foreign land. a nigerian seeking help in a foreign land will most likely be left hanging… (adaramola, 2007). the citizen diplomacy, if any at all, in this respect, is very weak. the transformation agenda investment drive ought to be left in the hand of individuals and private citizen diplomats instead of 130 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com the normal officialdom, thereby reechoing the stand of the then foreign minister – chief ojo maduekwe in 2007, that the nation is not shifting away from the traditional foreign policy doctrine to complete citizen diplomacy due to reasons best known to them. the transformation agenda of the current government may have a purposeful meaning, if only the citizens are allowed to be involved in the drives and spreading of the rich culture, social initiatives, wealth creation of the government in the midst of many nations through citizen diplomacy, which will in turn, attract many other nations’ citizens, professionals and businessmen to nigeria and vise-versa. it is evidence that lack of openness of the transformation agenda, sad enough, is one of the major problem bedeviling not only the programmes but also the nigerian foreign relations, even after three years or more of its initiation/introduction. the effects of this shortfall have contributed immensely to the failures in redeeming nigerian image abroad. the economic activities and wealth creation are still based on officialdom and coupled with insecurity in some part of the country, thereby encouraging weak investors friendly as no vibrant citizen diplomacy that ought to conscientised prospectors are in existence. regrettably also, the only exchanges programmes known and are working today are those seen sponsored by stated governments and or private sectors. most of the ngos are seen by the government officials as enemy of the state due to lack of sincerity in policy initiation and implementation. conclusion citizen diplomacy being a concept that affirms that the individual has the right, even the responsibility to help shape his nation’s foreign policy relations toward sound economy, decent polity, sound social structure, wealth creations and cultural values, and or … sell its story to a foreign country. selling a positive image… (nye, 2010). it suffices to point out that the establishment of the nigerian technical aid corp (tac) at the inception of democratic dispensation in nigeria was not properly streamlined to be the beginning of citizen diplomacy of the foreign affairs office, since tac was a platform where educated – nigerian professionals are selected and sent to help poor and needy countries with low capacity, while at the same time expected to project the image of the country first among those nations. the rendered services in this respect, range from medical, health services, agriculture, academics, artists and others to those that lack such initiatives, facilities and manpower. the transformation agenda supposedly to be the pivot to which every foreign relation (that is citizen diplomacy) against the narrow and dwarf scope of tac, but the agendas for transformation was silent and to some extent, still dwell on the old traditions of foreign relations, thereby failing to make the 131 | p a g e contents and applications of citizens diplomacy and transformation agenda: a contemporary discourse okechukwu, groupson-paul uc.; offu, peter transformation a people oriented, citizen driven and mass friendly. the foreign affairs ministry is completely shielded in a cocoon of officialdom that had been the major causes of the several failures. compounding the shortfall of tac by adding more to the problem on the ground, the amnesty training programmes of the niger-delta militants that ought to act as an exchange programmes does not in any way suite the projecting of citizen diplomacy as most beneficiaries are not educated, not well informed, and mannerly uncultured to interacting in a high frequency with the host let alone interacting on citizen diplomacy level, since “man can only give what he has upstairs”. on this basis, the foreign affairs ministry needs to open up the ideals of citizen diplomacy through the efforts of the government by equally making the transformation programmes a citizen oriented and not inclusive only to the members of the regime. then, looking at the weakness and non-chalant attitude of nigerians toward the project and citizen diplomacy values, the individuals, groups and organisation supposed to be conscientised on the need for everyone to braze up with reality. technology had eluded us; the ideals of citizen diplomacy must not abandon us. although, reasons may abound against citizen diplomacy apathy, probably due to the failure on the side of the government not being friendly outside the country, since these are the crops of citizens who would have to carry on the programmes on their own volition. they feared that the government and the embassies are not benevolent enough to be given such a treats. much as no incentive, no help or whatsoever, as some might have even lived under bridges or keep on hiding from one place to the other for long before they could find their feet in the host state whereas the country’s embassy exists, hence, the best was to stay away from the mission. conclusively, one of the noticeable factor that seems to be a hindrance in the working and establishment of true citizen diplomacy in nigeria may be located in level of class struggle, craze for power and pen-chat for primitive accumulation and the growing insecurity in virtually all the regions of the country, to which those who have the intentions of coming home with the intent of going back with such state ideals and projections are scared and threatened. thus, making this study to accept in content the views of okeke and aniche (2014), that the intense struggles for state power over other things including the citizens welfare or wellbeing that are marginalized both at home and abroad, forms the processes that hindered the implementation of nigerian foreign policy thrust embedded in citizen diplomacy. furthermore, the incapacitation of the nigerian mission abroad, according to nwozor (2012), in terms of crisis of funding, manpower challenges and the timely intervention in protecting the 132 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com interest of nigerians demanding the expansion of the frontier of diplomacy politicking by harnessing the abundant human resources to meet the goal of its foreign policy are still absent. finally, for citizen diplomacy to succeed, it must be backed up with the sincerity of purpose and approach to nigeria’s entire problem at home (adejumo, 2011). the establishment of citizen diplomacy in nigeria is desirable, noteworthy and must be pursued. it is a policy that is inherently proactive, decidedly dynamic and conceived to achieve a goal as many may be asking where is the citizen in our foreign policy. recommendation sequel to the highlighted hiccups that had formed a trajectory to undermine the true value of citizen diplomacy for long in the nigerian government and politics with particular reference to the current regime, which had adversely affected the foreign policy relations of the country, even in the midst of the ongoing transformation agenda programmes, this study mindful of the several scholarly assertions stands to suggest that it would be better if the following silent and delicate points are considered without any prejudice towards meeting up the very essence of government to the people and society. (i) the transformation agenda should include citizen diplomacy ideals in the foreign affairs ministry as a central body to handle everything related to citizen welfare, wellbeing and relationship to their host. (ii) there should be the establishment of citizen diplomacy commission under the ministry of foreign affairs to coordinate all related matters. (iii) the transformation agenda should be operated on the people driven platform so as to achieve the required result. (iv) the ministry of foreign affairs by matter of urgency should divorce itself from old paradigm or traditional processes of interacting and relating with her host/citizens and nations alike and enthrone citizen diplomacy. (v) citizen diplomacy body under the transformation agenda should be allowed to unite all networks of citizens – individual, group and organizations. it should be allowed to creating global fluency and explore resources available to promoting the image and natural economy of the country. (vi) there should be a well-established data collection approaches in all the embassies. the idea of using social media and any other network should be encouraged. (vii) there is the need to increasing funding for the works of the citizen diplomacy for sustainability, especially if the transformation agenda must have a meaningful impact on the citizen with greater result oriented. 133 | p a g e contents and applications of citizens diplomacy and transformation agenda: a contemporary discourse okechukwu, groupson-paul uc.; offu, peter (viii) the established citizen diplomacy commission should be allowed to sponsor and develop young leaders for careers in public and international affairs and conduct semi-annual conferences for membership on current international issues. (ix) the documenting and educating of the people on the impact of citizen diplomacy programmes should be encouraged and carried out by organizations, stakeholders, and government so as to encourage other interests in engaging in such duty and responsibility. (x) the federal government should task the education ministry in collaboration with citizen diplomacy commission to creating programmes such as international educational council to encourage exchange programmes, international training of teachers, academia and knowledge enhancement productivity. references adejumo, a.a. 2007, re: ojo maduek we’s “citizenship diplomacy”w ww.nigeriasinamerica.com/articl e20 sept. 12. accessed 5th sept. 2014. albright, m. 2001, “viewo citizen diplomacy” in natural council for international visitors, promoting excellence in citizen diplomacy. 1420 street, washington dc. alken, j. 2005, containing intractable conflict: cases in perspective, diplomacy. ed. gay and heidi burgess conflict research consortium. colorado: boulder press. brahm, e. 2005, diplomacy: beyond intractability in conflict research consortium. colorado: university of colorado press. chigas, d. 2003, citizen diplomacy: who are track two intermediaries and diplomats”. track ii (citizen) diplomacy” beyond intractability. eds. guy burges and heidi burges. university of colorado boulder. clinton, j. 200), the work of the citizen diplomacy community. reports. global ties. usa. dickson, m. 2010, “citizen diplomacy in president umaru musa yar’adua’s nigeria, 2007 – 2009: an assessment in international journal of politics and good governance, vol.1., no.13, quarterly 1112910. eisenhower, d.d. 1956, “citizen diplomacy from the 34th president of the united states” in national council for international visitors, promoting excellence in citizen diplomacy. 1420 street, washington dc. fuller, r. w. 1970, “pioneer of citizen diplomacy” in hoffman david work in co-evolution quarterly in 1981. vol.1, no.2. new york. 134 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com lund, m. 1996, early warning and preventive diplomacy. in managing global crisis: sources or response of international conflicts. washington dc, u.s. gelder, m. 2006, meeting the enemy, becoming a friend. bauu institute. dec. isbn 0972134956. goodman, a. 2011, roundtable on evaluating and measuring the impact of citizen diplomacy: institute of international education. washington dc. gottemoeller, r. e. 2014, “how do citizen diplomats actively engage” in centre for citizen diplomacy and pyera global: washington dc. hamitton, k. et al 1996, the practice of diplomacy: its evolution, theory and administration. new york: routledge press. hoffman, d. 1981, “citizen diplomacy” in co-evolution article quarterly. vol.1, no.2 new york. idumanze, j. a. i. 2010, the problematic of redefining nigeria’s national interest in context of global diplomacy. april 26th. malek, c. 201,3 “citizen diplomacy” based on long essay on track ii/ citizen diplomacy in diana chigas, feb. burges. mcdermott, g. 1976, the power of diplomacy and the international relations. london: phime press. _______ 2008, national council of international visitors: promoting excellence in citizen diplomacy. 1420k street. washington dc. _______ 2009, “nigeria vision 20; 2020 economic transformation agenda blueprint” alton industry pub. dec. 2010. nwozor, a.2012, “reinventing nigeria diplomatic machinery: the challenge of citizen and diaspora diplomacy” in journal of history and diplomatic studies. vol.9. nye, j. jr. 2010, “the pros and cons of citizen diplomacy” harvard kennedy school of government, october 4. publication. okeke, v. o. s. and aniche, e. t. 2014, “internal political environment of nigerian foreign policy and implementation of citizen diplomacy under yar’adua/jonathan administration (2007 – 2011), in american journal of social issues and humanities “vol.4 issue 1, january. okocha, c. and onwuka, n. 2007, “nigeria to adopt citizenship diplomacy”. this day, october 31, http//www.thisdayline.com. accessed 6 august, 2014. orbach, b. 2010, “citizen diplomacy” america’s unofficial ambassadors, in centre for citizen diplomacy and pyxera global. washington dc. accessed sept. 10, 2014. 135 | p a g e contents and applications of citizens diplomacy and transformation agenda: a contemporary discourse okechukwu, groupson-paul uc.; offu, peter oyetunde, c. 2008, nigerian foreign policy outlook and the challenges of time. lagos: niia monograph series, no.8, pp.114. powell, c. 2005, “citizen diplomacy and the american society”. national council for international visitors: promoting excellence in citizen diplomacy. 1420k str., washington dc. rasmussen, d. 2014, “citizen diplomacy” the centre for citizen diplomacy and ptera global: washington dc. accessed sept 10, 2014. rourke, m. 2001, “you are a citizen diplomat” be a citizen diplomat” institute of international education. temple university philadelphia. skidmore, d. 2011, “the concept of citizen diplomacy” in nelson institute for diplomacy and international affairs. drake university. stinnett, a. t.2005, diplomacy and the fallacy of international politics. new delhi: amann and jaspon press. shultz, g. p. 2005, small state diplomacy, in foreign service institute journal of studies. arlington virginia. tennison, s. 1987, evaluating and measuring the impact of citizen diplomacy: current status and future direction. the centre for citizen diplomacy, washington dc. washington, c. 2014, “discovering diplomacy” international visitors council, columbus. may/june. williams, j., goose, s. d. and wareham, m. 2008, banning landmines: disarmament, citizen diplomacy and human security. ed. u.k.: rowman and littlefield publishers inc. wolton, h. e. 1954, the intrigues in diplomacy and diplomatic practice. bolton: clarpard swindlers press. zartman, w. 2005, preventive diplomacy: setting the stage in conflict research consortium. colorado: colorado university press. zimpleman, l. 2014, ‘what is citizen diplomacy” in then principal for financial group centre for global citizenship. drake: drake university. _______ 2014, see the centre for citizen diplomacy and ptxera global. washington dc. accessed sept 10. 2014. 77 | p a g e resources conflicts and governance: the nigerian daunting challenge in the 21st century by okechukwu, groupson-paul uc. phd groupsonpaul@yahoo.com, okechukwu.groupson@funai.edu.ng department of political science federal university ndufu alike ikwo (funai), abakaliki – ebonyi state, nigeria and arua, christopher chukwu department of political science federal university ndufu alike ikwo (funai), abakaliki – ebonyi state, nigeria aruah.christopher@funai.edu.ng and ayodeji o. adedeji department of political science federal university ndufu alike ikwo (funai), abakaliki –ebonyi state, nigeria adeayo2000s@yahoo.com abstract natural resources conflict, a growing phenomenon, affecting several states in the world, has become a daunting challenge in nigeria. these conflicts, arising from the struggle and disputes ongold, diamond, timber, crude oil, coal, uranium and lead deposits among others have greatly impeded the state, its people, economy and factors of sustainable development. nigeria, a mono-economy nation, severely hit by oil conflict politicsin its domain is greatly disturbed. this problematic hiccups not only affecting governance with damages, destructions and dislocations of the economy but had created unstable society. a lopsided shortfalldepleting output and gains to affecting themeans of livelihood, social civility, wages and income and the gross domestic product (gdp). this study mindful of this disequilibrium utilises secondary data and adopts descriptive, analytical concepts and indepth analysis approach. the study is situated on conflict and game theories.the study revealed that some of the oil producing states uses manipulative tendencies to taunt the government. the study also observed that the government in several respect had not treated the people well due to swapping of gain between the producing states and nonproducing states. the study noted that there were general neglect, deprivation, frustration and abandonment meted out to the oil producing states, thereby informing the rise and mailto:aruah.christopher@funai.edu.ng mailto:adeayo2000s@yahoo.com 78 | p a g e incessant conflict and, faceoff between the host communities, militants and government officials.the studysuggest that government should adopt factors and instruments for sustainable developmentwith capacities; capital infrastructure and human capital development to improving the living conditions. keywords: natural resources, conflict, governance, human capital development, mono-economy introduction globally, natural resources conflict is as old as mankind. thus, scholars like ayokhai (2013), argued that it is a reoccurring denominator of national life in many states of the world. to eliasson (2015), land and natural resources disputes are major drivers of conflict and violence in the world. that is why a state like liberia was meshed into civil war for upward of thirteen (13) years on the struggle for who control the sales of diamond, gold and timber among others (husband, 1998). the sierra leone conflict/war, not different either, expanding from 1992 to 2003, between foddy sanko led ethnic rebel of revolutionary united front (ruf) against the government at the centre was not only eager to acquire power but a platform for the ethnic timine who were marginalized to seek for the control of the natural resources domiciled in their land. the profit from the sale of diamond and gold at koidu, tongo field and kailaugh were seen as a great deal to testing power since independence in 1962 (got, 1998). in the same continuum, the control of natural resources had also helped to fan conflicts in many african states like angola, congo dr, sudan and even the war of occupation between the boars and britain in south africa over diamond at transverse, cape and free state in the 18th and 19th century (hatch et al, 1909), both being foreigners fighting for wealth in foreign land (langhis, 1910). conflict of natural resources cut across regions and states of the world as seen in the cases of england and ireland, pakistan and india, kashmir and pakistan and many others who were not left out in their separate zone as one conflict of resources had in one time or the other occurred. however, nigeria blessed with several natural resources like crude oil, iron ore, lead, aluminium, bauxite, gold and many others is faced with the daunting challenges of not only on how to manage her numerous resources but on initiating viable political policies that could help her actualize the expected goal as a nation. the adoption of quasifederalism, being a hocus-pocus paradigm in governing the people was a major problematic issue that had ever hunted the state as several component units continually seek for the control of the natural resources in their domain with the centre unwilling to let go. simply because these resources profits are greatly mismanaged and or used mostly in developing a non-viable or resources draught regions. 79 | p a g e beside this scheming, manipulation and self-imposed problems, a greater policy somersault of the nigerian state was when she abandoned the processing of all other resources to focus only on crude oil exploration and exportation due to the cheap and quick revenue generation accruing from it, thereby, not only ushering the state into a mono-economy state but also rendering the citizenry weak and lazy to seeing other means of livelihood as alternative. the craze for oil money in the midst of imbalanced system becomes the order of the day as gains and losses had compelled some to question the authority of a person from non-oil producing regions controlling power and resources in another’s region (oil producing state). in the same vein, some of the elites of the oil producing region – the niger delta who had gained a lot from the power that be at the centre are equally being used as spoilers of the system as they supported all the devious operations in the delta region. it is only of recent, like if the scale of blindness covering the eyes of the people had fallen off, that questions of resources, resources control, conflict of resources control and the cry for restructuring had once ensued and taken different dimension. in that same manner, the nigerian state were forced to witness several conflict and crises in succession with serious confrontations coming from the militant groups of niger delta volunteer force (ndvf), movement for the emancipation of the niger delta (mend) and niger delta avengers (nda) on the awful treatment of the federal government to them, considering the quantity of oil and money being explored and made in their region compared to the enormity of destruction in the same domain. premised on this, the paper tends to x-ray the imports of the arising problematic hiccups, whether it is purely a policy deficiency, defeat, a premeditated act, betrayal of government by its agents in the niger delta, neglect and or wilful deprivation against the sufferings of the people who having been pushed to the wall, are merely reacting. on the same premise, the study intend to look at other fundamental issues or factors that might have allowed for all these disequilibrium now affecting the general society existence. nigerdelta and the history of oil the area called the niger delta, which was formerly known as the oil rivers or the british oil rivers protectorate, with about 70,000km2 and makes up 7.5% of nigeria’s land mass is today made up of abia state, akwa-ibom state, cross river state, edo state, imo state, delta state, rivers state, ondo state and bayelsa state due to government new legislation in 2000 (wilmolt, 2012). the area also covers over 40 ethnic groups including the efik, ibibio, annang, oron, ijaw, itsekiri, igbo, isoko, urhobo, ilaje, yoruba and the kalabari amongst others. 80 | p a g e in nigeria, with the discovery of oil at olobiri in the oil rivers in the late 1950s and as development and exploration of crude expands, the oil net of nigeria that happens to be the biggest producer of petroleum in black africa, also increased with over 2 million barrels (320,000m3) of crude in a day. so also the environmental problems and human devastations were on the increase. although, the actual operations, which includes the exploration of the crude and other minerals were undertaken by multinational corporation (like royal dutch shell and shell bp, agip, chevron, conoco, slumberg, total and texaco among others) who in turn helped in providing the nigerian state with necessary technology and financial resources, but the necessary side effect of this overture has a long term problematic consequence even though it was ignored probably wilfully or by sheer negligence as it was not long as expected before the causal effects. meanwhile, beginning from the period of oil exploration in nigeria, there had been international controversies, which seems to centre on who is actually in control, and what seems also to be the fate of the host communities, as such was not streamlined included or taking into cognizance nor was it recognized at all. with the internationalization of oil business and the concomitant drive for oil wealth by both friends and foes of nigeria with the connivance of the elites, and coupled with the raised issues above, the effects of all these actions were central to the possible devastation, pollution ecocide, kleptocracy, gas flaring, environmental degradation and human rights abuses to which some of the multinational corporation like royal dutch shell, chevron, and agip, amongst others were implicated in several quarters as being anti-human in operation and co-habitation. however, one naughty event after the other, that was not clear to many then was, who actually was in control of the nigeria oil wells in the niger-delta? what was the position of the military governments then whom the multinational corporations used diplomatic recognition of regime to keep in power with a huge oil exchange as international praisesingers in the eye of the world? do the people of nigeria-niger delta have a say to the oil gushing out of their domain? how enlightened were they to fight the course of the itemized issues in controversy? does this suggest that the niger delta problem was not contemporary, but from the origin of discovery to exploration, and now to the advance exploration era? on this lingered questions, the notion that this study points at is that the whole problem of gas flaring, one aspect of the numerous problems of the niger delta region, as affecting the communities and people, which is not probably a disturbance to the government that is driven only by the quantum of revenue generated through oil exploration and burning of gas into the air, might be one of the long projected pointer to the premeditated years of neglect of the people of the region who wallow in their own pain and misery. 81 | p a g e thus, partly agreeing that despite the country’s huge economic gains from oil, that one naivety that had confronted the whole situation was the issue of “do not mind the devastating effect of oil exploration, what should be prime and of interest is the wealth and turnover”. a crude idea of human existence in a capitalist society where life and destruction means nothing compared to value and gains of profit. meaning that the issue of gas flaring is not what government can waste resources in tackling headlong. but instead, what might have played out the rhythm are the political intrigues that both the government and their international partners the multinational corporations, seems to import, impose and display concerning the health hazard to which its general implication goes with the detriment of the communities thereby, hampering sustainable development in the region. in support of this notion according to wilmot (2012:2-3) the superfluous quantity of oil, together with gas extraction comprising of over 97% of nigeria’s foreign exchange revenue was what the parties were concerned about. this is because much of the natural gas extracted in oil wells in the delta is immediately burned or flared, thereby causing over 70 million m3 of crude oil per day. the equivalent being 41% of the total african gas consumption, and which also formed the largest single source of greenhouse gas emission on the planet earth. an internationalized consequence, which implies that climate change devastation, could be imminent in the delta region and the sub-saharan africa in general. in the word of climate of justice programme (2005), and the urhobo historical society (2003), the biggest gas flaring company in nigeria is the shell petroleum development company of nigeria ltd. a jointly owned company of nigeria government and the british government. the activities of these two countries and the oil company that they supervise do not treat or attend to the problems of this region as though they exist on the same earth surface. while the british side parades a pretentious and conservative attitude toward the regions numerous problems while appropriating the mineral resources, the nigeria government on the other hand sees the region and their protests and campaigns as baseless, economic sabotage and treasonable crime against the nigerian state, since the federal government by law owed all land and its resources. this act, might equally be the reason as adduced above to the politically coloured treatment given to the problem at hand, since despite the outlawing of the said gas flaring, 20 years ago. the companies had tenaciously flared associated gas, thereby not only violating the enabling regulation and legislation, but had gone further to causing local pollution, environmental disorder and invariably contribution to climate change. it is evident also that the environmental devastation associated with this kind of activities by the industry and the lack of even distribution of oil wealth have been one of the sources or factors arousing numerous environmental movements, conflicts, youth restiveness and the recent confrontation with the federal government in the region by the helpless, jobless, hopeless and confused youths of the region even to this day. 82 | p a g e clarification of concepts i). oil, a natural resource crude oil is a natural resource found in the niger delta region of nigeria in the 1950s. the nigerian government became more interested in the oil as government after government abandoned all other means of revenue generation to focus on oil cheap money (parker, 2009), thereby leading the country into mono-economic state. with the intensification for oil gain, the government connived with the multinational firms and local elites to exploit, explore and destroy the aquatic life in the region, therefore, creating artificial impotency to the regions’ land, water and agricultural crops. according to parker (2009), bloomfield (2008) and rowell (2005), the people of niger delta fight for access to safe drinking water and sanitation owing to oil spills. in support of this observation, the un (2010) noted that from 1976 to 2008, that there exists 6,800 oil spillages, while the government does little or nothing in seeing to the clean-up or stoppage of this evil activities. instead, in the words of nwilo (2008), the government continued denial of the region their basic means of existence. the oil blocs were shared among the elites with non-going to the citizens of the niger delta.the profits made from the black gold were equally used to develop all other regions with nothing to show in the niger delta region. this blood oil money and the negating activities that followed it, according to mbachu (2008) informed and raised two problematic groups the actors to the struggle and the actors to the retention of status quo. however, not bothered about the existence of the crying group, the nigerian government blames the illegal oil trade, bunkering and balkanization on the militants of the region, while on the other hand, the youth/militant say that the government intent in criminalizing their activities is a plan to do away with their legitimate struggle. a claim and counter claim that had made the drawing of weapon on each other possible. the government in its continuous playing of the old order evokes its instrument that land belong to the federal government and nobody can stop its statutory duties. a pronouncement that led to the raising of questions on the structure of the nigeria federalism and the false accomplices that had made it possible these years. to this end, akwen and gever (2011), blaming it on recent events argued that it is the reasons for the re-surfacing of kidnapping, violence, insurgency, crude oil bunkering, gang war and hostage taking, thereby making the region a hot bed of vices and crime. simply, because the government seemed to have derailed from its responsibilities. ii). governance and false federalism in nigeria good governance is when there is social civility, equitability in distribution of means of governance, provision of democratic dividence, obedient to the rule of law and coexistence of all entity. meaning that it is where the essence of governance is allowed to exist and grow; where the government does for the people what they cannot do for 83 | p a g e themselves. and an ideal federalism in its practice has such enshrines in its constitution for the dignity of the citizenry and people. however, federalism on its own allows for two or more levels of government united while existing side by side. in the composition, each unit possesses certain assigned powers and function. federalism allows each unit to complement the weakness of the other while encouraging healthy competition toward development. meanwhile, from the very day that the word federation of nigeria was conceived, falsehood was enthroned. this is because it was a quasi-federalism. the falsehood was not only on the policy point that enacted it but the whole system both in practicability, structural and composition was faulty. the system ushered in a kind of governance that was tailored into unitary structure while parading federalism costumes. it gives none of the expected power to the component units. instead, the component units under allegiance were severally turned into beggars. the fiscal federalism, one of the cardinal points of federalism was hijacked by the centre, the competitiveness of federalism was nowhere as the centre weighed over 89% of the federation power to itself (okechukwu, 2012). according to chukwuma (2010), the brand of federalism in nigeria defy all known definition and practices as postulated by scholars like wheare (1964), riker (1964) fedrick (1968), verman (1979) and sofowoke (2012) among others. to this effect, the absence of true federalism, which is the first daunting challenge facing nigeria and possibly the will-power to all other problems were revealed. this bad make up, bad governance and the arising problems of the 21st century nigeriahinged on false federalism and near state failure, thereby making everyone, people and region to pursue separate ideology of anti-nigerian federation owing to the absence of true federation that negates good governance becoming real. iii). resources control in imbalance federalism according to okechukwu (2012), one unique thing about an ideal federalism in any state is the processes as enshrined in the constitution of the practicing state, not minding the weakness, strength and unequal blessing of component units. competitively, units are allowed to harness, harvest and sell the resources found in their domain and pay some amount of the percentage to the centre, who in turn, distributes it equally to other lacking units. resource control, therefore means allowing the component units to explore their mineral resources in their domain under the central guide and laws. the centre at the end will be entitled to some percentages of the accrued proceeds or profits. this act do not only create competition among the federating units in terms of development, revenue sourcing 84 | p a g e and technological advancement, but it allows each unit to solve its minor problems without the centre being overstressed. resource control is ingenuity driven and developmental cost-benefit to a state or region that manages it well. however, the nigerian type of federation negates the above stipulated merits of true federalism, thereby imposing an uncultured and unrefined system of federalism. it is this self -grown system that had otherwise joined other factors to haunt the nigerian state, thereby creating an imbalance in the federation. even when the centre control of resources is currently in force in nigeria, the excuses that it is fit to bring about or create macroeconomic stabilization and the redistribution of income and wealth, are still not attainable. the centre seemed to be doing nothing other than being an architect of its own problems.this becomes obvious as the centre in the name of federalism practices unitary system government. and so much interested in usurping powers of component unit while pretending to be doing something to solve state problems. this stems from the assumption that the central government is alive to its developmental responsibilities to all parts of the country in a manner that demonstrates justice and equity (chukwuma, 2010). but the absurd in the nigerian context is that there are imbalances in several areas of the federation, thereby, leading to the meditating and undermining of the ability and capability of the centre by ethnic influence and manipulations. the processes that had encouraged inequalities in fiscal federation and the politicization of the principles governance leading to the present face-off and other incessant clamour for resources control and insecurity in the southern part of nigeria. iv). violent conflicts and restructuring of the state according to political violent conflict analysts like gurr (1974), keith (1946) bank (1996) and deutsch (1990) among others, conflict ensues when the centre can no longer hold between actors, people, society and the deprived or frustrated. although conflict is inevitable and present in every human society but violent conflict, which is the extreme form of conflict is seen to have been aroused by several factors, ranging from deprivation, neglect, frustration, oppression to near survival instinct syndrome. thus, cantrill (1961) and hume (1945) agreed that we recall justice and sympathy, and permit injustice and enmity to take their place in driving home every act of frustration and deprivation with aggression. this means that when the people are deprived, suppressed and frustrated, that they tend not only to strike at their oppressors at first but also oppose and rebel against the authority. going further in marx das capital, it is obvious that conflict is a dominant character of human relations. in his materialist conception of history, he posits that the history of human society is the history of class struggle, meaning that the most interesting thing about the society is that conflict is inevitable. that what prevails in society is not order, solidarity or consensus but struggle between groups for control of the means of 85 | p a g e subsistence. it also suggests that conflict is either equated with competition or treated as a derivative of competition. in the context of this study, therefore, violent conflict suggests that it is no longer conflict or struggle for compatible goals but outright violence occasioned by certain factors simply because violence has rendered the competitive nature in question absolute and tends to complicate the struggle beyond the normal way of competing. it also imply that arms and arm struggle might or are now the new phase of the struggle, hence, seeing the militants, rebels and insurgence picking arm against themselves or even against the state as presently occurred in niger delta by ndvf, mend and nda amongst others expressly revealed the erroneous incapacitation of the nigerian state in tackling her problems because of poor management of the state. the violent conflict seen as the only way of calling on the government to look into certain issues as neglect, deprived, frustration and oppression among others while asking for restructuring and repositioning of things in the country portends danger. restructuring means changing the old way or policies that are outdated to suit the contemporary issues on the ground. the government, therefore, in looking at the nigerian federation needs to restructure it. suchact might down tension and other problematic issues arousing violent conflict in the niger delta and any other part of the country. to accentuate on this ideas, clark (2003) asserts that the boys (militants) are fighting for their own survival. they are fighting unemployment, criminal negligence of the area, the dehumanization of our own people and lack of education, development and progress of the niger delta. the violent conflict, to sasay (2008), the militancy in the niger delta region has assumed an alarming proportion because of the continued oppression and gross underdevelopment of the area that produces virtually the entire wealth of the nation. this violent conflict and the daunting challenge to the nation also send devious signal to the nigerian state on what might happen otherwise or in another region tomorrow if their resources becomes the only economic sustenance of the nation, as the violent conflict and growing crisis had brought untold hardship and instability to the nigerian polity. v). mono-economy and depleting economy mono-economy is where a country’s only source of economic income is coming from or dependent on one source or product. in the process, the country is managed depending only on such income. every activity and development of the country depends on such economy. such duties of government like capital project, expenditure, salary, pension, purchases and development fund among others depend on the mono-economy gains. the unique character or state of things with such situation is that the more increase in the expenditure or capital, the less the economy tends to sustain and or carry the growing needs. against the over-dependence on oil proceeds to which the nigerian economy have been over-stressed starts to deplete. the depleting economy if not checked or attended to 86 | p a g e leads to economic recession. this is not only due to the level of exertion on the economy but encouraged by poor management and corrupt leadership. depleting economy as witnessed in the nigerian situation could be one of the major problem imposing serious challenge to the nigerian state. vi). national resources conflicts in the niger delta and political disequilibrium in nigeria. crude oil, being the major source of revenue earning of nigeria under mono-economic tendencies have however, portrayed two ends: the actors and the spectators. this is accompanied by three different characters of the policy formulators, executioners and sufferers. while the policy formulators and executors are the actors, the sufferers fall within the spectator’s zone. the nigerian government and the multinational corporation being the actors and at the same time the executioners are manipulative and cunning while the people of niger delta are the sufferers, always prone to violence. and in the word of gur (1974) above, the people rebel against the authority when the state deprives them of the essence of governance through manipulation, denial and deceits. the government and her allies (multinational companies) relying on the concept of game theory and the false federation policies, contradict and confuse the whole system into a political disequilibrium that are today the end product of mismanagement and maladministration in nigeria. although, with few elites from the niger delta region being used as a pawn to the people, has messed up the entire region. thus, clark (2005), abati (2009) and biakpara (2010) among others argued that the government at the centre relying on the falsehood of the federation, the wealth of the niger delta region was used to develop lagos and make abuja the shining light of africa to the detriment and nakedness of the niger delta. in the same continuum, the ogoni bill of rights was also treated with levity by government, thereby informing the populace of the region that the government is not ready to attend to their problems. thus, propping up the emergence of militant groups and warlords in the creeks (biakpara, 2010), to confront the federal government against her shortfalls. with the situation in the niger delta degenerating into full anarchy, the armed youth gangs who had emerged started fighting for the control of oil wells and resources in their localities (akwen and gever, 2013). the attacking of oil installation, kidnapping, oil bunkering and pipeline vandalism becomes a daily and minute affairs as the militants were armed with superior weapons and very defiant in confronting the federal troops, thereby confirming the view of eliasson (2015), that when natural resources are poorly managed or inequitably shared that tension, quarrel, dispute and conflict might ensue, because the oil is a very important source of livelihood, income and influence for countries and communities. 87 | p a g e accepting the above contention, straus (2012), also notes that conflict over access to means of livelihood such as natural resources of oil among others are part of the changes that had evolved since the end of cold war. to this assertion, he further posit that the geopolitical slightsince the end of cold war are leading candidates to explaining the changing dynamics, frequency and character of warfare in the sub-saharan africa, especially as occasioned by natural resources. crazy enough to this angle, as seen in nigeria where several conflicts and violent crises since after the enthronement of democratic governance had been a prevalent issue in the country, thereby explaining the kind of problems that had for long accumulated to bedevil the country. instance of this is seen in the first tenure of democratic rule since 1999 where it was like a hell let loose as every ethnic group of opc, apc, bakasi-boy, egbeju, massob, ijaw youth and other militants and violent prone groups like ndvf, mend and nda among other struggle with the government exclusively to appropriate or have a fair access to the appropriation of the natural resource in their homeland. notorious as these groups are has damaged and helped to render the sliding economy into perpetual coma and recession in the recent months, a reason that had compelled political economist to post the question of what are the major causes? what has gone wrong in the management of the state resources? which is the possible way out? and what are the needful that must be attended to in saving the state from total collapse? however, in whichever way one tends to look at the raised question, one unique fact about conflict of natural resources as presently taking place in nigerian niger delta, is that it affects state governance, especially where there are other factors or abridged system make up in the mode or type of governance, which irrevocably helped to either extend or short change the course or actual goal of governance (chukwuma, 2010). this observation not far-fetched from the nigerian environment explains the kind of problematic paradigm of the state of things in the country. thus, faced with the daunting challenges of economic recession, insecurity and lopsided governance where unitary system of governance were exchanged for federal system in a quasi-grand style called federalism; where federalism only exists on paper and feared to be practised in practical terms. the managers of the state in this regard need to have a national rethink about nigeria unity, wealth and welfare of the people. in the word of williams (2011) and omason (2009), the emergent of democratic institutions in nigeria had actually helped to expose the ills with nigeria in terms of the numerous challenges of nationhood confronting her. the long years of military rule had also helped to midwife and cover the engendering problems with the nation in terms of stability and peaceful co-existence. meaning that, with the daunting challenges of quasifederalism, corruption, economic mismanagement and misplaced priorities as seen in the 88 | p a g e case of using the wealth of another area to develop another region, the nigeria nation deserved to be restructured. theoretical arguments mindful of the level of devastations, destruction, dislocation and distortions in the niger delta owing to the effects of oil exploration and exploitation, gas flaring and social disequilibriumthis section adopts conflicts theory and game theory. the above theories are combined in the course of this inquiries even though they are examined separately, while the link establishing them plays a complementary role in the research investigation towards bringing the events and activities in the niger delta to the fore on the issue of natural resources conflicts. a). conflict theory conflict, according to boulding (1962:1) is an activity that is found almost everywhere in the world of man. amongst all the categories of conflicts, political conflict seems to be most devastating and destructive, both in idea and actions. dahl (1987) asserted that conflicts arise as a result of many factors, including struggle for power and privileges, and differences in social status. such social status as economic class, income, wealth, position and occupation counts. other factors as differences in education, ideology, religion, language, region and family origins amongst others also encourage conflict. in essence, conflict is a situation of competition, in which the parties are aware of the incompatibility of future positions and in which each party wishes to occupy a position that is incompatible with the wishes of other (boulding 1962:1-12). according to coser (1967:42-54) conflict occurs among individuals; group and organizational interest, when they happen. it can lead to clash among actors, resulting to death, owing to its violent nature. laue (1990:17-18) postulated that conflict is a natural and inevitable part of all human social relationship. it is the escalated, natural competition between two or more parties about scarce resources, power and prestige. parties in conflict believe they have incompatible goals and their aim is to neutralize, gain advantage over, injure or destroy one another. he went further to state that conflict can escalate to a psychopathology, social disorder and war. conflict is a social phenomenon, and is multi-faceted. there are some which are very beneficial, while others are destructive. scimecca (1990:30-33), while observing that the theory of conflict explains human behaviour in terms of self-interest, and the perpetuation of the social order by the organized coercion of certain groups over other groups, went on to state that although political conflict takes several different forms, what is crucial for understanding social behavior; is the degree to which people are in positions to control others, and how this is 89 | p a g e related to the accumulation of wealth, power and status that arouses conflicts amongst them. however, to stragner (1967:15-23), conflict is an unfortunate but basic characteristic of human nature. she upheld that conflict leads to violence, which will attract attention where all civil methods fail. to her, conflict occurs over means to achieve goals. it is inherent in human condition. she concluded by saying that every major advancement in individual, group and societal civilization has resulted from conflict, and we certainly agree that bloodshed and destruction have followed from many conflicts. another scholar, deutsch (1990:38-49) argued that conflict can be positive. thus, he noted that conflict has many positive functions; it prevents stagnation, it stimulates interest and curiosity. it is the medium through which problems can be aired and solution arrived at. it is the root of personal and social change. conflict is also often part of the process of testing and assessing oneself (individual, group, nation-state and the international system) for corporate improvement. he further noted that conflicts engender systemic innovation and compel new management techniques. in another realm, banks (1996:439) contended that conflict is both inevitable and necessary. it is inevitable, because both people and groups have basic needs, expressed in society through competing values, clashing in order to provide the catalyst for development. without this life would hardly be worthwhile in term of change and progress. he submitted that conflict can be functional, but that its functional benefits can sometimes be accompanied by dysfunctional costs: hostility, rigidity, violence and destruction. thus, going by the above contentions, it is imperative to agree with ekoko (1996:441) who asserted that the causes of conflicts in africa are multifaceted; that the frequency and regularity are extremely high; that no sub-region in the continent is free of major conflicts, and that as a result, the level of insecurity, instability and chaos are also abnormally high in africa. the natural resources conflict in niger delta fell within intrastate conflict, occasioned by the mode of governance, ethnic dominance, denial to control resources in the domain, swapping of resource profit to better non-resources zone, abandonment and wilful neglects. apart from the neglect of the niger delta region leading to natural resources conflict, group interest and the drive for value retention were seen to have contributed in modulating the different stages or dimensions that the conflict had taken place. this value retention and differing interest invariably, lead to abysmal violence, the quest to control their oil, the open confrontation and poor policy initiative that had greatly affected the 90 | p a g e people thereby making many indigenes of the region to see survival as an unattainable goal (gurr, 1974). according to the views of the scholars above and at the same time acting as a guide to our case study, keith (1946:105-109) opined that man is born of competitive spirit. that man is by nature competitive, combative, ambitious, jealous, envious and vengeful. he further noted that in the struggle for survival, that is, the struggle for integrity, control of domiciled resources and values, which often reaches such extremity of decision-making, with the resultant effects leading to the use of force, violence, conflict and war among others. consequently, incompatible goals, apart from the acts of frustration and deprivation, generate conflicts in several ways. this becomes clear when examined from sequential scenes of events in the case study, and the numerous other conflicts that had bedevilled nigeria, to which all are collapsed into as a daunting challenge facing the nation. a question to be asked is, can the drive of incompatibility of goals, which is seen as natural and inevitable reasons for most conflicts mean that nigeria, may never get out of conflicts except the otherwise? providing answer to this does not mean that conflict cannot be dislodged, or curtailed to the barest minimum. (after all not all conflict are desirable), but it does mean that, to achieve that, we must accept that conflict is inevitable and a necessary evil in every human society and that the government should look inward toward restricting of her old policies to accommodating the contemporary issues. the first step in putting an end to conflict is to find its root cause. the second is to allow the parties in the conflict to see reason towards dialogue, by disagreeing to agree, and then to make peace. in making peace, of course, each must be ready to relinquish certain or some part of the contending factors. while at the same time agreeing to accept the view and feelings of others who must also reciprocate accordingly. the third is that when the root causes of the crises are found, and agreement is reached through dialogue; then comes the points raised by (gurr 1974) who noted that frustration and aggression, which are the main causes of conflicts, are treated in the course of dialogue, while the incompatible goals are shared among the contending parties. conflict resolution mechanism, while been applied today to any conflict situation must take the root cause of the crisis serious. this is to guarantee the successful and peaceful end of the conflict, as such when not properly managed, can take another dimension to escalate. meaning that the government must re-visit and allow true federalism to be in nigeria. b). game theory framework this section, reference to the situations mentioned above also employed game theory framework to back up the research argument. game theory, which combined manipulation, scheming and propaganda to achieving desired objectives are also seen 91 | p a g e been displayed in the course of the natural resources conflicts in nigeria niger delta. thus, scholars like plano and riggs (1953) opined that it is a body of thought dealing with rational decision strategies in situations of conflict and competition, of which each participant or player tends to maximize gains and minimize losses. in tandem to this assertion, mager (1972) argued that it is a form of arithmetic mode of interactions of actors striving to maximize their utilities. to newman and magestern (1957), it is used to define the economic man as a rational actor who believes in gain rather than losses. agreeing with this contention, stranger (1960) posits that game theory is a domineering concept with the intent of greed and logical reasoning of manipulating others against their desires, against the society and against the entire system. in the same continuum, levy and thompson (2010), argued that game theory is the act of rationally advancing security, power and wealth in any societal contest. therefore, if game theory involves the manipulation of numbers, persons and materials to achieving a set goal, whose rules are defined vis-à-vis the distribution of resources and the strategic possibilities that are open to each player in the employment of these resources, then, the questions this study raises are: why has the government abandoned true federalism to practicing quasi-federalism (unitary system) of government? why has the government neglected the area that produce the wealth of the nation to better the dry resources zone? why should the elites of the niger-delta be used to manipulate the region to their detriment for long by the powers that be at the centre? whatare the possibilities that the flooding of the country with illicit small arms and light weapons are not politically motivated since substantial evidence implicates the political class as seen at every crises? why are illicit arms a bait to conflict in the society with insurgency rearing ugly heads in almost every part of nigeria with niger-delta region becoming more volatile? what do the actors who encourage the in-flow of small arms and light weapon into the country to fighting resource control tend to achieve? what are the possible implications of this illegality to the general society? is it possible that these sponsors and their agents intend to undermine the territorial integrity of the country by any means? should we also agree that corruption helped to make it difficult to solving nigeria problems? what are nigeria’s strategies for national cooperation and integration towards security, good governance and human rights? do the present government have in mind restructuring of the country? can true federalism as obtained during regionalism be allowed to flourish for better governance of the country? these are some of the vital questions addressed in this study. taking into cognizance that apart from the political class and the government, whether ruling or in opposition utilizes the concept of manipulation, scheming and propaganda to suffocate the governed into perpetual fear, to which arms struggle in the quest for resource control are the brain behind all confrontations. and government not yielding to demands has not only made conflict a daily occurrence but both a bait and trend in the present context, especially, the period preceding and postelectioneering contest to the economic recession stage. 92 | p a g e political governance and nigerian daunting challenges in the 21st century frankly speaking, nigeria’s history of governance had long been situated on series of misgivings, right from the period of pre-independence, independence, postindependence, military incursion and democratic wavering and ineptitudes among others, due to the kind of mockery and political shenanigans that trailed the system of state governance. with mockery of true federalism that was established since 1954, the composition, structure and disposition of the nigerian state has defied everything about the much talked about and expected good governance that are still very remote and inaccessible (chukwuma, 2010) to society and people. thus, problems of awful true federalism, corruption, economic misplaced priorities, maladministration and conflict of natural resources in the niger delta had become a great daunting challenge to the country in this 21st century. against this shortfall in the state of governance in nigeria; to which the adoption of quasi-federation had helped to impose unstructured polity in the system, several factors are however, noted to have also aided the severing of this man-made unit that had existed since before independence to date to a nation with uncertainties. factors such as fear of the southern domination, poor education in the north, poverty of natural wealth in the north, high development level of the south, ethnicity and ethnic bigotry, the early domination of the armed forces by the southerners and the inferiority complex of the northerners among others, to which the north tried to overcome by turning everything to their favour against the south through the unfortunate civil war had not ceased. another undoing to the state of governance in nigeria was also the northern ploy to control what was not in their domain while running the country like a private fiefdom on a false federation. like the act of determining who owes oil blocs, who explores crude, who controls nnpc, who becomes minister of petroleum, minister of finance, minister of justice and minister of works, minister of federal capital, which area should be developed, who developed what and which area and so on. and never asked about the place where the money is coming from, which also authenticates the observation of william (2011), that we have been using their oil to drive our cars, fuel our aeroplane, and keep the wheels of our economy turning, but those in the delta have had their land, their lives, their dreams destroyed. therefore, prompting clark (2005), to say that it is this long established imbalance and neglect that are being challenged today. the youths of the niger delta and other areas that are greatly marginalized must survive; they must have a say to the wealth accruing from their area that are being used to develop other region. just as attested to by bloomfield (2008), that nigeria is one of the world’s biggest oil producing state, but the scramble for riches has brought ruin to the region and the people owing to gross mismanagement and thievery. 93 | p a g e although, natural resources conflict/war has been fundamental to african states, but one pathetic thing about the nigerian situation is that there are several interests, several actors and several misgivings, beginning from the lapses in policies, objectives, and the government down to the role of inability to providing for the people what they cannot provide for themselves. all, possibly culminating to the factors that aided the recent confrontation in the creeks among armed groups and government armed forces – owing to the vandalism of pipeline and oil installations and the depleting economy. the fallout have been blamed on the government stancethat was encouraged by the level of awareness, enlightenment and globalization, and coupled with the level of information showing that the nigerian government had allowed the above mentioned ills to linger for long while manipulating and exploiting the niger-delta region without any cause to tackling the long over-bearing problems that had remained unattended. evidence available had shown also that insurgent strategies and militancy tactics reflect the nature of political authority in nigeria, in which each fight to control the available spheres (william, 2011). as both the government and the people manipulate each other to gain advantage, and where they fall apart, war and conflict becomes the next line of action owing to the aroused disagreement, deception and cheatings among others that exists within. for instance, one could easily adjudge, if not, where was the niger-delta militants in the six years of their kinsman’s rule? was the corruption and deception tackled? why didn’t they clamour for resource control? why was everyone silent on the issue of restructuring and true federalism? to further increase this misery, the factionalized armed group, particularly in the niger-delta whose activities had mesmerized the national economy sees all these as reason to fighting the nigerian government, the populace on the other hand also showed keen interest and strongly awakened on the issue of restructuring the country, to which each geopolitical zone is desirous in controlling their natural resources. but on how these challenges can be tackled without the continued war of natural resources, the government might be advised to open up the state for proper competitions that will put an end to the plagued corrupt system, reducing the power of the centre from authoritarianism-bureaucracy to decentralized-bureaucracy, from lopsided and unsustainable economy to developmental and institutionalized system that would put an end to violent, conflict and environmental damages. a plus that may equally enhance good governance and social civility. the implications and recommendation this study havingexamined the various issues arising, natural resources conflict in the nigerian niger delta and how it has impeded on state of governance in the country cannot over state, the fact that there are several implications that needs to be nipped in the board toward promoting healthy system and proactive peace engagement society. the number of growing threats to the national polity also explains that failures to restructuring of nigerian federation might degenerate into a severe state collapse as 94 | p a g e anarchy, violence and possible war might lead to nation-states that make up nigeria tilting towards disintegration. meanwhile, it is evident that the consistent failure in addressing the issues that arose the natural resources conflict, which abound, might continually instil instability and crisis among the actors within the nation. the clash between the government troops and the militant away from the already existing problems of unemployment, poverty, and environmental destruction, damages to the waterfront, waterways and aqua-lives among others in the region may continue to breed violence and social misgivings. the current war and destruction of oil wells, oil installations and oil pipelines, which has damaged to a great extent the nation’s economy leading to recession and state failure is a pointer to the many daunting challenges that needs to be revisited. the nigerian economy solely dependent on oil at present and has been grounded leading to high inflation and economic recession and suffering of the masses has also thrown up a new challenge, thereby adding to the several hiccups affecting the polity. a grave implication of this crisis is that the situation has raised many violent youths only interested in what they will gain; create a deep seated enmity between the oil producing states and the non-oil producing states; creates high incidence of jobless youths who are ever ready for violence. this natural resource war or conflict might not end immediately unless the government put a good relief measure on ground to reducing the negating effects. the government and the populace must agree on how to chart a course towards enthroning total stability in the system. actors to nigerian project must put aside all kinds of scheming, manipulation, denial and pretentiousness towards advancing the course of the nation. the correction of all the noted anomalies is very necessary. the study, therefore, suggest that the government should make open the governance system, adhere or if impossible, attend to the idea of restructuring the nigerian federation, where all the component units will be allowed to complete favourably among each other, appropriate their resources and make input to the national purse. there will be end to natural resources conflict, if the stakeholders, actors, militants and the necessary communities are carried along by the government. the national economy that had consistently depleted will equally be revived if the government aid agencies to do the needful. 95 | p a g e conclusion there are arrays of problems and contradiction inherent in the nigerian constitution visà-vis the power of the federation, which is the brain child of the negating daunting challenges facing the country. this systemic and structural make up needs to be revisited. going by the fact that all noted impediments has implicated faulty base. to which governance in recent time could be seen to have favoured violent conflicts. this is because the issues leading to natural resources conflict as located in the falsehood establishing the country have tenaciously blind-folded the managers of nigerian state, thereby resulting in poor administration and poor management of the national wealth to affecting the entire foundation. thus, the adoption of the two theories above is not without reasons. the theories examine the several role of actors to the nigerian project. in the process, the government, the militant, the elites and the multinational corporation among others were adjudged as having played a role in the suffocation of the common masses. it further explains the intrigues employed by both the government, militants, agents and agencies in handling the issues of natural resources. the place of thievery and the swapping of policies and gains that at times arose violent conflicts were explained and exposed. for, to the government misappropriation and wilful denial as noted in the course of inquiry were not only discouraging but seemed to be one of the factor that arose and angered the indigenes. on the side of the militants, thievery, balkanization and fight for oil wells and the destruction of oil installation leading to violent conflicts against the pains of the communities who were locked in the cycle of extreme poverty, widespread unemployment, environmental pollution and social injustice that was on the increase clearly manifest a depraved society who had long been manipulated, leading to violent conflicts (rowell, 2005). the elites of the region who had for long criminally manipulated the indigenes, both young, youth and the old were exposed as they continued to partner with the government and multinational corporation in exploring and decimating the niger delta region. this also reveals the kind of leadership in the delta, thereby partly blaming the woos of the region on the local elites and the traditional rulers. importantly, the causes of natural resources conflict in the world, particularly, as obtainable in the nigerian niger delta has been partly due not only to the humiliating neglect, denial, deprivation, abandonment and wilful damages but combined with the sorrows and pains of oil spills, which have polluted the rivers and land, making fishing and farming impossible with the delta polluted beyond recognition, exemplified the onus of the struggle of the people who want to survive, despite all odds. the government on the other hand, having been weighed down by the mistakes of the past with an enclosed mono-economy syndrome needs to change some of its policies, amend or overhaul some of her constitutional sections, schedules and paragraphs by way 96 | p a g e of restructuring the state or encouraging a total devolution and decentralized system of governance towards creating an enabling society. references akwen, gt. and gever, dt. 2012, challenges of democracy and development in nigeria’ niger delta region: an appraisal” in european scientific journal, vol 8 no 16, esj july ed. ayokhai, f. e. f. 2013, “natural resource, identity politics and violent conflict in post independence nigeria” in africa journal of history and culture. vol.5 (2) april. banks, m. 1996, in a.e. ekoko “confidence and security –building measures and the management of african conflicts” in m. vogt et al. peacekeeping as a security strategy in africa. enugu fourth dimension pub. p. 439. berdal, m. et al. 2000,greed and grievance: economic agendas in civil wars. u.s.a: lynne reinnier pub inc. pp 1 – 3 biakpara, yp. 2010, the niger-delta question: critical challenges of development and democracy” in annual general submit of ijaw youths held at yenogoa, bayelsa state in august. bloomfield, s. 2008, “the niger delta: the course of the black gold” in independent. august 2nd. boulding k. e. 1962, conflict and defense: a general theory. u.s.a. harper and row pub. p1. cantril, h. 1961,human nature and political system. new brunswick: rutger university press. chukwuma, j. n. (2010) “federalism and good governance in nigeria” international journal of research in arts and social sciences. vol.2 coser, l.a.1962, “conflict theory and current politics in continuities” in the study of social conflict. u.s.a.: the university of chicago press p. 231. coser, l.a. 1967, continuities in the study of social conflict. new york free press pub. pp. 42-54. dahl, r. 1999, “conflict approach and class analysis” in his modern political analysis. ed. london: oxford university pub. deutsch m. 1990, “a theoretical perspective on conflict and conflict resolution” in dennis jd sandole et. al. conflict management and problem solving: inteper sonal to international application. london: frances pinter pub. eliasson, j. 2015, natural resources and conflict: a guide for mediation practitioners”. a un report in support of the eu (finland and italy). ekoko, a. e. 1996, “confidence and security building measures and the management of african conflicts” in m. vogt et. al. peacekeeping as a security strategy in africa. enugu: fouth dimension pp. 440 441. fredrick, c. 1963, federalism: national and international.oxford: oxford university press. 97 | p a g e gott, r. 1998, “sierra leone and new labour militarism” in z – nett magazines new york. gurr ted r. 1974, why men rebel. new jersey: princeton university press. p. 3. harsch, e. (2007) “conflict resources: from course to blessing transforming an african war risk into a peace asset”. african renewal , january. husband, m 1998, the liberia civil war. london: frank cas pub. p. 41. keith,a. 1946, evolution and ethics. new york: puitnam publication laue, j.h. 1990, “the emergence and institutionalization of third party rolesin conflict”in dennis jd sandole et. al. conflict management and problem solving: interpersonal to international application.london: frances pinter pp. 17 18 laue, james h. 1981, “conflict intervention” in m.e. olsen et. al, handbook of applied sociology. new york: praeger pub. p.118 levy, d. and thompson, w. r. 2010. causes of war. wiley-blackwell. a john willey and son ltd. mager, l. 1972 comparative political inquiry: methodological survey. london:classical press. manegestern, o. and newman, j. v. 1957. concepts of game theory: the real analysis. london: oxford university press. okechukwu, gp, 2012, the evaluation of intergovernmental relations in contemporary governance in nigeria. ed. lagos: printgenics press. parker, a. a. (2009), war on water: a clash over oil, power and poverty in the niger delta plano, j. and riggs, r. e. 1953. dictionary of political analysis. london: oxford university press. riker, wh. 1975, “federalism,” in nelson polsby and fred greenstein (eds) government institutions and processes. wesley a. rowell, a. (2005) is nigerian the next revision gulf”? scimecca, j a. 1990, “conflict resolution: the basis for social control or social change” in dennis j d sandoleet.al.conflict management and problem solving: inter personal to international application. london: frances pinter pub. pp. 30 33. sofowoke, o.s. 2012, “the concept and theory of federalism” in okechukwu, groupson paul ed the evaluation of intergovernmental relations in contemporary governance in nigeria. lagos: printgenics press. stedman, s. j. 2004, “conflict and conciliation in subsaharan africa”, in michael brown ed. the international dimension of internal conflict.cambridge:the mit press. p.237. stranger, d. j. 1960. man, the state and war: a theoretical analysis. new york: columbia university press. 98 | p a g e stragner r. 1967, the dimensions of human conflict: the franklin memorial lectures. vol. xv canada: wayne state university press. pp.15 23. straw, s. (2012) “wars do end! changing patterns of political violence in sub-saharan african” in african affairs 111/443, 179 – 201, oxford university press. suazo, a. (2014) national resources and violence in nigeria. wheare, kc. 1963, federal government, 4th ed, oxford: oxford university press. william p. 2011, war and conflict in africa. cambridge: polity press. william reno, 2011, warfare in independence africa. new york cambridge university press 2015 – newswatch magazine, august 4 2008 – newswatch magazine, august 4 2007, “nigeria: ending unrest in the niger delta” icg, african report no. 135, dec. 5. 2015, “the eu – un partnership on land, natural resources and conflict prevention”. the environmental literacy council 1625k street, nw, suite 1020 washington dc., 2006. 57 | p a g e psychological aspects of teaching and learning of science and mathematics coures by eze hyacinth osondu dept. of psychology education enugu state college of education (technical), enugu abstract within the last decades, teaching and learning process has become a recurrent and very important theme, not only in psychological and educational literature, but also in allied disciplines. its implications seems to derive from the rapid increase of awareness about teaching and learning and from the interent lapses and threats to the progress of academics in our society. this paper examines the concepts and factors that affects it and suggests some strategies for its improvement. keywords: psychological, aspects, teaching, learning, science, mathematics. introduction educators and psychologists from the dawn of history have been pre-occupied by the problems of teaching and learning process. the situation in nigeria and some other developing countries has deteriorated. the issue has therefore picked the attention of diverse groups and individuals particularly those saddled with the responsibility for the education. no wonder educationists persistently engage in a lot of activities in search of ways to improve the teaching and learning process. some even struggle to postulate principals and methods as a means of making teaching and learning process better. others even go to the extent of experimentation to demonstrate a better way of teaching and learning, science and mathematics. the absurdity in these search is that the use of one approach/methods generates more needs and questions. this is probably why educationists search for better teaching and learning of science and mathematics seen unending and sometimes circular. at times the discovery of method may even elicit more problems and hence more depressed the users will be. an array of reasons can be advanced for the problems that teaching and learning science and mathematics encounter. the concept of teaching learning there are words used daily that are sometimes vague, when conceptualized. the interesting things about such words is that users generally pretend or pose that know the meaning of such words. some of such words are “teaching and learning” the two words usually go together. there would be no teaching without a learner; and learning occurs as a result of teaching. scheffler, (1995) view teaching as an activity undertaken in an 58 | p a g e attempt to get someone to learn something. teaching is aimed as learning to occur; but whether learning has taken place during teaching is the crux to the matter. the question is – how could teaching enhance learning? how successful has teaching made learning process possible? according to scheffler “whether success is attained depends on factors outside one’s trying. it is these factors that we are interested to discuss. learning on the other hands may be more difficult to conceptualize than one could teach someone and have him to learn but when we say that someone has learned, one may be disturbed here; by the “parroting” sense of learning. okoye. (1983) saw leaning as a relatively permanent change in behaviour arising for experience. this learning involves acquiring skill; simple or complex, dispositions, propensities, habits, an attitudes, information concepts and theories, appreciation and understanding. some of these concepts and though: other are learned through experience. psychological aspects of teaching and learning science and mathematics many people have abused or lost the process of teaching and learning as a result of some insurmountable obstacles blocking the processes. some of the psychological aspects that blocks teaching of science & mathematics include the following: (1) fact-to-face promotive interaction. (2) yesterday’s teachers’ and teaching condition. (3) dysfunctional lives of students. (4) the use of extrinsic rewards. all the above attributes affects teaching and learning of science and mathematics course. face-to-face promotive interaction many research studies including mager’s, (1962) have found that teachers teach much better when concept are clearly stated to themselves. the providion of interactions between teachers and learners enhances better teaching and learning process. eze (1996) states that poor student-teacher contact hinders the teaching and learning of science and technology subjects. this could be useful if the teachers ensure that all the students interact, not only with student but also the teacher, and the teaching tasks. the students should be encouraged by teachers to dicuss what they are learning, get explanation on how to sole a given problem. the teachers have to provide assistance, support and encouragement. there should be a conducive working relationship in a given class environment; without which no learning can take place. yesterday’s teachers one major psychological aspect of teaching and learning process is that most teachers are people of the past four decades, who must have lost the trend of the happenings in the society. most teachers are overwhelmed by differences in their students and them, 59 | p a g e that they desperately need help. the problem is that yesterday’s teachers are teaching today’s students. the tremendous mismatch between the context for which the teachers were prepared and have taught in for much of their career and that of realities today’s classroom has been under estimated. the language mismatch also affects teaching and learning science and mathematics. the teaching condition according to babalola, (1983) teaching and learning must be nondisruptive for the teacher and the learner. a disruptive atmosphere in terms of age differences distracts everybody’s attention thereby affecting the teaching and learning process. the atmosphere should be non threading due to age disparity. humanistic theorists of learning have likened learning situation to therapeutic environment both situation require a relaxed mind for optimum benefit. an atmosphere in which fear rather than curiosity rules the learners’ minds limits the teaching and learning process. discourage dysfunctional lives of students equal to the cultural and language differences of today’s student show other manifestations of changes with teachers to cope. these includes continuous attachment to their lack of interest in science and mathematics, reading, imbalance between the need for education and societal expectation. the students are members of the society where education has been relegated to the background, that money and deviant behaviour reign. according to brooks and kanu, (19740 it is most obvious that there is an increase in indiscipline, and beohaviour problems and a rise in students negative self-concept such as lack of meaningful goal in life, blurred goal; unrealistically high and apparently unattainable goal set for oneself or imposed by friends, parents and significant orders. the quest for getting rich syndrome also has contributed to the deviant behaviours of living of the students. other dysfunctional lives includes; theft, truancy, immorality, prostitution, alcoholic abuse, cheating and other vices. the use of extrinsic rewards systematic use of reinforcement can improve both classroom conduct and rate of teaching and learning. (chance, 1992) states that since the discovery of rewards; there has been argument for and against reinforcement thought not all forms of reinforcement are considered detrimental. a distinction is made between reinforcement, involving intrinsic reinforcers – or rewards as they are often called reinforcement involving extrinsic rewards. only extrinsic rewards are said to be harmful. extrinsic rewards comes from an outside source, such as a teacher. though not a better acceptable reinforce, it is the most ubiquitous. extrinsic reward (and one of the most effective) is praise, can be implied in teaching and learning process. the teacher can reinforce behaviour by saying “good”, “right”, “correct” or “excellent” when the desired behaviour occurs (accurate response). other good extrinsic rewards involve non-verbal 60 | p a g e behaviour such as smile; winks; thumbs-up sign; hugs; congratulatory hand-shakes; pats on the back or applause. to use this type of reinforce the teacher should apply reward contingency. there are three types of reward contingencies: (1) task-contingent reward. this is a reward (reinforcement) given to a student for the mere fact that he/she participated in task performance without regard awarded to the standard. (2) performance contingent rewards. these are rewards awarded when a child achieve a certain standard of performance. (3) success contingent rewards. these are rewards given for good performance or either success or progress towards a goal. according to kappan, (1972) these rewards do not have negative effects; in fact, they typically increase interest in the reward activity. the danger of extrinsic reward is not the reward itself, but the problem is on its application and period of application. extrinsic reward motivates teaching and learning, just like other reinforcement contingents. remedies/conclusion: to increase better teaching and learning of science and mathematics courses, educators and training educators and the society should view psychological aspects of teaching and learning as a disturbing issue, and seek for ways of assisting, instead of criticizing and condemning the process outright. this humanistic approach is mostly likely to improve the teaching and learning. 1. the relative non-interaction and master subordinate relationship should be reduced and interactive method of teaching and learning be used. 2. the home, and the school have vital roles to play to minimize and control dysfunctional ways of lives of students. parents should assume full responsibility for the support needed by the students. truancy and cheating has been found by various studies in nigeria as some of the dysfunctional behaviour of students (okoye 1983). this could be viewed as a warning to parents that encourage truancy by sending their children to sell or buy things during school hours. it has been further found that involvement in contemporary race for material wealth and social prestige has unwittingly alienated parents from their children (onyehalu, 1981). thus most students are denied of adequate social values that are proper for better learning adjustment. with respect to the school system these days lack the materials and the teachers are of the yesterdays, infrastructures and equipment to train the students (dynamic) of today is lacking. the teachers also need proper training to meet with the demand of today’s students. 3. they, (the students) deserve to be given every opportunity to demonstrate their other talents, and creative outlet. 61 | p a g e besides, kuaraceus (1966) has identified the school as the agency with the widest range of practical opportunities for contact with students. 4. he therefore asserts that the school should join all others, community, youth, and family agencies in co-ordinated effort to identify study and treat the dysfunctioning lives of students. 5. in the concerted effort to improve and enhance teaching and learning of science and mathematics, etc. the teachers should exploit the hidden treasures of extrinsic reward. many studies have accepted that rewards; reinforcement increase the probability to repeat a behaviour (bandura a.b 1965b). in addition efforts should be made to accommodate and integrate the three reward contingencies in teaching and learning process. finally, students ought to be seen as people that are to take after the adults and as such all efforts should be geared towards how to improve their ability and capability to learn. the dominant adult society should give leeways to the students and encourage only acceptable manifest behaviour and out rightly condemne dysfunctional lives of students. the need for new training of teachers in psychological aspects of teaching is equally necessary; this could be done through workshops, seminars etc. this may be hard to start but with little efforts it could be achieved. each school could utilize internal human resources to train teachers in psychological aspects of teaching and learning. references babalola, b.a. (1983) seven ways to make classroom instruction more effective. psychology for everyday. living. a nigerian journal of applied psychology. bandura. a. (1965b). influence of model’s reinforcement contingencies on the acquisition of imitative responses. j. pers social psychology brooks. d.r.& kam. e.m. (1994) 0 education digest. american school board, journal. (3) 2 150-156 eze h.o. (1996) hinderance to effective teaching and learning of science and technology subject edited in science and technology in a depressed economy (1) 1 eze h.o. (1994) sex difference in discipline control measure. unpublished seminar work. kappan. d. (1992) community education american school board journal. (7) 1 13-16. rances. w.c (1966) anxious youth dynamics of delinquency. columbus: ohio merril. magers. a (1962) preparing objectives for instruction belmour. cail ferron. onyehalu. a s (1981) identify crivs in adolescence. journal of applied psychology 16 (63). 629-69 scheffeler. s (19650) the condition of knowledge glenview: illinois scot: forcman 136 | p a g e the management of university education in nigeria in the context of the 1999 constitution by onwukwe seth nwachukwu onwukwe70@gmail.com personnel department, nnamdi azikiwe university awka and rachel nwachukwu seth rachelonwukwe@gmail.com hope foundation school, magbuoba rivers state abstract this paper examine nigerian’s 1999 constitution provisions in relation to the management of university education and its implication for the country’s educational management, the 1999 constitution vis-à-vis education. the constitution roles of the three tiers of government in education and the implications of the 1999 constitution are examined. finally the paper offers recommendations for the improvement of nigerian university education. key word: nigerian constitution, educational management, university education, democratic society, development introduction nigeria has adopted over the past three decades egalitarian education as a vehicle per excellence for effecting rapid social development. this is not surprising because education has proven to be the greatest investment of economic, social, political and cultural development (akangbou, 1987). consequently, both the nigerian constitution (1999) and federal republic of nigeria (1998 rev.) clearly state the nation’s educational objective as a free democratic society; a just and egalitarian society; a united strong and self-reliant nation; a great and dynamic economy and a land of bright and full opportunities for all (npe 1998, section, 1(1). in most societies, certain rules, norms and regulations are established to regulate the behavior of all and sundry. these norms and rules are documented to form the mosaic of good behavior – constitution. thus, a constitution is simply the body of rules in accordance with which the power of government are distributed and exercised. it lays mailto:onwukwe70@gmail.com mailto:rachelonwukwe@gmail.com 137 | p a g e down the political institutions that will be allowed to exist, the functions of those different institution and the distribution of powers among them. the form of constitution depends on the nature of the country being governed, its history, geographical position, social structure, economic development, religious beliefs and racial composition (1999 draft constitution). theoretical framework of 1999 constitution historically, the first sets of legal provisions for education in nigeria were in the form of education ordinances made by the colonial administration in the following order – 1882, 1887, 1808, 1916 phelps stokes reportof1921, 1922, 1925, colonial office memorandum on education and 1926 educational ordinances (taiwo 1982). the significant of all the ordinances was that of 1926, which established rules and regulations in the following educational system expansion and control mechanism of the education system registration of teachers, establishment of new schools, functions of the board of education, appointment of supervisors and formulation of a new grants in aid system (fafunwa). the ordinance of 1926 was quickly followed by the ordinances of 1928, 1929, 1931 and 1933. these ordinances merely reviewed the 1926 ordinance and made clarifications and additional statements on the previous enactments. it is significant to note that the laws regulating education in the colonial periods were legislative and administrative enactments and not separate constitutional laws. with the development of political structures in nigeria, the political institutions created by the different constitution assured responsibility for educational laws in their respective areas of jurisdiction. thus, the 1947 constitution decentralized educational administration by classifying education as a regional service. it was on the basis of the enabling environment provided by this constitution that the education ordinance 1948 was enacted. this was the first of its type to be applicable throughout nigeria (olagboye,1998). the macpherson constitution of 1951 strengthened regional autonomy and made education a regional matter. this development subsequently gave rise to the establishment of a ministry of education in each of the three regions (north, west and east) under a minister. the minister had responsibility for formulating policies on education in his region (ajayi 1997). 138 | p a g e further developments in the political sphere led to the introduction of littleton constitution in 1954. this 1954 constitution transformed nigeria into a federation of three regions with a centre in lagos and the introduction of three legislative listsexecutive, residual and concurrent. in this arrangement, higher education was on the concurrent list. these developments and innovations in education as a result of successive constitutional provisions continued until the country took on the status of a sovereign and independent nation in 1960 with the introduction of a new constitution – the independence constitution. in the 1960 constitution, education was both in the exclusive and concurrent lists. in the light of this, the federal government had powers to legislate on the higher institution. the regional legislature promulgated laws in establishing their own universities. the northern legislature passed ahmadu bello university law 1962,the eastern regional government passed the university of nigeria, nsukka law 1962 and the western region passed the university of ife law in 1962 (olagoye & fadipe 1998). the 1963 republican constitution preserved higher education as both on items in the exclusive legislature (list item 17) and concurrent (list item 10). these laws enabled both the federal and regional governments to set up other higher institutions such as colleges technology, polytechnics and colleges of education. the 1979 constitution provided for educational objectives an innovation in the constitution. it is a re-instatement of the fact that the federal government recognizes the need to make education a state policy. there was an innovation in the educational sector under the 1989 constitution. under this constitution both the federal and state government had powers to legislate on education. 1999 constitution and education general abubakar through decree no. 24 of 1999 promulgated the 1999 constitution of the federal republic of nigeria. the constitution is the highest, legal framework of reference for the machinery of a nation. chapter iv (33-44) of the 1999 constitution guarantees fundamental right of the citizens as right to life dignity of human person, personal liberty, fair hearing, private and family life, freedom of thought, conscience and religion, freedom of expression and the press, peaceful assembly and association, freedom of movement and freedom from discrimination. chapter two of the 1999 constitution is devoted to fundamental objective and directive principles of state policy. on the social objectives, section 17(2) states that: a) every citizen has equality of rights, obligations and opportunities before the law. 139 | p a g e b) the sanctity of the human person shall be recognized and human dignity shall be maintained and enhanced. c) government actions shall be humane. d) exploitation of human or natural resources in any form whatsoever for reasons other than the good of the community shall be prevented and e) the independence impartiality and integrity of courts of law and easy accessibility there to shall be secured and maintained. on the educational objectives section 18(1-3 of the 1999 constitution states ; 1) government shall direct its policy towards ensuring that there are equal and adequate educational opportunities at all levels. 2) government shall promote science and technology. 3) government shall strive to eradicate illiteracy and to this end, government shall as and when practicable promote: a) free compulsory and universal education b) free secondary education c) free university education and d) free adult literacy programme university management in nigeria, universities are created by acts or decrees or laws or edicts depending on whether they are federal or state university. usually, each university is empowered by its enabling law to make statute or regulations to guide the day th day conduct of its affairs. universities are established for the achievement of the following objectives: a) to advance knowledge, wisdom and understanding by teaching and research with the ultimate purpose of service to community. b) to encourage the advancement of learning and to hold out to all persons without distinction of race, creed, sex or political conviction the opportunity of acquiring a higher education. c) to provide courses of instruction and other facilities for the pursuit of learning in all its branches and to make those facilities available on paper term to such persons as are equipped to benefit from them. d) to encourage, promote and conduct research in all fields of learning and human endavours and e) to undertake any other activities appropriate for a university of the highest standards. these objectives are to be pursued through teaching, research, the dissemination of existing and new information, the pursuit of service to the community and being a store house of knowledge (fgn 1998). from the provisions of the various university laws, provisions were made for university governance, management and discipline. 140 | p a g e section 3(1) of the university of ilorin act 1979 prescribed the power of the university and how they are to be exercised in the area of governance, management and discipline, the council, its composition, function, the finance and general purpose committee, the senate, congregation, convocation, organization of academic work of the university academic boards, boards of studies, deans of teaching units, the board of governors of the colleges of medicine and education, selection of certain principal officers of the university, creation of academic posts, appointment of academic staff and appointment of administrative and technical staff. furthermore, by virtue of section 5(1) of the university of ilorin act 1979, the council is the governing body of the university charged with the general control and superintendence of the policy forms and property of the university, including its public relations. it also made provisions for the finance and general purpose committee which shall exercise control over property and expenditure of the university. the senate is the highest decision-making body for academic matters in a university. it performs the function of organizing and controlling teaching and research including content of programmes, admission, examination and discipline of students at the university. the vice-chancellor is the chairman of senate and also serves as a link between the senate and the council on matters related to its functions of teaching and research. the congregation is one of the constituent bodies of the university that provides a platform for university management to interact withal graduate staff of the university. chaired by the vice-chancellor, it occasionally meets to discuss welfare matters. through congregation, representatives are elected to the senate and council, congregation may also advise the vice chancellor on staff welfare matters. congregation is a body made up of the academic staff of the university and all registered graduates of the university. the main function of congregation is the conferment of academic awards to accredited recipients. the body usually chaired by the chancellor also provides a forum for interaction between the university and its alumni. it sometimes serves as a forum for revenue generation for the development of the university. law and statues the survival of a university as a democratic community is indeed governed by its laws and statuses. the structure of a university as an organization is laid down in the laws establishing it. the provisions of the policies and procedures embedded in their statues are designed to enable effective governance of the university. the laws and statues together establish the framework within which each university is administered albeit with a great sense of dynamism in response to changing circumstances. 141 | p a g e by nature university management is established and maintained through orderly succession of leadership at various levels of the organization. the process through which the achievement of academic goals are ensured for continuous development, maintenance of proper academic and professional development are carried out through a committee system. according to the federal government manual on university management (nuc 1997) the university statutes provide that three authorities and offices namely the council, senate and the vice-chancellor manage the system at the top and that some other organs and offices within the institution manage it at other levels, except the visitor and the chancellor. management structure the management structure of the university system as shown in the organogram (fig 1) is hierarchical and is discussed below.: the visitor symbolizes the proprietor of the university in the case of the federal university; the visitor is the president of the federal republic of nigeria while the governor is the visitor for state universities. the function of the visitor is to appoint the vice chancellor on the recommendation of the governing council and to inquire into activities of the university, correct irregularities and adjudicate in any disputes that might arise from the provisions and implementation of the university law and statutes. the vice chancellor is the head and other such assemblies of the university for the conferment of degree, diplomas certificates and other academic awards if the university. the pro-chancellor is the chairman of the university governing council and is expected to be a knowledgeable person with proven integrity status and experience which he is willing to invest in the responsibilities of guiding the institution towards its continued development. according to the association of commonwealth universities to which nigeria subscribes, the vice-chancellor is the executive head of the university (nuc,1997). his responsibility lies in ensuring peace and good order within the community and promoting good governance for meaningful development of the university. the vice-chancellor occupies an important position in the management of the university. as the chief executive has serves as link and facilitator between the council, the university senate and the community. he prepares and presents to the council information of current plans for the university’s development decisions by committees on matters related to discipline and renders account of his stewardship annually to the visitor through council and the national university commission (in 142 | p a g e the case of federal university) during the university system annual review meetings. however, in the fulfillment of these obligations, he is assisted by such academic and administrative units as the registry, bursary, works department and other support structures. the senate functions to organize and control teaching, admission and discipline of students as well as promotion of research and community service. in carrying out these functions, the senate has the mandate for approving courses for teaching provided that such courses are found to be desirable and compatible with goals of the university. the body also reviews and approves the curricula of the academic programmes of the university. in relation to the research functions of the university, the senate stimulates university teachers by ensuring the provision of necessary library resources, equipment, technical support and manpower resources that aid in carrying our research that is vital to national development. above all, the senate maintains the quality of academic programmes offered in the departments through effective monitoring of their academic activities. the senate apart from relating closely with provosts, deans, directors, heads of academic departments and the librarian in the day-to-day conduct of the academic programmes of the university, also work through its communities to ensure that the university’s academic policies are religiously implemented. the senate also directs research policy for the university not only toward creation of new knowledge but also for problem-solving innovations that seek to improve the lives of society in general and its host community in particular. constitutional roles of tiers of government in education the 1999 constitution spells out in the exclusive and concurrent legislative lists the extent of the legislative powers which the federal and state government have over education and other state matters. thus, item 1 (21 & 22) part ii of the second schedule of the 1999 constitution deals with scientific and technological research as : the national assembly may make laws to regulate or coordinate scientific and technological research throughout the federation (para 21). nothing here shall preclude a house of assembly from establishing or making provisions for an institution or other arrangement for the purpose of scientific and technological research (para 22). furthermore, item l (27-30) part ii of the second schedule of the 1999 constitution state that: 143 | p a g e the national assembly shall have power to make laws for the federation or any part thereof with respect to university education, technological education or such professional education as may from time to time be designated by the national assembly (para 27). nothing in this paragraph of this shall be construed so as to limit the power of a house of assembly to make laws for the state with respect to technical, vocational, post primary, primary or other forms of education, including the establishment of institution for the pursuit of such education (para 30). the forth schedule of the 1999 constitution on the functions of a local government council, sub-section 2(a) states that the functions of a local government council shall include participation of such council in the government of a state with respect to the provision and maintenance of primary, adult and vocational education. summary of 1999 constitutional roles of 3-tiers of government in relation to education government responsibility item on legislature federal a) pensions, gratuity and other benefits payable out of the consolidated revenue fund b) prescription of the minimum standards of education at all levels second schedule part 1 item 44 of the executive legislative list 1999 constitution. second schedule part 1 item 60 (e) of exclusive legislative list federal a) scientific & technological research b) statistics c) university, technological and post primary education or professional education second schedule part ii item i (21&22) concurrent legislative list second schedule , part ii item i (23&24) concurrent legislative list. second schedule part ii item l (27-30) concurrent legislative list 144 | p a g e state/local provision and maintenance of primary, adult and vocational education forth schedule item 2 and second schedule part ii item l (30) of the concurrent legislative list. source: 1999 constitution of the federal republic of nigeria implications of 1999 constitution the 1999 constitution did not guarantee free education at all levels of the educational system. it merely states that free education is an objective to be sought after and implemented as and when practicable (section 17 (2)in pursuance of the goal of democracy and social justice. what the constitution imposes on all tier of government is the duty and obligation to strive hard towards the provision of equal and adequate educational opportunities at all levels for all citizens. nigeria operates a federal system of government in which the central government and state government share legislative powers. however, whenever a law made by a state government conflicts with that made by the federal government on the same subject matter, that of latter prevails and renders that of the state government unconstitutional, illegal and therefore null and void. the 1999 constitution entrenched decentralization of education; decentralization is a logical and effective means of dealing with the growth problems in organizational management. this is so because as an organization grows in sizes, the complexities and problems facing its centralized management grows at a faster rate. durosaro (2000) on the problems of decentralization of education, emphasized overlapping of jurisdiction, lack of direction and effective leadership, duplication of functions, waste of resources, conflict of authority and the power struggle, several government functionaries are independent of one another in educational management. nigeria is currently witnessing proliferation of university as federal, state or private individuals and organizations are exercising their constitutional rights in the establishment of school. jamb (2003) revealed that there are; “education for all” was a slogan that pervaded the nation. how egalitarian is the education when a secondary school – king’s college could introduce computer studies into its curricula and even acquired some computers whereas some schools as still faced with inadequate supply of chairs, chalk and classroom buildings. unity is becoming a theoretical and a rather elusive virtue particularly among the educated elites. it is common practice now to pull out the son of soil joker card to knock off other nigerians from service competition at state and local government levels. 145 | p a g e the phrases such as “quota system ,federal character educationally disadvantaged states backward states ecologically disadvantaged regions are statements negating the implementation of the new policy on education which has resulted in discipline. tarfa (1979) as explained by olutola (1983) described indiscipline as a social cankerworm which has eaten deep into the entire fabric of our society. it manifests itself in different forms like bribery, greed, ostentation, indolence, disloyalty, selfishness, lack of respect and consideration for elders. twenty-four (24) federal universities, nineteen (19) state universities, six (6) privately owned universities and 15 other degree awarding institutions (jamb brochure 2003/2004). the nation’s dilemma has always been how to reconcile economic rationality and political expediency with reference to vita decisions affecting the life of the nation. if this proliferation in education is not checked, it may lead to low academic standard, glorified secondary schools going by the name of universities, inferior caliber of academic and professional personnel and inadequate funding. for democracy to thrive every citizen should be given equal opportunities to develop his talent. this implies that universities would be established close to the people. also the object of equal opportunities for all is the production of individuals who seize the opportunity to develop themselves to the highest level. as it is entrenched in the constitution, the bone of contention is when equal opportunity should start. equality has been termed as the dearest of democratic graces. however, those who adhere to this principle are often accused of being committed to some empirical generalization about the nature of man. the term equity therefore has to be made explicitly and unless this is done, it is vacuous. the principle of equality limits the principle of liberty and the freedom of the sovereign individual to those acts which at least do not hurt others. the 1999 constitution entrenched federal character in the educational policy. this brings into limelight issues like access, quota system, educationally disadvantaged, educationally advantaged, catchment areas and cut off scores. this principles however, is detrimental to the principle of justice, fair play, democracy and prudentially. it has given room to mediocrity at the expense of meritocracy. fgn in 2000 approved the new admission guidelines into the university as follows: merit 45%, catchment area 35% and educationally disadvantaged state 20%. the clause on the national policy on education (1998 rev) which state that government shall continue to respect the 146 | p a g e traditional areas of academic freedom for the institution as long as these areas are in consonance with national goals, had made previous governments to encroach in the academic freedom and autonomy of the university. the history of constitution in nigeria has been loaded by controversies and contentions from the civil society. these controversies have not been helped by years of military rule the curtailment of democratic rights and undue influences on political and judicial institutions. the various constitutions therefore remain elitist document. the vast majority of nigerians have never seen or read the constitution much less see it as the basis of governance and the protection of their democratic rights. it could be argued that the numerous conflicts and crises at the socio-economic, religious and political levels are the absence of constitutions. the issue of free education at all levels implies that it kills or at least discourages private contribution to education, local initiative ad community interest and direct involvement in the management of the educational enterprise. almost all the educational systems in the world recognize education as a public and private enterprise and one in which a local community in particular must have a direct stake. the problem of free education is that it is very expensive venture. the recurrent cost of education alone is constantly increasing in the face of inflation, high cost of living and lack of basic social services (sofoluwe, 1991). democratic education implies making education available for all. it has to be noted that without education, an individual in a modern society is unlikely to be able to proceed very far in developing the particular aspect of a worthwhile form of life to which he is suited. moreover, democratic education being committed to liberty, fairness and consideration of interest also implies that as much as freedom of choice should be given to parents and children as is consistent with the pursuit of objectives. moreover, in any society, progress depends on development of leadership. true leadership should be renewed from the ranks of the unknown and not necessarily from the small group of families already known and powerful. if one class possesses all the wealth and education while the laboring class remains poor and ignorant, labour will inevitably servile to capital and the society will then be divided into distinctive permanent classes. but, if education is widely and equally diffused according to ability to profit rather than wealth, children of all classes may attain their maximum potential and society will gain from the fuller utilization of its human resources. 147 | p a g e a government that spends more than 20% of its budget on education is already overspending. the changes are that other social services would suffer and the education received would be rendered meaningless. of what use is education to the educated in a situation where there are no infra-structural facilities – pipe borne water, electricity, hospital, road and communication. the clause “government’s ultimate aim to make education free at all levels and encourage the participation of individual and other organization” needs to be criticized. now the voluntary agencies are asking government to return to them all the old schools that had been taken over. are there any indications by any voluntary agencies of being willing to put good money into putting new schools within the premises and now that education is moving along the smooth wheels of government ultimate objective being to make education free at all levels. it will be surprised to find any such voluntary agency who in modern times would be so magnanimous as to invest without any hope of some kind of returns because education being free implies non-payment of fees by students. the issue is critical because unless government is going to make money available to voluntary agencies to invest in this kind of expensive project, the chances of their participation are slim. the three-ties level of responsibility for the management, control and supervision of education are well thought out and relevant. one must however remark that the bane of this country is that we always plan on paper without bringing the realities of implementation to the grassroot level where the action really is and the sum total effect of all the grandiose and ambitious plans are consummated. there can be no implementation of the policy on education without school as a unit of administration being considered in details. there is general lack of systematic and coordinated planning of educational programmes. this has resulted in inefficiency, great under-utilization of resources and administrative staff and poor output and dyfunctionalization in the administrative machinery in the state ministry of education. jega (1990) emphasized the universities sickness that “it has almost collapsed and this resulted into high rate of tension rancor and dispute between university authorities and the staff of the university. adesina (1984) on the growth without development emphasized that development has been hampered by the following forces: 1) an over politicized educational system resulting in mass production of certificate holders who are unemployed and unemployable. 148 | p a g e 2) neglect of agriculture in an effort to achieve popularity in the area of education which has become more of a vote-catcher that a social service. 3) an unnecessary competition with federal government resulting in the establishment and proliferation of euphoric projects with high revenue consumption rates like state universities, numerous polytechnics and colleges of education, television stations, newspapers and breweries. 4) widespread redundancy of the products of the educational system as well as the failure to pay the salaries of those in employment. lamenting the state of education financing in nigeria, the world bank (1990) asserted that “ the average people in nigeria is given n16 worth of education material yearly, unlike his counterparts in the west that has n415 worth of materials. the erroneous classification of education expenditure as social or welfare spending. pupils’ population growth rate had outstripped the government’s relative low education rate and thriving business sector not encouraged to support the cost of training. nutritional deficiency amongst the pupils in nigeria impedes learning in early childhood”. making university management democratic the essential mark of democracy is the respectful treatment of people as persons. this should remain so, if the institution is to be democratic. in this case, the governing council, the senate, vice chancellor, the heads of departments, principal officers has a major role to play. the success or failure of an educational organization depends very much upon the style that the leader adopts to get the other personnel to work with him. the need for winning the whole-hearted cooperation of people should thus be the central and ever present concern of any administrator. in doing this, the leader has at his disposal various styles of management which range on a continuum from complete domination and exploitation on one end to extreme liberalism and permissiveness on the other. a constitutional administration is one in which the power of command, decision making, communication, planning and coordinating is held by a large number of people and is subject to the will the educational stake-holders. democratic leadership involves definite activity on the part of the leader which is aimed at increasing the effectiveness and improvement of the personnel in various ways. the leader operates within established policies, improves human relations, encourages free discussion assists in human growth and development coordinates functions and activities provides advice and assists in modern management techniques. the democratic administrator should share with his subordinates, the decision making policies about work planning assignment and scheduling. 149 | p a g e the assumption of democratic leadership is that the formulation of policy should involve those who are to be influenced by it. for how constitutional is an institution where only the administrator takes all decisions and imposes same on the rest? how democratic is a school situation where students are not allowed to participate in decision which affects their welfare? there is no doubt that the causes of unrest and disturbance in many institutions are related to the communication gap in the super-ordinate/subordinate relationship. an adoption of the democratic style of administration allows the administration to understand the dynamics of group work and how to utilize the efforts of the group to attain the educational objectives of the institution. moreover, as a result of democratic deliberations on institutional activities , a healthy rapport is generated among members in a give and take atmosphere which is conducive to objective consideration of the problems of the institution. each group while friendly and not too formal, regards and deals with other group with respect and dignity. finally, by allowing educational stake holders to participate in school affairs, the experience and judgments of the people are not only made available but also, these people become much better informed concerning the philosophy, objectives and problems of the university organization. recommendation school administrators should be on guard against retaining unnecessary restriction on students’ freedom. the bill on the university autonomy at the national assembly should be passed into law by the newly elected national assembly members. academic freedom and autonomy of the university system must be fully recognized and implemented. the national policy on education (1998 rev) section 49 recommends thus: a) the internal organization and administration of each institution shall be its own responsibility. b) the traditional area of academic freedom for the institutions are: i. select their students except where the laws prescribes ii. appoint their staff c) teach select area of research d) determine the content of courses universities should be allowed to pursue their academic programmes of teaching, research and community service without undue interference from government. the orientation of university administrators in the governance, management and discipline must change for better. all segments of the university – academic and non academic staff, students and the public must be involved in the administration of the 150 | p a g e university system. this democratization implies that these segments must be involved in the decision making process. in the area of professional knowledge of law the school administration, they do not need law degrees. the administrators do not need however, an understanding of the areas of law that impact on institution sufficient for them to be able to implement preventive legal risk management practices. similarly, vice chancellors, professional knowledge should be sufficient to dispel unnecessary or incorrect misconceptions they might have of the law as it affects the administration. proprietors of university must respect fundamental human rights as entrenched in the constitution. basic human rights as stated in chapter iv of 1999 constitution, right to life, dignity of human person, personal liberty, freedom of expression, freedom of movement must be respected. tension would be reduced and thus promotion of teaching, research and community service for which universities are established would be maintained. in planning education at federal and state levels, a clear distinction must be established between growth (expansion of sheer size) and development (a manifestation of functional quality). there is a need for education departments to provide on-going and clearly focused inservice courses on school law throughout administrators’ careers. such courses need to be held frequently and at various locations. conclusion in this paper, an attempt has been made to look into the facets of theoretical framework of 1999 constitution and the implications to the management of university education in nigeria. thus, the constitution lays down the political institution that allowed for functionality. it is of the utmost importance that the community of stakeholders must have been well prepared for them to participate effectively. 1 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com africa and resource curse dilemmas: lessons for nigeria in the 21st century victor chijioke nwosumba phd department of political science alex ekwueme federal university ndufu-alike, ikwo ebonyi state vcnwosumba@gmail.com; victor.nwosumba@funai.edu.ng abstract that most african states are having resource curse is no more worrisome as it has been widely felt and acknowledged. what is worrisome now is that they are also facing the challenge of resource curse dilemmas and seem not to know what to do to break the curse. against this backdrop, the paper discusses africa’s resource curse dilemmas within the context of resource diplomacy conundrum. in adopting futures studies interdisciplinary approach, the paper focuses on nigeria, the most populated and arguably, the most naturally-endowed nation in africa to draw the attention of leaders and citizens alike on what must be done to break the dilemmas of resource curse in the second decade of the 21st century in lieu of the newly found oil in the northeast and the need to urgently diversify the economy. the paper relies on historical and current documents and other pieces of information obtained through secondary sources, as well as on everyday observation to find that the major reason for the resource curse dilemmas is mainly resource diplomacy failure arising from not being people-oriented and centred. it argues that the reasons for this are that instead of making and implementing policies that could make the resource wealth a blessing to all africans, such as diversifying the economy, being transparent and accountable to the people, investing in areas that could develop the people and the economy in the long run when the national resources might face revenue and macroeconomic volatility, nigeria and by extension african states, embark on rent-seeking, policies that fail, corruption, inefficient/ineffective investments. the paper further contends that nigeria like most states will never come out of this state of dilemmas because the benefits the appropriators of the resources are enjoying will continue to induce them to maintain the status quo especially when the suffering citizens are largely docile. to change the status quo, the people should face the challenge by taking back the power they gave to the state during the social contract signing because the power belongs to them. this paper therefore calls for the peoples’ revolution in africa through the ballot boxes and not through violence or conflict in order to genuinely enthrone critical thinking leaders who can blend with the dynamics and realities of contemporary resource diplomacy which are people-oriented and participatory in nature. keywords: africa, natural resources, nigeria, resource curse, resource diplomacy. 1.2 introduction much has been said and written about africa-resource curse nexus before the second decade of the 21st century (mbabazi 2009; mbabike, 2012; african development bank group, 2013; aborowa, 2014) but it is worrisome however that there is no strong effort or policy from most african states and the citizens that has been able to genuinely mailto:vcnwosumba@gmail.com 2 | p a g e africa and resource curse dilemmas: lessons for nigeria in the 21st century victor chijioke nwosumba change the status quo. rather than changing the status quo, the recurrent thing remains strengthening the existing policies and strategies that even place the states in a seemingly state of dilemmas because it favours those that are appropriating the natural resources. the consequences are far-reaching because instead of the abundant natural gifts from god bringing genuine economic and financial development as well as social welfare to all the owners, it is widening the inequality between a few capitalists who appropriate them in the name of the peoples’ leaders and majority of the people who are ostracised from the benefits. from the colonial days to the present time, this has been the way and manner through which african huge resources have been managed. this is against what resource diplomacy stands to achieve anytime. resource diplomacy like every other type of diplomacy in international relations is meant to attract benefits and not curse. “in its very ordinary sense, the term diplomacy indicates the art and processes involved in the management of relationships so long as benefits are sustainably derived” (orngu, 2017 :3). management here includes negotiation whereas relationships refer to both national and international relations. resource diplomacy as orngu argues can be a potent instrument of negotiation in international relations whenever any resource issue arises between concerned international actors. the question, therefore, is whether the negotiation is done in line with the fundamental objective of resource diplomacy or the primordial interest of a clique. the answer to this question is not far-fetched because it is the outcome of any negotiation that justifies if the instrument, tactics, expertise and strategy adopted are potent and resultoriented or not. as observed by delabre and okereke (2019) while exploring “the roundtable on sustainable palm oil” in malaysia and indonesia where oil palm is one of the most profitable land uses (accounting for a combined total of over 80% of global production of palm oil) governments and companies commonly argue that oil palm production generates jobs, foreign currency, and improves the quality of life of poor farmers. to avert the chances of argument over the genuine position of government and companies arguing on behalf of the poor farmers, delabre and okereke refer to gapki (2011) who earlier observed that the campaign slogan of the indonesian palm oil association is oil palm, a gift from god for indonesian welfare. in a similar vein, mpoc (2018) as cited by delabre and okereke also refers to the malaysian palm oil council which calls oil palm nature’s gift to malaysia, nature’s gift to the world. more so, despite the fact that the oil sectors of these nations carry social impacts, they generate significant incomes for the states and their citizens (aiken & leigh, 2011; varkkey, 2012; gelbert, 2015). this foregoing examples cited here are evidence that resource diplomacy of any kind is primarily designed and deployed 3 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com to attract significant benefit to the state and citizen alike whether it is in a resource cursed state or not. in indonesia and malaysia for instance, ‘roundtable on sustainable palm oil (rspo) is one of the numerous commodity roundtables established since the 2000s to address sustainability problems associated with commodity production, including habitat destruction and deforestation, unsustainable and polluting operational practices, and land and labour rights issues’ (delabre & okereke, 2019). the two countries referred to here are not resource cursed but referring to them serves two purposes. first, they confirm that any type of natural resource (not only when they are many) is a source of foreign currency and welfare of state and citizen if well harnessed through the instrumentality of wellintended resource diplomacy. for instance, despite criticisms and critiques that follow rspo, as observed in delabre and okereke, stakeholder participation is a central feature through which commodity roundtables gain legitimacy and emphasize the importance of stakeholder inclusion at international and local levels. second, because of the potency of their resource diplomacy the state and citizens are benefitting substantially from the highly-valued natural resource (oil palm) which nigeria undervalues and undermines because of petroleum and gas. for years, the increasing situation of series of conflicts, crises, wars, hardship, economic recession, exponential increase in poverty, hunger, unemployment, food insecurity and more importantly, underdevelopment of the economy and society in africa keep prompting the question of whether african resource curse cannot be reversed. this is not to say that africans are not desirous of being cured of the disease or trying to reverse the condition but the fact remains that despite the seminars, workshops, conferences, roundtables, and even all that has been written, the curse still persists. by implication, africa, as it is presently, is in a state of resource curse dilemmas. as frequently as the question about africa's resource curse dilemmas and the way out is being asked, no answer has been sufficient because the challenge is still looming large especially when there are new discoveries of natural resources in some places in africa where such were non-existing before. for example, the recent discovery of oil in north east nigeria to state the obvious has generated some concern about what the fate of the people of the geopolitical zone in particular and nigeria in general will be now they have a new opportunity. more so, this type of question reappears to be answered when a multiply-naturally-resourced country like nigeria faces series of domestic problems especially economic recession arising from the lack of harnessing the huge potentials for the good of all the owners. this has necessitated recently the emergence of a growing recognition among nigerian students and scholars of international relations alike of the need to study in a more systematic way the 4 | p a g e africa and resource curse dilemmas: lessons for nigeria in the 21st century victor chijioke nwosumba resource diplomacy of the country, orngu (2017); oni and taiwo (2016) for example. this paper therefore looks at this recurrent african challenge from a modified perspective as never done since the beginning of the second decade of the 21st century. it argues that the people, that is, the collective owners of the sovereign wealth are not enjoying their blessing from god because of the violation of the social contract by the leaders or managers of their state resources as observed in the impotency of the resource diplomacy they adopt and apply as well as the result it produces. the present nigerian case where many people are unemployed, hopeless, food insecure, exponentially poor and low self-esteemed because of being largely excluded from the processes of production, distribution and benefit sharing while the appropriators of the resources are not only enjoying with their families, cronies and collaborators but as well are dumping hard currencies in foreign countries without reinvesting the proceeds into meaningful productive areas in the country suggest that the newly-found northeast oil may not lift the country out of its state of resource curse dilemmas if the resource diplomacy conundrum is not resolved. from this standpoint, the rest of the paper develops as follows. the next section situates africa’s resources within the context of the continent being exceptionally blessed. the methodology is then presented, followed by the theoretical framework that the paper adopted which is resource curse theory. the next section dwells on showing that africa is in a resource curse dilemma and further analyses the policy implications of such a condition. the next section takes the case of nigeria as an exceptional one out of many in africa in the second decade of the century considering its position as “a giant in africa” and as where oil has been recently found in a zone it has not been existing. the paper taking a modified position thus becomes primus inter pares in this decade owing to the fact that while many has considered the debate on resource curse a well-worn out issue especially within the international relations discipline thereby overlooking the need for more contributions to the way out, it, rather, sees the possibility of the country curing the curse before the end of the decade. the recommendations made herein however suggest the ways through which nigeria can achieve this. 1.2 research context and methodology methodology has to do with the science or study of method or a set of methods used in a particular research. this paper adopts a qualitative research approach which makes it to rely heavily on documents and information from secondary sources as well as observation. with the aid of futures studies’ interdisciplinary method, the paper telescopes the probability of an endless resource curse in africa for the fact that as it is presently, the (mis)appropriators of nation-states’ 5 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com resources seem not ready to be willing to change that status quo which favours and will continue to favour them if nothing is done by the mass of people who are ostracised from the benefits of their rich natural resources. for example, corruption in nigeria has become endemic and appears to be a culture of a kind. elections are still based on do-or-die approach, where winning of elections are rigged through the misuse of state security organisations at all cost and with impunity. money politics cannot be overlooked in this context because everyday observation shows that during and after elections, results are being influenced when money is shared. ayoade (2008) observes the emergence of two groups of elite in nigeria’s fourth republic which are worthy of mention here. the two groups are those referred to as the moneybags and the godfathers. moneybags are those who use wealth acquired from public office to sponsor political processes in expectation of personal advantage and the godfathers are those who by their financial status or command of violence or mobilisation of ethnic support rule by proxy and are shielded from the law by their protégés. through these ways and means political leaders emerge and seat in positions where they dictate who gets what when and how, and for the fact that the mass of people are excluded from the process of electioneering they have no means through which they can checkmate the excesses of their acclaimed people’s leaders. these are the kind of leaders that go into diplomatic relations with other foreign actors on issues bordering on the nation’s natural resources. as already known, the resource diplomacy they adopt end up fanning the ember of resource curse. jalloh (2013) for instance cites an example of a common view that the discovery of natural resources has played a key role in the conflicts that have plagued a number of african countries, both motivating and fuelling armed conflicts and the most disappointing thing is that revenues generated from the exploitation of natural resources are not only used for sustaining armies but as well for personal enrichment and building of political empires. thus, as long as this type of system remains cyclical, the cure of resource curse is impossible. however, the aim of this paper is not to tow the usual causeeffect line of thought in which africa’s resource curse has been debated rather, the choice of futures studies enables the paper to foresee against all inhibitions a future where it becomes possible that the yoke of resource curse is broken sooner than expected. using nigeria as a guinea pig in this study is based on the fact that if the newly found oil in northeast part of the country must be beneficial to all the owners (all nigerians) and economy successfully diversified, there is a need for the change of the status quo. 1.3 africa; an exceptionally blessed continent africa is arguably the most naturally blessed continent in the world. hardly can you see another continent as blessed as africa. little wonder, around 6 | p a g e africa and resource curse dilemmas: lessons for nigeria in the 21st century victor chijioke nwosumba different places in the continent, some of these natural resources are visibly seen randomly located. this does not imply however that all african nations are naturally endowed equitably. however, while some are endowed more than others, no nation is left without any natural resource (nwosumba, 2013). this table below summarises some of the natural resources in africa according to countries. s/no country natural resources 1 algeria petroleum, natural gas, iron ore, phosphates, uranium, lead, zinc. 2 angola petroleum, diamonds, iron ore, phosphates, copper, feldspar, bauxite, uranium. 3 benin small offshore oil deposits, lime-stone, marble, timber. 4 botswana diamonds, copper, nickel, salt, soda ash, potash, coal, iron ore. 5 burkina faso manganese, limestone, marble, small deposits of gold, phosphates pumice, salt. 6 burundi nickel, uranium, rare earth oxides, peat, cobalt, copper, platinum, vanadium, arable land, hydropower, niobium, tantalum, gold, tin, tungsten, kaoline, limestone. 7 cameron petroleum, bauxite, iron ore, timber, hydropower. 8 cape verde salt, balsalt rock, limestone, kaolin, fish, clay, gypsum. 9 central african republic hydropower, diamond, uranium, timber, gold, oil 10 chad petroleum, uranium, nitron, kaolin fish (lake chad), gold, limestone, sand and gravel, salt. 11 congo dr cobalt, copper, niobium, tantalum, petroleum, industrial and gem diamonds, gold, silver, zinc, manganese, tin, uranium, coal, hydropower, timber, arable land, water. 12. republic of congo petroleum, timber, potash, lead, zinc, uranium, copper phosphates, gold, magnesium, natural gas, hydropower. 13 ivory coast petroleum, natural gas, diamonds, manganese, iron ore, cobalt, bauxite, silica sand, clay cocoa, coffee, palm oil, hydropower. 14 djibouti geothermal, gold, clay granite, limestone, marble, salt, diatomite, gypsum, pumice, petroleum. 15 egypt petroleum, natural gas, iron ore, phosphates, manganese, limestone, gypsum, talc, asbestos, lead, zinc. 16 equatorial guinea petroleum, natural gas, timber, gold, bauxite, diamonds, tantalums, sand and gravel, clay. 17 eritrea potash, gold, zinc, copper, salt, possibly natural gas and oil, fish. 18 ethiopia small reserves of gold, platinum, copper, potash, natural gas, hydropower. 19 gabon petroleum, natural gas, diamonds, niobium, manganese, uranium, gold, timber, iron ore, hydropower 20 the gambia fish, titanium, tin, zircon, silva sand, silva clay, petroleum 7 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com 21 ghana gold, timber, industrial diamonds, bauxite, manganese, fish, rubber, hydropower petroleum, silver, salt, limestone. 22 guinea bauxite, iron ore, diamonds gold, uranium, hydropower, fish salt. 23 guinea bissau fish, timber, phosphates, bauxite, clay, granite, limestone, petroleum. 24 kenya limestone, soda ash, salt, germ stones, fluorspar zinc, diatomite, gypsum, wildlife, hydropower. 25 lesotho water, agricultural and grazing land, diamonds, sand, clay, building stone. 26 liberia iron ore, timber, diamonds, gold, hydropower. 27 libya petroleum, natural gas, gypsum. 28 madagascar granite, chromite, coal, bauxite, salt, quartz, iar sands, semiprecious stones, mica, fish, hydropower 29 malawi limestone, arable land, hydropower, uranium, coal, bauxite. 30 mali gold, phosphates, kaolin, salt, limestone, uranium, gypsum, granite, hydropower, bauxite, iron ore; manganese, tin, copper. 31 mauritania iron ore, gypsum, copper, phosphate diamonds, gold, oil, fish 32 mauritius arable land, fish. 33 morocco phosphates, iron ore, manganese, lead, zinc, fish, salt. 34 mozambique coal, titanium, natural gas, hydropower, tantalum, graphite. 35 namibia diamonds, copper, gold, uranium, silver, lead, tin, lithium, cadmium tungsten, zinc, salt, hydropower, fish, coal, oil, iron ore. 36 niger uranium, gold, iron ore, tin, phosphates, gold, molybdenum, gypsum, salt, petroleum. 37 nigeria natural gas, petroleum, tin, iron ore, coal, limestone, niobium, lead, zinc, arable land, precious stones, forestry, fish, phosphates, marble, cocoa, palm oil. 38 rwanda gold, cassiterite (tin ore) wolframite (tungsten seed, mathane, hydropower, arable land. 39 sao tome and principe fish, hydropower. 40 senegal fish, phosphates, iron ore 41 seychelles fish, copra, circamon trees. 42 sierra leone diamonds, titanium ore, bauxite, iron ore, gold, chromite. 43 somalia uranium, iron ore, tin, gypsum, bauxite, copper, salt, natural gas, oil. 44 south africa gold, chromium, antimony, coal, iron ore, manganese, nickel, phosphates, tin, uranium, gem diamonds, platinum, copper, vanadium, salt, natural gas. 45 south sudan hydropower, fertile agricultural land, gold, diamonds, petroleum, hardwoods, limestone, iron ore, copper, chromium ore, zinc, tungsten, mica, silver. 8 | p a g e africa and resource curse dilemmas: lessons for nigeria in the 21st century victor chijioke nwosumba 46 sudan petroleum, iron ore, copper, chromium ore, zinc, tungsten, mica, silver, gold hydropower. 47 swaziland asbestos, coal, clay, cassiterite, hydropower forests, gold diamonds, quarry stone, talc. 48 tanzania tazalite, gemstones, hydropower, tin, phosphates, iron ore, coal, diamonds, gold, natural gas, nickel. 49 togo phosphates, limestone, marble, arable land. 50 tunisia petroleum, phosphates, iron ore, lead, zinc, salt. 51 uganda copper, cobalt, hydropower, limestone, salt, arable land, gold. 52 zambia copper, cobalt, zinc, lead, coal, emeralds, gold, silver, uranium, hydropower 53 zimbabwe coal, chromium ore, asbestos, gold, nickel, copper, iron ore, vanadium, lithium, tin, platinum, group metals. (sources: aina and salau, 1992:53; afribiz foundation (2009); the world factbook). the list of natural resources in the above tables includes mainly natural resources of commercial importance such as rare earth elements; mineral, petroleum, hydropower etc. so, the appearance of the products indicates that they have made or are likely to make a significant contribution to the economy of the countries. another evidence of africa being arguably the most endowed continent on earth is that it possesses 50% of the world’s gold, most of the world’s diamonds and chromium, 90% of the cobalt, 40% of the world’s potential hydroelectric power, 65% of the manganese; millions of acres of untilled farmland, as well as other natural resources (aborowa, 2014). however, a wide range of literature agrees that africa is heavily blessed by god in terms of natural and even human resources (nwosumba, 2013, mbabike 2012; african bank, 2007; aina and salau 1992), the problem is that these huge resources instead of being a blessing to africans are also widely believed to be a curse to them. 1.4 resource curse theory as a guide resources are natural when they are not made by man. as such, man is only involved in the use and modification of natural resources for his benefit. this implies, as argued by aina and salau (1992:10) that “natural resources and physical environment are productive assets which support economic development and sustain human populations.” more than this, natural resources, due to the premium importance man places on them, have become a major political factor in local, national, regional and global relations to the point of being a source of conflict or crises, wars, in fact a curse. realistically, while natural resources are not evenly distributed among peoples of the world, some have enjoyed them to the point of believing they are blessings. conversely, those who are not enjoying the proceeds from their natural resources commensurately believe they are a curse 9 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com to them. africa as this paper contends belongs to the later (though not all africans). this paradox situation for many is referred to as “resource curse.” resource curse has been a long standing theme in the literature. the idea that natural resources might be more of an economic curse than a blessing according to morrison (2013) has been around for long but gained currency when scholars first systematically compared the experiences of resource rich countries with countries that did not have these resources. richard auty first used the term resource curse in 1993 to describe how countries that were rich in mineral resources were unable to use that wealth to boost their economies and how counter-intuitively, these countries had lower economic growth than countries without an abundance of natural resources (auty, 1993). following this, many benchmark works have been developed to debate on the idea of a resource curse; they include, sachs and warner (1995), ross (1999; 2001), collier and hoeffler (2004), morrison (2013) and others. in agreement with auty’s thesis (1993), sachs and warner (1995) in taking an economic position in the debate estimate with evidence that countries with a high ratio of natural exports fully dependent on export of gdp in 1971 had abnormally slow growth rates between 1971 and 1989, a fact which shows that a high ratio of natural resource exports to gdp correlate lower economic growth. ross (1999), following his studies on the middle east, east asia, latin america, the caribbean, north africa and sub-saharan africa confirms that there is strong evidence that states with abundant resource wealth perform less well than their poor counterparts. the work reviews efforts made by economists and political scientists to explain how the export of minimally processed natural resources, including hard rock minerals, petroleum, timber, and agricultural commodities, influences economic growth and summarises the evidence for a resource curse. resource curse debate also has its own political side as ross (2001) is of the view that it correlates with less democracy, controlling for other factors. based on the foregoing points, resource curse also known as paradox of plenty is a puzzling empirical issue that associates natural riches with lower economic growth and so depicts a negative relationship between countries’ natural – resource abundance and dependence and their economic growth after controlling for other relevant variables (torres, afonso and soares, 2013). further, gavin & hausmann (1998) find a strong relationship between resource intensity and inequality. however, there are many approaches to understanding or explaining the resource curse which include; structuralist and dutch disease theses, rent-seeking behaviour, institutions and policies, namely fiscal, resource drag and possible endogeneity of initial income term, market volatility 10 | p a g e africa and resource curse dilemmas: lessons for nigeria in the 21st century victor chijioke nwosumba among others. no matter the shortcomings of resource curse theory which borders on its sojourn in the context of multiplicity of theories or theses without eventually proffering a lasting solution to africa’s worsening economic growth and development challenges, it still represents the best of theories that explain reasons why majority of africans are not enjoying the full bliss of these gifts from god called natural resources which they have in abundance. it is therefore theoretically and empirically relevant to this study in the sense that no matter how multiple the debates on this theme seem to be, recent survey suggests that the resource curse literature has been progressing, especially in the estimation methods, and thus is closer to providing a more comprehensive and accurate answer to the curse paradox (torres, afonso and soares, 2013). 1.5 paradox of plenty: resource diplomacy failure in africa, the enormous natural resource endowment has brought so much inequality between those that appropriate the resources and those that own them, that is, the mass of the people. in the 1970s, usually referred to as an oil boom era for nigeria, the country generated a lot of revenues that misguided it to boast openly that the problem is not finance but shortage of executive capacity (yahaya, 1989). the oil boom era were years of excess liquidity which offered the nigerian government the opportunity to enter into an era of financial recklessness as it resumed a massive public sector expenditure in the social and economic fields. in 1970/71 for instance, government’s total recurrent revenue was put at n558 million, by 1975/76 this increased to n5, 252 million and as the earnings continued to rise, by 1980, they “have reached over n11 billion” and this was the time “when the naira exchange rate was over n1: $1.5” (yahaya, 1989: 13). by implication, the natural resource earnings from the oil boom era, instead of being reinvested into productive areas of the economy and some of them saved, were recklessly misused. according to federal ministry of information, social welfare, youth, sports and culture (n.d.), misappropriation of public funds amounting to billions of naira from the national treasury were unaccounted and unchallenged, oil merchants and agents surfaced overnight owing their wealth to illegal oil deals. as observed by gambari (1984), nigeria pledged us$5 million within the era and by 1990, paid up over us$3 million as part of its contribution to the establishment of a special emergency assistance fund for draught and famine in africa. in the period under review, a good number of nigerians (executive and political classes) in collaboration with foreign agents dipped their hands into the robust resources of the country and selfishly and consciously appropriated them through highly inflated contracts, staggering millions of naira were paid out in the name of mobilisation fees to contractors (both local and foreign) who disappeared on collection (federal 11 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com ministry of information, social welfare, youth, sports and culture, n.d.). through this official source the following is observed; oil, which is the live-wire of the nation’s economy, was tampered with in sales and in diversion of proceeds by nigerians in collaboration with foreigners into private accounts and these unearned incomes which found their ways into circulation eventually started the spiral of inflation in the country. by the mid1981, nigeria’s economic growth due to these wastes, have witnessed a downturn effect as economic recession took the centre stage and the nation unfortunately found itself in both economic and socio-political crisis. funding of foreign policy and diplomatic activities began to dwindle (yahaya, 1989). the military, capitalising on the backlash, overthrew the 4 year civilian regime of alhaji shehu shagari to save the country and its economy from total collapse as promised by the head of the junta, general muhammadu buhari. due to the foregoing situation, general buhari’s regime adopted a diplomatic strategy that appeared to be confrontational in the eyes of the western countries and the result was nigeria exchanging crude oil for needed items from available sources instead of taking developmental loans from imf. another diplomatic failure of note here is where nigeria advocated for a new international economic order (nieo) between 1973-1985, an order which sought for the redressing of the inequality that has prevailed in the international division of labour, trade and investment relations between the industrialised and non-indusrialised countries as facilitated by the world bank, the imf and multinational corporations through economic penetration and exploitation but couldn’t achieve this owing to the setback the search suffered in the country between 1975-1980 (asobie, 2002). citing asobie (2002), nwogbaga, nkwede and chukwu (2016) further said the nieo was later suspended as a component of the nation’s economic diplomacy especially owing to the reluctance of the industrialised countries to honestly engage in the north-south dialogue that eventually collapsed and as a follow-up, the structural adjustment programme (sap) was adopted as part of the efforts to redress the ailing economy of a – once – oil boom inducedrich nation. sap was later abandoned by the regime of general abacha which cited the woeful failure of the programme to revamp the nation’s economy as a major reason. sap as yahaya (1989) observes unleashed an unprecedented trauma as has never been experienced in recent memory, every facet of national life is facing this. consequently, sap was replaced by abacha’s regime with guided deregulation policy under which the nigerian state was to supervise the commercialisation and privatisation of public companies and as well, attract and regulate foreign investment into the country but this eventually couldn’t live up to the expectation. this diplomacy 12 | p a g e africa and resource curse dilemmas: lessons for nigeria in the 21st century victor chijioke nwosumba conundrum has continued to the present day. the nigerian example shows that with the present down-turn of the economy many state governments have not paid the salaries of workers for months yet some governors, legislators and members of the political class purchase state-of-the-art vehicles for use. sometimes, a fleet of cars (jeep mainly) worth millions of naira form the convoy of one political office holder while many citizens are dying of hunger and frustration. the case of mobutu sese seko the leader of zaire (defunct) and late sani abacha of nigeria are still alive in the memory. these and other leaders like them use natural wealth of state for selfish and group interests. the above examples thus confirm mbabike (2012) position that the discovery of natural resources leads to concentration of wealth in a few hands of powerful officials in governments and those directly involved in drilling, mining and resources exploration (like international oil companies). by implication the rich natural resources turn out to be a blessing to these few while the majority is ostracised from the benefits. as in life generally, anything that has to do with curse has far-reaching negative consequences on the cursed. lending credence to this point, mbabazi (2009) then concludes that the resource curse has crippled many african nations since their independence. cases like angola, sudan, the drc, gabon, equatorial guinea, sierra leone, liberia, and several others, have endured the hardships brought on by the presence of highly sought after raw materials, notably oil and precious gemstones. in africa, even now, there are ugly cases of hunger, malnutrition, unemployment, insecurity of lives and property and a lot more that are products of the resource curse arising from resource diplomacy impotency leading to the paradox of lack in the midst of plenty. thus, as the resource wealth is mismanaged or squandered and the mass of the people left with exponential poverty, worsening food and life insecurity the result is the feeling of deprivation by the deprived and some of the consequences of this are threats to nation building or survival. 1.6 policy implications of resource diplomacy conundrum most african states are in resource diplomacy conundrum due to endogenous and exogenous factors and this has far reaching policy implications. ojo (2007) in viewing the nigerian scenario uses political economy approach to prove that the country’s petroleum resources case has shown how natural resource can sow the seeds of discord and conflict among domestic stakeholders, politicians, developers, local tribes and residents in the resource endowed locations who often clamour for resource control or have larger shares of resource revenues. the attempts by stakeholders to seek unfair resource rents which engender tribal conflicts have adverse effects on local and foreign investments apart from direct loss of 13 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com resource revenue. ojo also proves that resource rents are sources of corruption and economic inefficiency which culminate to undermine sound economic policies and weaken fiscal discipline. revelations then show that the resourcecontrol related crises leading to attacks on oil workers by local residents in the oil-rich delta region have adverse effect on foreign investment and loss of resource revenue worth about n650 billion for the year 2005 (ojo, 2007). no matter the language used to describe or analyse the continent’s situation, one thing is certain, that is the reality that africa is in a resource diplomacy conundrum because even the countries where oil and gas for instance were recently discovered which attempted to avoid the resource curse are currently nose diving into it. uganda is an example (africa for results initiative, 2016). kumah-abiwu, brenya, grenya and agbodzakey (2015) for example are worried about how the recent discovery of oil in ghana can make ghana have economic growth and development by learning a lesson from other naturally rich oil nations such as nigeria who are in a resource curse dilemma. in nigeria, oil has recently been reported to have been discovered in the north east area, a point which reactivates the question of the type of diplomacy to be adopted in order to escape the resource curse in the second decade of the 21st century. according to african bank (2009), many african countries’ natural resource booms have only to a limited extent set off a dynamic growth process. this is due largely to the failure to implement the right growth promotion policies and ensure that strong institutions are in place, suggesting that it is very difficult to make the big push towards diversification and development of manufacturing in the resource – rich parts of the continent. ojo (2007) admits this fact by adding that despite expectations that resource rich countries can promote growth by using the large revenues they derive from their resources to invest more in economic infrastructure and human capital, the policy implication is that economic growth in these countries has often stagnated. the underfollowing points to a large extent contribute to the foregoing. the dutch disease:the syndrome of rising real exchange rates and wages driving out pre-existing export and import – competing industries (ojo 2007). a clear example is nigeria’s palm produce and other agricultural export commodities that sustained the country en route sustainable economic growth in the pre-colonial and colonial periods which were suddenly undermined because of the discovery of oil in the late 1950s and the eventual oil boom that followed shortly after 1970. the malaysian and indonesian arable lands have encouraged palm oil economies worthy of reference and so indicative of the fact that a palm oil economy can give a majority of the people better life (delabre & okereke, 2019) not to talk about when other 14 | p a g e africa and resource curse dilemmas: lessons for nigeria in the 21st century victor chijioke nwosumba natural resources revenues are added. in these countries, as observed in delabre and okereke, negotiations are done even outside of government for the natural resources to attract foreign currency, jobs and other benefits to the people as well as the government and the companies involved in the sector. with oil windfall, nigeria's export commodities (predominantly agricultural) were undermined and substituted with imported goods. the adverse effect of this anomie is the over flooding of wanted and unwanted goods into the nigerian markets at rates that compete and eventually subdue local industries and production generally (nwosumba, 2012). it is shocking to hear that nigeria according to the former minister of agriculture adeshina adewumi on an nta programme (2011) spent n98 trillion on rice importation between 2007 and 2010 where as its farmers walked and still wallow in poverty and hunger in spite of the untilled huge arable land and population the country has. so, because oil price was very high during this period, there appeared as was during the 1970s an oil boom era, a belief that nigeria was enjoying a moment of excess cash liquidity. even toothpicks were imported also without minding that there were and are numerous forests in the country that need to be harnessed. this underscores the relevance of the dutch disease thesis which argues that an oil boom would lead to a contraction in manufacturing. another factor that explains the reason for africa’s resource diplomacy conundrum is that of revenue and macroeconomic volatility (african bank, 2007). this factor is based on the assumption and reality of the fact that commodity booms are typically not permanent and prices tend to show at least some degree of mean reversion over time. thus, as a result, countries that have experienced one or more commodity export price booms will typically also have faced high volatility of export prices. in many cases resource booms have encouraged less prudent fiscal policies with limited control and inflation thereby hampering growth, equity and the alleviation of poverty (african bank, 2007). in the case of nigeria, the hosting of festac in 1977, the involvement in african liberation struggles and elephant white projects within the oil boom days and the economic doomsday that followed shortly explain the point more. nigeria shares this less – prudence factor with many other oil rich nations like libya (accused of being a sponsor of transnational terrorism), angola and gabon. there is also the fact that majority of african resource rich nations tend to have limited transparency and accountability in the management of their natural resource revenues leading to the creation of parallel budgets, and as a result price stability and budgetary discipline suffers. this makes it that even as natural resource money is pouring in, these countries often have 15 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com fiscal deficits, and sometimes, double digit inflation (african bank, 2007). this kind of situation hampers equitable income distribution, exchange rate unification and trade liberalisation and further makes investments more risky. the correlative anomaly is that public spending decisions “become compromised with extravagant commitments made during booms that subsequently lead to drastic cuts in vital expenditures during troughs” (african bank, 2007:112). another factor of importance is economic policy failures. the effects that natural resource revenues have in exposing existing policy failures including, on economic investment, regulatory reform and trade, as african bank exposes, are also linked to the dutch disease and further, in policy decisions on economic diversification, choices governments make in supporting regulatory reform, skills development, business support, and public investment in infrastructure such as ports and roads have an impact on the way in which the dutch disease affects the economy. there is another reason which borders on corruption and rent-seeking syndrome. rent seeking among most naturally resourced nations is also a reason for the resource diplomacy conundrum because as hausmann and rigobon (2002) argue, resource wealth such as oil somehow makes societies less entrepreneurial, this follows the reasoning that there is so much wealth floating around the government that entrepreneurial people find it much more profitable to engage in unproductive rent seeking activities to appropriate that wealth rather than in creating more wealth. this is the case of africa where almost every adult wants to be in government by any means in order to join the appropriators of the resource wealth. the implication of this is that entrepreneurial skills are not converted to production or manufacturing or even servicing but policies of “do-or-die” as former president obasanjo branded nigeria's politics, where political power must be gotten at all costs and by any means possible without minding the consequences. this kind of situation has made it that instead of reinvesting entrepreneurially generated income into diversified economic activities most people prefer to plough the money in politics with the hope of making more money without the stress of doing business if they are elected or appointed into juicy government positions. in nigeria, partisan politics has become misconceived to mean a profession which some people abandon their work to pursue. suffice it to say therefore that joining the appropriators/elite group becomes more intense and paramount leading to scramble for political positions and the attendant conflicts, crises and violence which in turn affect the activities of state and citizens. ojo (2007) confirms this point by adding that resource curse works by destroying domestic economic and political institutions. in the case of nigeria as ojo 16 | p a g e africa and resource curse dilemmas: lessons for nigeria in the 21st century victor chijioke nwosumba further argues, the presence of oil gives rise to rent seeking and corruption which adversely affect the climate for investment and growth after distorting earlier useful social, economic and political institutions in the country and this is possible because of the way natural resource activities minimise the two-way interaction between the state and its citizens. evidence abounds that governments that have easy recourse to oil rents do not need to promote wealth creation that they can subsequently tax, as such citizens have less incentive to hold governments accountable. thus the rent-seeking-syndrome as can be argued is usually attached to any state that suffers resource curse dilemma and so it is not peculiar to nigeria or even africa. venezuela is an example. the next reason for africa’s resource diplomacy conundrum is routed to its historical past. colonialism which was the main reason for the establishment of most african states laid a certain faulty foundation which ab initio disarticulated the traditional economic development of africa making it largely dependent on the developed economies for its development. this has continued even after the political independence of these states and in the face of the current globalisation process which has promised to open the global system for equal participation and benefits for all peoples and nations. many argues that the disastrous impact of the world system which colonialism co-opted africa into is the colossal appropriation of africa’s natural heritage by capitalists (foreign in collusion with the indigenous) (adeoti and attah, 2012); nwosumba, 2013). this follows the argument that the relationship between the third world (africa inclusive) and the rich industrialised centre nations is not a relation that is aiming at even encouragement (galtung, 1973; offiong, 1980). the policy implication of this type of relationship is that the control of these natural resources are more in the hands of foreigners who exploit and refine them because of the advantaged position of their expatriates, technology and reseach. this is also like this due largely to african leaders’ conspiracy with foreign capitalists to maintain the status quo that favours the elite, especially those appropriating the natural resources in the name of the state and the people. the way out of resource curse dilemmas in the 21st century for nigeria. the instance of malaysia and it likes where resource diplomacy has been well intended and deployed stand to be emulated by nigeria. the case of most african states just points to the direction of the gap between policy making and implementation as well as the lack of seriousness and commitment of the leaders in changing the status quo. that there is resource curse dilemma in africa is to a large extent because of policy-default and lack of commitment on the part of the leaders (appropriators) to adopt people-oriented resource diplomacy. a situation where the policy is not people based is uncalled for. 17 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com in observation of this, the quotation from the remarks made by african theologians in uganda in 1989 is apt here. while in the past, development was principally understood in terms of economic progress, we now realized and become convinced, that appropriate progress should be integral development. such development must cater for the whole human person, and encompass the people of the nation as a whole by developing their spiritual, religious, social, moral, economic, cultural, political, mental, educational, physical and environmental dimensions of life (ike and edozien, 2003:4). the issue at stake now is the way to achieve this and then be out of the natural resource curse dilemma. some has the believe that africa’s resource curse dilemma is inescapable considering the fact that african leaders mindset is still to maintain the system that favours and may continue to favour them. look at former president mugabe’s case for example; he was over 90 years and still wanted to continue appropriating and misappropriating the people’s natural resources. is it for what reasons? zimbabwe with its abundant natural resources: coal, chromium ore, asbestos, gold, nickel, copper, iron ore, vanadium, lithium, tin, platinum, group metals, agricultural land is one of the poorest countries in the world. the rank of zimbabwe’s human development index (hdi) for 2011 based on data available in 2012 and methods used in 2012 was – 173 out of 187 countries (human development report, 2013). so between 1980 and 2016 36 years of mugabe’s reign, zimbabwe’s resource curse worsened as to make the country to be ranked one of the two poorest countries in the world survey (new zimbabwe, 2016). this survey further reveals that zimbabwe, a former net food exporter, is perennially hungry; formal industry has collapsed and unemployment is around 90 percent. nigeria’s case is not even better considering the fact that the nation is currently owing the world bank $9.81billion as revealed by the debt management office, dmo (plustv africa, 2020), whereas, the leaders that misappropriated the huge revenues of the oil boom days over forty years ago are still much in-charge of the resources today. stemming from this backdrop, it is imperative to suggest here that as far as the essence of diplomatic relations is mainly the achievement of national interest, malaysia’s success story can be emulated by nigeria. malaysia is natural resource-rich but not cursed because of the potency of its resource diplomacy. the wealth is shared among the people. the nation’s success story of natural resources management lies on the fact that in the country according to the world bank (2013), natural resources 18 | p a g e africa and resource curse dilemmas: lessons for nigeria in the 21st century victor chijioke nwosumba raised incomes of the bottom 40% of rural households. malaysia is a country situated in the southeastern part of asia. the country has a wide array of natural resources including fertile land for agriculture, minerals, and extensive forest. the country’s economy is driven by theses natural resources through exports and local sales. although the nation’s major resource, like that of nigeria is undoubtedly petroleum, agricultural products such as palm oil, timber, cocoa, pineapples among others are also exported and locally consumed. in the global palm oil sector malaysia is only second to indonesia in production capacity (bada, https://googleweb light.com/). nigeria should learn from malaysia because it is a developing country like it. according to the world bank (2013), malaysia is one of a few developing countries that successfully converted an abundance of natural resources into long-term sustainable growth and it was able to do this through the following:  sound policy choices ensured revenues from resource extraction were reinvested in the economy in the form of machines and buildings to generate sustainable economic growth.  reinvesting natural resources revenues into productive non-oil assets, such as infrastructure and education, ensuring that future generation will benefit from resource wealth. malaysian economy has been diversified horizontally from commodities to non-commodities. openness to foreign investment and labour helped promote the development of non-resource industries. malaysia has also diversified vertically, from raw commodities to processed goods.  the diversification of the economy helped malaysia avoid volatility from commodity price booms and bursts. the exchange rate also remained competitive.  the economic growth harnessed from natural resource was shared among malaysians, raising the average incomes of the bottom 40 percent of rural households by 7.2 percent a year on average over two decades while poverty rates plummeted. the virtues of good leadership, stressed manjurul and nilufar (2019), are the keys to malaysian success, to metamorphose from a poor to a rich country in short period; mahathir mohammed from example was a patriotic and multitalented leader whose dynamic reforms modernised malaysia, touching all sectors and aspects of the whole country. from the above, it thus becomes clear that mahathir touched all aspects of malaysian life as a whole and not one area. suffice it to assert therefore that good leadership is the key to avoiding and by extension, breaking the resource curse. malaysia has proved it. 19 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com although malaysia is second to indonesia in palm oil production, why it is attracted to this paper is that while palm oil and other agricultural resources were the mainstay of nigeria’s economy in the colonial and early postcolonial eras, they were eventually abandoned due to wrong resource diplomacy approach arising from the discovery of earth oil in the late 1950s and the boom of the early 1970s. so, the fact that colonialism also took place in malaysia goes a long way to prove that nigeria’s blame of the colonial web as a major reason for resource curse dilemmas is to be discountenanced. rather than blaming colonialism malaysian leaders adopted potent resource diplomatic strategies that are people-oriented and minded, diversified the nation’s opportunities to benefit adequately from the nation’s resources. for instance, it came to nigeria, collected its palm fruits and went back home to plant them and today is one of the two leading palm oil producers and exporters in the world. palm oil has helped malaysia in the diversification of its economy and generation of many jobs, as well as foreign currency (delabre & okereke, 2019). this is an example of potent resource diplomacy. now that nigeria has new oil in the northeast zone it should learn from malaysia that virtues leaders and diversification of the economy are major keys of avoiding resource curse and out of resource curse dilemmas. conclusion in conclusion, evidence in the paper so far has really shown that africa’s natural resource curse is a by-product of impotent resource diplomatic tools arising from selfish leadership and poor policy implementation. however, the position of this paper is that africa still has the chance of making the abundant natural resources a blessing and not a curse. it argued that if malaysia, a developing country in asia was able to escape the resource curse, nothing stops the other countries in africa especially nigeria from following suit. the major challenge however is the sincerity and willingness of the leaders to change the policies that are supporting the resource curse such as rent seeking, the dutch disease and their like and put the interest of all the owners of the resources, africans at the centre. the question here is, how possible is this considering the benefits that the leaders enjoy from the resource wealth misappropriation? history as we know has shown that those capitalists that love wealth, fame and prestige above human lives do anything within their reach to maintain the status quo. mummar ghadafi of libya, hosni mubarak of egypt, sani abacha of nigeria, mobutu sese seko of drc, idi amin of uganda, robert mugabe of zimbabwe are some of these leaders who died while refusing to make their people the main focus of their resource diplomacy. although some of them may be argued to have died because of international conspiracy, the most acceptable argument may be because they have not laid the foundation for the 20 | p a g e africa and resource curse dilemmas: lessons for nigeria in the 21st century victor chijioke nwosumba breaking of resource curse in their countries. recommendation this paper is of the view that if africa’s nascent democracies can be sustained for a long time and then become more mature to the point of entrenching good governments that are accountable to the people, the natural resource curse can be upturned. this achievement to say the obvious is not possible without the people themselves taking action. this can be called revolution in the sense that if the people are determined to entrench good governance they can do it through the ballot boxes. look at what happened in some north african countries recently where the people – led revolutions changed most leadership there and in nigeria where for the first time an opposition candidate unseated an incumbent president, all these happened because the people remembered that power belongs to them. regrettably, these revolutions are yet to yield the expected results which eventually shall lay the foundation for deep-rooted democracy and then good governance in their respective states. this, nevertheless, shall not deter the people from continuing to retake what belongs to them, which is the political power. resource curse is man-made; it is a product of selfish politics and should be reversed by political means. the paper therefore recommends that what the people should try to achieve is enthroning critical thinking leaders through the ballot boxes who shall move away from pursuing parochial and selfish interests against the social contract tenets aspire to emulate other leaders like those in malaysia. this is a message of hope to all africans because of the strong belief of this paper that something being difficult does not mean it is impossible to be changed. the people should be resolute, committed and consistent in their effort, with time, no matter the time; provided it is within the second decade of the 21st century, they will achieve this onerous task. references aborowa, g. (2014). africa’s mineral wealth: a blessing or a curse. https://gbengaaborowa.wordpres s.com/2014/09/ci/africasmineral-wealth-a-blessing-or-acurse/. retrieved 7/5/2016. adeoti, e.o. and attah, n.e. (2012). africa in the shadow of the world: struggling with globalisation. journal of globalisation and international studies, 6 (1 & 2), 59-82. adeshina, a. (2011). n98 trillion spent on rice importation in nigeria between 2007 and 2010. nigerian television authority, 9.00p.m. july 18. afribiz foundation (2009). natural resources in africa. http://www.afribiz.info/content/ 2009/natural-resources-ofafrica. retrieved 01/05/2016. african development bank (2007). africa’s natural resources: the 21 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com paradox of plenty. african development report. africa for results initiative (2016) avoiding the resource curse dilemma: the discovery of oil and natural gas in uganda. from the secretariat of the african community of practice on managing for development results. case study no. 9 knowledge series. african development bank group (2013). africa’s mineral wealth. a blessing or a curse?http://www.afdb.org/en/b logs/this-is-africashour/post/africas-mineralwealth-a-blessing-or-curse23361. retrieved 7/5/2016. aina, t.k. and salau, a.t. (1992) (eds.). the challenge of sustainable development in nigeria. ibadan: nigerian environmental study/action team. asobie, h. (2002). nigeria: economic diplomacy and national interest. in j. ogwu and a. olukoshi, the economic diplomacy of the nigerian state. lagos: frankad publishers. in nwogbaga, d.m.e., nkwede, j.o. and chukwu, o.n. (2016). analysis of nigeria’s economic diplomacy, 2000-2014. south east journal of political science, 2 (1), 219-230. auty, r. (1993). sustaining development in mineral economies: the resource curse thesis. london: routledge. bada, f. what are the major natural resources of malaysia? http://googleweblight.com/i?u= https://www.worldatlas.com/arti cles/what-are-the-major-naturalresources-ofmalaysia.tml&hl=en-ng. retrieved 30/01/2020. clower, r.w. (1966). growth without development: an economic survey of liberia. evanston, illinois: northwestern university press. collier, p. and hoeffler, a. (2004). greed and grievances in civil wars. 56 (4.), 563 – 595. delabre, i. and okereke, c. (2019). palm oil, power, and participation: the political ecology of social impact assessment. nature and space, 0 (0), 1-21. doi: 10.1177/2514848619882013. sagepub.com/journalspermissions federal ministry of information, social welfare, youth, sport and culture (n.d). lagos: federal ministry of information, social welfare, youth, sport and culture. galtung, j. (1973). the european community: a super power in the making. london: george allen and urwin. gambari, i. (1984). theory and reality in foreign policy making: nigeria after the second http://googleweblight.com/i?u=https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/what-are-the-major-natural-resources-of-malaysia.tml&hl=en-ng http://googleweblight.com/i?u=https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/what-are-the-major-natural-resources-of-malaysia.tml&hl=en-ng http://googleweblight.com/i?u=https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/what-are-the-major-natural-resources-of-malaysia.tml&hl=en-ng http://googleweblight.com/i?u=https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/what-are-the-major-natural-resources-of-malaysia.tml&hl=en-ng http://googleweblight.com/i?u=https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/what-are-the-major-natural-resources-of-malaysia.tml&hl=en-ng 22 | p a g e africa and resource curse dilemmas: lessons for nigeria in the 21st century victor chijioke nwosumba republic. new jersey: humanity press inc. gavin, m and hausmann r. (1998). nature development and distribution in latin america: evidence on the role of geography, climate and natural resources. hausmann r. and rigobon r. (2002). an alternative interpretation of the ‘resource curse’ theory and policy implications. being a paper prepared for the conference on fiscal policy, formulation and implementation in oil producing countries organised by the international monetary fund on june 5 – 6. usa. hausmann, r. and rigobon, r. (2002). an alternative interpretation of the ‘resource curse’ theory and policy implications. being a paper prepared for the conference on fiscal policy formulation and implementation in oil producing countries organised by the international monetary fund on june 5-6. usa. human development report (2013). the rise of the south: human progress in a diverse world. explanatory note on 2013 hdr composite indices. zimbabwe: united nations development programme. ike, f.i. and edozien, n.n. (2003). development is about people business is about ethics. enugu: cidjap. kumah-abiwu, f., brenya, e. and agbodzakey, j. (2015). oil wealth resource curse and development.: any lessons for ghana? journal of economics and sustainable development, 6 (1), 62-73. manjurul, h.r. and nilufar, y. (2019). development of malaysia under the leadership of mahathir modammad: turned malaysia into a rich country. https://goodleweblight.com/;?u=https//www.resea rchlightnet/publication/332352093developmentof_malaysia _under_the_leadership_of_maha thir_mohammad_turned_malays ia_into_a_rich_country&hl=enng do1:10.20319/pijss.2019.51.49 8506 mbabazi, p.k. (2009). the emerging oil industry in uganda; a blessing or a curse. african research and resource forum. mbabike, s.b. (2012). africa’s wealth of resources, blessing or curse. being a paper presented at expert conference organised at the european academy qtzenhausem (saarland) munich germany, january 18th – 20th , 2012. mbabike, s.b. (2012). africa’s wealth of resoruces, blessing or curse. being a paper presented at expert conference organised at the european academy otzenhausen (saarland) munich https://goodleweb-light.com/;?u=https//www.researchlight-net/publication/332352093-development https://goodleweb-light.com/;?u=https//www.researchlight-net/publication/332352093-development https://goodleweb-light.com/;?u=https//www.researchlight-net/publication/332352093-development https://goodleweb-light.com/;?u=https//www.researchlight-net/publication/332352093-development https://goodleweb-light.com/;?u=https//www.researchlight-net/publication/332352093-development 23 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com germany. january 18th – 20th, 2012. morrison, k. (2013). whither the resource curse. american political science association. 11 (4), 1117 – 1125. doi: 10.1017151537592713002855. new zimbabwe (2016). zimbabwe now poorest country in the world. survey. http://www.newzimbawe.com/n ews-23697zim+now+poorest+country+in+t heworld/news.aspx. retrieved 07/07/2016. nwogbaga, d.m.e., nkwede, j.o. and chukwu, o.n. (2016). analysis of nigeria’s economic diplomacy, 2000-2014. south east journal of political science, 2 (1), 219-230. nwosumba, v.c. (2012). globalisation and food security in africa: a critical evaluation (2000-2010). a phd thesis submitted to the department of political science, enugu state university of science and technology, enugu. nwosumba, v.c. (2013). globalisation in africa: a political economy approach, enugu: de verge agencies. offiong, d.a. (1980). imperialism and dependency. enugu: fourth dimension publishers. ojo, j.a.t. (2007). financial sector maladaptation, resource curse and nigeria’s development dilemma. public lecture series volume 9. otta: covenant university press. omolodun, j.o. (1981). nigeria africa and the world orngu, c.s. (2017). resource diplomacy: a neglected aspect of nigeria’s diplomatic history. kaduna journal of historical studies, 9 (3), 1-13. plustv africa (2020), saturday, february 1. ross, m. (1998). the political economy of the resource curse. world politics, 51 (2), 297 – 322. ross, m. (2001) does oil hinder democracy? world politics, 53 (3). 325361. sachs, j. and warner, a. (1995). natural resources abundance and economic growth. (nber) working paper no. 5398. havard institute for international development. the world factbook. field listing: natural resources. https://www.cia.gov/library/pub lications/the-worldfactbook/fields/2111/htm. retreived 01/05/2016. the world bank (2013). malaysia economic monitor: harnessing natural resources. https://googleweblight.com/i?u= https://www.worldbank.org/en/c ountry/malaysia/publication/mal aysia-economic-monitor-june2013-harnessingnaturalresources&hl=en-ng. retrieved 24/1/2020 https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2111/htm.%20retreived%2001/05/2016 https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2111/htm.%20retreived%2001/05/2016 https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2111/htm.%20retreived%2001/05/2016 https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2111/htm.%20retreived%2001/05/2016 https://googleweblight.com/i?u=https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/malaysia/publication/malaysia-economic-monitor-june-2013-harnessing-naturalresources&hl=en-ng https://googleweblight.com/i?u=https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/malaysia/publication/malaysia-economic-monitor-june-2013-harnessing-naturalresources&hl=en-ng https://googleweblight.com/i?u=https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/malaysia/publication/malaysia-economic-monitor-june-2013-harnessing-naturalresources&hl=en-ng https://googleweblight.com/i?u=https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/malaysia/publication/malaysia-economic-monitor-june-2013-harnessing-naturalresources&hl=en-ng https://googleweblight.com/i?u=https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/malaysia/publication/malaysia-economic-monitor-june-2013-harnessing-naturalresources&hl=en-ng https://googleweblight.com/i?u=https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/malaysia/publication/malaysia-economic-monitor-june-2013-harnessing-naturalresources&hl=en-ng 24 | p a g e africa and resource curse dilemmas: lessons for nigeria in the 21st century victor chijioke nwosumba yahaya, a.d. (1989). the developmental state in the process of transformation: the implication for the political science discipline. first annual lecture of nigerian political science association, ibadan. 149 | p a g e democracy and the feared factors threatening nigerian nation by okechukwu, groupson-paul. phd groupsonpau@yahoo.com department of political science federal university ndufu alike ikwo (funai), abakaliki – ebonyi state, nigeria okechukwu, prisca chinyere prispelladiag@gmail.com enugu state college of education technical, biology department enugu nigeria abstract hidden, and operated under fear in the era of dictatorship, the concept, ethnic militias and its threat to the nigerian nation arose immediately after the ushering-in of neodemocracy. like if hell were let loose, the several ethnic groups, incredible conflict paradigm being politicized in the midst of sought to actualize the basis of their selfacclaimed rights and existences in a united-unity prone state. thereby imposing a great threat to the thriving democratic tenets; as their activities seeks to redefine the geographical entity called nigeria in their separately avowed interest. the perspective of this pieces, ‘ethnic militias, democracy and the threat to nationhood: a negative dimension toward nigerian polity’, is considered a very important area of study, referencing the categorical and destructive tendencies of violence in the country when everybody supposedly ought to be one. a persistent phenomenon in the past decades, and even into the new millennium. more so, this work, mindful of the essence of neodemocracy which seek to unite the world into a global village wished not to be truncated to the disfavour of nigeria, as its benefits need to be explained further. the research examines the reoccurring decimal of violence, agitations and the dimensional propensities as affecting the inhabitants politically, economically, and socially. the implications of the increasing number of displaced people, refugee overflow and poverty in the midst of a threaten democracy also need to be revisited. the work, hinged on the theory of political rights, explains the reasons for all struggles. thus, to advocating for the enthronement of a virile democracy where everybody will be a co-participator to the development of the society is very essential. key words: national polity, neo-democracy, ethnicity, nationhood, development, instability mailto:groupsonpau@yahoo.com mailto:prispelladiag@gmail.com 150 | p a g e introduction the perspective of the nigerian state socio-political landscape had from time to time witnessed social instability, ethnic conflicts, and conditions of poverty, ignorance, disease, exploitation, injustice, inequality and debasement among others, thereby increasing the capacity prone of the society to violence. social insecurity of this kind, and in an objective sense, measures the presence of threat to acquired value, life and property of the individual and groups within the society. in a subjective sense, anugwon (2001) noted that it relates to the presence of fear that such values, life and property of the individual or groups will be denied or attacked. when this threat or fear of threat is increased or allowed beyond the bounds of order, a situation of social instability results. however, the primary role of the state then goes to the point of progressively eliminating the objective conditions of social insecurity by reducing the capacity for social instability. against this danger in the nigerian situation, the military, mindful of the uncertainties, incapacitation of the people and unacceptance of each other ethnically appropriated the people’s shortfall to entrench a long chain of military rule, that had in no measure be of any benefit to the entire society. thus, idowu (1999) aptly noted that the nigerian polity has been characterized by mutual suspicious, distrust and hatred amongst the various ethnic groups, thereby culminating in unmitigated inter-ethnic rivalry, animosity, and hostility and otherwise among others, with the military been the only icon of its corporate existence. with the outlawing of the obnoxious acts of military rules, the ending stage of the twenties century and into the new millennium witnessed a new internationalization of the structure of the international system, it also confirmed the emergence of a single hegemonic power and the universal adaptation of the principle of neo-democracy. a concept of globalization, as the world had increasingly and gradually turned into a hamlet, thomas (1999:9) observed. the nigerian state under democracy, however, had opened up many sealed cans of contradictions formerly under the suppression of the military. thus, causing the accreditation of identity by groups with aggressive demands of their rights without a thought about their obligations to the polity. the worsening social upheaval and political instability especially after the advent of the fourth republic have however, warranted several questions to be asked, especially as regarding the relationship between democracy, social instability and the engendering threat to democratic tenets. for the features of the nigerian scenario clearly show that, apart from industrial strikes, other forms of manifestation of social instability seem to present as ethnic and or 151 | p a g e religious conflict or instability. both ethnic and religious conflicts have tended to evolve into more frequently, since the inception of the forth republic and have tended to evolve into more violent and organized, ethnically based movements with stated ethnic agenda, edlyne (2002) asserts. this new recruit, otherwise called ethnic militias and structural make-up, only interested in what they can get from the state, are not only a threat to the unity of the state and democracy but had a preponderance overture of dislocating the sovereignty of the nigerian state. the most worrying aspect of the resent escalation of ethnic conflicts in the country seems to be its impact on the nascent democracy and the prospects of democratic consolidation. a case the niger delta youths, both disgruntled, jobless and miscreants had appropriated to show how neglected, their deceptive leader and the federal government had played on their ought to be valued welfare. as nigeria’s contemporary history shows, periods of great socio-political instability are usually chained with the overthrow of the civilian government and the assumption of power by the military. but away from this notion, the present ethnic structure in nigeria seems to be complex with contradiction as many of this groups have acquired sophisticated arms and weapons to rubbish the state system. for the number of weapons in the hand of the individuals and on the streets, except the military tanks and gun boats among others are nothing to compared to, as the level of sophistication shown in the electoral period had informed that the police are mere child-soldier to the dread thugs and armed carriers on the nigerian streets. beside the threat, the growing domestic instability and turmoil in the country now seriously negates the ideals of democracy. hence, the sustenance of democracy in a context of heightened inter-ethnic rivalry, social instability, division, and distrust seems quite unlikely. consequently, this envisaged interest and threat, this works, taking a recourse into state and group affairs in the world, where groups are now more conscious of their interests and the needs to protect competitions with other results to violence, will examine other salient features that may impose as a threat or tend to derail democratic goals in this era of a thriving institutionalization of the tenets of democracy and peaceful governance in nigeria. framework of analysis of an over expressed rights and the contending social issues the concept of suppression, frustration, deprivation, denial and a growing social decimation clogs, which had been an events of a long period, has been noted apparently as one of the misfortunes of dictatorship and or weak leadership. although, they are still termed as factors modulating conflicts, but in this respect we are concerned with the phenomenon of rights and its attributes to peaceful co-existence. thus, the situations of the fourth republic may seem desirable with contradictions. for not only have democratic enthronement permit national borders porous, and natural economics been penetrated by uncontrollable extra national economic forces. the forces of globalization 152 | p a g e and technology as noted by ajayi (2002) have gate-crashed into nation states, accelerating identity explosions of groups which aggressively demand their rights, without a thought about their obligations to the polity. an implication portends to put the state in a chain of confusions and contradictions in future if it fails to meet up the various demands of these agitators. theory of political rights thus may best describe the period in-review. this is because, the precarious era of military rule, civil dictatorship, and civil weakling administration of present, with its consequent neglects, unabated corruption of state power, malfunctioning electoral system, corruptly-greedy electoral officials and economic profligacy had heightened relationship between various ethnic groups in the country against possible enthronement of sound social civility. the nigerian military, itself, having an antecedence of a product of interplay of ethnic and geographical forces had helped in raising the drive for ethnicity. therefore, the military utilizes ethnicity as a tool to perpetuate its hold on power as well as to negate any attempt by the civil society to strive towards democracy and responsible governance. but even more crucial than the role of the military in the power equation in nigeria is the fact that democracy, according to held (1997) is ideally seen as the bastion of equity, freedom and justice. therefore, political rights and democracy, which was denied the populace was rightly expected to bring into existence a new socio-political era. according to dilys (1996) political rights is something that no one anywhere may be deprived of without a grave affront to justice. there are certain actions that are never permissible, certain freedoms that should never be invaded, and certain thing that are sacred. thence, marrying this notion to individual human rights norms, ifowodo (1994) observed that human rights are laws, custom and practice that have evolved over the centuries to protect ordinary people, minorities, groups and races from oppressive rulers and government. this rights, when further examined, could equally be those rights, fundamental or otherwise, which uphold the inherent dignity of man and promote the quality of his existence by providing the bases for freedom, justice and peace without distinction as to race, color, sex or creed humana (1993:166) posits. in the greece city-state, according to haries (1990), liberty and equality was taken as the central mark of democracy as their increase in liberty and equality also led to their increase in democratic processed and values. liberal democrats in their enunciation, however, contended that the premise of democracy and democratic rule are the only avenue through which, respect and upholdment of the dignity of human person can be obtained. in addition to the views above (humana, 1993) further opined that anyone who professes to take rights either political or economic rights amongst others seriously must accept at 153 | p a g e the minimum the vague but powerful idea of human dignity. thus, freedom of speech, movement and participations among others, becomes a great elements of political rights. in another realm, bhegwati (1994:9) observed that he who bids the law, rule, bids god and reason rule, but he who bids man rule odds, an elements of the beast, for desire is a wild beast and passion perverts the minds of rulers, even though they be the beast of man. re-examining the facts above, political rights rest on the consent of the people, on the need for the people to rule themselves, make their own laws and desires for themselves what seems rights. contradicting this to the era of military rule, when every ethnic groups and people were under fear of the military might, no right was observed as no right was recognized, and the oppositions were overwhelmed and contained. in that period, several things, apart from taken place were swallowed without questions to the governing body. thereby justifying the facts that under the military or a dictatorial government that human rights or political system is not encouraged. thus, no human rights in the military become the order of the day. comparing this to a civil government, like the nigerian fourth democratic republic, it is obvious that every groups want to be heard. though, formerly, hidden and operated under fear, each ethnic groups organized into ethnic militias, sought to actualize their self-acclaimed rights and interest. increasingly, the main dilemma is where one strike a balance between the demand of these to protect the difference in a democratic setting through the instruments of violence and the need to protect the fundamental human rights of individuals or groups. where does one strike a delicate balance between the need to provide security for all. and yet respect the democratic rights of some others. does the freedom inherent in a democratic system warrant a licence to impose threat to the state? how do we demarcate the boundaries of rights in a democratic system? where do our rights end and where do our obligations to one another begin? these questions are however pertinent to the growing problems being created by the activities of ethnic militias particularly in niger-delta where criminality and destruction had been the mode of agitation for rights upholdment. this is because the coming of the fourth republic, ought to be for the establishment of a peaceful democratic polity, but the activities of the ethnic, religious, geo-ethnic and other groups, have punctuated the political process and rendered extremely fragile the security of persons, groups and their properties on the context of the fact that they are entitled to the necessary rights as provided for by the democratic system and constitution. but be that as it may, the so-called rights are not only abused, swapped into antics of stealing and crimes’ heaven among others but had also been over expressed to the detriment of the general society. in this realm, a political commentator according to tempo magazine (2002:8) had argued that, the government’s position explicates the fact that social and ethnic conflicts are actually the results of manipulation by elites shows a narrow understanding of the 154 | p a g e problem. but the facts remains, that ethnic conflict lies more with the mismanagement and malfunctioning of the political system, the economy and associated poverty resulting to the citizenship problem and general dissatisfaction with the government and its policies, yusuph (2003) argued. thus, it is that same dissatisfaction that the people mindful of the composition of the present government and seen as not difference from other military rules in term of its structure, that they have sought solace in democratic tenets to seeks for their rights of total freedom. a course that had not only threatened the nigerian polity but tend to dismember the entity, nigeria, believing that rights is freedom. for the case in niger delta, which have a high degree of militant actions and activities had to some extent placed the nigerian state to a no go area to other foreign national and businessmen alike. the criminality of the over expressed rights and claims of denial had also made mess of the struggle for better welfare by the youths and criminal leaders of that region to be dismay of the desires of the nigeria people and her place in the committee of nations. this criminality leading to fragmentation and faction among the militias had not only portrayed nigeria as a failed state, coupled with riggings and thievery of elections results as attendant electoral quagmire, but the combination of kidnapping, terrorism and the boldness of the militias to face the nigeria military in a battle confrontation exemplified the notion that nigeria is on the keg of gun powder, wittily expected to explode one day. ethnicity in the nigerian polity a. the origin of ethnicity arising from the unmitigated reasons that the colonial master had in welding the geographical entity – called nigerians into one – nation – state, the antecedence of the events that followed afterward explains that nigeria is mix-up of people of different ethnic background. the independence era, both post-era and contemporary among others according to babawale (2002) saw a different people coming together to form a quasi – federation that was ethnically controlled by the struggle of the three major groups – the hausa, yoruba and the ibo. this competition not only affected the entire state system but left the nation in a perpetual emptiness and instability. this grave animosity and other salient elements portend great problems however, derailed the reasons that the founding fathers had as a course for making nigeria one. nnoli (1993) in this respect noted that evolving from this angle is that every child borngrows up to discriminate and differentiate in both character and political pursuits among the three groups. with the control of the military and state power for a long time by the north, the south – highly dominated by the western yoruba nation and the ibo nation seeks to accept the fact that politics is the unending struggle amongst classes to dominate state power through ensuring that the class role in production is dominant over the production process (held, 1997) opined. 155 | p a g e this domination determines the pattern of distribution of rewards among various roles in the process and occupies such strategic position in the process that the sole occupants are able to achieve their interests. once a class dominates state power, it organizes itself and society in such a way as to establish and perpetuate control over this power and uses it to pursue their interests. in line to this structure, political associations and parties was formed on ethnic base. thereby nurturing a kind of cyclical ethnic dynasty for eventual winner in the struggle to state power. this act, which actually saw to the total political and economic destruction of the nation’s wealth amidst impoverished citizenry detriment, becomes the end of many hopes about nigerian. as discussed above, abubakar (1997) in joining issue asserts that urban ethnic identity, which had emerged before and during the independent era established itself with concomitant manifestation of dysfunctional political system. the colonial powers were also seen manipulating this ethnic identity to perpetuate colonial rule. it used the divide – and – rule syndrome to create divisions amongst the population, okafor (1982) noted. furthermore, colonial preferences between the north and south of the country were sometimes overt and have blamed for the politics of the north south divide in nigeria. apart from the colonial distortion, ethnically based political parties and the military being highly controlled by the north, loopholes and incapacitations of this ethnic cleavages of which their shortfall was appropriated to the debasement of the entire country was instituted with over ridding force. this indigenous ruling class who failed to rise above ethnic quagmire, then created several problems amongst others, inquity in politics of development. consequently, till date, the struggle for political power by the different ethnic groups became intensified. the intensification of ethnic struggle for political power continued to define nigerian politics up to the present time. this act which had not only created a more terrifying problems, have in several realm armed young men and youths to seek their ethnic nationality as supreme amongst others also tend to endanger the national polity with the advent of ethnic militias as a force backing their individual ethnic interests. ethnic militias in nigerian polity imperatively, nigerian historical past and present cannot be succinctly explained without under lining the fact that nigeria as a nation has a long history of ethnic violence. few, if any, had occurred in the pre-colonial nigeria except inconsideration of the relationship between the conquering fulani and their hausa subject, (okafor, 1982) revealed. 156 | p a g e otherwise, most ethnic groups in pre-colonial nigeria co-existed peaceful until the coming of colonialism. however, in the present, nigerians are divided along more lines than just the ethnic lines; religion – christian/moslem, cultural (multi-cultural), international affiliation (the west/islamic arab world), of all these lines of division, the most volatile and often the most troublent has been religion, akinboye (2001) contended. nigeria has a long history of social unrest, traceable to religious differences. often, those religious disturbances assume an ethnic connotations and collaboration. this is so because the various ethnic groups are identifiable with one religion or the other. there is therefore little difference between ethnic and religious divisions. what starts most at times as a religious disagreement soon assumes ethnic dimensions and vice-versa. even what starts as a political struggle is often misconstrued as a religious or ethnic struggle? the contradictions and confusions played a major role in obfuscating issues involved in the military coup of january 1996, (okafor, 1982) reiterated. what started as purely political struggle within the class structure of the nigerian army soon assumed an ethno-religious dimension that led to the worst case of ethnic killings in the history of nigeria. however, digressing from this views above, eghosa (1994) observed that militant groups or ethnic militancy operating on the basis of purely ethnic agenda are relatively new, except the case of the earliest militant groups of the 1960, under political and economic agenda, led by isaac adaka – boro, on the issue of marginalization by the then eastern region government to the present states of rivers and bayelsa. the armed struggle was quickly pulled down and the leader charged with treason. moreso, the nigerian civil war of 1967 – 70 was ethnically based and after the civil war, there have been several other records of civil and religious disturbance, riots, clash and social disorder etc. but while these incidents pass for social instability, they are not considered as cases of ethnic militancy. they were noted to have occurred as a spontaneous reaction to situations. they were not sustained campaigns based on stated agenda. they were not organized groups out to achieve some political and/or economic objectives. the numerous religious riots in the northern part of the country belong to this groups. so also is the occasional inter or intra ethnic clashes over territorial boundaries, lands, and location of some public offices among others. against, the degree of social instability and the discontent of the various sections of the country during the long chain of military rule and especially in the period of general sani abacha, akinyele (2001) noted that the emergent of ethnic militias became pronounced with series of hidden agenda. these ethnic militias did not only exists but they operates 157 | p a g e secretly while opposing several programmes of the military juntas. thus, by may 29, 1999, with the re-birth of a new democratic government, the highly centralized nigerian federation, of which the centre had for long enjoyed enormous political and economic powers with an apparently suffocating hold on the sub-national states was once again questioned like if hell were let loose by the activities of the several ethnic groups. hence, at the terminal period of transition from military to civil rule in 1999, there were signals of a resurgence of aggressive sub-nationalism, which had been under the suppression of the military and general abacha in particular, anifowoshe (2002) contended. at the hand over period, there arosed a latent aggressive sub-nationalism, which exploded to violence, thereby triggering – off the emergent of the ethnic militias one after the other to either contain or engaged the activities of the existing ones and government. this politics of engagement and containment amongst the ethnic militias underlines the observations of eleazu (1977) who observed that one effects of the over-centralization of power in a purported federal structure, especially in a military regimes was always the emergence of a strong centrifugal forces, which felt disadvantaged in the system. hence, many sub-national groups felt that if nigeria federation were not as centralized as it was, they would have had a fairer deal in the federation. thus, under the present polity many of the suppressed ethnic groups and militias found reason to question the so-called nigerian federation and the basic essence of a powerful (but lacking in provision and security of the people) centre. it is this categorical questions, the violence and the engendering organized marginalization that resulted in each ethnic group trying to seek and protect its own. still on the same situation, few amongst the ethnic militias criminalized the individual struggle towards subverting the national integrity of the country. however, the following are the known ethnic militias: neo – democracy, statehood and stability in nigeria in the 80’s, a remarkable trend toward the establishment of democracy and democratic institution was apparent throughout many years of the world. in latin – america the generals and colonels were returning to their barracks, while the end of cold war witnessed the emergence of fledging democracies in large parts of the eastern europe and former ussr and asian minors. however, this trends wasn’t reproduced in certain states of the african continent, where one party autocratic leadership is not only implaced, instead the military still has a pivotal role in influencing and directing policy and actively suppressing the emergence of democratic tents and institutions. this is no more noticeable than in nigeria, where this entailed a great hardship on the people till late 90’s, when it was fully embraced to promote social civility that has provened unattainable. 158 | p a g e democracy, imperatively, rest on the consent of what is best peaceful for the interest of the people. the united nation in 1992, according to glieman (1995) observed with utmost sincerity that as from 1995, it will henceforth, then cease from allowing or admitting any nations whose way of governance does not allow for majority mandate or consent. they abhor all form of quasi, autocratic and dictatorial systems of governance, thereby substituting it with what was otherwise called neo-democracy, new form of democracy. a democracy being reintroduce by the western world, that must be monitored and supervised by the western actors in order to promote international peace worldwide. to this end, several gains were said to accompany this democratic re-birth ideas. such gains as total integration unto the world economic system, technological improvement and stabilization, and trade liberalization among others, were to be embraced by adherers. the idea also enhances diplomatic intercourse and relationship as well as the recognition of state in the committee of nations. the oau, now au, the apc, and commonwealth of nations among others in 1992 december at harare zimbabwe, also agreed that the full implementation of the new democratic agenda should be the icon of every member states’ system of governance procedure, macnuell (1997) enuciated. on this legate, state every where has come to appropriate and appreciation the good idea of peaceful governance which at now can only be found in democracy. again for our purpose, democracy was not only accepted and meant to be practice but it has become the yearning of people everywhere. although, democracy has some universal principles even if these principles may be adapted to different environments. there is therefore no single model of democracy. democracy, therefore to the notion of the above scholar involves, however, certain attitude, or beliefs and emotions of the society, which govern the polity. it is however, in awakening to this fact that the ushering in of democracy on may 29 1999, that several interest groups who have seen reasons in a true peaceful and good system of governance sought to align themselves to the new agenda. certain of this course, they from all angel wants to appropriate the good virtue of democratic governance. democracy, in itself, has certain values which all must accept if there is to be a stable sustainable democratic polity. and it is in the quest of this goal that since may 29 1999, there has been an explosion of ethnic drives and other forms of identities, which to some extent, the individual ethnic groups has used their ethnic militias to demonstrate the larger form of communal dissatisfaction with the polity. although, in nigeria, the several ethnic group which has been under military and dictatorial suppression was seen rearing their ugly heads due to the extent and freedom of democratic liberty, but as smith (2000) observed that this democratic virtue which, preaches freedom and peace are however misappropriated by the each struggling ethnic 159 | p a g e group in the sense that democracy is not a panacea for violent aggressive ethnic-group militias like the activities of mend or the ndpvf against a constitutionally formed government, and neither is the emergence of ethnic militias a resolute solution to social ineptness, but over time, democracy provide avenue for addressing the grievance of which led to their emergence. thence, an effective and constructive response to ethnic militias is to be found in within a relatively equitable state structure like in nigeria, where an effective honest, just, fair and democratic governance with natural respect amongst the entire country ought to be promoted by all the component groups, as members of one polity toward enthroning a stable statehood. going along this line, it will be obvious that the idea of democracy to promote peaceful statehood was threatened by the spate of violence and ethnic clashes, which the criminalization of the act in niger-delta bysome of the leaders and the militants combined, however may be blamed on the state violation of some of the characteristics of democracy. these characteristics, ghali (1994) argued that the base of authority in democratic system lies with the people. and since authority depends on the people, any authority that does not emerge from the consent of the people is not democratic. although the manner in which this word consent may be applied may vary from one system, state or society to other. likewise, the said consent does not permit to threat to the corporate existence of the system as is found in the nigerian state. for there is an extent to which demands and agitation can be stretched it would be no longer a true intentions of all but a criminal intent of few who are gaining from the rackets. another point that tend to play on the scale is that a state like nigeria cannot be in want of state stability if the very concept of democratic governance had not been abused by the governing elites. this is because, according to elaigwu (2003), democracy is based on rule of law, which helps to sustain statehood and its enabling integrity and legitimization. and when a democratic polity is said to be lacking in legitimacy, then the basic condiments of true governance is neglected or otherwise wished away. thereby deranking the rights given to the leader to lead from him and subsequently been spotted in different hands as each hands will want to display its own make-up in the manner best known to them. at the same time the institutional mechanism will not only be moribund and desecrated upon, but the growing negativism inherent in the system will equally demand for urgent change or group conflicts to survive or shake-off the shackle of blames and pains among otherss. democracy also calls for choice of the people for any state to enjoy a stable polity. the element of choice in a polity rest on the people. the people should have the rights to effect changes in the leadership. choice in a polity includes such values as freedom of association, movement, thought, expression, existence, and ownership of properties among others. but when an individual or group of criminal intent cabals like olusegun 160 | p a g e obasanjo and maurice iwu personally select and impose leaders on the people as was in nigeria in 2003 and 2007 elections respectively, then the people against whose rights had being denied in making their own choice may be left with no alternative than to pursue their self –avowed and trodden rights in whatever manner for recognition and subsequent actualisation. on the other hand when this is not done against the wish of the people, then, the leader who uphold all the desires of the people and the things that benefit them is admitted to have accounted well at the end of his tenure to the people. because, every leader whom the people entrusted some values like democratic tenets are held responsible for their action as representatives of the people who are entrusted with power to achieve particular ends. but when all this basic things mentioned above is lacking, then the state and people may sought solace in anything that could give them the required protection and happiness. in view of this, the present government, though were faced with several social problems, but the input or mechanism put in implace to submount this upheavals was never focused. they only engaged in chasing empty parlance and initiating un-ideal policies to the detriment of the people. thereby allowing the continual escalation of several ethnoreligious violence. they sincerely forgot that nigeria has a long chain of ethno-religious historical problems. and that the only way to welding them is by enthroning a virile democratic system that the principle of equity, equality, law and legitimization of every component of government are thoroughly uphold, toward promoting stable statehood in nigeria. analyzing this contention, it is evident that if the nigerian polity is anything to go by, that the government who are aware that an average nigerian who have lived under suppression, intimidation and deprivation need to be uplifted and provided with succour. thus, opc, apc, ipc, ijaw youth, mend and other militants among others would not have been dissatisfied if the government of chief olusegun obasanjo had come into power to attend to those several socio-economic and political neglects and deprivations that the people of nigeria had suffered. the incessant ethnic and militias clashes in the past twelve years, which had accounted to the lost of over fifteen (15,000) thousand nigerian to an untimely grave beyond would not have occurred but the most uncultured and insincere idea about the present government is their principle of insistence of how bad the past military regime was with the retardation of the principle of lets push forward and make improvement. the obasanjo/yar’adua government had being weakling and inefficient in many respect as the former suddenly remembered that he was dyeing a poor man hence the craze to amass wealth was his only contribution to the nigerian outlook and existence from 1999 to 2007, while the latter is confused and meshed in a pathogenic scenarios of self imposed contradictions. this continual occurrence of those who have nothing to offer but to steal and deprave the society had been adjudged as the basic factor mitigating an increase in militancy and subsequent threat to democratic tenet. 161 | p a g e it is imperatively, reasonable to argue that it is this distrusted and cyclical neglect and over-theorizing without food on the table of an average man that do much at times instigate people or even tribe or ethnic group or militants not only against each other but daring the national army to a battle as the mend had consistently displayed their intention against the status quo. a reference point showed that a derail democracy is an abused stability, and a threatened statehood, just the instances below had shown. consequently, the above highlighted cases of ethnic militias, militancy and communal crises in the country, the nigerian government since 1999 seemed to have enjoyed more crisis, instability and wanton destruction of lives by the so-called militant forces whose interest seems to out-weighted the national interest of the nigerian state in trying to enthrone a virile democracy and encourage vibrant development programme. this abysmal violence is however a categorical inference of saying that something is wrong within the system and that it could equally be adduced that the people enjoy violent more than peaceful resolute of a particular crisis or deprivation. moreso, evidence arising from the above capitulations, shows that from the inception of democratic governance in nigeria, that the period 1999 to half of 2002 witnessed cyclical instabilities, while others from 2003 to 2009 are mostly caused by over endured frustration, deprivation and neglects among others. the prevalence of one ethnic conflict or another as been the mainstay of nigeria was not only pronounced, but exacerbated. in fact, the preponderance of ethno-religious conflicts in nigeria in the year under review has been succinctly captured in the following manner by ndegwa (1997) who noted that from modakeke – ife crisis in the south-west to ijaw_itsekiri in the south-south to ethno-religious crisis kaduna/kano and plateau and tiv-jukun conflicts in benue/taraba states. it is unabating gory tales of endless loss of human lives and materials possessions all the way. apart from the alarming and astounding increase in both number and magnitude of lost, destruction and wanton human carnage, ethno-religious conflicts in nigeria, championed by militias and privates armies alike since the era of the nascent democracy has become fused into the political agitation strategies of groups. while conflicts and crisis may have become more rapid and heightened, the nature has undergone considerable change. the change has been in the fact that entho-religious violence mitigated by ethnic militias, even, while bloody, are now channeled toward garnering more political benefits and economic gains for the groups concerned within the context of the new democratic dispensation. thus, (anugwon, 2001) in complementing this view above had argued that ethnic mobilization even among the very conscious niger delta people is nor geared toward improving their lot within the ambit of democracy and a free society. in addition, the 162 | p a g e ethnic group/associations are not any longer engaged in a zero sum game mobilization but seen the prevailing socio-political dispensation as amenable to the fulfillment of their separately – individual groups aspiration. but even this sort of ethnic drive as championed by each groups organizations has been more after than not contradicted by the violent activities of the existing ethnic youth groups. obviously, too, the elite leadership of all the ethnic groups in nigeria appears helpless in the efforts to rein in the youthful militant and often sprinter groups. but equally worth mentioning is the fact that the actions of the elite leadership have often smirked of a subtle collaboration with the militant elements. in retrospect to this notion is the role of late abraham adesanya who openly endorsed the militant group leader of opc by holding the hands of the faction leaders in the spirit of reconciliation as an indication that he does not understand the full implications of the message to the public. more importantly too, is the romance between the old elite and militant groups in the various ethnic groups in nigeria and the aiding of the niger delta militancy by some criminal retired generals as presently unraveled by the federal government itself, which may serve as further boost to the spats of bloodletting tendencies of the militants. abysmal implications and democratic threats inference from the aforementioned on democracy and state governance vis-à-vis the durability of democratic system, the enabling stability that democracy creates and the engendering smooth system of governance, it is imperative to accentuate that if democratic tenets are vividly adhered to, that the enabling and working principles of democracy will be seen permitting the fabrics of the society. thus, the idea that a democratic polity does gradually build its own culture becomes a reality. but against the situations facing the polity now, the whole issues still look dicey as the drive toward true democracy are not only far but had been placed in the same messy and trash can that the ruling class had dumped the idea of true federalism in nigeria. thus, the shortchanging of the latter with quasi and criminal foisted centrifigural forces as federation had also being blamed as a factor mitigating consistent violence in the polity apart from the ethnic aspirations. it is also evident that in a democratic system, that it is the majority who dictates while being sensitive to the interest of the minority. tolerance of divergent views within the political parties, the legislature, executive and judiciary and the general society at large are also viewed as a vital pivotal scheme of democratic initiatives in a polity. in the parlance of this fulcrum, commitment to upholding of the necessary constitutional legates as a supreme guide for operation of a democratic polity is viewed as a necessary evil. adding to this is the acceptance of the rules of the game of politics and being bound by its tenets. thus, both winners and losers see politics as a game and not as a battle in which one or the other would win as criminal individual like olusegun obasanjo notoriously 163 | p a g e see it as a do or die game of gangstars affair in 2007 election. an implication that has displayed itself not only on the inactiveness of the imposed president but an act that had retarded and debased the political clout of the nigerian state in the commity of nations. in a polity of this nature, it is always necessary for the political elites to be sensitive and responsible to those who elect them into such offices but the present failures and confrontation with the militants by the federal government could be said to have steemed from the fact that the so-called leaders are not elected by the people but imposed by the ex-combatants of obasanjo and ali. however, when a polity tries, and adhere to all the above mentioned political culture and ideals in a democratic system, such a system will not only be seen as democratical enjoying a stable polity but its development and pursuit will be a success to the particular society. but on the alternative when such a polity as existed in nigeria is threatened by social instability and war arising from ethno-religious conflicts, and militancy confrontations, deliberately championed by ethnic militias, for ethnic interest, the political system which is seen as a conversion process where received demands and supports inputs are processed to give output becomes negated by the engendering quagmires generated by the threats, (ndegwa, 1997) noted. instabilities resulting from the disruption of this process as may occur in the system due to the cyclical ethnic violence leads to a democratic breakdown. the break in the relationship between input and output due to the failures in the conversion process result to anarchy and social upheavals. instability will also occur in the supposedly feedback loop that is already broken, thereby availing the system to several and unwarranted power hijackers and absolutist of autocratic dominance. applying this notion to the nigeria nascent democracy, it is obvious that if the current democratic threats are allowed or sustained, that democracy in itself will not only be defrauded and compromised as already being displayed in the polity but the basic notion nursed and intended by the so-called militant groups will extolled their desires. although, it is easy to explaining that the present activities of ethnic militias and it threat to democracy and the foundation of the nigerian nation, might be as a consequence of the various policy lapses, decisions unimplemeted and certain practices of the political class in governance had portrayed criminal zeals, but much is absorbed to contravened the ideas that they are making the nigerian democratic system to be valueless and unprofitable to the yearns and aspirations of the common electorates’ bargains with their mandates. the fact should not equally be denied that many implications abound when the present government fails to creating a melting pot of the various constituent ethnic groups, with the manners in which each government official and nigerians continues to see 164 | p a g e themselves first as ethnic national instead of an unbias bureaucrats or person. this is evident because the political system is not only been blamed for the attendant crisis but on their continual entrenching the feature by which the majority ethnic groups are favoured in the distribution of benefits to the detriment of the minority groups. the utter neglect of certain areas and the consequent denial of infrastructure based on ethnic consideration may become one of the negating force against the aforementioned democratic cultures, since it is relevant to note that the stability of a federal structure demands, equity amongst all ethnic groups as a way of reducing ethnicity, but if otherwise becomes the case, say the political conversion processes if negated, will produce inequality, exploitation and social stabilities. thence, the reception that might follows will distort the enabling factors for democratic sustenance and peaceful coexistence. this implies that while the government need to check where they have fall short of their promises to the people, the society in general should equally resolve in treating all problems through constructive dialogue and corporate understanding among parties. the idea of any ethnic militia, like opc, ipc or the egbesu and apc trying to settle every score through violence amongst their neighbour need to be rethinked for national interest and the survival of democracy rather than ethnic characteristic drives among others. considering other implication toward democratic threat, emphasis need to be drawn on the preponderance factors of a separatist ideas nursed by the ethnic groups. for instance, the opc was formed to protect the rights of all yorubas in nigeria, by propagating and projecting positions, which would enhance the welfare and well-being of the yoruba race is a cosmic abuse on statehood of nigeria. the igbos also under massob, ipc and bakassi boy trying to re-echo the biafra separatist idea, in which they are only meant to project the interest of the igbo race is a great set back to the nigerian corporate existence, and likewise the apc of the north among others trying to do the same is an idea that never go well with an incubating institutions like democracy and democratic tenets in nigeria. the opc and massob who had in fact announced their intension to declare an o’dua nation and republic of biafra among others, respectively standard to inform us that the present democratic system is a chimera and has no human face. the past and present activities of the mend, ndpvf, ndrc and ndt among others, which had been confrontational to the government of the day also explains the import of denial, frustration , deprivation and absence of human needs in the region where both leaders and youths control oil well against the national security requirement and national interest of the nigerian state. for it is evidence that the same people who fought for the exit of the military were the same people funding the opc, apc, massob, ndpvf, ndtc 165 | p a g e and egbesu among others. it is of recent, due to the fall out among the protem commanders of mend aka boyloaf that the country were informed that their key sponsor is a staff in the presidency, ogoigbe, (2009) posits. this great accusation that the presidency had failed to debunk or accept implies that it is the same government that chase and pursues the militant that aids them. a cause which might be due either to disagreement between the parties as was in the case of notorious obasanjo and alammeseya of bayelsa state in 2006 over oil well and party-issues disagreements. for instance, the opc was mainly financed by the yoruba politicians, businessmen, academics and even foreign agents. the pan yoruba group, afenifere, nadeco and some government officials were in support of their course. the massob on the other hand enjoy the support of the world igbo congress council, ohanaeze group and many foreign agencies among others (yusuph, 2002) revealed. the egbesu were also enjoying the support of the affluence in the south – south for their possible control of the oil and resources of the zone. the apc, apart from enjoying the support of the northern elements, emirs, political cabals and religious bigotries etc. are nurtured by the exmilitary class (thisday, 2001) . going by this enumerations, it is evident that nigeria and nigerians are still far away from the costumes of democracy. that, it seem that everyone is living on democratic hocus – pocus, a parlance of self-deprivation and self – negation in an institution that everyone seem to be working toward its actualization in a pretence prologue. this categorical implication of a democratic threats supposedly informs the international community that the attendant crisis are mitigated by the same people who yearns for democracy on one hand and perpetuate series of acts to discredit democratic initiatives on another. it also decried the level of unpreparedness of the country in actually toeing the desired line of democracy. more factors that seem to imposed a great threat to democracy in recent time is, first, the incident of ethnicity or ethnic nationalism, political marginalization and economic exploitation by the ruling class. in an ethnically divided society, it is easy to present politics as an inter-ethnic struggle for socio-economic resources. consequently, campbell (1996) aptly noted that most nigerian have come to believe that unless their “own man” is in power, they are unable to secure those socio-economic amenities that are disbursed by the government. the failure of government to devolve power have also ended up in the over centralization of the government, thereby negating the cardinal points of promoting social civility. secondly, the existence of mend, ndpvf, opc and ndtc among others, which is today a national threat, was borned out of the peoples’ quest to shake-off the level of marginalization and their perpetual states – stands as opposition group in every government. hence, the intention of the ijaws and yorubas to actualize the mandate of 166 | p a g e june 12 elections while at the same time allowing the former to control her resources implied that their aspiration is a necessary evil. the igbos who has found their existence in the nigerian nation as an affair of frustrating interaction in the general scheme of things also saw the marginalization as an awful, hence, the vowed by the youthful massob groups to lead other people out of nigerian presumed ‘babylon’. massob is therefore a creation of the willful marginalization of the igbos. the egbesu in their own saw their exploitation by both government and other ethnic groups as a dehumanization and share thieffry to the gifts of god to them. thus, with poor environment, non-availability of foods and continual land degradation that is not only hazardous and destructive due to the manners of oils – exploration, (punch, 2002) contended, would prefer controlling the resources and its harnessing and proceeds than the abysmal cyclical cheatings. so is the apc, and other ethnic militancy with one complain or the other. a course that never promote or project the basic rudiments of a democratic system of governance, since it is reasonable to argue that the freedom granted by democracy also allows for the proper addressing of the several complaints and solutions proffered by the government as their continual neglect and carryover will not only be a threat to democracy but a detrimental factor to the nigerian statehood. democracy, ethnic militancy and the threats to nationhood: a suggestion it is imperative that democracy enthrone social civility, but the contending factors that imposes as a threat to it was occasioned by circumstantial necessities affecting the adherents. thus, we cannot categorically agree that the various ethnic groups have acted in the wrong direction, instead what i think that ought to be done immediately after the erstwhile military regimes that had treated every citizens as an endangered species by appropriating their inabilities to opposed them was by instilling suppression and autocratic tendencies was that this ethnic dreams and their individual struggles would have been attended to by the present government considering their separately existed.needs. the people and the society in general would have been submissive to state in strict adherent to the intervening variables and in conjunction with the resolute applications of the necessary tenets of democratic changes world over, since we equally believe and know that democracy mean different things to different people if their needs were addressed with cogency. however, the terrible manners in which the mend, ndpvf, opc, massob, apc and egbesu among others had been carrying out their separately avowed struggle is not in anywhere acceptable or could be condole, because democratic freedom does not in anywhere allows for the sovereignty of the state to be threatened or subverted. this ethnic groups who have turned indecent groups in a bid to explaining their sufferings, pains and sorrows among others need not to adopt violence, kidnapping, stealing, or inter-religious chauvinism as a way of trying to let their voice to be heard. what they would have done 167 | p a g e is to making sure that they have a true representative of the people to present their desires and demands before the appropriate authority instead of seeing violence as the alternate means of the struggle. moreso, under the legal and constitutional frames, their acts are not only termed illegal and anti-civility, except by otherwise, the national assembly or state houses makes law for their existence. in the parlance of nigerian constitution, under sections 214 and 216 of the 1999 constitution respectively, the nigerian police is to maintain law and order. the state does not recognize any other law enforcement agent other than the police in this regard. although, (edlyne, 2002) once blamed the inefficiency of the nigerian police as a prelude or the mitigating force calling for the spring up of ethnic militia in different parts of the country. but, in whichever manner one viewed their existence as either a measure or necessity to abridge the several discrepancies or loopholes existing in the nigeria security body, the idea of one or many ethnic militias existing to run or takeover the function of the nigeria police is a constitutional defects and abnormalize and unheard – off in any democratic system. these militias are otherwise, extra constitutional bodies and therefore have no place in a democratic setting. the wanton killings, kidnapping, stealing and destruction of lives without due process by the group is a great threat to the national security and statehood of the nigerian – nation. in the same vein, this groups acquisition of sophisticated weapons in addition to the several primitive and barbaric weapons for killing and maiming people informs every citizenry that the government’s continued adamant shows that excluding the army from the society, the country – nigeria is near ethno-rebellious incursion, whose devastating consequences will be away from hell town to unknown oblivions. it is evident, however, that a democratic regime, provides avenues through which aggrieved people or group and issues can be settled, but it seemed that the several ethnic groups are abusing that opportunities by not only trying to declare their own interest and possibly state, without minding what happens to the larger state and people of nigeria, as they go on and on threating the nascent democracy. importantly, also, we know that a democratic system in the course of any face-off, first, must try to neutralize every sources of grievance by either dampening conflicts and striking a balance with the adoption and implementation of certain democratic values, but the present government in many instances must be blamed for playing the role of unconsignment, especially on those issue, that could impose threat to the corporate existence of the nigerian nation. examples of this is the manner of handling certain state matters, sensitive religious matters and political acts of hullabalooitic tendencies among others. while this work, mindful of the growing implications, deters not to be in support of any of the existing or intended ethnic groups drives in the name of militias, and their perpetuated violence, wishes to recall that terror, they say, does not alter opinions, but it 168 | p a g e only drives the views underground, thereby trying to gather storm for a dangerous days ahead. better also, the government inefficiency and failures can neither be supported, instead, the state system should be revisited in the engendering years by ways of amendment and redirection of policies. it is important also to note that these militias are rooted in the interest of the common people. they are like revolutionary armies fighting to liberate the people from an oppressive regime. this explains why inspite of repressive measures including outright ban by the federal government, they continue to thrive. federalism, no doubt, allows for the plurality of viewpoints but when groups takes up arms against themselves and/or the state, the indication is federalism has failed. the failure of federalism or its severe shortcomings in nigeria has been responsible for the upsurge of these militia groups. nigeria’s future lies in the reconstruction of this federalism wholesale or piecemeal with the necessary attendant democratic values. demands for sovereign national conference have been sustained at serious level by these militias especially those in the south-south. when politicians echo such demands it is for the usual game of political posturing, (elaigwu, 2003) maintained. ethnic militias activity can also be seen to be the effective response and reasons why the failure of the state security services to provide security to the people was very obvious in the past ten years. already, the outlines of the future of nigeria’s federalism are being defined: power devolution; fiscal federalism; increased autonomy of constituent units; recognition of ethnic/language groups as constituent units among others. incidentally, these coincide with the demands of these ethnic militias. these militias in themselves have been redefining nigeria’s federalism even if their contributions are not recognized as such. the questions now, is, how would the future of nigerian democracy be in the midst of this several problems with the daily growing threat on the nigerian nascent democracy and sovereignty. premised on this, the following stand out to be few amongst the many intend suggestions: i. political culture and democracy must develop along the lines suitable for plural societies. this implies that any form of belief, whether sacred or secular, which claims that the final truth for society lies in some supreme and esoteric knowledge that is beyond question by the uninitiated and to which political authority must be subject is compatible with democracy. ii. secondly, societies divided by clearly defined and historically antagonistic cultural groups like nigeria usually have great difficulty sustaining democracy. the lesson here is that at all time, the nigerian state must keep working hard at building democracy and should see it as work in progress. iii. political institutions for sustainable democracy must be established and 169 | p a g e constantly maintained. the electoral system comes clearly to mind. questions have been asked as to how truly independent the independent national electoral commission (inec) is. the time for keeping or imposing a criminal as electoral officer like the present maurice iwu should be rethinked if this nation must attained statehood through democratic posture. this dismay is at the heart of the credibility of the entire electoral process and by extension, the democracy project that is still at a transition state. for given the kind of show of shame perpetrated by the above name mindless character as electoral officer, the country is still far from any iota democratic tenet and initiatives. iv. the incursions of the ethnic militias and militancy are borne out of the failure and poor treatment of issue that border on national interest by the federal government. the tackling of the following may pave way for national stability and the thriving of democratic virtues in the country. --------attention to the lopsided allocation of revenue, development project and resources with fair sharing of national resources. ---------checkmating of still existing colonial implications ---------the proper placement of the returned ex-military men from liberia, sierra leone – both the wounded and dejected and the importation of arms for survival. the level of production of recruitment among others among this depraved citizens. -----------the treatment and attention to persistent injustice in the land. -----------what is seen as crisis of development structure in the country as affecting the niger delta people. and the removal of the syndrome of ethnic majority and minority status from the body politics. with stage of development, both political, economic and other angle triving to attain a certain degree of balance, combined with free and fair elections, ethnic militias and militancy confrontation with federal government may not arise as no one or section is shut off the political development process. they may be encouraged to pursue their objectives through the political process. but where the state and stage is seen to be manipulative of the electoral process, the only option open to the oppressed poor may be ethnic militancy. particularly true of ethnically and regionally divided countries are that democratic sustainability is improved by a system of devolved regional government. the recent demands for regionalism are very instructive. moreso, in every democratic course, the economy really stand out to be one amongst the best in term of importance in state’s pursuit, because no one will care about democracy if he or she cannot put food on the table or pay for children’s school fees and other necessities of lifeamong others. thus, it is this pains and suffering that arouse ethnic grievance to ethnic militias and militancy incursions. if we must deal with ethnic militias, our production and extractive level must be relatively equitable and fair. government 170 | p a g e roles in this regard is not only a necessary evil but it is vital, hence everything that could led to pain or even unemployment need to be disabused on the faces of the poor masses, because this can easily cause ethnic militancy. the leadership questions in nigeria also need to be revisited. for our leaders are selfseeking, conceited and hypocritical. they rans away from transparency and accountability and engage in opposite activities. that is another reason the so-called corruption war had been deluded with hanky-panky of the powers that be being above the law and so on. at this juncture, we need a leader who lives by example and not sycophants or apologist because this is the only thing that could compel other citizens to make sacrifices. the wide spread unemployment and rapid fluctuation of market economics render citizens vulnerable to demagogic mobilization in favour of ethnic militancy and even authoritarian and exclusive forms of politics. this implies that socioeconomic policies must pay serious attention to the welfare of the people. those left behind by the market reforms, recruitment, prodruction capacity must be assisted. the majority of the people must be assisted to live a decent life to make their citizenship meaningful. conclusion the emergence of ethnic militias and militancy in nigeria’s political scene has provided alternative political voice to the common people. born of ethnicity, they have turned ethnic passions into serious political demands for the benefit of the people. this contrasts significantly with the use of ethnicity by the factions of the governing elite in their competitive bid to control and exercise state power for class interest. the new political opposition constitutes a credible compliment to the efforts of bourgeois politicians to force the hand of the state to provide answers to the ethnic questions. otherwise referred to as the national questions in the nigerian context. however, having argued several factors as a means at achieving a stable and sustained democratic tenets, it is imperative that while implementing or initiating the necessary democratic values toward sustainable polity, that the severally exploded ethnic identities should be contained with the engendering individual dissatisfaction attended to by the necessary government and its agencies. then, against the fact that democracy extol total freedom and provide avenue for attending to all dissatisfied sections of the society, it is important also for those championing ethnic course to bear in minds and never to undermines the legal implications of using their individual interest to impose threat on the state. democracy is not a resolute solution to the chants of ethnic desires, and neither is it a panacea to all social problems. only that protagonist had relied on the carvet it provides in term of 171 | p a g e rights and its freedoms, in appropriating as such. they should be mindful to note also that the same democracy informed that where ones rights stop is where the others’ own begins. thus, all parties should tread with carefulness to avoiding collision of rights and the necessary infrigments. ethnic drives should be constructive and responsive to national goals, rather than violence and threats to nationhood. a virile democracy should be allowed to have its course with all the necessary democratic values and tenets. although nigeria may have successfully witnessed a transition from military to civilian rule since 1999 and the subsequent civil to civil in 2007, but it should equally be accepted that it has not been able to resolve the numerous inter-ethnic, inter-religious, militant confrontations and criminal activities, and the mindless act of kidnapping, killings and destructions of high magnitude among others. feud that have contributed in no small measure to threaten and possibly towards the subversion of the goals of nationhood. likewise, the several threats to democracy has not in any measure made it possible to the consolidation of democracy in the country coupled with the ineptitudes of the corrupt electoral umpire like maurice iwu still holding on to the power to rig and short change candidates in future elections in nigeria. it therefore, believes on the government to creating an enabling environment toward accommodating all interest group for a healthy development and peaceful co-existence. references abubakar d. (1997), “the rise and fall of the first and second republics of nigeria” in f. u. okafor, (ed) new strategy for curbing ethnic and religious conflicts. enugu: fourth dimension pub. ajayi, f. (2002) “promoting inter-ethnic harmony in nigeria: a collective task” in the daily post express, january 4th. akinboye, o. s (2001), “the matrix of ethnicity and ethno-religious crisis in nigeria’s nascent democracy” in agwonorobo e. eruvbetine (ed) the humanistic management of pluralism. lagos: university of lagos press. akinyele, rt. ( 2001) “ethnic militias and national stability in nigeria: history as tool for managing the problems of cultural pluralism” in agwonorobo e. eruvbetine (ed). the humanistic management of pluralism. lagos: university of lagos press. anifowoseh, remi (2002) “urban violence in nigeria: the case of the oodua peoples congress (opc) militia” , in industrialization, urbanization and development in nigeria, 1950 – 1999 and beyond, in faculty of social science conference of the university of lagos. november 15 – 16, anugwon, e. e. (2001) “the military ethnicity and democracy in nigeria” in journal of social development. vol. 16, no. 2: 93 – 114. babawale ac. (2002) “the rise of ethnic militias, de-legitimization of the state and the threat to nigerian federalism”, in west african review. vol. 3,no. 1, bhegwati, p.n. (1994) “balancing activism and judicial restraint” in journal of human 172 | p a g e rights laws and practice. india cablol pub. (2002),daily post express, january 4, campbel, ian (1996) “nigerian continual crisis” in the commonwealth journal of conflict and terrorism institute of studies. london, vol. 25, sept. – dec. edlyne, a. (2002) is democracy rally the answer: state of ethnic conflict in nigeria. lagos: clopas pub. eghosa, osaghae(1994) ethnicity and its management in africa: the democratization link. lagos: malthouse press pub. eleazu, uma (1977) federalism and nation building: the nigerian experience 1954 – 1964. great britain; arthur stockwell pub. elaigwu, ji (2003) “ethnic militias and democracy in nigeria”, in defence newsletter january – march federal republic of nigeria, 1999 constitutions, sections 214 and 216. ghali, b. b (1994), “tropical issues in democracy: the african case”, in un journal of political and economic issues. new york: un press council pub. glicman, h. (1995) (ed), ethnic conflict and democratization in africa. atlanta georgia: african studies association press. godwin, m. (1997) democracy and united nation: the force behind peaceful governance. new york: city cronwell pub. haries, richard (1992) human rights for the 1990, legal, political and ethnical issues. england. doven wonell pub. (2002) “hausa, opc war” in the week magazine. vol. 15, no. 20, feb. 18, held, johnson (1997) “democracy and globalization”. in global governance journal of cmbridge., no. 3: 251 – 267. hill, dilys (1996) human rights and foreign policy principles and practice. london: cambridge university press humana, charles (1993) democracy and equality. u.s.a. cap xi piles pub. idowu, w.o. (1999) “citizenship status, statehood problems and political conflict: the case of nigeria”. in nordic journal of african studies. 8(2): 73 – 88. ifowodo, ogaga (1994) “human rights under the military in nigeria”. in civil liberty organization quarterly magazine. lagos: vol. 5. (2003) “ijaw militias group attack oil installations”, in vanguard newspaper, april 25, (2000) “kwara boils as opc – apc clash” in the news magazine, october 17, (2000) “kwara boils as opc – apc clash” in the news magazine, october 17, (2002) “mr. president and violence” in tempo magazine, vol. 18, no. 6, (2002) “nba chief and wife murdered at onitsha” in champion newspaper ndegwa, s. (1997) “citizenship and ethnicity: an examination of two transition moments in kenya politics”, in american journal of political science review. no. 3, nnoli, okwudiba (1993) “ethnic politics in africa”, in african association of political science series. no 1, 173 | p a g e ogoigbe, e. (2009) “mend’s sponsor in presidency: boyloaf spills the bean”in daily sun newspaper august 7. okafor, so (1982) indirect rule: the development of central legislature in nigeria. lagos: longmman pub. (2000) “the odour of bakassi boys’ mayhem scared men of underworld”, daily times newspaper, feb. 16. (1999) “warri mayhem: a violent clash” in thisday newspaper, may 31(2000) see the news magazine june 10, (2001) see newswatch magazine october 29,(2001) see guardian newspaper, may 16,(2001) see thisday newspaper, jan. 12.(2002) see the punch newspaper, april 4, smith, zeric-kay (2000) “the impact of political liberalization and democratization on ethnic conflict in africa: an empirical test of common assumptions” in journal of modern african studies. vol. 38, thomas, caroline et al (1999)., globalization, human security and the african experience. london: lynne lienner pub. yusuph, olaniyonu, et al. (2002) “danger ahead: an examination of the potential threats to our nascent democracy as we inch towards the crucial 2003 election”. in thisday newspaper, 161 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com from conventional to unconventional mechanism: the public dilemma of kidnapping business in the south-east and south-south regions of nigeria ayodeji o. adedeji otu akanu otu abstract kidnapping activities has become the most recurring organized crime in strategic cities, villages and communities in southeast and south-south nigeria. it has generated a frenzy-like situation among members of the public. it needs to be known why civil police with its dexterity for conventional mechanisms in crime prevention and control are incapacitated to combat recent spate of kidnapping activities in nigeria. some pertinent questions about menace of kidnapping in nigeria are: why did conventional approach fail to control kidnapping activities in nigeria? what control strategies were put in place by the respective state governments in southern states? what is the philosophy behind the adoption of unconventional means? what are the instances of its effectiveness? is there any backlash with this strategy? with fieldworks in two purposively selected states in the southern regions of nigeria, the study recommends among others, the creation of a specialized court with the mandate to convict suspects/sponsors of kidnapping business if found guilty within a stipulated timeframe. key words: kidnapping, terrorism, conventional strategy, non-conventional strategy, public 1. introduction: occasioned by the recent spate of kidnapping, violent killings, hostagetaking and mass abduction of innocent school-children across different communities, statistics has shown that nigeria is ranked third amongst nations with high incidence of kidnapping activities in the world (perlberg, 2013; obarisiagbon and aderinto, 2018). this unfortunate classification remains a source of major worry amidst scholars and non-citizens alike. concerted efforts made by the various security agents to mitigate these heinous crimes against humanity have failed to yield desirable fruits. rather than reducing with its sad nature, kidnapping business is becoming expanding more and more on daily basis. kidnapping business is more or less a source of living for some bad elements (unemployed) in the nigerian society without any sign of abating. as a latest phase of organized criminal activity in the nigerian today, kidnapping activities has recently become endemic with the many religious priests, school-children; oil expatriates’ as well as unjustified killings of personnel of the nigerian police being the latest victims of the nefarious activities of kidnappers and other forms of banditry(obarisiagbon, and aderinto, ibid) scholars and nonscholars alike have argued that kidnapping is now another dangerous dimension of terrorism in nigeria 162 | p a g e from conventional to unconventional mechanism: the public dilemma of kidnapping business in the south-east and south-south regions of nigeria ayodeji o. adedeji; otu akanu otu because of the resultant effects such heinous crime poses on the whole citizens at large. this horrible criminal act has not only shifted government attention on the latest approach to be adopted in combating the menace of kidnapping activities in the nigerian society, but it has also dented the image of nigeria as a ‘self-adulated giant of africa’ in the global community. although kidnapping is now the most prevalent criminal activity in nigeria as a whole but its upsurge rise has been noticeable in the southern part of nigeria which is the focal point of this paper where between january 2008 and august 2012, 938 people were kidnapped and over $200 million paid as ransom. a number of victims were also killed. however, just like the current style of ruthless and material-seeking, kidnapping is a transformation from the activities of niger delta militants who initially deployed it as a means of drawing government’s attention to degradation of niger delta region; the nigerian society also responded to the menace by adding some unorthodox strategies to its hitherto conventional approach. in few states (anambra and imo states) in the south-eastern nigeria, governments have adopted demolition of buildings owned by kidnappers or their parents or serving as kidnappers’ dens and invocation of deities to incur the wrath of gods to punish offenders and their sponsors in the south-south states (edo and cross river state). unfortunately, the recent kidnapping of two chinese at ohaozara local government in ebonyi state has further depicted a new transformation from the previously known ransom kidnapping to the unconventional strategy being employed by kidnappers in nigeria. ngwama (2014) in his own treatise explained that about 110 kidnapped victims have been recorded alone in abia state from 2008 up till date where some victims were conditionally released after payment of ransoms while others are killed with about 70 arrests of kidnappers have been made. unfortunately, this ugly scenario does not seem to be abating but with a changing pattern from ransom kidnapping to the demand for hard drugs such as tramadol among others by the kidnappers in nigeria. in this study, some pertinent questions that arise include: why did conventional approach fail to control kidnapping menace in nigeria? what control strategies were put in place by the respective state governments in southeast and southsouth states? what is the philosophy behind adding unconventional means? what are the instances and how effective are they? is there any backlash while adopting this strategy? with a specific focus on why various governance reforms have failed at all levels to mitigate high incidence of crime rates in our society, this study seeks to interrogate these questions by adopting case studies approach to decipher the major link between conventional and non-conventional strategies to combat kidnapping across 163 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com in the following southern states in nigeria: anambra, imo, edo and cross river. 2.0 literature review: 2.1 what is kidnapping? opinions vary amongst scholars and non-scholars alike as to the definitional perspectives of kidnapping across the globe due to the varieties, complexities and severity of recorded cases in different communities. even though there is no universally accepted definition as to what kidnapping is all about in the literature of crime control and terrorism studies, but then, kidnapping is generally viewed as an organized crime against humanity to deny kidnapped victims of their freedom. in this paper, kidnapping is defined as the illegal movement or incarceration of any person or personality against their desire. kidnapping can be conceived as a deliberate but forceful act to whisk away an individual or group of individual illegally either by hostage taking or abduction to a secluded place where no family or relations of the victims will have access to the person or group of persons except when ransom is paid to the kidnappers or for other reasons best known to the kidnappers. forceful application and display of powerful weapons by kidnappers with a threat of severe punishment by the kidnappers against their victims is the main reason for compliance by kidnapped victims. the demand for financial ransom is the reason why some kidnappers do engage in this dastard act where some kidnapped victims can be released alive and others might be killed even with paid ransom; whereas some kidnapping cases occur in nigeria for ritual purpose especially in the southern part of nigeria; while other reasons for kidnapping in the society is for superiority of political influence of powerful money-bag holders against their political opponent. different reasons can be advanced for incessant spate of kidnapping business in the southern part of the country. at the earliest stage of its development, kidnapping activities started in the oilrich south-south area with the frequent criminal activities of ethnic militias’ by agitating for resource control. in this area, kidnapping of foreign expatriates amidst pipeline vandalism became a major source of living for the militant boys who often engaged the military in arms hostility. violent kidnapping of these expatriates’ is seen by the militant boys as a way of drawing government attentions to various environment hazards ravaging their communities due to the activities of multinational oil firms in the area. today, the attendant disappearance of innocent individuals from the public; daylight banditry and other forms of human ritual sacrifice and killings have become so rampant in the south-south. in the southeast area, reasons for kidnapping activities include; joblessness or youth unemployment; desire for quick wealth; superiority of strong political influence of the big-wigs over the weaker 164 | p a g e from conventional to unconventional mechanism: the public dilemma of kidnapping business in the south-east and south-south regions of nigeria ayodeji o. adedeji; otu akanu otu opponents as well as the increasing arms inflows in the hands of dreaded cultist groups across many communities in the southeast area. 2.2 conceptual analysis of kidnapping: its motivations and impacts the recent spate of ritual killings and public disappearance of innocent citizens have made the adoption of unconventional methods of combating kidnapping a widely accepted coping strategies in the southern part of nigeria (ezemenaka, 2018). occasioned by the failure of government through the various security agents to protect life and properties of citizens, unconventional mechanisms become a self-help coping strategy for helps communities and cities to protect themselves through various means that are acceptable to their social standard (ezemenaka, 2018). kidnapping activities in southeast and south-south nigeria recently become an attractive business opportunity to some criminal elements among the jobless youths while some desperate politicians see kidnapping an avenue to express their political superiority over the weaker opponents (omoweh and okanya, 2005; ogefere, 2015 cited in chinwokwu and michael, 2019). the recent upsurge in the recent kidnapping activities in nigeria can be linked directly to the failure of the conventional mechanisms to combat the menace of kidnapping by the respective state governments and the civil police. as a latest discourse within terrorism studies and crime control mechanism, kidnapping depicts an interface between governance failure and joblessness, being the twin socioeconomic cum political malady in nigeria. arguably, the issue of youth’s restiveness/joblessness occasioned by governance failure as well as political desperation of the elite has been discussed as one of the factors responsible for the unceasing wave of kidnapping activities in nigeria without any sign of abating. arguably, high rate of unemployment and underemployment among youths is one of the causes of kidnapping in nigeria (ugwulebo, 2011; adibe, 2012.). in his own view, ugwulebo specifically contended that the incessant cases of kidnapping activities in nigeria would have been drastically reduced and combated if not for the youth joblessness amidst the lopsided security architecture in nigeria. to him, these heinous crimes often take place at the cosmopolitan cities with high population density and several undercover grounds as hideout where kidnappers often keep their victims without genuine but concerted efforts from all government at the states or national level to stem the tide of kidnapping activities. worst still, the financial inducement to supply illicit arms and ammunitions to kidnappers by some bad eggs among security personnel in nigeria as well as kidnappers hence, the ravaging syndrome of kidnapping activities in the southeast and southsouth areas of nigeria can be attributed to various reasons such as socioeconomic and socio-political factors such as high rate of youth 165 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com unemployment; poverty, quest for human ritual sacrifice; financial gains; power struggle between political forces; weak nature of restraining institutions etc. in these two regions, 80% of the kidnappers are unemployed graduates and other school-leavers (ibrahim and mukhtar, 2017). suggesting that conventional counterkidnapping is not wholly connected with unemployment, ishaya (2010) seems to support diara( 2010) when he argued that while most of the kidnappers are involved in the shady business owing to poverty, some are in the kidnapping business because of their insatiable desire to acquire wealth, while youths that are recruited in kidnapping but armed with dangerous weapons are lured into the menace for selfish political gain of the stronger elements in nigerian politics. according to him, omotayo mobolaji johnson, a geologist and member of staff at chevron plc was arrested by the nigeria police in lagos state for complicity in the kidnapping of a bank executive in the state despite that this chevron employee earns n1.2million monthly. this arrest was made on 1st june, 2010. diara went ahead to state that, social disconnection and social dislocation breed crime and violence. as a result, kidnapping is also traceable to displeasure and disenchantment with loathsome social and political arrangements in the society. this reveals that not all kidnapping cases are committed essentially and primarily for material or monetary gains, but as a backlash or means of voicing out social discontentment with and or disapproval of an existing political regime, framework, process, and culture. ishaya (2010) supported this line of thought when he stated that when movement for the emancipation of niger delta (mend) made its first capture of four expatriate oil workers on 12 january, 2006, all efforts (including payment of ransom) to secure their release proved abortive as mend refused to budge. in his own submission, akpan (2010) suggests that kidnapping was initially an activity with no monetary attachment as the key motivation factor, and in most cases, it was part of the outcome of a confrontation between mend and oil interest groups or the federal government of nigeria. ngboawaji (2011) on his part posits that kidnapping is also a ritual business particularly during election periods. according to him, nigerians in the south west have always talked about how human parts are used for money-making rituals or to acquire spiritual power, or the social menace of child theft; so, such phrases as “gbomogbomo, ajaale” – meaning “kidnappers” or the link between clifford orji and the sale of human parts have been part of the local discourse. anywhere kidnapping business thrives, all sectors of that society is affected. ikpang (2011) opines that, kidnapping drives away investors, as no investor would be ready to invest in a crises-ridden environment. nigeria is therefore seen as a country in which insecurity to lives and properties looms 166 | p a g e from conventional to unconventional mechanism: the public dilemma of kidnapping business in the south-east and south-south regions of nigeria ayodeji o. adedeji; otu akanu otu large and where criminality has assumed notoriety. ikpang went ahead to state that the niger delta region in particular and nigeria generally, appear not to be investment friendly. moreover, the kidnapping of foreign nationals poses a lot of questions to the ideal sustainable democratic government in nigeria that should engender economic development. ojukwu (2011) contended that the goal of generating at least 6000 megawatts of electricity in nigeria can only be achieved if the life of investors who are working with the power sector will not be threatened by the kidnappers. on their own part, alexander and klein (2009) rightly argued that the psychological and physical effect of being a victim of kidnapping is traumatic and mind-boggling. psychologically, the victim may have confusion, disorientation, shock, anxiety and withdrawal. physically, the victim may have an exacerbation of preexisting physical condition such as asthma and diabetes. nwadiora and nkwocha, (2011) corroborated that many nigerians have lost their lives as a result of beating, torture and inhumane conditions they are subjected to by the kidnappers. it is therefore, a fact that, kidnap victims, their families and relations always have serious psychological trauma, because of fear that the victims could be hurt or even killed. many scholars and institutions have enunciated solutions to the menace of kidnapping in nigeria. osaghae (2011) noted that on 19th february 2009 enugu state house of assembly enacted an amendment act 2009. this was an act to amend the criminal code cap30 laws of enugu state 2004 inserted in section 315 of the criminal code, which prescribes death penalty for kidnappers. ikpang (2011) asserted that judgment is often influenced by the politicians in the law court. anosike (2009) added corruption on the side of police, court and judiciary as another factor that influences conviction of kidnappers. recently in nigeria, registration of subscribers’ identity module (sim) cards became compulsory in an effort to curb the incidence of kidnapping in nigeria. this is exactly why ugwulebo (2011) noted that the global system of mobile (gsm) telephone service providers should fasttrack their data capturing exercise. this according to him will help the security agents to know who is making a particular call and the location of the caller. once ownership of numbers can be identified, handsets can be tracked, and their geographical locations become identifiable – then any call made to solicit for ransom would help to locate the kidnappers. ikpang (2011) argued that in some countries, when telephone calls are made, the police have access to the calls but it is not the same in nigeria. he later explained that kidnappers could switch off their phones; change location, or simply throw their phone away to acquire another because unlike other jurisdiction where every phone is registered and identity of the owner properly documented, habitual phone 167 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com purchase is the trend in nigeria. osaghae (2011) opined that the relatives of the kidnapped persons should cooperate with the security agents, because they can be of great help. however, the police force has been accused of aiding and abetting kidnappers, as a result people detest using police against kidnappers (ugwulebo, 2011). meanwhile, the police will not have information to react if cases of kidnapping are not reported to them. in order to combat the menace of kidnapping activities, onyeishi and eme (2011) suggested that government should re-organize the security agencies to take them through a new reorientation via training. meanwhile, one of the major problems of security agents is training in order to match the wellarmed criminals. as osaghea (op.cit) rightly opined that police training must include infantry, weapon handling, and antiterrorist training in order to match the well-armed criminals. he also opined that prison warders must be coopted in the fight against kidnapping because criminals that act outside are known by the inmates. but, nigerian prisons are faced with many problems and challenges due to the institutional decay and structural weaknesses. furthermore, ugwuoke (2011) argued that the application of community policing initiatives in nigeria villages would obviously allow the various communities and police departments to work together to reduce crime of violence such as kidnapping and to improve the quality of life of nigerian citizens. on his own part, erhabor (2012) acknowledged that the university campuses which are expected to play a major role in the countries human development and to serve as vibrant centres of productive research and academic excellence are not spared from the vestige of violent crime rocking the national scene by ethnic militant groups. in his own view, oni (2001) noted that, the university should develop a policy of providing a well-articulated and comprehensive programme of guidance and counseling to identify violent suspected cult members. it is believed that violent associations appear to be training ground for kidnappers. 2.3 conventional mechanism to counter-kidnapping: recognized by the relevant laws, statutes and other legislative enactments (penal code section 271, 273; criminal code 364; terrorism act 2011 etc) in the federal republic of nigeria as a serious crime against humanity with different punitive measures such as: payment of fine; life-imprisonment and death penalty etc, conventional methods to counter-control kidnapping activities in nigeria have yet to yield appreciable degree of results in nigeria (egbe, 2017; akingbehin, 2017; umego, 2018). rather, kidnapping activities continues to be worsening day by day across different cities and communities amidst the on-going arms-banditry by the rustlers. conventional methods to counter-control kidnapping is the sum 168 | p a g e from conventional to unconventional mechanism: the public dilemma of kidnapping business in the south-east and south-south regions of nigeria ayodeji o. adedeji; otu akanu otu total of all legal means/solutions (kidnappers’ arrest, trial and prosecution in law courts; security raid and vigilance at the nation’s forests; creation of a combined teams of anti-kidnapping squad units of the nigerian police and other security agents; government ransom payment to freed kidnapped victims either conditionally or unconditionally from kidnappers’ den) 2.4 unconventional mechanism to counter-kidnapping: unconventional methods are strategic part of community policing mechanisms adopted by different cities and villages in collaboration with government in some states, and without governments’ involvement in some others. unconventional methods are deeply rooted in socio-cultural background of the various communities because of people’s beliefs and perceptions in its efficacy. these methods are introduced to combat the heinous activities of kidnappers in different localities. governments’ failure to secure and protect citizens’ life and properties necessitates the introduction, practice and acceptance of the various dimensions of unconventional mechanisms to counter-control kidnapping. buoyed by the recent successes recorded across different states in the southern part of nigeria against kidnappers’ den, abode and hideouts, the prevalence of unconventional methods of counterkidnapping remains relevant amidst the on-going agitations and public outcry to rejig security architecture of the nigerian state. the unconventional mechanisms to control kidnapping activities vary from one state to another. this includes: demolition of buildings owned by kidnappers or demolitions of buildings owned by kidnappers’ parents; public invocations of local deities with a view incur the wrath of gods; public placing of curses on perpetrators of kidnapping activities as well as the use of community vigilante groups. these unconventional methods were adopted because of the failure of civil police to combat the ugly trend of kidnapping trend that is alarming. the strong belief in the fetishism and occultism fight to punish any culprits of kidnapping might have been responsible for the reasons why these unconventional methods were adopted by different communities. for instance, in edo state, tradition was invoked by consulting local deities and publicly placing curses on perpetrators. according to chief edebiri, the esogban of benin kindgom in edo state, whoever fails to heed the warning of oba through the invoking of local deities will incur the wrath of the gods especially if the perpetrator ever drinks the water from the kingdom or set his/her foot in benin kingdom (tony osauzo, 2019:).the essence of this tradition invocation is to set free the victims from the den of the kidnappers from whatever had been administered on them. essentially, the ultimate goal of this unconventional method of fighting kidnapping business is to sanitize the society of all criminal 169 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com activities. it is also believed that the placement of curse on perpetrators of kidnapping activities and their collaborators would be seriously dealt with by the gods, and also affects those who aid and abate kidnapping business in their lands 2.24 conventional versus unconventional mechanisms: is there any difference? primarily, security of life and properties of citizens remains the sole responsibility of the government (formal civil police and other security agencies), but the recent spate of violent killings amidst public disappearance of school children and other innocent citizens made members of public, communities, villagers to resort to self-help to protect themselves locally since the formal institutions(the military, civil police and other security officials) have failed to gain legitimacy and respect of the inhabitants and proven to be incapable of providing citizens with basic security. as such, mistrust in these formal institutions and authorities governing them have made people to resort to the alternative solutions to cope with their everyday lives and safeguard their basic human security. therefore, major difference between conventional and unconventional mechanisms depends on its legitimacy perspective. the strong belief in the efficacy of the various dimensions of unconventional mechanisms such as the adoption and use of building demolition and local deities to invoke gods to punish offenders through fetishism and occultism fight to punish any culprits of kidnapping are part of the reasons why these unconventional methods were adopted by different communities. also, nigerian citizens especially from these troubled areas have trust in the immediate application of punishment and resolution of cases through unconventional methods over conventional mechanism because most of the high profile cases of kidnapping in nigeria that have involved the formal security institutions have been swept under the carpet without immediate trial and judgments; some high profile cases pending before the law courts to punish kidnappers are numerous. this ugly scenario makes it difficult to wipe out kidnapping activities in nigeria. justice delayed they say is justice denied. unconventional method of counter kidnapping is adopted to sanitize the society of all criminal activities due to citizens’ strong beliefs in the supremacy and public trust in its effectiveness over conventional means. many kidnappers’ buildings have been demolished either by vigilante groups or governments were never built again. wiping out the operational base of kidnappers’ den by the demolition of their buildings or buildings that belong to their parents have a great potency to reduce kidnapping activities in most areas such approach has been adopted. exposing kidnappers’ dens through buildings demolition brings public shame and ridicule to anyone associated with 170 | p a g e from conventional to unconventional mechanism: the public dilemma of kidnapping business in the south-east and south-south regions of nigeria ayodeji o. adedeji; otu akanu otu kidnappers in form of syndicate in these communities. 3. theoretical framework interrogating conventional to unconventional mechanism: the selfefficacy theory this study adopts the self-efficacy theory to interrogate the rationale behind the adoption of unconventional method after the failure of the conventional mechanism to counter-kidnapping. selfefficacy is a person’s particular set of beliefs that determine how well one can execute a plan of action in prospective situations (bandura, 1977). the major thrust of the theory is that people belief in their ability to succeed in a particular situation. kathy kolbe (2009) also provided her own perspective to selfefficacy theory. she opines that selfefficacy connotes determination and perseverance – seeing as how it helps one overcome obstacles that would interfere with utilizing those innate abilities to achieve goals. people’s beliefs about their abilities have a profound effect on those abilities. ability is not a fixed property; there is a huge variability in how you perform. people who have a sense of self-efficacy bounce back from failure; they approach things in terms of how to handle them rather than worrying about what can go wrong (bandura, 1977b). this theory is sufficient as people of southeast and south-south nigeria refused to worry about what can go wrong as bandura put it, rather they bounce back from the failure of conventional mechanism to unconventional mechanisms to counterkidnapping. 4. data and methods: 4.11 research design: the nature of this study requires the adoption of eclectic method of inquiry and analysis. a combination of methods proved enriching, as all the adopted methods complemented one another in gathering and analyzing the data about the menace of kidnapping activities’ in nigeria: the study utilized survey design (key informant interview [kii] and in-depth interview methods [idis], historical, descriptive and interpretative design and analysis. the historical method performs the linkage function by connecting the on-going records on kidnapping activities with the past; the descriptive method helps to describe the demographic characteristics of not only the respondents in the interview but also the kidnappers. the interpretative method allows for detailed questioning beyond mere description. as such, some pertinent research questions raised are: why did conventional approach fail to control kidnapping activities in nigeria? what control strategies were put in place by the respective state governments in southern states? what is the philosophy behind the adoption of unconventional means? what are the instances of its effectiveness? is there any backlash with this strategy? this paper seeks to interrogate these questions. 171 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com 4.12 sources of data: both primary and secondary data were employed in this study. primary data were generated from interviews and field work was carried out in various towns/villages of the two states that were purposively and randomly selected in south-east (anambra and imo states) and south-south (edo state and cross river state). these selected states are the major deadly zones where kidnapping activities have been rampant and unceasing without any sign of abating. secondary data were sourced from internet materials, library materials, journals, texts, published commentaries, newspapers; and other archival materials etc. these texts were subjected to content analysis and these efforts were complemented with a detailed archival search carried out across different libraries in southern part of nigeria. 4.13 method of data collection: this paper adopted interview method of data gathering. the interview was conducted with the five categories of respondents in mind: one, the civil police, who are the law-enforcers of the land especially in the affected communities; two, the opinion/ community leaders in these towns; three, the local hunters/security agents in the affected communities; four, the traditional priests/herbalists in charge of the invocation of local deities to incur wrath of gods in such communities; five, members of the general public. the civil police, opinion leaders, and traditional priests were purposively selected while both the local hunters and some members of the public were randomly selected. respondents in this study were individually interviews across different towns where the study was carried. most importantly, this study relied on information elicited from the various respondents about the incessant spate of kidnapping and political activities in their respective communities. the respondents’ life experiences formed the bedrock of the primary data to this study. the various towns in nigeria where the field works were conducted includes: benin metropolis in the edo state capital; calabar municipal area in cross river state where houses were demolished with bulldozers; buildings’ demolition took place at aguleri and umuleri towns but specifically in two communities (umuatulu and umueri) which are located in anambra east local government of anambra state; mgbidi town in oru east local government of imo state; and ohoba community in ohaji egbema local government area of imo state. facts and figures from derived from interview were complemented by secondary data in this study. 5. case studies: two states from southeast region and two states from south-south region were purposively and randomly selected. these are (anambra and imo states) from southeast and (edo state and cross river state) from south-south. these selected states are the major deadly areas in the regions where kidnapping 172 | p a g e from conventional to unconventional mechanism: the public dilemma of kidnapping business in the south-east and south-south regions of nigeria ayodeji o. adedeji; otu akanu otu activities have been rampant with its attendant ritual killings without any sign of abating. the selected states from these regions are chosen to explain why conventional approach failed to counterkidnapping activities in nigeria and the philosophy behind the adoption of unconventional means. these case studies which constitute the fulcrum of unconventional means to counterkidnapping would be analyzed on state by state basis; anambra state: created in august 27, 1991, this is one of the five states in the southeastern part of nigeria that belongs to igbo people. the state represents a major gateway to heart of igbo land through onitsha, being the commercial hub/centre of all eastern states even though its capital is located at awka. in this study, findings show that between 2012 to 2015 no fewer than ten buildings or kidnappers’ den have been demolished by the anambra state government especially during the yuletide season when sons and daughters of the state would be trooping home to felicitate with their loved ones (joe chukwudi, 2014). at aguleri and umurueri, both towns in anambra east local government area, three building that belonged to kidnappers were demolished. these buildings as hideouts for kidnappers were owned by businessmen from the state that specialized in kidnapping business. another demolition of buildings occurred at umuatulu and umueri communities where a one-story building and an adjoining boys’ quarter which belonged to late ozoemena egwuatu but were used by his twins’ nephew for kidnapping business were also demolished by the state government. the state government adopted this approach to combat kidnapping so as to wipe out the operational base of the kidnappers in their area and to annihilate the hideout of kidnappers in the area (joe chukwudi, 2014; p2). in other round of building demolition, the state government with the aid of members of police force demolished a building at umunbo ayamelum local government area of the state where the building owner (celestine ughamadu) was alleged to have used the building as a hideout for kidnapped victims (chidinma eze, 2014: p1). based on our findings, the total numbers of 16 buildings have been demolished in recent times in the state (chidinma, eze, 2014). official information that was reported in the daily post newspaper of august 26, 2014 gives a reliable credence to the above figure from mr james eze, the senior special adviser (ssa) to the state governor on media. demolitions of the kidnappers’ buildings have been a routine exercise with the belief that kidnapping activities would be stopped. however, these ugly scenarios continue to manifest itself across villages with no sign of abating due to the conspiracy on the part of some unscrupulous elements in the area. these kidnappers are drug addicts in unknown communities but are usually being co-opted into the business by the power-brokers in the society. 173 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com imo state: with the capital of this state located at owerri, imo state is one of the oldest states in nigeria which was created in february 3, 1976. the state is also one of the five states in southeastern nigeria. findings in this study revealed, a hotel and five buildings which belonged to three suspected kidnappers in mgbidi, oru east local government were demolished by the state government on saturday july 22, 2018 in imo state (chidiebube, okeoma, 2018: p10). even though the various demolitions of hotels and building which belonged to the kidnappers in the state did not curb the activities of kidnapping. rather, the ugly situation continues to rear itself without any sign of abating. in may 26, 2016, buildings that belonged to two suspected kidnappers in ohoba community in ohaji egbema local government area of imo state were also demolished. (gibson, achonu, 2016: p5). these kidnappers are youths of a working class between 28 to 30yrs of age. this study discovers that the recent case of building demolition in imo state occurred in february 20, 2020 as reported by the punch newspaper where a building that belonged to a suspected kidnap kingpin in owaelu, uratta in owerri north local government area of the state (chidiebube, okeoma, 2020: p1). ebonyi state: created in october 1, 1996 as one of the five states in the southeast nigeria, kidnapping activities occurred in july 13, 2013, where kidnappers’ hideouts were demolished at emezabi community in mgbo at ohaukwu local government area of the state. the building was demolished completely as aftermath of the kidnap of one mrs winifred ogbu, a wife of one of the principal officers of ebonyi state house of assembly in 2013 by a group of six kidnappers who kidnapped the woman in abakaliki (peter-okutu, 2013). abia state: the state government demolished a building popularly known as akoto bar and resort limited and a two-bungalow that was owned by olisagbo ifedike (a.k.a ofeakwu) who happened to be involved in dual business of kidnapping and armed robbery (anayo, okoli: 2013). as reported in the this day newspaper of april 17, 2016, another round of building demolition (four bungalows) by abia state government occurred at etitiama nkporo community in ohafia local government area of the state. these building were reduced to rubbles after the demolition had taken place (emmanuel, ugwu, 2016). another case of building demolition that belonged to kidnappers, the government of abia state in june 26, 2017 demolished two buildings that were owned by twin brothers at umuerim nsirimo in umuahia south local government area of the state (ogbonnaya, ikokwu: 2017) cross river state: as one of the six states in south-south nigeria, cross river state was created in may 27, 1967 with its capital located in 174 | p a g e from conventional to unconventional mechanism: the public dilemma of kidnapping business in the south-east and south-south regions of nigeria ayodeji o. adedeji; otu akanu otu calabar and it borders cameroon to the east. as findings in this study has shown, kidnapping activities has been a recurring decimal across the state even though state government often demolishes their hideouts once kidnap cases are reported. precisely, in august 13, 2020 cases of building demolition that belong to kidnappers were recorded in the state. unfortunately, these kidnappers are mostly youths of a working age bracket but their sponsors are big wigs in society especially from the already tensed political atmosphere in the town. many houses belonging to the kidnappers as hideouts have been demolished. recently, a special adviser on state security in cross river dr alfred mboto led a combined team of anti-kidnapping forces to demolished some buildings at calabar municipal area of the state capital where kidnappers ranging from 28yrs of age to 31yrs of age were arrested (ada wodu,2020: p5); edo state: as one of the six south-south states in nigeria that was created in august 27, 1991, cases of kidnapping business and other violent crimes have been occurring and unceasing mainly among the unemployed youths either as indigenes or strangers’. worrying by the recent spate of kidnapping activities in their entire lands, findings shown that congregation of herbalists/traditional priests in benin kingdom gathered together and invoked the different deities as an aged-long traditional practice to stem the tide of the kidnappers’ activities out of their lands. they resulted to this self-help community policing method of combating crime because they were disturbed by the upsurge in cases of kidnapping activities and other violent crimes in their domain. the essence of this land-cleansing is to appease the gods for any infractions that may be responsible for such heinous acts in their lands given the seeming incapacitation of the civil police to stem the tide. curses were heaped on those responsible for the dastard acts in their communities as it was described as sacrilege to partake or sponsor kidnapping business in their domain (tony osauzo, 2019: p1) most importantly, in all the states in southeast, there are evidences where the various unconventional strategies have worked and with little cases of backlash recorded in some areas. 6. discussion of findings: an in-depth assessment of the major findings from the fieldwork in this study depicts plethora of issues as to why conventional approach to kidnapping failed and the rationale behind the adoption of unconventional mechanisms to combat high rate of kidnapping business in the south-south and southeast nigeria. hence, our findings in this study raise some contending debates about failure of conventional approach and why unconventional mechanism was adopted: financial inducement versus youth unemployment; religious fundamentalism versus politics. this study situates our discourses on these 175 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com contending issues within the context of our interactions with the respondents at the fieldworks in the affected communities; conventional mechanisms: why did it fail? as recognized methods known to nigerian laws in crime control and prevention by formal institutions of government (civil police and other security agencies), conventional mechanism to counter-kidnapping has been adjudged to be failure due to the following reasons: financial inducement or politically induced kidnapping: is attraction to kidnapping business a matter of financial inducement or a display of political influence/ desperation of the sponsors of kidnapping? nnam mcpherson (2014:71) linked the incessant spate of kidnapping as an organized crime to godfathers and high class political gladiators as sponsors of kidnapping business in the southeast nigeria. kidnappers have their sponsors amongst the big-wigs in the affected states in nigeria. references to kidnapping sponsorship by the powerful elements/rich men in the society is an attestation to the fact that kidnappers have strong root in the affected states and that kidnappers are being used to test and suppress the political influence of their political opponents as kidnapped victims. sponsors of the kidnapping operations in the affected states also see kidnapping as a modern-day business by targeting their victims from the rich homes and often demand for hefty financial ransom. our findings show that kidnapping activities continue to be unabated in nigeria due to the collaboration between high class politicians and the unemployed youths as kidnappers in the affected communities. sponsors of kidnapping activities are financially privileged to lure the unemployed youths into kidnapping business because they are socially disadvantaged (nnam, mcpherson, 2014:72). consequently, unemployed youths often see financial attraction in kidnapping business as an opportunity to pay the state back in its own coins by engaging in kidnapping activities. the argument here is that rampant cases of kidnapping activities go beyond economic inducement; it is also for political surrogacy on the part of the powerful elements in nigerian politics against the weaker political opponents. a respondent who craved anonymity during our fieldworks however expressed pessimism that the predatory role of the sponsors of kidnapping business makes it difficult to arrest their sponsors and thereby making it difficult for the government to stem the tide of kidnapping through conventional mechanisms. sponsors of kidnapping see themselves to be above the law due to their financial clout and influence in the society. this is one of the reasons why conventional mechanisms to combat kidnapping has failed in nigeria. 176 | p a g e from conventional to unconventional mechanism: the public dilemma of kidnapping business in the south-east and south-south regions of nigeria ayodeji o. adedeji; otu akanu otu increasing inflow of arms and ammunitions/security personnel’s conspiracy the focal point of this discourse on kidnapping business bothers on the linkage between rising arms’ inflow and conspiracy of some bad elements among security personnel with kidnappers in nigeria. these bad eggs among the security operatives have been aiding and abetting kidnappers’ activities in the affected communities, a scenario which frustrates all the known conventional mechanisms to combat kidnapping. findings have shown that the rising inflow of dangerous arms and ammunitions are the handiwork of some unscrupulous elements among the security personnel. suspected kidnappers rely on their dastard relationship with the bad eggs among security operatives for the supply of arms. unfortunately, the incapacitation and weakness of the civil police to mitigate these heinous crimes in the affected communities often encourage people to resort to self-help through local vigilantism with fetishism by invoking the wrath of gods/deities on the sponsors of kidnapping business and other violent crimes. responses from the local hunters/priests in-charge of deities, community leaders and other members of the public in the affected communities alluded to the urgent need for ‘self-help’ to combat kidnapping since civil police is structurally and operationally weak and incapable to curb kidnapped activities in their communities. this is another reason why conventional approach to kidnapping has failed (emma-amaize, 2013). governance reforms’ failure/ lopsided security architecture in nigeria the current security architecture/ arrangement is skewed to favour the north against southern region in nigeria. majority of the members of security agencies deployed to protect cities and communities in the southeast and southsouth states are from the north. this ugly scenario does not allow for effective policing and crime control since many personnel of these security agencies do not understand the body language/ culture of the communities they are deployed to protect. this is one of the reasons why public agitation for community policing and vigilantism visà-vis restructuring of the ailing security architecture of the country has been rampant especially in the southeast nigeria. is there any nexus between kidnapping and governance failure? this study argued that governance failure/lopsided security arrangement in nigeria has a direct consequence on whole gamut of human life and security. worst still, previous governance reforms engineered by successive nigerian governments in the security sector have not yielded any appreciable level of development due to the prebendal but predatory orientations of its succeeding leaders to effectively carry out genuine security reforms that has human faces. hence, issues of human security in the development agenda of any nation is 177 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com very tasking and daunting. experts and non-experts alike have continuously analyzed the nexus between human security and development (akinola, 2011; shanum, 2013 cited in yagboyaju, 2019). it has been argued that sustainable development through the various socio-economic variables cannot be achieved outside a genuine cause for human security (shanum, 2013 cited in yagboyaju, 2019). human security here is seen as nerve-centre of any sustainable development. peace and security of all human life and properties without ethnic consideration and party affiliations is major indices for measuring national development vis-àvis performance indicator of governance. sadly, enough, several indicators’ of a failed and bad governance have been raison d’être for insecurity vis-à-vis kidnapping activities in the affected states, with the phraseology that nigeria as a ‘self-adulated giant of africa’ to be classified as one of “the 19 poorest, unhappiest, unhealthiest and most dangerous nations in the world” (“national assembly’s amendment of ccb act cannot stand,” 2016 p.24 cited in yagboyaju, 2019). while corroborating the above viewpoint, two respondents during our fieldworks alluded to some indicators that have been responsible for the rampant nature of kidnapping activities in the southern part of nigeria. in another words, this unfortunate scenario may have formed the basis of the submission of a londonbased newspaper, the independent, which described nigeria as a nation with the “5th most dangerous country in the world with the lowest rank in safety and security” depicting the presence of boko haram, armed kidnappers and other violent crimes (sarah schmalbruch, 2017). consequently, it is on the threshold of above security failure in nigeria that kidnappers operate their unlawful business without any sign of abating. failure on the part of the succeeding governments over the years to genuinely carry out security sector reforms has weakened the quest to combat kidnapping activities and thereby makes the fight against insecurity occasioned by rampant kidnapping an insurmountable task since nigeria returned to civil rule in 1999. rising youth unemployment or influence of drug addiction: is there any nexus between youth unemployment/drug addiction and kidnapping activities? can gainfully employed people be lured into kidnapping business? are there drug addicts among kidnappers? as evident from our engagement with the various respondents from the fieldworks, this study found out that kidnappers in the affected communities and villages are unemployed youths who are lured into the business by the powerful elements in the society. not only this, kidnappers are also drug addicts who have been deported from the developed climes at one time or the other. consequently, the rampant cases of kidnapping in the affected communities are a reflection of danger posed by the rising wave of youth 178 | p a g e from conventional to unconventional mechanism: the public dilemma of kidnapping business in the south-east and south-south regions of nigeria ayodeji o. adedeji; otu akanu otu unemployment in nigeria (inyang and ubong (2013). the dilemma that is inherent in idleness or joblessness has been luring many youths to kidnapping. presently in nigeria, statistics has shown that kidnapping provides opportunities for unemployment youth to be lured into kidnapping activities as survival or coping strategy. our findings show that youth unemployment occasioned by their uncontrollable access to hard drugs and being used as political thugs by the desperate politicians create a veritable platform for kidnapping activities in the affected states. corroborating the foregoing, iwarimiejaja (2003) cited in nnam (2014) argued that those who are unemployed are poor, frustrated physically and psychologically to embrace any available survival means or demand of orderly behaviour in line with their economic circumstances and these unemployed youths are posed to engage in kidnapping as an opportunity to pay society back in its coin. so many atrocities like kidnapping or political assassination are being committed by these jobless youth under the influence of drug such as tramadol among others. most of these kidnappers are exconvicts, drug addicts and political thugs etc. poor remuneration/poor condition of service of security personnel can poor remuneration/condition of service affect the morale of security personnel? this study found out that the citizens’ major concern over lack of dedication to work and lack of genuine commitment to the task of internal security assignment within the civil police in nigeria is poor welfares. during the interview of some security officials in the affected states, some officers gave reliable credence to their poor remuneration/condition of service which affects their job performance. worst still, the major concern is the painful experience and feelings of some families of combat security officers who incidentally die in the course of duty while engaging kidnappers in gun-duels. they are often being neglected to suffer by the nigerian police force and this ugly scenario cannot engender serious patriotism or dedication to work from the security officers who feel their conditions of service is poor in relative comparison to what average politicians earn. hence, poor remuneration/ condition of service is a threat to conventional strategy to combat kidnapping and other crimes in nigeria. unconventional mechanism: reasons for its adoption & effectiveness. this study explores three major forms of unconventional mechanisms that were employed to tackle kidnapping activities in the affected communities. these are: demolition of buildings owned by or serving as kidnappers’ den; traditional invocation of gods by consulting local deities and public heaping of curses on kidnapping sponsors; and the use of local hunters as community vigilante groups to search for kidnapped victims or kidnappers’ kingpins. hence, this study found the following about the 179 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com three unconventional mechanisms that have been used to tackle kidnapping activities in the affected communities; a. supremacy and traditional beliefs in gods/deities: the philosophy behind unconventional strategy is the perceived supremacy and liberation that traditional invocation of local deities to incur the wrath of gods can be used to set free kidnapped victims from kidnappers’ den and to punish sponsors of kidnapping business in their communities. this strategy has been adopted for two reasons. one, there is a firm belief in the efficacy of african traditional religious practices by appeasing the gods to dispense natural justice without fear or favour. they believed that justice will prevail. two, it is believed that kidnapped victims in the den of the kidnappers would be set free unconditionally. consequently, citizens’ beliefs in the traditional laws of the land to punish offenders accordingly and to set free the victims from the captive of the mighty (kidnappers) are the reasons why local community policing is preferable to formal civil policing. essentially, this unconventional method of combating kidnapping activities is to sanitize the society of all criminal activities. it is also believed that the heaping of curses on sponsors of kidnapping activities and their collaborators would be seriously utilized by the deities, and also punishes those who aid and abet kidnapping business in their respective communities. invocation of gods/deities through the efforts of the congregation of herbalists/traditional priests is an agedlong traditional practice to stem the tide of the kidnappers’ activities out of their lands. the practice is now known to be a ‘self-help methods’ owing to the failure/weakness of civil police in crime control and prevention. it is a landcleansing method of appeasing gods for any infractions that may be responsible for kidnapping activities in the lands. kidnapping is described as sacrilege for anyone to partake or sponsor. to a large extent, this unconventional mechanism has yielded some appreciable result in the reduction of kidnapping cases in the affected areas. b. demolition of kidnappers’ buildings: of what relevance is demolition of building to combat kidnapping? this study argued that the essence of this unconventional method is to wipe out the kidnappers’ base in the affected communities (local governments in anambra state, cross river state and imo state) where it was adopted. as a routine exercise, demolition of buildings by the state governments which are directly owned by kidnappers or the one serving as kidnappers’ den is to wipe out the operational base of the kidnappers in their area and to annihilate the hideout of kidnappers especially where they often keep their victims. this is the rationale behind the adoption of this unconventional means by the respective state governments. even though demolition of buildings as an 180 | p a g e from conventional to unconventional mechanism: the public dilemma of kidnapping business in the south-east and south-south regions of nigeria ayodeji o. adedeji; otu akanu otu unconventional means works to a large extent, our findings discovered some noticeable instances of backlash at awara community, ohaji/egbema local government area in imo state where conspiracy with the arrested kidnappers on the part of a traditional ruler ( who was paid for the services rendered) provided operational vehicle for the kidnappers; a native doctor provided protective charms against the operational hazard and arrest of kidnappers and worst still a pastor provided spiritual guide for their kidnappers operations(chidiebubeokeoma, 2020). these act of conspiracy of major stakeholders in the affected communities put strong limitations on the efficacy of unconventional mechanism to combat kidnapping in these communities. c. the relevance of local hunters/vigilante groups: are local hunters’/vigilante groups legitimate to be law-enforcers? can vigilante groups legitimately be substituted for civil police? is this a way forward to the gradual emergency of state-community policing in nigeria? the phenomenon of local vigilantism in these affected communities as a veritable means of neighborhood security has gained greater currency and utility across most states in the south-south and southeast nigeria. these local hunters or vigilante groups’ work in harmonious relationship with the civil police to combat kidnapping activities and other violent crimes in the affected communities. their main responsibility is to make arrest of the kidnappers and other criminals in their domains and hand them over to the civil police for prosecution. to a large extent, this unconventional means yielded positive results except few cases where vigilante groups have become demigods by using their positions to witch-hunt innocence people. formal institutions have failed to gain legitimacy and respect of nigerians and proven to be incapable of providing citizens with basic security. as such, mistrust in these formal institutions and authorities governing them have made people to resort to the alternative solutions to cope with their everyday lives and security. 7. conclusion and recommendations in other to stem the tide of the incessant spate of kidnapping activities in nigeria, this paper explores the synergy between kidnapping and insecurity in nigeria with a specific focus on the conventional and unconventional mechanism for combating kidnapping business in the southeast and south-south nigeria. this study argues that incessant spate of kidnapping and other violent crimes in the southern part of the country is a result of civil police incapacitation in crime prevention and control in nigeria; conspiracy of some political big-wigs who see investment opportunities in kidnapping by luring unemployed youths into this crime. essentially, this study interrogates the nexus between the weakness of civil 181 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com police in crime prevention and control as a driver of unconventional methods to combat kidnapping in nigeria, using purposively selected states in the southeast and south-south nigeria as case studies. adopting unconventional mechanisms to combat kidnapping by governments/herbalists/traditional priests in the affected communities to shame perpetrators and sponsors of kidnapping business by annihilating their base in the entire southeast and south-south nigeria. most importantly, unconventional method through invocation of local deities helps to set free victims of kidnapped activities. from all the available information gathered from the respondents in this study, various communities resort to self-help in combating kidnapping through the various unconventional means that are in line with their traditions and values since the civil police are incapacitated and weak in crime prevention. admittedly, government personnel amidst the security sector in the affected areas believed that unconventional strategy through demolition of the kidnappers’ or their fathers’ buildings helps to wipe out the operational based of the kidnappers in the affected areas. essentially, this paper recommends that governments at all levels need to restructure the security architecture in the country in line with the dictate of the modern-day for community policing across different states in nigeria. there need to be interagencies collaboration between security agencies and local hunters/vigilantes not only in the affected communities. this can be done effectively by creating special forces to combat kidnapping. government should enact national legislation/law that serves as deterrence for kidnappers and their sponsors in nigeria and creation of a specialized court with the mandate to convict suspects/sponsors of kidnapping business if found guilty within a stipulated timeframe. references achonu, g, (2016) ‘police, government demolish kidnapers’ houses in imo’ [online].available at: https://punchng.com/policegovt-demolish-kidnappershouses-imo/ the punch. (accessed: 28 may, 2016) ada, w, (2020) ‘cross river demolishes houses of suspected kidnappers, cultists’. [online]. available at: https://punchng.com/cross-riverdemolishes-houses-of-suspectedkidnappers-cultists/ the punch. (accessed: 28 may, 2020) adibe, j, (2012). “pervasive kidnapping in nigeria: symptom of a failing state,” [online]. available at: http://www.hollerafrica.com/show article.php?artld=304&catled=1 akingbehin, g, (2017) capitalization of kidnapping of fence in lagos state. the punch newspaper, feb 2, https://punchng.com/police-govt-demolish-kidnappers-houses-imo/ https://punchng.com/police-govt-demolish-kidnappers-houses-imo/ https://punchng.com/police-govt-demolish-kidnappers-houses-imo/ https://punchng.com/cross-river-demolishes-houses-of-suspected-kidnappers-cultists/ https://punchng.com/cross-river-demolishes-houses-of-suspected-kidnappers-cultists/ https://punchng.com/cross-river-demolishes-houses-of-suspected-kidnappers-cultists/ http://www.hollerafrica.com/showarticle.php?artld=304&catled=1 http://www.hollerafrica.com/showarticle.php?artld=304&catled=1 182 | p a g e from conventional to unconventional mechanism: the public dilemma of kidnapping business in the south-east and south-south regions of nigeria ayodeji o. adedeji; otu akanu otu alexander, d. a. and klein, s. (2009). kidnapping and hostage-taking:" a review of effects, coping and resilience". journal of the royal society of medicine.102 (1) 1621. akpan, n. s. (2010) “kidnapping in nigeria’s niger delta: an exploratory study,” journal of social sciences, vol. 24, no. 1, pp. 33–42. anosike, b. (2009). on the war against kidnapping and armed robbery in nigeria. [online]. available at: http://www.kweny.com/.../anosike .../war-kidnapping-robberynigeria.htm/. (accessed: 4 january, 2021) azeez olaniyan (2017) foliage and violence: interrogating forest as a security threat in nigeria. african security review. doi:10.1080/10246029.2017.136 9135 chinwokwu and micheal (2019) militancy and violence as a catalyst to kidnapping in nigeria. international journal of political science and management. sage publication. vol. 21(1) 17-35 chukwudi, j, (2014) anambra government demolishes four houses belonging to kidnappers, police parade suspects, [online].available at: https://dailypost.ng/2014/08/05/an ambra-demolishes-four-housesbelonging-kidnappers-policeparades-suspects/ the daily post, (accessed: 5 august 2020) diara, b. c. (2010) “kidnapping for ransom as a revolutionary effect of capitalism in africa,” international journal of research in arts and social sciences, vol.2, pp. 49–58 egbe, r, (2017) kidnapping: is death penalty the answer? the nation newspaper, march 28, erhabour, c. (2012). between state governors and death penalty for kidnappers [online] available at: www.ebeano.org/povertyreductio n-strategy.doc(accessed: 4 january, 2021) eze, c (2014) ‘anambra government demolishes kidnappers’ house. [online] available at: https://dailypost.ng/2014/08/26/an ambra-government-demolisheskidnappers-house/. accessed: 26 august, 2020. ikpang, j. a. (2011). kidnapping: exacerbating the corridors of criminality in nigeria. [online].available at:http://ww.docstoc.com/docs/16 881285/kidnapping(accessed: 4 february, 2020) inyang, u. s. (2009). kidnapping: who can deliver nigeria? news d’or magazine. vol. 1(9): july 12, p.12 inyang, j.d and ubong, e.a (2013): the social problem of kidnapping and its implication on social economic development of nigeria: a study of uyo metropolis, mediterranean journal of social sciences, july, vol 4 no.6 http://www.kweny.com/.../anosike.../war-kidnapping-robbery-nigeria.htm/ http://www.kweny.com/.../anosike.../war-kidnapping-robbery-nigeria.htm/ http://www.kweny.com/.../anosike.../war-kidnapping-robbery-nigeria.htm/ https://dailypost.ng/2014/08/05/anambra-demolishes-four-houses-belonging-kidnappers-police-parades-suspects/ https://dailypost.ng/2014/08/05/anambra-demolishes-four-houses-belonging-kidnappers-police-parades-suspects/ https://dailypost.ng/2014/08/05/anambra-demolishes-four-houses-belonging-kidnappers-police-parades-suspects/ https://dailypost.ng/2014/08/05/anambra-demolishes-four-houses-belonging-kidnappers-police-parades-suspects/ http://www.ebeano.org/poverty%20reduction-strategy.doc http://www.ebeano.org/poverty%20reduction-strategy.doc https://dailypost.ng/2014/08/26/anambra-government-demolishes-kidnappers-house/ https://dailypost.ng/2014/08/26/anambra-government-demolishes-kidnappers-house/ https://dailypost.ng/2014/08/26/anambra-government-demolishes-kidnappers-house/ http://ww.docstoc.com/docs/16881285/kidnapping http://ww.docstoc.com/docs/16881285/kidnapping 183 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com ishaya, i. (2010) “the journey into the arms of the gangster,” newswatch, pp. 14 , 21, july, 2010. iwarimie-jaja, d, (2003): criminology: the study of crime (2nd ed.) owerri, springfield publishers. ugwulebo, e. m. (2011). kidnapping in nigeria. owerri: cel-bez publishing. merton, r. (1938). social structure and anomie. american sociological review, 3: p.673 national assembly’s amendment of ccb act cannot stand (2016, november 14) [online].available at: https://punchng.com/nationalassembly-amendment-ccb-actcannot-stand/. the punch (accessed: 14 november, 2019) nnam, m.u (2014) “kidnapping in the southeastern states of contemporary nigeria: an empirical investigation into the social and demographic characteristic of offenders” international journal of development and management review, vol 9. no 1, june ngboawaji, d.n. (2011). kidnapping, hostage taking and national security threats in nigeria: a synopsis. mustang journal of business & ethics. vol.2. pp. 5759 nwadiorah, c. e. and nkwocha, i. b. (2011) "kidnapping for ransom: a prevalent urban pandemicin nigeria". research journal of peace and conflict studies vol i (1) pp. 172-185. obarisiagbon, e, and aderinto, a, (2018) kidnapping and the challenges confronting the administration of criminal justice in selected states of nigeria; african journal of criminology and justice studies: ajcjs, vol.11 ogefere, s (2015) taming the menace of kidnapping for ransom. the guardian, 14 october. available at: https://guardian.ng/features/weeke nd/taming-the-menace-ofkidnapfor-ransom/ (accessed 26 april 2021) ogbonnaya, i, (2017) kidnapping: abia government demolishes twin brothers’ buildings’. [online].available at: https://punchng.com/kidnappingabia-demolishes-twin-brothersbuildings/ (accessed: 26 june, 2020) ojukwu, c.c (2011). "terrorism, foreign policy and human right concerns in nigeria" journal of sustainable development in african. 13 (4) 371-384. okeoma, c, (2018) ‘imo demolishes hostel, houses belonging to kidnap kingpins’ [online].available at: https://punchng.com/imodemolishes-hotel-housesbelonging-to-kidnap-kingpins/ (accessed: 23 july, 2020) okeoma, c, (2020a) ‘mob demolishes mansion in imo kidnap kingpin’ https://punchng.com/national-assembly-amendment-ccb-act-cannot-stand/ https://punchng.com/national-assembly-amendment-ccb-act-cannot-stand/ https://punchng.com/national-assembly-amendment-ccb-act-cannot-stand/ https://punchng.com/kidnapping-abia-demolishes-twin-brothers-buildings/ https://punchng.com/kidnapping-abia-demolishes-twin-brothers-buildings/ https://punchng.com/kidnapping-abia-demolishes-twin-brothers-buildings/ https://punchng.com/imo-demolishes-hotel-houses-belonging-to-kidnap-kingpins/ https://punchng.com/imo-demolishes-hotel-houses-belonging-to-kidnap-kingpins/ https://punchng.com/imo-demolishes-hotel-houses-belonging-to-kidnap-kingpins/ 184 | p a g e from conventional to unconventional mechanism: the public dilemma of kidnapping business in the south-east and south-south regions of nigeria ayodeji o. adedeji; otu akanu otu [online].available at: https://punchng.com/mobdemolishes-mansion-of-imokidnap-kingpin/ (accessed: 20 february 2020) okeoma, c, (2020b) ‘police arrest imo community leaders, pastor for alleged kidnap’.[online].available at: https://punchng.com/police-arrestimo-community-leader-pastor-foralleged-kidnap/. (accessed: 4 august 2020) okoli, a (2013) ‘abia government demolishes kidnap and robbery kingpin’s property’ [online].available at: https://www.vanguardngr.com/20 13/03/abia-govt-demolisheskidnap-and-robbery-kingpinsproperty/. (accessed: 1 march, 2021) okoli, a, and agada, f, (2014): ‘kidnapping and national security in nigeria’ [online] available at: https://iiste.org/journals/index.ph p/rhss/article/viewfile/11987/1 2311. research on humanities and social sciences okutu, p, (2013) kidnap of lawmaker’s wife: how suspects abode was invaded and demolished’ [online] available at: https://www.vanguardngr.com/20 13/07/kidnap-of-lawmakers-wifehow-suspects-abode-was-invadedand-demolished/ (accessed: 19 july 2020) omoweh, d, and okanya, d. (2005) community unrest and threat to nigeria’s national security. in ogwu, uj (ed.) new horizon for nigeria in world affairs. lagos: niia oni, a. a. (2007)." students perception of cult activity on united states colleges and university campuses". journal of social sciences (jss) 4 (3) p. 421 onyishi, a. and eme, i, (2011). "the challenges of insecurity in nigeria a thematic exposition" interdisciplinary journal of contemporary research in business. 3 (8) 172-174. osaghea, s. a. (2011). "security challenges of kidnapping in our polity". paper presented at the workshop for sensitization on security awareness, enugu, torscana hotel. osauzo, t. (2019) benin traditionalists invoke gods to war against criminals’ [online] available at: https://www.sunnewsonline.com/i n-benin-gods-now-at-war-withcriminals/. (accessed: 19 may 2019) schmalbruch, s, (2017) “the most dangerous countries in the world” the independent. [online] available at: https://www.independent.co.uk/ne ws/world/world-s-mostdangerous-countries-colombiayemen-el-salvador-pakistannigeria-a7934416.html. (accessed: 7 september 2019) https://punchng.com/mob-demolishes-mansion-of-imo-kidnap-kingpin/ https://punchng.com/mob-demolishes-mansion-of-imo-kidnap-kingpin/ https://punchng.com/mob-demolishes-mansion-of-imo-kidnap-kingpin/ https://punchng.com/police-arrest-imo-community-leader-pastor-for-alleged-kidnap/ https://punchng.com/police-arrest-imo-community-leader-pastor-for-alleged-kidnap/ https://punchng.com/police-arrest-imo-community-leader-pastor-for-alleged-kidnap/ https://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/03/abia-govt-demolishes-kidnap-and-robbery-kingpins-property/ https://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/03/abia-govt-demolishes-kidnap-and-robbery-kingpins-property/ https://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/03/abia-govt-demolishes-kidnap-and-robbery-kingpins-property/ https://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/03/abia-govt-demolishes-kidnap-and-robbery-kingpins-property/ https://iiste.org/journals/index.php/rhss/article/viewfile/11987/12311 https://iiste.org/journals/index.php/rhss/article/viewfile/11987/12311 https://iiste.org/journals/index.php/rhss/article/viewfile/11987/12311 https://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/07/kidnap-of-lawmakers-wife-how-suspects-abode-was-invaded-and-demolished/ https://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/07/kidnap-of-lawmakers-wife-how-suspects-abode-was-invaded-and-demolished/ https://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/07/kidnap-of-lawmakers-wife-how-suspects-abode-was-invaded-and-demolished/ https://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/07/kidnap-of-lawmakers-wife-how-suspects-abode-was-invaded-and-demolished/ https://www.sunnewsonline.com/in-benin-gods-now-at-war-with-criminals/ https://www.sunnewsonline.com/in-benin-gods-now-at-war-with-criminals/ https://www.sunnewsonline.com/in-benin-gods-now-at-war-with-criminals/ https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/world-s-most-dangerous-countries-colombia-yemen-el-salvador-pakistan-nigeria-a7934416.html https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/world-s-most-dangerous-countries-colombia-yemen-el-salvador-pakistan-nigeria-a7934416.html https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/world-s-most-dangerous-countries-colombia-yemen-el-salvador-pakistan-nigeria-a7934416.html https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/world-s-most-dangerous-countries-colombia-yemen-el-salvador-pakistan-nigeria-a7934416.html https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/world-s-most-dangerous-countries-colombia-yemen-el-salvador-pakistan-nigeria-a7934416.html 185 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com shanum, s, (2013) democracy and bad leadership in nigeria. premium times [online] available at: https://www.premiumtimesng.co m/opinion/127105democracyand-bad-leadership-innigeria-by-simonshanum.html. (accessed: 27 march 2021) shaw, c. r. & mckay, h. d. (1969). juvenile delinquency in urban areas. chicago: university of chicago press. the daily post (2014) three more kidnappers’ buildings demolished in anambra’ (2014, october 25). [online] available at: https://dailypost.ng/2014/10/2 5/three-kidnap-buildingsdemolished-anambra/. (accessed: 25 october, 2019) ugwuoke, c.u (2011). nigeria and the menace of kidnapping: the way forward. nigeria journal of research and production. 18 (2) pp. 44-47 ugwu, e, (2016) kidnapping: abia government demolishes four buildings’ at nkporo community.https://www.thisdayli ve.com/index.php/2016/04/17/kid napping-abia-govt-demolish-fourbuildings-at-nkporo-community/ (accessed: 17 april 2020) umego, c. d (2018) offence of kidnapping: a counter to national security and development file:///c:/users/user/downloads/k idnaping%20and%20law.pdf yagboyaju, d.a and akinola, a. o (2019) “nigerian state and the crisis of governance: a critical exposition” journal of sage open. july 24. vol 9. issue: 3 https://www.premiumtimesng.com/opinion/127105-democracyand-bad-leadership-in-nigeria-by-simonshanum.html https://www.premiumtimesng.com/opinion/127105-democracyand-bad-leadership-in-nigeria-by-simonshanum.html https://www.premiumtimesng.com/opinion/127105-democracyand-bad-leadership-in-nigeria-by-simonshanum.html https://www.premiumtimesng.com/opinion/127105-democracyand-bad-leadership-in-nigeria-by-simonshanum.html https://dailypost.ng/2014/10/25/three-kidnap-buildings-demolished-anambra/ https://dailypost.ng/2014/10/25/three-kidnap-buildings-demolished-anambra/ https://dailypost.ng/2014/10/25/three-kidnap-buildings-demolished-anambra/ https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2016/04/17/kidnapping-abia-govt-demolish-four-buildings-at-nkporo-community/ https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2016/04/17/kidnapping-abia-govt-demolish-four-buildings-at-nkporo-community/ https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2016/04/17/kidnapping-abia-govt-demolish-four-buildings-at-nkporo-community/ https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2016/04/17/kidnapping-abia-govt-demolish-four-buildings-at-nkporo-community/ 126 | p a g e the general explications of the nature of political parties, electoral rules and prospects for democracy and democratic governance in nigeria by onwukwe seth nwachukwu onwukwe70@gmail.com personnel department, nnamdi azikiwe university awka and rachel nwachukwu seth rachelonwukwe@gmail.com hope foundation school, magbuoba rivers state introduction for any keen observer of event in nigeria, it may not be far-fetched to argue that reversals and disruptions have over the years been the defining character of nigeria’s political life. perspectives exits that link such manifestations of instability as persistent conflicts, unrests and leadership turnover against the background of myriad of reasons and difficulties. it is true, for example, that efforts are normally made to link systematic breakdown of the problems of leadership (o’donnel and schmitter, 1986; ali kazancigil, 1997). other explanation attribute the political malaise to the inherent weakness of the manner by which the country came into existence, the weakness of the existing political institutions as well as the fragility of the civil society (bert a. rockman, 1997; and larry dramond, et.al 1987). notwithstanding variations in interpretations, it is the dominant paradigm that political instability, or better still, the failure to effectively institute and consolidate democracy in the country, is attributable to some of the variable mentioned above. our contention in this work is that over the period since independence, the country has witnessed the systematic erosion of those elements in the general society that are considered desirable for the enthronement of democratic governance. precisely, such essential of democracy as political participation, electoral competition, and respect for fundamental human rights and freedoms, among others, have been systematically denigrated by different governmental policies and actions. specifically, we intend to argue that given the events that unfolded in nigeria’s march to democracy over the years, and especially in the tumultuous years of the transition to democracy in the gen. ibrahim babangida’s year and beyond, (for instance, the experience of fourth republic (1999 – 2003) there is ample cause to believe that the fragility in the political party institution of society, as well as its interface with the regime of obnoxious rules in the electoral process, mailto:onwukwe70@gmail.com mailto:rachelonwukwe@gmail.com 127 | p a g e account for the apparent lack of coherence in the democratic project in the country. in other words, any attempt to come to grips with the why(s) of democratic stress in the country, must necessarily considered the issue of the interface between the party system thriving in the country, the effect of rules and procedures guiding electoral contest and the success or failure of democracy and democratic governance. we shall proceed by dividing this paper into four sections: section one is the introduction, the second is on political parties, party system and the democratic project, section three addresses the issue of electoral rules and the electoral process while section four conclude the paper. political parties, party system and the democratic project. political parties are essential features of the democratic arrangement. defined as “an organized group with a clearly defined policy whose main aim is to win or retain political power (ujo, a. a., 2000:98) political parties aggregate and articulate the disparate views of a country’s population for effective political actions/indications. being essentially important to the vitality and viability of the democratic forms of governance, not a few scholars have at any one time argued for the desirability of a strongly institutionalized party system for the flourishing of the democratic ethos in societies. as argued by oyeleye oyediran and adigun agbaje (1991:1:216), for instance, the longevity and vitality of democracy owes much to the ability of the party system in place to aggregate freely, articulate, respect and organize set limits in the quest for the use of political powers. obviously, too is the fact that for the party system to be capable of discharging these roles effectively, require the meeting of criteria as autonomy, complexity and coherence (lynne ragodale and john j. theis 1997). in this respect, too, richard vengroff’s (1994a&b) argument becomes especially relevant. drawing from the experience of mali, vengroff has asserted that the degree to which a party system is able to meaningfully contribute to the political process is related to the existence of several factors: the development and maintenance of strong party organization with the depth and breadth necessary for their operation and the degree of institutionalization of the party as indicated by its historical roots, longevity, survival and continuing support. the ability to meet these conditions, according to him, is “indicative of their strength, their future survival and success and their potential contribution to the institutionalization of democratic government”. where the above form the essential for the measurement of the party system in nigeria, it then becomes logical to hold that the key party institution in the country seldom fulfils 128 | p a g e its functions. over the years since nigeria engage in the democratic project, what becomes discernible is the lack of proper organization of the political party system. rather, the general tendency is one in which the party structures in the society are established mainly on ethnicization, regionalization, and patrimonilization of power. indeed, as records have tended to show, even as the records of inter and intra-party squabbles of second and especially fourth republic of late depict, both in their methods and practices, the country’s political parties have contributed immensely to the crises that currently engulfs the political system. however, we must proceed with caution in order not to suggest that the party structures are/or organizations are, in and of themselves, the key determinants of democratic stability. rather, as rome aniyowoshe (1982:22) contends: the establishment of a strong party system does not necessarily remove the potential for violent political conflict, especially between different ethnic groups within a political system: the determining factors are likely to be the discontents and loyalties of the members of the political parties and most especially the nature and types of relations between the ruling and opposition parties. where an elite in power does not have a live-and-let live attitude its opponent out of power, and the latter are consistently oppressed and victimized, a party system nay actually become a source of violent political conflict. in particular, opposition parties are likely to direct their organizational activities such as subversion. perhaps, an important variable that must, of necessary be taken into account in explaining practices in the country’s party system remains the tendency on the part of the parties to hardly recognize one another as legitimate representatives of opposing groups and therefore to continuously split and resort to mutual recriminations on every imaginable issue. as verba et. al( 1981:208) discovers, such antagonisms and deadly conflicts usually result where: one party resents advantages held by another and the other party struggles to preserve them. or each party perceives the other to be advantaged, in which case the redress that each seeks makes the other feel even more disadvantaged. such political conflict can be about any kinds of advantages …… in nigeria, surely, the killing, arson and other forms of political violence that characterizes political competition, no less exemplified by happenings before and during the april 2003 elections, gives a clear indication that intense, conscious and deliberate negotiations towards the settlement of disputes was never part of the party system. indeed, in nigeria, recent elections as the previous ones, serve to leave no one in doubt that both the elites and their party structures are patently wanting in the essential requisites that may foster accommodation and political compromise. for instance, during 129 | p a g e the party primary season the early 2003 politicians begin jockeying for position. interparty rivalries emerged as a significant source of conflict, sparking violence in a number of areas. results from many primary races were contested in court and on the streets. indeed, the lop-sidedness of the processes that tend to reward victory and marginalize the looser, as exemplified in e. gyimah boadi’s (1998:19) “crude majoritarianism”, precludes the possibility of the flourishing of any positive approach to political contestation necessarily becomes a zero-sum affair with little or no regards for the laid down procedures. such intransigence and bellicosity has been very contributive to the failure to develop a durable political party in the country. electoral rules and electoral process it perhaps, tantamount to stating obvious, to argue that over the years, politics and particularly the electoral process in nigeria have been beset by series of problems. these range from excessive state control and interference, application of unpopular, often unorthodox methods and procedures and many other unfavourable conditions. except, of course, for the arrangement which ushered in the second republic in 1979, all subsequent attempts tended to suffer from severe setbacks occasioned largely by the manipulative devices of the government overseeing their implementation. in fact, while the government of murtala/obasanjo allowed a great deal of independent action on the part of the regulatory body, the then federal electoral commission (fedeco), the same cannot be said of the several attempts by its successors. inec’s performance leading up to and during april 12 national assembly election made it the object of significant criticism for its perceived lack of independence from the executive branch of government, and for a wide range of institutional and professional short comings. emphatically, national democratic institute’s international observer delegation, notes that there were irregularities committed by officials, activists and supporters of the major political parties. inec demonstrated an inability to ensure the overall secrecy and security to the voting and counting process. this appeared to have severely limited, and even denied in some parts of the country, the ability of nigerians to express their franchise during both the national assembly and the presidential/ gubernatorial elections (daily trust, 4). specifically, the babangida regime, which run the country from 1985 – 1993 has been widely viewed as notorious for its incessant interference with the political transition process more especially the pools that were held under its close supervision. basing its meddlesomeness on what it processed to be the need to sanitize the political system of violence, corruption and other vices, the government dabbled fully into all aspects of the political process, setting rules, changing them at random and excluding certain segments of the population from competing for elective positions. however, laudable as the stated intentions were, many observers were of the conviction that the unsurpassed meddlesomeness of the state into what should ordinarily belong on the citizen’s 130 | p a g e constitutional prerogatives could be held to account for the crises and uncertainties that bedevilled the babangida’s transition programme, especially the party and electoral system which were reduced to mere charades. the point therefore remains that electoral rules are not unknown in nigeria. coupled with administrative forces and even laxity, they often pose significant barriers to effectively participation (geraint parry and g. noyser, 1994; and robert h. blank, 1973). in nigeria, this was particularly true of the lapses and gross inefficiencies attributable to the implementers of the electoral process. specifically, voter registration exercises in the country were almost always plagued by confusion delays and abuses of various dimensions. nigeria’s experience, thus seem to suggest that a student variable that negatively impinges on the electoral process includes the official requirement or guidelines affecting the political parties and candidates. often, political associations seeking constitutional recognition or registration are required to fulfil certain stringent conditions including the payment of some non-refundable fee. other requirements such as opening of party offices nation-wide, manning them with personnel at all level made it imperative for associations seeking eligibility to incur expenditures running into several millions of naira (babafemi a. badejo, 1997:177). if anything, perhaps, these conditions contributed to opening the floodgate for the domineering role of ‘money bags’ in the country’s electoral process. ironically, therefore, the much publicized aversion to the salience of money in nigeria’s electoral process is no more than hypocritical. indeed, the spill over effects of the aforementioned conditions are quite manifest at all levels of society with shady and illiberal practices beclouding the electoral process. part of the repercussions are that, at the level of the electorates specifically, acute poverty, inflations, unemployment and other harsh conditions of life ensured the voters openly demand and receive inducements from the parties and their agents. this has been widely attested to in the recent elections in the country. generally, the point being emphasized here is that several constraints stand in the way of consolidation of nigeria’s democratic project. of this, the undemocratic and illiberal behaviour or disposition of the political elites and their parties are of central concern. as diamond (1996: 7) asserts: consolidation is obstructed or destroyed casually by the effects of institutional shallowness and decay. if they are to become consolidated, therefore, electoral democracy must become deeper and more liberal. this will require grater executive (and military) accountability to both the low and the scrutiny of other branches of government as well as the public, the reduction of barriers to political participation and mobilization by marginalized groups; and more 131 | p a g e effective protection for the political and civil rights of all citizens. deepening will also be facilitated by the institutionalization of a political party system that stimulates mass participation, incorporate marginalized groups and forges vibrant linkages with civil society organizations and party branches and officials at the local levels. (emphasis ours). in other words, absence of effective party system and the prevalence of other weak and/or fledgling political institutions, often stand in the way of enduring democratic governance (schmitter, 1994; and mcfaul, 1999). conclusion we have shown in the preceding discussions that nigeria’s journey to democracy have been beset by a number of problems. part of the problems lie in the inability of the state to ensure the flourishing of such arrangement as well ensure the unimpedence attainment of the democratic goals of society. as our analysis has indicated, the nature and character of the political party system that the country practices over the years, has been instrumental in the derailment of many of the attempts at democratic sanitation in the country. not only were the party system fluid, lacking in coherence and generally shallow, but the intra and inter-party feuds that become common place on the political landscape, necessarily define the textures and content or politics the continues witnesses thus far. indeed, events that unfolded in the latest electoral contest in the country suggest that there is a long way ahead for the country in the search for democratic sustenance. the series of crises that dotted the electoral process and the anxiety it created in the political system were quite alarming. for the health of nigerian’s democracy and deliberate efforts on the part of the state and its agencies, geared towards not only ensuring a hitchfree electoral process, but the institutionalization of the party system that is necessary for democratic vitality and stability. reference anifowose, remi (1982) violence and politics in nigeria: the t. v and yoruba experience (engugu: nok publishers). badejo, babatunde a. (1997), “party formulation and party competition” in larry diamond et. al (eds) transition without end: nigeria political and civil society under babangida (bonder and london: lynne rienner publisher). blank, robert h. (1973), “state electoral structure” journal of democracy, vol. 35, no 4. november, p. 989. boadi gyimah e. (1998). “the rebirth of african liberalism: journal of democracy, vol. 9. no. 2. p. 19. 132 | p a g e diamond, larry (1996) “towards democratic consolidation “journal of democracy, vol. 5. no. 3, july p. 1 – 16. kazancigil ali (1997) “connecting political institutions to democracy” in martin heper at. al (eds) institutions and democratic state craft (boulder: west view press). mcfail, michael (1999), “the perils of protracted transition” journal of democracy vol 10 no. , april, p. 14. o. donnel, g. and schmitter, p. (1986), transitions from authoritarian rule: tentative conclusions about uncertain democracies (beltimore: john hospkin univ. press). oyediran, oyeleye and adigun abaje (1991), “two partyism and democratic transition in nigeria” journal of modern african study, vol. 29 no. 2 p. 216 – 266. parry, gerraint and george moyser (1994), “more participation, more democracy” in david betham (ed) defining and measuring democracy (london: sage publications). ragsdale, lyan and john j. theis (1997), “the institutionalization of the american presidency (1924 -92”, american journal of political silence, vol 41 no. 4, october. rockman, bert a. (1997) “institutions, democratic stability and performance, “in hper et al. institutions and democratic statecraft, ibid. ujo, a. a. (2000) understanding elections: a guide to students and elections managers (nigeria: anyaotu enterprises and publishers ltd). verba, sidney, kay cehman s., herry brandy and norman nie (1987), “citizen activity: who participate/ who do they do?”. american political sciences review, vol 87 no. 2, june. vengroff, rechard (1994a), “the impact of electoral system on the transition to democracy in africa:, the case of mali”, electoral studies, vol 12, no. 1,p. 544 -5. vengroff, richard (1994a), “governance and the transition to democracy: political party and the party system in mali, electoral studies, vol 31, no 4. daily trust newspaper, april 22, 2003. 133 | p a g e counseling as an instrument for encouraging the handicapped to benefit from education in regular schools dr. p.s.e. ezeh department of educational foundations enugu state university of science and technology, enugu and dr. eze h.o department of foundations of education imt enugu abstract right from the time of introduction of guidance and counseling as a school service it was assumedthat the functions of school counselors limit them to offering services to normal students with normal problems. handicapped students with their peculiar problems were catered for by special teachers an special schools. as time passed, the segregation of the handicapped came under severe criticism. it was considered more socially acceptable to educate the handicapped in regular schools since they are part and parcel of the society. following this development, the handicapped became integrated into regular schools. however, available evidence shows that these handicapped who are generally stigmatized find it difficult to adjust in these regular schools. thus it becomes the added responsibility of counselors to serve this special population since in the regular schools there are no special educators to cater for them. this paper has therefore highlighted some of the problems of the handicapped and the counseling procedures for encouraging them to benefit from education in regular schools. keywords: counseling, instrument, encouraging, handicapped benefits. introduction the general view of school counselors in nigeria is that their role limits them to counseling normal people with normal problems. consequently, they regard handicapped people as a special group that requires special treatment by those who have been specifically trained to serve such a population. however, with the increasing emphasis on equal educational opportunities for all children as well as on integrating the handicapped into regular schools, counselors are therefore obliged to provide services not only for the so called normal people with normal problems but also to the handicapped. 134 | p a g e strategies for counseling the handicapped to benefit from education in regular schools and live happier lives should be sought. counselors must be concerned with developing techniques and procedures that will facilitate counseling for both the normal and handicapped students in our schools. this is necessary because the educational and psychological needs of normal and handicapped children must all be catered for in order to attain the objectives of equal educational opportunities for all children. who are the handicapped? the handicapped in our society include a wide range of people with various forms of impairments which prevent them from participating in various activities in life just as other normal people without such impairments. these include the physically handicapped (speech, visual auditory and orthopedic), mentally retarded, the learning disabled, and the socially maladjusted. meanwhile no specialist definition of the handicapped has been given so that the non-specialist readers might equally benefit. for the purpose of this paper, the handicapped will comprise those handicapped persons that can be successfully integrated into regular schools. these include the physically handicapped such as the hard of hearing, partially sighted, speech impaired and orthopedically impaired. others are the educable (mildly or moderately) mentally retarded, the learning disabled and the socially maladjusted. this category of people can, with some extra assistance benefit from education in our regular schools. the plight of the handicapped the attitudes and feelings which normal people have towards handicapped people are quite of negative. the handicapped are easily stigmatized and slighted. goffman (1963) describes a stigmatize person as a person who might have been received easily in ordinary intercourse, but who possesses trait that obtrudes itself upon attention, and turns those he meets away from him. this clearly indicates that the society generally views the handicapped in a negative light. in a study denga (1982a) found that the labels of stigma which fellow students, teachers, school administrators and the general public place on handicapped students serve as the basic source frustration, anger, negative self concept, low motivation, dependency, hostility to others and a source of futility among handicapped students. in another study denga (1982b) observed that fellow students, teachers and administrators do not perceive handicapped students as being intelligent as their normal counterparts. there was a general feeling that the handicapped should not have equal education opportunities as their normal counterparts. furthermore, they 135 | p a g e should neither be allowed to marry a handicapped person nor have equal chances of being employed with the non-handicapped. in like manner, uba (1982) observes that handicapped persons in nigeria are charactreised failures, inhibitions, fears, distrust, isolation, lack of self confidence, anxiety, inability to grow in esteem in a rejecting, labeling society like ours and consequently lack of full social adjustment predominates. even parents of handicapped children often develop unhealthy attitudes towards handicap of their children. they often manifest guilt feelings and sometimes an overt rejection of children no matter how well disguised. so far evidences have shown that handicapped persons are perceived in a negative light. but handicapped children should perceive themselves as objects of stigmatization and ridicule, they likely to develop negative self concept, frustration, anger and dejection which will adversely affect their academic attainment and retard their social and psychological growth. school counselors, therefore have significant roles to play in order to improve the lot of the handicapped. school counselors role in encouraging the handicapped to benefit from education in regular schools. bearing in mind the problems of the handicapped and the emphasis on integrating them regular schools where special education experts are generally absent, it now becomes the responsibility of school counselors who now bear the role function of all the special education consultancy teachers offer necessary assistance to ensure that this category of students benefit from such schools. that before the case; the following areas need the counselor’s involvement to ensure they benefits maximally for their integration into regular schools. 1. counseling intervention: school counselors should assist the handicapped to explore their handicapping conditions accept the reality of their disability so as to reduce their frustrations, anger, fear, and self desire. the basic goal of this effort is to enable the handicapped students to integrate their disability, their self concept. koln and woldt (1976) suggest the following strategies which councilors employ to enable the handicapped deal with their body image. a. enabling the client to contact their physique through fantasy, self exploration, psychodrama modified body movement patterns. these can be achieved by focusing on areas where season is blocked and where it is capable of being perceived. exercise in body awareness will help client to analyses each part of the body and point out strengths and weaknesses of each part how each 136 | p a g e part could be used to enhance behaviour. physical education exercises designed for purpose could prove very useful. b. cognitively – based approaches like albert ellis rational emotive therapy can also be used to help the handicapped to become rational and behave more rational toward their condition and their interaction with others as well. a rational self analysis will prove useful in helping clients to accept themselves and what they are counseling intervention, therefore, should be high emphasis in order to help the handicap develop positive self concept and high achievement motivation. 2. placement in appropriate schools: the secondary school into which the handicapped student is integrated and his academic and vocational programmes should not he left to chance or factors like persuasion, proximity to home etc. academic and psychological assessment of the student's academic and non-academic spheres provides invaluable information for determining appropriate placement and academic and vocational programming at the post-primary level. appropriate academic and psychological assessment should be performed by guidance and counseling personnel. 3. facilitating the acceptance of the handicapped in the mainstream: after the appropriate placement of the handicapped, the counselor should facilitate his acceptance in the mainstream in order to minimize the stigmatization or his being labelled as handicapped, retarded etc. the social acceptance of the handicapped within the mainstream, as well as his more appropriate placement and meaningful academic and vocational programming, will increase the probability of the student's feeling of self worth and his ability to succeed and to become a productive member of society (denga 1982, m.s.s.b. reports 1982). 4. facilitating the cultivation of positive self image: it is well known that positive self image is at least as important in determining academic success and vocational productivity as is intellectual potential (m.s.s.b. reports, j982). counselors should create environments that maximize individual needs and styles and that foster acceptance and positive interpersonal relationships. because of the limited intellectual potential of the majority of the handicapped and also because of their physical, emotional and behavioral handicaps, their academic achievement are often limited. feeling of success and self worth based only on academic competence are therefore inappropriate and defeating. counselors should help to develop for handicapped students meaningful academic and vocational programmes that would include the development of self care, life skills, assertiveness training, social and recreational skills as well as the vocational training for occupations that are personally meaningful and socially relevant. 137 | p a g e 5. facilitating social acceptance of the handicapped: the social acceptance of the handicapped by peers, teachers, administrators should be facilitated by the counselor's efforts to sensitize others to the needsof special students and to encourage them to assume responsibility in meetingthese. positive attitudes of acceptance of the handicapped by their normal peers can be fostered by prepared exposure as well as by a variety of activities such as role playing, values clarification, group problem solving and guidance and through audio visual programmes that focus on attitude change and that present the handicapped as sharing basic human needs, feelings and experiences as productive members of the society. knowledge and shared experiences facilitate the removal of stigmatization preconceptions. 6. ensuring that the handicapped is not lost in the mainstream: just placing the handicapped in the mainstream is not enough. in order to ensure that the handicapped is not forgotten or lost in the mainstream, the counselor should maintain an on-going contact with him through continuous assessment, curriculum planning and programme modification as well as through on-going vocational and personal social counseling. recommendations: in view of the importance attached to the issue of integrating some categories of handicapped children into the regula schools, the following recommendation s are made: 1. counselor training programmes in nigeria should be broadened to include courses in counseling services for the disabled since the need and demand for counselors who will provide counseling services for both normal and handicapped children has increased. 2. counselors should assist the handicapped to combat the psychological battle in which they are engaged by acting as friends and surrogate parents to these less fortunate individuals. 3. school counselors should be actively involved in the following aforementioned strategies aimed at the successful integration of the handicapped into our regular schools. a. counseling intervention for the handicapped. b. placement of the handicapped in appropriate schools. c. facilitating the acceptance of the handicapped in the mainstream and d. ensuring that the handicapped are not lost in the mainstream. conclusion: in conclusion, therefore, the school counselor has an important role to play in the development of an educational system that programmes for all students including the handicapped. all students, particularly the handicapped should be exposed to experience would encourage the development of such values as feelings of self worth, respect for 138 | p a g e self and others, an appreciation and acceptance of individual differences and an awareness of individual responsibility for their own learning, for productivity and independent living. in the education of the handicapped, particular care must be taken to nurture positive attitudes which would ensure the development of meaningful and quality education. references denga, d.i (1982a) student counseling: a major solution to campus unrest, lagos: erit egwu. denga, d.i (1982b) an approach towards reducing stigma among physically handicapped students the counselor, 4 (1), 31 – 36. goffman, e. (1963) stigma: notes on the management of spoiled identity. englewood cliffs, n.j. prentice hall. kolb, c.l. & woldt, a.l. (1976) the rehabilitative potential of a gestalt approach to counseling severely impaired clients. in w.a. mcwell, s.a meadows, r. crabtree, and r. sakata (eds) rehabilitation counseling with persons who are severely disabled. huntington: w.va marshal university press. metropolitan separate school board, toronto, onataria (1982) draft copy of report of the needs assessment sub-committee for the multi-handicapped student. uba, a. (1982) integrating the disabled persons into the regular schools in nigeria: implications for counselors the counselor, 4, (1), 65 – 68. 1 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com effective promotion of learning in classroom hyacinth eze. o. ph.d department of educational psychology enugu, enugu state college of education (technical) abstract the issue of promoting learning has caused a lot of concern for students, teachers and the society in general in nigeria. this paper identified setbacks. they are poor knowledge of lesson objectives and presentation of such objectives, encouragement of selfdevelopment, participation approach to teaching and learning. the paper concluded by arguing that teachers can promote learning if students are allowed to fully participate in the teaching and learning endeavour. introduction learning is a practical activity to mankind and most especially for the development of science and technology. there is the continual waning of interest of learners in learning tasks these days which required that immediate positive actions be taken to save the situation. this is with the hope of giving learners some pleasurable aids to improve their participation and understanding of subject matters. in order to achieve this goal, the paper presents sone psychological foundation in learning a given task. the limited objective of this paper is to bring together three well tested and widely accepted methods of teachers at any level and to express them in a simple and direct way so that most teachers at any level can understand the message and more importantly translate the message into practical actions. 1. teachers should let the learner know the objectives of the lesson, and be able to present such objectives in a clear sentence. many research studies okoye (1982) magers (1962) have found that teachers teach better and learner learn better when the objectives of their lesson are clearly statedto students. but it has been also shown thatteachers will achieve better when the student share knowledge of objectives with the teachers, during teaching and learning process. in stating the objective of a lesson, attention should be given to the type of learning involved. some learning requires acquiring information only (ie. knowledge of facts) while other calls for acquisition of facts and skills e.g intellectual or motor skills. an example of an intellectual or skill is solving. mathematical or verbal problem-it calls for using mental skills. an example of 2 | p a g e effective promotion of learning in classroom hyacinth eze. o. motor skill is learning to dance or play volley ball. as these two forms of learning are different, so also the objectives states for them must be different. for objectives to achieve their maximum effect they must be operationally defined and they must be comprehensively stated this means that the objectives must be stated in such a way that people knowledgeable in the field can recognize when the objective has been achieved, or when it is in operation. for our objectives to be stated comprehensively means that various aspects of the learning (both intellectual and motor activities) must be reflected in the statement stated of objectives requires the use of action verb which can be observed rather than subjective verbs which are ambiguous and matters of opinion. thus instead of verbs like know and appreciate, use verb; like; list, and mention, point etc. 2. teachers should present concepts according to the orders, or in a sequence. the teacher is generally regarded as the transmitter of knowledge to the student. in doing this, he or she is expected to use various methods of teaching available to him or her. the better the method (s) the better the learning outcomes of the teachers’ instructional procedures. thus teachers, instructional procedures are expected to be directed towards the students’ desire to learn. in order to promote the learning, it is necessary that lower order concept are presented before the next stat e of abstraction is possible. to put into effect means that before we try to communicate a new concept we have to find out its contributing concepts downwards until we get to the primary concepts or experience when may assume as the simplest facts necessary to understand the desired concept. this principle clearly, emphasizes the crucial role of previous knowledge in understanding the giving concept. 3. make learners partners in the learning tasks. teachers trust not keep to themselves the goals or objectives of a lesson. the learning task should be seen as partnership. for long now, teachers tend to see teaching as their job alone and have refused to recognize that teaching and learning form the two sides of a-coin. but if you realize that however well you think you are teaching if learners do not learn, then your efforts are in vain, you will therefore appreciate the need for joint responsibility of teaching and learning, so, for teaching to be successful teachers and learners must see learning as their joint responsibility for learners to learn. there must be joint responsibility for learners to learn, there must be joint responsibility. according to lwei's (19 61) the more the learners participate, the more they learn. one way teachers can make students feel responsible for their learning, to 3 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com some degree, in these days of large classes, is to give groups a share of the responsibility, in practice, teachers can set up groups of between three and five students as study group. according to berune (1960) when students work together, with some acting as tutors (peer tutoring) there is a mutual benefit to al, with tutors gaining more. therefore, teachers should encourage group studies in order to promote learning. 4. encourage self-development the teacher should as a matter of importance create learning environment that does not in any way impose his / her choice of opinions on students. they should be allowed to make free choice uninhibited. the essence is to help the child to become liked; (combs and snygg 1959). the idea of selfdevelopment involves the person who guide his own choices. according to roger (1961) learning is therefore supposed to promote maximum selfdevelopment, by enhancing the individual power to choose and direct him or herself. to tiedman (1966) learning involves selfdevelopment, tolerance and respect for others. all earning therefore, must have as its aim the formulation of aspirations and desires of the unique individual mansor (1972). for teachers to ensure this self-development, the classroom situation must not be tense, but a place where mutual understanding prevail. in conclusion it is expected that teachers should endeavour to create the 1and thou relationship as partners with mutual respect for one another, in the classroom references dryne r.r (1960). the psychology of learning mathematics. middle sex penguin books leurs. k. (1961) the effect of attitude on performance in mathematics, journal of educational psychology 52 mager m. (1962). are boys better than girls in mathematics. the arithmetic teacher 10(8) manson r.e. (1972). contemporary education theory. new york: david mcay lnc okoyen.n (1982) why students fail examination. a nigerian journal of applied psychology 1 (1) knyer c. (1961). on becoming a person, boston; massachuistts. houghton, miffling co. tredman a. v (1966, guidance in public. in the changing aims of education (ed) j.t. goodlad 6 th year book of national society for the study of education. chicago university of chicago press. snygg a.a (1959). individual behaviour rev. (ed), new york: harper and row 320 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com the role of regional economic and political groups in the globalization process: a case study of the economic community of west african states (ecowas) (1982-2002) akwara, azalahu f.[a]’*; ezirim, gerald e.[bl; udaw, joseph e.[al; akwara, ngozi f.[c] department of political science, federal university wukari, taraba state, nigeria. [a] department of political science, university of nigeria nsukka, enugu state, nigeria. [b] the federal polytechnic idah, kogi state, nigeria. *corresponding author. abstract a regional integration by its very nature integrates its members into an economic union and acts as a bloc on matters affecting its members vis-a-vis other regional blocs and non-members. its hegemonic nature of hedging its members against all forms of exploitation and intimidation by other regional blocs and non-members and its desire to stem the tide of trade diversion, and to create and foster intra-union flow of trade, factors and investment at the exclusion of nonmembers and other regional blocs run contradictory to the aims and objectives of the globalization process which is the integration of the world economy through the breaking down of trade and investment barriers worldwide. given these contradictory objectives of the regional blocs and the globalization process, this study examines the roles of the ecowas as an agent in the globalization process in the west african sub-region, its constraints, and solutions to the problems. key words: regional; integration; globalization; blocs; security; trade introduction the last century saw the establishment of regional economic and political groups in various geographical regions of the world, and the establishment of international financial institutions and multilateral groups that provide specialised services, funds and advice on development, while others are specially established to maintain regional peace and security. there are about eight major regional groups in africa, six in asia, middle east and the pacific, three in europe and six others in the western hemisphere (nemedra, 1998). the most prominent of them all is the european union (eu) established by the treaty of rome in 1958. this is followed by the north american free trade area (nafta), which was established in 1972. the third is the association of south east asian nations (asean) established in 1967. the fourth is the latinamerican integration association (laia) established by the montevideo treaty of 1960, and the fifth is the economic community of west african states (ecowas) established by the treaty of lagos on may 28, 1975 but came into operation in july 1975. 321 | p a g e the role of regional economic and political groups in the globalization process: a case study of the economic community of west african states (ecowas) (1982-2002) akwara, azalahu f.; ezirim, gerald e.; udaw, joseph e.; akwara, ngozi f. the major objectives of these regional integrations especially the ecowas is the establishment of an economic union in the sub-region and the achievement of full economic and monetary integration of the subregion: and the harmonization of economic, industrial and agricultural policies of the members of the ecowas. to develop into an economic union just like the european union (eu) the ecowas is supposed to undergo various stages of development just like the european union. (osagie, 1976) the first stage is the free trade area (fta), which is the lowest form of economic integration. at this stage the member states eliminate import duties from member states but each member is free to impose its own duty or import tariff on non-members which may be different from those imposed by other member states on the non-member. after a period of time, the integration would move into the next stage being a customs union (cu). the customs union is reached when the members of the regional group eliminate import tariffs on goods from other members of the group; but all members of the group maintain a common import tariff on non-members. from the stage of the cu, the regional integration would progress into a common market (cm). the common market has all the features of the customs union and also provides unrestricted movement of labour and capital among the member states. from common market, the regional integration would move into the stage of economic union (eu). the economic union has all features of the common market and goes on to provide for the central coordination and harmonization of policies in such areas as planning industrialization, monetary policy and exchange rate determination. this is the stage the ecowas hopes to attain before the end of the next decade. all regional economic groups by their very nature integrate their members and act as a bloc on matters affecting members of the regional group and other regional blocs and non-member nations. whereas trade and investment barriers are removed from members of a regional group, trade and investment barriers are built through the integration process against non-members. (these protective walls are intended to provide an economic union within the group at the exclusion of nonmembers and protect the interest of domestic capital within the region as well as to confer on the region an advantage that would make it strong to compete around the world with other regional blocs. capital needs secure environment to thrive. it needs political stability and to some extent the harmonization of laws among the nation-states in the integration, hence the need for regional defense groups that would help to maintain peace and security in the regions in particular and the world at 322 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com large. the ecowas was firstly designed as a regional economic integration but its military activities in the recent times in the sub-region have turned it into a regional defence group also. the ecowas has successfully restored peace and democratic rule in liberia and sierra leone and is undertaking peace enforcement missions in various parts of the sub-region. looking at the developmental stages of the regional integrations, their structures and functions at each stage of the development and their ultimate objectives—political and economic union. these aims and objectives and the methods of achieving them seem to be contradictory to the aims and objectives of the globalization process which is the breaking down of the trading and investment barriers; and the free movement of capital and personnel across national boundaries globally. since the regional integrations are hegemonic in nature— hedging the regional groups against non-members of the groups and against other regional groups, it becomes pertinent to examine their roles, especially the ecowas, in the globalization process if they are vehicles or obstacles in the globalization process. 1. regional integration theory and the globalization process the neo-functional theory of integration was first used by mitrany (1943); refined and popularised by haas (1961; 1964; 1968,) haas and schimitter (1964); and has been used by lindberg (1965; 1963); lindberg and schingold (1970); and jacob and tescano (1964); and a host of other scholars in the study of regional integration. the central theme of the integration theory is that the modern state due to developments in technology and rapid industrialization is incapable of maintaining economic growth and existing economic structures through its own efforts. invariably, the modern state cannot satisfy the needs and aspirations of their citizens when acting alone because they are confined to definite territories whereas the needs of their citizens cut across national boundaries. consequently, the nation-states are forced into a number of independent relations with others. and these sets of relationships are beyond the control of the industrialized states. once the new relationships have been established, they give rise to the formation of new bodies or agencies that are supranational in nature to whom the integrating states delegate part of their authority or sovereignty. the supranational body works to satisfy the whole nations involved in the integration process rather that of an individual state the supranational body whose birth was as a result of the economic and technical cooperation of the nations would later assume an independence of the nations and then encroaches upon the 323 | p a g e the role of regional economic and political groups in the globalization process: a case study of the economic community of west african states (ecowas) (1982-2002) akwara, azalahu f.; ezirim, gerald e.; udaw, joseph e.; akwara, ngozi f. responsibilities and powers which were formally within the premise of the national governments that gave birth to it. as a result of this encroachment, the freedom and authority of the cooperating nations are reduced with respect to the issues covered in the integration. the managers of the supra-national body are drawn from the various nations involved in the cooperation and are isolated and insulated from national competition and political intervention because they represent the conception of common good, and are also free from international conflict. and the supranational entity which they administer is expected to undergo a metamorphosis into a political union with time. the concept of integration has been used by scholars and statesmen to mean different things at different times. at the formative stage of the european union (eu), as lindberg (1963) noted, it meant either political unification or economic and political cooperation. jacob and tescano (1964) define the term as the minimal consensus which permits the maintenance of a social order, the functioning of the system of public and private institutions for the production and distribution of goods and services considered as essential, the recognition of the minimal rights of groups within a system, and the provision of those services necessary to maintain the system and permit its normal growth and change. deutsch (1957) speaks of international integration as a process leading to the creation of security community which is based on the assumption that the political leaders of the integrating units and their societies in general cease to contemplate the possibility of mutual warfare; the integrating units ceasing to allocate resources for the building of military capabilities aimed at each other; and the mutual but rigorous observation by the integrating state of certain rules of international laws and bilateral treaties when collective objectives of the integrating states are not in harmony. this of course involves the avoidance of military threats, meeting treaty obligations, avoidance of interference in the internal affairs of the integrating states and the observance of normal diplomatic protocol and etiquette in all transactions and negotiations. haas (1964; 1968) sees it as a process whereby political architects in several distinct national settings are persuaded to shift their loyalties, expectations and political activities towards a new centre whose institutions possess and demand jurisdiction or power over existing national states. the study of regional integration is concerned with explaining how and why states should cease to be completely sovereign; how and why they voluntarily mingle and mix with their neighbours and not lose their factual attribute of sovereignty, while at the same time, they acquire new techniques of solving problems and disputes among 324 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com themselves. haas and schmitter (1964) have argued that the economic integration of a number of nations would automatically lead to a political unity. in their view, the initial step to integration is economic but these have political implications especially as to how much power or national sovereignty is necessary to delegate to the union. and although crises occur over the need to take political decisions, disintegration does not occur. this is because each nation-state sees benefits in abiding by the integration process and penalties in abandoning it. haas’ analysis also postulates that as pressure groups and business entities gain from the process, they are stimulated to urge that the process be intensified. the pressures generated by the business and interest groups are so much that they bear on the national governments to make further integration. haas therefore says that “the superiority of step-by-step economic decisions over crucial political choice is assumed as constant” given all these conditions the progression from a politically inspired common market to an economic union and finally to a political union among state is automatic. however, the concept of integration has come to mean greater cooperation and unity among nation states in the area of trade and investment, the mobility of human and material resources across national boundaries, defence and security, culture and technology, agriculture and energy production. it is this cooperation and unity in areas of trade and investment and all other areas enumerated above that has come to ‘be referred to as globalization or world integration. globalization as kwanshie (1998) pointed out is the process of integrating economic decision-making such as the consumption, investment and saving processes across national boundaries; as the process of creating a global market place in which all nations of the world are participants; and as the shifting of autonomous economies into a global system of production and distribution. as odozi (1998) rightly noted, globalization is better understood when one considers the ease with which trade and investment transactions take place, coupled with the mobility of capital and technology and the unfettered movement of people across the globe in recent times. the emphasis of globalization is on the interdependence of people and nations as it involves’ the interchange of ideas, skills, technology and resources within the universal market economy continuously. thus olusanya (1998) has described it as a world-wide movement from local to universal socioeconomic system aimed at the unification of the world market. and this unification as fafowara (1998) pointed out is done through trade libralization, global reduction of tariffs and the opening of new markets. as kwanashie (1998) also observed, the thing en-vogue over globalization is the interdependence of 325 | p a g e the role of regional economic and political groups in the globalization process: a case study of the economic community of west african states (ecowas) (1982-2002) akwara, azalahu f.; ezirim, gerald e.; udaw, joseph e.; akwara, ngozi f. nations as the world is witnessing a significant level of convergence in development strategies as capitalism gains acceptance in countries, which were centrally planned before now. globalization as kwaneshie (1998) views it does not necessarily involve the harmonization or integration of sociopolitical units but strengthens and promotes existing social and political systems. “it is simply a process of intensified and broadened interdependence among nations”. the process simply creates a global market place, which with the development in information technology can be accessed by anyone from any location. the internal laws of nations would still have to operate regulating how individuals or groups would be affected. the process opens up a world of opportunities for business. it links peoples and nations to markets, which were unknown to them, and provides prospect for growth. as olusanya (1998) pointed out, globalization involves free trade across national boundaries, privatization of government owned industries, transparency in government, healthy competition among business units, and adequate information for decision making, comparative advantage and elimination of middle men. but kwanashie (1998) sees the concept to be much more than what has been expressed by olusanya (1998) above. it goes on to include the harmonization of the economic rules that govern relationships between sovereign states; the creation of structures to support and facilitate interdependence of sovereign states, and the harmonization of political systems and enthronement of western culture (democracy) in non-western nations. oloyede (1998) was quick in pointing out that regionalism and globalization or globalism, are not the same thing. globalization in his view refers to the conduct of international transactions in accordance with rules, regulations and procedures establishing the international order or system, and for which global institutions were established to ensure the smooth and orderly functioning of the system. by contrast, regionalism refers to the pursuit of agreed objectives by members of a defined geographic region in the world for which regional institutions are established. examples of such global economic institutions being the bretton woods institutions, the general agreement on trade and tariffs (gatt) and the world trade organisation (wto). such institutions as these are established to provide the mechanisms for attainment of the liberal economic order. by contrast the european union (eu), economic community of west african states (ecowas) and a host of such others are regional groupings. the conflict over the concept of integration (which now is two dimensional—regionalism and globalism) oloyede (1998) maintains, centers more on the expression of the concept of integration as a state of affair (as an end in itself), and as a process. as a process regionalism could over time 326 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com progress to globalization while as a state of affair or as an end in itself, regionalism may veer away from globalism. several scholars have advanced reasons for this drive for expansion in world trade or globalization, some advancing ricardo’s theory of comparative advantage (“the economist”, 1998) while several others see this drive for expansion in world trade and investment as necessarily due to the benefits that would accrue to the nations involved. according to odozi (1998) any nation that embraces the globalization process stands to benefit in the following areas: advancement in technology, new innovations would emerge in it for faster and improved method of delivery of goods and services, capital mobility for domestic investment financing, improved productivity and higher standard of living; international division of labour which would facilitate comparative advantage among business units, better quality products and cheaper goods and services. however some other scholars though acknowledging the benefits of the globalization process see it as being necessitated by the need by the developed nations to cope with the strains imposed on their economies by periods of unstable economic growth (baron, 1962; cockcroft, frank, & johnson, 1970); other reasons are to keep up profit in the use of capital (kemp, 1980); to jump tariff walls, secure vital sources of raw materials and markets; and the pressure of surplus capital at home (magdoff, 1980). whatever may be the motives behind the globalization process, it is believed that it aims at fostering sustainable growth and development in all nations of the world. and a successful globalization would be impossible without the involvement of the various governments of the nation—states. the governments are needed not only to develop the needed markets and to build the supportive infrastructural facilities, which would be extremely difficult for the business units to undertake, but also to secure and protect opportunities for foreign investment and free trade (“business week”, 1999) and the elimination of trade rivals for domestic firms and regional groups where possible. (“the economist”, 1999; “business week”, 1995). the various national leaderships or governments are expected to institutionalize democracy and evolve national policies that are conducive to foreign investment (“times”, 2000). the governments are also expected to deregulate their national economies if such had been centrally planned; privatize and commercialise the activities and services of government owned companies (“the economist”, 1995a; 1995b). 2. ecowas as an agent in the globalisation process the extent to which the ecowas as a regional bloc has been able to influence the provision of:  basic infrastructure within the region 327 | p a g e the role of regional economic and political groups in the globalization process: a case study of the economic community of west african states (ecowas) (1982-2002) akwara, azalahu f.; ezirim, gerald e.; udaw, joseph e.; akwara, ngozi f.  political stability, peace and, security within the ecowas sub-region  efficient clearance and settlement system for all financial obligations  negotiate trade and investment deals with other regional blocs and non-ecowas members on behalf of the ecowas members since its inception will be examined to determine whether the regional integration is an agent or an impediment to the globalization process. 2.1 ecowas and the provision of basic infrastructural facilities for the various no lions or the world to benefit optimally from the globalization process, they are expected to provide the necessary infrastructural facilities that would support the globalization process, especially in the areas of trade investment, communication and industrial production. their governments are advised to seek financial assistance from international financial institutions, and from the developed nations for the provision of their basic infrastructural facilities. since the financial aids for the provision of these infrastructural facilities are hard to come by, one expects that the ecowas as a regional economic and political group would help the various nations in the sub-region to cooperate with one another to jointly provide these facilities, and also secure the assistance of other regional blocs and donor nations to attract funds to the region for development purposes. the ecowas as a bloc has been able to encourage the various nations in the bloc to cooperate with one another in this regard. trans-west african highway is being built to link the various west african nations. a technical group has been set up by ecowas recently to facilitate the establishment of the west african telecommunications regulators association (watra) (ecowas, 2001, p.33). the group comprises benin, ghana, mali, nigeria and senegal. the african telecommunication union (atu) and the african connection centre for strategic planning (accsp) set up by the african ministers of telecommunication). the major objective of the watra is to establish a single liberalised telecommunications market with a teledensity of at least 30% by the end of 2006. the idea of establishing the watra is in recognition of the sub-regional initiative to meet the challenges posed by the globalization process, and the need to encourage a harmonized and unified approach to telecommunications development in africa. the ecowas has also been able to foster cooperation amongst the west african nations for the development of the west african power pool (wapp) to promote the efficient use of the energy resources of the region through the 328 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com integration of their power grids and joint development of energy sources (ecowas, 2001, p.32). the ecowas has been able also to get the member states to develop an industrial policy (ecowas, 2001, p.19). the new community industrial development policy (cldp) will help address the deficiency of the industrial development cooperation adopted in 1983 by the ecowas heads of state and governments which would help provide a framework for the elaboration and implementation of programs to promote industrial development in the sub-region 2.2 ecowas and security in the ecowas sub-region trade and investment needs stable political climates to flourish. investors shy away from nations and regions with unstable and volatile political climates as such areas are threats and destructive to investments and personnel. to create a conducive political climate in the west african sub-region in order to attract foreign capital and investment to the region, the ecowas created an intervention and peace enforcement force—the ecowas monitoring group (ecomog) with the mandate to intervene in troubled regions in the ecowas sub-region and to restore peace and security in the region. the ecomog was sent to liberia and sierra leone, guinea and the manu river union (mru) region the ecomog has successfully brought peace to liberia by intervening in the nation’s political crises. it. has also been able to restore peace in sierra leone and on 1,5 may 2001 met in freetown, the sierra leonian capital to fashion out a time table for the implementation of the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (ddr) programe of the country’s peace plan (ecowas, 2001, p.45). the ecowas has also established an ambassador of mediation and security council (amsc) as the principal organ for the resolution and prevention of conflicts in the sub-region (ecowas, 2001, p.58). the council which operates at three levelsheads of state and governments; ministers, and ambassadors is made up of benin, cote d’voire, the gambia, guinea, mali, nigeria, senegal and togo. besides the amsc, the ecowas has set up a committee of three presidents comprising presidents alpha konare of mali, olusegun obasanjo of nigeria and gnassingbe eyadema of togo to facilitate the resolution of the crisis within the mano river states of guinea, liberia and sierra leone (ecowas, 2001, p.37). and the french foreign affairs minister in his visit to nigeria on 28 june 2001 promised french assistance and support for the ecowas integration and peacekeeping efforts especially in its effort to restore peace and security in the mano river union states (ecowas, 2001, p.60) (ecowas, 2001, p.02) and the ecowas heads of state and 329 | p a g e the role of regional economic and political groups in the globalization process: a case study of the economic community of west african states (ecowas) (1982-2002) akwara, azalahu f.; ezirim, gerald e.; udaw, joseph e.; akwara, ngozi f. government has been holding extraordinary meetings to discuss the political and security issues affecting the subregion (ecowas, 2001, p.36, 17, 58, 45) these peace efforts are necessary to usher in civil societies in the region as these are very important to successful regional integration and the globalization process (ecowas, 2001, p.48) as the ecowas executive secretary lansana konyate remarked, african leaders must take the civil society along if the integration is to be achieved on the continent. 2.3 ecowas and the provision of efficient financial clearance and settlement system in the ecowas sub-region the ecowas has done a lot to facilitate an efficient clearance and settlement system for all financial obligations within the sub-region, and with nonmembers. it has introduced a travelers’ cheque for the region, and established the west african monetary institute (wami). the wami is charged with the duty of establishment of the west african central bank (wacb) that would commence operation in 2003. the wami is therefore a transitional institution and is made up of the non-cfa france ecowas member states—the gambia, ghana, guinea, nigeria and sierra leona (ecowas, 2001, p.06) (ecowas, 2001, p.64). and the various central bank governors have been meeting for the effective take off of the west african monetary zone (wamz) (ecowas, 2001, p.66). recently, the wacb invited entries for the name to be given the currency of the wamz. and to facilitate the smooth take off of the wamz the international monetary fund (imf) has pledged to assist the ecowas (ecowas, 2001, p.43). when the west african monetary zone (wamz) becomes fully operative, it would facilitate all financial transactions in the region, and between the region and other regional blocs; and non ecowas members. 2.4 ecowas and negotiation of trade and investment deals for the ecowas sub-region the globalization process involves free trade and investment across national boundaries. the various regional economic blocs want their sub-regions to be centers for the globalization process, to attract funds and investments away from all other regions into their regions. thus the regional groups have become power houses for the negotiation of trade and investment into the regions. the european union (eu) has been able to negotiate trade and investment deals with the african, caribbean and pacific (acp) countries, through the lome conventions. has the ecowas been able to do this for its members? the answer is not in the negative. the ecowas has been able to discuss with the mercosur—an economic group of latin america comprising argentina, brazil, paraguay, uruguay, 330 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com bolivia and chile (ecowas, 2001). the ecowas and mercosur met on 17 may 2001 and agreed on areas of cooperation. as the executive secretary of the ecowas lansana konyate observed, the south—south cooperation was necessary before their incorporation into the global economy. the ecowas has also held several meetings and negotiations with the world bank. and in one of such meetings, the world bank vice president for africa callisto madavo said that the world bank will continue to provide support for regional projects such as the west african gas pipeline for producing clean energy, and developing the sub-regions infrastructure and human resources. the world bank has been of great help to the ecowas in the harmonization of economic and financial policies of the sub-region and in the implementation of the libralization of the air transport sector of the west african sub-region and the power pool programme. the world bank is also expected to finance the construction of the 330 mkv transmission line linking nigeria and ghana (ecowas, 2001, p.50). ecowas has also successfully negotiated the financing of the ecowas statistical development programme (ecostat) with the imf. the agreement was signed on 9 march 2001 in abuja. the ecostat will help in the formulation of a strategy on statistical development and provide for a common statistical framework for the surveillance mechanism in the subregion, improve quality of external trade statistics, strengthen ecowas’ institutional capacity, as well as improve the coherence between the ecowas and the economic union of west africa (uemoa). specific activities, systems, preparation and adoption of a harmonized framework of national accounts, harmonization and the production of consumer price index; as well as data collection and dissemination of external trade statistics (ecowas, 2000, p.23). and the ecowas has signed a cooperation agreement with the international committee of the red cross (icrc) under which both are to cooperate in eight specific areas in furtherance of their common interests (ecowas, 2000, p.16). similar agreement has been signed with the food and agricultural organisation (fao). the fao pledged to work with the ecowas towards harmonizing legislations and regulations, coordinate and integrate institutions dealing with agricultural matters; and cooperate to get financial assistance to implement common programs and fight hunger as food security is very important if the ecowas has to maintain a stable political climate (ecowas, 2000, p.40). 3. constraints on ecowas as a vehicle in the globalization process though the globalization process after 331 | p a g e the role of regional economic and political groups in the globalization process: a case study of the economic community of west african states (ecowas) (1982-2002) akwara, azalahu f.; ezirim, gerald e.; udaw, joseph e.; akwara, ngozi f. increasing promises of economic growth and development, it imposes a great deal of challenges to the regional integration especially the integration in the less developed regions of the world. of particular importance is the ecowas region. there is no doubt that this part of the world stands in a weak position to benefit from the globalization process as a result of a number of factors peculiar to the sub-region:  poverty and foreign debt burden endemic in the region  inferior levels of technological development as reflected in the low level of industrial output and reliance on imports from other sub-regions  volatility of the financial markets which raise the problems of stability of the financial system in general and capital flight in particular.  ethnic crises which often result into full scale national and international crises in the region which if checked at the onset would not have been problems.  the absence of multinational of west african origin.  absence of good governance, and the supportive democratic ideals, poverty, ethnic wars, political crises of west african region. the ecowas sub region is poor compared with other regional groups. this poverty has prevented the nationals of sub-region to establish and successfully manage multi-national corporations capable of exploiting the opportunities provided by the globalization process. 332 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com of the known one thousand multinationals (global 1000), none is of west african origin (business week, 1991). a country by country categorization of the multinationals as at 1991 appeared thus: the global 1000 ranking excludes companies from countries where stock markets are largely closed to foreign investors and where major corporations are often privately owned. many of these companies are significant global competitors and the list below includes those companies where the annual revenues for most of the years are a little above one billion (us) dollars. they are: country no of multinationals australia 15 austria 3 belgium 10 britain 94 canada 25 denmark 6 finland 1 france 20 germany 39 hong kong 15 ireland 1 italy 19 japan 309 malaysia 2 nether lands 13 new zealand 1 norway 1 singapore 4 south africa 6 spain 13 sweden 17 switzerland 11 usa 359 source: business week, 1991. 313 | p a g e the role of regional economic and political groups in the globalization process: a case study of the economic community of west african states (ecowas) (1982-2002) akwara, azalahu f.; ezirim, gerald e.; udaw, joseph e.; akwara, ngozi f. it is clear that none of these 1000 global companies is of west african origin. only six are from south africa and had been established during the apartheid rule in south africa by the african europeans. if the west african sub region has multinationals with solid asset bases, the ecowas should have been of great asset to them in competing globally with those of other sub regions. the problem of the ecowas as an institution is therefore inability to support and motivate local entrepreneurs in the sub region to either individually or jointly establish global companies that would exploit the opportunities provided by the globalization process. rather it encourages foreign investors to come into the ecowas sub region to invest without devising ways of encouraging our local investors to invest abroad through multinationals of west african origin. one expects that the ecowas as an institution should negotiate with the developed nations for debt cancellation of the debts of the west african nations: negotiate better pricing deals for the products from the region at the international market, especially the price of cocoa beans; campaign for an end to the illegal exploitation of the resources of the sub-region by foreign nationals; wade into ethnic and national political crises before they become full blown conflicts as wars are threats to trade and investment; and create institutions that would encourage the nationals of the subregions to actively get involved in the economic process of not just the members but of none member nations. the inability of the ecowas as an institution to do this has resulted to the poor capital formation for the government and nationals of the region thereby resulting in the inability of the nationals of the region to actively participate and benefit from the globalization process. the deregulation and privatisation of government owned companies within the sub-region is mainly for the wealthy foreign investors. only very few nationals of the various countries in the sub-region are actively involved in the exercise due to poverty 4. summary and conclusion the globalization process has come to foster trade and investment world-wide and to help break down the barriers against free trade and investments globally by making the regional blocs the spring boards for the integration of their regions with the global economy. and each regional bloc competes with one another for excellence in this regard. the regional economic blocs have thus become vehicles in the globalization country number of multinationals south korea 37 taiwan 10 mexico 7 brazil 3 sources: business week, 1991. 333 313 | p a g e the role of regional economic and political groups in the globalization process: a case study of the economic community of west african states (ecowas) (1982-2002) akwara, azalahu f.; ezirim, gerald e.; udaw, joseph e.; akwara, ngozi f. process. in regions where political and or security groups are available as the north atlantic treaty organisation (nato) they are used for the maintenance of peace and security in the region as this is vital for trade and investments. where they are lacking, the regional economic groups make provisions for their emergence as the ecowas and the south african development commission (sadc) have done. from the discussion above, it is evident that the ecowas as a regional economic and political group is a vehicle in the globalization process. it has helped the nations within the sub-region to provide basic infrastructure needed for the development of the sub-region. these infrastructural facilities are necessary for the globalization process. it has also been able to negotiate with other regional blocs and international financial organizations in funding some of the investments in the region. the ecowas has worked hard to maintain peace and security in the subregion through its military outfitthe ecomog. and the ecomog has been endorsed by the united nations security council (unsc) as a regional security organization in the ecowas sub region and lends its support to the ecomog operations in the region. peace and security are very essential for trade and investment worldwide. the ecowas has established efficient clearance and settlement system for all forms of financial transactions between the ecowas members, and between the ecowas and other regional blocs or nonmember states through the establishment of the wacb, wamz and a host of other measures designed to facilitate financial transactions in the region. the regional bloc has also been able to enter into negotiations with other international agencies to attract funds for investment in the region on behalf of the ecowas members. however, the ecowas as a regional economic group has not been able to influence investment by the nationals of the ecowas region in other nations due to the poverty level in the region and the underdeveloped nature of the region unlike other regional blocs. “the young nature of the ecowas may have also contributed to this failure. the ecowas is the youngest regional economic bloc.” finally, the ecowas has not been able to influence investment by nationals of the sub-region in other regions because of the absence of multinationals of west african origin. of the one thousand multinational corporations known worldwide, only about five are of african origin and none is of west african origin. the poverty endemic to the west african sub-region are traceable to heavy debt burden of the nations in the region, low commodity pricing of their products, lack of access market for some 334 314 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com of the products from the sub-region, adverse weather conditions, ethnic wars and political crises; capital flight and irresponsible political leadership. besides these shortcomings, one can rightly say that the ecowas as a regional economic and political group is indeed a vehicle in the globalization process 5. recommendations for the ecowas to perform creditably well as an agent in the globalization process there is the need for the regional bloc to address the issue of poverty in the region and the issue of foreign debt burden. these could be done by ensuring that the various national governments devote at least 30% of their national budget to education, as education is the easiest way of eradicating poverty in a region. this will also help to produce the needed manpower for the globalization process especially in the production of skilled manpower in science and technology. and the foreign debt burden can be addressed by the ecowas as a regional bloc by asking that the creditor nations cancel the debts of the west african nations as this creates untold hardship to the peoples of the region. the problems of inferior levels of technological development in the west african sub-region can be addresses by the ecowas by insisting that the developed nations and foreign investors interested in investing in the ecowas sub-region relocate some of their manufacturing plants from europe and america to the west african subregion. a situation where the relocation is within europe, america, asia and latin america only leaves the west african sub-region permanently as produce of basic industrial raw materials and not processor and producer of finished products unless the situation is reversed the west africa subregion will not benefit from the globalization process and the attendant acquisition of technology. the problem of the volatility of the financial market with its attendant problem of financial instability in’ the west africa sub-region can be addressed by the ecowas by adopting a political solution to the financial problems of the region. the exchange rate for the west africa nations’ currencies should not be left to the market forces of demand and supply only. europe and america have always determined the exchange rate of their currencies by political means. turns and twists in political events in europe, asia and america are followed by changes in the exchange values of their currencies. only those of west african nations are allowed to be determined by market forces outside west africa. thus europe, asia and america would always insist that the ecowas states devalue their currencies as a condition for direct foreign investment in the region. if the ecowas states should revalue their currencies in such a way that they are as strong as the dollar or pound, europe and america would not invest in west africa, and our politicians who deposited their funds in europe and 335 315 | p a g e the role of regional economic and political groups in the globalization process: a case study of the economic community of west african states (ecowas) (1982-2002) akwara, azalahu f.; ezirim, gerald e.; udaw, joseph e.; akwara, ngozi f. american may be tempted to return their loots to the west african sub region. the ecowas needs it take a political approach to the financial market problems of the region. ethnic crises and wars which have torn the west african sub-region apart are instigated by foreigners who want to create markets for their weapons and foreign businessmen who want to exploit the natural resources of the region illegally and forcefully. they always find ready indigenous collaborators to arm so as to start ethnic crises and create the opportunity for them to come into the region to exploit the natural resources. the ecowas through the ecomog should wade into national crises at their inception and nip such crises in the bud and liaise with the united nations to set up an agency that can prevent the illegal exploitation and exportation of mineral resources from war torn nations within the ecowas region. the ecowas should also call on national governments to adopt policies that would engender democracy in the ecowas region. some of the ethnic crises are results of domestic political repression, exclusion from the political process and inequitable allocation of national resources. finally, the ecowas should encourage local investors in the region to pool their resources together and jointly establish multinationals corporations that can compete favorably within and outside the region with foreign multinational. the multinational corporations are the most active actors or participants in the globalization process. no nation can benefit tremendously from the process if it has no multinational corporations of its own origin. references baran, p. (1962). the political economy of growth. new york: monthly review. beyond the national state: functional and international organisation. (1964). business week. (1994). oct. (10), 1819. business week. (1999). dec. (13), 20. business week. (1999). nov. (15), 49. business week. (1999). sept. (19), 4142. cockcroft, j. d., frank, a. g., & johnson, d. l. (1970). (eds.) dependence and underdevelopment: latin america’s political economy. new york: doubleday. deutsch, k. w. (1954) political community at the international level: problems of definition and measurement. new york: doubleday. ecowas news update. (2001, may 3). (45). ecowas news update. (2001, 16 february). (17). ecowas news update. (2001, 9 march). (23). 336 316 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com ecowas news update. (2001, 30 july). (30). ecowas news update. (2001, 29 march). (33). ecowas news update. (2001, 9 april). (36). ecowas news update. (2001, 12 april). (37). ecowas news update. (2001, 19 april). (40). ecowas news update. (2001, 24 april). (43). ecowas news update. (2001, 10 may). (48). ecowas news update. (18 may, 2001). (50). ecowas news update. (17 may, 2001). (51). ecowas news update. (18 june, 2001). (58). ecowas news update. (23 july, 2001). (64). ecowas news update. (25 july, 2001). (66). ecowas news update. (2001, 22 january). (8). ecowas news update. (2001, 15 february). (16). ecowas news update. (2001, 12 april). (38). ecqwas news update. (2001, 16 febi-; joi). (19). fafowara, o. o. (1998). management imparative of globalization. management in nigeria, 34(2-4), 365 -370. haas, e. b., & philippe, g. s. (1964). economic and differential patterns of political integration: projections about unity in latin america. international organisation, 18, 705-737. haas. e. b. (1961). international integration: the european and universal process. international organisation, 15, 306-392. haas, e. b. (1964). beyond the national state: functional and international organization. stanford: stanford university press. haas, e. b. (1968). the uniting of europe: political, social and economic forces 1950-1957. stanford: stanford univ. press. jacob. e. p, & tescano, h. (1964). the integration process: guideline for analysis of the bases of political community. in p. e. jacob & j. v. tescano (eds), the integration of political communities. philadelphia; lippincott. kemp, t. (1980). the marxist theory of imperialism. in r. owen & b. sutcliff (eds.), studies in the theory of imperialism. london: longman. kwanashie, m. (1998). the concept and process of globalization. cbn economic and financial review, 36 (a), 340-351. lindberg, l. (1963). the political dynamics of european economic integration. stanford: stanford university press. lindberg, l. (1965). 11 decision making and integration in the european community. international organisation, 19, 50-80. magdoff, h. (1980). imperialism without colonies. in r. owen & 337 317 | p a g e the role of regional economic and political groups in the globalization process: a case study of the economic community of west african states (ecowas) (1982-2002) akwara, azalahu f.; ezirim, gerald e.; udaw, joseph e.; akwara, ngozi f. b. sutchiff (eds.), studies in the theory of imperialism. london: longman. mitrany, d. (1966). working peace system. chicago: quadrangle books. nemedia, c. e. (1998). merits and demerit of globalization process. cbn economic and financial review, 36(4), 405-414. odozi, v. a. (1998). trends in the globalization of the world economy and implications for niooria. cbn economic and financial review, 36(4), 330-333. oloyede, a. (1998). regional political and economic groupings as vehicles for the globalization. cbn economic and financial review, 36(4), 365-370. olusanya. g. a. (1998). preparing nigeria managers for globalization. management in nigeria, 34(2-4). osagie, e. (1976). elements of economics. benin city: ethiop publishers. political community and the north atlantic area. (1957). princeton: princeton schmitter, p. g. (1969). the neofunctional hypothesis about international integration. international organisation, 23(1). schmitter. p. g. (1970). a revised theory of regional integration. international organisation, 24(4). the economist (1995). dec. 9-15. pp.13-14. the economist. (1988). april 22-29. pp.81-84. the economist. (1995). june 17-23. p.85. the economist. (1999). jan. 30-feb. 15. p.17. the functional approach to world organisation. (1948). international affairs, 24(3). the progress of international government. (1933). new heaven: yale university press. the road to security. (1944). london: national peace council. the uniting of europe: political, social and economic forces 19501957. (1968). stanford: stanford univ. press. time (us) magazine (2000). february. p.48. viner, j. (1950). custom union theory. cambridge: cambridge university press. 338 297 | p a g e the challenges and prospects of united nations peace-keeping missions in africaa focus on sudan akwara, azalahu f.; akpan, nse etim; ibiam, egwu okechukwu; arua, christopher the challenges and prospects of united nations peace keeping missions in africaa focus on sudan *akwara, azalahu f., 2akpan, nse etim, 3ibiam, egwu okechukwu, & 4arua, christopher 1,3&4department of political science, alex ekwueme federal university ndufu alike ikwo. abakaliki, ebonyi state, nigeria. 1(akwara.francis@funai.edu.ng; +2348038032062; +2348072412414). 2department of political science, federal university wukari, taraba state, nigeria. e-mail: nseakpan04@yahoo.com abstract the political evolution of africa is replete with conflicts which have unfortunately gone beyond the capabilities of the continent to resolve without resort to foreign assistance especially in the critical field of military assistance. this study discusses the concept and practice of the united nations peacekeeping missions in africa, the challenges facing such operations as well as the prospects of resolving them. it conceptualizes peacekeeping, adopts the collective security paradigm in discussing the changing operational environment that has transformed un traditional peacekeeping operations to the contemporary peacekeeping methods and the challenges that has led to half-baked results in such african operations. the study highlights the challenges and the prospects of these operations, recommends an improvement in the quality of preparation, planning, monitoring and evaluation of the processes by the security council, adoption of clear and actionable mandates by the un, proper coordination between the security council and countries contributing troops, good risk analysis and transparency across the chain of command among others as necessary steps to address the challenges. it concludes that the un has the capacity to surmount these challenges if adequate support is given to it by member countries. key words: peace keeping; intervention; monitoring; evaluation; mandate; conflicts. introduction the united nation organization (uno) has undertaken about sixty-three peacekeeping missions between 1948 and 2009 with over a quarter (25) of these operations in africa. today, current united nations peace keeping operations stand at fifteen missions with africa having seven of these ongoing peace keeping operations (www.un.org/ peacekeeping). the above shows clearly that africa is an important case study for the analysis or evaluation of un peacekeeping operations and also highlights the level of conflict engulfing the continent. the united nations was established on the 26th of june 1945 with the charter signed in san francisco, the united states of america. all african states are members of the world body the formation of which predates the independence of most of them. within the continent are a plethora of conflicts which heighten the degree of insecurity, itself a clear manifestation of yet another phase in the political evolution of africa. mailto:akwara.francis@funai.edu.ng mailto:nseakpan04@yahoo.com http://www.un.org/%20peacekeeping http://www.un.org/%20peacekeeping 298 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com during the 1950s and 60s, the people of africa were united by their common struggle against foreign domination with their overriding interest being the total independence of these states from the shackles of colonialism and domination from a common enemy. these were the foreign colonial powers that were seen as not only dominating the people of the continent, but also exploiting the continent to their unfair advantage. while the situation in namibia and south africa remained a painful thorn in the flesh of the continent, the completion of the decolonization process in africa threw up a new challenge of nation building which replaced the struggle for liberation. perhaps one of the most critical developments in this process has been the extent to which internal differences, tensions and conflicts surfaced once the common bond of the struggle against a common enemy was loosened by the attainment of independence. these conflicts have unfortunately expanded in scope beyond the continent, thus, entailing a new form of dependence on foreign powers especially in the field of military assistance and peacekeeping (onimode, 2000:11) the african heads of state had frowned seriously against what they viewed as the grave issue of foreign intervention in the organization of african unity (oau) summit at libreville in 1977, but since then the problem seemed to have intensified as more conflicts tend to rear their ugly heads within the continent instead of abating. as members of the united nations organization, african states are committed to the provisions of the un charter, article 1 (1), which demands members “to maintain international peace and security, and to that end: to take effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to peace” and it is binding on them, therefore, when they suffer severe conflicts, to resort to the instrumentality of the world body in resolving such conflicts particularly where the state in question lack the capacity to manage the conflict internally. however, such resort to third party intervention is not out of place as it remains one of the core objectives of the un to maintain international peace and security. this the un does through the use of peacekeeping missions in troubled spots all over the world. the peacekeeping instrument projects the un as an arbiter with the capacity to promote collective security and maintain a world based on international law instead of the authority of weapons (basu, 2005:22). the un peacekeeping mission also ensures the enforcement of the collective will of the un, instead of the partial interest of the most powerful of nations. as observed by alan james (1990:11), “the tool of peacekeeping has proved to be the un’s most direct contribution to the maintenance of peace and security in the world”. statement of problem the african continent has been plagued by incessant conflicts arising from numerous factors some of which 299 | p a g e the challenges and prospects of united nations peace-keeping missions in africaa focus on sudan akwara, azalahu f.; akpan, nse etim; ibiam, egwu okechukwu; arua, christopher includes the struggle for resources, boundary disputes, despotic and undemocratic leadership, and military intervention in governance as well as sittight leadership syndrome of most african leaders. it is therefore stating the obvious that most african states lack the ability and capacity to contain these conflicts thus, they often resort to the un for assistance in resolving them. again, the task of assembling a multinational force as required for peacekeeping remains a daunting one. similarly, each conflict situation wears a different character as no two conflict situation can really be the same even when they have similar issues afield. thus, the un is opened to some great task in the planning and execution of peacekeeping operations. however, the problem arising from this development which motivated this study is the fact that the un faces numerous problems and challenges in the course of intervention in these conflicts which demand some investigations. this study remains one of such efforts in bringing to the fore, these challenges and discussing them extensively in the context of the african peacekeeping experience. theoretical orientation this study adopts the theory of collective security as a theoretical framework. in doing this, it realizes that the entire idea of peacekeeping is founded on the basis of collective security which entails the coming together of troops from different countries of the world with the sole aim of defending and restoring peace to restive nations. collective security remains a system by which states have attempted to prevent or stop wars. under a collective security arrangement, an aggressor against any one state is considered an aggressor against all other states, which act together to repel the aggressor. this is primarily the basis for peacekeeping by nations in the international system. collective security arrangements have always been conceived as being global in scope; this is in fact a defining characteristic, distinguishing them from regional alliances such as the north atlantic treaty organization (nato). in fact, both the league of nations and the united nations were founded on the principle of collective security (wight, 1977:149). collective security can be understood as a security arrangement, political, regional, or global, in which each state in the system accepts that the security of one is the concern of all, and therefore commits to a collective response to threats to, and breaches of, the peace. collective security is more ambitious than systems of alliance security or collective defence in that it seeks to encompass the totality of states within a region or indeed globally, and to address a wide range of possible threats. while collective security is an idea with a long history, its implementation in practice has proved problematic. several prerequisites have to be met for it to have a chance of working (yost, 1977:149). 300 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com collective security is one of the most promising approaches for peace and a valuable device for power management on an international scale. cardinal richelieu proposed a scheme for collective security in 1629, which was partially reflected in the 1648 peace of westphalia. in the eighteenth century, many proposals were made for collective security arrangements, especially in europe. the concept of a peaceful community of nations was outlined in 1795 in immanuel kant’s perpetual peace: a philosophical sketch. kant outlined the idea of a league of nations that would control conflict and promote peace between states. however, he argues for the establishment of a peaceful world community not in a sense that there would be a global government but in the hope that each state would declare itself as a free state that respects its citizens and welcomes foreign visitors as fellow rational beings. his key argument is that a union of free states would promote peaceful society worldwide. therefore, in his view, there can be a perpetual peace shaped by the international community rather than by a world government (yost, 1977:149). one of the most active and articulate exponents of collective security theory during the immediate pre-war years was the soviet foreign minister, maxim litvinov. however, there are grounds for doubt about the depth of soviet commitment to this principle, as well as that of western powers. after the munich agreement of september 1938 and the passivity of outside powers in the face of german occupation of the remainder of czechoslovakia in march 1939 it was shown that the western powers were not prepared to engage in collective security against aggression by the axis powers together with the soviet union, soviet foreign policy was revised and litvinov was replaced as foreign minister in early may 1939, in order to facilitate the negotiations that led to the molotovribbentrop pact with germany, signed by litvinov's successor, vyacheslav molotov, on august 23 of that year. the war in europe broke out a week later, with the german invasion of poland on september 1 (sharp, 2008:155). organski (1960:461) lists five basic assumptions underlying the theory of collective security. these according to him are: (i) in an armed conflict, member nation-states will be able to agree on which nation is the aggressor (ii) all member nation-states are equally committed to contain and constrain the aggression, irrespective of its source or origin (iii) all member nation-states have identical freedom of action and ability to join in proceedings against the aggressor (iv) the cumulative power of the cooperating members of the alliance for collective security will be adequate and sufficient to overpower the might of the aggressor and (v) in the light of the threat posed by the collective might of the nations of a collective security coalition, the aggressor nation will modify its policies, or if unwilling to do so, will be defeated. 301 | p a g e the challenges and prospects of united nations peace-keeping missions in africaa focus on sudan akwara, azalahu f.; akpan, nse etim; ibiam, egwu okechukwu; arua, christopher international co-operation to promote collective security originated in the concert of europe that developed after the napoleonic wars in the nineteenth century in an attempt to maintain the status quo between european states and so avoid war. this period also saw the development of international law with the first geneva convention establishing laws about humanitarian relief during war and the international hague conventions of 1899 and 1907 governing rules of war and the peaceful settlement of international disputes. the forerunner of the league of nations, the inter-parliamentary union (ipu), was formed by peace activists william randal cremer and frederic passy in 1889. the organization was international in scope with a third of the members of parliament, in 24 countries with parliaments, serving as members of the ipu by 1914. its aims were to encourage governments to solve international disputes by peaceful means and arbitration and annual conferences were held to help governments refine the process of international arbitration. the ipu's structure consisted of a council headed by a president which would later be reflected in the structure of the league (claude, 1961:219). at the start of the twentieth century two power blocs emerged through alliances between the european great powers. these were the communist (east) and the capitalist (west) blocs led by both the union of soviet socialist republic (ussr) and the united states of america (usa) respectively. it was these alliances that came into effect at the start of the first world war in 1914, drawing all the major european powers into the war. this was the first major war in europe between industrialized countries and the first time in western europe the results of industrialization (for example mass production) had been dedicated to war. the result of this industrial warfare was an unprecedented casualty level with eight and a half million members of armed services dead, an estimated 21 million wounded, and approximately 10 million civilian deaths (claude, 1961:220). by the time the fighting ended in november 1918, the war had had a profound impact, affecting the social, political and economic systems of europe and inflicting psychological and physical damage on the continent. antiwar sentiment rose across the world; the first world war was described as "the war to end all wars" and its possible causes were vigorously investigated. the causes identified included arms races, alliances, secret diplomacy, and the freedom of sovereign states to enter into war for their own benefit. the perceived remedies to these were seen as the creation of an international organization whose aim was to prevent future war through disarmament, open diplomacy, international co-operation, restrictions on the right to wage wars, and penalties that made war unattractive to nations (claude, 1961:220). after world war i, the first large scale attempt to provide collective security in 302 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com modem times was the establishment of the league of nations in 1919-20. the provisions of the league of nations covenant represented a weak system for decision-making and for collective action. an example of the failure of the league of nations' collective security is the manchurian crisis, when japan occupied part of china (which was a league member). after the invasion, members of the league passed a resolution calling on japan to withdraw or face severe penalties. given that every nation on the league of nations council had veto power, japan promptly vetoed the resolution, severely limiting the league of nation's ability to respond. after one year of deliberation, the league passed a resolution condemning the invasion without committing the league's members to any action against it. the japanese replied by quitting the league. however, the 1945 united nations charter, although containing stronger provisions for decision-making and collective military action than those of the league of nations, it does not represent a complete system of collective security, but rather a balance between collective action on the one hand and continued operation of the state’s system (including the continued special roles of great powers) on the other (kegely and wittkopf, 2001:559). this is one theory that explains the use of international forces through the ambit of the united nations and other international governmental organizations (igos). it is a security regime created by the great powers that set rules for keeping peace. the theory is guided by the principles that an act of aggression by any state or group of states will be met by a collective response from the other states. it stipulates that effective collective measures would be taken to assist any state under aggression by another member or group of states. collective security is based on some basic tenets. the first is that all states would avoid the use of force except in self defence. the second rest on the general agreement that peace is indivisible, while, the third is the pledge by all states (or members of the igo) to unite against aggression and restore the peace. indeed, members must keep their alliance and commitments to the group and agree on what constitutes aggression. lastly, they also must pledge to contribute resources (material and personnel) to form a collective security force to fight the aggressor(s) and restore the peace (kegely and wittkopf, 2001:559). collective security appears to exist as goal in that its application at the international level is limited by problems. most glaring is the unwillingness of countries to subordinate their sovereign interests. it is not often that when a powerful state commits aggression against a weaker one that other powerful states go to war over the issue as it can be quite costly to suppress a determined aggressor. this is to say that the collective security system does not work against aggression by great powers. in fact, only the un’s 303 | p a g e the challenges and prospects of united nations peace-keeping missions in africaa focus on sudan akwara, azalahu f.; akpan, nse etim; ibiam, egwu okechukwu; arua, christopher intervention in korea (1950-1953) and the persian gulf (1990-1991) appear close to fulfilling the idea of collective security (kegely and wittkopf, 2001:560). in recent years, the concept of collective security has been broadened and by the end of the cold war, the liberal premises of international community and mutual state interests provided the foundation for a new idea called common security or ‘mutual security’. this is the notion that the security of all states is mutually interdependent; therefore, the insecurity of one state makes all other states insecure. this new notion was aimed at solving the security dilemma because if a state threatened another state, its own security interest would be diminished (palme, 1992:28). peacekeeping: a conceptual analysis peacekeeping generally is an intervention by a third party to separate and pacify participants in a conflict. the united nations has performed peacekeeping operations since 1948, when it sent military observers to kashmir, to oversee the ceasefire between india and pakistan, and the middle east, in the aftermath of the arab-israeli conflict. fifty years later the un peacekeepers still had presence in these regions. the number of un peacekeeping operations has increased rapidly since the end of the cold war, with involvement in somalia, rwanda, the balkans and kuwait, amongst others. peacekeeping has tended to involve the introduction of the military, which have the job of observing the implementation of ceasefire agreements and providing a buffer between combatants. there has been debate as to the extent to which peacekeeping forces could or should be involved in the active enforcement of ceasefires, the possibility and practicality of neutral intervention, and the balance between upholding the status quo and acting to change the strategic situation in order to enhance the prospects of conflict resolution (mclean and mcmillan, 2003:400). of the issues the united nations confronts, none is as vexing as peace and security. during the cold war, the structure of the security council (requiring unanimity among the five permanent members) prevented the united nations from playing a major role in issues directly affecting those members. a new approach labeled peacekeeping evolved as a way of limiting the scope of a conflict and preventing it from escalating into a full scale war or military struggle or confrontation. peacekeeping operation fall into two types, or generations. in first-generation peacekeeping, multilateral institutions such as the un seek to contain conflicts between two states through third-party military forces. ad hoc military units, drawn from the armed forces of non-permanent members of the un security council (often small, neutral members), have been used to prevent the escalation of conflicts and to keep the warring parties apart until the dispute can be settled. these troops operate under un 304 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com auspices, supervising armistices, trying to maintain ceasefires, and physically interposing themselves in a buffer zone between warring parties (mingst, 2004:172). in the post-cold war era, un peacekeeping has expanded to address different types of conflicts and takes on new responsibilities. whereas firstgeneration activities primarily address interstate conflict, second-generation peacekeeping activities respond to civil war and domestic unrest, much of it stemming from the rise of ethnonationalism. to deal with these new conflicts, second-generation peacekeepers have taken on a range of both military and nonmilitary functions. militarily, they have aided in the verification of troop withdrawal such as the withdrawal of the soviet union from afghanistan, and have separated warring factions until underlying issues could be settled as was the case with bosnia. sometimes, resolving underlying issues has meant organizing and running national elections, as were the cases in cambodia and namibia; sometimes it has involved implementing human rights agreements as was the case in central america. at other times un peacekeepers have tried to maintain law and order in falling or disintegrating societies by aiding in civil administration, policing, and rehabilitating infrastructure, as in somalia. peacekeepers have equally provided humanitarian aid, supplying food, medicine, and a secure environment in part of an expanded version of human rights, as followed in several missions in africa (mingst, 2004:173). peacekeeping was originally an operation that involves military personnel but over the years, modern peacekeeping has now evolved to a point where economic, political and social issues are involved. accordingly, this new trend is popularly described as peace support operations (psos), an expression used to describe the total gamut of plans, policies and actions geared operations towards preventing, managing operations and resolving conflict as well as restoring and maintaining peace in a conflict environment. psos began with military observation (or observer mission) and were later expanded to cover every facet of peacekeeping (gbor, 2003:12). there is also the concept of peacemaking which is the first sequence for finding peaceful solutions to international conflicts. peacemaking in diplomatic parlance means achieving a truce or ending hostilities. it is the process of diplomacy, mediation, negotiation or other forms of peaceful settlement that arranges and ends disputes. peacemaking is aimed at resolving issues that led to conflicts. equally, there is the concept of peace enforcement which was elaborated by the former un secretary general boutros ghali (1992:12) which he said unlike traditional peacekeeping operations involves the use of force under the aegis of the international 305 | p a g e the challenges and prospects of united nations peace-keeping missions in africaa focus on sudan akwara, azalahu f.; akpan, nse etim; ibiam, egwu okechukwu; arua, christopher organization to deal with the aggressor. peace enforcement is thus the application of military force or the threat of its use to compel compliance with resolutions and sanctions aimed at maintaining or restoring peace and order. the stage for peace enforcement operations was set by his bold ‘agenda for peace’ where he proposed the creation of standing un “peace enforcement force” mandated to take coercive action against belligerents to enforce a ceasefire if either party violates it. peace building remains another concept in the series of peacekeeping and involves the creation of conditions that make war unlikely. these are predominantly post conflict actions, diplomatic and economic actions that strengthen and rebuild governmental infrastructure and institutions such that the recourse to armed hostilities is avoided. peace building is also a positive continuous cooperative human endeavour which builds bridges between belligerents that enhances understanding and communication. inspired by the liberal principle that improving the quality of peoples’ lives can reduce the need for military arsenals, the un is increasingly involved in managing ethnic warring parties, human rights violations, forced migration, world hunger, political instability, humanitarian needs, the equality of women, protection of children and a host of other world problems that influence the quality of life and serve as potential wellsprings for aggression (united nations, 1992:4). un peacekeeping has had successes and failures, as illustrated by the two african cases of namibia and rwanda. namibia (formerly south-west africa), a former germany colony, was administered by south africa following the end of world war 1. over the years, pressure was exerted on south africa to relinquish control of the territory and grant namibia independence. though the process of disengagement was tough because south africa refused to consider change, citing security concerns, as long as soviet-backed cuban troops occupied neighbouring angola, the un transition assistance group in namibia (untag) played a vital role in managing the move from war to ceasefire and then to independence. the operation in namibia became the model for un peacekeeping in cambodia in the early 1990s and in east timor in the late 1990s ((mingst and karns, 2000:24). but not all un peacekeeping operations have been successful. rwanda is an example of where a limited un peacekeeping force proved to be insufficient and where genocide subsequently escalated as the international community watched and did nothing. rwanda and neighbouring burundi have seen periodic outbreaks of devastating ethnic violence between hutus and tutsis since 1960s. the trend of conflict continued despite the 1993 peace agreement that called for a un force (the un assistance mission in 306 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com rwanda, unamir) to monitor the ceasefire. large-scale violence was to erupt less than a year later, following the death of the rwandan president in a plane crash, with hutu extremists in the rwandan military and police slaughtering minority tutsis, resulting in 750,000 tutsi deaths in a ten-week period. unamir was not equipped to handle the crisis, and despite its commander’s call for more troops, the un security council failed to respond until it was too late. eventually, unamir did establish a humanitarian protection zone and provided security reliefsupply depots and escorts for aid convoys while its personnel performed reconstruction tasks. but the mission is clouded by its initial failure (mingst and karns, 2000:24). the evolution of the united nations peacekeeping mission in africa the level of development of african states and their incapacity to effectively manage and resolve conflicts amongst themselves is largely responsible for their eliciting for external interventions in their crises. following the excellent performance of nigerian led ecomog peacekeeping forces in stabilizing and restoring peace, law and order in liberia between 1990 and 1997 which led liberians in gratitude to god to coin the cliche “thank god for ecomog, the involvement of african states in peacekeeping operations have known no bounds. in fact, this singular expression by liberians tells volumes about the relevance and positive impact of peacekeeping missions globally (basu, 2009:76). prior to the emergence of the united nations in 1945, there were no previous practices of peacekeeping. the world powers had other methods of trying to maintain international peace and security. these methods were however localized to regions and carried out by a collection of few powerful nations and their kings mainly on ad hoc basis. for example, the concert of europe as well as the league of nations helped in no small measure to enforce peaceful coexistence amongst nations. these ad hoc measures did not however do much to maintain world peace and security, and was proven by the outbreak of the first world war between 1914-1918. at the end of this war, the league of nations was established as mankind’s first attempt to internationalize the mechanism for maintaining world peace and security. the league had the principle of unanimity to guide and determine its actions against aggressors. this principle crippled the league as it could not control the aggressive tendencies of its ambitious members especially germany. this inability of the league to tame aggressors in its rank paved way for the second world war in 1939-1945 (vogt and ekoko 1993:78). it was after this war in 1945 that the victorious powers (usa, ussr, france and britain) established the united nations organization to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war and to ensure by the acceptance of principles 307 | p a g e the challenges and prospects of united nations peace-keeping missions in africaa focus on sudan akwara, azalahu f.; akpan, nse etim; ibiam, egwu okechukwu; arua, christopher and the institution of methods that armed force shall not be used save in the common interest (un charter, 1945). with these solemn words, the un took up as its primary objective and responsibility “to maintain international peace and security” (un charter, 1945). the strategy for pursuing and achieving this objective was collective security enforcement action as enshrined in chapters vi and vii of its charter and specifically in articles 41 and 42. however, the powers of the un in this direction begins in article 39 which empowers the un security council to assess threats to international peace and security while article 40 enables the security council to commence the processes of intervention which may be preventive diplomacy as a first step. article 41 specifically empowers the security council to impose sanctions against an aggressor by empowering the security council to: take such action by air, sea or land forces as may be necessary to maintain or restore international peace and security. such actions may include demonstrations, blockades, and other operations by air, sea, or land forces of members of the united nations” (un charter,1945). the collective security principle means that when a un member fails in its treaty obligations to settle disputes with other members peacefully and opts instead for the use of force, the un as a body will invoke its charter provisions and take military action against that member state. but no sooner had the un charter came into effect that the cold war began between the us and defunct ussr which were then the two super-powers in the world. this cold war frustrated the application of the principle of collective security in which the permanent members of the security council had to block any military action by the un against themselves and their allies. the un therefore decided to embark on peacekeeping method as an alternative strategy for maintaining international peace and security; and the use of troops contributed by its members (basu, 2009:77). the un mounted its first peace mission, the united nations truce supervision organization (untso) in palestine in 1948. untso comprised of unarmed military observers deployed to supervise the truce during the first arab-israeli war of 1948. then in 1956, the un deployed its first armed peacekeeping force, the united nations emergency force (unef) to the suez canal to interpose between egypt and israel during the suez canal conflict which led to the occupation of the canal by french and british military forces. in 1960, following the congo crisis, the un deployed armed peacekeepers to the country and to suppress the secessionist bid of the katanga province under moise tsombe, the un forces had to carry out peace enforcement in order to preserve the territorial integrity of the congo. thus, between 1948 and 1964, the un had deployed peace missions that carried out unarmed observer 308 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com mission, armed peacekeeping and peace enforcement (vogt and ekoko, 1991:53). as the years rolled by, and conflicts got more destructive and bitter, the un introduced other methods like election conduct and supervision, reconstruction of infrastructure, temporary administration of states in conflict, mediation between belligerents, rehabilitation of social services like health and education among others. new concepts arose to describe these various new methods such as confidence building, peace building, peacemaking etc. all these now constitute what is regarded as peace support operations. it is a new concept which grew out of peacekeeping operations of the un. although the concept of peacekeeping began under the un and metamorphosed into peace support operations, such measures aimed at maintaining international peace and security have not stopped at the world level of the un because the un charter made provisions for regional and bilateral arrangements (vogt and ekoko, 1991:53). in fact, article 32 of the charter states inter alia: “nothing in the present charter precludes the existence of regional arrangements or agencies from dealing with such matters relating to the maintenance of international peace and security as are appropriate for regional action, provided that such arrangements or agencies and their activities are consistent with the purposes and principles of the united nations” (un charter, 1945). the department of peacekeeping operations (dpko) has clearly spelt out the task of any peacekeeping mission as: 1. deploy to prevent the outbreak of conflict or spillover of conflict across borders. 2. stabilize conflict situations after a ceasefire to create an environment for parties to reach a lasting agreement. 3. assist in implementing comprehensive peace agreement 4. lead states or territories through a transition to stable government based on democratic principles, good governance and economic development (oguntomisin, 2004:33). from the above, one can conclude that whatever the concept of peacekeeping and its transformation are, the mission mandate of any peacekeeping operation whether those with direct military activity or non-military activity, enforcement of outright intervention or mere physical presence of un force to mitigate conflict, they all come under peacekeeping operations. therefore, peacekeeping has to be with the consent of conflict-affected states. it must be under the mandate of the un or with the authorization of the un for a state actor or regional body to undertake any peacekeeping operation as was the case with ecomog in liberia. the un has been in the business of preventing wars 309 | p a g e the challenges and prospects of united nations peace-keeping missions in africaa focus on sudan akwara, azalahu f.; akpan, nse etim; ibiam, egwu okechukwu; arua, christopher and alleviating human suffering for the past 60 years and significant numbers of these efforts are in africa. un peacekeeping in africa out-number peacekeeping operations in any other continents of the world. it has undertaken the following peacekeeping operations in africa: i. united nations mission in ethiopia and eritrea (unmee) ii. united nations observer mission in angola (monua) iii. united nations angola verification mission 111 (unavem111) iv. united nations angola verification mission 11 (unavem11) v. united nations angola verification mission 1 (unavem1) vi. united nations operation in burundi (onub) vii. united nations operations in cote d’ivoire (unoci) viii. (viii) united nations mission in central african republic (minurca) ix. united nations aouzou observer group (unasog) x. united nations operation the congo (onuc) xi. united nations operation mission in liberia (unomil) xii. united nations transition assistance group (untag) xiii. (xiii) united nations assistance mission for rwanda (unamir) xiv. united nations observer mission uganda-rwanda (unomur) xv. united nations observer mission in sierra leone (unamsil) xvi. united nations operation in somalia 1(unisom 1) xvii. (xvii) united nations operation in somalia 11 (unisom 11) xviii. (xviii) united nations mission in the central african republic and chad (minurcat) xix. african union-un hybrid operation in darfur (unamid) xx. united nations mission in liberia (unmil) xxi. united nations organization mission in the democratic republic of the congo (monuc) xxii. (xxii) united nations mission for the referendum in western sahara (minurso) (www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/ info/mission). in africa, nigeria, egypt, ghana, ethiopia, rwanda and senegal provide most of the uniformed personnel in the last seven un peacekeeping operations in africa. un peacekeeping remain primarily one of the strategic instruments for preventing wars and alleviating the suffering of war-affected persons in africa. due to the complex nature of current wars, the un is increasingly utilizing regional and subregional governmental groupings in africa for the purpose of peacekeeping (oguntomisin, 2004:34). http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/info/mission http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/info/mission 310 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com the challenges of un peacekeeping missions in africa the un peacekeeping has no doubt gained prominence as an instrument of providing hope of peace for the people and governments of african states. however, the organization has suffered fundamental flaws arising from some challenges its operations have faced and are yet facing in the african continent, especially in sudan, our case study as well as in somalia, rwanda, democratic republic of congo (drc), and chad among others. these challenges is what this section of our study intends to address. the first challenge faced by the operations in sudan is the exponential rise in the number of un peacekeeping missions in africa. in recent times, the number of un peacekeeping operation has witnessed unprecedented sharp rise beyond the expectation of actors in the international system including the un itself. this sheer volume and growth of peacekeeping has put the un and its mission under intense constraints in the continent, a development which affects its operations in these countries as the number of personnel needed for peacekeeping operations has been drastically reduced by the fact of their spread to conflict spots in africa. in less than seven years, the un has launched eight missions in rapid succession. in fact, currently there are about seven peacekeeping missions in africa alone and as at 2003, the un had about 36,000 uniformed personnel deployed around the world including sudan although the number has risen to about 100,000 (rice, 2007:33). due to the rise in conflict spots in africa, it has been difficult for the un to generate, recruit and deploy the number of personnel required for these operations. thus, the peacekeeping operations in africa have been suffering from personnel deficit which obviously affects their operations negatively. the rise exponentially in peacekeeping missions also affects the cost and equipment for operations. this has rightly been observed by susan rice (2007:30) when she stated that: the 2000 reforms did not anticipate that nine years later, un peacekeeping operation would operate a fleet of 270 aircrafts and 17,350 vehicles, consume 1.75 million dollars litres of fuel and 11 million litres of water every day, or more than 17,000 procurement transactions valued at some 1.4 billion dollars in 2008 alone. regrettably, un peacekeeping missions in africa suffer the most in comparative terms to other missions in other continents because of the strain arising from the rise in the numbers of peacekeeping around the world. the next challenge is the lack of cooperation from african governments and their seeming hypocrisy in dealing with un mission. this challenge is not only peculiar to africa but extends to other missions all over the world. the united nations mission in sudan 311 | p a g e the challenges and prospects of united nations peace-keeping missions in africaa focus on sudan akwara, azalahu f.; akpan, nse etim; ibiam, egwu okechukwu; arua, christopher (unmis) has directly faced this challenge because of the sudanese government’s unwillingness to cooperate with the un mission. unmis was established to assist in the implementation of the comprehensive peace agreement (cpa), which ended long years of war between north and south sudan. after five years, the implementation of the cpa remained incomplete and at a precarious stage as parties continued to disagree over issues of power sharing, wealth distribution, and boundaries setting. unmis continue to depend on key international and regional actors to encourage the parties to abide by their commitments and address outstanding issues that could have grave implications for the future of sudan (alan, 2009:11). repeatedly, the government of sudan had failed to cooperate with un peacekeepers and other humanitarian workers by denying them freedom of movement and access, refusing visas for needed personnel and at times blocking the delivery of logistic support for the success of un mission. provision of key supplies to unmis had equally been difficult as sudan has a single port, port sudan, on the other side of the country from the un mission’s headquarters in el-fasher. minurcat chad also faced similar challenge of troop shortfall and logistics as the mission functioned from remote locations and was deployed at 46 percent, with european union forces bridging the gap; while the, monuc in the democratic republic of congo (drc) has not fully attained its target deployment as authorized by the un security council (rice, 2007:31). closely following the above is the challenge of over ambitious and at times ambiguous mandates from the un security council. with the nature of conflicts in the international system, particularly, its frequency and recurrence, and the un as the only global body charged with the responsibility for international peace and security. the un has found itself in a situation where it is being asked to take on harder, riskier and ambiguous mandates that their success levels are immeasurable. member states of the un especially the five permanent members (p5) of the security council are often quick to rush the un into peacekeeping mission without necessary support and capabilities it needs from the members. recently, the security council gave a very ambitious mandate to peacekeeping operations in africa, such as protecting civilians under threat of physical violence, including sexual violence in vast and populous territories with limited infrastructure, faltering peace processes, and ongoing hostilities (galadima, 2008:11). as observed by galadima (2008:11), mandates for peace support operations are not usually clear, realistic and practicable and do not provide for the necessary means for implementation. a confusing mandate he maintained, would only lead to confusion with nothing coming out of it. the initial un operations in somalia, sierra leone and 312 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com liberia suffered mandate confusion just like sudan as peacekeepers were equipped originally for traditional peacekeeping only to later realize that the operation was primarily to first enforce the peace among the warring parties. the next challenge is that of internal un politics and its negative impacts on mobilization, deployment and operations of un peacekeepers. here it is discovered that the un is the single largest organization with a collection of sovereign states as its members all with their different political, socio-cultural un, national and ideological interests are seriously taken into consideration. consequently, before resolutions are reached in the world body either at the general assembly or the security council, members often consider several factors, particularly those that directly or indirectly affect their national interest. as such, whenever a state in africa is experiencing conflict that requires immediate deployment of un peacekeepers to avert humanitarian disaster or complete erosion of state authority, member states deal with such matter as a normal game of international politics. this manifested in the security council’s resolution for unmis as it suffered several hurdles because of china’s insistence on the removal of some clauses in the resolution before it could assent. in addition, internal politics in the un prior to declaring and passing a peacekeeping resolution, causes delay which impacts negatively in the mobilization, deployment and operations of peacekeepers. this was glaring in the attempt to assemble un troops for unmis (abubakar, 2009: 43). there is also the problem of culture and language for un peacekeepers in africa. here cultural and language differences do pose severe challenge to un peacekeeping operations not only in africa but in other continents where they are deployed. this issue of cultural and language differences became an obstruction to peacekeeping operation in sudan as members of the troop failed to understand the prevalent language and culture in that country, a development which led to operational delays and other bottlenecks. similarly, in the case of somalia, tamara duffey (2000:142) argues that, while the multiplicity of troop-contributing countries and the disparate organizational cultures of the military and civilian components produced some obstruction to un peacekeeping there, the most significant problems were those resulting from the failure to understand somali culture. according to him, there was lack of cultural understanding from the highest level of decision-making at the un to the troops deployed to somalia, as many contingents arrived in the area without knowledge of somalia, its history, culture and the conditions on ground. thus, peacekeeping needs to be culturesensitive for it to be widely acceptable by the people it was meant to serve. 313 | p a g e the challenges and prospects of united nations peace-keeping missions in africaa focus on sudan akwara, azalahu f.; akpan, nse etim; ibiam, egwu okechukwu; arua, christopher the next challenge is that of unconventional warfare and rules of engagement. nearly all theatres of conflict in africa are characterized or engaged in non-conventional or asymmetric warfare. as observed by galadima (2008:10), asymmetric warfare operations typically include a variety of attacks on transportation routes, individual groups of police or military installations and structures, economic enterprises and targeted civilians. attacking in small groups, using camouflage and often captured weapons of the enemy, the guerrilla force constantly put pressure on its foes and diminishes its numbers, while allowing escape with relatively few causalities. to him, the aim of such attacks is not only military but political aiming to demoralize target populations or governments, or goading an overreaction that forces the population to take sides for or against the guerrillas. he concluded that with this kind of warfare, the theatre and actors of conflict are ill-defined and the method unconventional, a development which makes it difficult for un peacekeepers to achieve results especially when their rules of engagement are not as clearly defined as that of a “fighting force”. often times, un peacekeepers have found themselves being ambushed by rebel forces. this situation applied seriously to sudan and led to nigeria’s loss of seven members of her troops in unmis to rebel ambush who opened fire on them while on patrol and injuring others. in fact, the sudanese case was aided by the inability of the peacekeepers to distinguish between combatants and noncombatants, especially as rebel groups do not wear uniforms and often use women and children for cover or shield. following the above closely is the challenge of inadequate intelligence prior and during peace operations. here, while the un system has the tentacles of its development agencies in nearly all member states, it hardly used these advantages to source vital information that will be useful in times of likely un peacekeeping intervention. the un, perhaps, because it is not a direct state actor in the international system, as a result has no interest in intelligence gathering on member states particularly vulnerable states in africa. this development played out in sudan as the lack of information on that country contributed to the troops spending more time to restore peace and to bring the conflict to an end. un peacekeeping operations in africa have suffered dearly from its inability to gather adequate intelligence before and during operations. the world body has tended to underestimate intelligence particularly military-security intelligence of conflict areas before the deployment of peacekeepers, and even when they are deployed, much attention is not paid to such intelligence need (abubakar, 2009:44). the next challenge remains that of warlords and the inability of un peacekeepers to deal with peace 314 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com spoilers. the activities of acclaimed warlords in african conflict environment have gained prominence with the un system and international community according them so much relevance in peace negotiations. it is a known fact that these warlords have impeded the peace processes and committed gross violations of international humanitarian law. in fact, the activities of john garang de mabior and omar al bashir in sudan, cannot be forgotten in a hurry. garang held sudan hostage as leader of the rebel sudan people’s liberation army (spla) and became vice president of sudan between july 9, 2005 and july 30, 2005 when he died in a helicopter crash. the continent is also abreast with the activities of sergeant doe and charles taylor in liberia, foday sankoh of the blood diamond fame in sierra leone, germain katanga and laurent nkunda in drc who was accused of taking part in the rwandan genocide, callixte mbarushimana in rwanda equally accused of participating in the conflict in the drc, joseph kony in uganda among others. surprisingly, these men are usually celebrated and given wider press coverage by the international press, a development which encourages them to continue in the path of human right abuses and conflict. there is equally the challenge of logistics for un peacekeepers in africa. this has direct bearing to unmis as manuel christopher (2005:66) observed that the troops that operated in sudan had little or no self-sufficiency in both equipment and material supplies. originally, un standard of operation requires contingents from troop contributing countries to be selfsufficient for 60 days, and may require, or agree to fund, nationally held intheatre stocks for 30 days. as a result, contingents are expected to deploy with 90 days of stock. this does not take into account re-supply pipeline time and if, for instance, there is a 14-day ordering, processing, and pipeline time (order ship time) from member nations’ depots, it would be prudent for contingents to deploy with additional stocks to cover this time lag (galadima, 2008:12). most african troop contributing countries to un peacekeeping missions can hardly afford contingents self-sufficiency for the first 60 days before main supplies begin to flow. the inability of most un peacekeeping missions to effectively bring peace and successfully transit to host governments in africa is yet another challenge. most un peacekeeping missions in africa hardly complete their mandate to hand over to host government without the likelihood of a relapse to conflict. sudan and unmis paints a vivid picture of this contention as the effort of unmis almost went in futility as sudan relapsed into conflict leading to the deployment on the united nations mission in darfur (unamid) and the subsequent breakup of the country with the independence of south sudan in 2011. the above is so because host government often lack the security and rule of law capacities needed to take over from the departing 315 | p a g e the challenges and prospects of united nations peace-keeping missions in africaa focus on sudan akwara, azalahu f.; akpan, nse etim; ibiam, egwu okechukwu; arua, christopher un peacekeepers and face the danger of relapsing into conflict (rice, 2007:34). there is also the challenge of civilmilitary relations among un peacekeepers in africa. military and civilian component of un peacekeeping often had different perception of the mission and their roles. while the military believe that their primary responsibility is to secure the environment, a military role which would indirectly assist humanitarian agencies and view the humanitarian agencies as having supporting role, the un agencies and ngos, however, believe that their responsibility is primary and more expedient, as the military is there in a supplemental role, to support their humanitarian efforts. because of the ill-defined roles, the respective organizational cultures of the military and civilian agencies they adopt disparate and uncooperative attitudes towards each other which strains their relationship with a detrimental effect on coordination. in fact, it is on this ground that the un established a civil-military operation centre to deal with this noticeable lapse. several joint trainings have been organized to close the gap between civilians and the military to ensure hitch-free and successful operations in missions (christopher, 2005:67). training, doctrine and the problem of command and control comes into focus as one of the challenges of un peacekeeping in africa. the un peacekeeping operations consist of a multinational force with troops and personnel drawn from different countries that have different military training and doctrine. these differences manifest in operation field and impacts negatively on the command and control of troops in the missions. command and control is a major challenge that reduced the un’s effectiveness because some contingents would not work with or cooperate with others (alli, 2012:53). the misappropriation of the allowances of troops serving under the un mandate by their commanding officers is another obstacle to un peacekeeping operations in africa. the un should therefore device a means by which the soldiers get their allowances paid directly to them into their bank accounts by the un itself instead of their home country governments as this will boost the morale of soldiers serving under its auspices. instead of looking for diamonds and gold or things to loot in their areas of operation, the forces would concentrate on their primary assignments of peacekeeping. the misappropriation of the allowances of nigerian soldiers that served in liberia and senegal under the un by their commanding officers turned out to be very bitter for some members of the troops that protested over such behavior. this nigerian case led to a protest by the soldiers involved in their akure cantonment and about 28 of them were later arrested, courtmartialed and sentenced for life though the sentence was reduced to seven years imprisonment and later to a amnesty 316 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com (pardoned) and finally to compulsory retirement on pardon after about three years in jail. this behavior by the commanding officers kills the morale of soldiers and perhaps leads the combatants into immoral acts in their areas of operation. there were also reports of the commanding officers using their men for private enterprises in their areas of operation while on peace keeping. finally, there is the challenge of poor infrastructure and difficult operational environment which is applicable to all african countries where un peacekeeping operation has taken place or is ongoing. with these issues confronting states in the continent, peacekeepers find it extremely difficult to patrol and provide security for those in the hinterland. in drc, liberia, sudan, darfur, sierra leone, rwanda, burundi, chad and central african republic (car), there are scanty motorable roads, few functioning court system, prisons or municipal governments while under conflict. the lack of these basic governance infrastructures impedes un peacekeeping operations in these countries and extends the duration of conflicts unnecessarily (alli, 2012:53). prospects for un peacekeeping in africa having elaborated on the challenges of un peacekeeping in africa, it is pertinent for us at this juncture to look into the prospects for successful peacekeeping operations in the continent. with the prevalence of conflicts in africa, the un peacekeeping has greater prospects in the continent. the universal character of the un and the unique legitimacy with which it carries out its mandate has given the united nations wide acceptance by majority of african people and governments. the un political and development tools which it has used over the years has reduced any potential of un peacekeepers being perceived as occupiers, rather, most africans in conflict-affected states and even their governments have always preferred the presence of the un in their countries. the united nations as the main organization charged with the responsibility of maintaining international peace and security is uniquely able to mount multifaceted missions. drawing from the expertise of personnel from member states, the un can pull political, diplomatic, military, police, human rights, electoral and development activities together under the leadership of a single individual that is the special representative of the secretary general (spsg) or the force commander in a mission field. although warlords and peace-spoilers abound in african conflicts, the un can provide the political and practical reassurances warring parties need to agree to and implement ceasefires. their deployment can help limit or stop the escalation of armed conflict and stave off wider wars. un peacekeeping offers millions of people in africa the prospect 317 | p a g e the challenges and prospects of united nations peace-keeping missions in africaa focus on sudan akwara, azalahu f.; akpan, nse etim; ibiam, egwu okechukwu; arua, christopher of a more secure, prosperous, and dignified future. with the help of un peacekeeping, war-torn african states are able to better provide for their citizens and meet international obligations, and commitments including protecting their borders, policing their territories, halting the flow of illicit arms, drugs trade and denying sanctuary to international terrorist groups and transnational organized criminal groups. in spite of the challenges facing peacekeeping in africa like other peacekeeping missions, the un being aware of its limitations has in-built mechanism and out-sourced mechanism to help check the effectiveness of its operations. realizing that current realities tend to overwhelm its operations beyond expectation of the brahimi reform, the un is coming up with a reform agenda particularly on peacekeeping operations. it hopes to make relevant reforms that will make peacekeeping more effective and in tune with realities on the ground. un peacekeeping missions in africa: the way forward this study recommends the following measures to be adopted by the un if it must overcome most of the challenges encountered by its peacekeeping missions in the african continent: (i) that the un should come up with a clear and actionable mandate with benchmarks for all peacekeeping operations in africa. (ii) the un should improve on the quality of preparation, planning, monitoring and evaluation of operations (iii) adequate information flow between the security council, the secretariat and troop contributing countries should be given priority. (iv) the un should ensure an effective strategic oversight to overcome resource constraints, poor documentation and as well implement lessons learnt from previous operations. (v) there should be an improvement in the security council’s military expertise, risk analysis and transparency across the chain of command. however, the prospects of un peacekeeping in africa are dependent on human value and its universal underpinning. a global body with a global mandate must resist selective and discriminatory peacekeeping in any mission field wherever such operation is taking place whether in europe, asia, middle east, pacific or africa. the un must deal and address expressly the fears of some member states. the un and its member states particularly those of the north, must ensure that the un maintain the face of a common humanity. these they can do by not only supporting the un peacekeeping in africa with only logistics and materials, but by contributing their own troops to participate in the mission fields in africa. they should also ensure that their troops whenever deployed to 318 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com africa are subject to a unified common command and control of such un operation. conclusion it has been realized from all of the above that most states in africa are yet to get their good governance in place and the politics of conflict resolution between the different groups and their interests is still remote. the continent is likely to be experiencing more conflicts as some states suffer implosion (internal wars) and probably explosion (regional war effects) with the prospects of un intervention via peacekeeping. africa is very important to the existential relevance of the un; equally, the un especially with regards to its peacekeeping operations in africa is the oxygen that has ensured the survival and relevance of several african states. most states in africa would have been extinct by now but for un peacekeeping. despite the challenges, it is glaring that with the internal mechanism (selfcheck) to identify and address its problems on ground, the un has the capacity and ability to right the wrong and keep up with the pace of peacekeeping operations. as reforms is being carried out particularly to ensure actionable and measurable peacekeeping mission mandates, there is hope that these challenges will be overcome particularly if this is matched with enough material and logistical resources. finally, un peacekeeping must be an equal playing field for member states including those contributing troops and those providing logistics and material support. the powerful and rich member states must also make commitment to contribute their troops to un peacekeeping operations in africa to reflect the common humanity that the un represents. references alan, j. (1990), peacekeeping in international politics, london: macmillan press. (2009), peacekeeping in international politics, london: macmillan press. abubakar, a.a. (2009), “peacekeeping in west africa: the nigerian experience” in, jonah, g.j. and zabadi, i.s. eds. peace support operations in the new global environment: the nigerian perspective, abuja: national defence college. alli, w. o. (2012), the role of nigeria in regional security policy, abuja: friedrich ebert stiftung. basu, r. (2001), the united nations organization: the structure of an international organization, new delhi: sterling pvt limited. claude, i. l. jr. (1961), “the management of power in the changing united nations”, international organizationvol. 15 (spring). christopher, m. (2005), supply chain management: creating value and adding networks, edinburgh: pearson education limited. 319 | p a g e the challenges and prospects of united nations peace-keeping missions in africaa focus on sudan akwara, azalahu f.; akpan, nse etim; ibiam, egwu okechukwu; arua, christopher duffey, t. (2000), “cultural issues in contemporary peacekeeping” in woodhouse, t. and ramotham, o. (eds.) peacekeeping and conflict resolution, oxon: frank cass publishers. gbor, j.w.t ed. (2003), the nigerian army in global security, lagos: megavons west africa ltd. ghali, b. (1992), an agenda for peace, new york: united nations press. galadima, h. s. (2008), “peace support operations in africa” in, best, s.g. (ed.) introduction to peace and conflict studies in west africa. ibadan: spectrum books limited. http//www. un.org/peacekeeping/currentops.s html. accessed on 25th may 2014. kegeley, c.w. and wittkopf, e. r. (2001), world politics, trends and transformation, boston: bedford press. mclean, i. and mcmillan, a. (2003), oxford concise dictionary of politics, new york: oxford university press. mingst, k. a. (2004), essentials of international relations, new york: w.w. norton & company. mingst, k. a. and karns, m. p. (2000), the united nations in the postcold war era, boulder, colorado: westview. o onimode, b. (2000), africa in the world of 21st century, ibadan: ibadan university press. organski, a.f.k. (1960), world politics, new york: alfred a. knopf. oguntomisin, g.o.(2004), perspectives on peacekeeping and peace making in nigeria’s precolonial era to the present, lagos: longman nig. ltd. palmer, e.(1982), independent commission on disarmament and security: a programme for disarmament, london: pan books. rice, s. (2007), "confronting new challenges facing un peacekeeping operations”, international affairs quarterly, vol.xxii, june. sharp, a. (2008), collective security, berlin: leibniz institute of european history (ieg). united nations (1945), united nations charter, new york: united nations press. united nations (1992), “international conference on peace building, summary of conference proceedings”, ireland, 28 april-3 may. vogt, m. and ekoko, e. (1993), nigeria in international peacekeeping, 1960-1992, lagos: malthouse press. wight, m. (1977), systems of states, london: leicester university press. www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/info /mission. accessed on october 24, 2014. yost, d. s.(1977). nato transformed: the alliance's new roles in international security. london: leicester university press. 68 | p a g e virtual library as a vehicle for survival of education in a covid-19 prone society by peter okechukwu okafor department of library and information science federal college of education (technica), umunze anambra state cynthia nkiru okey-okafor prof. ben nwabueze library federal college of education (technical), umunze anambra state and joy ifeyinwa anyaogu prof. ben nwabueze library federal college of education (technical), umunze anambra state abstract the study examined the concept of virtual library and some benefits that could be enjoyed by libraries if implemented during this period of covid-19. such benefits includes: provision of access to databases, electronic journal, alerting services, online reference services, library cooperation. the study identified poor infrastructural facilities, poor technological facilities, lack of functional information and communication technology policy, cost and inadequate skilled staff among others as some of the challenges hindering successful implementation of virtual library project in this covid-19 era. the paper also discussed ways in which virtual libraries can provide more effective services to meet the information needs of the users in the covid-19 prone society keywords: virtual library, education, covid-19 introduction library is a repository of stored knowledge. the library is established to acquire, process and make available the stored information in whatever format. in essence, the library can be referred to as the life line or heart of education as it supports teaching, research and learning. according to encyclopedia americana (2014), library connotes a body of recorded information brought together for a specific purpose, organized for use and made available for users. indeed the librarians always organize the information environment to reflect their readiness to provide services that will be of interest and profitable to users. 69 | p a g e virtual library and covid-19 pandemic a virtual library according to gbeje (2017), provides access to tools such as databases, electronic journals, alerting services, electronic reference and library cooperation. folashade (2014), revealed that virtual library can be seen as an electronic access system that provides users with the means for discovering and retrieving information online. the information may be retrieved directly from within the hosting system or through links to other external system. virtual library can be defined to mean a library with little or no physical plant of books, periodicals, reading space or support staff, but one that disseminate selective information directly to distributed library customers, usually electronically (powell, 2010). by this definition, users can access information anywhere they find themselves especially during changing global pandemic emergencies such as coronavirus (covid-19). harris(2014) stated that a virtual library universally implied electronic integration of hers services with traditional library services. he also argued that virtual library can equally be called a desktop library, an on-line library or an electronic library. coronavirus (covid-19) was identified by the world health organization (who) as an infections disease caused by a newly discovered coronavirus. according to the world health organization (2020) most people infected with covid-19 will experience wild to moderate respiratory disease and recover without special treatment. older people and those with underlying health conditions such a respiratory disease, diabetes, chronic lung disease and cancer are more likely to experience serious illness. the specific symptoms, however include fever, exhaustion and a dry cough. other signs include shortness of breath, discomfort, sore throat and in very few people vomiting or running nose. covid19 has taken libraries and librarians to the brick wall where they face the tough choices of either delivering or go into extinction. presently in this covid-19 era, virtual library is the answer to survival of libraries. government are aligned to various approaches which demanded the closure of all institutions, libraries, market, industries and transportation on lockdown mode. since covid-19 is life threating pandemic, it becomes increasingly important to find out the best method of avoiding it and showing transmission. according to umayan (2019), the library today does not only serves as books storehouse but offers comprehensive services to its users from within the stock of the library as well as from a broad variety of external sources. the external sources do not mean only the conventional means like the library building, it may be by virtual means like the internet and other smart technology to disseminate information gathered. librarians can strengthen social media skills to help the users in the difficult situation rising out of the suspension of physical classes and closure of physical libraries arising out of covid-19 lockdown with most of the information services provided through library 70 | p a g e social networking pages (national digital library of india, 2020). in support of this, ladarnharma and madin (2020) posits that librarians can provide and share information quickly, efficiently and in real-time as strategies in response to covid-19 pandemic through their social networking pages like facebook, twitter, instagram and linkedin. also in the work of olaike and adetore (2019) they are of the opinion that libraries need to re-tool and up-skill themselves in the use of information and communication technology (ict) to ensure high level of security on the information provided. librarians need to be well acquainted with the use and operation of audio-visual materials in the virtual library in other to serve the users better. benefits of virtual library during this period of covid-19 virtual library is in the top line discussion this days as far as library is concerned. library as we all know, is the heart of every nation or society. since the outbreak of this deadly pandemic called covid-19, libraries and librarians has been looking for a way to satisfy librarypatron’s without coming to the library. finally it occurs to mind that virtual library can benefit the users if properly managed, for the survival of education in a covid-19 prone society through the following ways; 1. provision of access to databases: virtual library can be of a great help to library users in this period of covid-19 by provision of free access to database. this will give library clientele the opportunity to access any information they need in the library from their home thereby reducing the spread of this deadly pandemic called covid-19. ali (2020) stated that to avoid the spread of the virus, library users are no longer allowed to access library databases within physical building of the library rather than from their different homes. 2. electronic journal: electronic journals also known as e-journal are scholarly journals or intellectual magazines that can be accessed via electronic transmission. some journals are born digital in that way they are solely published on the web and in a digital format, but most electronic journals originated as print journals which subsequently evolved to have an electronic version while still maintaining a print component. according to mian (2020), e-mail can be linked to all library users for effective information on current journals thereby making it possible for users to access those journals from their various homes to avoid the spread of covid-19. 3. provision of alerting services: due to the spread of this deadly pandemic (covid-19), virtual librarians are in a high spirit to inform all the library users in there information database on the latest or current information needed by them to avoid visiting the library thereby reducing the spread of covid-19. the alert information or service is based on one’s area of interest. alert services will make the researchers to have rest of mind, believing that once there is any information, it will surely get to them. according to aina (2014), many users can access 71 | p a g e information simultaneously. from single electronic site from many locations and copies of information can be delivered with electronic speed. 4. library cooperation: virtual library also provides an avenue for sharing knowledge and other source of information. it can provide a forum to interchange ideas from resource-rich to resource poor libraries or from resource poor to resource rich libraries. consequently, all participating libraries will share information through global network of virtual libraries (gbaje, 2014). sharing of library resources among one library and another will go a long way in assisting the library to have access to the material they do not have, thereby at the same time be of better advantage to library users in the sense that they will have access to those material right point from there different homes thereby reducing the spread of covid-19. linking one virtual library with another will help both the librarian and the library patrons and also make education to survive in the covid19 prone society. 5. provision of reference services: virtual librarian receives volumes of inquiries which need satisfying responses in ensuring customer service.smith, jacobs and lippincoth (2010) state that the librarians could simultaneously use the knowledge to address multiple customer queries. this is ideal for services in covid-19 era. for instance, inquiries on call numbers, title of the book and dictionary definitions can be given instantly with mobile reference service technologies. challenges facing virtual library developmentin nigeria in embarking on virtual library project, there are bound to be problems which can be converted to challenges. many of the libraries still operate manually. there is need to create electronic information system that match individual patterns of thinking and learning. there is no area of library operations which the computer has seen applied with tremendous gains. then how much of these technological devices are available in libraries? in the course of computerizing library operations, there are problems confronting the libraries. the problems include; shortage of manpower and lack of spare parts coupled with this problem according to arokwe, (2011) is the problem of constant computer breakdown and low level of electricity supply. eratic power resulted in the burning of some components which could not easily be replaced. since virtual library project and library automation are capital-based, library managers need to inject adequate funds to install the required information and communication technology facilities and infrastructures to digitalize library services. one other approach could be for the authorities to solicit for international sponsorship of these projects. such instance would complement the efforts of the funding government in the area of training and retraining of personnel and provision of information and communication technology (ict)infrastructures. 72 | p a g e there is no doubt that building and sustaining of virtual library requires the proper technological infrastructure application. these infrastructure includes telecommunication, servers, application platforms and software application. telecommunication infrastructure is a major factor in the deployment of information and communication technology (ict) particularly for implementation of a virtual library (ogunsola, 2016). nigeria had recorded substantial improvement in the telecommunication industry over the past few years. as a result, there have been increased competition and availability of wide range of voice, data and internet applications and services. lack of a national fiber network backbone infrastructure, bandwith and connectivity are some of the major issues affecting a successful implementation of virtual library. the erratic supply of electronic power is a major problem as most internal cafes and computer internets are running generators which significantly increase the cost of internet access. maintaining web servers that host locally digitalized materials and other digital resources required web technology skills. the skill of developing, installing and configuring web application in a network environment requires an understanding of how to choose network operating system, handles different level of access privileges among users. librarians should be prepared to meet the challenges posed by these new technologies. by this, librarians with this web technology skills will be required to facilitate skilled information retrieval and to intervene between the user and the information to help users evaluate what they retrieved. according to magaji (2014), the great challenges of acquiring web technology skills to light up traditionally based knowledge in information management is now being faced by nigerian librarians conclusion in this period of corona virus (covid-19), librarians are charged with the responsibility to reach users and enhance their access for up-to-date relevant information using virtual library. in this era of information explosion where many information are churned out on daily basis, virtual librarians are expected to collect, organize, store and disseminate accurate information to the patrons. in this era of covid-19 pandamic, it is expected that virtual librarian work independently to deliver services oriented information to its clients from anywhere they are, at any given time. it is expected that virtual librarians share quality information to its clients so that they will feel comfortable and satisfy. recommendations the following recommendations are made; 1. skilled librarians should be employed in virtual library to disseminate proper information to the user. this is because traditional method of library services are no longer needed in this era of covid-19. 73 | p a g e 2. librarians should be provided with palliatives to serve as motivation as been provided to other medical and health workers. this will motivate them to delivery there services at any given time. references aina, l.o (2014). library and information science text for african. ibadan. third world info. pp 338-342 ali, m.y and gatiti, p (2020). the covid-19 (coronavirus) pandemic: reflections on the roles of librarians and information professionals. health information and libraries journal, 37 (2), 158-162 arokwe, o.c (2011). implementing a national virtual library for higher institutions in nigeria: library and information science research electronic journal vol. 20. pp 15-25 folashed, y.k (2014). attitude of library and information science students in individual training towards cataloguing and classification study of lagos state polytechnic. intellectual journal of management sciences and amenities 2 (1) gbaje, e.o (2014). virtual libraries for nigerian libraries. nigerian libraries 33 (3) gbaje, e.s (2017) challenges of implementing virtual library for higher institutions in nigeria. being paper presented at the 55th annual national conference and agm on nigerian libraries for the future progress, development and partnership, september. haris, m.a (2014). encyclopedia americana usa: scholastic library publishing. laden, a, haruna, b and madin, a.u (2020). covid-19 pandemic and social media news in nigeria: the role of libraries and library associations in information dissemination. international journals of innovation and research in educational sciences, 7 (2): 125-133. magaji, i.a (2014). challenges of implementing virtual libraries for higher institution in nigeria. journal of information science and education. vol. 3 pp 21-32. miam, a and kher, s. (2020). coronavirus: the spread of misinformation. bmc medicine, 18, 1-2. national digital library of india (2020). covid-19 lockdown not to affect your study. study through national digital library of india. https://nidi/.iikgp.ac.in ogunsola, a.a (2016). developing countries and the need for virtual libraries: problems and prospects journal for social science education vol. 3 pp 202-211. umayan, e. (2019). use of social networks for dissemination of information by media professionals in mizoram. a dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirement of degree of master of philosophy in library and information science, department of library and information science mizoram university. https://nidi/.iikgp.ac.in 74 | p a g e world health organization (2020). infection prevention and control during health care when novel coronavirus (in cov) infection is suspected: interim guidance, 25th january, 2020. 1 | p a g e the value of information and the human resource factor by ndidiamaka dorathy nwajiaku department of library & information science federal polytechnic oko, anambra state. nwajiakuonyinye52@gmail.com abstract this paper examines the value of information. elements that add value or make information useful are equally discussed. the effect of information on peoples well being is also looked at. human resource was examined as well as the activities of human resource and its contribution to the value of information and the information seekers. information that has value may be devalued by handling, which is a human resource factor. right information should be perfectly packaged and delivered to the right person at the right time in the right format at the least possible cost, to keep its value. introduction information is factual data processed for useful purpose, thus information has value. the value of information determined by its usefulness to a user. looking at the economic analysis by analyst shows that information has economic value and that it has a vital role on people’s choice of right decision making. the value of information in decision making yields higher expected payoffs or utility, than people would obtain from choice made in the absence of information (berth, 1990). in essence therefore, information can be said to be of value when people make right and good decision from it. valueless information is that very information gotten from non-factual data that fails to change life for better, those information that fails to clear uncertainty and ignorance. the value of information cannot be overemphasized, hence imeremba (2004) opines that the value of information varies with time and to really quantify the value, one has to consider whether it is new, or current, and its ability to meet the information needs of people and the provision of the most fulfilling result from it exchange process. the importance of information lies in its value as a resource and its strategic value in decision making and planning. however, the value of information depends on its currency. once any information becomes obsolete it loses its value. even if people have known much about that very piece of information, no one will desire it again because its value/usefulness has expired. this affects its cost or monetary value negatively. mailto:nwajiakuonyinye52@gmail.com 2 | p a g e information as a good or commodity is something useful or valuable especially when it is time of commerce that can be sold and delivered. information is usually documented and packaged as products, which cost money. money is equally used to purchase the product, (commodity). information products such as mailing lists, research reports, market studies patents and trade secrets are regularly sold or licensed as well as delivered after sale. hence the classification of information and knowledge as asset implies that valuable information can be determined by its cost and useful life. (talisayon 2001). categorically, therefore, one can assert that the value pf information can be determined in one-way by its monetary cost. thus in consonance with moody and wale, (1999) assert that information is an intangible asset which can be exchanged by money or licensing and which delivery depends on the time of its sales. the value of information bothers so much on its timeliness. information to be of value and achieve it goals, it must be delivered to the right person at the right time in the right and correct format at the possible cost (nwosu,2004). any information delivered after it is needed is grossly no matter the usefulness. therefore despite the fact that everybody have access to information bearing material, it is not all have the time, and information literacy skill to harness a useful or valuable information in a library or in many other information resources, in order to address the issue properly the human resource factor are in a better position to provide the user a useful and valuable information. determining the value of information information may be define as ideas, facts, opinions, massage, symbols, signals and processed data that are capable of increasing the knowledge stage of users recipients, information can be valueless in after receiving it things remain unchanged. (imeremba 2015: information is when data is organized in a meaningful farm, it becomes information, it could be an increase in knowledge obtained by the recipient, it is also facts learned about something/someone.(imeremba,2015:125-126). information can affect behavior, a decision, or an outcome take for instance if a manager is told his/her company net profit decreased in the past month, he/she may use the information as a reason to cut their financial spending for the next month. a piece of information is considered valuable if it changes situation after receiving it. the value of information is on function of the effect on decision making. any information that can result in a better output such has value, and when it fails to improve a decision has litler or no value. information stands to be of value only when it leads to a change in life. it must have a surprise effect to be valuable. (imeremba 2015:96) imeremba, (2004:10) opines that if the value of 3 | p a g e information fails, the value is zero or if it is something one know before the value also becomes zero. the value of information consists in its ability to reducing ignorance and uncertainty. the value of information lies on that person knowledge on how to locate, map, collect, share and exploit what he /she gained from the information acquired. and it applied it in clearing or solving a given problem. here the person ignorance is cleared. the value of information is also the very price or monetary value before delivery (imeremba, 2005:113). the essentiality of information depends on the selling price, which is the cost. stratonovich (1965) opines that the value of information is measured by the amount a decision maker is willing to pay for the information prior to making a decision. in determining the value of information the pfece of information should have the following attributes: should have the ability for the acquired information to lead to knowledge and its quantification. it have to really quantify the value i.e. to know whether the information merged with the problem to be solved. the value of information should be something new to the user and not what he/she use to know before and it must be recurrent meaning that it must be information that is skill invoke/in-use not an obsolete one. the value of information should create satisfaction which gives room for problem solving. this simple means that information when provided will ease the mind of the recipient prior identifying steps towards solving a problem. the value of information must be current. up to date information give a background on what is trending in the society. information should always be cost effective, because even the great deal of the so called free information. information is not actually free since a user must pay for computer and internet access, information is worth paying for. information is expected to inform one's ability in taking the right decision. when one is not adequately informed, he becomes derailed from his path of success. information is expected to not be static in nature, therefore it must be consistent. as much as the static nature of information, information must be dynamic so as to adapt to with the trends in the society. information is expected to be social activities oriented. the value of information denotes that information must be recognizable. the value of information also indicates that information must be reliable and full of fact and truth. cooper c.l in (encyclopedia of management 2009). information according to sun .l, in business dictionary (2017) has a cost and a value with the above said, the list of the attributes of information is further enlarged as follows: information is expandable; meaning it, can increase when in use. it can be compressible that is, the ability to be summarized. ability to be transportable, virtually instantaneously. information can be diffu.sed; its diffusive tends to leak from the straight jacket of secrecy and control. information are showable; it can be given away and retained at the same timeliness and it can be available, comparable, objective and has quality e.t.c. value of 4 | p a g e information. makes it human and it exists only through human perception. finally, information must be relevant (cleaveland, 1982) that why it is being sort after, when it came to the issues. the undiminishing value of information information can be copied and recopied at will without diminishing the utility of the original. the reproduction of information does not suffer from physical and natural limits that govern economic goods. for most economic goods, most reproduction is in the hands of consumers. consumption of information does not destroy the original from or the pattern but preserves the utility of information for the next consumer. this is evident with facts that the world now seek for information more than any other thing. the world has now become a society. there is now information explosion in the information society the collecting distributing and achieving of informationare the primary source of income which must be relied upon for economic activities. in achieving this, the human resource services in the form of professional skills are needed for more user friendly interface to the world of knowledge (crook, 1990). the role of information profession in gathering, searching, distribution of information cannot be overlooked when considering the value of information, as information professionals are referred to as human resources. adomi (2009) defines human resources as staff or personnel's who are very important resource of the library. they are solely for the acquisition; processing and provision of information bearing materials. they are the people users consult in order to provide their information needs. human resources are those skills professionals who gather information and make it ready for the user or the consumers, they are also the librarians. resource factors the issue of human resources on the value of information according to sun .l, in human resource business dictionary (2017), human resource is the resource that resides in the knowledge, skill and motivation of people. they are least mobile of the four factors of production and under right conditions. they improve with age and experience which no other resource can do. they are therefore regarded as the scarcest and most crucial productive resource that creates the largest and longest lasting advantage for information delivery and services. they are the people who stand to see that information gets to its destination, achieves its goals. they are well experienced personality. they are the experts who see to the up-to date of information before disseminating them to a user. they deal with daily challenges which dries or which may reduce the value of information, and to see that information is on its latest trends. they have good listening skills as users come to them with various issues. human resources (hr) present and attract their audience attention, keep them engaged and deliver the message in valuable 5 | p a g e manner. (hr) are approachable, there is always an open door policy. time management and self-discipline, they are good at managing their time, they plan their days not only to complete their day-to-day activities, but also cater time for sudden issues. they are good delegates, decision makers business experts, trusted advisor, motivators and leaders (suresh,2014) the inefficiency question on the value of information information is perishable, like most other goods. its value tends to depreciate over time. the speed at which it loses value lies on the type of information. it works with time. the value of information becomes valueless when it fails to be compared with other information. unused information is valueless because its value depends on the usage. information loses its value when it fails to solve a given problem. repetition in given information adds no value (repant, 1999). the value of information stands the chance of recreating, transforming, refine any individual and the society at large on every issue (s) of life. since information has been included as one of the major factors of production. information is said to be: goods, commodity and services according to (wilco, 2017). imeremba (2005:18) assets that information is knowledge acquired or delivered he added that it i, the interpretation given to data elements. he concludes that information is a data structured to be of value in planning, decision making, executing of project, monitoring of programs. it is a data presented in a form that is meaningful to the recipient so information and its value depends on the user's ability to use it for problem solving. conclusion and recommendation without any shadow of doubt, it must be realized that everything that has to do with information buttress element of value like vitality, essentiality, and ability to transform and change life. in this regard, right information needs to be properly harnessed, organized and packaged as well as being cost effective before its delivery to the consumers at a right time. finally this study recommends that information professionals should be well equipped with knowledge, versatility, being up-to date in information trend, pursues information literacy skills and have the spirit to read all kinds of books instead of being an alliterate who only knows how to read but lacks interest in reading. in conclusion, information therefore has value. 6 | p a g e references berth a, (1990). information as an economic commodity. american economic review.80 (2), pp 268-278. retrieved on 26/05/2017. business dictionary (2017). human resources/definition and meaning. file: //c:/ users/user/ desktop/definition human resources.web crawler. retrieved on 26/05/2017 esharenana e. a, (2009). human resources (personnel). library and information resources. department of library and information science, delta state university, abraka. cleavland, a (1982) attributes of information. si.deisunical.it.../value of information retrieved on 23/05/2017 cooper, c.l (2009) value based strategy. encylopedia of management.www.blackwell.reference.com 15/6/2017 crook, a (1990). re-investing libraries for the 21st century. paper presented at the international conference on national librarians towards the 21st century. encyclopedia of management, (2009). human resource information system. file://c: users/user/desktop/human resource management facts, information retrieved on 15/05/2017. imeremba d u, (2004) value of information. introduction to information science: information system and network. john jacob's classic publisher ltd enugu. imeremba d u, (2004) information technology: products and services in a cyberculture enugu: john jacob's classic publisher ltd. imeremba d. u, (2015) value of information essentials of information systems and networking. a perspective on nigerian libraries and information resources. keny and brothers ventures; 3 owerrri road asaba enugu tamili, g.l (2013) assessing the value of information. izvestiya of ussr academy, technical cybernetics 5, 3-12 in russian. retrieved on 26/05/2017. moody t. 0, and wale e. u (1999) economic information. defining the legal boundaries. httt3://www.ifla.ors/vii/gr'/sttlp7.hmt. retrieves on 20 / 05 / 2017. nwokocha, u, ugocha, 0. (2014) issues and factors in the teaching of use of library programmes in nigerian universities. contemporary issues in library and information science education. published by zeh communications road 8 block 8, low cost housing estate, umuahia abia state, nigeria. nwosu, 0 (2017) administrative information management lead paper in the proceeding of administrative stall workshop at nnamdi azikiwe university awka. 7 | p a g e repant, k (2009). rural library development in kenyan. the growing gaps between the inter. rich and inter.poor: ifla. social responsibilities. discussion group paper. http://ww.ifla.org/vii/glg/srdg.7.htm. statonovich r.l (1965). on value of information. izvestiya of ussr academy, technical cybernectics 5, 3-12 in russian. retrieved on 26/05/2017. sun. l (2017) principle of needs analysis. businessdictionary.www.businessdictionary.com. retreived on 15/6/2017 suresh, a (2014). qualities and characteristics of successful human resources managers. file://c:/users?user/desktop/retrieved on 15/05/2017. talisayon, d (2001). series on^ economics of information: knowledge and people column. business world it matters section. http: / /www.geocities.com/serafintalisa/econ.htm. wilco, e (2017). information assets and their values, w.engelsman at student, utwente.nl. retrieved on 27/05/2017 125 | p a g e effect of ethno based instructional approach on students’ achievement in computer science. chukwu ebele georgina; ijere carlyster nonye effect of ethno based instructional approach on students’ achievement in computer science. chukwu ebele georgina chiebele@yahoo.com ijere carlyster nonye nonyeijere@gmail.com department of education foundation, school of continuing education enugu state college of education (technical) elibrary, enugu state college of education (technical) abstract the study was on the effect of ethno based instructional approach on students’ achievement in computer science. the design of the study was a quasi-experimental design. two validated instruments were administered. this design was adopted because intact classes were used hence no randomization. the population for the study was all the secondary schools in the enugu east local government area of enugu state. the sample size was 317 (160 males and 157 females). in each school used for the study, one intact class was assigned to ethno based instructional approach while the other intact class was assigned to the lecture method of teaching. mean and standard deviation were used to analyzed the data obtained for research questions while analysis of covariance (ancova) was used to test the hypotheses at alpha level of 0.05. the study revealed that the ethno based instructional approach is significantly better than the lecture method in enhancing students’ achievements in computer science that the lecture method in enhancing students’ achievements in computer science, and that method and gender did not produce a combined effect on the means achievement scores obtained by students in computer science. based on the findings, it was recommended that emphasis on the use of ethnocomputing teaching materials should be made in the national computer science curriculum for secondary schools, that nigerian culture (indigenous science) should be a component of our curriculum and that teacher training institutions of learning should include the use of ethnocomputing teaching materials as a method in the computer science course content. background science and technological studies are important in modern contemporary society and have permeated every aspect of human adeyanju (2013). a nation’s development at any phase is always linked with science and technology and technology happens when there is advancement in science he maintained. the application of facts, theories, laws and principles provided by the study is called technology ogbu (2005). iwuozor and ogbu (2005) observed that science is an area of learning which enhances a nations development and progress. 126 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com going with the look of things, the current trend in teaching and learning of computer science globally demands conceptual change approach as against the traditional educational method. teachers in secondary school need to change their approaches to make these approaches more effective and relevant to a much larger proportion of the student population than in the past. modern knowledge-based economies are so heavily dependent on technology. porter, ketels and deigado, (2007) stated that having a better understanding of science and technology, and better technical problemsolving skills will enable people to meet the challenges and demands of the work place. usman and nwoye (2010) noted that there is need to effectively teach and learn computer in this 21st century to meet the challenges of better knowledge of computing. the use of computer comes with many benefits. computer makes it possible to empower people who are often overlooked when tools to build revenue and solve business problems are available everyone – it can level the playing field. it accelerates health care progress; healthcare tends to be a pretty high priority when you consider how to improve people’s lives. genomics and personalized medicine are an excellent example of how computer science-driven technologies are accelerating healthcare progress; furthering education, e-learning platforms and applications give students new tools to problem-solve and study, which has changed the academic world. the ability to take classes online is also a huge benefit for the world as it creates access to education for students whose locations, abilities or finances were a barrier. predicting and avoiding catastrophes, applying computer science to prediction can have a huge impact on the world. we are predicting human behavior; we are predicting human behavior; we are predicting climates, seasons, ocean currents, etc. with these tools, we can predict everything from an incoming tsunami to the outbreak pattern of a pathogen; finally, computer positively impacting every area of the society, computer science is a noble profession without which today’s world would come to a complete halt. despite the importance of computer listed above, students’ performance in external examination in the subject is very poor. for example, analysis of the ssce computer results shows that though enrolment of the west african senior secondary certificate examination (wassce) and the national examination council neco by candidates may be high, the percentage failure also remained consistently high since year 2012. both waec and neco have reported low achievement in computer. the chief examiner noted in his report that poor performance has become the trend in recent years neco (2015). one of the major reasons for this poor performance was attributed to ineffective methods of computer instruction adopted by nigerian 127 | p a g e effect of ethno based instructional approach on students’ achievement in computer science. chukwu ebele georgina; ijere carlyster nonye secondary school teachers orji and ebele, (2006). nwagbo (2001 reported that reported that teachers shy away from the more effective activity-oriented teaching methods in preference to traditional lecture method which is easy and mostly inadequate and inappropriate. the manner in which computer science subject is presented to students can negatively affect their achievement and there is need to depart from the traditional lecture method of teaching emphasis on sociocultural environment of the learner. development of a learning that is cultural complete encourage all individuals – not minding age, gender, ethnicity, religious affiliation socioeconomic status, sexual orientation or political beliefs – to develop effective intercultural skills and personal contacts to work harder and achieve better results. on the other hand, lecture teaching method is a “one-way traffic” type of classroom interaction in which the teacher talks and writes notes on the board while the students listen and copy down notes. ogbu, (2005) in her study in chemistry observed that lecture method is students listen and copy down notes. ogbu, (200 that) in her study in chemistry observed that lecture method is a student peripheral teaching approach in which the teacher delivers a prepanned lesson to the students with or without use of instructional materials. student participation are minimal and they are not given opportunity to give feedback to the teacher and of course this method has been widely reported as supporting academic achievement of low performing students okoro, (2011). enhancement of computer learning experiences demands that computer science be taught through practical activities using concrete materials douglas, it (2013). it is in this regard that this study is carried out with ultimate intention to find out the effect of ethno computing teaching materials on students’ achievement in computer which will in turn guarantee wealth creation of the individual citizens and national development: literature search revealed insufficient research reports on the use of concrete teaching materials such as ethnocomputing teaching materials in teaching computer science concepts unodiaku, 2012), more literature search revealed insufficient reports concerning influence of sex on student’s achievement in computing. it appears that studies on gender differences in computing are inconclusive and need further enquiry in this study to clarify this notion of the students. it is against this background that this study intends to determine the effect of ethnocomputing teaching materials on student achievement in computer science. statement of problem. computer is very important in so many ways like production, medicine, building; transport etc (ababio, 2010) 128 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com despite these importances, students achievements in the subject is consistently poor in external examinations. (waec 2016), educators are seeking alternative ways to teach computer science so as to change the situation. the state of affairs has been blamed on the ineffective teaching methods adopted by teachers in impacting scientific knowledge to students. the traditional lecture is not effective enough. some studies have established the efficacy of the ethno based instructional methods in computer science teaching and learning. however, there appears to be paucity of research evidence available to the research on the application of such teaching strategy. there is no consensus that senior secondary school male and female students will respond in a similar manner to both ethnocomputing and lecture instructional method on students’ achievements in computer science? purpose of the study was to find out the effect of ethno based instructional approach on students’ achievement in computer science. specifically, the study tried to determine: 1. the effect of ethnocomputing teaching materials on the mean achievement score of students taught data structure 2. the effect of ethnocomputing teaching material on the mean achievement score of male and female students. 3. the interaction effect of teaching method and gender on student’s achievement in computer science. research questions the following research questions were posed to guide the study. ho1: there is no significant difference between the mean achievement scores of students taught data structure with ethnocomputing teaching materials and those taught with lecture method. ho2: there is no significant difference in the means achievement scores of male and female sse students taught data structure using ethnocomputing materials. ho3: there is no significant interaction between teaching methods and gender on students’ achievement in computer science? research method/design the design of the study was quasiexperienced research design. specifically, the design is pretestposttest non-equivalent control group design. the study was carried out in enugu east local government area of enugu state. the population for the study comprised all the two thousand eight hundred and fifty-one (2851) senior secondary school class one (ssi) students made up of 1416-educational males and 1433 females, who offer computer science in 129 | p a g e effect of ethno based instructional approach on students’ achievement in computer science. chukwu ebele georgina; ijere carlyster nonye all the co-educational secondary schools in enugu east local government area. the samples for the study were 317 computer science students selected from four (4) secondary schools. for the ethnocomputing method (experimental group), a total of 160 (80) males and 80 females ssi computer science students were used, while the lecture method comprised of 157 (77 males and 80 females) computer science students. the instrument used for data collection was called ethnocomputing achievement test (ethnocomat). the ethnocomat was a forty item instrument consisting of multiple-choice questions. the time allowed was one hour thirty minutes. the ethnocomat faced two forms of validation – face and content validations. mean and standard deviations were used in answering the research questions. research hypotheses posed were tested using the analysis of covariance (ancova) at p 0.05 significant level. result the results of the study were presented in accordance with the research questions and hypotheses. research questions i: what is the difference between the mean achievement scores of students taught data structure with ethnocomputing teaching materials and those taught with lecture method? table i: mean achievement scores of students taught data structure with ethno computing teaching materials and those taught with lecture method as measured by eat. group “ pre-test post=test mean mean sd mean sd gain experimental 160 12.05 7.15 22.21 5.91 10.16 control 157 9.45 5.23 16,37 5.23 6.92 total 317 mean difference 2.6 5.84 3.24 table i shot.ws that the mean scores of students taught computer science using the experimental method were 12.05 and 22.21 respectively in the pretest and post-test, with standard deviation of 7.15 and 591 respectively. on the other hand, he control group had the mean scores of 9.45 and 16.37 and standard deviation of 5.63 and 5.23 respectively in the pretest and post-test. table i also reveals that the ethncomputing teaching method group got a gain score of 10.16, while the conventional method group had a gain score of 6.92. the ethnocomputing teaching method group differed with the 119 | p a g e effect of ethno based instructional approach on students’ achievement in computer science. chukwu ebele georgina; ijere carlyster nonye lecture method group in the mean computer science achievement gain score by 3.24. this indicates that students taught with ethncomputing teaching method achieved higher than students taught with lecture method. however, the standard deviation scores of the students in the post test for the ethnocomputing teaching method. however, the standard deviation scores of the students in the post test for the ethnocomputing teaching method group was 5.91 while for the lecture group it was 5.23, indicating that the students individual scores were more clustered around the mean with lecture method than with the ethnocomputing teaching method. research question 2 what are the mean achievement scores of male and female students taught data structure using ethnocomputing? table 2: the mean achievement scores of male and female ssi students taught data structure using ethnocomputing materials. group n pre-test post=test mean sd mean sd experimental male 80 12.05 11.73 22.93 5.10 female 80 11.50 09.85 21.49 6.57 table 2 shows the difference in mean scores of male and female students. in the post ethnocomputing achievement test, the male students’ achievements score was 22.93 while that of the female counter part was 21.49. this shows that the male students slightly achieved higher than the female students in the post test. similarly, the standard deviations for the male and female students are 5.10 and 6.57 respectively, indicating that the individual scores of the male students are more clustered around the mean than those of their female counterparts that had more extreme scores. research questions 3 what is the interactive effect of teaching method and gender on students’ achievement in computer? table 3: the mean achievement scores of ssi students showing the interaction between teaching method and gender as measured by eat. group statistics male female overall treatment mean 22.93 21.49 22.21 sd n 5.10 80 6.57 80 5.91 160 130 119 | p a g e effect of ethno based instructional approach on students’ achievement in computer science. chukwu ebele georgina; ijere carlyster nonye control mean sd n 17.18 4.51 77 16.56 5.75 80 17.36 5.23 157 53overall mean sd n 20.11 3.60 157 19.53 6.84 157 19.92 6.30 317 table 3 reveals the mean achievement scores of male and female students in the treatment group as 22.93 and 21.49 with standard deviation of 5.10 and 6.57 respectively. for the control group the mean scores were 17.18 and 16.56 for the male and female students with standard deviations of 4.51 and 5.75 respectively. this shows that both the male and female students of the treatment group achieved better than their counterparts in the control group. but within the treatment group, the male students achieved slightly higher than their female counterparts. the standard deviations show that there are extreme scores with more in the female group of both treatment and control groups. the table also revealed that the overall achievement scores of male and female students in both treatment and control groups were 20.11 and 19.53 with standard deviations of 5.60 and 6.84 respectively. the standard deviation shows extreme scores, with more extreme scores in the female groups than in male group. hypotheses hypotheses one and two were tested at 0.05 level of significance using analysis of covariance (ancova) the results are shown in table 4. table 4: result of the ancova: tests of between-subjects effects source of variation type of sum square df mean square f-cal sig dec. corrected model intercept pretest(covariate) method gender method x gender error total 6294.81 1739.56 466.57 86.98 42.16 22.86 6234.89 130721.00 4 1 1 1 1 305 317 372.26 1737.56 466.57 86.98 42.16 22.88 20.44 27.99 85.00 22.82 4.26 2.06 1.12 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.04 0.15 0.29 s s s s ns ns a. r square – 400 (adjusted r squared = 380) s = significant at p 0.05, ns = not significant at p 0.05 131 119 | p a g e effect of ethno based instructional approach on students’ achievement in computer science. chukwu ebele georgina; ijere carlyster nonye ho1 : there is no significant difference in the mean achievement scores of students taught computer science using ethnocomputing method and those taught using lecture method. table 4 shows that the calculated fvalue for the effect of treatment (method) on students’ achievement in eat is 4.26 at 0.04 level of significance, which is less than 0.05 set for the study. and as such, the null hypothesis is rejected. ho2::: there is no significant difference in the mean achievement scores of male and female ssi students taught data structure using ethnocomputing materials. table 4 shows that the calculated fvalue for the effect of gender no student’s achievement in the unit of life taught is 2.06 significant at 0.15 level of significance which is greater than 0.05 level set for the student. the null hypothesis is not rejected. this means that there is no significant difference in the mean achievement scores of male and female students in post ethnocomputing achievement test. ho3: there is no significant difference in the interaction effect of method and gender as measured by eat. table 4 shows that the calculated fvalue for the effect of the interaction between gender and treatment on students’ achievement in the posttest is 1.12 at 0.29 level of significance. this is greater than 0.05 level set for the study. the null hypothesis is therefore accepted. findings based on the analysis of data as presented in this study, the following major findings were made: 1. students taught with ethnocomputing teaching method achieved higher than students taught with lecture method 2. there was no significant difference between the mean achievement scores of male and female students in the experimental post-test. 3. there is no significant interaction between method and gender as measured by ethnocomputing achievement test. discussions of findings table 1 revealed that student taught with ethncomputing teaching method achieved higher than the students taught using lecture instructional method. the finding has confirmed the relative effectiveness of the use of ethnocomputing method over lecture method. this made students in the group to record significant higher achievement scores compared to their counterparts in lecture method. the finding is in agreement with unodiaku, (2013), who found that ethno-based learning approach was effective in enhancing students’ academic achievement. this finding also confirms nctm (2013) view that ethno-based learning aim is to draw from the cultural experience and practices of the 132 120 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com individual learners, the communities, and the society at large, in using them as vehicles to not only make computer science learning more meaningful, but more importantly, to provide learners with the insights of computer knowledge as embedded in their social and cultural environment. the data analysis in table 2 has shown that there is no significant difference in the means achievement scores of male and female students taught ethnocomputing using demonstration. this finding is in agreement with the finding of eze (1995), hoputaife (2001), eze (2001) and ndukwue (2000) who found no significant difference in the achievement of the male and female students. this is in disparity with the findings of ibe and nwosu (2003). asoegwu (2008), atsua and abdullahi (2015), who observed, in the science and other science related courses the finding in table 3 has shown that there is no significant interaction effect of treatment and gender on students’ mean scores in the post ethnocomputing achievement test. the finding of this study is in agreement with hoputaife (2011) who found no interaction effect between gender and instructional model. however, this finding disagrees with eze (2012) who found an interaction effect exists between male and female students in science achievement. the achievement. the achievement of male and female students may not vary due to variation in the instructional method, especially with the ethnocomputing method. conclusions the results of this study have clearly indicated that the use of ethnocomputing teaching approach enhances students’ achievement in computer science. thus, the use of native groundnut pyramid to teach the concepts of data structure enhances students’ performance in computer science. the results of the study also suggest that students in the computer science classes are composed of different sexes with varied ability levels and as such strategies that will encourage and enhance maximum achievement by in such classes be adopted. to this end ethnocomputing teaching method can be included as one of the major teaching approaches to data structure in secondary school’s computer science classroom. recommendations based on the findings of the study the following recommendations were made: 1. emphasis on the use if ethnocomputing teaching materials should be made in the national computer science curriculum for secondary schools, as technique to be used in teaching of data structure. 2. teacher training institutions of learning should include the use of ethncomputing teaching materials as method in the computer science method course content. 133 121 | p a g e effect of ethno based instructional approach on students’ achievement in computer science. chukwu ebele georgina; ijere carlyster nonye references adeyabju g.c. (2003). effective teaching of ecological concepts for sustainable development science teachers’ association of nigeria, series 2008. akus press and services. plateau state. douglas, h.c. (2013) “concrete” manipulative, concrete ideas www didax. com/articles concretemanipulatives. eglash, r. bennett, a., o’donnell, c. jennings, s, & cintorino, m. (2006) culturally situated design tools ethncomputing from field site to classroom. american anthropologist, 108(2) 347-362. eze, c.u (2003) effect of target task approach on students’ achievement in senior school certificate inorganic chemistry: science teachers association of nigeria. proceeding of the 43 annual conference 259 illoanusi, n.o.& osagwu, o.c. (2009). ict in education: achievement so far in nigeria in research: reflection and innovations in integrating ict in education: edited by a. mendezvilas, a. salano, martin, j.a. mesa. published by foratext badajoz spain, pp. 1331 – 133 national examination council (neco 2009). chief examiners’ report. mina: niger state. nctm, (2013). www.pat-thompson,net nwagbo, c. (2001), the relative effectiveness of guided inquiry and expository me methods on the achievement in biology of students of different levels of scientific literacy. journal of science teachers’ association of nigeria (jstan) pp.2 71= 291 ogbu, c.c. (2005) the relative effectiveness of guided inquiry and expository instructional methods on students’ achievement in chemistry, south east women in college of education journal (sewij) vol. 1 no.1 okoro, a.u. (2011). effects of interaction patterns on achievement and interests in biology among secondary school students in enugu state nigeria. unpubished m.ed thesis. department of science education, university of nigeria nsukka opara, j.a. (2011). inquiry method and student academic achievement in biology: lessons and policy implications: american eurasian journal of scientific research, 6(1), 28 -31. orji, a.b.c, ebele, f.u. (2006). personalized system of instruction and students’ academic performance. sokoto education review. 8 (2) 149 – 156. porter, m.e. ketels, c. delgado, m. (2007). “the microeconomic foundations of prosperity findings from the business competiveness’ index. “the global competitiveness report 20072008. the world 134 122 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com economics forum egerton university. egerton kenya robert, sternberg (2013). www. instructionaldesign.org/theories unodiaku, s.s. (2012). development and validation of mathematics readiness test for senior secondary school students. african journal; of science. technology and education (ajstme). university of nigeria, nsukka. 2(1), 57 – 71. usman, k.o and nwoye, m.n. (2010). effect of graphical symbol approach on pupils’ achievement in ratio at upper primary school level in nsukka central local government area. journal of mathematical centre. abuja, vol. 1 (1), 123 132 a study of some factors in the students’ attitude towards library usage and their academic achievements in enugu state college of education (technical) eze hycinth osondu (ph.d) & chukwu ebele georgina re-orienting librarians towards entrepreneurship education programme in ict: a strategy for curbing traditional practices in libraries ugwu, m.c., ukwuaba, h.o. & chukwu ebele georgina use of audio-visual aids in teaching and learning: challenges and chukwu, ebele georgina weinburgh m.h., englehard, g. (2009). gender, prior academic performance and beliefs as predictors of attitudes toward biology laboratory experience. school science & mathematics. chool science & mathematics 94 (3), 118-123.egerton university, egerton kenya west african examination council (waec) (2016) chief examiners’ reports yaba. l lagos state. wieman, c & perkins k. (2005). tranforming physics education, published in physics today, 58 (11) 361. egerton university, egerton, kenya william, michael, lachney, and enoch (2015), modeling in ethnocomputing replacing bidirectional flows with recursive emergence. kwame nkrumah university of science and technology, https://www.researchgate.net/publ ication/303001934. 135 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/303001934 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/303001934 81 | p a g e an extrapolation study on the politics of food aid in africa in view of the danger it portends for the internally displaced persons' household food security: a special focus on northeast nigeria victor chijioke nwosumba an extrapolation study on the politics of food aid in africa in view of the danger it portends for the internally displaced persons' household food security: a special focus on northeast nigeria victor chijioke nwosumba phd. department of political science federal university ndufu-alike, ikwo, ebonyi state email:vcnwosumba@gmail.com; victor.nwosumba.funai.edu.ng abstract that africa is in dire need of food security now as never before is not in doubt. this is so because hunger is widespread, poverty is on the increase, population is exploding, unemployment is massive, food prices are skyrocketing and the issue of internally displaced persons is on the rise. to cushion the effects of these challenges, food aid seems to be an expedient option. against the foregoing, the purpose of this paper is to extrapolate food aid politics in africa in view of the danger it portends for the internally displaced persons' household food security focusing specially on northeast nigeria where there are as many as 2.2million idps. adopting futures studies approach, the paper observes from an array of secondary sources that food aid politics in africa had at different times threatened the peoples' food security. the paper argues that in so far as food aid remains a political tool for achieving divergent interests, it has potential dangers for the idps’ household food security especially those in northeast nigeria where rehabilitation programme is ongoing. these dangers are likely to be more for the most vulnerable-women and children. the aid programme has the potential of making women and children develop western consumerism habit which they may not be able to maintain when aid stops. the implication of this is a new wave of household food insecurity arising from detesting some native food, not having access to adequate supply of the cherished food and lacking the zeal to go back to the farm. to be out of the debacle they may go into prostitution, child labour, early marriage, begging or house helping-short term measures that do not guarantee long term household food security. to forestall this danger, the federal government that is rehabilitating the northeast should make sure it handles the aid programme with caution even if the donors insist on business as usual. education of the women and children should be the priority so they can know how best to manage the post aid period. keywords: africa, food aid politics, food security, household food security, internally displaced persons, northeast nigeria. introduction it is impossible to make a sense of world politics without reference to security matters (williams, 2003). this is largely true following the worsening food security situations as well as exponential rate of increase in the number of internally displaced persons hereafter referred to as the idps in africa. these critical security matters are no doubt, byproducts of politics. in confirming this 82 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com claim, clover (2003) reveals that whereas global, national and human security issues are increasingly converging and in some regions, overlapping, a situation that makes some 840 million people worldwide to be malnourished, the highest percentage of these are in africa. this implies that the magnitude of the problem in africa has now reached unprecedented crisis level thereby making the continent as clover asserts, one that receives most aid, with some 30 million people requiring emergency food aid in any one year. the point therefore is that since 2003 when clover made the above observations and claims, instead of africa’s crisis situation improving, it is deteriorating, a fact which manifests for example in the number of idps in northeastern nigeria where boko haram insurgency has devastated the region, its economy and people thereby making many households to face food insecurity situations of an alarming proportion. this situation and others continually make aid programmes an integral part of the strategies and programmes for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of many devastated areas and peoples in the continent. evidence has it that 60% of the world. food programme’s work now takes place in africa (clover, 2003). however, the argument arising from the increasing issues pertaining to food aid in africa is that it is politically motivated and as such fails largely to address the vulnerable people’s household food insecurity. take for instance, the appeal to the international community in 2002 by malawi, zambia, zimbabwe and lesotho for aid never stabilized their food insecurity situations even when there were responses. earlier before 2002, the same lesotho was offered emergency food aid in 1972/73 by britain following an unfortunate drought condition in the country (stevens, 1979). the logic therefore is, if food aid was all that good for lesotho, why didn’t the country stabilize its food security as to avoid the 2002 appeal for another international aid. the foregoing logic thus confirms that food aid is as close to an ideal form of aid as can likely be found in an imperfect world. as marsh (1996:364) puts it, “donations of aid give the impression that the rich nations are indeed helping their unfortunate friends. in reality, aid is often a doubleedged sword.” this logic nevertheless is the basis for the making of this paper as it seeks to extrapolate the politics of food aid in view of the danger it portends for the idps household food security especially in northeast nigeria where rehabilitation and reconstruction projects are on-going. to achieve this aim, the paper is divided into sections such as methodology, literature review, the politics of food aid and food security in africa, the impending danger of the politics of food aid on the idps household food security in northeast nigeria, conclusion and recommendations. 83 | p a g e an extrapolation study on the politics of food aid in africa in view of the danger it portends for the internally displaced persons' household food security: a special focus on northeast nigeria victor chijioke nwosumba methodology this paper adopts the methods and approaches of futures studies. generally, as argued, futures studies do not pretend to be able to predict the future but rather, assesses the probabilities of alternating futures. so, apart from the study, analysis is carried out to ascertain how particular situations and environment could be affected as a result of a policy implementation or action taken by a country (saedah, 2005). as such, in extrapolating politics of food aid in africa, this paper aims to present information and strategies that can enable the nigerian, government, states, institutions etc. plan the future of the northeast in particular and nigeria in general in order to reduce dependency on food aid as a measure of achieving household food security for the vulnerable class, especially the idps. the paper relies heavily on secondary sources of information as well as observational method in order to achieve the aim. although, futures studies as a method and an approach have limitations such as relying heavily on human judgement which cannot be 100 percent correct and not being able in some cases to make forecasts of some complex systems possible, it has the potential of predicting the future based on facts available. for instance, insofar as food aid politics since inception has not helped establish household food security in places it has been played in africa as the southern african examples have shown, this paper predicts that the result may not be too different in the case of northeast nigeria except the nigerian government and other food aid policy makers and implementers have to change the status quo. literature review food security the 1996 world summit in rome having looked at issues surrounding food security has defined it as a state when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life (food and agriculture organization, 1996). by implication what is important in this definition is the fact that not only is food to be available, it has to be easily accessed by everybody at an affordable rate, at anytime. the available food, moreso, has to be safe and nutritious as to be able to provide the consumer with the required kilocalories needed for active and healthy life. earlier, the united nations has conceived food security as all people at all times having both physical and economic access, and not just access to the basic food they need, a point the committee on world food security, a body set up in 1975 by the un world food conference to oversee developments in food security, adopted in the early 1980’s through its recognition of food security as a tripartite concept, reflecting the criteria of availability, access and stability (http://www.interacademycouncil.net). however, food security involves multiplicity of factors and institutions http://www.interacademycouncil.net/ 84 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com including implementation of policies, strategies and programmes to guarantee its availability, accessibility, effective and efficient utilization by all people at all times. based on the tripartite concepts of food security identified by united nations above, unep (2002:288), further views food security from three dimensions:  availability of sufficient quantities of food of appropriate quality, supplied through domestic production imports;  access by households and individuals to appropriate foods for a nutritious diet;  optimal uptake of nourishment, thanks to a sustaining diet, clean water and adequate sanitation with healthcare. elucidating further, laibuni, omiti and natu (http//elibrary.acbfpact.org) include domestic production, import capacity, availability of food stocks and food distribution systems in a country or region to what justifies availability of food. in terms of access to food, they are of the view that purchasing power (that is, incomes and wages, poverty level, prices and distribution of food, transport and market systems essentially determine food accessibility. then, effective utilization of food is influenced by people’s culture, access to knowledge about proper nutrition, energy and clean water, points also noted by unep (2002). summarizing what food security is, food security continuum puts it thus: food security is not just a poverty issue; it is a much large issue that involves the whole food system and affects every one of us in some way. the food system includes: (1) everyone who grows or catches food, like farmers, fishers, and hunters, (2) earth, air, water, energy (the physical environment); (3) food processors, packagers, distributors, marketers and advertisers; (4) food wholesalers and the warehouses where food is stored; (5) the transportation system i.e., trucks, planes, boats, trains; (6) places that sell food i.e., grocery stores, markets, bakeries, farm stands, co-ops, restaurants; (7) governments, policies, taxes, (the political and economic environment); (8) the healthcare system, the workforce, schools, technology (the social, educational and cultural environment); (9) everyone who eats! so, food security is in place when: (10) farmers and fishers can earn a fair income for their efforts; (11) food is produced in a way that is safe for people and the environment; (12) local, regional, and community food production is supported; (13) social justice and inclusion are priorities. 85 | p a g e an extrapolation study on the politics of food aid in africa in view of the danger it portends for the internally displaced persons' household food security: a special focus on northeast nigeria victor chijioke nwosumba (14) all people are empowered to work together to create positive change in the food system and communities (food security continuum). food insecurity conversely, the corollary of food security, that is, food insecurity as ikpi et al (1989) put it, is lack of access to enough food. this definition stems from the argument that it is not just enough to believe there is food security in the world because food is abundantly available but to have access to it is also important. according to schuh (2002), the lack of food is due to the lack of the means to acquire it, it is not, in general, due to a shortfall in production. on this ground, food security continuum summarizes that food insecurity happens whenever food is hard to get such as when: (15) there are no farms or grocery stores nearby; (16) our food travels great distances to get to us; (17) there isn’t enough money; (18) healthy and safe food is not available; (19) healthy foods cost more than unhealthy foods; (20) our rivers are polluted so fish don’t survive; (21) our traditional foods are not available or accessible. as can be deduced from the above, africa is suffering from food insecurity especially in areas where poverty is higher, war is ongoing or waning and food is hard to get. the northeastern nigeria presently fits into this kind of scenario due to so many years of boko haram devastation of the region. the worst hits are the internally displaced persons who suffer, above all mentioned, household food insecurity. evidence of africa’s food insecurity can be captured in international federation of red cross and red crescent societies(2009); the economist (2004); www.wfp.org. household food insecurity amartya sen has been credited with initiating the paradigm shift in the early 1980s that brought focus to the issue of access and entitlement to food (clover, 2003). thus, as remarked by clover, food insecurity is no longer seen as failure of agriculture to produce sufficient food at the national level, but instead as a failure of livelihoods to guarantee access to sufficient food at the household level. the ability to ensure adequate food security therefore, hinges on the ability to identify vulnerable households who are at risk of becoming food insecure. stemming from this backdrop, a household is food secure when it has access to the food needed for a healthy life for all its members (adequate in terms of quality, quantity, safety and culturally acceptable), and when it is not at undue risk of losing such access (http://www.unsystem.org/scn/archives/ scnnews07supplement/ch2.htm.sequel to this, an appropriate proxy, therefore, http://www.wfp.org/ http://www.unsystem.org/scn/archives/scnnews07supplement/ch2.htm http://www.unsystem.org/scn/archives/scnnews07supplement/ch2.htm 86 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com in identifying vulnerable households, is how poor is a particular household measured against criterion or povertyline. the degree of vulnerability of an individual, household or group of persons is determined by their exposure to the risk factors and their ability to cope with or withstand stressful situations. the proposition therefore is that vulnerable households will constitute three groups: (22) those who would be vulnerable under any circumstances: for example, where the adults are unable to provide an adequate livelihood for the household for reasons of disability, illness, age or some other characteristics, (23) those whose resources endowment is inadequate to provide sufficient income from any available source; (24) those whose characteristics and resources render them potentially vulnerable in the context of social and economic shocks; e.g. those who find it hard to adapt to sudden changes in economic activity brought about by economic policy; as can be viewed from the television and other electronics media and even literature, the conditions of the idps and other vulnerable groups are not far from the proposals made above. indeed, argues ttp;//www.interacademycouncil. net, food insecurity and conflict derive from a commons et of risk factors which include poor economic conditions, repressive political systems, weak institutions, natural resource degradation, scarce resources and unequal poverty growth, social and cultural polarization and large-scale migration. this has been confirmed by president muhammadu buhari during the recently concluded paris conference on climate change, when he informed the world that due to desert encroachment in northeast nigeria, many households have lost their means of livelihood and to survive, have migrated to europe for greener pasture (nwosumba, 2016). food aid food aid is hard to define due to many related issues. however, in general, it is about providing food, a related assistance to tackle hunger, either in emergency situations or to help with deeper, long term hunger alleviation and achieve food (where people do not have to live in hunger or fear of starvation) (shah, 2007). this definition logically insinuates that food aid is usually to be given in situations of need. in line with this logic, barret and maxwell (2004) conceive food aid as international concessional flows in the form of food or of cash to purchase food in support of food assistance programmes. at this juncture, it is interesting to deduce from barret and maxwell the fact that food aid and food assistance are interrelated so whether it is called food aid or food assistance they signify the same thing. based on the deduction, this paper shall use both names interchangeably. 87 | p a g e an extrapolation study on the politics of food aid in africa in view of the danger it portends for the internally displaced persons' household food security: a special focus on northeast nigeria victor chijioke nwosumba however, notwithstanding that the later definition connotes that of the first, shah (2007) is of eh view that there is a key distinction, the second one makes and that is that international sourcing of concessional resources is tied to the provision of food, whether by a donor or to a recipient. the implication as observed by shah is that food aid has been tied with conditions which benefit the donor and this has been one of the reasons food aid has not been effective; instead of benefiting the recipients more, it is the multinational food companies and donors that enjoy the large benefit. on this basis it is rightly debatable to conclude that food aid is largely driven by donors and international institutions (typically influenced by the interests of the donors). food aid is one of the most effective devices for alleviating transient hunger in emergencies the argument is that, in such situations, where large households are simultaneously affected, food aid is the most effective insurance mechanism to reduce vulnerability to transient hunger and starvation, as households have few options (http://www.interacademycouncil.net). this, however, does not mean that in all ramifications, food aid promotes food security especially at the household level in recipient countries. to some people, food aid is as close to an ideal form of aid as we are likely to find in an imperfect world (stevens, 1979). food aid, to say the obvious, is a kind of foreign aid which is given mainly by ‘a have country’ to the vulnerable groups in ‘a have less’ country which tantamount to political interest. for an example, the definition of foreign aid by former president john kennedy of united states as “a method by which the united states maintains a position of influence and control around the world and sustains a good many countries which would definitely collapse…” (magdoff, 1968) captures the political motif for foreign aid in general. further, foreign aid agencies provide an opening wedge or point of entry for private capital through making loans directly to the global giants both for feasibility studies and actual implementations and sponsor aid programmes such as food for peace (offiong, 1980). this point however can better be captured in a situation where world food programme has been designated since 1963 to alleviate acute hunger by providing emergency relief following natural or man-made humanitarian disasters and to supply food aid to people in developing countries in order to eradicate chronic under nourishment, support social development and promote self-reliant communities (frame, thomas, holman et. al, 2008) but today these challenges have escalated. instead of giving technical assistance to african countries in the form of transfer of technology, the industrialized countries prefer giving aid when and where they want through wfp and their other agencies. the implication of this is that food aid has some problems. it is the view of schuh (2002) that food aid has strong disincentive effects for poor producers just as cheap http://www.interacademycouncil.net/ 88 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com imports can affect the morale of african farmers whose products cannot compete favourably with those from the advanced countries. bissong (2004) in accord with schuh refers to food aid as victimization through charity which continues to create dependencies. it is on the observation of this, especially taking a clue from other african countries where food aid was more detrimental to their food security, that this paper seeks to advice the rehabilitators of northeast nigeria to be cautions with food aid. the politics of food aid and food security in africa certain questions are necessarily needed to be answered before a good understanding of food aid politics and worsening state of household food security in africa can be made. for instance, why is it that it is only the world food programme that is the only multilateral organization in the world with a mandate to use food aids as resource? why is it that even when more foods are available unlike many years ago, they are still not easily accessed by the poor in africa? more so, why is it that food aid is as close to an ideal form of aid as is likely to be found in an imperfect world? also, why is it that in spite of the fact that the right to food is one of those most consistently mentioned in international human rights documents, it is the most frequently violated in recent times? in the words of fao (2002:1), “no human right has been so frequently and spectacularly violated in recent times as right to food.” this is done without considering the fact that the right to food is one of the most consistently enshrined rights in international human rights law, as constantly reaffirmed by governments (clover, 2003). the fundamental right of everyone to be free from hunger is established in article ii of the international covenant on economic, social and cultural law inspired by the universal declaration of human rights (food security guide). thus, it is right to claim that africa’s food security including those of national, local and household problems stem from disregard of the fundamental right to food. on this ground however, many critics have alleged that decision making at the national and international levels have relied on the defied neo-liberal paradigm of wealth maximization through comparative advantage to create food insecurity and more so undermine the unity and hope for food security in africa in the near future (clover, 2003; mwaniki, www.un.org/africa; goshit, 2003; eke, 2009). nwaniki (www.un.org/africa) for instance, stresses this point further to the extent of blaming the interrelation of the various dimensions of globalization where policies made in one country are bound to have effects on others for africa’s worsening food insecurity. this is so because while the rules and practice of international trade play a key role in achieving food security in the world free trade is not good for african countries who face huge trade barriers from those who control the process, i.e. the developed, industrialized nations. the 89 | p a g e an extrapolation study on the politics of food aid in africa in view of the danger it portends for the internally displaced persons' household food security: a special focus on northeast nigeria victor chijioke nwosumba implication of this anomaly is that instead of practicing the policy of openness as enshrined in various international trade agreements, the developed/industrialized nations have overtly and covertly protected their markets and by so doing left african markets in disadvantaged positions. the result therefore is that through unequal trade relations between africa and the centre countries, agricultural products have become worthless mainly because of subsidies these countries advance to their farmers and industries. a case to buttress this point is where in 20022003, a collapse in coffee prices at the international market contributed to the ethiopian food crisis the same period (mason, 2006). this is a result of the policy of protectionism practiced in the name of national interest by the industrialized nations who eventually force africa to open its markets in the name of trade liberalization. imagine a situation where in 2001/2002 the united states subsidized its cotton farmers by almost 4 billion dollars while the entire cotton production for the same period was 3 billion dollars (ekoriko, 2004). this implies that the farmers got in subsidies more than the value of their output, a situation which resulted to the inability of some cotton exporting countries like mali, burkina faso, chad and benin not to compete favourably. as a spill-over effect of oversubsidization of agricultural production in the industrialized countries by their governments, african countries find their domestic markets under cut by cheap food imports dumped by these rich countries. worst still, these over subsidized foods are the ones given to africans as food aid. the logic that is rife here is that worsening household food insecurity and food insecurity at large in africa are artificially created by these measures and with the collaboration of the indigenous bourgeois class in the countries. this is so because as wto which is charged with the responsibility of binding government to keep to the trade policies agreed upon by member countries fails to do so thereby allowing some countries to over subsidize while others cannot, it has indirectly pushed local farmers in africa out of business due to dumping of cheap import which comparatively is not even cheap for the poor but for the fact that many households really depend on proceeds (goods and money) from their farms to survive, they cannot buy due to lack of money. the implication of this is that many households that lack means to buy food at any rate are landed into a state of household’s food insecurity. if this is not offloading politics in the name of food aid, why should it take about four to five months for food to be delivered in some cases from donor countries to african countries where there are emergencies and urgent need for food. take for instance the niger republic experience where in late 2004 there were earliest warnings of emergency food situation in that country but due to the late response of the major powers or even wfp, by the time aid 90 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com arrived, 3.6 million people were already suffering from hunger (mason, 2006). this experience therefore serves as a lesson to those who believe that food aid is just a humanitarian gesture given to the vulnerable, endangered and displaced persons by the developed, rich countries. they however fail to know that inasmuch as food aid is not all that reliable as to have it immediately as the need arises and as it is not sustainable; it is never the less a political instrument for advancing neoimperialism and subjecting the recipients to a perpetual state of dependency. the argument is in consonance with galtung (1973) stance that the relationship between the third world (africa inclusive) and the rich nations is not a relation that aims at equalizing the status quo. in support of this line of thought good security guide (www.oneworld .net/guides remarks that even when the us is the largest food donor, it remains in thrall to domestic political interests which insist that aid should be disbursed as surplus grain from national stocks – and that the chain of delivery must be handled largely by us contractors. based on the foregoing, some people conceive food aid as being as close to an ideal form of aid can likely be found in an imperfect world (stevens, 1979). the criticism however is that even when food aid achieves a happy union between the interests of the recipients and those of farmers in the donor countries as it pertains to africa, it does not fully in most cases satisfy the interest of the recipients but those of the capitalists. elaborating this point, stevens is of the view that food aid is particularly pernicious since it exists largely to help sustain inefficient agricultural policies in developed countries and to increase the leverage that its donors can exert on poor countries and that furthermore it not only fails to benefit the recipient adequately to compensate for these costs but actually puts less developed countries farmers out of business, leads their children to adopt exotic tastes that can be satisfied only by imports, and enables their government to neglect agricultural reform. relevantly, the essence of this paper has been captured in the sense that if food aid has been like this in most places, the nigerian state, states in the northeast and the idps should be cautious at embracing it willynilly. lesotho provides an example of how emergency relief can cause problem even if supplied on a fairly small scale to a relatively minor emergence. in stevens (1979) account, britain offered lesotho emergency food aid following a drought in that country between 1972/73 but instead of the food aid helping to stabilize food security at that period, it caused some problems. the story is that following the offer by britain, lesotho responded that it could absorb 1,000 tons of wheat but when a firm offer came from united kingdom it was for 6,000tons. as africans are known to be insatiable of attracting aid, lesotho government accepted the increased http://www.oneworld/ 91 | p a g e an extrapolation study on the politics of food aid in africa in view of the danger it portends for the internally displaced persons' household food security: a special focus on northeast nigeria victor chijioke nwosumba quantity notwithstanding its limited storage capacity and went ahead to also receive another emergency food aid of over 1,000 tons of wheat against 622 tons it requested earlier, and at the same time, received its normal development food aid deliveries. when all these culminated into a big chunk, the lesotho government faced the challenge of managing them. the result was the diversion of lesotho government personnel away from the management of routine food aid into the task of storing and disposing of the surplus wheat, the construction of six new storage sheds at the cost of r 45,000, and the loss through rotting of many bags of wheat. the fact that lesotho never managed the food aid given to it well because it was in excess justifies the claim that most donors use food aid as an opportunity to off load the excesses from their over subsidized food production and as well implicates that african governments have high gullibility for any type of aid and not only the food related ones. that lesotho after this never achieved relative food security not to talk of sustainable one goes a long way to prove that food aid in africa is highly politicized, it benefits the donors and their cohorts more than those it is directed or claimed to be directed at. in a similar vein, in nigeria, evidence has it that as some ngos receive grantsin-aid or subvention for various services, they usually do not direct them to those they are meant for, the victims of emergency situations, they direct some of the relief materials meant to serve their interest. agboola (daily sun,2007:6) for example, reports that unicef “have expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that most of the relief materials meant for persons displaced by some local government areas of plateau state have been diverted to unknown places. “according to the report, unicef field officer mr. jallo who led other officials to the victims in pugani and vashi camps (all in langtang lga) and gbonga camp in kanke lga because of this dissatisfaction decided to the handover to traditional the remaining items directly leads of the area (instead of the ngos) to ensure that the items were safe by the time the officials returned another day. this report and other similar ones in nigeria however, confirm that most nigerians excel in the art of muddling through once grants-in-aidare made (akukwe, 1988). the point therefore is that food aid, like most types of aid breeds corruption to an extent that deters the expected recipients from having its full benefit. this negatively impact on household food security as it creates more hungry people within the fold of the-already-hungry and impoverished poor people. legitimately, hunger is a political creation and it must be ended by political means (clover, 2003). the northeast people and nigeria as a whole should be aware of these facts in order to avoid dangers. 92 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com why nursing the fear of an impending danger for northeast nigeria idps? the fear of food aid depressing the northeast nigeria’s already ravaged agricultural production is nursed in this paper because if that happens, it may likely increase, the people dependence on food aid. it implies therefore that the idps are likely to remain in camps in order to attract more food aid. this is not in any way good for them as food aid doesn’t guarantee long-term household food security. more so, it is not good to rely on food aid for a meaningful living in the sense that “all aid has an inherent potential to make the recipient dependent” (stevens, 1979:17). the idps should rather, try to learn how to fish and not wait in perpetuity to be given fish. even within the limits established for the aid, argues stevens, food aid is often small input into a complex food production and marketing system to get to the rural poor direct. it is unevenly distributed as more distributions are made in the urban areas. this means that the idps in rural areas of the northeast may be deprived access to a (big) chunk of the aid given. alluding to the fact that there are challenges to humanitarian response in northeast nigeria, imasuen (2015) opines that the absence of humanitarian law and policy framework in nigeria to clearly define the roles and responsibilities of humanitarian agencies hampers the coordination of various humanitarian efforts. the lack of systematic data collection also continues to pose serious challenge of difficulty in estimating people in total number of idps in need as well as the lack of access to rural areas by humanitarian agencies due to its volatility (global idp project, 2014). this is politics and it portends danger because in a country where the federal government in a month hiked the price of fuel from n86.50 to n145 and people were obliged to live with it and they are managing with its consequences, motorcycle operators (a.k.a okada riders) were ordered out of major streets in some states and the federal capital territory and it subsists, where airplanes were deployed to roam the sky in search of oil and gas pipelines vandalizers and it subsists, it is doubtable table that in that nation some idps in rural areas are cut-off from receiving humanitarian aid because of lack of access to them. it simply means that there is lack of will to extend the services to them. the implication is that the governments (federal, state and local) have neglected the rural idps to a large extent and by doing so made them burden bearers of the consequences of bokoharamism in the region. their case is likely to worsen unless the government and distribution agencies especially the ngos will go beyond conventional, orthodox wisdom to work more strategically in developing and implementing effective policies that can encompass all the idps in the region. so, in the absence of this, most rural idps’ fundamental right to food shall continue to be violated. when this goes on without checks, the tendency is that their household food security situation is 93 | p a g e an extrapolation study on the politics of food aid in africa in view of the danger it portends for the internally displaced persons' household food security: a special focus on northeast nigeria victor chijioke nwosumba likely to worsen and this will mean that women and children who are more vulnerable to food threats and insecurity may resort to child labour, forced labour, sex hawking, boko haramism, robbery, migration to the cities etc in order to make ends meet. these activities nevertheless do not guarantee household food security in a mid-term not to talk of long term basis. another impending danger of food aid politics on idps household food security lies on the argument that food aid packages are very rigid in the sense that people who receive them do not have a say in how these packages could be modified to suit their needs better. using malawi as an example, jere (2007) observes that during a food crisis in the country, food aid packages provide maize and beans to the people in need because they are normal diet of most malawians but vegetables are not included most of the time. this means that even when vegetables are normally used by the malawians to compliment the diet of maize (carbohydrates) and beans (protein) for a more balanced diet in no crisis situation during the time of food aid supply, vegetables are often lacking not minding that they are critically needed in food aid packages as the people are not able to source them again because of the crisis that devastates the food system in most areas. in the case of the northeast people of nigeria whose traditional foods are for example just like most core northerners:  tuwon dawa, that is ground guinea corn eaten in swallow form with soups like kuka and okra;  tuwo shinkafa eaten with miyan kuka, that is, a meal of rice pudding and green draw-soup made from ground baobab leaf and special spices, preferably yaji (mixture of ground pepper, ginger, garlic and other seasonings/herbs), giving them a meal of highly processed noodles, spaghetti; macaroni and their like without enough of herbs, vegetables or spices may mean that some of them may begin to develop a new taste of a sweeter diet since the traditional foods although may be sweet but may not be fastly prepared and as sweet as these new ones. the implications of this type of change in taste and diet are multifacetedly far-reaching. first, over indulgence in eating highly processed food may most likely implant in the eater such diseases as diabetes, obesity etc. which are detrimental to the health of the person(s). when these diseases are blown to an advanced stage, they usually make the diseased to be weak and less productive thereby increasing the chances of household food insecurity for the families so affected. money will be directed to treating them and they may not be able to be bringing either food or other 94 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com means of having food in the family especially when they are the bread winners of their households. the most hit are mainly the women and children who depend largely on these kind of providers-turneddependents and liabilities. another effect of developing a new taste for highly processed foods against other highly nutritious native ones is that not minding that those native ones before the boko haram destabilization of the people and their means of livelihood were richer in content, more accessible and cheap because they were produced mainly by the subsistent farmers, many of whom are the today idps, is that when aid will cease, they may not be able to access the new foods easily again. the result as already observed by nwosumba (2012) is that the development of western consumerism habit makes the people dependent on emulating western lifestyle and eating patterns, a point that stevens (1979) agrees with by adding that possible direct effects of food aid on the receivers is the introduction of alien tastes, undermining of local reliance and health hazards. the resultant effect is that the person(s) in order to meet up with the new taste can do anything to maintain the status quo just like most female students of higher institutions in nigeria who after tasting high living standard ostentatiously imbibed through following “sugar daddies” and moneybags resort to sex-hawking, armed robbery, petty thievery, menial jobs and all worth not in order to stay afloat. this point is in line with uduaghan (2015) revelation that most sex hawkers especially students give food insecurity as one of the reasons for doing the dirty, morally tasking job. in the end most people in this line of life live like drug addicts that hardly survive without taking drugs. the result of the addiction is one disease or the other especially hiv/aids and this leads to further impoverishment and worsening household food security. where women participate in agricultural production, food security at household and community level is being threatened. all dimensions of food security-availability, stability, access and use of food – are affected where the prevalence of hiv/aids is high (clover, 2003:10). farming skills as a consequence of this are likely to be lost, agricultural development to be derailed and rural livelihoods largely disintegrated. as a result, just as clover proves in the case of some countries in southern africa, productive capacity to work the land will likely decline and household earnings likely to shrink. the un estimates that 9.6% of zimbabwe’s agricultural labour force was lost in 2000, malawi losing 5.8% (financial times, 2002) because of the foregoing reason. the effects of all this on households in these countries are debilitating as most extended families struggle to cope with the burden. children are the most hit as most 95 | p a g e an extrapolation study on the politics of food aid in africa in view of the danger it portends for the internally displaced persons' household food security: a special focus on northeast nigeria victor chijioke nwosumba of them suffer malnutrition. buttressing this fact, jere (2007), taking facts from malawi’s demographic and health surveys (dhs), reveals that close to half of all children under the age of five are stunted in growth. northeast idps’ rehabilitators and the idps themselves should note this in order to avoid it. in another development, due to the impact of food aid on food markets of most african recipient countries, this paper foresees the danger food aid portends for the northeast idps’ household food security. this is due to the attachment of politics to anything that pertains to food in africa. the biggest problem food aid creates for the people where it is used to cushion the effects of food insecurity during crisis period is serving as a disincentive for local food producers (who, in the case of northeast nigeria are most of the idps) by flooding the market and depressing prices. this claim is insinuating however that because food aid is provided in kind and because most recipients produce food themselves it will have a certain set of effects in addition to any that may arise from the circumstances of recipient countries (stevens, 1979). more so, as stevens argues while it is true that food aid must react in some way on food production in recipient countries, it is not clear that it is so different from other modes of aid. taking foreign aid as a whole as an example, this quotation from former president john kennedy of america aptly proves that no foreign aid is short of propagating us national interest to the letter that is, in the case of us involvement. foreign aid is “a method by which the united states maintains a position of influence and control around the world…” (magdoff, 1968:117). this is not limited to the us alone however. thus, while it is true that food aid may compete with the recipient’s domestic agriculture as stevens (1979) further argues, similar considerations apply to say, technical assistance supplied under financial aid: under this type of assistance rich country personnel (arguably in surplus supply) are sent to poor countries where they may compete with local people, sap the government will be adopt realistic manpower policies, and introduce western tastes unsuited to local conditions. this approach likely depresses the income of those involved in local industry and as such portends danger for the northeast nigeria idps who are already undergoing rehabilitation processes which are aimed at resettling them in their communities. a case to look at is the drn study carried out in malawi in 2003 which assessed the effects of the wfp interventions in the country following the 2002/2003 food crisis. the study as revealed by jere (2007), reveals that the availability of free humanitarian food supplies reduced demand for commercial maize (a major income earning product of malawians) thereby resulting in unintended excess stocks of commercial maize, a situation that eventually exerted a dampening effect on consumer prices and producer prices for the next harvest. the nigerian government, northeastern states and 96 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com their local governments and other stakeholders in the northeastern nigeria project should play the politics of food aid in that region with caution if they are sincerely sympathetic of the idps’ household food security situation as it is now because the whole analysis done in this paper tend to reinvent the philosophy that guides the understanding of north-south politics in international relations. conclusion/recommendations from all indications, food aid politics is a big challenge in africa’s attempt to have food security and as such tends to pose as a major stumbling block in the rehabilitation project going on in northeast nigeria. while it could be argued that food security politics is global in nature, africa for years has received more of its negative impacts and that goes a long way to justify the fear this paper nurses pertaining to the nexus between food aid politics and the household food security of the idps in northeast nigeria. food aid in africa, no matter what may be seen as its positive impact namely; intervening in food crisis situations for humanitarian purposes, has largely exacerbated the household food insecurity of many poor, vulnerable and displaced persons in different parts of africa. to this end, this paper conceives food aid as being particularly pernicious since it exists largely to help sustain inefficient agricultural policies in africa and to increase the leverage that its donors exert on the peripherized people and countries, and more so, for not only failing to benefit the recipient adequately to compensate for these costs but for actually putting the farmers out of business leading them more especially their women and children to adopting exotic tastes that can be satisfied mainly by imports, a condition that leads them to do warranted and unwarranted things that can help them sustain the newly developed western consumerism habit. based on all these, this paper recommends that governments (federal, state and local), ngos and other participants in the rehabilitation project should avoid muddling through once grants-in-aid come, they should be more people-oriented, focused, less corrupt and result oriented. to achieve this, the aid attracted should be used efficiently and sustainably. functional markets should be built where the former-idps on leaving the camps can sell their produce and buyers have access to the food they need. this will largely address the problem of lack of access to food. this also shall enable the government and its partners to improve meaningfully the household food security of the idps when they are resettled. in the long run, the idps should be dissuaded from relying on food aid as a capacity building means through which they hope to have long term household food security. the idps should through skill acquisition programmes organized for them by the rehabilitators be thought that food aid as a free gift has a lot of damaging consequences some of which have been raised in this paper. it has not 97 | p a g e an extrapolation study on the politics of food aid in africa in view of the danger it portends for the internally displaced persons' household food security: a special focus on northeast nigeria victor chijioke nwosumba given sustainable household food security to any african idps and may possibly not do so in nigeria. as a matter of fact, the chief recommendation is that while the nigerian government must not maintain the business as usual trend, efforts should be made to put western education at the centre of the rehabilitation project in order to create a new sense of pride in the idps that begging is psychologically low class and so erodes the self-esteem of the dependent class. what this means is that through education the idps especially the women and children should be thought how to be self-reliant through honourable means of pursuit of life endeavour while in the camp and after they had left the camp. references agboola, t. (2007). daily sun. september 18th. akukwe, f.n. (1988). towards a new society: introduction to social development. onitsha: directorate of social sciences archdiocese of onitsha. barrett, c. and maxwell, d. (2004). food aid after fifty years: recasting is role. shah, a. (2007). food aid. global issues. http://www.globalissues.org/ article/784/food-aid.retrieved 14/03/2016. bissong, k.e. (2004). postmodernity and globalization bisong, k.e. (ed.). globalizations implications for africa(ns). enugu: snaap press. clover, c. (2003). food security in subsaharam africa. african security review 12 (1). www.iss.co.za/pubs/asr/12 no1/clover. pdf. retrieved 30/8/2010. eke, o. (2009). environmental sustainability and gobal food security. challenges for nigeria’s economic diplomacy. okolie, a.m. (ed.). contemporary readings on nigeria’s external relations issues perspectives and challenges. abakaliki: willy rose and appleseed publishing coy. ekoriko, m. (2004). g8-africa: rhetoric and reality. publisher’s note. accra. news africa. july 31st. fao (2002). the state of food insecurity in the world. www.fao.org. financial times (2002). 6 november. clover, j. (2003). food security in subsaharan africa. www.iss.co.za/pubs/asr/12no1/ clover.pdf. retrieved 30/8/2010. food and agriculture organization (1996). declaration on world food security. world food summit rome. http://www. fao.org/docrep/003/w361e/w361 3e00. htm. laibuni, n., omiti, j. and natu, h. food insecurity in the east african region: policy dilemma. http://elibrary.acbf/pact.org/acbf/co llect/actbf/index/assoc/ hash0167.dir/food%20insecurity %20i%20the20east%africa%20re gion.pdf. retrieved 20/5/2016. food security continuum (-). thought about food? workbook on food http://www.globalissues.org/%20article/784/food-aid.retrieved%2014/03/2016 http://www.globalissues.org/%20article/784/food-aid.retrieved%2014/03/2016 http://www.globalissues.org/%20article/784/food-aid.retrieved%2014/03/2016 http://www.iss.co.za/pubs/asr/12%20no1/clover.%20pdf.%20retrieved%2030/8/2010 http://www.iss.co.za/pubs/asr/12%20no1/clover.%20pdf.%20retrieved%2030/8/2010 http://www.iss.co.za/pubs/asr/12%20no1/clover.%20pdf.%20retrieved%2030/8/2010 http://www.fao.org/ http://www.iss.co.za/pubs/asr/12no1/clover.pdf.%20retrieved%2030/8/2010 http://www.iss.co.za/pubs/asr/12no1/clover.pdf.%20retrieved%2030/8/2010 http://www.fao.org/docrep%20/003/w361e/w3613e00 http://www.fao.org/docrep%20/003/w361e/w3613e00 http://www.fao.org/docrep%20/003/w361e/w3613e00 http://elibrary.acbf/pact.org/acbf/collect/actbf/index/assoc/%20hash0167.dir/food http://elibrary.acbf/pact.org/acbf/collect/actbf/index/assoc/%20hash0167.dir/food http://elibrary.acbf/pact.org/acbf/collect/actbf/index/assoc/%20hash0167.dir/food 98 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com security and influencing public policy. www.foodthoughtful.ca. retrieved 25/8/2010. food security guide. www.oneworld. net/guides. retrieved 26/8/2010. frame, i., thomas, a., holman, c.a. et al (2008). (eds.) europa regional surveys of the world africa south of the sahara 2009. 28th edition. london and new york: routledge, taylor and francis group. galtung, j. (1973). the european community: a superpower in the making. london: george allen and urwin. global idp project (gip) (2014). training workshop on the un guiding principles on internally displacement borno nigeria 1719 february 2003. workshop report. http://www.internal displacement.org/ 8025708 f004be3b1(httplnofiles)a0299 6ed5b8e26968257091004b55 91/file/nigeriaworkshop 2003. pdf. retrieved 18/5/2014. goshit, z.d. (2003). globalization and food: the dilemma of food security in nigeria. maduagwu, m.o. and onu, v.c. (eds.). globalization and national development in nigeria. bukuru: fullbright alumni association of nigeria. http://www.interacademycounci l.net. food security in africa. retrieved 28/8/11. http://www.unsystem.org/scn/ar chives/sonnews07/supplement/c h2.htm. retrieved 20/6/2016. ikpi, a.e. hahn, n.d. et al (1989). cassava: lifeline for the rural household. ibadan: unicef in co-operation with book builders ltd. imasuen, e. (2015). insurgency and humanitarian crises in northern nigeria: the case of boko haram. african journal of political science and international relations. vol. 9 (7). doi: 10.5897/ajsir20015, 0789. 284-296. http://www. acdemicjournals.org/ajpsor. international federation of red cross and red crescent societies (2009). food security in africa. annual report. appeal no. maa00023. april. www.ifrc.org/docs/appeals/annu al08/ma0002308ar.pdf. jere, p. (2007). the impact of food aid on food markets and food security in malawi. regional network for equity in health in southern africa, equinet discussion paper no. 45. lilongwe malawi. april. 1-26. laibuni, n., omiti, j. and natu, h. (-). food insecurity in east african region: policy dilemma. http://elibrary.actfpact.org/actbf/ collect/acbf/ index/assoc/ hasho167.dir/food%20insecu rity%20in%20the20east%20afr ican%20region.pdf. retrieved 20/3/2016. magdoff, h. (1968). the age of imperialism. new york: modern reader. http://www.foodthoughtful.ca/ http://www.oneworld.net/guides.%20retrieved%2026/8/2010 http://www.oneworld.net/guides.%20retrieved%2026/8/2010 http://www.interacademycouncil.net/ http://www.interacademycouncil.net/ http://www.unsystem.org/scn/archives/sonnews07/supplement/ch2.htm.%20retrieved%2020/6/2016 http://www.unsystem.org/scn/archives/sonnews07/supplement/ch2.htm.%20retrieved%2020/6/2016 http://www.unsystem.org/scn/archives/sonnews07/supplement/ch2.htm.%20retrieved%2020/6/2016 http://www.acdemicjournals.org/ajpsor http://www.acdemicjournals.org/ajpsor http://www.ifrc.org/docs/appeals/annual08/ma0002308ar.pdf http://www.ifrc.org/docs/appeals/annual08/ma0002308ar.pdf http://elibrary.actfpact.org/actbf/collect/acbf/%20index/assoc/%20hasho167.dir/food%20insecurity%20in%20the20east%20african%20region.pdf http://elibrary.actfpact.org/actbf/collect/acbf/%20index/assoc/%20hasho167.dir/food%20insecurity%20in%20the20east%20african%20region.pdf http://elibrary.actfpact.org/actbf/collect/acbf/%20index/assoc/%20hasho167.dir/food%20insecurity%20in%20the20east%20african%20region.pdf http://elibrary.actfpact.org/actbf/collect/acbf/%20index/assoc/%20hasho167.dir/food%20insecurity%20in%20the20east%20african%20region.pdf http://elibrary.actfpact.org/actbf/collect/acbf/%20index/assoc/%20hasho167.dir/food%20insecurity%20in%20the20east%20african%20region.pdf 99 | p a g e an extrapolation study on the politics of food aid in africa in view of the danger it portends for the internally displaced persons' household food security: a special focus on northeast nigeria victor chijioke nwosumba marsh, i. (1996) (ed.) making sense of society, an introduction to sociology. london and new york: longman. mason, b. (2006). worsening food insecurity in africa. www.wsws.org/articles/2006/se pt2006/hung-sobshtml.retrieved 5/10/2010. mwaniki, a. achieving food security in africa: challenges and issues. www.un.org/africa/.../achievingfo odsecurity.retrieved 30/5/2010. nwosumba, v.c. (2012). globalization and food security in africa: a critical evaluation 2000-2010). a thesis submitted to the department of political science. enugu state university of science and technology enugu in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of phd in political science. nwosumba, v.c. (2016). globalization and worsening food security in africa: the implications for nigeria. in the press. offiong, d.a. (1980). imperialism and dependency obstacles to african development. enugu: fourth dimension publishers. saedah, s. (2005). future curriculum: can it be measured? siow, h.l., abu, t.p., lee, s.e., sandiyao, s. and adelina, a. (eds.). pedagogy across curriculum first edition. kuala lumpur: pts. 51.65. saedah, s. and muhammad, r. t. (2011). development of future curriculum via futures studies. us – china education review b2. 226-236. schuh, g.e. (2002). global food security. scaff, j. (ed.) food security and safety. washington d.c.: us department of state. shah, (2007). food aid. global issues. http://www.globalissues.org/article /784/food-aidretrieved14/03/2016. stevens, c. (1979). food aid and the developing world four african case studies. london: croom helm in association with the overseas development institute. the economist (2004). global hunger empty bowls, heads and pockets. london: the economist. july, 31st. uduaghan, e. (2015). good governance as a catalyst for development in nigeria: the delta state experience. a text of a lecture delivered at the university of ibadan alumni association national public service lecture. ibadan. unep (2002). africa environment outlook: past present and future perspectives nairobi: unep. williams, p.d. (2008). security studies an introduction. 2nd edition. london and new york: routledge taylor and francis group. www.wfp.org.hungerstats. retrieved 28/8/2014. http://www.wsws.org/articles/2006/sept2006/hung-sob-shtml.retrieved%205/10/2010 http://www.wsws.org/articles/2006/sept2006/hung-sob-shtml.retrieved%205/10/2010 http://www.wsws.org/articles/2006/sept2006/hung-sob-shtml.retrieved%205/10/2010 http://www.un.org/africa/.../achievingfoodsecurity.%20retrieved%2030/5/2010 http://www.un.org/africa/.../achievingfoodsecurity.%20retrieved%2030/5/2010 http://www.globalissues.org/article/784/food-aidretrieved14/03/2016 http://www.globalissues.org/article/784/food-aidretrieved14/03/2016 http://www.wfp.org.hungerstats/ 118 | p a g e trend and pattern of fast food consumption among students of enugu state college of education (technical), enugu by onu theresa chinyere department of home economics enugu state college of education (technical), enugu nigeria abstract this study investigates the increasing trend and pattern of fast food consumption among college students with special references of students of enugu state college of education (technical), enugu. eat healthy and live healthy is one of the essential requirements for long life. the consumption of fast and junk foods may pre-disposed individuals to a lot of nutritional and metabolic disorders. this work designed to examine the various reasons why students indulge in the consumption of fast food and determine the perception of students on the health implications of consuming fast foods regularly. fifty (50) students (male and female) participated in the study. six research questions and two bulk hypotheses guided the conduct of the study. it was found out that fast food consumption pattern of the students was very high and that convenience and influence of friends are the major reasons. the students were either overweight or obese as a result of their consumption pattern. it was concluded that there is need to incorporate nutrition education into students’ curriculum with a view to equipping them with necessary nutritional knowledge on how to make rational and healthy fast food choices. among the recommendation given are that the government should re-introduce the school cafeteria system so that college students can have access to good and nutritious foods at affordable process. this will enable them to avoid eating without planning and indulging in fast food consumption and that parent should be more pro-active to monitor their children/wards especially on what they consume. they should encourage their children to learn how to prepare their meal by themselves. introduction healthy eating and living are part of the essential requirements of life. there are lots of foods available in varieties to individuals which can make or mar life. unfortunately, today’s world has been adapted to a system of consumption of foods which has several adverse effects on health. lifestyle changes has compelled people so much that one has so little time to really think of how well or right is what one is consuming. globalization and urbanization have greatly affected one’s eating habits and forced many people to consume fancy and high calorie fast foods, popularly known as junk foods (adeniyi, 2005). fast food eating is a dietary pattern that used to be foreign but has gradually 119 | p a g e become a part of the lifestyle of people in nigeria especially those in urban areas. judging from the uncontrollable rate and manner at which fast food restaurants are opening almost every day in every nook and cranny of the country, the consumption of these foods may continue to increase. rapid urbanization coupled with busy lifestyle and advancement in technology has greatly changed the lifestyle of many people including people in the developing countries. eating habits have also undergone changes in parallel with this rapid developing technology. people are now more reliant on ready-to-eat meals offered by businesses for their daily sustenance (black, 2004). most fast food meals are high in protein (especially the meat and dairy products) but the major concern now is that they are also usually high in fat, sugar and sodium; thus contributing additional calories, excess body fat and increase body weight. being overweight or obese increases the likelihood of suffering from cancer, coronary heart diseases, diabetes, hypertension, osteoarthritis, strokes and obesity reduces life expectancy by an average of nine years (world health organization (who), 2009). e medical research council (mrc) observed that diet high in fast foods will increase a person’s risk of weight gain and obesity-even though they may feel that they are eating no more than they would if they ate natural meal. factors responsible for increased consumption of fast food diet the nutritional make up of fast foods seem to encourage people to gorge on it unintentionally with a possibility of increasing their risk of weight gain or obesity as a result of consuming more calories than the body needs. in nigeria, has been noted that nutritional deficiencies as well as chronic diet related diseases affect the populace and that diet related non-communicable diseases such as obesity, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and others hypokinetic diseases exist or are merging as public health problems (2003). eating out has become a routine for many people mostly students, partly because the time for preparing meals at home has reduced due to changing lifestyle. also some nigerians seem to associate the eating fast foods with high prestige or a high class value and as lifestyle of the affluent or a way of displaying affluence. according to wikipedia, the concept of ready-cooked food for sale is closely connected to urban development. fast food outlet are take-away of take-out providers, often with a “driving through” service which allows customers to order and pick up food from cars; but most also have a eaten area in which customers can eat the food on the premises. many petrol stations have convinces stores which sell pre-packaged sandwiches, doughnuts and hurt foods, schools have cafeteria where these fast food product are sold. also traditional street food and snacks are available from small operators and independent vendors operating from cart, table, containers, roadside nallam (“me sai:), portable grill or motor vehicles. today’s fast-paced, technological society has contributed to drastic changes in the way of people eat. the dualcareer and single parent families are becoming more common. 120 | p a g e as people juggle careers, childcare, social and professional meetings, education, religion and recreation, the traditional meals at home are often skipped, eating on the run or thrown together quickly. as a result, food makers in fast food centers have taken over the responsibility of operating foods for families and those who do not have time to prepare foods. one of the most remarkable social changes in nigeria since the turn of this century as been the rapid rate of urbanization. the most consequence of these has been the creation of a numbers of social, environmental and economic problems. the critical among the social has been the inability of the country to provide adequate housing. the constant attempt by both the public and private developers to solve the housing problems lead to sub-urban residential developers in major cities. the resultant effect of this is reflected in the very wide separation between the places of residence and those of work and schools. this coupled with long hours at school work (assignment, project, term paper preparation) and the insufficient or inadequate transportation system, electricity supply at the hotels, most people had to rely on the consumption of foods prepared outside the home which is contrary to the traditional african societies setting whereby food was always prepared at home. however, urbanization, schooling and office work in which women are now involved has led to longer hours of staying off home. thus affect preparation of food at home: some people are more enveloped or engrossed with their chores or work, which tend to affect the normal routine of purchase, and preparation of food at home. fast foods serve as a fast means of getting something to eat to suppress hunger before the main course. consequently, people become regular patronage of fast food restaurants. there are those who eat fast food because of the sweet and delicious taste. appealing nature of junk/fast food junk food comprises of anything that is quick, tasty, convenient and fashionable. clever junk food advertising and lure of convenience in addition to taste drag people to junk food addition. the following factors according to bowman and vanguard (2010), generally make it appealing: 1. time factor: junk food addition is so high because of its simplicity. they are easy to prepare and ready to consume within no time. 2. taste factor: create taste also, is another important reason to an extent that influences to opt for junk food. this taste is active owing to lavish usage of oils, salt and/or sugar. 3. attractiveness: packaging of such foods has very attractive appearance by adding additives and colours in addition to enhancement in flavour. 4. advertising has a major role in attracting the public, particularly children and adolescents to the junk food selling joints. 121 | p a g e health implication of fast foods fat and sugar in combination are capable of producing a dopamine-driving surge of intents pressure in people with a propensity for additive behavior. on the other side, it must be noted that they are hazardous to health too. high fat content, particularly cholesterol, sugar and salt have their advance effect on health. soaring calorie content with sugar can led to obesity (andeson and patterson, 2005). dense sugar content can cause dental cavities and type 2 diabetes mellitus. a short-term adverse effect as a result of eating junk foods. lack of energy which occurs because junk foods does not provide essential nutrient, even though they can be very much sufficing, due to which one feelings weakened. unfortunately, meals consisting of junk foods do not feel up for long. because they are lacking in fiber, and are made of processed foods, they are rated high on the glycemic index, which means they provide a quick rise in blood sugar, but this also falls quickly, and given raise to hunger. cholesterol and salt are known to set-off blood pressure. stroke and heart diseases in a chain (nakayma and terawaks, 2009). excessive salt can affect functioning of kidneys too. excess fats and oils along with species added in these foods act as an irritant to gastric mucosa leading to excess secretion of hydrochloric acid, landing in gastritis. poor concentration is another result of junk food habit known to affect in immediate and medium term periods. when a sumptuous junk meal reach in oil is taken, there is a feeling of drowsiness and failure to concentrate. the junk food taken over a sustained period of time can drop blood secretion due to fat accumulation. lack of vital oxygen nutrient and proteins particularly can stale the grey (brain) sells temporary. most of the times these junk foods contain colours, which are often inedible, carcinogenic and harmful to the body. flavourings and colourings can allergic casuing asthma, rashes, hyperactivity. animal studies on rats have demonstrated the ill effects of consuming junk foods during pregnancy which affects the health of foetus (shaikh and rehman, 2010). statement of the problem food being one of the basic human need for existence play a major role to survive. it is share with families and friends and often make it as a central part of celebrations. it is shopped for, cooked, read about it, talk about, and sometimes worry about it. in world, social demographic changes are driven the growth of food intake due to the rise dual income. eaten meals away from home requires mobility, and fast food is also more expensive than home meals. food eaten away from home may be related to increase weight again because energy density is higher in these meals (bowman, 2010). studies have reviewed that many americans believe women have purchasing power but less time to prepare, cook, eat, cleanup and lack the knowledge in having primary responsibility for foods purchasing and preparation within the home (bowers, 2009). 122 | p a g e however, because eating meals prepared away from home is related to increase bmi among adults, identifying the factors that predict who is likely to eat away from home is important. these fast food requirement are not healthful practices, but they do represent the reality. furthermore, when people eat frequently from outside the home, obesity rate increases. obesity being mother to other diseases is one of the most important public health problems facing adolescents in many developed countries. health authorities are concern because obese adolescents may suffer a number of healthy problems, are likely to remain overweight into adulthood and are at risk of serious, chronic conditions such as cardiovascular disease, type 2, diabetes and fatty lever disease. furthermore, because obesity is now a characteristic of operations and not only of individuals, researchers, government health organizations, and advocacy groups characterized obesity as an epidemic (world health organization, 2003). hence, can the trend and pattern of fast food consumption among students of fce (t) akoke be reduced? purpose of the study the purpose of the study was to investigate the trend and pattern of fast food consumption among student of enugu state college of education (technical), enugu, nigeria. however, the specific objectives are: 1. to determine the students who consume fast food and home food. 2. to find out the frequency of fast food consumption among the students. research question the following research questions were raised to guide the study: 1. what is the percentage of students who consume fast food and home food (cooked food in the hostel)? 2. what is the frequency of fast food consumption among the college students? significance of the study the findings of this paper may of significant to the following group of people who may benefit tremendously. the student may become exposed to the reality of health implication of consuming fast food and the need to cultivate the habit of preparing food by themselves in the hostels. the government through the college authority may see the need to re-introduce the school cafeteria system where foods are prepared for students under hygienic conditions and at affordable prices in order to prevent the side effect or consequence in the life of the students in the future. 123 | p a g e methodology design of the study this paper adopted descriptive survey research design. the population consisted of all male and female nce students of enugu state college of education (technical), enugu. the sample for the study comprised twenty-five (25) male and twenty-five (25) female students that was selected through simple random sampling in each of the six (6) schools in the college. a well structured questionnaire was used to gather data from the respondents. the questionnaire items were made up of four likert scale options which represented the likely opinion of the respondents on the issues arise on fast/junk food. data obtained were statistically analyzed with the use of sample percentage and frequent distribution. presentation and discussion of findings the demographic data of the respondents are presented on table 1 table 1. demographic characteristics of respondents characteristics frequency percentage (%) male 23 46 female 27 54 total 50 100 age group 16-20yrs 18 36 21-25yrs 22 44 26 & above yrs 10 20 total 50 100 adult presented table 1 showed the distribution of the (respondents) based on their gender and age contribution. the data showed that the male students were represented by 46 percent while female students were represented by 54 percent. on the basis of their age contribution, 36 percent are between the age group 16-20, 44 percentage are between 2125 years. while only 20 percent within 26 years and above. this information implies that respondents are youthful and youth population has been described as active in inviting fast food joint. table 2: pattern of consumption of fast and home food among the students pattern frequency percentage (%) i consume fast food regularly 32 64 i prefer to cook my food in the hotels 18 36 124 | p a g e data analysis in table 2 showed that higher percentage 2 (64percent) of the students indulge in fast food consumption and they do it on a regular basis while only 18(32percent) of the students were prefer to cook and eat their food in the hostel. the implication of these is that the fast food consumption pattern of the students is very high. table 3: frequency of fast food consumption of respondents frequency of frequency percentage (%) consumption every day 8 16 2-3 times a week 12 24 once a week 16 32 2-3 times a month 9 18 once a month 5 10 total 50 100 data in table 3 showed how frequent the students visit fast food joint 8(16percent) of the students visit and eat fast food everyday, 12(24percent) visit at least 2-3 times in one week and 16(32percent) visit at least once in a week. the result showed that 72 percent of the students cannot do without visiting the fast food joint on the weekly basis, 28percent of the students visit at least once in every month. conclusion based on the findings, it was concluded that the trend and pattern of fast food consumption among the students of enugu state college of education (technical), enugu is very high. recommendation the paper recommended that students need to cut down on the increasing consumption on fast food and imbibe the habit of preparing food on their own. students should be enlighten on the side effect and health problems associated with the frequent and regular consumption of fast foods as indicated by ojo (2003), in order to live healthily 125 | p a g e references adeniyi. s. (2005). nigerian is fast becoming a junk food nation. nigerian tribune january, 27:24. anderson. j.w & patterson. k., snack foods: comparing nutrition values of excellent choices and junk foods. j am coll nutr 2005; 24:155-6. black. j.o. (2004). eating well while eating out. the nemours foundation. retrieved december 14, 2004 from http:/kidhealthcare.org. bowman. s.a. & vinguard bt. (2010). fast food consumption of usa. adult: impact on energy and nutrient intakes and overweight status. . j am coll nutr; 23:163168, 2004. bowers. d.e. (2009). cooking trends echo changing roles of women. food review, 23 (1), 23-2. nakayama. k., nakayama, m., terawaki, h., murata, y., sato, t. & kohno, m. (2009). carbonated soft drinks and carbonyl stress burden. toxicol sci 2009; 34:699702. ojo, .r.a. (2003). nutrition as correlate of productivity and nation building. west african journal of physical and healthy education. 7:219-227. sheikh, s.a. & rehman, m. (2010). determinants of choice for dining out to fast food and traditional food. journal of independent studies and research. world health organization (2009). obesity: preventing and managing the global epidemic. who technical report series. 894,geneva:who. 188 | p a g e nigeria 2015 general elections: issues and challenges okechukwu, groupson-paul uc.; otu, akanu otu nigeria 2015 general elections: issues and challenges okechukwu, groupson-paul uc. phd groupsonpaul@yahoo.com department of political science federal university ndufu alike ikwo (funai), abakaliki – ebonyi state, nigeria otu, akanu otu phd otu.otu@funai.edu.ng department of political science federal university ndufu alike ikwo (funai), abakaliki – ebonyi state, nigeria abstract the introduction and imposition of ethnic identity and religious bigotry on the nigerian body politics by the colonial masters, the country suffered devious nomenclature that keeps on dividing, creating suspicion with an enthroned animosity among the people. as political governance of the state consistently centred on these factors, the country gradually snowballed into a fledging state. thus, the people in 2015, aware of the utilities of democracy and democratic governance, a panacea to arresting this problematic hydride puts aside ethnic identity and religious bigotry, even when it was employed to the extreme, to deciding on merit on who leads them. the 2015 election, a democratic revolution towards actualizing the aspirations of many is situated on game theory framework. the study utilizes analytical concepts and documentary approaches. the study notes that the populace had been manipulated by the political actors for long using these factors. the study observed that ethnic identity and religious bigotry was totally ignored by the masses in making their choice. the study shows that the people, determined for change were eager to use their votes judiciously. the study revealed that despite huge financial inducement acting as catalysis(m), that the electorates were not deterred. the study suggests that politicians and political parties electioneering campaign should be issues based. key word: ethnic identity, religious bigotry, democratic revolution, financial inducement, political actors, democratic governance introduction contemporary governance speaks volume of democratic ethos, democratic tenets and democratic sustainability and democratic consolidation of the values of leadership that are allowed to flourish in the political system. this, also informs the long lasting of democracy within such a state. and where the otherwise exists, political instability, leadership tussle, social upheaval, crisis and uprisings as occurred in many part of the world in the 21st century like cote mailto:groupsonpaul@yahoo.com 189 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com d-voire in 2010-2011, kenya in 20072008, thailand in 2013-2014, pakistan in 2013 and the entire arab spring scenarios in 2011 to date, particularly in libya, egypt and syria among others takes the stage. electioneering democracy, being the simplest platform of leadership selection has been in practice under the 4th republic in nigeria since 1999 with the then ruling peoples’ democratic party (pdp) being in charge amongst the several political parties, but yet, not measuring up to the expectation of the teeming population of the nigerian citizenry. the party, though widely acknowledged and accepted was not in any way different from the partisan politics of the 60s and 80s in terms of its relationship with the masses. it also joined the bandwagon effects of the former’s period to decimate the common masses. a period where anything goes. thereby, enthroning corruption to the beam, ethnic identity, tribalism and religious bigotry used to manipulate the unaware masses becomes the main totem. the early 1990s elections and the trial of democratic period was the only time that the masses detested and dethroned the antic of the political elites’ manipulative tendencies as they voted in what was termed the freest, fair and peaceful election ever in nigeria without yielding to the dictates of ethnoreligious and or tribal politics. the 2015 general elections against all criticism and skepticism is what one may called a democratic revolution that saw in the anal of nigeria political history, the second time that the masses could speak with one voice in choosing their leader on merit without any let or hindrance to earmarked the beginning of democratic consolidation in nigeria. for democratic revolution occurs in a polity when the masses speak with one voice against long time enslavement, deprivation and manipulation of the populist as the incumbent are muscled out of power by the opposition. the people in the process detests all forms of inducement, negates all call for ethnic identity cleavages, tribal sentiments and religious bigotry that had been used in the past to sway the minds of the populists against their wishes and aspirations to do the needful. the study, thus, examines the 2015 general elections in nigeria, the arising issues, challenges and the role of the electorates, the instrumentalism of the factors of ethnic identity, tribalism and religious bigotry and its failures, changing trend of electioneering process and democratic revolution and the implications. theoretical argument this study, is poised to adopt game theory framework, without neglecting the interplay of power framework. the choice of game theory however, overwhelmed all other related theories. the theory, combined manipulation, scheming and propaganda to achieving desired objectives. thus, scholars like plano and riggs (1953) opined that it is a body of thought dealing with rational 190 | p a g e nigeria 2015 general elections: issues and challenges okechukwu, groupson-paul uc.; otu, akanu otu decision strategies in situations of conflict and competition, of which each participant or player tends to maximize gains and minimize losses. in tandem to this assertion, mager (1972) argued that it is a form of arithmetic mode of interactions of actors striving to maximize their utilities. to newman and magestern (1957), it is used to define the economic man as a rational actor who believes in gain rather than losses. agreeing with this contention, stranger (1960) posits that game theory is a domineering concept with the intent of greed and logical reasoning of manipulating others against their desires, against the society and against the entire system. in the same continuum, levy and thompson (2010), argued that game theory is the act of rationally advancing security, power and wealth in any societal contest. therefore, if game theory involves the manipulation of numbers, persons and materials to achieving a set goals, whose rules are defined vis-à-vis the distribution of resources and the strategic possibilities that are open to each player in the employment of these resources, then, the general questions that this study raises is how does it evolved in the nigerian politics and government? in the nigerian context, the political actors appropriate the common masses by exploiting their weakness in the political system with the existence of a deep-seated suspicion, lack of trust, fears of war and or break up and generational divide among others. though, salient factors that enabled the enthronement of ethnic identity, tribalism and religious bigotry in the body politics cannot be wished away, like the colonial divide and rule system and the importation of ethnicity has been sustained and still much available. this platform being the quickest and most available tool are readily utilized. the actions away from all other challenges and problems faced at every political contest and electioneering processes are imported as seen in 2015 general elections. the essence of this political intrigues was to manipulate the electorates, especially those of south-east, southsouth and south-west against the rest of the country. with theoretical understanding of the essence mobilization in a polity, the ideals of ethnic identities become important to political actors in trying to bring about the success of such as it was in the past political elections that had relied on ethnic cleavages in wooing nigerians. this is not only due to the fact that ethnic identities and primordialism, which are naturally given are products of social construction (taras and grangully, 2002), but because the human actions and choices are manipulated by the political elites in this context. other instrumentalization factors that encourages ethnic identities like tribalism and religious bigotry are tools of action used by successive political actors/elites in nigeria to achieve 191 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com material gains (taras and gangully, 2002). today, the 2015 general elections being the opposite, however, sends a huge signal to the political actors as to what happen? why the failures of political manipulators in the last election? how aware were the electorates? what could have informed the electorates to negate the usual manipulation and inducement of political elites? why did masses decided to ignore, detect and deter all intents to corruption to do the needful? how important do the masses of nigeria sees their mandate as the key factor in changing a leader who fails to perform? all this could be summed up simply and perhaps, because the people want democracy; and not only that but because they want sustainable democracy. nigeria’s democratic history in the context of 2015 general elections election is not new in nigeria. it dates back to the direct election of 1923, which was the first election to be conducted by the former colonial masters britain, on the nigeria soil. though the voting right of nigerians was mortgaged with slim access to power and restriction, but there was no record of electoral fraud or riggings even when they exist. although, no fraud and criminality could be more than that which denied and imposed class distinction, even when awareness on political culture and essences of governance had its abysmal tool on the citizenry. away from this history, all other elections in nigerian had been bedeviled with wild-tale of ethnic chauvinism, tribal sentiments and religious bigotry that end up enthroning electoral selections, gross riggings, and electoral swamping of high degree magnitude. in all inferences, it is always the electoral system, the government and the general mass that are blamed for the categorical failures. thereby insinuating absence of proper political culture, political behaviour, political mobilization and enabling political institution. this negating factors, however, helped to decimate governance system to an awful end. with the introduction of indirect election under the richard constitution of 1946, the politics of ethnicity and ethnic identity in our body politics was born as parties were regionally and ethnically formed and funded. a clog in the wheel of progress that was purportedly sowed by the british colonial master. hence, given birth to an inbuilt relationship that empower every regional actor to claim the victory of their region whether voted for or not. the npc dominating the northern political sphere, the ag for western and the ncnc for the eastern region. all this against competent contender away from these parties’ elements. it also saw mass of imposition; rigging and dominance as occurred in 1956 and 1959 independence election (smith, 2008). anifowose (2000), also 192 | p a g e nigeria 2015 general elections: issues and challenges okechukwu, groupson-paul uc.; otu, akanu otu arguably noted that the election of 1964 and 1965 was engrossed in electoral violence as a result of rigging, ethnic divides and malpractices. eleazu (1983), in the same respect noted that inept errors of the 1963 census proceeding the election of 1964 enhances wild post independence elections malpractices encouraged by ethnic chants and divisionist tendencies due to improper record and delineations. to say this is not a generational problem, passed on from the erstwhile colonial master down to the present generation, is a blatant lie because the role of ethnic identity and religious bigotry has not only been consistent but very destructive. electoral falsification and rigging had been a british product just to favour one ethnic group as nigeria political quagmire is also a british product. a deep seated hydride of ethnicity, tribalism and religious bigotry had become a dread in nigeria political governance. the revelation of harold smith, a one-time british political official in nigeria openly confirmed the contentions about british political infidelity, prostitution and unholiness in actually enthrone ethnic identity and religious politics in nigeria. thus, new african (2005) reproduced in spectator magazine (2008) in its edition reiterated: ... british rigged nigeria’s independence election so that its complaint friends in the north would win power, dominate the country, and serve british interests after independence. as long as the federal government remains dependent, our strategic requirements are constitutionally secure … how the british undermined democracy in africa. now we can reveal that rigging election was actually part of official policy as the british empire disengaged from its colonial possessions in africa… in the west minister model, parliament is the matrix of the executive when this model is exported to dependent territories, we are forced in the transitional stages to modify it in the interest of strong and stable government. this we do by rigging the parliament through official majorities, a restricted franchise and so forth… in the last resort, we must make sure that the government in nigeria is strong, even if possible undemocratic or unjust… this is not only an admission that shame the mother of parliament, but this does not equally mean that nigeria must continually live by it. there are certain ills that does not march or bequeath a modern state like ours. history of all election in nigeria must not be the same or go the same way if we must talk of sustainability and consolidation of 193 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com democracy in our body polity at all. but our political elites seeing these avenues as the cheapest, easier and most successful way of retaining political power had for long practice it while manipulating the common electorates’ detriments. this act was also seen occurring in the 1979 and 1983 general elections between chief obafemi awolowo, alhaji shehu shagari and dr nnamdi azikiwe among others, to which shagari emerged. to promote this evil of ethnic identity, religious bigotry and tribalism, the scenario was nicknamed “bandwagon effect and landslide victory syndrome” (anifowose, 2000). it is this tool of political destruction, devastation, and gross malpractices that gave way to military regime. in the 3rd republic election of 1993, nigerians was again anxious to wish away the epileptic military aberrational rule, as they trooped out like the army of occupation that held sway for years to vote in what was adjudged the best, fairest, and freest election ever in the country's political history. the election was devoid of rigging of any kind. ethnicity, religious bigotry, tribal sentiments, and any form of rancor was buried in the nigerian polity that year. it was the first time nigerian were allowed to use their own devised electoral system that was designed to suite their own environment the option a4 system. but despite the success of the election, the initiators of the system the military annulled it to enthrone instability. umar (2003) and yoroms (2003:5) argued that the aftermath of the annulment led to the most critical period of nigeria political history. it is not surprising in this regard if we say that certain variable that had not continuously and negatively impinges on the electoral processes, such as ethnic identity, religious bigotry and tribal sentiments are problematic issues in the nigerian government and politics. the 1999 and 2003 election was like not subsisting on the plane of a continuous and consistent dirge of a failed state polity. although the 1999, after a long years of military political hullabaloo, corruption and deceitful camouflaged under an authoritarian reign was seen as another leeway of wishing away the military. consequent that periodical desires of all, electoral fraud and copious used of money to sway true political competition was not constructively observed nor criticized and neither was ethnic identity, religious bigotry and tribalism taken into cognizance. thus, olusegun obasanjo emerged from the south-west as a compensation to the zone for the annulled 1993 election was not opposed but seen as an alternative candidate in the 1999 elections. sequel to this, there was free room for rigging at both the federal, states and as well as in local grassroots. the rigging at this period was allowed to stand to avoid returning back to the aberrational military rule. the press in trying to avoid the worst from happening did not make much critical assessment of the result. it was this same problem according to 194 | p a g e nigeria 2015 general elections: issues and challenges okechukwu, groupson-paul uc.; otu, akanu otu oshukeye (2007) that brought about the grand distortion and devastation of the political state in the 2003 election that returned obasanjo to power after a fraudulent and swooping electoral ‘thieffry and thugifism’. the peculiar nature of the nigeria political election also avails many international observers the opportunity to witness nigeria transiting through an incumbent conducted election to another or to be re-elected. in the 2007 elections, the ruling party and the then incumbent president imported a hysteria propaganda by saying that the ‘election will be do or die’ against the fear of failure in case of any free and fair contest. hystericism, according to waal (1998) and keane (1996), is more dangerous than the competition itself because it destroys the victims or opponents before the actual death. to this effect, the perceived enemies are put in disarray, due to fear of death, destruction and wanton violence with the power in the hand of the govern who might be the initiators. the initiators, according to cooper (1998) and adelman (1999), executors or initiators are asked to strike first so that the enemies might not struck. the election result was doctored by the inec staff, rigged by party agents with general votes allocation that was high to prompt icg (2007) to equivocally states that the elections were poorly organized, massively rigged and mercilessly covered. reacting to this absurdity, oyekan (2007) notes that nigerians were not only dismay but was amazed at the facts available, suggesting the obvious, that the outcome was a bizarre. the inec and the government has assaulted the sensibility of nigerians. they had violated the entire processes that should not be accepted in any electoral setting and has instead given nigeria a travesty of what an election should be (chukwuma, 2007). in the acceptance of the 2007 elections as haven been marred with fraud, flaws, massive riggings and other electoral malpractices, the declared winner, alhaji musa yar’adua admitted with a high sense of responsibility that there were high degree flaws as noted in the election but still accepted the certificates of return as the official winner since the position avoid vacuum. however, against the incidence that trailed the death of musa yar’adua in february 2010 and the consequent doctrine of necessity as adopted by the senate of the federal republic of nigeria, thereby, allowing for the passage of power to goodluck ebele jonathan (the guardian, 2010), the 2011 general elections saw an overwhelming and sympathetic electoral victory for goodluck jonathan and the ruling pdp. the masses voted against ethnic divide among others as they never allowed such into the electoral stream as some had championed with electoral violence. the poll was propelled by majority interest with the hope that something tangible would come out of the jonathan led government. however, 195 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com against the high expectations and promises the government of goodluck ebele jonathan meshed itself in a deep and weak incapacitation slumber that assumedly strangled the institutions of governance. to finish the jonathan project, the remnants of the government was hijacked by terrible cabals who helped themselves in achieving their own monumental gains. the government of jonathan however, by its sheer providence played a game that he never and cannot explain its tide and course. and before he could realize his mistakes, it was too late as average nigerians had become increasingly aware and probably ready to decide their fate in the 2015 electoral poll to jonathan’s disadvantage. agreeing to this notion, akintude-johnson (2015), noted that ‘change ‘mantra transcended slogan and lingo – it correctly and timely defined the main contemplation of most nigerians...against 16 years of pdp adventure and pantomime. the people craved for a change in the national leadership. issues and challenges the 2015 general election like all other elections in nigeria were faced with enormous challenges and issue that tends to derail the whole processes. this included: (1) lack of political awareness in distribution and collection of voter’s cards the voters card production though was seen to be slow as many people were apprehensive that probably the inec and the government wants to disenfranchise nigerians or go their normal way of allocating votes to favourite candidates as was seen in 2003 and 2007 elections (the guardian, 2007). despite this slowness however, many people were unaware that the voter’s card were being distributed. and where there is turnout, the inec official only report at their own time. in the south, the number of collection was abysmally low owing to several excuses from the inec staff, the registered voters and the media. the national orientation agency was seen to be doing nothing order than campaigning for a particular political party instead of creating political awareness among the people. the will for electoral conscientization was lacking and the noa was meshed in a political bickering and partisan. (2) the unconcerned attitude of the citizenry towards elections (apathy) the most honest thing about the last election was that nigerian was evenly divided. there were those who believe that it is as usual while some, mostly from the north and south-west were highly aware and desired for free and fair elections. the attitude of the southsouth and south-east people was not only that their brother is there, but that it is their turn, hence, whether bad or good that they should be allowed to finish their tenure. they so much believe that the president has the power to turn the election victory to his side. there was 196 | p a g e nigeria 2015 general elections: issues and challenges okechukwu, groupson-paul uc.; otu, akanu otu also a political miscalculation that still centre on ethnic inclination, cleavages and tribalism, especially among those in government who believe that whether by hook or crock, that they will rig the election to remain in power, thereby trying to re-echo the view of peter (2007) that governments in nigeria never guarantees citizen basic right to vote but always wanting their will to be done as fraud, violence and/or electoral distortions are planned ahead before elections. premised on this slide and absurd notion, many people from other part of the country, especially the southeast and south-south neglected the sensitization exercise on registration and the obtaining of voter’s cards to the detriment of their preferred candidate when it was obvious that the election is not going to be a work-over against the opposition. (3) the negative role and antics of political hijackers one of the most devious challenges faced by the 2015 general elections was the role of political hijackers beginning from the electoral process to the announcement of results. these hijackers noting the weakness in the presidency was uncomfortable with idea of retaining the inec chairman by the president. they had wished that prof. jega’s tenure be terminated and replaced with someone who can deliver the party (pdp) to retaining power. then, against the low collection of voter’s card in the southern part of the country, the campaign against election holding targeting prof. jega chairmanship, and the acceptability of the election date among others becomes their problematic overture and calculations. to appease this group, the election date was changed but with uncertainty. even when the election was conducted and the results started coming in, the group with advance plan of obtaining court injunctions from the abuja federal high court to stopping the announcement as alleged failed, they resorted with decision to display their vexation on the whole issue at the floor of the general collation centre of inec to scuffle the announcement of the results as led by elder godsday olubebe of pdp. the activities of this group if they had succeeded would have taken nigeria aback and probably violence and complete failed state logjam setting in. the group with evil intension would have retarded all known democratic, development and peaceful processes, thereby plugging nigeria into a perpetual political instability. (4) the re-introduction of ethnicity, tribalism and religious bigotry into nigeria body politics while the apc/buhari campaign mantra was ‘change’, the pdp/jonathan campaign jingle was the importation of ethnic identity and ethnic divide. thus, at the height of the 2015 general elections campaigns, and away from the overwhelming pdp hope of retaining power, it was completely clear that the level of awareness among the people of nigeria for a change of government was imminent. hence, the pdp presidential 197 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com campaign team re-enacted the role of ethnicity, tribalism and religious bigotry into the body politics. the pdp campaigner greatly exploited that avenue as a way of weakening the opposition, creating animosity and division among the electorates. president jonathan used the antic to create a huge division among the people of south-south/south-east and southwest against the northern people. the ethos of ethnicity and religious bigotry, especially, was re-introduced into our body politics. with over 75% of the electorates in the south-south and south-east buying the idea, the southwest differed due to the level of awareness, education and democratic culture. the opposition party, apc, however, was seen campaigning on issue based ideology. to make mockery of democracy and what is right, president jonathan at an electoral campaign at okpara square in enugu state said that stealing is not corruption; after-all, how much did chief jim nwobodo stole that he was jailed by gen. m. buhari in 1984. the reintroduction of this monster ‘ethnicity and ethnic identity’ that was destroyed in 1993 general election was not only rejuvenated but it becomes disheartening that it was coming from a statesman like jonathan. a terrible campaign slogan, filled with blackmail and cheap propaganda that has been reinvented and sponsored by pdp on the national (nta) and private (ait) medias against the opposition to manipulate the general society. a ploy, akinyemi (2015), aptly notes that the politicians has forgotten that our unity would be stronger if everything about ethnicity, tribalism and religious bigotry are erased from our body politics. however, despite this mistrust, the average nigerian electorates was keen and ready to change the government. the manipulative tendency coupled with copious use of money and food items as inducement was completely ignored and where it was accepted, the electorates simply claimed that it was the tax payer’s money, hence, it is the peoples’ wealth that are being misappropriated (lawal,2015). the result of the election however, shocked the electoral manipulators and also send a strong signal to agents of ethnicity and religious bigotry crusaders, informing them that the level of awareness and the resolute will to what is right is now the order of the day. this kind of democratic revolution suffices to state that with the level of political awareness, political consciousness of the masses and total reframe from the older with peacefulness might ensure our democratic sustainability and consolidation in the next dispensation. (5) the stand of international communities toward healthy democracy despite all ploy and agenda of holding or not holding the last election as being schemed by the pdp political hawks or political hijackers, the international community of usa, great britain, 198 | p a g e nigeria 2015 general elections: issues and challenges okechukwu, groupson-paul uc.; otu, akanu otu france and european union among others, who had donated much to inec in preparation towards the election was resolute that election must hold in nigeria against all odds. on the consequent, the president was being informed of the fate of laurent gbagbo of cote d’ivoire and charles taylor of liberia among others who had derailed democratic processes leading to violence and wanton killings in their states. hence, the need for free and fair play in the election is not negotiable as the election must go on as schedule. it is on this mounting pressures that probably allowed and possibly helped the actual conduct of the elections that the political hijackers had already deemed impossible in order to retain the statuesque of the ruling government. the implications this is viewed from two perspectives of consistent deprivation of the political will of the masses and the 2015 general election in nigeria democratic space. (a) the consistent deprivation of the political will of the masses the electorates in the nigeria political space has been consistently manipulated at every political season. right from independence to date as stated in the nigerian electoral history, it is clear that the common electorates are victims of the elites or politicians’ political designs. these methods ranging from the import of ethnicity, tribalism, religious bigotry to massive electoral rigging, votes allocation, candidates’ imposition to the dislocation of electoral mandates and democratic dividend among others informed that the masses are cyclically used at every election without any development to show for it. an action that exemplified a weak and defeated masses. the politician, relying on this platform of the three monstrous characters of ethnicity and ethnic identity, religious bigotry and tribalism among others had made mess of the masses political power, ‘their mandate’ to taunt them and deprive them the essence of governance and democratic tenets. economically, the masses are poorly paid, in most areas, no access road, no water, no electricity and no general development, simply because the fund meant for such had been misappropriated. the level of unemployment, failed system and high cost of living continued to hunt the common masses due to denial and cyclical neglect of the leaders in performing their functions after every election. (b) the 2015 general election in nigeria democratic space the expectation of nigerians in the 2015 election was clearly expressed in the run-up to the elections, both in the body language and the expression. it is this development that however, aroused the several scheming that the political hijackers tried to use to derail the process and conduct of the elections. the importation of ethnic identity, tribalism and religious bigotry could 199 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com have been another factor that could have thwart the true result of the elections if the nigerian electorates did not ignore the antics and campaign slogans. the outcome or the negation of the election would have taken nigeria back to the pre-independence period where ethnic identity and instability was the clarion call of political gladiators. the nation would have equally loose its value in the international committee of nations. moreover, the derail of the 2015 general election would not only have disempowered and disenfranchise the masses of the country, it would have equally portrayed nigeria as a misfit, unserious and completely failed state. this also informed the national democratic institute and european union (2015), affirmed after the election that nigerians conscious of their pains had spoken to reject corruption, fraudulent practices, thievery, greed and political balkanization of the nigerian democracy to what is the true wish of the people. the changing trends of the 2015 general elections the 2015 general elections being different in several ways from other previous elections in the country is unique in its own history. this could be located in four (4) ways:  it was totally different from the 1959, 1979 and 1983 general elections in that it did not only fail to adhere to the idea of ethnicity, ethnic identity and the ploy of marriage of conveniences that was always the order of the day for politicians to propagates at the dying minutes of political scheming.  it re-echoed the 1993 general elections zeal as noted amongst the people with the hope that there is a new nigeria insight.  the elections destroyed the political antics of politicians and political elites who uses ethnic identity, religious bigotry and tribalism among others to manipulate the common masses of the country.  it created an enabling political environment, a high political aware people with a high political educated society that might lead to a sound democratic sustainability and consolidations if properly managed. recommendation 1. apart from the fact that the study observed that ethnic identity as imported into the election was not adhered to by the masses, suggest that it is necessary that the masses should be made to understand the implications of ethnicity and ethnic identity on the general body politics of nigeria against future elections. 2. borrowing word from akinyemi (2015), if our politicians should erase everything about ethnicity, 200 | p a g e nigeria 2015 general elections: issues and challenges okechukwu, groupson-paul uc.; otu, akanu otu tribalism and religious bigotry from our body politics then, our unity could be stronger. 3. the study is also of the view that politicians and political parties should make their electioneering campaigns an issue based towards solving the society problems. 4 the worst thing that could happen to a polity is when the people eat their tomorrow a day before the very day in the name of electoral inducement. this, the electorate must be aware of and resist any agents of such bondage. 5. with the knowledge of democracy and democratic tenets, political education to enhance the level of awareness of nigerian towards election is very necessary. 6. many nigerians should be conscientized that there is nothing unique or valued based in ethnic, religious or tribal chants and sentiments. thus, they should negate political manipulators and opportunistic zeal of elites in brainwashing them for scrupulous gain against the wishes of the common electorates. 7. democratic education in line with political culture and political awareness away from any political or campaign slogans that will not re-orient the society towards political development should be ignored. 8. the success and healthy polity of any political system lies on obedient to the principles of rule of law and the upholdment of the tenets of constitutionalism, which should be everyone stake in the new nigeria. 9. the emerging government should inaugurate itself to political relevance in the issues and challenges of the nigerian democratic processes if we must talk of sustainability and consolidation in the polity. conclusion the degree of awareness seen in the 2015 general election have unfolded a growing zeal of the masses in understanding their political environment instead of always allowing self to be manipulated by the political elites. this also informed the call that the constitution and the electoral act need to be revised to be consistent with the international best practices. with the post-election appraisal, euphoria, blames and criticism the new clarion still suggests that there is the need to maintain integrity of the former so as to allow election to be the point of all decision in choosing a candidate. then, election should also be made to be transparent by allowing polling booths to be less crowded. there is correlation between election and democratic consolidation even when there was gray area which make the election not acceptable. the total neglect and abandonment of the old order of ethnic identity, religious bigotry and tribalism has not only displayed the growing educational and democratic awareness but had informed 201 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com the actors of such antics of its probable end. hence, the democratic revolution witness in the 2015 election, where the people voted for merit is a mark of democratic development of nigerian must be sustained and enhance. references akintunde-johnson, f. (2015), “buhari 2015: while it’s still fresh and feisty” in sun newspaper april 8th. akinyemi, b. 2015, “the road to sound democracy in nigeria: the erasing of ethnicity, religious bigotry and tribalism in our polity” in niia quarterly lagos. anifowose, r. 2000, element of politics. lagos: sams pub. barrett, l. 2015, election 2015: the morning after/ apprehension and anticipation” in sun newspaper, april 5th. christian i. 2007 "april polls mother of all frauds" sunday sun april 29 pp. 10-12. chukumma, i. 2007, "what nigeria election observers say" in bbc news africa: http:/ /news.bbc.co.uk/2wii/africa/ 6582979.stm ppl-4. cooper b. 1998, war crimes: the legacy of nurembers. new york: tv books pp. 139-40. eleazu, u. 1983 federalism and nationbuilding: the nigerian experience 1954 1964. revised ed. elms court pub. _________ 2008, “how british introduced rigging into nigeria” in the spectator newspaper, november 28 – dec. 4 pp 8 – 10 ibrahim, l. 2015, “pdp conceded victory to buhari with oath taking claim” daily times nigeria, abuja march 2nd . icg 2007, "nigeria: failed elections, failing state”. international crisis group, africa report no 126 30 may, http://www.crisisgroup.or /home/ index.cfm?id.4876. lawal, b. 2015, “they gave us back our stolen money on campaign ground” in the nations newspaper march 11th. lawal, o. 2011, harold smith’s tribute: archive for category of what is new” in new africa magazine. mager, l. 1972 comparative political inquiry: methodological survey. london: classical press. manegestern, o. and newman, j. v. 1957. concepts of game theory: the real analysis. london: oxford university press. obisesan, b. 2015, “heads to roll in inec over falsified results” in sun newspaper april 10th. oshunkeye s. 2007, "restoring public faith in our democracy" weekly spectator april 29, p.22. oyekan, b. 2007 "april polls: selection, not election" in sunday sun newspaper april 29. p. 7. http://www.crisisgroup.or/ 202 | p a g e nigeria 2015 general elections: issues and challenges okechukwu, groupson-paul uc.; otu, akanu otu plano, j. and riggs, r. e. 1953. dictionary of political analysis. london: oxford university press. salaudeen, l. and igbonwelundu, p. 2015, “jonathan: we have failed” the nation newspaper, friday january 9th. stranger, d. j. 1960. man, the state and war: a theoretical analysis. new york: columbia university press. taibbo, kc. 2007, "the madness that goes with fraudulent election" daily tribune july 15 pp14-16. taras, r. and ganguly, r. 2002, understanding ethnic conflict: the international dimension, india: apple print. thompson, w. r. 2010. causes of war. wiley-blackwell. a john willey and son ltd. -----------2010, “the doctrine of necessity in perspective” in the guardian dec 26th. ________ 2003 the daily tribune may 27, ________ 2007 the daily tribune april 16, ________ 1999 the 1999 federal republic of nigerian constitution, 3rd schedule part 1. ________ "this election is a travesty" in www.sunnewsonline.com (2007) umar, m.z 2003, "an examination of the interface between the nations of political parties, electoral rules and prospects for democracy and democratic governance in nigeria." in nigeria society under democratic rule 1999 2003, at university of ilorin 20th 21st august. yoroms g. j. 2003, "elections and election rigging in nigeria: implications for democratic growth." in nigeria society under democratic rule 1999 2003 at university ilorin conference 20th 21st august. http://www.sunnewsonline.com/ 70 | p a g e the dominant class and the state in nigeria: a confederacy of profligacy dr. okechukwu egwu ibiam the dominant class and the state in nigeria: a confederacy of profligacy dr. okechukwu egwu ibiam department of political science faculty of humanities and social sciences federal university ndufu-alike ikwo nigeria e-mail: okeyibiamegwu@gmail.com abstract the nigerian state has been persistently referred to as an alien state by all and sundry not because its operators are aliens or non-nigerians. far from that, it is so because of the modus operand of those nigerians assigned the duty of superintending over their lives using the institutions of this state. this state having entangled itself with the dominant exploiter class ill nigeria and indeed elsewhere to the detriment of the masses has elicited reactions leading to the quest for a re-definition of its functions. this state having acquired new characteristics in the interest of the exploiter class has attracted the interests of analysts who have in reaction substituted its conceptualization through papers such as this to that of being an entity in a confederacy of profligacy with the dominant exploiter class in nigeria to expropriate the nation's wealth. this paper has therefore given detail to the dimensions of the dialectical materialist processes evolved by this state through its alliance with the exploiter class to expropriate the people. it was established through this paper that based on deliberate class characterization of nigerians this state and its allies have perpetuated corruption and underdevelopment as well as other social ills among nigerians leading to contentions among the citizens for its repositioning. on this basis far reaching recommendations were made as solutions to the ills so far occasioned by the present conditions of the nigerian state. keywords: dominants class, state, confederacy, profligacy, corruption, development/ underdevelopment, poverty. introduction in recent times, the role of the nigerian state as an agent of societal development brought its policies, control and use (or abuse) of public resources has attracted much concern. such concerns arise partly because of the ever increasing failure of this state to live up to its responsibilities. much critique has trailed the nigerian state in this regard because of its unfettered fraternity with the dominant exploiter class in nigeria and elsewhere. among allegations leveled against this state include its lack of neutrality in the ever increasing contestation for the allocation of nigerians multi-billion dolor petroleum resources, by engaging in unbridled and biased relationship with the dominant class to the detriment of the large population of the citizens (ekewe 1986). this order which analyst see as a common practice (ake 1985) among mailto:okeyibiamegwu@gmail.com 71 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com african dependant capitalist states (frank 1975) has succeeded in arousing the concern of the citizens to the extent of constituting a problem. this action of the state which diamond (2006) see as an unholy alliance between the state and the dominant exploiter class has transcended from being a common practice into an order of the confederation of profligacy in nigeria. ake (1996) argues that the emergence of class division in africa, but particularly in nigeria was occasioned by european colonial interests which gave birth to nigeria and by so doing established a structure of class characterization of the citizens that facilitates wealth expropriation for british vested interests. it is this structure that was inherited by the post-colonial nigerian state and imbued with its exploitative european masters’ characteristics, this state has pursued and caused the furtherance of class division among nigerians, in the interest of both indigenous and the western exploiter class. ake furthers that while no one denies the existence of localized traditional classes of citizens in precolonial nigerian communities, the dimension of the alliance between any of such classes with the traditional state institutions was nothing compared the contemporary order. beyond that, we are at the moment interested in the contemporary order of a confederation of profligacy between the state and the dominant class which facilitates the satisfaction of the vested interest of the later. ake submitted that in nigeria, the dominant class (referred to) here are all those who are in the power position to take what they can from the nations accumulated wealth either directly or through a form of patronage and are also in the position of decide what other will get (ake 1996: 15). in nigeria, this class includes a range of individuals who operate as cabals independently in a way it collectively engaged in covert manipulations that sustain their vested interests. through a complex web these individuals associate to establish long term and general pathways for their families, associated and cronies for in the scheme of things in society. using their regular connections in the corridors of state power, they create a fraternity with former and serving heads of states and government, political office holders, bureaucrats, technocrats and other with high connections to policy processes of the state. access to the status of a dominant class is synonymous with being in control of the state apparatus that creates access to unequal distribution of public resource in this class interest. other associated prerequisites include access to exclusive benefits of immunity against aspect of public law, prestige, unfettered contract awards, and other opportunities that guarantee wealth for members' future generations (onimede 1988). this is therefore an existing and ever increasing complex order of profligacy between the operators of the state apparatus and the dominant exploiter class in nigeria which has in recent times attracted concerns among state observers in our 72 | p a g e the dominant class and the state in nigeria: a confederacy of profligacy dr. okechukwu egwu ibiam society. mosca (1936:50-69) is proved right in the light of the above when his studies earlier contended that there is in every society a minority that constitutes a dominant class which may in part be formed as a political class, because it is formed through and based upon monopoly control over instruments of power (coercion). mosca referenced marx by arguing further that the dominant ruling class had become hereditary in fact, if not in law. here the crux of the matter is that the nigerian state has been variously accused of entering into an unwholesome alliance with the dominant exploiter class and by so doing has unwillingly been protecting the vested interests of this class to the detriment of larger masses (amin 1976). the state has therefore taken sides with the exploiter class while jettisoning its neutrality position in the contestations between the exploiter and exploited classes in nigeria. the dominant class and exploitation of nigerians the nigerian dominant (exploiter) class remains a caricature of their european and american counterparts to the extent that they defy attempts at scholarly interpretation of what they represent. nonetheless it is imperative that some form of explanation, if not definitions be alluded to this class using historical antecedents of the western bourgeois society that seemingly reflects its nature as nigeria. in order words, an explanation of the dominant class of the western bourgeois societies in its true and original form stands to help us get a grasp of what this class is, as it stands to feed on the nigerian citizens like wood worm. warren (1973) views the metropolitan dominant class as one whose members own and control the means of economic production. using the nomenclature of class analysis in marxist conceptualization to locate the dominant class in this paper, we may have to adopt english definition of the term "bourgeoisie" to mean the class of modern capitalists, owners of the means of socio-economic reproduction and employers of wage labour (marx & engel 1888). sklar (2006) furthers that this term has been used by critical analysts to identify the dominant class in society as those maintaining market economies and capitalist accumulation for the purpose of sustaining private property and in that process control the society at large. to understand this dominant class and its actions and dimension we need to elucidate the concept "class". here lenin (cited in ekekwe 1986:6:6) holds that the classes are large groups of people differing from each other by the place they occupy in historically determined system of social and economic reproduction by their relation to the means of production, by their 73 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com roles in social organization of labour and consequently by the dimension of the share of social (and economic) wealth which they dispose and the mode of acquiring them. we can deduce here that classes are groups of people (even though they may not be homogenously so within specific socioeconomic and by extension political and other related factors, one of which can appropriate the labour of another, including the accruing surplus owing to the different places they occupy in definite systems of socioeconomic relationship. here divisions of men into these classes are determined by their positions (not necessarily by accident of birth or culture) in the scheme of a society's socio-economic reproduction processes. igwe (2005) argues here that divisions in society along class differentials are not new in society because since antiquity various attempts have been made either to explain, rationalize or justify these divisions. these attempts have divisions have been on the basis of access of each of the groups in this division to economically determinable factors. it is therefore evident that as these divisions deepen in response to prevalent modes of socioeconomic production, there have always emerged efforts by men to either reconcile the coherent differences or to deepen these differences for vested interests. as much as overtures at causing co-existence between this groups (classes) have been made by men, its sustenance have in the same vein been compromised by breaches occasioned by the in ordinate ambition for selfsame by members of the dominant class. in nigeria such breaches which the state is expected to mediate in have often been either ignored or exacerbated by this state in favour of the exploiter class. in the course of time, increases in the expropriation of public wealth accruing from the labour of the masses through the emergent confederation of corruption between the stat and this dominant class, have had reciprocal antagonism emerging from the exploited class. out of these provides emerges contentions and struggle for supremacy between the classes over society's socio-economic good. (santos 1970). out of these struggles emerges class a consciousness and a 'we' feeling of the exploited masses or aggregates of people who share a common relationship as providers of labour. based on shared common ideological deposition, which in (crude) capitalist societies coalesce into labour movements and in recent times other forms of fifth columnist and tenor groups; as they have come to exist in nigeria as agitators against the ills of state motivated appropriation of national wealth by a few; conflicts began to emerge across the land. this consciousness becomes pre-eminent after the workers and others who have suffered negative consequences on their relations with the exploiter class have endured to no end. seeing their alienation, deprivation and humanities 74 | p a g e the dominant class and the state in nigeria: a confederacy of profligacy dr. okechukwu egwu ibiam by state agents and the dominant class, as unacceptable, these exploited class begins to desire for change, a change they often pursue with vigor to the extent of deploying conflict as an inevitable road map to the overthrow of this state and its accolades in the exploiter class (marx and engels 1977). arising from these conflicts are usually other forms of interventions which the exploiter class have often brought to bear on the exploited class using the instrumentality of the state in areas of political manipulation, divide and rule among the working class, declaration of moratorium in emerging political institutions, and outright acts of state sponsored tenor against individuals with clout among workers. in contemporary advanced metropolitan capitalist societies such as europe and the americas, other humane criteria have been brought to bear on the system by the state in collaboration with the exploiter class. having accepted the efficacy of karl marx's megrim opus in the "communist manifesto" as a guide to revolution of the working (exploiter) class, the western societies have abandoned the crude unsuccessful approach still in vogue in fledging capitalist societies such as nigeria. using intricate webs of public policies such welfarism, workers' social security, less working (credit facilities) education, health and other social services, the advanced capitalist societies have sought to assuage workers. these societies have in recent time sought to dilute the extremes of capitalism as a mode of production based on the principle of survival of the fittest and faceless individualism. here egalitarianism has been borrowed from socialist cum communist literature with little or no thanks to karl marx's philosophers as a mechanism to dilute the excesses of the dominant class in the interest of all mankind. whereas the above as a bourgeoning scenario in these metropolitan societies, stiff necked apologist of crude public wealth appropriation among nigerians have refused to reconcile themselves to need for change, hence the endless carnage as nigeria among citizens as they struggle for the equitable allocation of the nation's resources. saul (1974) points out here that in some parts of africa (including nigeria) the crystallization of a fully formed (crude capitalist) class around the state apparatus constitutes a problem. this classes having an interest that is quite distinct from and being antagonistic to the interest of the masses and indeed their societies development lacks in all spheres the distinctive "humane" characteristics of the metropolitan bourgeoisie. this is so because while the metropolitan dominant class engages itself with their states, they operate fundamentally for the multiplication of economic interest of their society and by so doing cause capital to recycle. as much as they may be maximizing their interests, their capital is kept within the borders of their nations to either attract external profits through multinational corporate business or cause domestic 75 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com capital increase which creates jobs, social services etc. whereas this is an order propelled by the alliance between the state and the capitalist (dominant class) in europe and the americas, the opposite pervades in nigeria and other parts of africa. in nigeria the dominant class uses their confederation of profligacy to pillage the nigeria's multi-trillion petro-dollar wealth. they sit around the corridors of state power to collect and transfer wealth to foreign countries where such wealth is exparrded for ostentatious life cycle that enriches european economies to nigerians' detriment. having entangled itself with this parasitic document class, the nigerian state has been adjudged worthy of no recognition as being recognized as the committee of states of people of repute. as much as nigerians may wish to take their state back from this octopusian class seeking the juice of life out of them, the is need for greater efforts at raising the people's consciousness regarding the task ahead, in the area of continued vigilance over the many faces of the exploiter class in their avowed determination to sustain their hegemony over nigerians. theoretical base this paper adopted the theoretical base of historical and dialectical materialism (marx and engels 1974). this theory, popularized by karl marx and later expounded by lenin and other post marxian school posits that there are inherent contradictions in every human society that keeps such a society in a constant state of flux. these contradictions being in themselves relevant aspects of society have succeeded in keeping society under a dynamic equilibrium. basically, this theory postulates that it is the materials (economic substructure) base of every structure and by extension the determinant of the ideas therein. to this theory, the fundamental determinant of the forms of political, social and ideological levels of every society is the material conditions of existence of the people. ake (1981) alludes to this view when the synthesized the views of marx to conclude that the economic base constitutes the core of all other relations mostly in capitalist societies. the relevance of this theoretical underpinning to this paper is that; because western capitalism was imposed on nigerians under colonialism and that since this mode of economic reproduction subsists no post colonials nigeria, then every form of relation be it class-oriented or between classes and institutions are matter related. expectedly, the directive of class analysis pre-supposes that class conflicts areinherent aspects of the relationship between the exploiter and exploited class, provides a platform for this theory's efficacy in this paper. since these classes are eternally engaged in class contradictions, an unavoidable dialectical relationship persists over the material 'base of their society. 'it is in the 76 | p a g e the dominant class and the state in nigeria: a confederacy of profligacy dr. okechukwu egwu ibiam course of the competitions and contention over the wealth and resources of society that the state's role as a neutral arbiter becomes compromised to favour the exploiter now fund gender frank dominant class. having successfully taken control of the state to its favour, this document class has gone further to forge a unity of purpose between it and the state through a confederation of interest which is public wealth appropriation. since the state's neutral position is no longer guaranteed with the struggle of societies resources among these classes, the emergent order elevates all forms of unorthodox practices and vices by the exploiter class to an official state art concluded as a confederation of corruption between the document exploiter class and the weak spineless state in nigeria. the confederation of corruption in nigeria there is no over emphasizing the fact that nigerians are under a siege perpetrated from all frontiers by their own kit and kin. having taken control and usurped the state for its class interest; and having successfully created a strong foundation upon which wealth expropriation occurs in their interest, this class has elevated corruption to its heights in nigeria irrespective of their intra-class differentials, political groupings and occupational nomenclatures, this class now attests to control the nigerian society. the emergent confederation of profligacy situates in nigeria in various dimension through mechanisms that cause the state to make governance a personal prerogative that must be achieved by all means in the interest of the dominant class. aluko (in davidwest 2003) sums this up as in life of "self-perpetuation, a never bowing out tendency of african heads of state and politicians". governance and statecraft has been the dominant days in nigeria. such acts are displayed across the land where this class members pendulant from one political office to another. examples include ex-senators slightly position to become governance and vice versa, ex-legislators or governance, heads of states seeking political positions they ordinally word expected to leave for younger political starts, as well as the justle for political posts all with the content of staying in offices long enough to accumulate the gotten wealth. alukos position is that such acts under-develop societies like nigeria and are evidenced by practices that include: i. turning government into a personalized and cultish enclave. ii. suppression and oppression of position, stiffing dissenting, voices and opposing opinions of labour intellectuals and the masses. 111.transforming unbridled corruption into sate alt. 77 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com iv. and the institution of one part (dictatorial) state. in nigeria, the orgy of bad governance, poor infrastructural development, poor or low industrial capacity utilization, cultism, demonization of politics, whole sale corrupt practices and other vices have pervaded superintended by a spineless state. the state's lack of the capacity to maintain law and order becomes and order of the day under which society degenerates into claves giving rise to other forms of social ills that endangers the masses. out of these processes emerges an elite state-masses gulf characterized by rural-urban inequalities, slum life, among the citizens, high rate of unemployment, illiteracy, disease and death. others are the oblivious ever increasing cases neglect of the agricultural sector leading to food crises, lack of inter sectoral linkages between industries, weak industrial production capacity and other socio-economic problems that cause the citizens to coarse faith in their state. analysis the nigerian state is a questionable state in all ramifications, in view of its loss of both the qualities of a people's state and its tenets as a neutral arbiter between men in their social relationships. conceptualizing the unity of purpose between the dominant exploiter class and the states in nigeria as they collaborate to perpetuate political and socio-economic corruption in the land is nothing less than a confederacy of profligacy. based on a theoretical underpinning of historical and dialectical materialism, this confederacy between the state and the dominant class in nigeria is a reverse order of the true meaning of a confederation. suffice it to note that a confederacy often occurs through rational and well though decision by parties with common interests to unit for the good of all irrespective of some differentials that include class divisions (appadorai 1975). the confederacy as apolitical organization of willing participants is a concept adopted in this paper in a reverse order to represent the tacit conscription of the nigerian state by the dominant class for their myopic interest while pretending otherwise. the implications of this papers position is that there are various units within the fledging colonial structure called the federation of nigeria which has become the exclusive machinery for exploiting the post-colonial nigeria citizens. to this end, calling the nigerian state as it exists today to question arises out of the negative consequences of the activities of this class as they dominate the masses through the state. as the viability of this state as a defender and provider for all continues to vitiate under this class, a near total collapse of its ability to provide for the people becomes oblivious. the state as its exist in nigeria lacks the political will to cause any meaningful socio-economic development for the people because of its complicity to elevate corruption to a state craft in coloration with the dominant class. 78 | p a g e the dominant class and the state in nigeria: a confederacy of profligacy dr. okechukwu egwu ibiam in recent times, especially under the much bandied about democracy from 1999 till date, evidence of wanton looting of nation income with past and present political office holders trade blames, perhaps washing their dirty limens in the public. such actions of these public offices often occur when intra-class fraction (which is acceptable in class alliance most among greedy public officials) occur over specific interests that bother on when controls the processes of further expropriation. the nigerian state as is therefore seen in this paper as a failed state in all ramifications. this is so because this state cannot explain why it has expanded fifty-five (55) years of selfrule (be it military or civilian they are the two sides of the same coin) without fulfilling simple obligations such as the provision of basic infrastructure, improved education and health services and other necessities state all over the world, irrespective of their ideological learning, have gone far in providing for their citizens. conclusion and recommendation in the light of existing evidence of a failed state in nigeria and the rising contentions, agitation as well as the emerging trend of fifth columnists rising intermittently to constitute security problems beyond the state control, this state stands called to question. this demand is fundamentally anchored on the ones that with the degeneration of the policy security of lives and property, continually downward spiraling economic woes, youth restfulness, (leading to cultish lifestyle and gangrubbery life) unemployment, social decay and other natural vices that orchestrate nigeria's underdevelopment, nigerians have become helpless. it used to be a natural prerogative of the state to deploy its resources (wealth) which comes from crude oil, (nigeria's one and only golden goose) for the provision of basic needs of citizens as well as other variables that engender development. the case in nigeria is however the opposite. this state having been overwhelmed by the dominant exploiter class is now engaged in manipulations entailed in "pirate capitalism" (diamond 2006:578) that deviates it from its legitimate and legal imperatives of service to masses of nigeria. despite the enormous national resources accruing this nation, the managers to the state apparatus have failed (refused) to cause development to occur in the land. this state and its allies in the dominant class such as, the politicians serving and retired military officers, serving and retired heads of state (presidents etc.) and government, parliamentarians bureaucrats, technocrats and other opportune to occupy exalted public offices; have in recent times metamorphosed into a cabal that loots the national treasury, they corruptly enrich themselves by violating legal rules about official conduct, through illicit manipulation of public offices to create access for themselves and their cronies for an endless rapacious appropriation of the 79 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com peoples wealth. the line between private and state power and access to public goods is almost nonexistent in nigeria. state officials openly display illicit wealth acquired through fraud, contract fees inflation and embezzlement, illicit economic ventures, subsidy pay offs and other acts of political and socioeconomic criminality that taffies even their metropolitan bourgeois masters beyond imagination. this state has therefore failed and having so failed to the extent of not being able to defend the integrity, internal and external security of the people, the death knell is hereby sounded for its demise. the people of nigeria must call this state to question in the bid to restructure it. since the doctrine of class analysis pre-supposes that class conflicts in the face of such horrendous acts of profligacy by this state and the class dominating it, the need for a nigerians to demand for change is now. for all intends and purposes there is need for all hands to be on deck on the project of re-ordering the nigerian state, away from this hegemonic and parasitic claws of the dominant exploiter class. a call to a confederation of the people's will must be made through various organs and bodies of society committed to equity, justice fair play and rule of law in nigeria. this call goes out to the inteligencia, academics, the media, civil and human rights organization, nongovernmental and faith based organization (ngo and fbo) as well as labour unions and individuals towards fostering a strong civil society dedicated to liberating the nigerian state from the shackles of dominant class bondage. this is a clarion call to all nigerians to contribute their quota to the task of taking back and repositioning of their state for an accelerated over all societal development. to achieve this task of change for good the media stands out as the arrowhead in a quest for revolutionary repositioning of the people’s state (ake 1978). looking in concert with the inteligencia the media must provide the channels of information discrimination among the masses which will culminate into an ideological re-awakening of the people for the final on sloughs of taking back their state for the people. references ake c. (1978) revolutionary press in africa: london zed press. ake c. (198s) "the future of state in africa", international political science review (6) 1: hltp://www.jstor.org 2007. ake c. (1996) political economy of africa: nigeria longman. akintoye s.a. (1976). emergent african states: london longman group. amin s. (1976) unequal development: an essay on the social formation of peripheral capitalism: new york; monthly review press. anikpo m. (1996) hegemonic legacy "issues in the sociology of nigeria's underdevelopment: inaugural lecture serves (16) unipart diamond l. (2006)" class formation in the swollen african state. eke p.e (197s). "colonialism and the http://hltp/www.jstor.org 80 | p a g e the dominant class and the state in nigeria: a confederacy of profligacy dr. okechukwu egwu ibiam two publics in african. a theoretical statement: comparative studies in society and history (17) 1. ekekwe e. (1986) class and state in nigeria; lagos longman. frank a.g. (197s) the development of underdevelopment london, monthly review. igwe o. (200s) politics and globe dictionary aba eagles publication. lemn v.l (1977). "imperialism the highest stage of capitalism collected works (22) moscow: moscow progress publishers. marx k. and eagles f. (2974) manifesto of the communist party moscow; moscow progress publishers. nkrumah k. (1970) class struggle in africa: london panay books ltd. nnamani r.g. (2007). "the persistence of national question in african politics: a perspective (in aja. a.a.(2012) repositioning the state for development in africa, issues, challenges and prospects enugu: rhyce kerex publishes. onimode b. (1983). imperialism and underdevelopment in nigeria: nigeria macmillan. saul j. (1974) "the state of post-colonial societies" london: the socialist register merlin press. sklar r.l (200) "the nature of class domination in africa". journal of modern african studies (17)4 http://www.jstor.or £ 2006 weber m (1947).the theory of social organizations new york, free 121 | p a g e utilization of computer device in teaching basic design; a reflective teaching practice approach ejim, joy nkiruka department of fine & applied art education enugu state college of education (technical), enugu email: enjoy21@hotmail.com abstract this paper explored the utilization of computer device in teaching basic design to ensure a reflective teaching practice approach, in junior secondary schools in enugu education zone, nigeria. the study employed the descriptive cross-sectional study of randomly selected 62 fine arts teachers from frame of (31) thirty-one secondary schools residing in enugu state, nigeria. an in-depth interview using questionnaire instrument was administered to ascertain the quality and use of computer device to teach art subjects in the system. result: a total of 35% (31/62) respondents were analyzed since 10% (15/62) of the questionnaires lack essential competency in using computer devices when teaching art subject were hence discarded. analysis, revealed that 35% of art teachers can effectively utilize computer device as an instructional material for teaching basic design in junior secondary schools, findings: it was recommended among others that, government should employ applicants with b.sc. (ed.) and b.ed. computer education to teach the subject (basic design) in junior secondary schools, so as to create effective utilization of computer device in a reflective teaching practice approach. keywords: reflective teaching, computer device, basic design, instructional aids. introduction utilization of computer device in teaching arts subject in junior secondary school aids the teachers to teach more effectively and efficiently in the system thereby impacting an advance method to the students. according to onyejemezi et al, (2011) he pointed out that instructional materials increase the rate of learning, save’s the teacher time and effort, increase the learners’ interest and facilitate retraction/retention of what is learned instruction aids promote quick understanding by arresting learner’s attention but teachers neglect the use which make teaching boring and abstract in nature. the effective use of instructional aids facilitates easy understanding of abstract concepts and promotes effective communication and interaction between the teachers and the students. it also excites the perceptual thinking of students and makes them completely involved in the teaching-learning situation. there are wide ranges of instructional materials from the simplest or low-tech chalkboard to high-tech and more sophisticated ones such as videos, computers and the use of the world-wide web and the internet. mailto:enjoy21@hotmail.com 122 | p a g e many a time, teachers and teacher-trainees do complain about not utilizing appropriate visual art tools and materials at the junior secondary schools and colleges of education. recent survey has shown that graduates from colleges of education do not have adequate knowledge and skills for the production, and use of instructional aids for art education. the newly introduced syllabus, which places much emphasis on the teaching of creative activities or skills in junior secondary schools, is dominated by visual art activities. teaching and learning visual art, whether in developed or developing countries involves the use of diverse instructional aids. the use of technology is quite acceptable and highly recommended to enhance teaching and learning in most areas of our studies. researchers have made it clear, the potentialities of utilizing computer device to ameliorate students’ creative ability in visual art. visual art are art forms, such as ceramics, drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, design, crafts, photography, video, film-making, and architecture. many artistic disciplines (performing arts, conceptual art, textile arts) involve aspects of the visual arts as well as arts of other types. the effects of utilizing computer device in teaching basic design as a reflective teaching practice approach, which the teacher uses to recite what has been done in the classroom, and an evaluation of teaching processes. according to richard (2011), he stated that the primary goal of using reflective teaching practice approach is to improve the quality of teaching. the principles of doing this is by keen observation, written account of experiences, self-reports, auto biographies, journal writing, collaborative diary keeping and recording lessons, student’s feedback teacher’s stories (tice et al 2011). according to hornby (2012), visual arts is the use of imagination to express ideas or feelings particularly in painting, drawing or sculpture: modern/contemporary arts. however, research shows that arts is the only subject that find’s practical use in other subject areas, for instance, the ability to draw and illustrate diagrams accurately can help the students in our science and social science subjects for more understanding of the topics than student may be able to understand in words. it is well known among educators that the educational experience involving the learners’ active participation with concrete examples are retained longer than abstract experiences. it was shown that art graphics can function in diverse ways such as a record of events, objects and situation, which also can be substituted for a real thing; a stand in, or symbol, thus communicates ideas or events. it educates and also serves as a means of selfexpression and it helps to release emotion thereby serve as a means of exploration of vision. it was verified that when exciting and well-designed teaching-learning materials or artifacts are produced and utilized, students in colleges of education as well as the 123 | p a g e pupils at the junior level of education will benefit greatly to improve human experience and better learning outcomes. therefore, essential skills needed for the production of visual material includes pen lettering skill, calligraphy writing skill, free hand writing skill, use of colour in graphics, modeling techniques, painting, weaving and other crafts’ skills. burton et al, (2009), noted that artistic development extends into early adulthood, though qualitative descriptions are needed of students’ thinking and pedagogical practices in art classes, which is an avenue for reflective teaching approach. early childhood developmental characteristics children of young school age range is active, hands-on learners. they have short attention spans, cannot sit still for long periods of time, and learn best through hands-on exploration and manipulation of materials from the world around them, stated by wood et al (2010). learners in early childhood are social and talkative, and a narrative impulse runs through many of their activities, from drawing to imaginary play. in the earliest segment of this age bracket, parents, teachers, and other caregivers are the primary social influences, but by early elementary age, friends can be highly socially influential as well. wood, (2010) opined that pre-school and early elementary students learn well from modeling, and need chances to practice new behavior. wexler (2009) suggested that learning experiences need to be simultaneously structured and exploratory, providing opportunities for open-ended exploration with materials and ideas that fit within a classroom routine that has a defined beginning and end. students of this age are very enthusiastic and eager to learn, but are generally more interested in process than product. by the later stages of early childhood, students’ fine motor coordination has begun to develop somewhat, but in general this stage is primarily concerned with the development of gross motor abilities, and precise movements or fine detail are not in the range of students’ interests or abilities. moreover, the process of teaching involves what to teach, when to teach, how to teach and with what material’s. burton ,(2009) defined the term “re-presentation” as the infinite ways in which artists (of all ages) translate life experience in a tangible, aesthetic form that might be experienced by others who encounter the work. according to wood, (2010), he argued that the artistic development students of junior level need to actively play, explore, and learn best by moving large muscle groups. junior and early elementary education often involves hands-on time with a variety of materials: crayons, markers, and other drawing implements, paint, clay, and blocks and other manipulative. art making at this stage (especially age five and below) is about experimentation with materials and the kinesthetic experience of manipulating them much more than it is about trying to represent a particular object or idea, stated louis (2015). when a child begins to draw, he’s not very attentive to the visual characteristics of the marks he produces; his 124 | p a g e main concern is that he is able to make marks. he gradually begins to explore the relationship between marks and perhaps name the marks. gradually, students begin to develop intentional forms that grow into symbolic representations of things, as they come to realize that marks can convey meaning. typically, the first fully-developed symbol of a child depicts that of a person. olson (2013) stated that when children begin attempting to represent people, objects, ideas, or stories, they draw from their own personal experience, but these experiences as cited by thompson, (2013) includes the influences of family, community, and media. according to louis, (2015) he portrayed that students’ using graphic images such as a house, a person, a favorite character which become increasingly similar to other students’ drawings, reflecting a growing desire to communicate socially shared meaning. pearson, (2011) suggested that art making at this stage is primarily a social activity in addition to being an active and kinesthetic one. thompson, (2007) concurred that students often “think out loud” as they work, and are eager to re-tell the story of a drawing to anyone (especially adults) who would like to hear. olson, (2008) concluded that there is a very close relationship between language arts and visual arts at this age. however, before the nigerian independence, in 1960 and ten years after; there was what the government and the voluntary agencies could regard as joint management of secondary schools. after the civil war, the east central state government, in 1970, passed the public education edict, which took over the secondary schools from the missions. other states in the federation quickly followed suit. this culminated in what could be described as the “dawn” of rapid expansion of secondary schools, which they handed over to the ministry of education (moe) to manage through the help of the various schools management boards. the supervision of schools and instruction then become the sole prerogative of the ministry of education & the region education boards and later the state schools management board. in order to make the lessons livelier and activity based, the moe in conjunction with the state schools management board insisted that teachers should utilize teaching aids in the teaching and learning process. this was the beginning of the utilization of instructional materials like computer device in the classroom instructional process. instruction aids are tools used in educational lessons, which include active learning and assessment. basically, any resource a teacher uses to teach his/her student is an instructional aid. types of instructional aids: traditional resource, graphic organizer, teacher made resources; 1. traditional resource: this includes any textbook and workbook used in the classroom. for example, language arts classrooms always have literature textbooks, writing textbooks, and even vocabulary and spelling workbooks. it also 125 | p a g e includes any supplementary reading materials like novels or poems outside of the textbook. the material enhances the introduction of a new concept or theme. 2. graphic organizer: also known as knowledge map, concept map, story map, cognitive organizer, advance, or concept diagram, is a communication tool that uses visual symbols to express knowledge, concepts, thoughts, or ideas, and the relationships between them. the main purpose of a graphic organizer is to provide a visual aid to facilitate learning and instruction. in language arts, venn diagrams and plot diagrams are clear instructional tools to use when comparing or analyzing event in a piece of literature. graphics organizers allow students to physically see relationships between ideas. this is imperative for learning majorly for students who are more virtually oriented. 3. teacher made resources: these include anything the teacher creates like handouts, workbooks, tests, quizzes and projects. thus, instructional materials are any material employed by a teacher or instruction to facilitate teaching and learning in terms of making learning interesting and easy. it may be in form of visual, audio and audio-visual. ekpo,(2015) aptly declared that instructional materials are often used to compensate for the inadequacies of sense organ or to reinforce the capacity of the dominant organs. they must be relevance for the realization of the intensive of curriculum. instructional materials add elements of reality by providing concrete examples to learning. seeing, aids understanding, in a teaching situation than words can do. one picture tells more stories than hundred words. sight and sound have to go together in a classroom for effective teaching and learning to take place, especially in arts education. for instance, if the topic of the lesson as a teacher is “colour theory” in a class where they have not seen the different between pigments of colour before; it would be more ideal to show them a picture or sample or the symbols of colour than just giving them a mere written explanation or word. consequently, the teacher does not need to rely entirely on verbal explanations. he needs instructional materials which are tools that will enable him to deliver a particular topic to his students. this is to say that, there is no lesson that a teacher can teach successfully without using appropriate instructional materials. instructional materials are variety of materials in various formats which enhances or influence the effective teaching and learning process among the students in schools. it is very critical to the successful delivery of every subject particularly for the greater understanding and facilitation of the learning process. the importance of instructional material in teaching and learning is too obvious to be overemphasized. a lot has been written to show the indispensable role of utilizing instrumental materials in curricular implementation. it is pertinent to recall that 126 | p a g e onyejemezi et al, (2009) also pointed out that instructional materials increase the rate of learning, save the teacher time and effort, increase the learners’ interest and facilitate retraction/retention of what is learned. according to the article written by ar.sujit et, al (1997) stated that the abc of any design means: (a) aesthetics (b) basic design (c) creativity. basic designis rightly called the mother of all designs. its journey begins with the basic elements and culminates in a spatial perception. basic design studio serves an important purpose of initiating creativity and there by appreciating art in many forms. design is an expression of feeling and any creative act is a design. shaktinanda, in the longman dictionary of contemporary english, (2012) design is defines as a means of ; 1. a drawing or pattern showing how something is to be made; 2. the art of making such drawings or patterns; 3. the arrangement of arts in any man-made product, such as a machine or work of art, as this influences the product’s practical usefulness; 4. a decorative pattern, especially one that is not repeated; 5. a plan in the mind. 6. the word design is also used as a verb with the following meanings. to make a drawing or pattern of something that will be made or built for a certain purpose or use. the importance of reflective teaching is stated as follows;  it is helpful in keeping a teaching journal: the best and least intrusive way to start the practice of reflective teaching is to keep a ‘teacher diary.’ this is a purely personal action that will allow you to look objectively at what occurred in your lessons, and will force you to look at why things occurred as they did. it’s really important that you set aside time immediately after a lesson, when the experience is still fresh in your mind, to do this. when you keep a teacher diary try very hard to look at specifics, but don’t get in the habit of listing them. you most likely have an idea of what worked or did not and it is better that you honor yourself by writing how you felt about those successes or failures.  identification helps in creating a great improvement. according to taghilou, (2007) asserted that effective learning had been achieved through reflective teaching practice, by ‘encouraging growth and improving pedagogical knowledge and professional development for pre-service teachers’ rodman, (2010). this could be one of the possible ways of teacher’s professional development, in which teachers act as adult learners and the facilitators in education system borko, (2004) focus on student’s learning, includes training, practice, feedback, is on-going process, and collaborative. haqq et al (1999). 127 | p a g e the practice of reflective teaching is an approach of utilizing computer device as an instructional aid in teaching basic design and could go a long way, to be integrated in the junior secondary schools educational zones of enugu state, nigeria. kumaravadivelu, (2006) also advocated three pedagogic parameters (p) that include;  particularity refers to a ‘context sensitive pedagogy’,  practicality means ‘theorize what teachers practice and practice what teachers theorize’,  possibility means ‘the social, political, educational and institutional forces that shape identity formation and social transformation’. the integration might be possible as primarily, in particularity and practicality parameters, teachers should have a reflection on what they teach, in what context and how they teach the subject which will facilitate professional development especially in utilizing computer device as an instruction aids in teaching basic design in junior secondary schools, in enugu state, nigeria. tice, (2011) defined reflective practice as a means of ‘looking at what you do in the classroom, thinking about why you do it, and thinking about if it works a process of self-observation and self-evaluation’ through data collection . three structures of reflection van manen et al., (1993) identified it as follows:  ‘technical rationality’-this is the first level that emphasizes the ‘’efficient and effective application for educational knowledge’’ in achieving given goals. to reflect at this level is to question ‘’the appropriateness of various course of action in the classroom’’.  ‘practical reflection’second level accentuates on the clarification of the assumptions on moral, ethical and value considerations which are the basis of practical action. the reflection in this second level is ‘’concerned with the deciding the worth competing educational goal and experiences’’.  ‘critical reflection’-the third level focuses on the reflection of how ‘’educational goals and practices’’ are systematically and ideologically distorted by ‘’structural forces and constraints at work and various aspects of society including educational settings’’.  from the explanation we may infer that reflection begins with the abstract concept to the complicated variables. reflective teaching has been proven to have learning effectiveness concluded by taghilou, (2007), ‘encouraging growth and improving pedagogical knowledge and professional development for pre-service teachers’ rodman, (2010). there are two kinds of approach:  individual approach 128 | p a g e  cooperative development. there are several reasons of doing professional developments;  to ‘overcome the sense of isolation’ from daily teaching activities,  to enable teachers to get in touch with positive people, finding colleagues for codeveloping materials, providing contacts for next job search, offering new teaching ideas, conducting action research, can help expand teacher’s conceptual understanding of teaching, boosting confident as a professional, and gaining confirmation and re-affirmation that what teacher does is worthwhile bailey et al , (2001). finally, utilizing computer device in teaching basic design as pointed out by lee, (2011), that teacher’s active involvement as a presenter in continuing professional development seminars ‘enable them (teacher) to think and reflect more seriously on their practice” as well as greatly enrich teacher learning situation. statement of the problem today’s education cannot be adequately prepared for tomorrow’s computerized society without the use of computer aid. computer is causing a revolution in our societies similar to that of industrial sector. nations are genuinely interested in high standard of education scientifically and technologically. this shows that, teachers must adopt the computer age by employing teaching techniques that will facilitate visual art teaching and learning. according to ekpo, (2015) aptly declared that instructional materials are often used to compensate for the inadequacies of sense organ or to reinforce the capacity of the dominant organs. there must be relevance of utilization of computer device for the realization of the intensive curriculums program in educational system. notwithstanding, the essentiality and the effectiveness of computer as an instructional material; tahir, (2009) admitted that there is a general lack of instructional materials in teaching and learning. on this note, the researcher has been urged to research on utilizing computer device in teaching basic design in junior secondary schools in enugu education zone, as a reflective teaching practice approach, to enhance active learning situation. objective of the study -the objective of the study was to provide evidence that computer devices are incorporated into teaching and learning of basic design in art education. utilization of computer devices had caused revolution in our society. -however, computer device utilization had gradually developed immensely in our educational system, making it affairs more relevant in many schools to enhance teaching and learning thus showing a strong tool for knowledge installation to ensure a reflective teaching practice approach. 129 | p a g e research question to what extent do art teachers, effectively explored the use of computer device as an instructional material in teaching basic design through a reflective teaching practice approach? purpose of the study the main purpose of this study is to find out the extent of utilizing computer device in teaching basic design as a reflective teaching practice approach in junior secondary schools in enugu education zone, enugu state. significance of the study learning new skills such as technology, computer and transferring skills already leant by the teachers to the students is the key to quality education in a rapidly changing technological environment. the findings of this study will be beneficial to visual art teachers, junior secondary school students, school administrators, ministry of education, post primary state management board, government, curriculum planners at teachers’ preparation stage and fellow researchers with keen interest in new innovation and computer skills needed by visual art teachers and students for effective and quality instructional delivery in the system. moreover, it will not only help to increase the teachers’ level of awareness and understanding of some of the issues surrounding the use of computer as an instructional materials, its findings will also provide the teachers with a feedback on their teaching competencies as a basis for improvement in a reflective teaching practice approach, an assessment/evaluation of the teaching competencies of visual arts’ teachers is essential in order to find out the extent to which the subject is effectively taught in the junior secondary schools in enugu education zone and indeed, provide an insight into the extent to which the objectives of teaching the subject in the schools are being realized. curriculum planners and evaluators as well as government and educational administrators need empirical data on the overall teaching competences of art’ teachers in the junior secondary schools to facilitate appropriate curricular policies and programmes for effective teaching and learning and the educational media centre on the development of innovative materials used for teaching in schools. researchers will find it useful for further research. therefore, extent of utilizing computer device teaching basic design in junior secondary schools in enugu education zone, if successfully implemented, will have much significance on the above mentioned groups. 130 | p a g e research methodology this was a descriptive cross-sectional study carried out in different junior secondary schools in enugu education zone, in enugu state. a random selection of 62 fine arts teachers from frame of (31) thirty-one secondary schools residing in enugu state, nigeria was accessed using computer device services to evaluate teaching mechanism and interviewed. 62 fine arts teachers from different schools was surveyed a pre-tested questionnaire was used to obtain information from the students undergoing advance technical training concept delivered by different fine arts teachers within urban areas of enugu state. an in-depth interview using questionnaire instrument was administered to ascertain the actual method of training capacity the fine arts teachers possess for impacting knowledge to their respective junior students irrespective of their previous traditional knowledge in various secondary schools that was accessed within enugu state educational zone. the dependent and independent variables on socio-demographic data was derived using spss version 20 model. cross-tabulation method was also used to analysis the results on the association of socio-demographic characteristics against perception and attitudes of the respondent. scope and delimitation of study the study was undertaken in enugu state, south east nigeria and has been estimated with total population of about 3.6million, and a total land area of 7,618sqkm. the study was focused on teachers’ to effectively utilize computer device to teach basic design in junior secondary schools, in enugu education zone of enugu state. the major aim of the study has further showcased the value of impacting knowledge with the aid of teacher’s utilizing computer device to teach basic design in junior secondary schools existing in enugu educational zone, enugu state. research question 1. to what extent do art teachers, effectively explored the use of computer device as an instructional material in teaching basic design through a reflective teaching practice approach? table 1: mean rating of female and male students on the extent to which visual art teachers effectively utilize computer as an instructional material for teaching basic design in junior secondary schools in enugu education zone of enugu state. 131 | p a g e s s / n description male=20 female= 12 the extent to which art teachers effectively utilize computer as an instructional material for teaching basic design are: v he h e l e v l e x s d d ec v h e h e l e v l e x s d d e c 1 1 utilization of computer in teaching geometric shapes’ design makes it difficult for the students to acquire more knowledge and insight in developing a good creative ideas or concepts. 2 3 5 1 0 1. 8 5 1. 0 4 l e 2 2 2 6 1 . 9 0 1 . 1 0 l e 2 students participate actively to lessons while using computer packages as instructional tool in teaching back drop pattern design. 9 7 2 2 3. 2 5 1. 0 6 h e 6 3 2 1 3 . 3 1 . 0 7 h e 3 improper and inconsistence use of the computer device can reduce reality into abstract in teaching design concepts. 9 4 3 4 2. 8 0 1. 0 5 h e 4 3 3 2 2 . 8 0 1 . 0 3 h e 4 the use of computer devices as instructional materials in 9 7 3 1 3. 2 5 1. 0 6 h e 6 2 2 2 3 . 3 1 . 0 7 h e 132 | p a g e teaching motif with spiral design makes lesson very interesting and easy 5 generating concept design with computer assisted instruction help students to develop high aptitude in imagination psychomotor activities. 10 7 3 0 3. 0 0 1. 0 6 h e 6 3 1 2 3 . 3 1 . 0 7 h e 6 students retain more ideas in basic design when it is taught with computer instructional tools. 12 6 3 2 3. 1 5 1. 0 6 h e 6 3 1 2 3 . 3 1 . 0 7 h e 7 computer assisted instructions help students to approach other subjects with ease. 2 2 6 1 0 1. 8 0 1. 0 4 l e 2 2 2 6 1 . 7 0 1 . 1 0 l e 133 | p a g e of the seven items in tables 2 above, male students agreed with 4 of the items (2, 3, 4, 5 and 6) as the recorded mean scores are 3.25, 2.80, 3.25, 3.00, and 3.15. they disagree with items 1 and 7 with mean scores of 1.85 and 1.80. for their male counterpart items (2, 3, 4 and 5) were agree on, as the recorded mean scores are 3.3, 2.80, 3.3. 3.3, and 3.3..they also disagree with the remaining items 1 and 7 with mean scores of 1.90 and 1.70 however, the grand means of 2.77 and 2.90 for male and female teachers respectively indicates that the respondents accept that art teachers effectively utilize computer device as an instructional material for teaching basic design in junior secondary schools in enugu education zone of enugu state. hypothesis: there is no significant difference in the mean score of male and female secondary school teachers on utilizing computer device for teaching basic design. t-test result of mean scores of male and female secondary school teachers on utilizing computer device for teaching basic design in enugu education zone in enugu state, nigeria. gender n x s2 df t-cal t-crit decision female 20 2.77 ns male 12 2.90 1.05 30 0.86 +1.96 do not reject ho2 table 2 above shows that the calculated t-value is 0.86 which is less than the critical tvalue 0.34 is less than the critical t-value ±1.96 at .05 level of significance and degree of freedom 30 going by the decision rule. there is no significant difference in the mean responses of male and female secondary school teachers on their utilization of computer as an instructional material for teaching basic design in enugu education zone of enugu state. limitations of the study there were many limitations associated with this study. attitude of respondent when gathering data through questionnaires and interviews was a bit difficult. approval of consent letter from different educational sectors in enugu state was also a difficult task because it takes time and follow -up as several appointments were booked and cancelled most especially waiting for the approval of the heads of department in various sector heads. 134 | p a g e recommendation  the imperative value of ensuring that teachers develops basic technical skills by possessing “technological advances knowledge” should be a thing of priority that will enhance changes in every working environment especially in schools hence promotes the society with an evidence base knowledge.  according to farell, (2009) he stated that engaging on professional practice, teachers could “assess their professional growth, develop and inform decision making skills, and become proactive and confident in their teaching’’ when utilizing computer device to access knowledge.  adequate number of computers devices should be made available in the classroom for participants residing within urban and rural areas;  curriculum planners should fix more time for computer class lessons; teachers should be trained on the application knowledge of computer device as an instructional tool, for effective teaching and learning situation through a reflective teaching practice approach.  for adequate input effective and efficient utilization of the computer device in basic design teaching in junior secondary school of enugu state, the process needs a high degree of interest and motivation in the teachers and the students with constant practice and observation of the experts. conclusion: to achieve quality and effective use of computer utilization among teachers operating in enugu state with the use of computer as an instructional material for teaching basic design in junior secondary schools in enugu state, nigeria through reflective teaching practice approach. inadequate and inconsistence use of computer device can reduce reality into abstract in teaching design concepts. however, generating concept design with computer assisted instruction will help students to develop high aptitude in imagination psychomotor activities and the use of computer as an instructional material in teaching which encourages students to go online for more ideas which makes lesson very interesting and easy to comprehend, thereby enhances teacher’s reflective teaching practice approach 135 | p a g e references ar.sujit vasant jadhav (1997), (richard in http://www.tttjournal.co.uk; tice, 2011) through data collection bailey,( 1997). ekpo, o. e. (2004). instructional strategies and the challenges of implementing school curriculum in nigeria, lead paper presented at 17th annual conference of the curriculum organisation of nigeria (con) held at university of uyo, uyo, akwa ibom state, 14th – 17th september onyejemezie, d. a. (2011). education and technology in nigeria, onitsha, nigeria summer educational publishers. richards, j. c., & farrell, t. s. c. (2011). professional development for language teachers, new york: cambridge university press. tice, j. (2011), reflective teaching: exploring our own classroom practice. in http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/articles/reflective-teaching-exploring-ourown-classroom practice accessed may (1, 2012). van manen, m. (1995). on the epistemology of reflective practice: teachers and teaching. theory and practice, 10, 33–50. 4 | p a g e national identity, integration and question: implications for national security and stable democratic governance in nigeria akwara, azalahu f; udaw, joseph e.; onimawo, jane national identity, integration and question: implications for national security and stable democratic governance in nigeria. akwara, azalahu f; udaw, joseph e.; & onimawo, jane 1 akwara, azalahu f. departmemt of political science, federal university wukari, taraba state, nigeria. e-mail: (aakwara@yahoo.com) (corresponding author) 2udaw, joseph e. departmemt of political science, federal university wukari, taraba state, nigeria. e-mail: ettete2001@yahoo.com 3onimawo, jane. department of vocational and technical education, ambrose alli university ekpoma, edo state, nigeria. abstract most african countries are said to be unintegrated and that their main problem to stable democratic governance, and economic development is the integration of their peoples and good governance. they are unintegrated because of the internal colonization of some ethnic nationalities by some others during the indigenous state formation process; and their external colonization by the arabs and europeans. as the colonization processes did not respect ethnic differences in africa but super-imposing some ethnic nationalities over others, most african countries became multi-ethnic on independence. the need for the dividends of democracy (good governance, political stability and economic development) within the various ethnic nationalities in the same country has further complicated the problems posed by the multiplicity of ethnic groups, absence of integration and super-imposition of some ethnic nationalities over others, thereby giving rise to a search for local and natural identity (“national identity” and “autonomy”) by the various ethnic nationalities that feel dominated, humiliated and marginalised by the colonization processes. the search for “national identity” and “autonomy” now challenges the legitimacies of the governments and the very existence of the states as these searches are in the forms of armed struggles, formation of ethnic armies or militias, religious and ethnic conflicts, and terrorism. these contradictions can only be resolved through a discussion of the “national question” in the various countries. this paper therefore examines the issues of national integration, national identity; and the national question in nigeria and the problems they posed to national security and stable democratic governance in the country. key words: national identity; national integration; national question; colonization; national security, democratic governance. introduction almost every african state has witnessed one form of political, religious or ethnic crisis or the other. in east and central africa, these problems manifest as ethnic violence and civil wars and terrorism as in uganda, kenya, central african republic, democratic republic of congo and tanzania. in the west african sub-region, they are in the forms of civil wars; ethnic conflicts and religious conflicts and terrorism as in nigeria, liberia, sierra leone, and ivory mailto:aakwara@yahoo.com mailto:ettete2001@yahoo.com 5 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com coast. in north africa, they have manifested in the arab revolts aimed at the over throw of insensitive and nonislamic regimes, and regimes tending towards monarchies as the cases with sudan, egypt, algeria and libya. in countries where they occur, these crises arose first, as a result of the internal contradictions within the states which started with the state formation processes and internal colonization of some ethnic groups by the others within the continent for local commodities of trade especially slaves and other products to be sold in external markets; and the acquisition of the raided nationalities and areas as new territories; and secondly, by the external colonization of the african regions by the europeans and the arabs. the two phases of colonization of the african continent first by traditional indigenous african states; and later by the arabs and the europeans, did not respect the natural ethnic boundaries of the various ethnic nationalities they met. rather the colonialists conquered and lumped together (amalgamated) and administered the diverse ethnic nationalities they met; and introduced diverse colonial administrative policies that were dubiously, and forcefully enforced on the colonies until the nations became independent. for instance, while the british used the direct and indirect rule policies, the french used the assimilation and association policies in the west african sub region (ofoegbu, 1976). though some of the ethnic nationalities were able to work out a peaceful method of disintegration or state formation solutions during their independence as shown by the peaceful disintegration of the rhodesia-nyasaland federation, others african states could not. but these solutions have not guaranteed peace in the continent as the continent still witnesses civil wars, ethnic and religious conflicts and terrorism despite being independent for more than half a century. these conflicts are based on the facts that the dividends of democratic governance as good education, health care, electricity, water, food and good roads; peace and security, and good governance have eluded the various ethnic nationalities despite the huge human and natural resources available in the ethnic nationalities. the proceeds from these resources are either misappropriated by the ruling classes through acts of corruption, or by foreign nationals operating in the countries through capital flight, or both as has been the case with nigeria. these problems were made more acute because the members of some ethnic groups exclusively control the economic and political processes in the countries, and usurped the democratic dividends that accrued to other ethnic groups thereby causing anger, frustration and violence between them and members of the other ethnic groups. in nigeria for instance, the middle belt region was considered politically, religiously and economically by the core north and the british as part of bauchi and the british 6 | p a g e national identity, integration and question: implications for national security and stable democratic governance in nigeria akwara, azalahu f; udaw, joseph e.; onimawo, jane took advantage of this to take over the jos tin mines through a treaty signed by the royal niger company with the emir of bauchi (abubakar, 2007; ayuba, 2012). as the jihads did not actually unite the north (undiyaundeya, 2012), this led to a loss of identity and resources by the natural indigenes of the middle belt region, and antagonism between them and the hausa/fulani in their midst (akwara and ojoma, 2013). with the growth of democracy, democratic institutions and education, some of the of members of the dominated or “internally colonised” ethnic nationalities begin to question their memberships to the larger political community (national identity); they question why they should cooperate with the other ethnic nationalities in the country and or, see themselves as one (national integration) when their slots of national resources are being taken by “non-indigenes” in their midst, and why the other ethnic regions are developing at their own expense by harnessing the natural resources found in another ethnic regions (1) (sobowale, 2013), and therefore see the need for a discussion of how to end this internal exploitation of one ethnic region by the other (national question) (torulagha, 2013). they question why their indigenes are not found within the corridors of power in their own natural ethnic regions and at the national level; and why they should continue to support the governments at all levels; and therefore employ all possible means to bring the governments to be responsible and accountable. this has led to the proliferation of ethnic militias that terrorize the citizens across the country; and the adoption of different legal frameworks that challenge national laws in some parts of the country (2). unless these issues are addressed by the governments, nigeria would most likely find it difficult to be united, develop economically and to have stable democratic governance in the country. statement of the problem the internal and external colonization of nigeria created the absence of national identity and integration in the country. these problems still linger as the various ethnic nationalities that constitute the country never met to discuss the basis upon which the ethnic nationalities would continue to exist as a united and indivisible country before or after her independence from the british. this paper examines the consequences of the colonization processes (problems of national identity and integration, and the clamour for a discussion of the national question) on the unity, security and democratic governance in the nigerian state. methodology data generation technique for this study is through the content analysis of secondary data as text books, journals, newspapers, magazines, publications on the web. the study is purely historical and the analysis descriptive. 7 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com theoretical orientation social scientists have always devised theories in their attempts to understand and explain the nature, causes, and effects of events, issues and episodes in their societies. each of the theories takes a specific perspective that differentiates it from the other, depending on the school of thought the theorist belongs. thus, conflicts in societies have had their liberal and marxist explanations. the search for identity by an ethnic nationality in a polity signifies the presence of a conflict between the group and some other groups in the society, so also is the lack of integration in a polity, and the quest for a discussion of the “national question” in a polity by some ethnic nationalities within the polity. the theoretical orientation of this study will therefore take the psycho-cultural perspective (agara and adekunle, 2012). from this theoretical perspective, whenever a polity is inhabited by many ethnic nationalities, there is bound to be conflicts which arise from the domination and exploitation of one ethnic nationality by another or the fear of exploitation and domination. the domination and exploitation or their fear is located in ethnic and cultural differences among the groups; and ethnic and cultural differences provide the basis for group identity, solidarity and interaction within and amongst the groups. the conflicts are further fueled by histories of discrimination, deprivation and marginalization (denial of access to power, economic resources and privileges) based on ethnic identity in the polity. the search for ethnic identity therefore is conditioned by the state of mind of the affected ethnic nationalities. the call for resource control, fiscal federalism; a discussion of the national question; formation of ethnic militias by ethnic nationalities; introduction of sharia law in the northern states of the country signify the absence of national integration in nigeria. the niger-delta crises that pitched the ethnic militias in the nigerdelta against the national government and the current bokoharam insurgency in nigeria question the legitimacy of the federal government of nigeria. all signify that the various ethnic nationalities in the country are not integrated, and that the country is gradually moving towards disintegration. these points to the need for the various ethnic nationalities to sit down and talk in a sovereign national conference, the basis upon which the country would continue to be one in a sovereign national conference. national integration integration following parson’s (1956) analysis involves the creation of society to solidarity and institutionalization of patterns of social interaction; ensuring that rules and regulations that define the patterns of interaction; and that the means of achieving desired goals are accorded their legitimacy within the social system. there are certain implications that characterise societal integration. firstly, the question of societal solidarity and the existence of normative framework which presupposes in turn the existence of shared cognitive 8 | p a g e national identity, integration and question: implications for national security and stable democratic governance in nigeria akwara, azalahu f; udaw, joseph e.; onimawo, jane orientation in the process of social interaction. put in other words, in every society, for effective societal integration to be achieved, people must be aware of, or share knowledge of both their historical past and culture which makes it possible for them to adapt to, and manipulate the situation, and also plan for the future. shared cognitive orientation more or less defines the parameter of social interaction by making acceptable norms and the sanctioning of deviant behaviour meaningful. this means that when people engage in social interaction, they can more or less anticipate the consequences of their actions. in nigeria, this normative framework is seemingly absent as well as shared cognitive orientation. each ethnic nationality is in search and expression of its “local identity” which have found expression as ethnic, political and religious conflicts across the country. national integration according to weiner (1971), refers to the process of bringing together culturally and socially discrete groups into a single territorial unit and the establishment of a national identity. integration as used in this context assumes the existence of an ethnically plural society in which each group is characterised by its own language, religion, arts, and other selfconscious cultural qualities. national integration therefore refers specifically to the problem of creating a sense of territorial nationality, which overshadows or eliminates subordinate parochial loyalties. secondly, weiner (1971) sees the concept as establishing a national central authority over subordinate political units or regions, which may or may not coincide with distinct cultural or social groups. thus, it has to do with the subjective feelings which individuals belonging to different political units have towards the nation. national integration therefore refers to the objective control which the central authority has over the entire territory under its claim of jurisdiction. thirdly, the concept refers to the problem of linking the people (the ruled) with the government (the rulers). what is implied here is the existence of gap between the government and the people. this gap could be shown in the form of disparity in aspirations and values between the ruling elites and the masses. this of course leads to the disintegration of the society if this gap cannot be peacefully bridged by the ruling elites. an instance is where nigerians are asking for more efficient transport and power systems, and lower prices for fuel for their vehicles while a minister recommends bicycles and generators for them as means of transportation and power generation. fourthly, the concept is used to show the minimum value consensus necessary to maintain a social order. these may be values concerning justice, equity, the desirability of economic development as a goal, the sharing of common history and symbols, and in general, an agreement as to what constitutes 9 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com desirable and undesirable social ends. the value may also centre on means, that is, on the instrumentalities and procedures for the achievement of goals and for resolving conflicts. here, the problem is with the legal norms, the legitimacy of the constitutional framework, and the means by which it should operate. it centres on desirable and undesirable conduct. finally, there is the need of an integrated behaviour among the people of the political system or the capacity of the people to organise for a common purpose. but a cooperative behaviour cannot be possible in a social system if certain sections of the system feel marginalised or are actually marginalised by the rest or by some groups. national identity national identity refers to the felling of attachment an individual has to his or her country, its government and people. it is the individual’s identification with the political system. it is a feeling of not being marginalised in the scheme of things. a sense of national identity starts with the individual asking himself questions and answering them. these questions are: what is my nation? what kind of nation is it? do i really belong to it? how deep or ambiguous is this sense of belonging? according to verba (1968), national identity has to do with the peoples’ belief that they really are members of a particular society, that is, the extent to which they consider themselves as members of the nation-state. national identity does not really deal merely with the individual’s physical location of himself in a particular place, but includes self-identity a psychological attachment. it is only when one lives within a state and has the feeling or sense of belonging to it that one can rightly say that one has a sense of national identity. the number of ethno-religious conflicts and acts of terrorism; absence of responsible leadership and good governance in nigeria since her independence has made nigerians to reevaluate themselves on the questions above. the ambiguity of this sense of belonging shows that most nigerians cannot answer these questions correctly and therefore lack the sense of national identity. each nigerian identifies himself/herself first as a member of his/her ethnic group and then a nigerian. verba (1968) distinguished two kinds of identity in his discussion of national identity: vertical identification deals with the individual’s sense of attachment to his political unit the country, the state, local government, the village, and the governments at these levels; and for the symbols of the government or the state. horizontal identification deals with the individual’s sense of integration and identification with other people who inhabit the political system. it deals with the extent to which the individuals 10 | p a g e national identity, integration and question: implications for national security and stable democratic governance in nigeria akwara, azalahu f; udaw, joseph e.; onimawo, jane identify with each other as members of the same society; and also the extent to which they have trust and confidence in their fellow citizens. some cultures and groups have much more favourable view of some cultures than others. the limit of trust and confidence in fellow citizens also sets limits to the extent one can interact freely with others and build confident economic and political relationships. hostilities to those outside one’s group signifies that imter-group conflicts exist in the system as has been the case with nigeria. each group has been on the other group’s throat though it is possible for one to have a different view of another group quite different from his own group’s view about that group. the national question the vast majority of nigerians have always reduced the national question to contradictions and antagonism between the various ethnic nationalities in the country. in order words, they see the national question in terms of inter-ethnic hostilities only. but the national question is far bigger and more complex than this. the national question is a big complex of political, economic, ideological, cultural, historical, religious, legal and other problems that arise during a people’s struggle for liberation and for favourable internal and external conditions for further development; and also in the course of establishing equal, friendly relations between them and others. the national question according to odion-akhaine (2000) involves the unresolved contradictions in the society that have continued to entrench nigeria in a vicious circle of crises. the national question posed politically refers to the right to self-determination including the right to secession. this meaning is necessitated due to the oppression of some ethnic nationalities by others in a multi-ethnic setting as nigeria (odionakhaine, 2000). the national question is always subordinate to the main problem of the socioeconomic development of the society, and has a different content and significance at various stages of a nation’s development. as ismagilova (1978) pointed out, the national question includes the abolition of all forms of ethnic oppression and ethnic inequality. it involves the establishment of real equality, friendship, and fraternal cooperation between peoples. it aims at the abolition of the exploitation of a region by the other. this must be discussed to bring about equity and justice in the allocation of the nation’s resources to create a sense of belonging on the peoples of the country and to foster national identity and integration. it is only when the various groups and peoples in the country are involved in the formulation of governmental policies and their implementation, get a fair share of the nation’s resources and are not considered as peoples whose values, opinions and feelings do not matter in the country that they can 11 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com cultivate the necessary sense of belonging and identity with their fellow citizens and the governments at all levels; and work in unity toward the building of a united and strong nationstate in which all will be proud to belong. the national question is evident on daily basis in the reports of violence against people in the various ethnic nationalities in the country especially in the southeast and the niger-delta; against the peoples of the middle belt region; against south-eastern nigerians living in the northern region of the country; and in the discussion of revenue allocation and resource control (iyaji, 2000); and in the calls for fiscal federalism by the southern states in nigeria. in the south-east geo-political zone, it is seen in their cries against the marginalisation of the igbos in the political and economic processes of the country for having lost a war of independence in the nigeria-biafra war (ezuonu and chima, 2010); and in their agitation for state creation in their geopolitical zone as the zone has the least number of states when compared to other geo-political zones. in the nigerdelta, isa and adejuwon (2012) observed that the niger-delta crises are directed against the state and the oil companies operating in the region. and a close look at the demands of the people of the niger-delta shows that their agitation is against frustration, environmental degradation and general socio-economic deprivation of the people when compared with peoples of the other ethnic nationalities (odionakhaine, 2000). they have been afflicted by oil related problems as environmental degradation due to oil spillage and neglect in terms of developmental projects in their region and employment even after the establishment of a ministry of niger delta and the niger-delta development commission. national integration, national identity and the national question the concept “nation” is just like that of a state and denotes a group of people having or sharing common biological characteristics as race and colour; historical origin and ancestry; cultural practices as language, religion, artefacts, customs and heritage; and the group lives together in a defined geographical territory (akwara, 1998; leeds,1978). it approximates to what sociologists and anthropologists refer to as tribe or ethnic group. in nigeria, there about 400 ethnic nationalities and linguistic groups. each of these groups is a nation of itself. the ibos are a nation just as the hausas, yorubas, jokuns, tivs, efiks and kanuris are nations of their own. each of these nations is located at a specific geographical area on the map of nigeria. before now the entire northern nigeria was seen as the hausas/fulani, but recently, most ethnic nationalities formerly referred to as hausas/fulani are now declaring their ethnic identities and autonomies. the jokun is a jokun and a kanuri is not a hausa/fulani. a 12 | p a g e national identity, integration and question: implications for national security and stable democratic governance in nigeria akwara, azalahu f; udaw, joseph e.; onimawo, jane fight would ensue between you and a jokun if you identify him as hausa. he is a jokun and would be happy being seen as such. so would a tiv or a nupe want to be seen as a tiv or a nupe and not a hausa/fulani. each nation has an identity it now declares and wants autonomy from a perceived colonizer; while those whose identities are obscure are trying to carve out one for them at all costs. each ethnic nationality sees itself as a state because when a group of people live together in a geographically defined territory under the traditional or legal authority of a government, or a ruler, a state has been formed (akwara, 1998; leeds, 1978). a full-fledged state has the following characteristics: it has a population the size of the population does not really matter. it has a defined geographical territory or national boundaries that separates it from other states. the boundaries make it distinct from other states. a state has permanence geographically, every state is located at a specific point on the earth’s surface and exists there permanently. but it could have as many governments as situations would warrant. it has a government a state has a government or an administrative organ to oversee its smooth operation as an entity. membership to a state is compulsory everyone comes from a state. even where a person claims to have fallen from heaven, he/she must have fallen on a specific spot on the earth’s surface. it has sovereignty a state has independence to make laws and to enforce such laws within its territory without reliance on other states and without question from other states. these are the marks of a full-fledged state and in this context, every ethnic nationality approximates to a state in nigeria. the issue of sovereignty arose because of internal colonisation of one ethnic group by the other, and the external colonization of all the ethnic groups by the europeans. every human community is a state because it operates under specific norms and under a sovereign authority. the character and number of people exercising power and authority in a state often determine the origin and kind of state in existence and the purposes or functions of the state and possibly its level of civilization or development. irrespective of the fact that each of these ethnic nationalities in nigeria is a nation and was a state before colonialism, they all belong to the nigerian state. they all share a common nationality they are all nigerians. when all the ethnic nationalities in a country come to see themselves as one irrespective of their ethnic or natural differences, they have created a nationstate, and there is national identity and integration. causes of lack of national identity and integration and reasons for the calls for a discussion of the national question in most african nations and indeed nigeria, the absence of national identity and integration is caused by ethnic and 13 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com cultural differences. these ethnic and cultural differences also dictated during the indigenous state formation periods which areas are to be raided for slaves, areas to be traded with, evangelised, or to be attacked and occupied (colonized). slave raids for instance were carried out outside the raiders ethnic origin and this caused conflicts between the raiders and the raided (mangut, 2012). then, trade and evangelisation and quest for natural resources also led to attacks and occupation of raided regions (mangut, 2012; onwubiko, 1976; ifemesia, 1965; aderingbe, 1965; tamuno, 1965). this exercise of control over the raided regions started the internal colonization process of one ethnic region by the other which could also be seen as an indigenous mega-state formation process. this saw the rise and fall of empires and kingdoms. raids and occupation affected the history, culture, language and religion of the raided ethnic regions as the raids encouraged what mangut (2012) called “spontaneous immigration” from the raiders’ ethnic regions to the raided ethnic regions. thus, the raided ethnic regions had a natural indigenous population (natural indigenes or the natives), and a migrant settler’s population (the non-indigenes and aliens). this factor alone accounts for the multiplicity of ethnicity nationalities in each ethnic region in nigeria. thus nigeria’s history is replete with histories of origin. somebody came from somewhere and no one is from nowhere an issue that complicates the ethnic and religious conflicts in the country. this indigenous state formation process started an integration of the various ethnic nationalities in the new states through inter-ethnic marriages, unifying religious and cultural practices and cooption of some of the natural indigenes into leadership positions (abubakar, 2007) where this would not disrupt the power system in the new states or kingdom or empires as they were called (ofoegbu, 1976; mangut, 2012). most of these kingdoms and empires could not stand the test of time as some of them were over-run by stronger kingdoms or got torn apart by internal contradictions. thus, some states or empires lasted longer than others. this state of stability and instability amongst the indigenous african states continued until the arrival of the external colonizers the europeans and the arabs. the european colonization of africa did not go unchallenged. almost all african societies entered by the europeans offered one form of opposition or the other (hassan, 2012; magezi, 2012, ayuba, 2012; kums, 2012). the colonial state was therefore a conquest state because military force was used to pacify the colonised african states and societies. it was therefore founded on force, violence or threat of the use of force with the sole aim of appropriating the colonised peoples’ lands and what the land produced. it acculturated the peoples’ culture, values and world outlook (yadaki, 2012). ethnic and cultural differences were not taken into 14 | p a g e national identity, integration and question: implications for national security and stable democratic governance in nigeria akwara, azalahu f; udaw, joseph e.; onimawo, jane consideration in the administration of the colonized ethnic nationalities by the europeans and the dominant or ruling elites in the african state at the time of european conquest were recognised (in the north) and substituted (in the south) at the expense of the natives. they were empowered at the expense of the natural indigenes without regard for their origins or population. and this disrupted the integration of the various ethnic nationalities that was going on before the arrival of the europeans. this has made most ethnic groups not to submit themselves to be ruled by men of other tribes, races or religion because they believe that doing so implies submitting to oppression, degradation and exclusion from the moral community as inferior groups or persons whose opinions, attitudes and values do not count. therefore, integration became very difficult. in places where politics involves a high level of antagonism among groups with opposing political views as nigeria, there is the likelihood that there would be very bad impression of trustworthiness of individuals when they are considered in political terms. sense of confidence in others is very important for the maintenance of stable political system. unless individuals trust their fellow citizens, irrespective of their ethnic group affiliation, they would be unwilling to turn political power to their opponents. the hausa/fulani group in nigeria regrets today for having done that allowing the power base of the nation to shift to the western and to the south-south regions of the country. when there is a sense of trust and confidence among the people, they would engage in peaceful competition with those of opposing political view and allow the alternation of power among competing groups and elites. unless the dangers of such competition and alternation of power is too great for the ruling group to bear. this was in fact one of the reasons for the annulment of the june 12, 1993 presidential election in nigeria by general ibrahim babangida, a northern military autocrat. the election was won by a southern politician, chief m.k.o. abiola to the surprise of the northern politicians and the military. and the present northern hausa/fulani opposition to non-muslim and non-hausa/fulani leadership of the federal government in nigeria today is based on the fact that nigeria is unintegrated. sense of confidence in others is very important because if there is general lack of confidence and trust in the ruler and non-identification with the government of the day, the rulers will have to get obedience to their wishes by force even if such force is destabilizing. this has conditioned the use of military expeditions in ethnic nationalities where the crises could not be controlled through any other means in the country. when this happens in a state, it would be very difficult if not impossible to develop sense of identification or national identity. 15 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com the problems posed by the absence of national identity and integration on national security and democratic governance in nigeria. in nigeria the formation of a sense of national identity has been an up-hill task because it involves the alteration of primordial loyalties and rapid development of political consciousness among a politically unconscious people. often, this alteration creates ethnic cleavages between the various ethnic groups. this leads to national symbols to vie with local or tribal symbols. this also leads to divided loyalties and loyalty to sub-national unit becomes primary. this problem has become acute in nigeria because ethnic or national boundaries are defined by historical, linguistic, religious and cultural boundaries. since the creation of this sense of national identity is being championed by the ruling elites of the various groups in the country, the sense of national identity by the members of the various groups becomes bi-focal. it focuses on the personalities of the charismatic leaders; and on emotionally charged symbols (verba, 1968). and when these happen, the sense of national identity thus created is fragile, rejected on the onset, and fades when the symbols and personalities are no longer there. personality crises result from the vacuum thus created by the exit of the personalities and leadership crises ensue. in nigeria, since colonial days till date, this sense of national identity has been more or less focused on the personalities of the ruling elites of the various ethnic groups as they serve more or less as symbols of ethnic unity and integration for the particular ethnic group. this manifests in the decoration of any indigene that gets a national appointment with traditional titles and ethnic reception by his/her ethnic group. finally, the call for the development of a sense of national identity creates a feeling of lack of self-confidence or selfesteem on the people that have not developed and this makes issues that could have been settled by dialogue between people of different ethnic nationalities to be settled by the use of force which are usually out of proportion as ethnic and religious conflicts because: they are uncertain of their national boundaries who are part of them and who are not. they ask themselves the question: “are we members of the same society?” “why don’t they do like us?” “let’s send them out of our land” “why can’t they allow us to rule the country even once, let us secede” they do not comprehend the meaning of national identity as such they ask themselves the questions: “what do they want from us?” “why must we abandon our old ways of doing things?” “why must we cooperate with them,”” have they been cooperating with us?” “we can get along alone, why can’t they stay on their own and leave us alone?” the people do not know the scope of their identity hence they ask the questions: “what is expected of us?” “what shall we get in return?” “for how 16 | p a g e national identity, integration and question: implications for national security and stable democratic governance in nigeria akwara, azalahu f; udaw, joseph e.; onimawo, jane long will it last?” “what shall we do if we are not comfortable in this arrangement?” “to what extent shall we agree to be one?” it is because the various ethnic groups in nigeria do not have ready and convincing answers to these questions that the nation is still unintegrated and parts of the questions have come to the fore in the forms of: application of the sharia law in the states of the northern region of the country which is being used against non-muslims in the region; and which often ends in ethno-religious conflicts; the cry for resource control by the southern states that produce 80% of the nation’s revenue which pitches the militants in the niger-delta against the federal government; the call for sovereign national conference by various ethnic nationalities in the country to discuss the basis on which the country should remain as one united country which those within the corridors of power who are the ultimate beneficiaries of the status-quo object to vehemently; the inability of the governments to reduce poverty, unemployment, violent crimes and political assassinations, kidnappings, terrorism, infrastructural decay and corruption among the citizens within the corridors of power. the effects on socio-economic development and democratic governance in nigeria there is the need for the citizens of the country to have a sense of national identity or a sense of belonging and a feeling of attachment to the nation for the following reasons: without this feeling of belonging to the nation, it would be extremely difficult for the government to effectively rule the country, maintain its authority and apply rules and regulations within the country. the legitimacy of the regimes would be questioned by some of the people and groups. this the militants in the nigerdelta did by blowing up oil pipe lines and oil rigs in the region, and the kidnapping of expatriate oil and construction workers, and oil theft. the boko-haram is doing so through its terrorist attacks all over the country seeking the establishment of an islamic state across nigeria. under this condition no meaningful development would take place. the citizens of the country cannot unite for a common purpose, face a common enemy or solve a national problem collectively. development programmes in the country would not be planned and coordinated because the citizens do not see themselves as a people with a common goal and destiny. ethnic sentiments will be strong in the country and there will always be the tendency for local groups to assert their local independence and exhibit secessionist tendencies as has been the case with the states in the south east region of the country the movement for the actualization of the sovereign state of biafra (massob); and the movement for the survival of ogoni people (masop) in the south-south region; and the movement for the 17 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com emancipation of the niger-delta (mend) in the south-south region; the afenifere and the odua people’s congress (opc) in the south-west; the boko-haram (bh) in the north-east, north-central and north-west regions. these actions have reduced the level of direct foreign investment in the country and also the volume of internal trade due to violence that follow the actions of these ethnic militias. as national identity is lacking, the attempts by the ruling groups to establish a strong central government often provokes ethnic sentiments that call to question the legitimacy and authority of the government just as mend did by blowing up pipe lines and oil rigs; massob did by introducing biafran currency into circulation; and bh is doing by bombing and shooting innocent citizens with impunity. the absence of national identity weakens the governmental structures and institutions thereby creating national crises and political instability. because the national institutions are weak, the federal government cannot rule effectively, fight or check corruption effectively, initiate development programs and execute them successfully. lack of national identity has caused some governments in the country (federal, state and local) to be detached from the people, acting by themselves and for themselves. thus government has become an avenue for personal enrichment because the people do not give the necessary supports to it, or question the rationale for certain national policies and actions. it is only when people have a sense of belonging to a nation that the survival of the political system is possible. it is only then that the country can survive any type of crisis. a sense of national identity restrains the emergence of totalitarian regimes because everyone is interested in the affairs of the state and the methods of their conduct. ways of creating and preserving national identity and integration, and resolve the problems posed by the national question issue in nigeria. for nigeria to be integrated to the extent that the citizens would have a sense of national identity, the federal government should take very seriously the call by the various ethnic groups for the convocation of a sovereign national conference. this conference among other things will fashion out a new geopolitical arithmetic or formulae for the nation and usher in a true federalism in the country. the conference would also allow the various ethnic nationalities to voice out their hopes, aspirations and fears in the corporate existence of nigeria and agree on how all the ethnic nationalities will co-exist peacefully and have the true feelings and sense of national identity. this sovereign national conference will also discuss the “national question”. the cries for resource control by the various ethnic nationalities goes to buttress the need for the discussion of the national question by the various ethnic 18 | p a g e national identity, integration and question: implications for national security and stable democratic governance in nigeria akwara, azalahu f; udaw, joseph e.; onimawo, jane nationalities in the country. it is believed that the problems, injustices and inequities associated with state creation, revenue allocation, political appointments, national security, etc. can be solved through the discussion of the national question. the vast majority of the citizens of this country have always reduced the national question to contradictions and antagonism between the various ethnic nationalities in the country. in order words, they see the national question in terms of inter-tribal hostilities only. but the national question is far bigger and more complex than this. the national question is a big complex of political, economic, ideological, legal and other problems that arise during a people’s struggle for liberation and for favourable internal and external conditions for further development; and also, in the course of establishing equal, friendly relations between peoples (ismagilova, 1978). the national question is always subordinate to the main problem of the socioeconomic development of the society, and has a different content and significance at various stages of a nation’s development. as ismagilova (1978) pointed out, the national question includes the abolition of all forms of ethnic oppression and ethnic inequalities. it involves the establishment of real equality, friendship, and fraternal cooperation between peoples. it aims at the abolition of the exploitation of a region by the other. this must be discussed to bring about equity and justice in the allocation of the nation’s resources to create the sense of belonging on the peoples of the country and to foster national integration. it is only when the various groups and peoples in the country are involved in the formulation of governmental policies and their implementation; get a fair share of the nation’s resources; and are not considered as peoples whose values, opinions and feelings do not matter in the country that they can cultivate the necessary sense of belonging and identity with their fellow citizens and the governments at all levels; and work in unity toward the building of a united and strong nationstate in which all will be proud to belong. as odion-akhaine (2000) observed, it has become very necessary to address the issue because of the deepening ethno-nationalism in the country which has resulted in the proliferation of ethnic organizations (militias) and violent ethnic clashes. the federal government in nigeria should put in place measures that would help to create confidence in the people that the government really cares for them. the government should be responsible and accountable to the people. it should respect the rule of law, reduce poverty if it cannot be eradicated; provide functional infrastructural facilities; improve on the security situation in the country and check corruption and conduct free and fair elections across the country; and punish 19 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com people who violate the laws. summary and conclusion ethnic conflicts are endemic nigeria because of the absence of national identity and integration. the absence of national identity and integration is due to the internal colonization of some ethnic nationalities by others during the indigenous state formation processes (empires building and kingdoms) which was halted by the external colonization of the kingdoms and empires by the europeans. the external colonization aborted the integration processes going on in the empires and in some places created status reversals which deepened the integration crises. it also amalgamated ethnic nationalities into un-integrated nation-states where the search for lost ethnic identity and integration started all over again after independence. the amalgamated ethnic nationalities did not consider their ethnic differences during their search for nationhood or national independence as they saw the external colonizer as a common enemy. on independence, their ethnic differences manifested since the ethnic nationalities did not sit to discuss on what basis they would continue to be one indivisible and united country. having been elude by the dividends of democratic rule good governance, responsible and accountable leadership, functional infrastructural facilities, peace and security and upholds the exploitation of one ethnic nationality by another; each ethnic nationality now searches for its local identity and autonomy which it does through its local ethnic militias and terrorist groups; and challenge of the legitimacy of the central government as others are calling for a discussion of the national question in a sovereign national conference. it has become very necessary to address the issue in a sovereign national conference because of the deepening ethno-nationalism in the country as they have become more or less, wars of internal decolonization. the federal government in nigeria should put in place measures that would help to create confidence in the people that the government really cares for them. the government should be responsible and accountable to the people. it should respect the rule of law, reduce poverty if it cannot be eradicated; provide functional infrastructural facilities; improve on the security situation in the country and corruption, and punish those who violate national laws irrespective of their positions in the society. notes and references: notes: see the distribution of oil blocks in nigeria. whereas 80% of the oil blocks are held by peoples of the northern region that does not produce oil, the remaining 20% is held by members of the southern region that produces the oil and whose environment is polluted by oil spillages. with the return to civil democratic rule in 1999, the entire states in the northern parts of nigeria adopted the sharia law to replace the penal code in operation in that area of the country. this was in 20 | p a g e national identity, integration and question: implications for national security and stable democratic governance in nigeria akwara, azalahu f; udaw, joseph e.; onimawo, jane defiance of the lamentation of its consequences on the administration of justice in that part of the country. the southern part of the country still uses the criminal code and the peoples of the southern nigeria are judged under the sharia law in the north. references abubakar, z. b. (2007) history and the challenges to the institution of akuuka in the 21s> century. jos: ppc ltd. aderingbe, a. a. b. (1978) “peoples of southern nigeria” in, ade-ajayi j.j. and espie ian. a thousand years of african history. lagos: thomas nelson and sons. agara, tunde and adekunle ajisebiyawo (2012) “understanding the nature of conflicts in africa: some analytical and theoretical explanations” in akinjide osuntokun and victor ukaogu (eds.) niger delta: politics of despair, deprivation and desperation. lagos: ics print shop. akwara, a. f. (1998) issues in nigerian politics and government: a comprehensive approach to citizenship education. idah: aquara and co. akwara, a. f. and ojoma b.a. (2013) “religion, politics and democracy in nigeria” canadian social science 9 (2) 48-61. ayuba, j. m. (2012) “resistance to british rule in central nigeria during the colonial rule” in, joseph magnut and terhemba wuan (eds.) colonialism and the transition to modernity in africa. lapai; ibrahim badamosi babangida university ezuonu, ifeanyi and chima korieh (2010) “perspectives on biafra: facts, fiction and memory” in, chima j. korieh and ifeanyi ezeonu (eds.) remembering biafra: narrative, history and memory of the nigeriabiafra war. glassboro: goldline and jacobs publishers. hassan, emma-lawson (2012) “african response to european colonization: the case of the takum in taraba state, nigeria” in, joseph magnut and terhemba wuan (eds.) colonialism and the transition to modernity in africa. lapai; ibrahim badamosi babangida university ifemesia, c. c. (1978) “the state of central sudan: kanem-borno and the hausa states” in, ade-ajayi j. j. and espie ian. a thousand years of african history. lagos: thomas nelson and sons. issa, afegbua salami and adejuwon kheinde david (2012) “niger delta insurgency: implications for national security and sustainable democracy” in akinjide osuntokun and victor ukaogu (eds.) niger delta: politics of despair, deprivation and desperation. lagos: ics print shop. ismagilova, r.n. (1978) ethnic problems of tropical africa: can they be solve? moacow: progress publisher parson, iyaji, festus (2000) “the imperatives for national conference” in sylvester odion-akhaine (ed.) constitutionalism and national question. lagos: center for constitutionalism and demilitarization (cencod). kums, ponfa d. (2012) “the anti-colonial 21 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com struggle in east africa” in, joseph magnut and terhemba wuan (eds.) colonialism and the transition to modernity in africa. lapai; ibrahim badamosi babangida university magezi, j. m. (2012) “king kabalega of bunyoro: a resistor to imposition of colonoal rule in uganda” in joseph magnut and terhemba wuan (eds.) colonialism and the transition to modernity in africa. lapai; ibrahim badamosi babangida university mangut, joseph (2012). “colonial historiography and the advent of citizenship and identity crisis in sub-sahara africa: the case of central africa” in joseph magnut and terhemba wuan (eds.) colonialism and the transition to modernity in africa. lapai; ibrahim badamosi babangida university. odion-akhaine, sylvester (2000) “the bull by the horn” in sylvester odionakhaine, (ed.) constitutionalism and national question. lagos: center for constitutionalism and demilitarization (cencod). ofoegbu, ray (1976). government for the certificate year. ibadan: allen and unwin. parson, talcot (1951). the social system. new york: free press sobowale, dele (2013, “march 25) nigeria: oil block sharing and income distribution”. vanguard tamuno, t. n. (1978) “peoples of the niger-benue confluence” in, adeajayi j.j. and espie ian. a thousand years of african history. lagos: thomas nelson and sons. torulagha, priye s. (2006) “oil block distribution in nigeria: prerequisites of the selected few and implications”. www. nigeriaworld. com/articles/2006 /june/html. undiyaundeya, udida a. (2012) “colonialism and nation building problems in nigeria.” in joseph magnut and terhemba wuan (eds.) colonialism and the transition to modernity in africa. lapai; ibrahim badamosi babangida university. verba, sydney (1968) political culture and political development (ed.) new jersey: princeton university press. weiner, myron (1971) “political intergration and political development” in finkle j. l. and gable w. r (eds.) political development on social change. new york: john wiley and son. yadaki, a. i. (2010) “critical reflections on the material basis and ideology of the colonial state.” in joseph magnut and terhemba wuan (eds.) colonialism and the transition to modernity in africa. lapai; ibrahim badamosi babangida university. http://www.nigeriaworld/ http://www.nigeriaworld/ 354 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com economic community of west african states at forty-five: a fool at forty-five a fool forever? victor chijioke nwosumba e-mail: vcnwosumba@gmail.com; victor.nwosumba@funai.edu.ng department of political science alex ekwueme federal university ndufualike, ikwo ebonyi state abstract amid covid-19 pandemic lockdown in the year 2020, economic community of west african states hereafter called ecowas quietly celebrated its forty-five years of establishment. widely, much was not heard of or written about the community probably due to the challenges of the pandemic. however, the address of the president of ecowas commission to the staff of ecowas institutions on the occasion of the commemoration of the community's forty-fifth anniversary serves as a reminder that attention should also be given to this regional giant against all odds. thus, the purpose of this paper is to celebrate ecowas at forty-five and then examine whether it is a fool at forty that is proverbially referred to as a fool forever. the paper, through thorough examination of the data collected from secondary sources finds that ecowas is still far from achieving its main mandate, its achievements as orchestrated by his excellency, the president notwithstanding. the paper argues that the postponement of the establishment of eco, a common currency for the region for the sixth time from 2020 to a yet to be announced date, lack of realistic free movement of persons and goods among members and selfish interests of its leaders in the guise of national interest are enough reasons to conceive ecowas as a fool at forty-five. with the aid of constructivist theory, it concludes that even if ecowas at forty-five is still fooling around it has the chances of not being a fool forever if the leaders should turn a new leaf and pursue the attainment of the community's mandate before its fiftieth anniversary. keywords: eco, ecowas, fool, fool at forty, free movement of persons and goods, mandate. introduction forty-five years ago, a regional organisation known as the economic community of west african states, herein known and referred to as ecowas was established. precisely, ecowas was established on may 28, 1975 in lagos, nigeria by west african states that had gained independence from their different colonial rulers by that time. although the 1975 treaty signed by the member-states in lagos marked the starting off of ecowas, the protocol of association was actually signed in 1976. at inception, the member-states of ecowas were nigeria, togo, ghana, burkina faso, benin republic, liberia, the gambia, cote d’voire, mali, guinea bissau, mauritania, niger republic, senegal, sierra leone and guinea and cape verde (joined 1977). so, from may 28, 1975 to may 28,2015, ecowas had attained the mature age of forty, the age believed by many that when anything human or inhuman attains should be mature not to talk about now it is fortyfive years on may 28, 2020. thus, the mailto:vcnwosumba@gmail.com mailto:victor.nwosumba@funai.edu.ng 355 | p a g e economic community of west african states at forty-five: a fool at forty-five a fool forever? victor chijioke nwosumba age of forty is associated with maturity and not adolescence. it implies therefore that even if one has fooled around for thirty-nine years, at a mature age of forty upward the person or thing should try to become more responsible and reasonable. the fact that the sub-regional economic organisation has not achieved the main mandate for which it was established is not in doubt, a reason which has made this paper to conceive it as a fool. a “fool” according to hornby (2000:460), " is a person who you think behaves or speaks in a way that lacks intelligence or good judgment." going by this definition, this paper personifies ecowas on the ground that since it is an organisation formed by human beings to help solve their problems of regional cooperation, integration and development and represents the collective aspiration of the west african peoples, it should not be treated from the abstract sense of view. in this view, ecowas is conceived to be a fool because it has behaved and spoke in a way that suggests that it lacks intelligence and good judgment. for example, in the address of his excellency, jean-claude kassi brou. thus, if the leaders of ecowas were determined to end the age-long barriers and bifurcations imposed on them by nature and from outside and establish a homogenous society which could enhance the people’s desire for cooperation, economic integration and political stability reasons for which the organisation was established among others, that would have made them to be accepted as being wise. contrarily, today what west africa is known for is more of political crises, economic backwardness, and colonial cleavages leading to lingual and monetary divisions as well as fragmentations of various kinds, restricted movement of people and goods from member states and projection of selfish interest of leaders in the guise of national interest. these challenges have persisted for more than forty years. at forty-five, the worst happened, that is, postponing the launch of the common currency for the region known as eco for the sixth consecutive times. this is coupled with the protectionist strategy nigeria adopted by closing its four land borders from august 2019 to december, 2020 and ghanaians' attacks on nigerian traders in their homeland, actions that violate ecowas protocol on the free movement of persons and goods. against the foregoing, this paper argues that ecowas has been fooling around just as it is living in a fool’s paradise and as such, has made the prospect of genuine integration in the region to look very bleak. earlier, daddieh (1993) has revealed that a careful review of the literature on regionalism in africa has suggested that regional integration suffers some setbacks due to many internal and external factors. using west africa as an example, he argues that agricultural trade which has the potential to facilitate the meeting of basic needs of the people of the region and infect the region with 356 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com the spirit of cooperation has been hampered by a combination of indequate transport system, agricultural pricing and marketing for eg policies pursued by some countries. in addition, the love and protection of sovereignty of state by most west african states is a major impediment for ecowas (ede, 2011) in achieving a truly functional regional integration as expected by the founders. okogba (2020) in line with these facts writes that most african countries have abandoned the brotherhood template that nigeria used to project while pursuing the interests of their citizens, a strategy he says that politicians (e g., ghana's nana akufo-addo) have leveraged to promote their electoral chances. however, despite what might be the reasons for ecowas’ failure namely; internal and external forces, this paper is of the opinion that it is still to be regarded as a fool because of knowing what is needed to save the sub-region and its peoples from the molestations of being one of the world’s most backward and least developed areas but refused to do it. ecowas member states are too protective of their sovereignty in the face of a globalisation era when erosion of state sovereignty is already in place and regional integration is becoming more important especially for the disadvantaged, vulnerable and small economies. in this sense, a fool is also regarded as one who knows what to do that is right but fails to do it and rather gives excuses. for instance, the establishment of a common currency called the eco for all member states as envisioned by ecowas a long time ago has not come to fruition even in the year 2020 when it was highly hoped to be adopted after its last postponement in 2014 notwithstanding the benefit it will attract. eueuro's success is an example of how a successful common currency can be of benefits to member states in a region the brexit saga notwithstanding. the potential of a successful common currency in the process of regional integration cannot be overstated. against this backdrop, the paper argues that ecowas should stop fooling around and be serious as a body charged with the responsibilities of fostering functional co-operation, economic integration and political stability among the peoples, the triple needs hoped by the founders of the community that if met should enable the region overcome the following disadvantages: smallness in size by some states, unequal natural and human resources endowment, colonial fragmentation and over dependency. should ecowas achieve this, it is then that it shall be able to exploit the economies of scale, achieve greater rate of economic growth and development. on this basis, the main issues raised here are from this point going to be addressed in details. methodology the research is designed in a way that the data used is collected from secondary sources. the interpretation of the obtained data is done through critical 357 | p a g e economic community of west african states at forty-five: a fool at forty-five a fool forever? victor chijioke nwosumba content analysis based on their face value. taking a behavioural science tradition, the analysis is also enhanced by the everyday knowledge of the researcher on issues that border on regional integration in africa and some other parts of the world, especially europe where the success of the european union and the juxtaposing brexit saga is a matter of interest for researchers on international relations. it, therefore, means that the data collected and analysed are drawn from the print and electronic media for instance, books, journal articles, the internet, television and their like. who is a fool? fool, as a noun means a silly or stupid weak-minded person who lacks judgment or sense (the american heritage idiom dictionary, 2002). according to cambridge dictionary (http://dictionary.cambridge.org/diction ary/english/fool) fool is a person who behaves in a way without thinking. institute in basic life principles (2014) in approaching the explanation of who a fool is adopts five typologies namely; the simple fool, the silly fool, the sensual fool, the scorning fool and the steadfast fool. (1) the simple fool as the institute explains, opens his/her mind to any passing thought and opens his/her arms to any passing stranger. in other words, he/she lacks discernment. he/she also has simplified view of life and fails to recognize cause-and-effect sequences that affect every area of life. because the simple fool is not discerning, he/she is easily captivated by all kinds of enticements and deceptions. he is dangerously immature extremely gullible, and intensely curious. in the absence of instruction and consistent discipline, the simple fool will naturally become more foolish. a simple fool is especially vulnerable. however, to act or play the fool simply means to behave in a stupid way in order to make people laugh, especially in a way that may also annoy them. an example of how to use the word in this sense can be seen when one says “quit playing the fool and get some work done” (hornby, 2000:460). based on the foregoing attempt at clarifying the term “fool” there is no gainsaying the fact that ecowas has been fooling around and as well, living in a fool’s paradise. this is so because when a human being for example is born, he/she is expected to have stipulated periods of crawling, standing, throwing legs, walking and eventually running. after this period, the child grows through the stage of childhood to puberty and then, adulthood. within these periods and stages, the human being is expected to play roles according to his/her age and gender. it is natural that a man should behave like a man and not like a boy because if a man in turn behaves like a boy, he is not only a fool but a compound fool. a man agreeably is a man only when he matures in character and action. http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/fool http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/fool 358 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com this is in line with the popular english old proverb that a fool at forty is a fool forever which simply means that if a person hasn’t become mature by the age of forty, he never wills (learn english today, www.learn-english-today.com). sorious samura in addison (2008) in accord with the foregoing writes; where i come from west africa, we have a saying: a fool at 40 is a fool forever,” and most african countries have now been independent for 40 years. most are blessed with all the elements to help compete on a global stage…. and yet today, my continent which is home to 10% of the world’s population represents just 1% of global trade. i have no doubt we have to take responsibility of our failures” although this paper agrees that ecowas by extension is a failure to a large extent and so a fool at forty and now forty-five, it argues that it may not be a fool forever if it stops fooling around. at forty-five years, ecowas, like a fully-fledged man, has become fully mature and so, is expected naturally to stop fooling around; to stop playing the fool. to buttress this fact, former president obasanjo in his independence day address in october 2000 reiterates that; in most cultures and societies, the fortieth birthday is a significant landmark in any person’s life. any man or woman who reaches 40years of age is judged to be truly mature, and worthy of being entrusted with sacred responsibilities. at forty:  it is time to part with youthful pursuits and settle to a life of reasonableness, decency, good family values, good citizenship and leadership;  it is also a time to henceforth enjoin the good and eschew the evils;  and it is the age to be realistic, candid and to abandon deceiving oneself and others (dawodu, 2015). at forty not to talk about forty-five years, ecowas, like a full fledge man, has become fully mature and so is expected naturally, to quit playing the fool. the constructivist theory as shall be discussed below offers the solution ecowas may be waiting for. theoretical connection to the study this study is connected to constructivist theory, a relatively new theory in international relations (ir). for decades before the end of the cold war, the theory of ir has been dominated by two traditional approaches namely, realism and liberalism thereby making constructivist theory to be marginalized (zhan, 2020). the marginalisation as barkin (2017cited in zhan, 2020) observes is as a result of these mainstream theories seeing constructivism as focusing on social construction instead of material construction. following the collapse of the ussr and end of the cold war as observed by hopf (1998 cited in zhan, 2020), a turning point came when people http://www.learn-english-today.com/ 359 | p a g e economic community of west african states at forty-five: a fool at forty-five a fool forever? victor chijioke nwosumba in the late 1980's started to reconsider the explanatory ability of the mainstream theories which consequently generated some debates. lapid (2007) following the debates observes further that the development of alexander wendt's constructivist theory at this point gained attention and began to stand out. it should be noted here that wendt's (1992) article is on "anarchy is what states make out of it: the social construction of power politics." according to wendt in this article, the claim that international institutions can transform state interests is central to neoliberal challenges to the realist assumption that "process" (interaction and learning among states) cannot fundamentally affect system "structure" (anarchy and the distribution of capabilities); systematic development of this claim, however, has been hampered by the neoliberals' commitment to rational choice theory, which treats interests as exogenously given and thus offers a weak form of institutional analysis. wendt further stresses that a growing body of ir scholarship points to ways in which the identities and interests of states are socially constructed by knowledge practices. as contained in the abstract section, the article builds a bridge between this scholarship and neoliberalism by developing a theory of identities and interest formation in support of the neoliberal further claim that international institutions can transform state interests (wendt, 1992). wendt's (1999) work on "social theory of international politics" further helped to consolidate the development of constructivist theory (zhan, 2020). since then many works on the theory have found their way into modern literature on international relations (eg. alder, 1997; barkin, 2009; chukwu, nwogbaga & nkwede, 2016; zhan, 2020) but only a few of them have looked into issues pertaining to ecowas for example, effoduh (2017). however, this gap remains to be filled. the relevance of this theory therefore sits on the fact that more contemporary issues on ecowas need to be discussed, analysed and examined through the lens of the constructivists. with the aid of the constructivist theory, examining ecowas at forty-five years of existing as a human association is germaine and apt. this is considering the fact that although alexander wendt as discussed by zhan (2020) points out that the structures of human association are constructed by material forces, he disagrees with the notion that the structures of human association are constructed by material phenomena as defined by the theories of neorealism and neoliberalism. notably, ecowas is a human association that is socially constructed by the actors and so deserves to be examined and advised using the constructivist theory as an instrument. wendt in furtherance of his theory indicates that shared ideas are the most important elements in ir (zhan, 2020), a point alder (1997) amplified by adding that the key tenet of constructivism is the belief that international politics is shaped by persuasive ideas, collective values, 360 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com culture and social identities which according to chukwu, nwogbaga & nkwede (2016) define actors' interests, identities and perceptions of the world. to wendt as captured by zhan (2020), the actions of actors are also influenced by shared ideas and as such, the actions of actors depend on their interests. "the constructivists have a strong belief that shared ideas and experiences through communicative strategies could produce change in the identity and interest of actors" (chukwu, nwogbaga & nkwede, 2016 p. 135). however, risse et al (1999), as cited in chukwu, nwogbaga & nkwede (2016) are of the view that institutionalised norms and ideas are seen shaping actors' identities and interests through three mechanisms namely; imagination, communication and constraints. in the realm of communication, an actor as emphasized by the trio can justify to others his actions by exhuming the spirit of norms in defense of such an action. in this case, for instance, nigeria's claim that its closure of the four land boundaries between august 2019 and december 2020 bordering it and some of its west african contiguous states is to checkmate debilitating smuggling activities that negatively impact its economy can be justified and not misconceived as being a deliberate act of inhibition to the ecowas protocol on free movement of persons and goods. this is good for nigeria's interest but remotely against the objective of ecowas in achieving its lofty ambition of removing all barriers to free trade and movement of persons. in fact, nigeria's border closure as argued by okogba (2020) implies extreme protectionist measure just as ghana's policy of $1 million needed by foreigners including nigerians in their account before being allowed to trade in ghana. regional integration regional integration according to wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (https://en.wikipedia.org) is a process in which neighbouring states enter into an agreement in order to upgrade cooperation through common institutions and rules. by extension, it is a process by which two or more nation – states agree to cooperate and work closely together to achieve peace, stability and wealth (carleton.ca/ces/enlearning/introductio n/extension-what-is-regional integration) in a similar vein uneca (2016) summarizes regional integration as a key strategy for development and intra-regional trade which are expected to produce considerable economic gains. further, regional integration is about overcoming barrier between countries and managing cross – border issues. based on the foregoing clarification attempts, regional integration has been conceived as requiring the co-operation of the member states that are in an organisation and or grouping to pursue common goals be they economic, political, military or any other purpose. the 20th century undoubtedly, was the century of regional integration considering the fact that many regional https://en.m.wikipedia.org/ 361 | p a g e economic community of west african states at forty-five: a fool at forty-five a fool forever? victor chijioke nwosumba groupings emerged following the realisation by many regions that regional co-operation has become an indispensable feature of contemporary international relations. according to thronhill (1972), interest in regionalism has ebbed and flowed since 1945, sometimes as a kind of gravitational response to proposals for local government reforms, sometimes for a variety of other reasons. to him, concern with regionalism can arise from diverse causes as the arrangement for the devolution of power from central government, the work of a number of geographers, and a large number of adhoc solutions to particular problems; too often, the regional solution has been an escape from existing unsatisfactory arrangements. in the same vein, ofoegbu (1980) is of the view that the growth of regional integration is largely due to many factors of which the most important are the growth in the size of the international system, multiplicity of roles and the functional demands for structural changes within the international system, a point that helps to justify the choice of constructivist theory for this paper. wendt's (1992) and zhan (2020) works have thrown their weight in support of the fact that power politics in international relations can be socially constructed since anarchy for instance is what states make of it. this is also as a result of decolonisation, a process which triggered the growth of regional consciousness and cooperative efforts. another reason for regional integration as identified by deutsche et.al (1957) is that even if regionalism is unlimited, that is, if it does not operate solely on the matrix of functional co-operation, it seeks political unification; it progresses towards and induces loss of national sovereignties and the emergence, out of these, of a new and all-embracing regional sovereignty. following from this, integrational and co-operative efforts were made in europe, latin america, africa and most other places in the world before the end of the 20th century. these include but are not restricted to european economic community (later european union), north atlantic treaty organisation (nato), defunct warsaw pact, west african economic community (ceao), central african customs and economic union (udea), southern african customs union (sacu), southern african development co-ordination conference (sadcc), economic community of west african states (ecowas, the subject of discussion in this chapter). as far back as 1989, about 200 functional integration scheme were in existence (daddier, 1993). however, while there were these and other 20th century regional experiments and strategies, in the case of africa as in some other regions, the gap between aspiration and achievements remain wide. in other words, in as much as various integrational efforts and the zeal to co-operate in practice have been made, little achievement is on ground in africa in particular, a situation that 362 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com makes the search for more functional and achieving strategies imperative. as such, ecowas is one of the regional integrational and co-operative strategies of the 20th century which is still operational in the 21st century. background to ecowas formation before the creation of ecowas, the collective territory known as west africa, from a regional point of view, was made up of an aggregation of states that had emerged from different colonial experiences and administrations which largely defined the boundaries of the 15 states domiciled in the area. however, since the attainment of independence especially in the 1960s, african leaders have consistently reaffirmed their desire to forge mutually beneficial economic and political linkages in order to enhance the continents development prospects and promote the well-being of their people. the quest for greater cooperation has led to the creation of a dense network of regional and subregional organizations that makes africa the premier arena for regional experimentation in the world (daddier, 1993). nevertheless, history has it that efforts establishing a functional sub-regional co-operative body in west africa could be dated to the period 1957 to 1965 when its political and legal foundations were laid (ofoegbu, 1980). according to the author, it was within that period that technical and administrative experts met at segou, mamou, dakar, naimey, bamako, monrovia, lagos and accra, and as a result of these meetings, economic commission for africa, eca as well as expert working parties and consultants appointed undertook detailed studies which covered customs administration, transformation, credit coordination and the economic development of international river and lake basins in west africa. the outcome of this step is that: the technical experts and administrators were successful. they achieved understanding among themselves and were no longer in doubt of the use – fulness and need for limited integration. . . these experts proceeded from here to convince their political leaders to allow certain activities and state functions to be selected and organized (ofoegbu, 1980:89). the achievements made out of this first step, as hodgkin and schachter (1960) observe is that a west african feeling was created. as such, the prospects for regional co-operation became brighter. following this new west african consciousness, the early “west african” african leaders and followers of the aborigine rights protection society, national congress for british west arica and inter-territorialists in the former africque occidental francaise disappeared from political influence and power in west africa (hodgkin and schachter, 1960; ofoegbu, 1980). thus, the bureaucrats and technocrats who helped to chart the course of regional integration in west africa from 363 | p a g e economic community of west african states at forty-five: a fool at forty-five a fool forever? victor chijioke nwosumba this time became new west africans. like everything that has good and bad sides, these new integrationists encountered some stumbling blocks on their way to forming ecowas not minding the good intension they had for the people of the sub-region. this manifested in the way and manner some political leaders who had territorial and national rather than inter-territorial interests misconceived the movement. however, this misconception was borne out of the quest by most nationalists and political leaders to create their individual national identities and as well, protect and exercise national sovereignties since most of them had just won political independence from their different colonial masters. as we shall see in the proceeding sections, this fear of losing one’s national identity and sovereignty has largely contributed to derailing the effort of ecowas in achieving its set objectives and aims to a large extent. at this juncture, it is necessary to point out the fact that ecowas, following the background information and facts given so far was eventually borne out of the desire of the people of west africa who had longed for regional cooperation at a more functional and effective level in order to collectively attack the enduring problems of underdevelopment and disunity in the region. from nigeria to togo, from niger to ghana and so on, evidence abounds that the yearning of the people was and are still the same; they wanted (and still want) to be helped out of the valley of abject poverty, food insecurity, backwardness etc. lending credence to this fact, ofoegbu (1980) and isichei (1977) agree that the new consciousness led to the formation of ghana-maliguinea union, the niamey act and niamey agreement that established the river niger commission; the treaties which established the chad basin commission among many others. also, between 1957 and the early 1970, the people of west africa due to this new awareness, embraced some other areas of co-operation for example, during conferences in accra and darkar respectively, west african working parties and the economic community of africa examined the magnitude of the problems of the people of the region and developed policy action papers based on the concept of regional co-operation. west african industrial co-ordination conferences were also held at bamako and monrovia within the same period. in all, these conferences concentrated on four key industries: iron and steel chemicals and fertilizers, textiles and cement and as well assessed the needs of west africa as a region, projected these into the future, analysed the productive capacity of the region, designed industrial co-ordination strategies that could meet the perceived and projected needs of the region, and do these without depending on imports (ofoegbu, 1965). by and large, whether the foregoing efforts at west africa’s functional cooperation are appreciated or not, the fact remains that they culminated to laying the foundation for the establishment of 364 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com the sub-regional body known as ecowas. at the peak of these efforts at west african states’ integration, general yakubu gowon the former nigerian head of state and his togolese counterpart, general gnassingbe eyadema toured the region in support of the integration idea in 1972. eventually, the drafts that emanated from their efforts formed the basis for the emergence of the treaty of lagos in 1975 which gave birth to ecowas (ecowas, http://ecoslate.github.io/aboutecowas/history/index/htm). ecowas since 1975 history was made eventually on the 28th may, 1975 when fifteen west african states namely; nigeria, niger, ghana, mali, burkina faso, liberia, guinea bissau, sierra leone, togo, benin republic, senegal, cote d’ivore, gambia, mauritania, signed the treaty that established the economic community of west african states in lagos, nigeria. by this time, lagos was the capital of nigeria and so automatically became the headquarters of the organisation until when abuja was made the new capital city. today, the headquarters of ecowas is situated in abuja, nigeria. another interesting thing is that while the treaty establishing ecowas was signed in 1975, its protocol of association was actually signed in 1976. following this, ecowas was strengthened with a set of protocols, a fund, a secretariat and regular meetings of leaders and officials twenty-two years later that is, from 1993 to 2015 after the revised treaty or better put, forty years after the lagos treaty of 1975 that established ecowas, the community has not been able to deliver the goods expected of it. the fact that west africa remains underdeveloped, and in deep economic and political crises, more fragmented and unable to feed its people underscores the reason for branding ecowas a fool at forty. at best, ecowas can be labeled a toothless bull dog. interestingly in 1977, cape verde joined ecowas as a member state thereby making the members of community to rise to sixteen (16) but in 2002, one of the foundation members, mauritania withdrew its membership. by this, the members of ecowas have remained fifteen (15) since then: nigeria, niger, benin, gambia, burkinna faso, cape verde, togo, ivory coast, guinea, guinea bissau, sierra leone, liberia, senegal, ghana, mali. to achieve its goals, ecowas, from its foundation also has set numerous shortterm objectives which include: elimination of customs duties, abolishment of trade restrictions, establishment of a common tariff, and coordination of economic, industrial and monetary policies. ecowas forum, 2016). according to this author, there were also plans for allowing the free movement of labour, goods, and capital http://ecoslate.github.io/about-ecowas/history/index/htm http://ecoslate.github.io/about-ecowas/history/index/htm 365 | p a g e economic community of west african states at forty-five: a fool at forty-five a fool forever? victor chijioke nwosumba on an intra-community level; common infrastructure development projects, broad plans for economic, political and monetary integration. in fact, as adebisi (2007) summarises, the community sought in addition to harmonise agricultural policies, establish a common tariff for external trade and commercial policy towards two thirds states. however, eighteen years later, precisely in 1993, ecowas revised its treaty in order to reposition itself to face emerging global challenges following the melting down of the cold war that was prevalent at the time of its establishment in 1975 and to be able to spur economic integration and political co-operation in the sub-region. in a nutshell, the revised ecowas treaty of 1993 aims to achieve for the sub-region an economic union which is the peak level of its target. in addition, ecowas aims not only to establish itself as a hegemonic economic community in west africa for the purpose of economic integration but as well according to adetula (2005) to extend integration to other sectors such as politics, security and physical infrastructure. is ecowas factually a fool? having personified ecowas in this work, it is necessary to refer to napoli, kilbride and tebbs (1988) definition of personality; … as the individual’s unique and dynamic pattern of thoughts, feeling and actions. most psychologists agree that at least three characteristics of personality should be taken into account: uniqueness (no two personalities are exactly alike), adaptability (personality change) is not just a collection of behavior, it is a patterned response to the environment that shows some degree of consistency in applying this definition here, ecowas as an organization is therefore conceived as a collection of behavioural as well as a patterned response to the environment. that ecowas is a community of states and not community of people (akinterinwa, 2015) goes a long way to justify that it is a subregional body and not a body of people. as such the behavior of ecowas is a collection of the behaviour of the member states as well as a patterned response to the west african environment that is somehow consistent. for example, west africa is a region of many states with different colonial experiences and masters namely, those of the british west african, french and portuguese backgrounds; different natural resources endowment different institutional and administrative systems. implicitly, while nigeria at one end is richly endowed with enormous resources, burkina faso at the other end is endowed with poor human and natural resources. these remarkable differences significantly and consistently determine the sub-regional relations of people and states, a condition which further constraints and hampers meaningful participation of member states in 366 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com ecowas economic integration programmes. reacting to this situation, akinteriwa (2015) on good morning nigeria programme, during a discussion on ecowas at forty bemoans the community for remaining a community of states and not community of peoples. his view is that if ecowas were wise it should have by its forty years of existence transformed into a community of people that is, putting in full practice the policy of free movement of people in place. if ecowas were wise and sensible, it should have known that mobility of factors of production within the region is very significant to the achievement of its economic integrational goal. by being a fool, though a simple fool institute in basic life principles, 2014 has given a simple fool as one of the typologies of a fool), ecowas has forgotten that one of the reasons for establishing it was mainly to foster unity among the peoples of the sub-region such that most identified areas of bifurcations and altercation to their growth, development and wellbeing could be eliminated. even when it has adopted the protocol on free movement of persons, residence and establishment signed since may 29, 1979, which came into effect since 1980 iornumbe and apinean, 2014), free movement of persons and by extension goods have not been free. thus, daddier (1993) while citing a world bank report of 1989 concurs that boarder checks and unduly complex transit procedures cause long waiting periods that reduce intraregional trade and contribute to high cost of doing business in the region. however, while ecowas believes in achieving community citizenship for citizens of member states as well as enhancing the smooth operation of the protocol towards achieving free movement of people’s goals and services, it has launched  ecowas travel certificate (etc)  ecowas passport (ecopass)  ecowas liability insurance card (elic)  ecowas brown card motor vehicle  insurance scheme (ebcmvis) (iornumpe and apinean, 2014) these are major strategies that if adopted could enhance integrational migration and then boost integrational effort but like a simple fool who in the view of institute in basic life principle (2014), naturally becomes more foolish in the absence of instruction and consistent discipline, ecowas lacks the political will to implement the protocol. several restrictions from members states as identified by adetula (2005) such as immigration laws, investment codes indigenization policies and programmes vitiated meaningful efforts toward the implementation. some other internal contradiction in the protocol, no doubt also contributes to its nonimplementation. the implications of this failure are far-reaching especially as the lead to citizenship and 367 | p a g e economic community of west african states at forty-five: a fool at forty-five a fool forever? victor chijioke nwosumba indigenization crises in the subregion. the recent attacks on nigerians living in ghana is a byproduct of the non implementation of ecowas protocol on free movement of persons, residence and establishment. flowing down from this point is the fact that as a simple fool waiting to be instructed and consistently disciplined before being wise, ecowas would have implemented the above protocol to the letter if the former colonial over lords especially finance, had instructed and consistently disciplined them. take for instance how the issue of having a common currency has been a serious challenge to ecowas; member states especially those of francophone zone prefer maintaining close ties with france through monetary cooperation and other means. thus, the francophone countries in spite of their colonial experiences with france continued pegging their currencies to that of france (cfa franc) well into the 1990s (ede, 2011). however, while there are national currencies for most ecowas states some also use other foreign currencies such as escudo for cape verde, dollar for liberia and cfa franc for most francophone states. all these, coupled with some fear of loss of national sovereignty have contributed to hampering the achievement of a single currency in the subregion, a feat if achieved would enhance crossborder economic links and then make regional and external trading easier, cheaper and less risky. that eco project (eco is the name given to the expected single currency if achieved) has not materialised in the year 2020 is a thing of concern. like most other projects, programmes and strategies conceived and initiated by ecowas that are still in the pipeline or abandoned midway, the date for the actual establishment or achievement of a single currency (eco) in west africa has been postponed from 2003 to 2005, 2010, 2014 to 2020 and now to an unspecified year. based on these postponements thisday newspapers (2016) concludes that ecowas single currency project is an illusion. thisday further refers to the project as another selfdeceiving project. on this note, ecowas is a fool (though a simple fool) at forty by leading a life of selfdeceit because as a mature organization it should stop fooling around. based on this eco issue, thisday writes; the plan had been based on a degree of economic sanity and progressive integration of extant national interests that are nowhere near what is needed to create a common currency. that nothing of such happened has made many to laugh off the latest claim of “notable progress” in that direction, especially coming at a time the european union (eu) seems to be unraveling with the united kingdom now exiting (this day, 2016). now that eco has been achieved 368 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com conclusion and recommendations this quotation and other facts above, to say the obvious help us to conclude that ecowas is indeed a fool because it is behaving in a stupid way that makes people laugh and even get annoyed. it therefore means that one who knows what to do to be better but fails to do it until it is late is a fool. this is true in the case of ecowas because of the journey to its formation which had started since 1957 or even earlier down to 1975 when it was eventually established and forty years plus since its establishment it has not achieved its goals, it can best be described as a toothless bulldog, it has teeth but cannot really bite. imagine the enormous potentials of west africa – human and material resources with enormous agricultural potentials as well as human population if ecowas were wise, it should have concentrated on the harmonization of member states’ agricultural policies and achieving free movement of goods and people. if this had been achieved before now ghana would not have been disturbing nigerian business people in their homeland as it is presently or put differently, nigeria would not have embarked on ghanamust-go project in the distant past. be that as it is presently, it is difficult for this paper to agree that the establishment of the common currency, eco is going to change ecowas from playing the fool. this is not to conclude sheepishly that it is impossible for eco to succeed like the euro. the fact is that eco is possibly a veritable instrument of integration and development for west africa only if the protection of state sovereignty by individual memberstates mostly for ethnic hegemonic and class tendencies and not purely on the excuses of national interest can be substantially reduced at this time smaller economies around the world are teaming up to withstand the demands of globalisation that are in favour of bigger economies. in addition, eco's success is possible if the resurgence of economic nationalism in some parts of the world especially the case of brexit will not confuse some countries in africa to tow the same path. nigeria for instance should not think of this notwithstanding its economic weight in the region as well as ghana's present provocation due mainly for two reasons. one, the british pound is the most highly-rated currency in the world, a fact that encourages britain to believe that it can succeed independently without the eu. two, the existence of france in collaboration with its former colonies in west africa should not be forgotten because if nigeria should try to exit from ecowas for not benefiting commensurately eco will collapse unlike the euro which is most likely to retain its global weight even if britain does not return to the union. furthermore, the suspicion of one country nigeria, by most francophone members of establishing itself as the regional hegemony if given the chance should be eschewed. in conjunction with the foregoing, free movement of people from member countries' barrier should be removed for ecowas to achieve the economies of scale it was ab initio 369 | p a g e economic community of west african states at forty-five: a fool at forty-five a fool forever? victor chijioke nwosumba established to achieve. that west africa remains the home of military coups in the 21st century when military intervention in politics is considered by the drivers of the globalisation project as the first enemy of democracy, mali being the latest, a home of a great number of wretched people, home of a great number of food insecure people and worst still, home of terrorism and other forms of social, economic and political disorder simply suggests that ecowas, no matter what might be its achievement, has greatly failed in its mission and the vision of its founding fathers. in fact, no matter what might be its impediments namely; colonial hangover, suspicion of one another of dominance, dependency, globalization, resource curse, ecowas should sit up and quit playing the fool and get work done. it is in doing this that it can avoid being a fool at forty who is a fool forever. if ecowas should continue doing things it has done since forty-five years ago the same way, it will continue to get the same result. ecowas leaders should as a matter of urgency, solve the problems of fragmentation and suspicion among members as well as restricted movement of people from the member countries, and most importantly, stop reinventing conflict and military coup in an era of democratic consolidation if it really aspires to achieve its aims. ecowas should remember that a house divided against itself can never stand. references adetula, v.a. (2005). ecowas and the challenges of regional integration in west africa. in u.j. ogwu and o.w. alli (eds) ecowas milestones in regional integration. lagos: niia. addison, t. (2008). addicted to aids? http://povertyblog.wordpress.com/ 2008/11/24/a-fool -at-40-is-afool-forever/.retrieved15/9/2016. (arleton.ca/ces/eulearning/introduction/ what-is-the-en/extension-what-isregionalintegration/. akinterinwa, b. (2015). a contribution on ecowas at 40 on nta national programme good morning nigeria. december 21, 2015, 7-9am. cambridge dictionary. meaning of fool in english dictionary, http://dictionary.cambridge.org/di ctionary/english/fool.retrieved 15/9/2016 daddier, c.k. (1993). structural adjustment programs (saps) and regional integration in west african: help or hindrance, paper prepared for presentation at the international conference on west african integration, daker, senegal, january 1993. dawodu,s.t. (2015). obasajo independence day 2000 dedicated to nigeria’s history, socioeconomic and political issues. in https://www.dawodu.com/ obas4.htm.retrieved 15/9/2016. http://povertyblog.wordpress.com/2008/11/24/a-fool%20-at-40-is-a-fool-forever/.retrieved15/9/2016 http://povertyblog.wordpress.com/2008/11/24/a-fool%20-at-40-is-a-fool-forever/.retrieved15/9/2016 http://povertyblog.wordpress.com/2008/11/24/a-fool%20-at-40-is-a-fool-forever/.retrieved15/9/2016 http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/fool http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/fool https://www.dawodu.com/%20obas4.htm.retrieved%2015/9/2016 https://www.dawodu.com/%20obas4.htm.retrieved%2015/9/2016 370 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com deutsche, k.w. etal. (1957) political community and north atlantic area: international organisation in the light of historical experience. princeton, n. j.: priceton university press. edeh, h.c. (2011). sovereignty and ecowas quest for a common currency, nigerian journal of social sciences (njss) vol.7 no.1, 59 – 76. hornby, a.s. (2000). oxford advanced leaner’s dictionary (6th edition). oxford: oxford university press. hodgkin, t. and scachter, t. (1960). french speaking west africa in transition, international conciliation, no.528.in r. ofoegbu (1980). regional co operation and the search for african unity. in e.c. amucheazi, readings in social sciences issues in national developments. enugu. fourth dimension publisher. institute in basic life principles (2014). what are five types of fools? http://iblp.org/questions/what_are _five_types_fools. retrieved 15/9/2016 iornumbbe, g.y. and apinean, b.c. (2014). ecowas and economic integration in west africa: a critical appraisal, african journal of economy and society (13) (1), 132-153 isichei, e. (1977). e. (1977). history of west africa since 1800. london: macmillan press ltd. learn english today (n.d), inhttp://www.learn-englishtoday.com/proverbs/proverbsa.html.retri eved 15/9/2016. ofoegbu, r (1965). problems of international cooperation considered with reference to the boundaries of the gambia, ghana, liberia and nigeria, unpublished m.s.c (eco). thesis submitted to university of london. in r. ofoegbu (1980) regional cooperation and the search for african unity. e.c amucheazi, readings in social sciences issues in national development. enugu: fourth dimension publishers. ofoebgu, r. (1980). regional cooperation and the search for african unity. in e.c. amucheazi. readings in social sciences issues in national developments. enugu: fourth dimension publishers. thornhill, w. (1972). ed. the case for regional reform. london: nelson and sons ltd. united nations economic commission for africa, (2016).regional intergration and trade.http://www.uneca.org/our_ work/regional_integration_and_tr ade. refreved 15/9/2016. wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (2016). regional integration. https:// en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/regional _integration. retrieved 15/9/2016 zhan, m. (2020, may 19). a brief overview of alexander wendt's http://iblp.org/questions/what_are_five_types_fools.%20retrieved%2015/9/2016 http://iblp.org/questions/what_are_five_types_fools.%20retrieved%2015/9/2016 http://iblp.org/questions/what_are_five_types_fools.%20retrieved%2015/9/2016 http://www.learn-english-today.com/proverbs/proverbs-a.html.retri%20%20eved%2015/9/2016 http://www.learn-english-today.com/proverbs/proverbs-a.html.retri%20%20eved%2015/9/2016 http://www.learn-english-today.com/proverbs/proverbs-a.html.retri%20%20eved%2015/9/2016 http://www.uneca.org/our_work/regional_integration_and_trade.%20refreved%2015/9/2016 http://www.uneca.org/our_work/regional_integration_and_trade.%20refreved%2015/9/2016 http://www.uneca.org/our_work/regional_integration_and_trade.%20refreved%2015/9/2016 371 | p a g e economic community of west african states at forty-five: a fool at forty-five a fool forever? victor chijioke nwosumba constructivism. https://www.e-irinfo/2020/05/19/a-brief-overviewof-alexander-wendtsconstructivism/ retrieved 23/12/2020. 278 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com middle east crisis: re-assertive nationalism or war okechukwu, groupson-paul uc. phd groupsonpaul@yahoo.com , okechukwu.groupson@funai.edu.ng department of political science federal university ndufu alike ikwo (funai), abakaliki – ebonyi state, nigeria agboola, olugbenga abiodun department of political science and international relations, caleb university, imota. lagos state abstract the middle east, a region of several conflicts, diplomatic intrigues, problematic peace engagement, terror thriving enclave, where the restive islamic states with discontent are weighed down by the intimidating influences of outside power. for being aware that al qaeda has outlived its usefulness; that most arab states are overwhelmed, dominated and suppressed by israel; that arab-spring was meant to do away with monarchism to western democracy; that foreign policy of the middle east were never theirs; that the economy is determined from outside; and aware that in no distant time the region might be a pro-western sphere. poised by this hocuspocus demistyism, the islamic jihadist terrorism is revealed to re-assert nationalism course towards reclaiming the middle east. this study, situated on political conflict and nationalism theory, utilizes secondary data and analytical approach. the study notes that in re-asserting common consciousness, the west and its allies within must be tackled. the study observed that terrorism, a severe mechanism, has become the fastest bait to expressing pains. it revealed the negative actions of the jihadist in reclaiming their land and prosperity. the study suggests that orderliness in conflict, a possible panacea to the middle east conflicts be adopted. keyword: conflict, terrorism, islamic states, nationalism, diplomatic intrigues and interventionist introduction arguably, the consciousness of oneness, common belief, common identity, common language and common feelings among others are the basic attributes of nationalism. although, in recent time, these ideas have not only been broken or destroyed but had been tenaciously overtaken by several impediments. this ranges from the drive for power, wealth and riches; the growth of technology and new markets; the drive of neodemocracy and possible re-colonization of states and; the effects of globalization and climate change among others, which are new paradigm in the international politics and governance of states. nationalism and nationalist drive, though, in the old were said to be subtle to some extent while in some, it was rebellious and violent affront against the masters. it was a great movement that ended several great empires like the mailto:groupsonpaul@yahoo.com mailto:okechukwu.groupson@funai.edu.ng 279 | p a g e middle east crisis: re-assertive nationalism or war okechukwu, groupson-paul uc.; agboola, olugbenga abiodun roman, byzantine, british, persia and ottoman empires among others. it possibly helped also to vanquish great powers after the westphalia treaty of 1648. nationalism struggle also took the dimension of non-violent approach to freedom in some regions of the world, just as it also led to the fragmentation of several nation states. however, the middle east unlike africa, south america and eastern europe is seen as the centre of world politics and politicking in recent time owing to its geography, resources hob, economic centrality and being the most tensed region of the world, several conflicts, diplomatic intrigues and power struggles have made the region and her youths restive. this region, with long years of conflict records in the presence of western influence and dominance could be said to know no peace as long as the interest of the former refuses to change, reduce and/or withdraw. the west’s continued interference in the governance of the region away from the initial economic control was very glaring. it also helped to lightened up like a wild fire in 2011 the zealous spread of neo-democracy, which sent a dangerous signal to the indigenes and occupants of middle east that neodemocracy, globalization and western technology if completely accepted means that their fate had been sealed and seceded to the new colonization projects of the west. hence, the probable rethoughts of the emerging new order of the islamic states terrorism to querying such western driven agendas in middle east are not far-fetched. the islamic states terrorists probably while querying the drastic weighing down of the middle east power of bargain as due to the intimidating influence and power of the west on their region’s politics and government, also admittedly argued that al qaeda and other militant groups has outlived their usefulness; coupled with the domineering and suppressing presence of israel; and to the obvious fact that the middle east economy are being determined from outside the region among others, therefore propping up terrorism as the fastest means of being heard. terrorism, a violent means used to create fear for political, religious and ideological reasons also provokes consciousness while evoking certain feelings of sympathy and revulsion. to seemly suggest that if nothing is urgently done by the arabs, that the region might be heading towards a rebirth as it might be overtaken by new colonization, new religion, new socialization and new culture. this, thus might have informs the need for them to either re-assert their nationalism or probably if possible, fight the course of reclaiming their land, resources and wealth and independence from the west as their ultimate goal. premised on this, the study evaluates the international dimension of the middle east problems hinged on the stated theories, the role of arab springs acting as an eye-opener, the emergent of the 280 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com islamic states of iraq sunni terrorism course and or the process of re-asserting arabs nationalism in the middle east. the middle east and the west: the international dimensions of the problem interestingly, scholars had come to accept the contention that middle east is not a country, not a continent, has no set border, but a land east of europe, northeast of africa, west of india and china. that is, the land whose heart stretches from egypt in north east of africa to the countries of south western asia and east of europe. it is the land in the middle of asia, africa and europe with a well of over 98% arab dominance (mahan, 1902). the west itself, that is, european and american continents are central to the politics of middle east. this has become their most valued strategic importance in the world politics. the relationship between both had created a huge political intrigues, hiccups, problems and unsettled diplomatic interactions that had greatly affected the world politics and government (sloan, 2006). the dynamism of this problematic hiccups had consistently and continually kept the world political actors, economists and risk takers among others in a constant motion, dialogue and debates of what peace in the middle east meant to all, especially in the period where according to brooke and arny (2009), the international political economists are raising questions on the issues of globalization, trade liberalization, investment opportunities, markets capitalization, human capital friendliness and sustainable democracy that could aid opening up of states, regions and the global society, to which the middle east are dwarf of, thereby leaving much to be desired in terms of stability and relative peace. although, the early contact contrast the period of colonization and independence as war of empireonic occupation and issues of the eastern questions among others was settled in 1929 and thereafter. according to karsh (2000), what had helped the issues to linger on was the subsisting interest of the west in the middle east, which might have contributed to arouse the spate of tension and volatile nature of the region. a course that has been challenged severally with waves of nationalism struggle. this, precipitated by the role of britain in the 1940s, france and united states in the period leading to cold war and thereafter, to this day have not helped matter in the region (stockton, 2011). it is imperative therefore to note that right from the period of economic determinacy and conflict of alliance, that there has been a long existing feud in the middle east between the west and the arab world. a quarrel that pan-arabism had adopted to eliminate the trace of western imperialism (karsh, 2000). this study thus, not surprise in the words of al-mukarramah (2001), that scholars are even confused as to what could be the subtle way of ameliorating this great threat, great hates, great disagreement and unsettled political and economic 281 | p a g e middle east crisis: re-assertive nationalism or war okechukwu, groupson-paul uc.; agboola, olugbenga abiodun clandestinism of the actors that the world is witnessing today in that region. evidence available has revealed that the united states interest in the middle east is prime. it also informed how all the other european states’ interest has been subsumed into the american interest. these states like britain, france, japan and others are meant to key-in towards maintaining their perpetual alliance with the former while exploring the region. exceptions was however, seen in the period preceding the cold war era as postulated by magnus (2006), that the politics of middle east assumed different dimension when oil was discovered in the arid desert at the period prior to the struggle for independence in the 1930s and 1950s respectively and to which since then the region knew no peace. added to this, karsh (2000) aptly revealed that the united states is the top consumer of energy in the world. and back then in 1970s, the united states needed sources on where to find its energy. the middle east such as saudi arabia and the uae had the oil at the time. these two countries were also oil producing states and part of the southern nations. the u.s in turn wanted to do business with these people whether they wanted or not. thereby, agreeing with the assertion of pipes (2015) that since the world war ii, that the persian gulf region had been proclaimed to be the national interest of the united states due to oil deposit and proven oil reserves. in the same continuum, benji (2012), argued that the u.s. involvement in the middle east oil business in the 20th century was because of the industrial requirement, and because the middle east oil, especially around the persian gulf was very cheap to extract. the u.s interest in the middle east did not only projects its entire interest but it also double in protecting the interest of its allies such as britain, france, japan and all other european nations that chat its course of capitalist – democracy away from the outdated monarchy – sit – tight rules in the middle east either in war or peace. however, against the u.s making its intension known in the period of cold war, the rivalry with the ussr in the region also took centre stage. shlaim (1996), in this respect noted that the western powers in exploring the middle east did not only divide the indigenous people but created a great rivalry among themselves to which the arab states sheepishly followed without questioning. this feature did not only account for the interest and rivalry that it has evoked but for the whole of 20th century, the middle east was at their separately avowed geopolitical-strategic importance with its oil being fingered. he further contended that the western powers involvement was not a unique feature but one that affects in varying degrees all region of the world. what distinguished the middle east from the rest is the intensity, pervasiveness and profound impact of this rate of involvement. that is to say that the 282 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com middle east was terribly caught up in the western powers rivalries that it started affecting them, inspired them and nurtured them into violence. moreover, in a separate continuum, stockton (2011), argued that apart from the western powers interest in the middle east, which their continual support, sponsor and protection of the israeli statehood and their economic interest to their dismay is absurd. an intent that shlaim (1996), did not only frowned at but sees the effect as due to the interest of the western powers in the middle east, and the treatment and declaration of israel as the most favoured nation (mfn) over the arab nations, which indeed ignites and intensified the crisis between israel and the arabs. the arab states are noted to have subscribed to the ideal of arab unity but in practice inter-arab relations are characterized more by conflicts than co-operation, thereby making israel to be widely held to be one of the few solid pillars propping up arab unity. this is because the arabs seems to largely agree and united in opposing israel and her allies, but at the operational level, they are deeply divided within themselves, thereby helping to increase the western interest aggregations against their overall weakness. in admitting to this, pipes (2003), aptly revealed that there is foreign direct control of the economy of the middle east from outside due to the level of instability and incoherency among the arabs. in attesting to this observation, paul (2012), further argued that the u.s. motives in the gulf is their foreign policy – economic actualization. although, it does not make them (u.s) safer, but it is a clear indication that the u.s involvement in foreign territories such as the middle east is evidence of america’s imperialistic foreign policy ideology. meaning that, the search for oil money and exploration was adopted as a ploy to finger several of the states of the middle east directly or indirectly. this, also suggestively agreed with the u.s – three cold war doctrines (the truman doctrine, the eisenhower doctrine and nixon doctrine) formulated and states inter alia: ‘that the u.s would use military force if necessary to defend its national interest in the persian gulf region. a manoeuvre that has not only set the arabs against the west since then, but had also aroused and inspired the people of middle east, especially the youths to chat a new course of islamic radicalism and terrorism towards eliminating the western imperialists. away from these contentious issues, the investigation presupposes to mean that there are several other issues informing the current trend in the arab – middle east politics. on one hand is the level of dislocation, distortion, decimation, denial and deprivations, to which the inhabitants had accused the west of perpetuating with devious betrayal of trust, thereby prompting their desires to take what rightfully belong to them – the oil and wealth of middle east at all cost. 283 | p a g e middle east crisis: re-assertive nationalism or war okechukwu, groupson-paul uc.; agboola, olugbenga abiodun the other, being the re-igniting of the pan-arabism ideology that is directly linked to arab nationalism. a movement that is trying to reclaim their lands while clearing the area of anything imperial on the context of re-asserting their common nationalism. the theoretical argument the objective of this paper is to discuss the complex nature of the current trends of event in the middle east, that is, the sudden appearance of the islamic states of iraq sunni and al sham (isis) against the elites and western powers. the questioning of the latter’s long occupation of the middle east and the long appropriations of the wealth vis-àvis the ongoing conflict in the broad contexts of conceptual and theoretical postulations. the focus is, therefore, to probe whether the current events in the middle east is a course of people trying to reclaim their homeland and its abundant wealth from the western imperialists presumed second – colonization (using neo-democracy) or a case of re-assertive nationalism hidden under religious totem of islamic radicalism to fight the common enemy and its allies – the western imperialist or both. in the light of this, two theories are examined: a). theory of political conflict conflict, according to boulding (1962) is an activity that is found almost everywhere in the world of man. amongst all the categories of conflicts, political conflict seems to be most devastating and destructive, both in idea and actions. dahl (1987) asserted that conflicts arise as a result of many factors, including struggle for power and privileges, and differences in social status. such social status as economics class, income, wealth, position and occupation counts. in essence, conflict is a situation of competition, in which the parties are aware of the incompatibility of future positions. according to coser (1967), conflict occurs among individuals, group, organizational interest and states alike. it can lead to clash among actors, resulting to death, owing to its violent nature. laue (1990) postulated that conflict is a natural and inevitable part of all human social relationship. it is the escalated, natural competition between two or more parties about scarce resources, power and prestige. parties in conflict believe they have incompatible goals and their aim is to neutralize, gain advantage over, injure or destroy one another. conflict is a social phenomenon, and is multi-faceted, very beneficial and also destructive. to scimecca (1990), theory of conflict explains human behaviour in terms of self-interest, and the perpetuation of the social order by the organized coercion of certain groups over other groups. deutsch (1990) argued that conflict can be positive. thus, he noted that conflict has many positive functions; it prevents stagnation, it stimulates interest and curiosity. it is the medium through 284 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com which problems can be aired and solution arrived at. it is the root of personal and social change. in another realm, banks (1996) contended that conflict is both inevitable and necessary. it is inevitable, because both people and groups have basic needs, expressed in society through competing values, clashing in order to provide the catalyst for development. without which life is meaningless. he submitted that conflict can be functional, but that its functional benefits can sometimes be accompanied by dysfunctional costs: hostility, rigidity, violence and destruction. thus, going by the above contentions, conflicts could be said to be multifaceted; with the frequency and regularity extremely high. simply because, incompatible goals and over exploitations combined with frustration and deprivation has generated conflicts, to which no region of the world is free of major conflicts as the level of insecurity, instability and chaos are also abnormally high, particularly in the middle east. consequently, the examined sequences of cases and events in the area of study showed that several crises had bedevilled the middle east region, thereby justifying the adopted theory. b). theory of nationalism this study also adopts the theory of nationalism among the several theories that this study is linked to. it informs and tends to partly dictate the pace of events in the middle east crisis. the importance of which also partly explains the root of the struggle. scholars of this school have argued that nationalism arises in response to a condition of society and at a particular stage in its development. to them, nationalism involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, that is, a nation. to this effect, gellner (1993), opined that nationalism is centered on collective identities. this includes the sovereignty possess by the state, the territorial unit, creed of loyalty within the consciousness of the nation in the minds of the people amongst others, that may equally form in part, some of the factors that informed the unique aspirations. in support of this notion, oldenquist (1997), reiterated that nationalism focuses on the attitude of a member of a nation when they care about their national identify. this is because it is the collectivism of the identities acting as a force that binds them towards common aspiration. in furtherance to this, yuval-davies (1997), posits that nationalism in a wider sense is any complex attitudes, claims and directives for action ascribing a fundamental political, moral and cultural values to nation and nationality and deriving obligations from this ascribed values. meaning that nationalism varies both in conception of a nation and deals with common feelings of the people, common identity amongst the people and the enabling zeal of achieving a 285 | p a g e middle east crisis: re-assertive nationalism or war okechukwu, groupson-paul uc.; agboola, olugbenga abiodun particular desire as deemed right within the consciousness of the people. in the same manner, coleman (1965), argued that nationalism is the consciousness of belonging to a nation or a nationality. for the inspiration; and aspiration goes between a desire as manifest in sentiment and activity, which helps to maximize its political autonomy. premised on this, the ongoing crisis in the middle east is occasioned by the pan-arab islamic states of iraq sunni ethnic group and others against the west and some arab elites. it is evident that the bond inspiring these various actions and movement is the common arab nationalism. the actions and activities of these groups however, throw up two basic arguments of whether their action are in the course of trying to reclaim their land and wealth under the western sphere of influence or that this nationalistic movement are meant to re-assert their nationalism towards upholding their values against the long years of western balkanization, exploitation, distortion, dislocation and destruction of values and so on. in view of this problematic issue, the following questions are better posed as against the swollen number of recruitment and volunteers among others, who had joined the struggle: could one vividly accept that this groups are on course to reclaiming, restoring and re-asserting their values in the region against any hindrance, denial, deprivation and abject exploitation? what could have motivated the terrorist in engendering in such actions? is there any particular passion attached to their present actions or could it be a nationalistic drive and what could have made them to vibrate emotionally? why have the sunni people felt that their nationalism is as important as to determine and dictating for the rest of middle east states? with the already existed division within the arab world, what is the fate of other ethnic groups like the kurdish, shite, the shia and others who had not keyed into the course of isis? can this struggle and the crisis in the middle east be both a course of driving away the western powers on one hand and also a juxtaposition to reasserting their nationalistic values on the others? is the action of the terrorists not a burden by way of negative implication in reclaiming their land, values and properties? finally, could terrorism as currently been displayed by the isis be seen as the fastest bait to expressing pain or a weep-up sentiment of the group under common consciousness to tackling the west? the arab spring and the paradox of change the arab spring, a political nickname of the western neo-democratic campaign movement in the middle east, that was widely seen as a water shed event which has irrevocably changed the region and global political landscape and led to the seismic shift in the social contract governing the relationship between arab ruling elites and their population. started from tunisia, egypt, libya, bahrain, oman, jordan, saudi arabia, 286 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com yemen and syria among others in 2011, the effect of the changes on state governance between the old sit-tight monarchism or dynastic elite rulers and the youthful arab-western educated and enlightened apologists, to which their sponsors were not openly known as compared to the western media who campaigned and discusses the fingered enemies. at the peak of the crisis particularly in libya, gadhafi was accused of firing at his people from the air. an allegation that robert gates and marshal mike mullen in 2011 could not substantiate. instead, the speculations were noted to have started from the western media (okechukwu, 2012). a contrasting and contradicting scenario that prompted kevin (2011), to argue that the western press, especially the bbc, cnn and the french media must be commended for helping to set libya ablaze with the kind of falsehood and information misgivings that they fed their war marshals in the air conditioned offices, who knew nothing and saw nothing happening in libya. on the other hand, the west, though, inspired by the peoples’ action, believes that since democratic change is synonymous to the rising of the masses against a tyrant, that arab spring, which came overnight displayed a considerable hope for the best to come in the region (pipes, 2015), without knowing the end product in the long run; whether a positive light or darkest dawn awaits the people as being experienced today. to further this notion, busari (2015), states in affirmative that it is evidence that democracy remains elusive and fragile even in the best of circumstances. the arab states not speared could be seen engulfed in a deadly struggle between the old elites and some version of islamic radicalist with sectarian irritant, making matters worse where the ruling elites are also an ethnic or religious minority against the course of the formers. although, agreeing that in the fourth year running that while the spirit of arab springs still hover over syria and yemen, that the darkest days experienced in the above mentioned states has pulled into the door of abyss with the entire levant on fire, making the expected change to snowballed into a new theatre of terrorism. hence, with the armed-twists of arab democracy, it is abundantly clear that arab democracy remains a very distant prospect. for we know that there can never be democracy without democrats and a modicum of law and order. against the absence of these few itemized issues, coupled with the gradual demise of al-qaeda and other militant groups, to which even some diehard al-qaeda loyalist were recruited and co-opt to fighting the arab elites in the days of arab spring as noted in the case of libya where muktar al-akhdar and others were used by the west against mamman gadhafi at benghazi (global security consultancy, 2011), the new fighters, new blood, new hopes for the arabs felt something is missing that might create gap against the future, 287 | p a g e middle east crisis: re-assertive nationalism or war okechukwu, groupson-paul uc.; agboola, olugbenga abiodun hence the need to challenge the west who cruz live with victory becomes a cogent issue. the paradox of change as projected by the arab spring initiators within its salient observation and articulation might have further inferred that probably the total acceptance of the ideals of pro-western neo-democracy might have caused the drift. the opposite of the self-imposed doom as anticipated might have led to the new struggle against the west and its allies and possibly the re-asserting of their nationalist values with the creation of total pan-arabism against the west and its second colonization of the region. this being the best thing that could happen and also pave way for western powers retreats. seemingly, the west might have nurtured and believed that the paradox of change from the sit-tight monarchs and despots to neo-democracy would have quickened the re-colonization of the people but opposite has been the case. the irritant youths’ activities have shown the existence of the opposite coupled with the nondisarming of the youths, which has become one of the undoing of the initiators of the change. today, the muscle of the guns had been turned against the suppliers, sponsors and motivators of the change mantra. the isis fighters, standing the accusation of desecration, distortion, destruction and imperialist discontent in the middle east has shown that the mantra was used to oust the hate regimes and enemies of the west. the only difference being that they spear nobody, not even man, woman and children to the course. middle east and the reassertive of nationalism nationalism, which is the love of a country that is not yet your own… a country that one feel is being occupied or oppressed by another national group, is however, not new to the people of middle east. this is because, according to choueiri (2000), karsh (2006), gocek (2002) and dawisha (2002), the middle east has experienced some waves of nationalism. the first being the 20th century nationalism, to which period nationalism serves as a driving force in the world affairs; because nationalism fuelled political conflicts around the globe from the middle east to the rest. their second experience, however, came at the end of world war ii. a period at which asian and african people demanded national self-determination leading to the rise of revolts against the european colonial masters. what drove these revolts against colonialism was the desire of the people to be ruled by member of their own national groups, rather than strangers of another race, religion or ethnicity. the third wave of nationalism experienced by the people of middle east was what hinnebusch (2003) identified as due to the collapse of the last major european empires of ussr, yugoslavia and satellite states, to which some states of middle east are directly or indirectly connected to. however, agreeing that nationalism asserts a claim to territory on behalf of 288 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com one national group that may be resisted by another group that believes it has an equal right to be there. a question being raised here is do the inhabitants of middle east believe they are one people? is what divided them not stronger than what brings them together? are they in any way, people of the same nationality? is the arabs a nation? can language and religion alone qualify them to project self as a nation or nationals of middle east? critically examining the above raised questions in line to the view of karsh (2002), that there is not and has never existed an arab nation. and that what occurs is the clever play to harness popular support to the quest for regional mastery by successive middle east dynasties, regimes and rulers alike. it is also obvious in this regard to argue that the goal of unifying all the arab states at present may not only be a failure due to one, the level of penetration of the west in the region is unquantifiable; two, it seems that the whole issues had been politically motivated toward attaining a goal without considering other disadvantages. following the fact that arab nationalism had continued to be a proposition, to which the proponents and the propounded ideas are diluted by parochial concerns… making arab nationalism to be in deep eclipse (karsh, 2002). on the other hand, according to dawisha (2002) and karsh (2006), if a nation is a group of people sharing such attributes as common descent, language, culture, tradition, common feelings, religion, common consciousness and history, then nationalism is the desire of such a group for self-determination in the specific territory that they consider to be their patrimony. but in the case of the people of middle east, the only common denominator is the language and the religion, whereas in all other things they are divided and different, thereby informing that their clave for nationalism might be standing on falsehood or otherwise. sincerely looking at it from the point of view of falsehood, the supporting contention of dawisha (2002) and gocek (2003), which states inter alia that in nationalism, history is often falsified and even fabricated to serve a nationalist political agenda might be the case of those trying to forge arab nationalism, which also explain its degree of weakness and wavering support of ideas. then the questions to ascertain and or agreeing that arab nations does not accept or recognized the divisions of whatever nature is in their midst, to which it has been subjected to becomes contentious, especially, when truly there was no strong arab nationalism in those three stages mentioned earlier above. against this prevailing contradictions, pipes (1987), further argued that since there is no arab nation yet that the people of middle east may have an intention to be one but that does not mean that it is already in existence; that the arabs might have the intent of integrating into a much larger entity comprising all the arab nations but it is 289 | p a g e middle east crisis: re-assertive nationalism or war okechukwu, groupson-paul uc.; agboola, olugbenga abiodun still a proposed hope; that they hope to building a state that will eventually comprise all arabic speaking nations never means that it has existed. querying the issues of intent and hope as displayed by the arab nations, can one say that it might be due to the lack of unity and the force to drive home their intentions in the international system that informed the current isis offensive in bringing into being the expected arab nationalism, because going by the word of raufitab (2015), one of the primary goals of the arabs and possibly arab nationalism is the end of western influence in the middle east, seen as a nemesis of arab strength and the removal of those arab government considered to be dependent upon western powers, to which the isis is presently tackling. the isis trying to reassert nationalistic agenda of the people might be the new drive for arab nationalism. this is because nationalistic movement have an in-built tendency towards extremism and xenophobia, self-righteousness on the one hand and demonizing the enemy on the other. and this is exactly what the isis seems to have stand for and equalling perpetuating since its emergence. to stand on this observation that the isis might have existed to re-assert arab nationalism following the crisis in the middle east since 2011, by contrast, had shown that the arab spring has also forced the western policy makers to pay more attention to arab secular politics instead of the usual writing off of secular political parties that might want to assert themselves. in the real sense the isis in trying to re-assert arab nationalism has provoked anger and frustration throughout the arab world owing to the manner of approach. the west on the other hand has acknowledged the rapid growth of arab nationalist feeling among the arab population, to which large segment of them saw the events as a valiant struggle against their imperialist outpost. the issue now is how can only sunni project whip-up sentiment to attract arab nationalism in a whole or could this struggle be said to have gone beyond arab nationalism that is religiously camouflaging as a joint effort in expelling the western imperialist and its allies from the middle east. the emergent of islamic states and the war in the middle east: a course or reassertive nationalism the war in middle east as occasioned by the emergence of islamic states of iraq sunni and al.sham (isis), though, a violent problematic course surpassing all other violent groups has also come to be the central rallying point of all other neo-militant groups opposed to both national and western powers influence in the region. this fast growing violent movement with its unprecedented strength had helped to raise questions of whether such actions are probably a course of war aimed at driving away the western exploiters, the occupants of middle east or a drive meant to re-assert 290 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com the middle east ideology of nationalism that had never been attained since the period of eastern questions? although, if the course had been a complete sunni – nationalism movement for the rallying of the sunni nationals alone then, the action could be termed a sunni agenda in the middle east but the movement being diluted with massive recruitment from the arab – tribe and ethnic groups tends to portend danger for the arab world and her relationship with outside world, particularly the west. according to adnan and reese (2015), the isis is an anti-government group; initially, a sunni insurgent group that existed after the fall of saddam hussein. the protest was against the decline and exclusion of the sunni nationality from the iraq government since 2009. but they became stronger and emerged after the fall of mosul in june 2014 against the u.s backed government to the militant opposition. complimenting this assertion, okereke (2015), revealed that the sunni, immediately after the demise of saddam hussein felt marginalized and dominated by the shia, shite and kurdish, thereby propping up the protest. the sunni militant and later the islamic states of iraq sunni and al sham was meant to carve out a separate caliphate. a course they can only achieve by camouflaging under religious canopy to aid universal arab acceptance. the essence not only to reassertive nationalism but to probably paint a bigger picture of how they hated the west and wants their culture, religion, consciousness, territories and values to be left alone to them by the west. meaning that the actions are both war against the west and the reintegration of arabnationalism falsehood ideology, claimed to haven being in existence all these years. the terrorist activities in this process, according to hilal (1997), depend on two major factors: money which provides the budget of death; and gun explosives, which supply the weapons for inflicting death, to which the fundamentalists’ threat are indeed real. their havoc of unquestionable activities and disturbance had robbed the people and world the needed peace. one of the stake in this ongoing battle in the middle east also is to nationalizing the business firms with direct challenging of the dominance of the western powers in the region. but what should also not be forgotten in hurry is that in the days of cold war, the west (us) had also encouraged a distorted arab – nationalism solely meant to checkmate and creating barrier to communism. hence, if the same people (the sunni) of the middle east should engender a protest, leading to the emergent of isis and others as seen today, a sunni project tainted toward sunni – arab nationalism meant to establish sunni hegemony, then, the west needs to have a rethink of when to delinking interests. this is because the activities of the islamic states of iraq sunni and al sham are 291 | p a g e middle east crisis: re-assertive nationalism or war okechukwu, groupson-paul uc.; agboola, olugbenga abiodun currently tormenting the middle east and its neighbor. agreeing that it is both a course and reassertive nationalism, even when there is no arab nation, the view of pipes (2015), that the level of isis global jihad has made every pious muslim a potential soldier of the caliphate suggests the admission of both a course and reassertive nationalism as real. this is informed by the fact that the isis, a more formidable, not for planning and directing but for simply talking and writing; more evolving and most threatened violent group in the world. however, on what makes the isis thick, succeeding and acceptable compared to other islamist fundamentalist groups – like the al qaeda, pipes (2015), notes that the isis does not plan and direct attacks but takes advantage of its high profile to incite muslims to turn against their non-muslim neighbours, bad arab leaders and allies of the imperialist. an instance that tallied with this is the paris and oklahoma city attacks among others. what is also worrisome about the dangerous activities of isis according to pipes (2015), atran (2015), okereke (2015) and busari (2015), is the offers of spiritual guidance, selection of targets and inspiration. pipes (2015), particularly adds that the isis model is very dangerous. it uses inspirational link. it is not in the business of logistic, command and control. and when it claims credit, it claims so for inspiration purpose, meaning that the activities and actions of the group goes with a nationalistic inspiration and possibly a terror attack to establishing its claims and objective. the obvious here is that the isis approach is more effective with a high political impact on the general society, which had also paved way for the group in libya, yemen, iraq and syria among others, in creating discontent, dissatisfaction, disillusioned and divided societies in the middle east. general implications the crises in the middle east have exposed some problematic issues in the relationship and co-existence of the arabs to themselves, their visitors and neighbours alike, and has also provoked some reasoning to suggest that both the west and the arab states’ leaders had not measured up in their responsibilities all these years, leading to the underlined hiccups that had crystalized into severe implications, especially on the impacts of the activities of the islamist states of iraq sunni and al sham (isis) current aggressions and terrorist attacks. the activities of the isis, whether in fighting to drive away the western powers from the middle east or in trying to re-assert nationalism or reintegrate the arabs may in many respect affects the entire region; since it is clear that her economy and policies are controlled from the outside by the western world. chasing them away is like shooting self on the waist to either turn crippled paralyzed and or remained invalid for life good only for charity recipient or otherwise. 292 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com the general implications of over militarization of the region may end up creating an unprecedented catastrophe to affecting the environment, political governance and huge social disequilibrium among others. the west allowing or adhering to the desires of the terrorist – aggressors might create untold hardship not only to the west and the arab but to the world. although, the issues raised by the aggressors like poverty, home grown democracy, unemployment, social decimation, economic dislocation and poverty of technology among others should be reconsidered while tackling the isis to submission. the agenda should equally include reorientation, rehabilitation and reintegration among others as absence of any may be more destructive than what is currently on. in addition, the west should look inward in re-examining the factors that make neo-democracy impracticable in the middle east without imposition against what is obtainable in the west to avoid untold hardship on the people. the basic factors that breed alienation, deprivation and alien to own course or environment as presently observed in the middle east should be revisited. conclusion the present events in the middle east, to which the activities of the isis terrorism had imposed is a great threat not only to the region but to the global society as opposed to the peaceful settlement of crisis in the international system. however, the categorization of the isis course in middle east as to whether a course of war against the enemy and or a ploy to re-asserting the incoherent and distorted pan-arab nationalism left much to be desired as most events are hinged on religion and faith. besides, the usage of religion and faith to whip-up sentiment and probably to promote religious radicalization and violence in islam, the adoption of nationalism as a symbol of struggle is contradicting. as both two factor are not the only ingredient propelling nationalism. the re-asserting of nationalism can only be possible when there is one nation-state with one ideal, one people and one desire and not as obtained today in the arab projections. this, simply saying that misinformation and misgivings might be the falsehood relied on to recruiting isis followers. meanwhile, exception should also be drawn that the death of saddam hussein and the marginalization of the sunni ethnic groups in iraq from the scheme of things should not be a pivot to rallying and destabilizing of the entire region, after all when the sunni held sway to power in iraq for years they never thought it wise to carve-out a separate caliphate for themselves and neither do other ethnic groups use spiritual inspiration to divide the region. the people and the state should not allow themselves to be used in destroying their own people, properties and wealth. although, it is true according to phillips (1995), that terrorism is a cancer that has 293 | p a g e middle east crisis: re-assertive nationalism or war okechukwu, groupson-paul uc.; agboola, olugbenga abiodun plagued the middle east but the course should be separated. as its acceptance is now metastasizing into new and more deadly course imposing a grave challenge to the western powers and the world. the isis and al qaeda among others who are now striking inside and outside their home region on high profile targets with indiscriminate killings among others should not be seen as a course of self-determination and neither do their human slaughters be seen as a propelling force of nationalism ideals. terrorism is an outrageous attack carried out either by individual, groups or states against the human being (almulkarramah, 2001). it is barbaric and destructive. it has no place in religious circle and can never be accepted as a course of faith. sequel to this, there should be a profound global discourse separating religion from islamic radicalism, terrorism and religious violence in whatever form, especially now that terrorism is a transnational problem, no longer contained within the borders – or the jurisdiction of a single state. another important issue is that the western government should do better than entrusting their national interests and foreign policy goals in the region to an incoherent sequence of statements spurred by emotional responses to evolving events that they have no control over and are hardly responsible for. instead, they should clearly define their national interest, especially in foreign land and balance them with a long term commitment that might be fair to all concerned. references adnan, s. and reese, a. (2013), beyond the islamic state: iraq’s sunni insurgency” in al arabiya and english, march 16th. alexander, y. 1976, international terrorism: national, regional and global perspective, new york: praeger al-mukarramah, m. 2001, terrorism – the islamic point of view. distributed at the ngo conference in durban. south africa, muslim world league. al-mukarramah, m. 2001, trends in modern international terrorism. armstrong, j. 1983, nation before nationalism. dayol hull: university of north carolina press atran, s. 2015, understanding international terrorism, root course of international terrorism (islamic terrorism) banks, m. 1996, in a.e. ekoko “confidence and security building measures and the management of african conflicts” in m. vogt et al. peacekeeping as a security strategy in africa. enugu fourth dimension pub. benji, r. 2012, the us is not conquering the whole middle east without reason “califonia tinne, 294 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com 23rd march, refined 15th october 2015. berdal, m. et al, 2000, greed and grievance: economic agendas in civil wars. u.s.a: lynne reinnier pub inc. boulding k.e. 1962, conflict and defense: a general theory. u.s.a. harper and row pub. brooke, b. and arney, r. 2009, terrorism and the press: an uneasy relationship. new york busari, o.r. 2015, ‘explain the internet of the west in the middle east politics’ in callebl international journal of studies. vol. 2, no. 5 choueiri, y. 2000, arab nationalism: a history, nation and state in the arab world. wiley – blackwell. coleman, j.s. 1965, nigeria: background to nationalism. u.s.a: university of california press. connor, w. 1994, ethnonationalism: the quest for understanding princeton: princeton university press. coser, l.a.1962, “conflict theory and current politics in continuities” in the study of social conflict. u.s.a.: the university of chicago press. coser, l.a. 1967, continuities in the study of social conflict. new york free press pub. dahl, r. 1999, “conflict approach and class analysis” in his modern political analysis ed. london: oxford university pub. dawisha, a. 2002, the rise and fall of arab nationalism: review of arab nationalism in the 20th century; from trumpth to despair. princeton: princeton university press. deutsch m.1990, “a theoretical perspective on conflict and conflict resolution” in dennis jd sandole et.al. confli ct management problem solving: interpersonal to international application. london: frances pinter pub. graham, e.f. 2003, “islamist politics in iraq after saddam hussein: special report” in united states institute of peace, 1200 17th street nw, washington dc . retrieved 12 october 2015. gellner, e. 1997, nationalism. london: weidenfield and nicholson. gellerner, e. 1994, encounters with nationalism. oxford: blackwell. gellner, e. 1983, nation and nationalism oxford: blackwell gocek, f.m. 2003, social construction of nationalism in the middle east. michanga university press gordon, t.e. 1900, knowless, the problem of the middle east a nineteeth centurymonthly review london lowe, marston and company. hilal, k. 1997, the new world order and the tempo of militant islam in british journal of middle eastern studies, 24(1) 5-24 295 | p a g e middle east crisis: re-assertive nationalism or war okechukwu, groupson-paul uc.; agboola, olugbenga abiodun hinnebusch, r. 2003, the international politics of middle east. manchester: manchester university press hoffman, b. 2006, inside terrorism. 2nd ed. new york: columba university press. hogarth, d.g. 1902, the near east. appletons world series. the regions of the world. new york: d. applethon and company karsh, e. 2006, islamic imperialism: a history. new haven yale university press. karsh, e. 2000, “why the middle east is so volatile”, in middle east quarterly dec. kevin, m. 2011, “split on libya averted as nato given military control”, in guardian co. uk/retrieved 18/11/2015. laqueiur, w. 1987, the age of terrorism. 2nd ed. boston: little and brown. llabera, j. r. 1999, recent theories of nationalism london: university college press. laue, j.h. 1990, “the emergence and institutionalization of third party roles in conflict” in dennis jd sandole et. al. conflict management and problem solving: interpersonal to international application. london: frances pinter. laue, j.h. 1981, “conflict intervention” in m.e olsen et. al, handbook of applied sociology. new york: praeger pub. magrus, r. 2006, the middle east, the us. naval postgraduate school paper presentation retrieved 18/11/2015 mahnken, t.g., maiolo, ja and nwagwu, ej, 2008, new states in world politics prospect and challenge. enugu: snap press ltd. malian, a. t. 1902, the persion gulf and international relations in the national review, u.s.a sept malian, a. t., 1902, retrospect and prospect: studies in international relations naval and political boston: little brown and company moore, j. 2002, the evolution of islamic terrorism u.s. dept of defence pub. nnoli, o. 1971, some implication of contemporary world politics for africa development. enugu: snaap press ltd. okechukwu, gp. 2012, oil politics and war in libya: arming of rebels and the new phase of neodemocracy evaluated” in journal of alternative perspectives in the social sciences, florida, usa. inc. okereke, nc. 2015, nationalism: the root of the middle east crisis. national defence college (interview), abuja, nigeria. november 26th oldenquist, a. 1997, “who are the rightful owners of the state” in pikohler and k. puhl (ed) proceeding of the international wittgenstain symposium vienna: holder pochler. templify 296 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com phillipe, j. 2003, the changing face of middle eastern terrorism. retrieved october 18th 2015 phillipe, j. 2002, terrorism and islamic radialism in middle east. retrieved october 15th 2015. pipes, d. 2015, america battle the arab-israeli conflict. spring. middle eastern quaterly retrieved 10 november 2015. pipes, d. 2015, isis attacks on the west. the washington times, may. retrieved october 19th, 2015. pipes, d. 1992, dealing with middle east conspiracy theories orbis: orbis central press pipes, d. 1987, arab vs arab over palestine commentary july, retrieved november 17th 2015. rapport, d. 1977, the government is up in the air over combating terrorism”. national journal 9, (1853-1856) retrieved sept 2015 raufitab, m. 2015, is it nationalism or quest for self-control in the middle east by the arab militants. retrieved november 10th 2015. schmid, a. and jongman, a. 1983, political terrorism: a new guide to actors, concepts, data base theories and literature armsterdam: north holland transaction books. scimecca, j.a 1990, “conflict resolution: the basis for social control or social change” in dennis jd sandoleet. al. conflict management and proble m solving: interpersonal to intern ational application. london: frances pinter pub. shlaim, a. 1996, the middle east: the origin of arab – israeli wars”, in nagare woods, ed. explaining international relations since 1943, oxford: oxford university press (retrieved) 16th october. sloan, s. 2006, terrorism: the present threat in context oxford: berg pub. smith, a. d. 1998, nationalism and modernization in a global era. wiley pub. smith, a.d. 1998, nationalism and modernism: a critical survey of recent theories of nation and nationalism. routledge stragner, r.1967, the dimensions of h uman conflict: the franklin mem orial lectures vol. xv canada: wayne state university press. stockton, d. 2011, rival imperialism takes sides in the syrian revolution. retrieved in november 2015. yuval-davis, n. 1997, gender and nation (politics and culture series) 1st (ed) sage pub. ltd ---------2011, ‘foreign terrorist organization in washington dc. us dept of state. retrieved in november 12th 2015 ----------1996, “pattern of global terrorism washington dc. dept of state. retrieved november 12th 2015. 49 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com audio-visual resources availability and use for library services in enugu state college of education (technical), enugu state, nigeria. chukwu, ebele georgina department of library and information science enugu state college of education technical, enugu state. ugwuanyi, sopuru stephenie department of library and information science. bashir abdlrasheed dauda nigerian air force institute of technology, faculty of social and management science, department of business administration abstract this study surveyed the audio-visual resources availability and their use for library services in enugu state college of education(technical), enugu state. a total of 50 respondents, comprising male and female librarians, lecturers and students, were selected from enugu state college of education (technical), enugu state, nigeria, using random sample technique. data were collected through face to face questionnaire. findings revealed that students had no access to av resources, no adequate time for training while respondents were of the opinion that avr has a significant effect on teaching and learning. findings also revealed that the major obstacle faced in enugu state college education technical, enugu state (escet), lack of subject specialist as well as few numbers of professional staff, monitoring, irregular supply of electricity and lack of adequate funding to purchase the audio visual materials, some recommendations are proper audio visual management should be practiced to guide the acquisition and selection, employ more skilled personals, improve electric power supply and provision of adequate fund by the government. keywords: audio, visual, multimedia, resources, library, teaching introduction the terms non-print, non-book and audiovisual materials /resources are used interchangeably in librarianship. in lines with this statement nathan (2010) stated that audiovisual materials are usually described as “non-print documents”, in the sense also been called “non-book” or “special formats” and sometimes require equipment to use. it is for this reason that audiovisual materials are sometimes classified into two groups – “projected materials” and nonprojected materials”. audiovisual materials include sound recordings, film and video, graphic materials, three dimensional objects, maps, and microforms etc. an ever-increasing amount of information – covering educational and recreational interests as well as information needs – is being produced in a wide range of audiovisual and electronic formats (cds & dvd). 50 | p a g e audio-visual resources availability and use for library services in enugu state college of education (technical), enugu state, nigeria. chukwu, ebele georgina; bashir abdlrasheed dauda access to these materials should be as open and as free as access to print-based materials. audiovisual media are part of our cultural heritage, carrying a huge amount of information that needs to be preserved for future use. the rich variety of media expressions in society should be reflected in the services offered to users by the libraries. (ekaette, 2004). swank (2011) defines a library as an institution that manages the intellectual products that individual can gain access readily. iyanda and salawu (2006), on the other hand, see library as a building, an instructional and self-development centre, which operates as an integral part of the entire school environment. popoola and haliso (2009) define library information resources as those information bearing materials. that is in both printed and electronic formats, such as textbooks, journals, indexes, abstracts, newspapers and magazines, reports, cd-rom databases, internet/email, video tapes/cassettes, diskettes magnetic disk, computers, micro forms e.t.c. these information materials are the raw materials that libraries acquire, catalogue, stock, and make available to their patrons, as well as use to provide various other services. the rich variety of media expressions in society should be reflected in the services offered to users by the libraries. students and teachers can also watch live streaming and recorded tv programs online by use of etv. users can access the library collection(s) during opening hours. librarians, as information providers, should be concerned with the provision of information in the formats most suited to the differing needs of various types of user, each of which must be clearly differentiated. a library exists to serve its community and consequently the needs of all members of that community must be accommodated, the old and the young, the able and the disabled, the gifted and the backward members of the society. in developing countries the provision of audiovisual materials and their associated equipment might be regarded as of greater importance than the printed word because the level of literacy is such that oral and visual expressions are essential for the purposes of communication. the need for still images, films and sound on the more traditional non-electronic audiovisual carriers still exists alongside the growing possibilities of the internet. the gains in audio-visual resources in the teaching/learning processes must be consolidated. the advent of computer assisted instruction (cai) and educational games has further emphasized the primary function of audio/visual resources, which is to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the teaching and learning process. education, according to adebiyi (2005), is "the process of 51 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com training and learning to improve knowledge and develop skills. every nation needs to develop its human and natural resources for the full benefit of its citizens. the value of audiovisual materials was perhaps clearly stated by the international federation of library associations and institutions (2003) cited in nathan (2010) asserted that: in no circumstances should audiovisual (av) materials be regarded as additional luxury materials but rather they should be considered as necessary components in a fully integrated library service. this cannot be attained without functional education, for the knowledge and skills require to do this would be realized through effective teaching, learning, and training backed up with sound information through audiovisual resources. educational research indicates that students remember only ten percent of what they read, twenty percent of what they hear, but then fifty percent of what they see and hear. nwaboku (2000) sees audio-visual resources as a means of making messages or topics clearer to the learner and improving the effectiveness of the learning process. however, a teacher’s success in getting the learners to a desired level hinges largely on his ability to communicate his intentions and the extent to which learners are more involved during the period and after the period of instruction. he also added that just as the teacher uses a number of devices to enhance the efficiency and expertise of his lectures in terms of producing the desired effects on the learners, so would learners in turn use a number of devices (such as ears and eyes) in order to successfully and maximally achieve the objectives of the teacher's messages. the library also provides facilities for students to watch video and dvds, listen to sound recording and view microfiches and microfilms. multimedia and computer based information have contributed to a great explosion of audiovisual materials in libraries. almost every library user or visitor is a potential user of audiovisual and multimedia materials as well as of print. libraries are in a hybrid situation, as they have to deal with all sorts of material, including print, audiovisual, electronic (including internet) and multimedia. these items are not only for the education, enjoyment, and entertainment of the tertiary institutions library but also serve as a place for students to do independent work, use computers, audiovisual resources; to host special events and book clubs; research, teaching and for learning. the importance of audio-visual resources in the educational process is quite evident (iyamu and aduwa, 2004). availability of audio-visual in libraries the audio-visual resources have their unique roles to play in teaching and 52 | p a g e audio-visual resources availability and use for library services in enugu state college of education (technical), enugu state, nigeria. chukwu, ebele georgina; bashir abdlrasheed dauda learning situation and so must be made readily available and accessible especially at the resource centers like library. chambers english dictionary defined the words `available' in this research work' to mean the state of being physically present, within easy reach of users. it also refers to information resources that are within the reach of users for their use, while accessibility refers to resources being effectively and independently reached and utilized. the distinction between these two terms availability and accessibility is that the former refers to the provision of the resources and the other the ability of access to get to them. instructional resources for the classroom are available in a variety of sources. in line with the provision of education services as outlined in the national policy on education, the federal and state government have established several educational audiovisual centres. they are responsible for the provision/ procurement and distribution of educational media to schools said (adewoyin, 2007). for example, the curriculum development centre, enugu produces maps and graphs for schools in its graphic arts section and builds learning aids and games from wood in its woodwork division. the centre also has a good number of overhead and sound projectors as well as a stock of sound films which are loaned generally to schools (idowu and mabawonku, 1999). fawole (2004) pointed out that many states and local government in the country have benefited from the national educational technology centre training programmes. the centre also produces educational (radio and television) programmes for schools and colleges. some of these programmes are for the environment of classroom lesson with the assistance of the teachers, while some are self-instructional in nature. some foreign bodies and organizations have also played important roles in the provision of educational resources in schools. the british council provided many of education services in the country. two of its contributions in the areas of education resources are in the provision of children's resources libraries and the free loan of hundreds of sound films on a variety of school subjects, the major users of these films are secondary schools. the united nations education scientific and cultural organization (unesco), the united state agency of international (usaid) united development programme (undp), among others, have immensely contributed in diverse ways in the provision of instructional resources in nigeria. while some have helped to set up micro teaching and language laboratories in some institutions of higher learning, others have helped some states to setup resources centers. statement of the problem the proliferation of audiovisual materials has presented another problem on academic performances of users in enugu state college of education technical. 53 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com audio visual materials are acquired to supplement printed materials already possess in academic library in order to have wide range of information for users. purpose of the study this study was designed to assess the availability and use of audio-visual resources in enugu state college of education technical (escet). in specific terms, the study examined, the availability of audio visual resources in enugu state college of education technical. ways by which these resources are made accessible to staff and students. the problems militating against the availability and use of these resources. and the possible ways by which the hindrances can be alleviated. significance of the study it is hoped that the findings of this study will go a long way to reveal the actual state of audio-visual resources in the enugu state college of education technical.. the result could serve as an eye opener to both the government and nongovernmental organization that can be involved in solving problems that may be identified militating against the effective and efficient utilization of the resources. furthermore, the educational technologists, libraries and resources centers would be sensitized to the need to engage in improvisation and production of these resources for the colleges they are situated. finally, it may indicate the scope for further studies in the area. research questions this research is guided by four research questions, which are based on the purpose of the study. they are as follows. what are the audio visual resources available in the colleges of education? in what ways are these resources made accessible to staff and students? what are the likely factors hindering the effective use of audio-visual resources in teacher education institutions sampled? what are the ways by which the hindrances can be alleviated? research design descriptive research design was used. the information gathered was used to find out the availability and use of audio visual resources in the institutions under study, the response to the questionnaire were rated as follows: strongly agree (s.a), agree (a) disagree (d) and strongly disagree (sd). population and sample techniques random sample technique was used. the total population for this study was 50 . this was made up of male and female college librarians, lecturers and students. 54 | p a g e audio-visual resources availability and use for library services in enugu state college of education (technical), enugu state, nigeria. chukwu, ebele georgina; bashir abdlrasheed dauda instrumentation for data collection the researcher made use of questionnaires to draw out facts on the audio-visual availability. method of data analysis simple frequencies and percentages were used. the results of each of the four research questions are also indicated. four major research questions (rq) were drawn: research question one (rq1) was for the college librarians. research questions two (rq2, rq3, rq4 ) were for the lecturers/teachers. discussion research question one: (rq1) the research question one contains ten general questions for the librarians (table 1) no content sa a sd d 1 audio – visual resources is adequate for teaching process in my school 8 2 3 2 2 the audio-visual resources are made accessible to both staff and students. 9 3 2 1 3 introduction of audio-visual resources has significantly affected the teaching and learning process 8 3 3 1 4 poor funding and negative attitude has greatly hinders the regular use of audio-visual resources in my school 11 3 1 0 5 i’m responsible for audio-visual sources acquisition in my school 2 7 4 2 6 organization of the av resources is effective enough for easy retrieval 6 4 2 3 7 the seating capacity of this unit is adequately enough for students 7 5 2 1 8 library staff participated in workshop, seminar on audio-visual resources regularly. 9 4 1 1 9 time allocation for training and usage of these resources is adequate 7 3 3 2 10 my library has a separate audio-visual resources unit 6 4 2 3 55 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com (table 2) research question 2 (rq2) responses of students to some questions, no content sa a sd d 1 some visual materials such as (video camera, chart, picture, photograph, video, tv) as always by my lectures. 6 4 3 2 2 some of my lectures usually use audio equipment such as radio tape recorder smart board, computers, cds to lecture. 7 3 2 3 3 graphic materials like models, sculpture, lettering aids, plastics triangle cutting tools are constantly used by lecturers. 7 3 2 3 4 majority of my lecturers make use of computer with internet facility when lecturing. 5 4 4 3 5 the following facilities graphic studio, laboratory, computer room, storage room, photographic dark rooms are available in my college 8 3 2 2 (table 3) research question 3 (rq3) factors hindering the effective use of audio-visual resources in teacher education institutions, no content sa a sd d 1 there is inadequate funding of audio-visual resources. 7 3 3 2 2 lack of monitoring bodies within and outside school to monitor the use of audio-visual resources. 8 4 2 1 3 most of the lecturers do not possess the required skill to use audio-visual resources. 9 2 3 1 4 educational planners give little attention to the used of audio-visual resources. 8 3 2 2 5 irregular supply of electricity to operate modern a-v resources. 9 3 1 1 56 | p a g e audio-visual resources availability and use for library services in enugu state college of education (technical), enugu state, nigeria. chukwu, ebele georgina; bashir abdlrasheed dauda (table 4) research question 4 (rq4) mean analysis on the ways by which the hindrances can be alleviated no content sa a sd d 1 adequate funding be made available through government, ngos and private individual. 9 4 1 1 2 the use of a-v be strictly monitored by monitoring bodies. 6 4 2 3 3 on the job training, seminars, workshop and conferences he organize and sponsored. 7 5 2 1 4 more attention be given to the use of a-v resources by the educational planners. 7 3 2 3 5 adequate and regular power supply be made available for constant use and preservation of these resources. 8 2 3 2 conclusion research question one (1) was a general question directed to the heads of resource center/ librarians. findings show that all the librarians were not given opportunity to acquire audio visual resources directly. research also showed that the college of education sample lack a-v seating capacity for students. this study indicated that the institutions had little time for training and usage of audio -visual resources. the librarian claimed to have a separate place for audio visual resources in their library. this may be due to better funding. research question two (rq2) is on the uses of a-v resources in schools. the questions were for the teachers. all the lectures from escet agreed that the use of a-v resources is necessary to enhance academic performance of students. research question three (rq3) is on perception of the use of a-v. resources do not have any significant relationship with teaching/learning process of learners. research question four (rq4) is on provision of a-v resources to be included in teacher education curriculum for teachers. research question five (rq is on hindrances to the use of avr in escet for the lectures. while the research findings also showed that education planners do not give enough attention to the use of av resources. irregular supply of electricity to operate modern av resources is a great hindrance in all the three institutions. research question six (rq4) revealed that audio visual resources were not adequately used in escet recommendations and conclusion. the usefulness of media depends on what the library provides and on the part of the teachers, what he makes out of them (nwalo, 2000). this demands that the audiovisual librarian 57 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com and the teacher must have the basic knowledge and skill necessary to make the fullest use of the materials. the provision of the right type of the media and the intelligent handling of them during the lesson is essential before they can contribute meaningfully to teaching and the learning process. librarians should be aware of the potential of audiovisual and multimedia formats as resource materials and include them in their collections because they contain textbooks, journals, indexes, abstracts, newspapers and magazines, reports, cd-rom databases, internet/e-mail, video tapes/cassettes, diskettes magnetic disk, computers, micro forms e.t.c. audiovisual or nonprint materials play a vital role in the preservation of cultural heritage, but they are very often neglected. librarians or information providers should be concerned with the provision of information in the formats most suited to the differing needs of various types of user, each of which must be clearly differentiated. therefore, the study discussed issues on the uses and availability of audiovisual resources but some students are still lack behind and some management of institutions are not helping matter when it comes to creation of audiovisual unit or section. in lines with the findings the following recommendations were made to both institutions and others in nigeria. 1. the management of enugu state college of education technical, enugu state (escet), should try to put the audiovisual unit in good shape quickly for students benefit. 2. escet management should try to makes space for audiovisual section in the main library. so that every student will makes use of audiovisual resources effectively. 3. students should be trained and retrained for how to use audiovisual resources for academic purposes 4. employment of more skilled personals for effective and efficient management 5. proper audio visual management should be practiced to guide the acquisition and selection. 6. improve electric power supply 7 provision of adequate fund by the government. reference adebiyi s.o (2005). library and information services for educational development in nigeria in reflection on the nigeria education system: a college provost’s perspective, abeokuta. p.40. adewoyin j.a (2007). relative effectiveness of programmed instruction zone indeed tapped presentation on student burning outcome in senior secondary history. a phd thesis of philosophy in educational 58 | p a g e audio-visual resources availability and use for library services in enugu state college of education (technical), enugu state, nigeria. chukwu, ebele georgina; bashir abdlrasheed dauda technology of the university of lagos state. p.6. alokun t.n.a (2004). the use of library: a textbook for students kin tertiary institution, nudex international. pp.6974. fawole m.o (2004). an assessment of the needs of educational resources centre in nigeria. a phd thesis in the department of curriculum studies and educational technology, faculty of education, university of ilorin, ilorin kwara state, nigeria. idowu a.o, (2016). information technology facilities iyamu o.s (2004). assessment of the use of educational technology social studies teachers in secondary schools in western nigeria. p.5. iyanda d.f (2006). library education for higher institutions nwaboku n.c (2000). preparation, utilisation and integration of educational media in the curriculum, published by the national open university of nigeria (noun) nwalo k.n (2000). collaboration in the provision and utilization of it facilities for library and information science education in nigeria. in: information technology in library and information science education in nigeria. pp.32-41. okolie v (2009). strengthening information provision in nigerian university libraries through information technologies the electronic library. 23(3):311-318. swank r.c (2011). the educational function of university library. the national commission for colleges of education (ncce) (1989). established by decree (now act) 13 of 17th january, 1989 (amended act 12 of 1993). http://www.ideals.illinois.edu/bi testream/handle/2142/5455/libra rytren. http://www.ideals.illinois.edu/bitestream/handle/2142/5455/librarytren http://www.ideals.illinois.edu/bitestream/handle/2142/5455/librarytren http://www.ideals.illinois.edu/bitestream/handle/2142/5455/librarytren 63 | p a g e counting the losses: the economic, political and sociocultural impact of salw proliferation, who gains with disarmament by okechukwu, groupson paul groupsonpaul@yahoo.com department of political science alex ekweme federal university ndufu alike ikwo (funai), abakaliki – ebonyi state, nigeria introduction most present-day conflicts are fought mainly with small arms. they are broadly used in inter-state conflict and they are the weapons of choice in civil wars and for terrorism, organized crime and gang warfare. small arms are cheap, light, and easy to handle, transport and conceal. a build-up of small arms alone does not create conflict, but their excessive accumulation and wide availability often aggravate tension, often leading to more lethal and longer lasting violence. this paper therefore, focuses on the impact of illicit proliferation of salw on the economic, political and socio-cultural life of the people of nigeria without losing sight of societal losses and gains of disarmament. attempt is made to answer the following questions:  what are the impacts of salw proliferation on national development?  what are the societal loses that have accrued from salw proliferation?  how has the joy of a society that experienced disarmament be in a peaceful atmosphere? conceptualization of terms salw proliferation: small arms and light weapon proliferation is the increase in number of illicit items. according to un (1995) and ecowas convention (1998) are light machine guns, assault rifles, revolvers, self-loading pistols, grenade launchers, submachine guns, exploding bomb, an incendiary bomb or gas bomb, rocket launcher, a missile, a missile system and landmine; carbines and light machine guns. the light weapons, on the other hand are: heavy machine guns; portable grenade launchers, mobile or mounted; portable anti-aircraft cannons; portable anti-tank cannons, non-recoil guns; portable anti-tank missile launchers or rocket launcher; portable anti-aircraft missile launcher; mortars with a caliber of less than 100mm among others. these weapons are responsible for the majority of battle related conflicts and deaths. mailto:groupsonpaul@yahoo.com 64 | p a g e economic, political, socio-cultural impacts: economic, political and socio-cultural impacts relates to the effect of salw proliferation on the lives of the people when expressed in terms of their economy, politics, including their general way of life. salw disarmament: this is the act of reducing the size of small arms/light weapons among ethnic combatants. impacts on national development and disarmament development involves progression, movement, and advancement towards something better. it is improvement on the material and non-material aspects of life. it involves action, reaction, and motion. a developing community is thus a community in motion, a people in search of self-improvement and a group concerned with and committed to, its advancement through its own effort. emphatically, development is all about people living a happier life. any meaningful development must cut across sections of the people’s economic, political and sociocultural aspects of their national life in a positive dimension. in the light of the above explanation, small arms and light weapon proliferation in nigeria has greatly impacted on national development, which in effect affects the people and society at large. 1.3 million children have been forced to flee their homes from conflict in north east nigeria. hundreds are facing starvation every day. many are struggling in temporary camps where disease and hunger are rife. conflict in north east nigeria has led to the active targeting of education. millions of children are now deprived of the chance to go to school. in borno state, 3 in 5 schools are closed and over 19,000 teachers have been displaced from their classrooms. there is drastic reduction in food production as a result of insecurity occasioned by constant clashes between fulani herdsmen and farmers. farming activities have come under threat in the middle belt and southern regions owing to the menace of fulani herdsmen who have terrorized communities in recent times. the violence has reduced the movement of cattle and foodstuff to markets in the southern part of the country, as the hausa/ fulani traders are wary of traveling down to the region for fear of reprisal attacks. many farmers in the south had abandoned their farmlands for security reasons, traders from the north have cut down on the quantity of cattle, rice, beans and vegetables they move down to the south for sale. 65 | p a g e the point been made is that salw proliferation is grossly under-developing nigeria in so far as it negatively affect the indices/indicators of development. disarmament is the effort made to make society to be free of illicit arms, which in turn drive away fear, suppression, intimidation and violence in any given society. an armed free society enjoy social civility and encourage development. it also advance technology and enhance the economy of the state. the level of opening up in turn empower many youths and the jobless who craves to engage in meaningful ventures and exists in society driven by development. the people, general society and mostly the future generation gains in the advancement of the state. peace and tranquillity cultured in the atmosphere of development and progressions become the general gain of all. societal losses and implications the proliferation and use of salw in ethno-religious clashes and armed robbery have killed more than 10,000 nigerians, an average of 1000 people per year since 1999. the majority of casualties about 66% in kano riot of 2004 were salw victims sustaining permanent disabilities. injuries due to salw have increased as much as ten-fold in urban nigeria because most homicides are committed using salw (john, mohammed, pinto and nkanta, 2007; nte, 2011). arms build-up has fuelled violence in different parts of nigeria – especially communal clashes and ethno-religious conflicts. between 1999 and april 2010, nigeria recorded at least 187 ethnoreligious conflicts, leading to the death of several thousands of people. these weapons helped to prolong conflicts, induced huge internal population displacement, undermined social peace and devastated the economic livelihoods of individuals and communities. as a result of recurrent violent conflicts, nigeria is faced with the herculean task of responding to a fluctuating but always sizeable number of internally displaced persons (idps). between 2000 and 2002, for instance, an estimated 1,713,306 persons were displaced by ethno-religious conflicts and, by june 2013, some 1.6 million nigerians are estimated to have been internally displaced. the january 2010 crisis in jos displaced over 40,000 persons. situations of internal displacement undermine human security at individual and community levels. idps are usually vulnerable to violent crimes like robbery and rape, and are prone to contracting contagious diseases, due to poor sanitary conditions at the (re)settlement centres. the impact of nigeria’s salws problem on human security is also evident in financial losses induced by conflicts. about 10 major ethno-religious conflicts between 1999 and 2004 cost the nigerian government over 400 million naira (us$2.86 million). besides, the amount of money that governments spend on security during such crises and their 66 | p a g e aftermath are huge. in the aftermath of the jos crisis in early 2010, the federal government assisted the bauchi state government with ₦135 million (us$900 000) to help resettle or integrate about 30,000 idps from neighbouring plateau state seeking refuge in bauchi state. since boko haram emerged from the shadows about four years ago, once armed militarily, one of the first obvious economic concerns was the almost immediate drop in foreign direct investment (fdi), with the concern being whether the government had the wherewithal to deal with the serious insurrection and stave off the many decades of political instability the country has faced. according to the world investment report (wir) 2013, fdi flows into nigeria dropped by 21% in just one year from $8.9 billion in 2011 to $7 billion in 2012. the loss of $1.9 billion for a country in desperate need of money such as nigeria is a staggering blow. beyond the cost to government, individuals lose property and family members. the loss of property compounds the problem of poverty and deprivation of the affected population. through the death of family members, arms induced conflicts lead to a deep fracturing of kinship and family structures – many children have been left without parents, husbands without wives, and vice versa. when a family unit is dismantled, children suffer and their future wellbeing is often bleak, as they are denied good parental care. many end up as social miscreants who contribute to violent crimes. the worrisome situation is that these loses has exacerbated. conclusion and recommendations for instance if the youths of akwa ibom, cross river, niger delta and south east among others consciously or unconsciously indulge in small arms acquisition that might have encouraged them to engage in violence and or conflict, the tendency that many might die premature, maimed and or become disable for life becomes the obvious. at the end such arm carried had not only help in aiding underdevelopment of the people, the community and society as a whole but had terribly thrown up and created several problem to the society. it suffix this study also to make the following recommendations: • the nigerian government should encapsulates, strengthen institutions and processes of governance to enhance social provisioning for its citizens, who are becoming increasingly frustrated over governance failure, thereby resorting to violent crimes that increase demand for salw and it must also extends to an aggressive job creation programme for nigeria’s teeming and idle youths who are as a result become hopeless. • the national orientation agency should partner with credible civil society organizations (csos) and the media to mount enlightenment and orientation programmes on the practice of security situation awareness or security 67 | p a g e consciousness critical to crime prevention. this will enable people to appreciate the importance of monitoring developments around them and to report unwholesome activities (arms trafficking) to security agencies. • robust funding and provision of equipment for security agencies, including security posts at the nation’s entry points: land, sea and airports. • conduct of regular and comprehensive verification exercises to ensure that government arms are not being stolen. • nigerian government should continue with the amnesty programme instituted by the government of late president shehu musa y’aradua at the niger delta. references john, i. a. mohammed, a. z; pinto, a. d and nkanta, c. a. (2007). gun violence in nigeria: a focus on ethno religious conflict in kano, journal of public health policy 28, 420-431 2014, “an appraisal of terrorism, armed violence and salw in west africa and the implementation of sub-regional instrument (ecowas convention)” in the national stakeholders consultative forum on illicit small arms an light weapons (salw) proliferations in nigeria, 2nd-4th june. abuja. 2014, “un international arms control” in unrec. mandate a/res/40/151/gunoda. www.smallarmsstandards.org, www.un.org/disarmam ent/unsafeguard http://www.smallarmsstandards.org/ http://www.un.org/disarmament/unsafeguard http://www.un.org/disarmament/unsafeguard 59 | p a g e a rentier state and the predatory elite: the dilemma of nigerians dr. okechukwu egwu ibiam; anthony itumo a rentier state and the predatory elite: the dilemma of nigerians dr. okechukwu egwu ibiam department of political science federal university ndufu-alike ikwo, nigeria e-mail: okevibiamegwu@gmaii.com anthony itumo, ph.d department of political science ebonyi state university, abakaliki e-mail: tonvitumo15@gmaii.com abstract the conspiracy between the hegemonic predatory elite and the rentier state among most less developed societies such as nigeria has in recent times constituted a source of dilemma and concern to the oppressed citizens. the above scenario arises in the face of the endless rapacious expropriation of the wealth of these nations by their elite among whom the nigerian case has taken the front burner in various development discourse. in nigeria the predatory elite is alleged to have colonized the state and the governing apparatuses for vested interests through their opportune access to the wealth of the land. as much as liberal scholars of modernization theory may wish to eulogize the sparsely identified decaying concrete jungles of ill-conceived landmarks of development in the land of nigeria, the evidence of poverty, decaying infrastructure, insecurity, mass unemployment and other vices that ravage the people in the midst of plenty exists among the citizens to buttress the contentions against the state which have culminated into its being called to question. this report is therefore part of the ever increasing efforts at an exposition of some of the horrendous conditions of life among the people. this study therefore sought to establish facts that justified the vexing issues being orchestrated by the nigerian state's descent to a puppet status in the hands of the predatory elite who; having entrapped it have continued to employ various mechanism of wealth expropriation to impoverish the people. based on the paradigm of class analyses it was established that the convivial relationship between the predatory elite and the nigerian state is sustained in consort with state bureaucrats, technocrats and political office holders through a mechanism that facilitates the exploitation of the masses in the interest of the elite. this process having persisted for ages in nigeria and having elevated corruption to a state craft was synthesized in this study and established as unacceptable conditions of life to nigerians that deserved lasting panacea. accordingly, some recommendations were made the areas of ideological revolution by nigerians based on a paradigm shift to egalitarianism as alternative development roadmaps for the general good of all nigerians. keywords: rentier state, predatory elite, poverty, development, good governance. mailto:okevibiamegwu@gmaii.com mailto:tonvitumo15@gmaii.com 60 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com introduction the contemporary nigerian state has been adjudged by critical analysts and the citizens of our society as a failed state in terms of the development of the nation. as a key player in the political and socio-economic determination of the dynamics that influence the trajectory of development in nigeria, this state has continued to create avenues for it to be called to question. the ensuring scenario which has the potential of causing citizens to engage in social disobedience and other acts that constitute threats to the nation's sovereignty arises from the state’s unbridled alliance with the dominant elite for the latter's interest. the relationship between the state and these elite has been adjudged as providing enabling environment for the elite's exploitation of the wealth of nigerians. in view of this, a contradiction of this state's status as a neutral arbiter which superintends without bias; between all men as they relate in society is assumed to have occurred. ..... as a territorial society divided into the government and the (governed] subjects; the government being a body of persons within this state who apply the legal imperatives upon which the state rests and differently from "any person" within the territorial society, it is entitled to use coercion to see these imperatives are obeyed (laski 1989). this is the state of the people as it were which the nigerian founding fathers envisaged while contending for power of self-rule with the british colonizers. having been translated into a sovereign and independent state from 1960, this state as it exists today has lost its legitimacy among the citizens. this state as it exists and operates in contemporary nigeria has continually skewed in its duties in favour of the dominant exploiter class whose elitist interests run ultra-varies to those of the masses. from the decaying infrastructure to the increasing insecurity, unemployment, poor health facilities as well as near total absence of welfare for citizens and rising income inequality, the endless list of what the state has failed to do in nigeria have necessitated some critique. if the nigerian state in its true and original form is "that regime or system of regulations and laws which form the basis for supreme authority that orders for all and receives orders from none', (weber 1947) then nigerians deserves to ask for a revisit of the meaning and duties of their state. this is a necessary agenda in view of this present status in which the nigerian state has become a rentier state and an instrument for class domination. it is therefore seen as rentier state because of its alliance with the predatory elite who have subordinated it to their whims and caprice in defense of private property (engels, 1977). a historico-materialist and dialectical view of the relationship between the nigerian state and the citizens reveals a 61 | p a g e a rentier state and the predatory elite: the dilemma of nigerians dr. okechukwu egwu ibiam; anthony itumo contradiction of the liberal school’s contention that this state is "a neutral arbeiter (weber 1947) in the affairs of men. such a contradiction is evidenced when the material base of its origin and nature is revealed from british colonial experiences to the character of the crude-capitalist elite that dominates this state (belov, 1986). the argument here is that since the nigerian state is a child of circumstance mid-wived by the british capitalist from colonialism to contemporary disposition which remains in favour of the predatory elite in our society causes it to be called to question. the nigerian state can therefore be rightly referred to as a tool in the hands of a specific few, who in this case are the few nigerians with access to state powers and the means of socioeconomic reproduction, distribution and allocation of resources. this is a colonial legacy bequeathed the nigerian people under which a few opportune citizens dominate and use the state to pursue vested interests. having become conditioned as rent collection machinery, the nigeria state has reneged in its mediatory and arbitration duties between the citizens. indeed, this state has become an agent for the collection of petro dollar rents in nigeria with which it feeds the ever increasing appetite of the rapacious elite to the detriment of the masses. having labored and suffered for decades under this state to the benefit of this exploiter elitist class, the nigerian masses have come out variously to demand for a revisit of the nature and functions of their state. the increasing antagonism by nigerians towards their state as it exists has in recent times taken a turn for the worse with individuals and groups rising in various forms to express their feelings through such actions that include civil disorder or disobedience, repeated worker's labour unrest and strike as well as ethnic restiveness, acts of tenor and other forms of fifth columnist activities. this constitutes a source of concern that necessitates this paper presentation. the elite and the state the elite are specific citizens who have access to the institutions of society with which they determine and control the affairs of that society. mosca (1939) is of the view that in every society, which has attained the dawning of civilization; irrespective of their level of development; there is the evident existence of division of the citizens into two strata of the rulers and the ruled. mosca's views which agree with those of pareto (18481923) ortega (18831955) and mitchels (1876-1936) is that every society (in particular, the crude capitalist ones) is ruled by a minority that possesses the qualities that facilitate their ascension to socio-economic and political power. it is this position they occupy that provides the commanding heights for them to control society's institutions such as the state. the state on its part is seen as a creature of the basis and most decisive element of the superstructure of society. igwe (2005) furthers here that such a state is a culmination of men's struggles in settled life and it is an embodiment of 62 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com the expression of the common interests of the dominant class within the system and the derivation ruling class within the government (charlseworth ed (1967). in many african societies there is evident difficulty in the attempts at separating the elite and the state. it is always common to have the state existing at the be est of the ruling elite thus leading to the existence of a state of the elite which operates to satisfy specific interests which most often remains farfetched from the interest of the masses. thus we see states of societies in africa existing under definite system of either a dictatorship or selective democracy subject to the specific interests of the dominant elite. conceptually, lenin (1983:93-9) sees the renter state as that which does not engage in concrete activities of governance and provision of socioeconomic facilities that give meaning to the life of the citizen. it is a state that depends on rents and royalties accruing from minerals extracted in the society by externally controlled sources such as multinational corporations (mncs). the rentier state is in these instances in a weak position in its relationship with the owners of the means of production, with respect to the determination of the trajectory of policies governing activities of their benefactor foreign corporations. the dilemma of this state lies in its lack of political and economic command and control over the activities of the rent payers, thus disposing it to manipulations by such externally oriented tenants. the implications of these situation in which the nigerian state finds itself is that rent collection processes subjects it to the control of agents of the multinational corporation (macs) for no other reason than profit maximization. accruable rents to the state are often shortchanged, diverted or out rightly denied the state through various unwholesome practices by state officials in collusion with profiteers and the elite. faced with this ordeal, the state becomes a lame state whose functions and responsibilities to the society are never effective. this being the order in nigeria has extended to the most horrifying phase in which this weak spineless state is completely taken over and operated by agents, cronies and even the elite for purposes of unfettered rapacious expropriation of needed resources. a theoretical underpinning the need for a theoretical base in understanding the state and the elite crisis in this paper is for the purpose of establishing the specific ideology guiding us. fundamentally this paper takes on the theory of class analysis a guide based on a deliberate effort that had considered the efficacy of other contending views which can be applied by other interested analyst on the same subject. the class theory is part of the marxist political philosophy that sees the "class" as a socio-economic and political category in relation to its relationship to the means of production, distribution and exchange of material goods, 63 | p a g e a rentier state and the predatory elite: the dilemma of nigerians dr. okechukwu egwu ibiam; anthony itumo whether as the owner, controller or beneficiary or as the exploited. based on an objective identification of the characteristics of subjects of analyses in this paper, it becomes historically relevant for an appreciation of the consciousness of the elite class in its position in the scheme of things (igwe, 2005). here the class theory becomes a handy guide for us to understand that beyond the classes primitive communalist mode of socio-economic reproduction under which socioeconomic life was basically that of cooperation, communalist welfare devoid of any form of competition, antagonism and wealth accumulation for vested interests, classes have existed among men. the contradiction of the primitive communalist mode having occurred to pave way for the slave and other stages of feudalism and capitalism, division of society along the strata of the strong and the weak, the haves and have nots; have weighed in to ossify class characterization of men. notwithstanding these class divisions a few humane societies have managed to exist in recent times by striking some form of balance that causes each class to accommodate the other. pursuant of a semblance of some form of egalitarian, some of such societies have had their states being strengthened to take on a relative role of the mediator between classes. such mediation though not absolute and neutral beyond some form of dominant class interventions, has continued to reposition a few modern metropolitan states for a relatively definite persuasive role of providing for all classes in the society. this level of development is unfortunately yet to be envisaged by the backward societies such as nigeria, what with the ever increasing rapacious appetite of the prebendalist elite remaining ever voracious. the nigerian dilemma the nigerian state remains a dilemma to the citizens in terms of its clear interpretation along either a core capitalist or socialist economy. this situation creates contentions among analyst in their efforts at a presentation of this state as a midway state despite the much bandied about mixed economy status which the ruling elite concocted to facilitate their double standard roles during the cold war era. the nigerian state is therefore a dilemma to the people as it has deviated from its duties to them which is that of satisfying the interests of a specific set of citizens. ake (2007: 105) does not mince words when he argues that: ... the states in africa are specific modalities of class domination. being generic phenomenon in capitalist and socialist formations, the unique feature of the socioeconomic formations in post colonials africa is that their states, igwe can properly talk of such existence at all, have very limited autonomy. the state in africa is only a particular modality of class domination. in the social formations of africa 64 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com that are supposedly capitalist, we find a rudimentary auionomization of class domination. in the african social formations that are purportedly socialist we find a limited possibility of class domination being mediated and autonomized effectively by commodity production and exchange. as far as the state and social forces are concerned, we can argue that much of postcolonial africa remains essentially "enclave" capitalism marked by class domination. much contradiction does exist between the liberal schools’ notions of the state and the reality of its roles in the affairs of men in nigeria. this becomes clearer when we draw inferences between cicero's (106-34bc) allusion that the state belongs to the people because the people are an association of a good number of persons based on justice and partnership to source common good; and akes (1996) contention that the state is organized in the midst of class conflict by the economically dominant class which therefore becomes also the politically most powerful class. in nigeria, the neo-colonial state's contradiction of its liberalist's assumed neutrality in the affairs of men is made clearer because of its origin in the exploiter capitalist colonial state. as a product of european traders' capitalist exploits beyond their boarders, the colonial state was imposed on the nationalities of the areas amalgamated in 1914 for the purpose of using it to superintend the expropriation processes among the colonized (crawder 1968). the role of the colonial state being the subordination of all the nationalities through all forces necessary was actuated and strengthened most effectively through the principles of divide and rule (okibe 2000). imbued with its colonial master's attributes of class characterization for resources expropriation in the interest of a specific class at independence, the post-colonial nigerian state has continued to sustain the same art of subterfuge among its people. since the leopard cannot easily change its colour, we can argue that the post-colonial nigerian state has since the 1960 flag independence jamboree; been stealthily entrapped into the intricate web of intrigues for resource appropriation ossified by the predatory elite within and outside the shores of nigeria. by living up to its calling the state in nigeria has grown into an octopusian rentier organism which is a development dilemma to the citizens under which those in control of state political structures depend on selective incentives such as patronage, cliental ism (god fatherism) graft, gratifications, percentage cuts, kickbacks, contract inflation under over writing and write offs as well as other acts that facilitate prebendalism etc to keep his seat of power (gaddes 1994). these acts having elevated corruption into a state craft debilitates development in nigeria as it ossifies problems such as lack of essential infrastructure and social 65 | p a g e a rentier state and the predatory elite: the dilemma of nigerians dr. okechukwu egwu ibiam; anthony itumo services, which in turn compounds poverty which all causes citizen resentment and agitations for change. the predatory elite being a group though not cohesively held together exists as a cabal in the nigerian context with a common interest which is access to state corridors of power, from where they operate and exploit nigeria's resources. they include but are not limited to the past and present personalities occupying commanding height in the hierarchy of political and socio-economic conditioning of nigeria. the nigerian elite in this context include personalities that range from the immediate postindependence rulers to the military dictatorial rulers as well as the selfappointed democrats and those whose costumes change from regimented attires to flamboyant african traditional agbada, caftan, suits and their errand boy. the list continues to lengthen to include the pockets of bureaucrats, religious zealots, traditional rulers, ethnocentrists, captains of industries and all involved and are benefiting from the orchestration of exploitation and expropriation of the wealth of the land called nigeria. these are persons committed to perfecting the art of wealth expropriation for personal, family and class interests. they operate without formally coming together; as easily identifiable bodies, in a manner that causes easy crude -capitalist wealth and resources accumulation for vested interests. they are persons involved directly or indirectly in holding down or conditioning the poor for the endless transfusion of their blood to sustain the lifeline of the dominant class through the apparatus of the state. these are acts that justify calling the nigerian state a rent collecting agent. as much as there are ranges of states which can be defined in terms of the way they affect development among its citizens, the nigerian state is a peculiar one. this is a state that facilitates and has even become involved in the extraction of large amount of otherwise investable surplus from the citizen's wealth and provided so little in the way of collective good (evans 1987). it seems reasonable to call the state that collaborates with the predatory elite to collect and misappropriate citizens' wealth a rentier state. this is so because it is a state that has its incumbents distributing resources to themselves, families, supporters and cronies without recourse to the demands of civility, due process and rule of law. this state is a rent collection agent because incumbents use their role and policymaking authorities to facilitate "rent" collection and royalties from multinational corporations engaged in resources extraction and transfer to the metropolis. this state is a rentier state because of its lack of legitimacy among the citizenry and sovereignty among decent committee of nations, occasioned by its vulnerability to a self-seeking elite who use it for wanton wealth accumulation. this state is so compromised in its relation with forces that control it leading some scholars to 66 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com hypothesize that "competition by the elite for entry to government for ruler ship is, in part, a competition for rent collection agency payoffs and settlement (krueger 1974). the rentier state in nigeria being one of the weakest and dependent third world societies is not a neutral arbeiter as western liberal scholarship such as hegel may want us to belief. on the contrary, commentaries by neo-marxist scholars hold that state policies of the rent collecting state are reflections of vested interests in society which in part causes a nostalgic recall of the efficacy of the opus magnum of karl maix. on the biases that likel'f characterize exploiter state policies (colander 1984) the political office holders in rentier states have in most cases willingly or otherwise been held hostage by their political mentors, masters or god fathers, because of earlier arrangement that programmed and propelled such political office holders into power. przeworski et al (2000: 189) argue that; faced with the prospects of losing power, those (african rulers) who make political decisions (for the state) may engage ill pillage rather than pursue development policies that would enhance the welfare of their constituencies so as to enhance their chances of surviving in power. goldman (2007) in a study of african state's misrule among their citizens revealed that nigeria was rated by transparency international in year 2002 as second to last among nations characterized by official government acts of corruption, is an example of a rent collecting state that sustains corruption at the behest of a cabal. he furthered that between 1986 and 1999 when the military junta held sway in their reign of terror under the various junta, the nigerian people were held hostage by gun-toting military desperadoes whose primary objectives were that of feeding fat on the oil revenue flowing through the land. an illustration of the helplessness of the rentier state of nigeria in the hands of predator elite was the case of late general sani abacha whose reign of terror between 1994 and 1998 opportune him to amass wealth that made him, his family and cronies richer than some nations of africa. this was a pathetic case that degenerated the status of the state in nigeria beyond imaginations under the iron vice of late general abacha who collaborated with the predatory elite to elevate corruption ineptitude, misrule, and other antipeople developmental practices to the highest level. masland and bartholet (2002) argued that within the period of this specific regime of general sani abacha, poverty became wide spread as revealed by a world bank survey which showed that abacha "managed to steal $4bilion in less than five years as head of state. this wealth was amassed in collusion with his predatory elitist cronies through 67 | p a g e a rentier state and the predatory elite: the dilemma of nigerians dr. okechukwu egwu ibiam; anthony itumo fictitious contracts, taking huge bribes and creaming off directly from the national treasury using corrupt bureaucrats, central bank officials and foreign operators of the multinational oil corporations in nigeria. beyond the military dictators that turned the nigerian state into a renteir agent are the present day's political contractors roaming the land pretending to be consolidating on nonexistent democratic principles and dividends. since 1999 when the "uniform wearing" and trigger happy" military elite decided to change garments by designing a constitution with so much lacuna, this rentier state has never been better. the nigerian state under the present civilian (democratic) rule has continued to play its role of propagating state policies that facilitates the transformation of public utilities, corporations and other economically viable sectors into conduits for pillage, outright theft and other vices that negate the true virtues of democracy and good governance. olson (1993) posits here that "the axiom that leaders with orientation towards satisfying their momentary become more predatory and lose interested in issues of larger social welfare". this momentary interest in itself is predicated on the fact of age old fear, uncertainty and general socio-economic insecurity that pervades african and indeed developing societies. faced with various forms of insecurity arising from an ever decreasing marketability of nigerian economy to external investors and such other issues as militancy, terrorism, and the risks associated with a mono cultural economic base, the political office holder sees the state structure as a means to an end. his pr-occupation with issues of his entry and exit from the seat of state power becomes defined as a momentary opportunity to secure a future for himself, family, cronies and benefactors. to this end, the state serves s access and channel to public revenue, which in nigeria's case comes from the singular source of petro-dollar earnings and revenue which the elite uses the politician to superintend through the state structures and in that process siphon's wealth to the detriment of public good. analytically it can be argued that prominent among the factors responsible for the entrapment of the nigerian state into its rent collector status to the predatory elite is because the politicians are nonideological, non-pragmatic and nonnationalistic in their service to motherland. the nigerian rulers' (leader's) primacy has always been on self-perpetuation in power for the sole purpose of maximizing their material interests. conclusion the main positron of this concluding part of this paper is fundamentally to state that the nigerian state is not and has never been responsible to the citizens. it has never at any time stood as a power above all to create the synergy between contending interests in nigeria by "taming domestic and international forces and harnessing them to national 68 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com economic interests "(evans 2000). irrespective of the intervening socioeconomic and political forces that formed the foundation and growth of the nigerian state, its continued subjugation under the control of the elite that does not mean well for the citizenry is unacceptable. there is therefore the need for the enthronement of a people oriented democratic processes through citizen based actions that can revolutionize the polity towards ushering in objective conditions that cause change for the better. among such actions include social actions of popular participation in electoral processes and elections through which the masses vote for credible candidates. vote casting here should go beyond party politics (which has already been high jacked by the predatory elite) to the consideration of qualities of individual contestants. votes cast must be made to count based on voters' insistence (through mass support) for on the spot counting and publication of election results. also social actions such as mass protests, workers' strike, and civil society led peaceful but persistent demonstrations against misrule, state insensitivity to public good and the lot must be made a rallying point of the people. as much as the various institutions of the nigerian state may have either gone moribund with respect to their duties or may have been subsumed under this ravaging predatory elite, the hope of the citizens for the better days still remains in the possibility of revitalizing and mobilizing some institutions like the media, educational institutions, ngos and others as channels of change. to achieve such a mission, there is need to pursue equity, rule of law and justice (roscoe 1995). the judiciary judicial decisions which have often been abused and ridiculed by the elite in nigerian must rise up to the challenges if it must retain its dignity as the last hope of the common man and defender of democracy. references ake c (1988). a political economy of africa. lagos longman press ake c (2004)."the future of the state in africa" international pol. sc. review vol. 6 no 1: soge pub ltd. awolowo o. (1977). path to nigerians freedom: london fober and paber. belov g. (1986). what is the state abc of social sciences and political knowledge: moscow public press. charlesworth lc. ed (1967). contemporary pol. analysis new york: the free press. colander d.c ed (1984) neoclassical political economy: an analysis of cent-seeking and dup activities: cambridge ma: balunger. crowder m. (1968) west africa under colonial rule london, hutchison and co. publishers crowder m. (c 1976) the story of nigeria: london. faber and 69 | p a g e a rentier state and the predatory elite: the dilemma of nigerians dr. okechukwu egwu ibiam; anthony itumo faber. ekekwe e. (1970) class and the state in nigeria. lagos longman publishers. engels f. (1977). origin of the family, private property and the state. moscow: moscow publication house. evans p.b (1987). class, state and dependence in east asia: some lessons for latin america: in fanon f. (1965). the wretched of the earth. britain: melbourne and kee. frank a.g. (1967). dependent accumulation and underdevelopment. new york monthly review gedes b. (1994). politicians dilemma: building state capacity in latin america; beckley (a californian state university press. goldman aa (2000). predatory versus dental rule in africa. gredes b. (1986). economic development as a collective action problem: individual interests and innovation in brazil: ana arbor mi university microfilms. http://www /jsta r.org/journa is/segeltd htm i. huntington s. (1968). political order in changing societies. new haven ct: yale university press. igwe o. (2005). politics and globe dictionary; aba eagle publishers. kruger ao. (1994). the political economy of rent seeking societies. american economic review 64.291-303. laski, i.h (1989). a grammar of politics: london. george allen and unwin. lenin v.1. (1983). imperialism, the highest stage of capitalism; moscow progress pub comp. nwolisa o.b.c (1990). the military as the obstacle to democracy in nigeria: in tyoden s.c (ed) (1990) constitutionalism and national development in nigeria; ibadan npsa mosca g. (1939). the ruling class new york: mcgraw hill. okibe h.b. (2000). political evolution and constitutional dev in nigeria. (1861-1991) nigeria. mary day pub. polenyi r. (1957). the correct transformation (1944*). boston heacon press. poulantzes n. (1973). political power and social class: london new left book. przeworski m.e. (ed) (2000). democracy and development cambridge: cambridge university press. ranny (1958). the governing of man: new york, basic books. roscoe p. (1995). justice according to law: m.h. yale university press. 161 195 | p a g e ethnicity and the national question by okechukwu, groupson-paul uc. phd groupsonpaul@yahoo.com, okechukwu.groupson@funai.edu.ng department of political science federal university ndufu alike ikwo (funai), abakaliki – ebonyi state, nigeria and arua christopher chukwu ceejakchioma@gmail.com department of political science federal university ndufu alike ikwo (funai), abakaliki ebonyi, state nigeria. abstract nigeria is still a house divided against itself. ethnic mistrust and tension run high, tribal loyalty remain stronger than national loyalty. ethnic problems have not only persisted but in some cases, intensified leading to meaningful suggestions in some quarters that the country should be broken up into two or three parts. this paper examines the nature of ethnicity in nigeria, how it has affected and negated national development. the study observed that nigeria is multi-ethnic and the inter-play of this ethnic factor has created more obstacles to the corporate existence of nigeria as a nation. consequently, politics by its nature and character constitutes a democratic structure capable of engendering stable development which is at the center of national question. this study analyses the need for democratic consolidation because of its volume impact of ethnic politics on national development. the problematic nature of ehnicism and its negative effect on nation-building is explained with elite pluralist theory. the study relies on analytical concepts and secondary source of data. the study recommends among others that political education and training are vital in creating a new social order and also the crisis of national integration needs to be solved before political parties should be allowed to appear. keywords: ethnicity, national question, democratic consolidation, nationbuilding, ethnic politics. mailto:ceejakchioma@gmail.com 196 | p a g e introduction the problem of evolving a political structure that would accommodate the interests of the various nationalities which constitute the “nigerian nation” started from independence. ninety-four year after the first (the clifford) constitution was drafted in 1922, and the several other constitutions since independence on october1, 1960, nigeria is still battling with a workable structure that has been severely challenged by the protraction of the ‘national question’. the national question is conceived by scholars as consisting of the political mobilizations and struggles by dissatisfied and aggrieved ethnic groups to redress and exact more just and equitable accommodation from the nigerian nation-state (ayokhai &peter, 2016). national question is tied to the erosion of the state and its failure to meet the needs of the citizens evident in the injustice in the protection of lives of the individuals of various groups inhabited in the nation space. the problem has to do with the politics of ethnicity and the intervention of the military in politics. levels of educational development between the northern and southern part of the country caused imbalance in the level of political development, and was to affect the direction of national politics even during the struggle for independence. in fact, while the southern part of the country was ready for and had indeed embraced self-governance in 1957, the north did not do so until 1959 (richard, 1999). post independence political history of nigeria, therefore, is more or less the story of how nigeria has since tied to grapple with its problem of apparent lack of unity and how best to accommodate the competing socio-political and ethno-cultural problems of its people. the problem must be examined against the background of certain colonial actions that in variably put the nigeria nation where it is. first, the balkanization of the country into three regions of unreasonably unequal sizes was a grievous error of political judgment on the part of the british. the northern region, the largest, was more than the eastern and western regions put together. this was as it ought to have been very clear to the british authorities, a perfect recipe for an unhealthy national diet. to make this worse, the division of the regions conformed, amazingly, with the british perception of the ethnic composition of the country (nnoli, 1980). the north was hausa-fulani, the east; igbo and the west, mainly yoruba. yet, there are over 250 and not three tribes in nigeria. there was no way that the social and political interests and aspirations of 247 distinct ethic groups, no matter how small in population each of them was, could be satisfied in a political arrangement that, subverted those interests. this however, explains the nature of ethnic relations and political dynamics that have shaped the content and direction of national unity irreconcilable differences among the peoples that constitute nigeria; educational 197 | p a g e imbalance, regional politics expressed in tribalism, disunity and fear of domination. all these prevented the development of real patriotism or national-spirit but rather paved the way for inter-ethnic hatred, bickering, nepotism, corruption, abuse of power, politicization of census, election and security system.this paper examines the impact of ethnicity as it effects national development in nigeria. conceptual clarification the major concepts that need some brief clarification especially with regard to their usage and meaning in the paper include ethnicity and the national question. ethnicity or tribalism is interchangeable. much of the difficulties and hazards that scholars face are of course based on the person’s perception and background. ethnicity or the related term tribalism is thus a psycho-social phenomenon. but more than this, ethnicity is confliction; it involves conflicts among diverse communal groups. nnoli (1980) define ethic groups in the african context and assert that ethnic groups are social formations distinguished by the communal characters of the boundaries. the relevant fact may be language, culture, or both. in africa, language has been the most curial variable. similarly tyler (1994) sees ethnicity as a culture that has complex whole, which include knowledge, belief, art, morals, laws, custom and other capacities and habits acquired by man as a member of society or group. writing in the same vein, stark (1996) believed that ethnic groups are groups that think of themselves as sharing special bounds of history and culture that set them apart from others. ethnic group is a social group which, within a large cultural and social system claims or is accorded a special status in terms of complex or traits (ethnic traits) which it inhibits or is believed to exhibit. such traits are diverse, and there is much variety in the complexes that they form (melvin 1979). irukwe (1989) opined that ethnicity is a belief in superiority of one’s own cultural group or corresponding hatred or misunderstanding of other such groups. cohen (1994) defined ethnic group as an informal interest group whose members are distinct from the members of other ethnic groups within the larger society because they share kinship, religious and linguistic ties. he further explained that ethnic groups are social formation distinguished by the communal boundaries. it is obvious from the definitions above that ethnicity as a concept has everything to do with identification of groups within a given country. this identification as enhagbe (2016) indicated is based on those common features that tend to distinguish the members of a group from other groups; stressing that an important feature of ethnic identification is the fact that relations among members of the group are based on origins, decent and the evolution overtime of common cultural features such as language. 198 | p a g e however, ethnicity has the capacity to acquire passionate attribute; where the ethic group are aware of socio-cultural difference with other group but continued to live together in peace, and aggressive attribute, when competition for socio-economic and political privileges or rights in a geo-political set-up is the case (omu, 1998). he further asserts that, political competition and rivalry seems to be the most flammable instrument of ethnic aggression. thus ethnicity has the potential of being manipulated to the level that it generates conflicts within society, as roderick (1999) avers that ethnicity is a social phenomenon which is capable of altering its form(s), place and role in the life of a society. in other words it can jeopardize meaningful development in general. that brings us to the concept of national question. national question is a term used for a variety of issues related to national development; how to structure the nigeria federation in order to accommodate groups and guarantee access to power and equitable distribution of resources. the national question focuses on the competition and conflict between different ethnic groups to control the political power and resources of the nation. the background to national question is the perceived domination of some ethnic groups by the other engendered by the structural nature of the nigerian federation, the heavy lopsidedness in center-state relations (ajayi, (2014). ajayi argued that the national question is the perennial debate as how to order the relations between the different ethnic, linguistic and cultural groupings so that they have the same rights and privileges, access to power and equitable share of national resources (edewo, aluko and folarin, 20014). momoh (2002) noted that the national question is fundamentally related to the question of rights and privileges of nations and peoples particularly in the context of oppression. the under-listed issues to adejumobi, (2000) are very vital to the national question:  what should be the component units and tiers of government in the nigeria federation?  how should they be constituted, based on ethnic contiguity or administrative expediency?  how should political power and administrative responsibilities be shared among the levels and tiers of government?  how should the ownership of economic resources be structure in the nigeria federation?  what should be the acceptable formulae for sharing federally collected revenue?  what should be the nature of inter-governmental relations in nigeria? virtually all the various ethnic groups in nigeria today talk about marginalization and domination; all the ethnic groups are affected one way or the other by the national question. for the niger delta and oil producing minority it is exploitation and environmental degradation; for the igbo it is marginalization; for the hausa fulani, 199 | p a g e it is uneven development; for the minorities of the north, particularly the middle belt it is one of internal colonialism; for the yoruba it is power exclusion. hence everybody is demanding empowerment on the basis of one assumption – xenophobia (momoh, 2002). adejumobi (2003) in his contribution, noted that the domination of some ethnic groups by the other engendered by the structural nature of the nigerian federation, the heavy lopsidedness in center-state relations. the fears and demands of ethnic militias basically revolve round the issues of national question. for instance, the concern of massob is marginalization of the east in the power equation in nigeria; that of opc is about “power shift” and restructuring of the federation and the quest for self-determination by group (avengers) in the niger delta region is based on the social injustice, neglect and marginalization that the area suffers in the nigerian nation. moreover, national question is believed to be at the question on the crisis of the nigerian state and the problem of peaceful co-existence. this question varies in time and in space, it depends on the inter group relations and on the issues of marginalization, domination, inequality fairness and justice among ethnic groups. theoretical explanation the negative aspect of ethnicity can be analyzed by linking it to the theoretical framework of the pluralist theory. pluralists posit that society is made up of several groups with interests which may be at variance; in the framework of the theory of pluralism, ethnic groups are perceived as folk groups from a former era that are now under transformation as a result of the individual freedom offered to individuals in a modern society (oladiran, 2013). pluralists stress the continuing viability of ethnic groups and they promote the idea of pluralistic and multi-cultural societies. thus, there could be conflicting interests such as economic, religious, power sharing etc. advocates of this theory sees social conflict as a struggle over values or claims to status, power and scarce resources in which the aim of the conflicting parties are not only to gain desirable value but also to neutralize, injure and/or relegate their opponents (saluwa &hassan, 2011). this could be applied to nigeria leadership, where personality interest in policy or decision making plays a vital role as a result of ethnic chauvinist when politics is involved. this human attitude manifests in form of prejudice and tribalism (ethnic conflict). prejudice can as well be turned to discrimination. if this happens, there will be strong pressure to exclude outsiders in the sharing of commonwealth of the nation. in the pre-colonial era and since the independence of nigeria, ethnicity played and is still playing manifest and latent roles in the body politics of nigeria. otite, rightly observed that, the ethnic virus has been one of the most important causes of social crisis and 200 | p a g e political instability in nigeria; and ethnicity has been perceived in general as a major obstacle to the overall politic-economic development of the country (oladiran, 2013) ethnicity in nigeria: a historical overview nigeria as a nation is a child of british colonialism. even its name came from lady lugard, wife of fredrick lugard, the country’s first governor –general. nigeria, therefore, did not exist as a national entity before the british, who had administered the northern and southern provinces more or less as separate and distinct territories, amalgamated them from 1914. nigeria’s problems were man-made partly tailored, if perfectly, by nature itself. it is man-made in the sense and manner of the country’s colonization, while problem created by nature concerns its geography and ethnic composition. by 1962, there were traceable political conflict, between action group (ag) and rival party, nigeria national democratic party (nndp) formed by akintola. the leader of ag, awolowo accused the npc of subverting western regional government by collaborating with s. l akintola (afigbo, 1986). as a result, by 1963, awolowo and his key political supporters were accused of the highest offences of treason and felony. they were tried and found guilty and awolowo was imprisoned for 10 years. however, it was not until 1964 that the western region election that witnessed a complete breakdown of law and order. they were also discriminate killing, confusion and massive looting that led to state of anarchy. as a result, some radical corps was drawn into nigeria politics, masterminded by major chukwuemeka nzeogwu and others (nnoli, 1991). notable among the victims killed were prime minister himself, tafawa belewa, saduna of sokoto, primier of western region, akintola, the most flamboyant nigerian politician, okotiebo. funny enough, the eastern region premier, michael i. opara was not involved because the military men sent to kill him failed in their duty, forty-eight hours after nzogwu’s coup. johnson aguiyi-ironsi, a major-general and general officer commanding the nigerian army, assumed power as head of a federal military government and commander-in-chief of the armed forces. nigerians began to do one of the things they do best; ask some pertinent questions. they found answers in the motives of the coup planners: a planned igbo-ethnic domination. whether this was correct or not, there was some evidence for those looking for some. for the fact that the coup planners were mainly igbo officers led by the late chukwuemeka kaduna nzeogwu (oyinlola &dazang,1994). the north and the west lost more people. in the north, nearly all its senior army officers; four of them while the west lost two. both regions also lost their premiers. the north also donated the prime minister and the mid-west lost a federal minister to the coup. ironsi 201 | p a g e strengthen the fears of the north about the alleged planned igbo domination of the ethnic politics of the country when he abolished the four regions and introduced a unitary system. this political move, whatever informed ironsi’s decision, was fatal to him, his regime and igbo in general. this to them, was unacceptable, as it was a threat to their socio-economic welfare and political aspirations. seven months after ironsi came to power, he was overthrown, and gowon took over as head of the federal military government. in discussing the steps which led to the collapse of nigerian first republic, the disastrous events of 1966, and the massacre of igbo in part of northern nigeria; many will still remember the 30-months biafra war of secession from july 1967 until january 1970, when the igbo people were regularly portrayed overseas as the victims of systematic oppression in the federation (richard, 1999). as inexact as these general opinions might be, they still touch on what remains a crucial feature of nigerian politics; the extent to which conflicts tend to take on the character of a struggle among sectional groups, whether defined by language, ethnicity, region or religion. from 1951-1962, three of the major parties; npc in the north, ncnc, in the east and action group in the west, controlled governmental regions. the major political parties were commonly identified with “ethnic” group interest in a misleading manner. since then till date, nigeria has never had what can be described as a nation-wide political party. rather, what it has had changed name of the old establishments. for instance, it is well known that the political parties of the first republic were the very ones that operated in the second republic with changes only in name(s). all had their roots in their different dominant regions. the effects of ethnicity on national development no matter what view one may take of nigeria, its politics and economics and national aspirations, all agree that has come of age, no doubt, nigeria emerged from british colonial rule as an unbalanced multi-ethnic federal state, the cultural diversity of whose component units could make political instability inevitable. unfortunately, the colonial rulership made no serious attempts at integrating the disparate primordial ethnic groups into a coherent political entity. it is, therefore not surprising that after exhibiting some semblance of unity in order rid themselves of the york of british colonial rule, the different nationalities latter gave vent to inter-ethnic animosities and ethno-cultural grievance in the struggle for power in nigeria, resulting in several political crisis each of which seriously threatened the country’s corporate existence. 202 | p a g e having been fragmented along regional and ethnic lines due to the organization of the colonial economy along enclaves isolated from each other, the nigerian leaders tended to regard this regional enclaves as exclusive reservoirs of benefits for those of them the regional and ethnic homeland. therefore, under the prevailing socio-economic and political formation in nigeria, the issue of equity, fair play and internal self-determination among the federating ethnic nationalities becomes a mirage. accordingly, nnoli (1994) asserted that nigerian leaders have an objective interest in maintaining the ethnic pattern activities and imperialist structure, both of which are inimical to inter-ethnic harmony. the most pressing problem facing the nigerian state and one which must be tackled is to find a lasting solution to the issue of uneven national revenue allocation and development (national question). this is because, the inordinate and irreconcilable ambitions of the chauvinistic elites of the various ethnic groups, especially the big three ethno-cultural group; hausa-fulani, yoruba and igbo who want to dominate and control the country, had led to the overpoliticization of ethnicity in nigeria, with a resultant effect of the state’s failure to emerge as a reassuring instrument in the society. conclusion regarding the national question, beyond the effects of ethnicity with concerns on the disunity and prejudice challenges facing the country, it also has implications for the country’s socio-political system. social cohesion among various groups and interests is important in the process of national political and economic development. the activities of the niger-delta militants, militia groups like odua people’s congress (opc), movement for the actualization of sovereign state of biafra (massob), egbesu and constant sectarian turmoil exemplified by the activities of boko haramall expressing deep ethnic sentiments put together is a major obstacle to achieving sustainable development. unfortunately, all these developments are sure signs of disillusionment and tensions that are capable of tearing our country apart. they are all manifestations of the fear of marginalization, domination, inequality, unfairness and injustice apparent in our nation. they point to severe cracks in our inter-ethnic relations. and, they are a reminder of the national question, which must be tackled to save nigeria from disintegration. 203 | p a g e references adejumobi,s. 2003. civil society, ethnic militia and sovereign national conference in nigeria. in babawale, t. (ed), urban violence, ethnic militias and challenges of democratic consolidation in nigeria. lagos: malthouse press, 164-184. afigbo, a. e.1998.“ethnic pluralism and political instability in nigeria. preliminary remarke towards unmaking the ethnicity myth”. benin journal of historical studies, 2(1&2), 3952. 1986. federal character: its meaning and history. owerri: rada publishing company. ajayi, j. o. 2014. resurgence of crisis and instability in nigeria. research on humanities and social sciences; 4 (21), 40-44. ayokhai, f.e.f & peter, n. w. 2016. fiscal federalism, ethnic minorities and the national question in nigeria: revisiting the case of the niger delta people. african research review journal; 10(13), 246-260. cohen, a. 1994. custom and politics in urban africa. london: routledge and kegan paul. cortese, a. 1990. ethnic ethics: the restructuring of moral theory. new york: state university of new york press. edewo, p. a., aluko, y. a. & folarin, s. f. 2014. managing ethnic and cultural diversity for national integration in nigeria. developing country studies, 4(16). erhagbe, e. 2016. ethnicity in the matrix of peace and reconciliation in nigeria. european scientific journal; 8(16), 83-85. ibrahim, j. 2000. the transformation of etno-regional identities in nigeria. in jegs (ed). identity transformation and identity politics under structural adjustment in nigeria. kano: normadic african institute and center for research documentation, 41-61. irukwu, j.o. 1989. nigeria: the case for a better society. enugu: fourth dimension publishers. momoh, a. 2002. the philosophy and theory of the national question. in momoh, a & adejumobi (eds), the national question in nigeria: comparative perspecrive. aldershot: asgate. melvin, m. t. 1979. ethnicity and fractionalism in zimbabiwe nationalist politics. ethnic racial studies, 3 (1). nnoli, o. 1980. ethnic politics in nigeria. enugu: fourth dimension publishers. 1991. national identity. las vegas nevada: university of nevada press. 1994. ethnicity and democracy in africa, intervening variables. lagos: malthouse press. oladiran, a. 2013. ethnic politics and democratic consolidation in nigeria. international journal of academic research in business and social sciences, 3 (12). omu, f. i. a. 1998. ethnicity, nationalism and federation in nigeria: an interactive trinity of relationships. benin journal of historical studies, 2(1&2), 1-22. 204 | p a g e osaghea, e. 1995. structural adjustment and ethnicity in nigeria. research report. uppsale: nordiska afrikain institute. oyinola, d. & dazang. n. 1994 (may, 18).”we can’t forget the past”. tell magazine, pp 12-18. richard, j. 1999. democracy and prebendal politics in nigeria: the rise and fall of the second republic. ibaban: spectrum books ltd. rodrick, d.1999. where did all the growth go? external shocks, social conflict and growth collapses. journal of economic growth, 4(4). saluwa, b. & hassan, a. 2011. ethnic politics and its implication for survival of democracy in nigeria. journal of public administration and policy research, 3(2), 28-33. stark, r. 19996. sociology (6th edition). new york: wads worth publishing company. tylor, e. b. 1994. primitive culture. new york: brentano press. 47 | p a g e entrepreneurship education: a prospect to solving unemployment problem among nigerian youths owo emmanuel chinonso e-mail: emmanelsonco@gmail.com department of council matter, registry division abstract it is a known fact that youth unemployment is one of the major problems facing developing countries, including nigeria. hence, the need to embrace entrepreneurship as an alternative means of survival is paramount among nigerian youths. entrepreneurship education has been identified as a gateway to youth empowerment and sustainable economic growth through the acquisition of necessary skills, which should be nurtured starting as early as the elementary education and progressing through all levels of education, including adult education. this study therefore examines the role of entrepreneurship education in solving the problem of unemployment among nigerian youth. the study sought to examine the problem and causes of unemployment in nigeria, the concept of entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship education and its importance to nigerian youths, as well as the prospects of entrepreneurship development in reducing unemployment in nigeria. introduction in nigeria today, education and training is beginning to take a new aspect as many people are diving and embracing education in its totality. this singular act of being educated has resulted to enormous number of graduates from various universities, polytechnics, colleges of education etc. the perceptions of earning a living with tertiary institutions certificate after graduation has endangered nigerian system of education and have also generate an increase in the number of unemployed graduates. youth unemployment is one of the major challenge confronting most developing countries. nigeria has gotten one of the highest rates of youth unemployment in the world due to a lack of employment skills. olubukola (2013) stressed that unemployment is a global phenomenon where suitable workforce of a nation is disengaged in the overhaul of the nation. as indicated by statistics, youth unemployment in nigeria is observed to be on the increase, and various efforts seem not to be yielding significant results. according to the national bureau of statistics, nigeria’s unemployment and underemployment rates are a combined of 55.7% at the end of the 2nd quarter in the year 2020. the rate of unemployment among nigerian graduates is a threat to the nation’s economy as tertiary institutions produces graduates yearly without commensurate job opportunities. ekpo (2010) concisely stated that a study carried out by the federal ministry of education from 2005-2010 showed that seventy-one percent (71%) of graduate students from nigerian mailto:emmanelsonco@gmail.com 48 | p a g e universities and other forms of tertiary institutions are yet to get job. in similar development, nwachukwu (2012) reported that economic survey in 2011 doted unemployment rate in nigeria at 23.9%. in other words, over 38 million nigerians are unemployed. it is disturbing to acknowledge that a greater number of this percentage are graduates from nigeria universities, polytechnics and colleges of education who roam the street and in the job markets looking for non-existing jobs for lack of entrepreneurial skills. lack of entrepreneurial skills is no doubt a major contributing factor to the problem of unemployment of graduates in nigeria (adebisi & oni, 2012). the incidence of graduate unemployment is attributed to the educational system operated during pre and post-independence era in the country which placed emphasis on liberal education rather than acquisition of vocational skills which prepares school leavers and graduates with vocational skills for better employment opportunities. again, in spite of federal government efforts to create 2 million jobs every year, most nigerian university graduates fail to get employed (babalola, 2017). this is evident as many graduates stay 4-5 or more years after graduation before getting a job or no job at all. in respect of the above sad and deplorable situation, the government has done little to reduce the misery and frustrations of the citizenry. this has foisted a state of hopelessness on the majority of young and old people who have resorted to any means including crime to succeed in life. they resort to vices because they are not gainfully engaged. in other words, they are unemployed not because they lack the qualification but because the system has crippled politically, economically, socio-culturally and even religiously (anyadike, emeh & ukah, 2012). the need for entrepreneurship development in the country today and specifically the nigeria private and public universities is necessitated by the fact that entrepreneurship development is a major factor in economic growth and development. again among thousands of tertiary graduates produced by tertiary institutions in nigeria every year, only a few hundreds of them are lucky to secure paid employment. hence, going through the higher institutions of learning and/or possessing professional qualifications in disciplines like accounting, law, engineering, and medicine is no longer a guarantee for getting the desired employment because of the shrinking economy. however, the way out is through encouraging the development of entrepreneurial skills which can help to transform the challenges into business opportunities (odia & odia, 2013). problem of unemployment in nigeria unemployment and poverty remains key developmental challenges in nigeria over a very long time. according to udu and agu (2015), unemployment is “a situation in which persons capable and willing to work are unable to find suitable paid employment”. according to the international labour organisation (ilo) (2007), unemployed workers are those who are currently not working but are willing and able to work for pay, currently available to work and have actively searched for work. ekpo, p. (2010)) defines 49 | p a g e unemployment as “the facts of a number of people not having a job; the number of people without a job; the state of not having a job”. nigeria does not seem to have credible data on the rate of unemployment because no institution has been able to produce accurate figures showing the current rate of unemployment (udu and agu, 2015). the great need for entrepreneurship development in nigeria today, more than ever, is necessitated by the rate of unemployment and its effect on both the people and the nation and the need for small and medium enterprises. according to eme, o.i. (2014) despite the abundant human and natural resources notwithstanding, nigeria is still one of the poorest countries in the world and has one of the highest rates of youth unemployment in sub-sahara africa, in spite of its alleged strong economic growth. causes of unemployment in nigeria going by the study, scholars have recognized some leading causes of youth unemployment in nigeria as follows: 1. rural urban migration: in nigeria, there exists a rapidly growing urban labour force arising from rural urban migration. the factor is aggravated and triggered by the lack of infrastructural facilities, which makes the rural life unattractive. youths move to urban areas with the probability of getting lucrative and productive employment in the industries. in addition, there is the focus of social amenities in the urban centres. this implies that the rural areas are neglected in the allocation of social and economic opportunities. 2. rapid population growth: going by nigeria national bureau of statistics of 2012, the total population of citizens in nigeria was around 166.2 million people, and projections for the future indicate that the population could be over 180 million by the year 2021, given the annual growth rate of 3.2 percent (national population commission and icf macro, 2012). with this population, nigeria is the most populous nation in africa and the high population growth rate has resulted in the rapid growth of the labour force, which is far exceeding the supply of jobs. 3. corruption: this crime which has pervaded the entire social structure of nigeria, has raided the country of developing a vibrant economic base. funds meant for development projects have been misappropriated, diverted, or embezzled and stashed away in foreign banks, while some ineffectual and corrupt bureaucrats cum administrators in the public parastatals have discharged these establishments (okafor, 2011). the ruling (political) class failed since they traded the vision, policy, and strategy, that should be the thrust of every leadership with dealings (contract award and other mundane moneyrelated activities), as each successive government patiently took turns to target on the nation’s wealth, by using public power, resources, good will, utilities, instrument of abuse, and personal gains. as such, this cripples the economy and intensifies unemployment that generates abject poverty, hunger and frustration which is killing the zeal and means for entrepreneurship development in the nigerian youths. 50 | p a g e 4. lack of sustainable entrepreneurship development programme and training: entrepreneurship development programme is increasingly recognized as important driver of economic growth, generating employment, fostering innovation and poverty reduction through the empowerment of young men and women (unctad, 2010). poor entrepreneurship development has also been identified as an immediate reason for the increasing youth unemployment in nigeria. entrepreneurship development programmes (edps) have been described by maina, (2013) as a purposeful intervention by an adult (the teacher) in the life of a learner to impart entrepreneurial qualities and skills to enable the learner to survive in the world of business. its aim is to equip learners with skills, knowledge and disposition that can help them develop or implement innovative social or business plans. entrepreneurship according to mba & godday (2014), entrepreneurship is a process of identifying opportunities, allocating resources, and creating value through identifying unmet needs or opportunities for change. in a job-scarce environment where unemployment is rife, the need for fostering entrepreneurship, especially among youth, is a primary concern. the entrepreneur has been seen as an actor, innovator or a developer of technology. entrepreneurship is also seen as the willingness and ability of an individual to seek out investment opportunities, establish and run an enterprise successfully. esomomu, (2018) defined entrepreneurship as the effective manipulation of human intelligence, as demonstrated in a creative and innovative performance. the national directorate of employment (nde, 2012) in onyebueke and ochnongo (2012) sees entrepreneurship to be an art which involves recognizing a business opportunity, mobilizing resources and persisting to exploit that opportunity. tijani-alawiye (2014), defines entrepreneurship as the process of adding to the stock of existing small, medium and big enterprises available to a country by creating and promoting many capable entrepreneurs who can successfully run innovative enterprises, nurture them to grow and sustain them, with a view to achieving broad socio-economic development goals. it is also the process of bringing together creative and innovative ideas and copying them with management and organizational skill in order to combine people, money and resources to meet an identified need and thereby creating wealth. shepherd and douglas, (2011) in akanwa and akpanabia, (2012) observe that entrepreneurship development is the ability to envision and chart a course for a new business venture by combining information from the functional disciplines and from the external environment in the context of the extraordinary uncertainty and ambiguity which faces a new business venture. entrepreneurial development has been found to be capable of making positive impacts on the economy of a nation and the quality of life of the people. however, it has to be noted that only business that have been able to adopt and actually practice the principles of creativity and innovation are positively impacting the economy and add value to the life of the people. the only thing that is constant in this world is change. so, if one wants 51 | p a g e to meet his or her steps with the rest of the world then in this scenario it is imperative for him or her to adopt new phenomenon, new methodologies and new technology. in this regard, the phenomenon of innovation and creativity is very important. nowadays, businesses, entrepreneurs and individuals, are adopting the concepts of innovation and creativity. entrepreneurship education in order to reduce the rate of unemployment among nigerian number of graduates roaming about on the street with certificate qualification without having a meaningful source of livelihood, the concept of entrepreneurial education (training) was introduce into tertiary education in nigeria. the aim of entrepreneurial education was for knowledge acquisition by students to enable them in setting up and hovering a business with other skills needed for its survival and also to become successful entrepreneurs. maina, (2013) sees entrepreneurial education as part of the total educational system that involves the acquisition of skills, ideas and management abilities necessary for job creation. for gibson (2011), entrepreneurial education is defined as the process of using private initiative to transform a business concept into a new venture or to grow and diversify an existing venture or enterprise with high great potential. entrepreneurial education is a lifelong process, starting as early as the elementary school and progressing through all levels of education, including adult education. it is seen as a tool which equips an individual to be an entrepreneur (antoncic & hisrich, 2013). entrepreneurial education can also be seen as the purposeful intervention by educators in a learner's life to impact entrepreneurial qualities and skills to enable the learner to flourish in the business world. the purpose of entrepreneurship education is to come up with individuals who are capable of starting new business ventures . entrepreneurship education can increase student entrepreneurial skills and intention, and entrepreneurship activities stimulate economic growth. it has been more than 70 years since the first entrepreneurship course was developed at havard business school in 1947. since then, the number of entrepreneurship courses has increased significantly worldwide. most tertiary institutions in nigeria lack entrepreneurial content that would have enabled graduating students to become job creators rather than job seekers. with inadequate skills and few opportunities, graduates are confronted with a future of low-wage employment and underemployment in the informal sector with little job security and prospects. according to onuma (2016), the present youth unemployment challenge facing nigeria has been traced to students' lack of entrepreneurial skills. according to martin, & iucu (2014), entrepreneurship education develops students" entrepreneurial skills and attitudes. the purpose of entrepreneurship education in nigeria is to inculcate skills for job creation. teachers are vital to entrepreneurship education because they are the facilitators and multipliers of knowledge that help students acquire entrepreneurial skills. according to karimi, biemans, lans, mulder & chizari (2012), entrepreneurship is essential to the increase of economic efficiencies, market innovation, creation of new 52 | p a g e jobs, and raising of employment level. entrepreneurship education helps students to develop skills, knowledge, and attitudes needed to achieve the goals they set for themselves. an effective teaching method is required to acquire entrepreneurial skills. increasing entrepreneurship education is required to enhance students" creativity in job rotation. nwangwu, (2017) observed that the lack of tertiary education success to imbibe entrepreneurship education belief in students has led to wastages in both human and natural resources. according to brixiová, ncube, & bicaba (2014), fundamental changes need to be made to the educational system. entrepreneurship courses should be introduced at the early stages of education, and the benefit of entrepreneurship should be better marketed. universities should employ entrepreneurial education lecturers who have practical experience alongside teaching and learning aids. importance of entrepreneurship education to nigerian youths according to iyamu & ojeaga (2015), the following can represent the significance of entrepreneurship education: 1. to build up individuals who will be properly equipped with skills for productive work life. 2. to build up people who will be capable of meeting modern business and technological challenges. 3. to bring up the youths with positive skills and attitudes toward work. 4. to furnish the youths with the necessary knowledge and skill for employee or self-employment. 5. to bring up a couple of reliable and competent technical manpower capable of being mobilized in times of national economic emergency. 6. to prepare the youth for meeting community skills and national economic aspirations. 7. to let the youths decide a perfect area of business education for which they have aptitudes and interest. 8. to teach the learners to develop skills for making rational economic decisions. 9. to enable the learners to relate their expertise to the needs of their communities. 10. to prepare business and industrial managers who will be capable of industry 11. to provide vocational and technical knowledge in various areas of business. according to the nyp (2019), one of the strategies to improve youth inclusion's welfare is the introduction of obligatory entrepreneurship training in the curriculum of polytechnics and universities. entrepreneurship training assists creativity in technical and vocational skills and instils in the individual the necessary abilities to be self-reliant through technical education. prospects of entrepreneurship development in reducing unemployment ogundele, akingbade and akinlabi (2012) stated that the contribution of entrepreneurship training and education on unemployment through youth empowerment 53 | p a g e will be much significant if entrepreneurship is encouraged at all levels in the economy. also, akpan, c. and etor, c. (2013) observed that through entrepreneurial studies, which is inter-disciplinary training that focuses on the acquisition of relevant skills needed to start and run a new business venture, unemployment and poverty can be reduced. as onyeizugbe, orogbu and oyigbo (2015) have observed, attempts to provide solution to societal problems often set processes in motion such that the opportunities for engaging human efforts called job creation are provided. they noted that jobs are created when firms established by entrepreneurs employ people with requisite skills to occupy vacant positions. to tijani alawiye (2014), entrepreneurs successfully run innovative enterprises, nurture them to growth and sustainable level so that more hands can be engaged in the running of the enterprise. through such processes, he remarked, job opportunities are created. entrepreneurship development affords the youth the opportunity to be productively engaged so as to divert their attention from negative vices such as crime, militancy and so on. according to rasmussen and stroheim (2015), the major role of entrepreneurship development is wealth creation. persons engaged in entrepreneurship, either on their own efforts or inside an organization to pursue opportunities without regard to resources under their control. also, ezeanokwasa, f.n. and nwachukwu, o.p. (2014) emphasizes the need for youth entrepreneurial empowerment to harness their potentials and intellectual creativity. this, to him, is because its potency is capable of lowering unemployment and poverty level and elevating living standards and quality of life of nigerians. conclusion entrepreneurship is essential for rapid and sustained economic growth and development. it creates the required manpower and skills necessary for accelerated growth, reduced unemployment and alleviates poverty. in order to achieve this, it is recommended that students be encouraged to embrace entrepreneurship education or training which will enable them to become wealth creators by being self-reliant. also, there is the need to empower other vocational and skills acquisition centres, by providing them with the necessary materials in entrepreneurship education, in order that they can assist in the development of entrepreneurial skills required by individuals to set up cottage industries. moreover, government should be consistent in youth entrepreneurship policy as well as the provision of grants to youths for the development and utilization of the skills acquired from entrepreneurship training. finally, curriculum builders should consider the inclusion of entrepreneurship education courses in the curriculum of studies from the primary to tertiary education level. this will go a long way to encourage the youths to be self-reliance after graduation. 54 | p a g e reference adebisi, t. a., & oni, c. s. (2012). assessment of relevance of national directorate of employment training programme to the needs of the trainees in south-west in nigeria. international journal of vocational and technical education, 4(3), 29-37. akanwa, p.u. & akpanabia, n.h. (2012). entrepreneurship development as panacea for unemployment reduction in nigeria. reikojournals.org . akpan, c. and etor, c. (2013). university lecturers’ perception of entrepreneurship education as an empowerment strategy for graduates’ self-employment in south-south nigeria. international journal of asian social sciences, 3(5): 1180-1195. antoncic, b., & hisrich, r. d. (2013). clarifying the intrapreneurship concept. journal of small business and enterprise development, 10(1), 7-24. https://doi.org/10.1108/146 26000310461187 anyadike, n., emeh, i.e.j. and ukah, f.o. (2012). entrepreneurship development and employment generation in nigeria: problems and prospects. universal journal of education and general studies, 1 (4): 88-102. babalola, j. b. (2017). reinventing nigerian higher education for youth employment in a competitive global economy. a lecture delivered at university of calabar, department of educational administration and planning, university of calabar. brixiová, z., ncube, m. & bicaba, z. (2014). skills and youth entrepreneurship in africa: analysis with evidence from swaziland, working paper series n° 204 african development bank, tunis, tunisia. retrieved from www.afdb.org. ekpo, p. (2010). an evaluation of graduate unemployment among university students in nigeria. daily independent, february 7, p 10. eme, o.i. (2014). unemployment rate in nigeria: agenda for government, academic journal of interdisciplinary studies. esomonu, b.n. (1998). the state of entrepreneurship education in nigeria. lagos, longman nigeria. ezeanokwasa, f.n. and nwachukwu, o.p. (2014). effective entrepreneurship skills in reducing unemployment through small business innovation in nigeria. information and knowledge management, 4(11): 96-101. gibson, a. (2011). business development services-core principles and future challenges. london: small enterprises development. iyamu, e. & ojeaga, i. j. (2015). national economic empowerment development strategy (needs) as a panacea for employment creation and self employment and self reliant. journal of educational and social research, 5 (2), 61-68. doi: 10.5901/jesr.2015.v5n2p61. karimi, s., biemans, h., lans, t., mulder, m., & chizari, m. (2012). the role of entrepreneurship education in developing students. entrepreneurial intentions. proceedings of wicanem 2012. the 10th wageningen international https://doi.org/10.1108/ http://www.afdb.org/ 55 | p a g e conference on chain and network science, wageningen university, wageningen. the netherland. doi: 10.2139/ssrn.2152944. maina, s. (2013). the role of entrepreneurship education on job creation among youths in nigeria. international letters of social and humanistic sciences, 15(5), 87-96. https://doi.org/10.18052/www.scipress.com/ilshs.15.87. martin, c., & iucu, r. b. (2014). teaching entrepreneurship to educational sciences students. procedia-social and behavioral sciences, 116, 4397-4400. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.01.954. mba, o. a. & godday, r. l. (2104). entrepreneurship development and unemployment reduction in nigeria: a survey of public opinion in selected nigerian cities. business & entrepreneurship journal, 3 (2), 67-84. retrieved from www.ideas.repec.org. nwangwu, i. o. (2007). higher education for self reliance: an imperative for the nigerian economy. in j. b. babalola; g. o. akpan; a. o. ayeni, & s. o. adedeji (eds) access equity and quality in higher education. nigeria: nigeria association for education administration and planning. nigeria youth policy (2009). second national youth policy document of the federal republic of nigeria 2009. retrieved from www.youthpolicy.org. nigeria’s national youth policy (2019-2023). retrieved from www.ndlink.org. nwachukwu, a. c. & ogbo, a. (2012). the role of entrepreneurship in economic development: the nigeria perspective. european journal of business and management. available in www.iiste.org retrieved on 16th march, 2015. odia, j. o. & odia. a. a. (2013). developing entrepreneurial skills and transforming challenges into opportunities in nigeria. journal of educational and social research, 3 (3), 289-298. doi: 10.5901/jesr.2013.v4n3p289. ogundele, o.j.k. akingbade, w.a. and akinlabi, h.b. (2012). entrepreneurship training and education as strategic tools for poverty alleviation in nigeria. america international journal of contemporary research, 2(1): 148-156. okafor e. e. (2011). youth unemployment and implications for stability of democracy in nigeria. http://www.jsdafrica.com/jsda/v13no1_spring 2011. olubukola, s. a. (2013). unemployment and security challenges in nigeria. international journal of humanities and social sciences, 3(7), 146-156. onuma, n. (2016). entrepreneurship education in nigerian tertiary institutions: a remedy to graduates unemployment. british journal of education, 4 (5), 16-28. onyebueke and ochnongo (2002). entrepreneurship and economic development, enugu:precision printers and publishers. onyeizugbe, c.u., orogbu, o.l and oyigbo, m.c. (2015). entrepreneurial development and job creation in selected local government areas in enugu state, nigeria. international journal of managerial studies and research (ijmsr), 3(7): 41-53. rasmussan, e.a. and stroheim, r. (2015). action based entrepreneurship education. www.elsevier.com/locat/technovation. accessed on 10th november, 2011. https://doi.org/10.18052/www.scipress.com/ilshs.15.87 http://www.ndlink.org/ 56 | p a g e tijani-alawiye, b. (2014). entrepreneurship processes and small business management, ilaro, nigeria. udu, e. &agu, g.a. (2015). new system economics. onitsha; africana first publishers ltd. uru, f.o. & yozgat, u. (2009). creativity for gaining competitive advantage: the role ofleadership styles. available in http://isma.infoluploads/files/-pdf retrieved on 7th april, 2015 346 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com use of audio aids in teaching and learning challenges and prospects chukwu ebele georgina department of library and information science enugu state college of education technical, enugu state chiebele@yahoo.com abstract in this complex society of today where experiences are innumerable and varied, it’s not possible to present every situation in its original colours, hence, the opportunities for learning by actual experiences always are not at all possible. it is only through the use of proper audio visual aids that the life situation can be taught in the classroom by an enlightened teacher in their simplest form and representing the original to the highest point of similarity which is totally absent in the verbal or lecture method. in the presence of audio-visual aids, the attention is attracted, interest roused and suitable atmosphere for proper understanding is automatically created, but in the existing traditional method greater efforts are liable to be made in order to achieve the aforesaid essential requisite. this study discussed the meaning of audiovisual resources, types of audiovisual aids available in the market. the study was also, on the availability of audiovisual aids available in the market. the study was also, on the availability of audiovisual aids, their frequency of use, inhibitions and finally, steps the stake holders has taken in promoting and/or creating an awareness of the inherent benefits of using the audiovisual resources. based on findings this effort proffered some notable solutions to stakeholders. keywords: audio visual, teaching, learning and libraries introduction popoola and haliso (2009) defined library information resources as those information bearing materials that are in both printed and non-print formats, such as textbooks, journals, indexes, abstracts, newspapers and magazines reports, cd-rom databases, internet/email, video tapes tapes/cassettes, diskettes magnetic disks, computers, micro forms, e.t.c. these information materials are the raw materials that libraries acquire, catalogue, stock, and make available to their users, as well as use to provide various other services. librarians, as information providers, should be concerned with the provision of information in the formats most suited to the differing needs of various types of users, each of which must be clearly differentiated. a library exists to serve its community and consequently the needs of all members of that community must be accommodated, the old and the young, the able and the disabled, the gifted and the backward members of the society. the terms non-print, non-book and audio-visual materials or resources are used interchangeably in library and information science profession. in line with this statement, audio-visual materials are usually described as “non 347 | p a g e use of audio aids in teaching and learning challenges and prospects chukwu ebele georgina print documents or “special formats” and sometimes require equipment to use. the macmillan dictionary of information technology define audiovisual technology as a general term for non-book materials that can be viewed or listened to such as films, filmstrips, e.t.c. audio-visual materials are those centre materials that do not solely depend on reading to convey information or knowledge. before printing was invented, papyrus vellum, codex, etc, were used in recording human knowledge. with the invention printing, came books and other printing forms. recently, audio-visual media has come into prominence as another form of media. they are resources that are used by librarians and teachers to communicate effectively and meaningfully with students/pupils so that they can receive, understand, retain and apply the experienced to achieve educational goals (alokunm2004) audio-visual in this context refers to technology that is employed in the resource centres like the academic libraries, and classrooms for the purpose of student’s instruction which when properly used by teachers can revolutionize the teaching profession and promote services. audio-visual technology has been classified into three main types, these are: audio aids, -pro and non-projected visual and audio-visual aids. projected and non-projected visual aids: visual aids are those materials that use the sense of vision. simply, visual aids communicate facts and ideas through the eyes to the mind. it comes in two main types as projected and non-projected visual aids. visual aids such as images add a powerful support to the spoken word. example of this equipment includes pictures, chalkboard, slide projectors, power-point presentations and others. audio-visual aids: audio-visual aids are those materials which involve both the audible land vision senses and provide update information they include television programs, multimedia packages, computer programs etc. some cannot be used without equipment such as project, tv receiver, micro reader, record player, etc. they are usually not in book form and so are not easily available. they are usually hard to process because they lack some of the normal bibliographic details. audio-visual media are part of our cultural heritage, which carries a very huge amount of information that needs to be preserved for future utility. the rich variety of media expressions in the society should be reflected in the services offered to users by the libraries. almost every library user or visitor is a potential user of audio-visual and multimedia materials as well as print material. in developing countries, the provision of audio-visual materials and their associated equipment might be regarded as of greater importance than the printed 348 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com word because the level of literacy is such that oral and visual expressions are essential for the purposes of communication, therefore it is of utmost importance to enhance the use of these aids so as to improve learning skills of both educational and information learners. literature review in teaching and learning, the use of audio-visual materials proves to be better instructional aid and it yields good result. audio-visual aids are specifically made instructional tools which are powerfully meant for education as well as giving information and entertainment. gopal (2010) states that audio-visuzal aids provide significant gains in informal learning, retention and recall, rethinking and reasoning, activity, interest, imagination, personal growth and development. katherine (2011) stressing the effectiveness of visual materials in learning estimates that about 40% of our concepts are based upon visual experience, 25% upon auditory. 17% on tactile, 15% upon miscellaneous organic sensation and 3% upon taste and smell. with the above assertion, it becomes clearer why audio visual materials are important in teaching and learning processes. this is because they bring the different senses contributions together contributions together to get 100% to get 100% to get 100% clarity. according to katherine (2009) learning takes place effectively when the learner is provided with learning situation because of his natural reactions to the provided materials. during this process of learning, the learner has to be provided with the learning situation to satisfy his natural reaction and this is through the use of instructional aids. fawcett (2004) also contributing on the role of audio-visual aids in stimulating interest stated that “a friendly, accepting group climate is important in any learning situation especially those materials that require learners to reveal their ignorance”. when there is climate of acceptance for learning, then learning is stimulated. it has been said that audiovisual materials provide a means of individualizing instruction. this is said to be possible through programmed learning and tapes which enables learner to learn at his pace and also work without supervision. audio-visual aids provide experience not easily secured in other ways and hence contribute to the depth and variety of learning. they play a major role of making learning permanent because having seen something, most people remember; for whatever that things was, it conjures up an image at a mere mention and can be talked about freely. dike (2003) explains that knowledge acquired is easily forgotten because of lack of interest and opportunity to use the knowledge that has been gained. generally, the importance and the usefulness audio-visual aids in teaching and learning are explained under the materials are valuable assets in learning situations because they make lessons practical and realistic. they are the 349 | p a g e use of audio aids in teaching and learning challenges and prospects chukwu ebele georgina pivots on which the wheels of the teaching learning process rotate. since it does concretize issues, it then facilitates revision (recall) activities and provides very unique opportunities for self and group evaluation for the teacher and the students alike. it captures the student intellect and eliminates boredom; make the work easier, neater, and boosting for clarity and more appeal. used for mass instruction and taking care of wide audience: used for mass instruction and taking care of a wide audience. with the use of projected and electronic materials such as television, overhead transparencies and computer, especially, instructions are packaged in a very broad manners and which take care of wide range of learners in a classroom with less stress and time. many students will be able to learn faster as the package takes care of various learners’ interest at the same time. many students will be able to learn faster as the package takes care of various learners’ interest at the same time. teacher can handle a very large class conveniently as the teacher is guiding and displaying the instructional materials on the wall with the use of projector. providing meaningful and useful sources of information to teachers and learners. teachers are up to date and able to provide for reliable and useful information for the learners with the use audio-visual aids, it can effectively be used to ultimate, shorten information from various sources for the purpose of comparison and contrasting ideas. it helps in perception and retention of information or knowledge in learners. it helps in developing a continuity of reasoning and coherence of thought: the use of audio-visual aids helps the learners to encounter integrated experiences, which may vary, and makes make the end product of education more productive. since students are exposed to the real nature of those concept or body of knowledge they tend to analyse and synthesis those body of knowledge for the proper application in their daily lives. problems associated with the use of audio-visual aids it has been identified and that, using audio-visual aids to facilitate learning in subjects’ instructions is not always the issue but how to use it and its availability to users. in spite of the bright prospect of audio-visual aids, they are grossly lacking in nigeria let alone its circulation to the libraries across the nation. a lot of problems are confronting the use of audio-visual aids in nigeria library: some of the challenges include: teachers’ professional knowledge and technical knowhow: interests of the learners and it appropriateness with the instructional tasks. for instance, a teacher who computer literate would find it difficult to apply its operation even when and were found necessary, or even if the 350 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com teacher has a partial knowledge of the operational function of the materials. the materials might be wrongly used thereby creating a wrong impression for the audience or the students. lack of equipment: computers as a major equipment of audio-visual materials are still very expensive and despite spirited efforts by government agencies, ngos corporate organizations and individuals to donate computers to as many libraries as possible, there still remain a big percentage of schools and other nonacademic libraries that are usable to purchase computers or have very limited quantity for use. inadequate supply of electricity: many libraries are experiencing an uphill task regarding electric power availability; nigeria being a developing country, the government has not been able to connect all parts of the country to the national electricity grid and even those parts connected do not always have power supply. consequently, those libraries that fall under sour areas are left handicapped and may not be able to efficiently utilize the audio-visual equipment. lack of internet or slow connectivity most libraries are not able to connect to the world wide web, due to the high costs involved in the connectivity. on average, it may cost approximately $150 per month to connect to about 15 computers on a bandwidth of 128/64kbps. this is considered as very expensive for a very slow speed. environmental factors: part of the application of audio-visual aids process is the target population for whom the materials are to be used and the setting or vicinity where the learning should take place, the degree of satisfaction derived by learning in a conducive environment is a great deal. poor maintenance culture: audio-visual aids materials available at libraries are usually poorly manhandled mostly by the users. non-availability of a resource room for both the locally manufactured and the commercially purchased ones thereby encouraging improper handling of the equipment’s. very many of the users use materials occasionally without the proper upkeep of the materials after use for the future. ways of enhancing the use of audio-visual aid in nigerian libraries the audio-visual resources have their unique roles to play in teaching and learning situation and so must be made readily available and accessible especially at the resource centres like library. chambers english dictionary defined the words “available in this research work to mean the state of being physically present, within easy reach of users. it also refers to information resources that are within the reach of users for their use, while asccessibility refers to resources being effectively and independently reached and utilized. the 351 | p a g e use of audio aids in teaching and learning challenges and prospects chukwu ebele georgina distinction between these two terms availability and accessibility is that the former refers to the provision of the resources and the other the ability of access to get to them. in the developed countries like britain, france and the united states of america, the advent ages of audio-visual resources especially computer have v=been fully explored for handling various aspects of library and information services. the use of audiovisual aids in nigeria can be enhanced through: provision of audio-visual equipment to libraries: due to the high cost of some audiovisual equipment such as computers, projectors, internet connection (world wide web), most of the libraries in the nation have them in limited quantity; provision of funds both by government and non-governmental agencies to supply these equipment to libraries will greatly enhance the use audio-visual aids in the country. the use of audio-visual resources has every sign of long survival as long as its devices become more afforded, the connectivity bandwidths become widely used and less constraint, the multimedia applications will prosper. adwoyin (2007) has reported that in line with the provision of education services as outlined in the national policy on education, the federal and state government have established several educational audio-visual centres. they are responsible for the provision for the provision/procurement and distribution of educational media to schools. for example, the curriculum development centre, enugu, produces maps, and graphs for schools in its graphic acts section and builds leaning aids and games from wood in its woodwork division. the centre also has a good number of overhead and sound projectors as well as s stock of sound films which are loaned generally to schools. training and retraining of staff and individuals in audio-visual resourced management: aside the provision of equipment to enhance audio-visual aids, active training programs should be set up to equip librarians and school teachers so as to reduce or eliminate the problem of lack of knowledge as regards these instructional materials. the national education technology centre, kaduna is a highly specialized instruction centre serving a national purpose of enhancing the teaching learning processes for the advantages of both teachers and learners. the centre has adequate training facilities in educational broadcast that has contributed greatly to the training and development of high level man power for educational broadcasting in nigeria. fawol (2004) pointed out that many states and local government in the country have benefited from the national educational technology centre training programmes. the centre also produces educational (radio and 420 int. i lib. inf. sci. television) 352 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com programmes for schools and colleges. some of these programmes are for the environment of classroom lesson with the assistance of the teachers, while some are self-instructional in nature. provision of a stabilized electricity supply availability and accessibility of audiovisual aid equipment are very important but not sufficient to ensure their efficient use because most but not all the equipment of audio-visual aids cannot be used without proper supply of electricity. on this note, there should be an effort by the government to improve on the supply of uninterrupted electricity (renewable energy sources like solar are readily available) so as to enhance the smooth running of these equipment. education of users on the proper handling of audio-visual resources most times, audio-visual resources are improperly handled by users; this can be due to lack of knowledge on the workings of these equipment or lack of maintenance culture thereby leading to the destruction of the expensively purchased items. to curb this, there should be a training or orientation for users on the proper handling of the equipment and also a proper monitoring should be in place to ensure that the equipment are not vandalized. role of foreign organization in improving the productivity of library in nigeria. over the years, some foreign bodies and organizations have greatly assisted nigeria in the provision of education resources to school libraries and at the same time enhanced audio-visual resource use. some of such measures include:  the british council provided many of education services in the country. two of its contributions in the areas of education resources are in the provision of children’s resources libraries and the free loan of hundreds of sound films on a variety of school subjects, the major users of these films are secondary schools.  the united nations education scientific and cultural organization (unesco), the united state agency of international (usaid) united development programme (undp), among others, have immensely contributed in diverse way in the provision of instructional resources in nigeria. while some have helped to set up micro teaching and language laboratories in some instructions of higher learning, others have helped some states to setup resource centres. references alokun tna (2004). the use of library: a textbook for students kin tertiary institution, lagos: nudex international. pp, 69-74 353 | p a g e use of audio aids in teaching and learning challenges and prospects chukwu ebele georgina dike, v.w (2003) library resources on education, enugu: abic publisher fawcett, g.d. (2004). learning environment and instructional materials. new york. mcgraw hill. fawole m.o (2004). an assessment of the needs of educational resources centre in nigeria. a phd thesis in the department of curriculum studies and educational technology, faculty of education, university of ilorin kwara state, nigeria pp 45-46 gopalvinayakpatil. (2010). importance of audio-visual in teaching methodology mahourastra, india katherine martin (2009) audio-visual aids in materials collection development policy. rod library university of northern lowa popoola so, haliso y. (2009). use of library information resources and services as predator of teaching effectiveness of social scientists in nigerian universities. ajiais 19 (1): 65-77. 174 | p a g e effect of investing activities on the return on assets of oil and gas firms in nigeria by ojeh augustine, ph.d., fca abstract most entity are unwilling to borrow to finance its economic activities due to the terms and conditions attached the loans. therefore the study empirically and statistically evaluate the implication of investing activities which is represented by equity to capital ratio (ecr) and debt to equity ratio (der) and the performance which is represent by return on equity (roe) of oil and gas sector firms listed on nigeria exchange group, eight (8) firms was used for the study such as: 11 plc formally mobil oil nigeria plc, anino international plc, coinoil plc, eterna plc, ardova plc formally fortoil, japaul oil and maritime service plc, seplat plc and total nigeria plc. with data ranging from 2013 to 2020. the result showed that the companies experience a weak level of activities between the period of 2014 and 2015. ecr has a coefficient of -7.393806, and statistical value of 0.0405 while der has a coefficient of -2.922808, and statistical value of 0.0247, the study also showed that nigeria oil and gas sectors experienced a slow economic activities between 2015 and 2016 however the entities employed external sources of finance which was matched to the company’s investing activities and also with the help of relevant stakeholders, the entities where revitalized financially. therefore we conclude that investing activities has statistical significant impact on performance. we therefore recommended that: creditors should not hesitate to give loan to firms and most especially the oil and gas companies because they play a great role in the economy; managers should source for external sources of financing to boost its activities before internal sources, the findings also revealed that the external sources has helped revitalized the sector; the government should create an enabling environment for firms in this sector to operate effectively and efficiently; government should also make soft loans available to entity during a financial challenging periods; and manager should match its investing activities properly to avoid over matching and mismatching of financial resources, if this is not done it may affect company going concern. the study also contributed to existing literature by revealing that external finance has contributed to revitalizing the oil and gas companies during the nosedived of the oil price, production and export between 2015 and 2016. however if an entity want to borrow they should consider the cost and benefits, terms and conditions associated with such sources of external finance. in summary the study revealed that investing activities has a significant impact on performance therefore stakeholders such as creditors, government to mention but a few has crucial role to play in trying to revitalizing 175 | p a g e companies during slow economics activities, this can done by creating an enabling environment, giving grants and soft loans to help revitalizedthem. key words: investing activities, return on assets, performance, finance and activities introduction background of study investing activities include purchases of physical assets, investments in securities, or the sale of securities or assets. however, negative cash flow from investing activities might be due to significant amounts of cash being invested in the long-term health of the company, such as research and development. nigeria is an oil dependent nation, this due to the fact that large proportion of her revenue is generated from this sector. therefore if proper financing decision is not taken by this sector it will automatically affect nigeria economy. scholars has not been able to come to consensus on the topic capital structure with respect to performance however investing activities is inevitable for operation and survival of every firm, hence for a company to operate as a going concern it must evaluate its current financial structure. just like man cannot do without its skeletal structure in the same vein an entity cannot do without its investing activities because this is the foundation upon which an entity is beingbuilt. the combination of debt and equity is a very critical decision because any wrong combination will affect the performance and in the long run the going concern of the firm will be threaten i.e. it myth lead to bankruptcy. before an entity should decide to employ debt to finance its operations those at the helm of affair should first consider the available sources, the risk attached to the available sources and the strategic approach put in place to manage this fund. if proper strategic is not design before this fund is sourced and gotten it may compel some firms to engage in improper matching of its fund, some myth even engage in an aggressive approach i.e. using current debt to finance non-current capital investment or assets. in the same vein,if the firm decides to employ equity it must consider how it will maximize the shareholders wealth and at the same time knowing when to distribute dividend to its shareholders or retain the fund for future investment however dividend should not be paid out of capital. if the firm decides to employ both equity and fund to finance its operation, it should be strategically spell out proportionately prior its incorporation because this will help guide against mismatching both debt and equity. reason being that each of this element of capital structure has its own merits and demerits hence with a target capital structure already established the firm will go for the cheapest availablesources. akpotohwo, ayunku and ogeibiri (2018) the size of a business is determine by its capital structure, the firms may have various sources and if proper matching is done it will result to a win-win for both shareholders and other stakeholders such as creditors this because while dividend or capital appreciation accrue to shareholders, the firm is 176 | p a g e also able to meet her other financial obligation to its stakeholders, therefore the value of the firm is maximized and cost is minimize with proper matching. the capitalization of the firm is a determinant of its capital structure the firm may decides to employ equity shares, preference shares, non-current debt, return on equity to mention but a few however the onus is proper matching. most reader’s term to mistake financial structure for capital structure of a firm, while the later deals with total liabilities of the firm’s i.e. noncurrent debt and current debt, the formal only deals with non-current debts. in the same vein proper clarification must be made between capitalization and capital structure, capital structure is the combination of equity shares, preference shares, debentures and retained earnings, hence prior operations or the accounting year of a firm, the combination of equity share and non-current debt of the firm is the capital base or capitalization, if proper emphasized is not made and stated it may result to a wrong capital structure formation and computation. every financial manager is faced with three most critical decisions which are; what investment should the firm proposed resources be invested in, this must be strategically stated before he/she can move to the next critical decision; where can this fund/resources be gotten putting in mind risk minimization and the available cheapest sources; and the manager must also put in place strategic procedure on how to manage this fund so that firm can meet up to its financial obligation to all stakeholders. ross, westerfield and jordan (2008) capital structure is the combination of equity and debt owned by a particular entity, at particular stage of firm life cycle it will need funds and the size and the life span of the firm will help determine whether to borrow, divest or engaged in both process, this decision in long run may lead to capital restructuring i.e. this occurs when the entity change one of its capital structure without affecting its total assets structure, therefore if a firm capital structure decision is not careful planned the value of the firm will beaffected. oil and gas sector as at the time of carrying out this research there where twelve (12) firms listed on the nigeria exchange group (neg) and most of them engaged in both upstream and downstream activities they are: 11 plc; anino international plc; capital oil plc; conoil plc; eterna plc; forte oil plc; japaul oil & maritime servicesplc; mrs oil nigeria plc; oando plc; rak unity pet. comp. plc; seplat petroleum development company plc and total nigeria plc this companies are engaged either in one of these activities: coal extraction; coal and coal products distributors; crude oil and natural; gas extraction; petroleum refining; petroleum and petroleum products distributors; petroleum bulk stations and terminals; gasoline stations; energy equipment and services; field services; and integrated oil and gas services or the other. nse (2020) the companies listed this sector are involved in operating, developing oil and gas field properties and, the mainly involved in discovering, recovering and production of liquid hydrocarbons from oil and http://www.nse.com.ng/issuers/listed-securities/company-details?isin=ngmobil00007 http://www.nse.com.ng/issuers/listed-securities/company-details?isin=ngcapoil0007 http://www.nse.com.ng/issuers/listed-securities/company-details?isin=ngcapoil0007 http://www.nse.com.ng/issuers/listed-securities/company-details?isin=ngconoil0003 http://www.nse.com.ng/issuers/listed-securities/company-details?isin=ngjapauloil4 http://www.nse.com.ng/issuers/listed-securities/company-details?isin=ngjapauloil4 http://www.nse.com.ng/issuers/listed-securities/company-details?isin=ngoando00002 http://www.nse.com.ng/issuers/listed-securities/company-details?isin=ngseplat0008 177 | p a g e gas fields. they are involved in exploration, production, refining, marketing and transportation of the oil and gas product to the needed users, the most capitalized and liquid companies as at the time of carry this research are: conoil plc; ardova plc; mobil plc; mrs plc; oando plc; total plc; and seplate with following capitalization n12,438,395,473.65; n16,992,583,868.74; n82,687,963,836.65; n4,459,949,671.47; n29,660,708,926.97;n31,924,397,613.44 and n204, 821,472,713.20, thus far seplate plc is most capitalized among the listed firms on the nigeria exchange group as stated above. scholars have not be able to come to a consensus on issue of capital structure etale and uzakah (2019) opined that capital structure has no significant effect on firm performance however kpolode; edoumiekumo and alfred (2020), etale, edoumiekumo, kpolode, and nkak (2020) opined that capital structure has a significant impact on a firm performance. the firms under study play a great role in nigeria economy, this is due to the fact that a large proportion of her revenue comes from this sector, and over time the oil price has been fluctuating. review ofliteratures review of related literature investing activities cannot to be analyzed on its own therefore the financial statements is an inevitable statement with respect to investing activities. therefore the first and only the first step in assessing the investing activities and financial health of your business is through the financial statement of the entity, the process may also involve the comparison of different industry investing activities and performance with respect to other similar industry in other country and also with respect to industry standards over a period of time. theoretical literature the study will employ the pecking order theory, trade-off theory and agency theory to mention but a few which will also serve as guide to the researchers. pecking order theory rose, wester field and jordan (2008) opined that pecking order theory is one among many underpinning theories behind the investing activities of an entity, the proponent of this school of thought believed that whenever a firm is faced with financial needs, it’s should first look inward hence internal fund should be used for any economic activities however if not enough the entities can then source outside (external sources), the ideology behind this school of thought is that is less expensive i.e. using internal sources to finance economic activities carry lower financial risk therefore this school of thought opined that economic activities should be financed in the following order internal sources, debts and equity financing respectively. this theory also opined that 178 | p a g e employees of the entities know more about the entity (information asymmetric) hence influences the cost and risk of financing economic activities and also influences the investing activities of an entities. trade-off theory this one of the underpinning theory behind the investing activities of an entity, the decision on what sources of finance to adopt in financing the economic activities of the firm involves a critical economic and financial trade-off, the proportion of internal financing, debt of equity employed by the firm will affect the investing activities and invariably affect the performance of the entity, hence if all the sources are available to the entity, the pros and cons must be consider before taking any critical economic and financial decision. some scholar’s believed that it is better to finance an entity economic activities with debt rather than employ equity, the proponent and followers of this school of thought believed that debt financing give the entity tax shield unlike equity financing. agency theory this theory demonstrate the nexus between the principal (mainly the shareholders) and the agent (usually the managers and caretakers of shareholder funds). both parties have interest in the entity, the agent have a fiduciary responsibility of maximizing shareholders wealth, although this comes with some associated cost. lawal, edwin, monica and adisa (2014) in their study of effects of capital structure on firm’s performance opined that berle and means (1932) was the first proponent of this theory and found out that ownership and control of large corporation become more separated due to the ceaseless dilution of equity ownership. hence because of the dispersed ownership managers are prone to likely pursue selfish interest instead of the interest of the owners, this moral hazard will lead to monitoring and bonding cost. jensen and meckling (1976) opined that in order to minimize the moral hazard (agency cost) an optimal debt level in capital structure should be maintained in order to avoid divergent interest of agents with principals and other stakeholders such as debt holders. empirical literature etale, edoumiekumo, kpolode, and nkak (2020) investigated the nexus between capital structure and firm’s performance of quoted industrial goods listed on nigeria stock exchange by employing five secondary data ranging from 2014 to 2019 (six year) using the multiple regression model in testing their hypotheses of their and found out that capital structure has a statistical significant relationship with performance however one of the component of their capital structure has a negative relationship with performance, therefore recommended that long term financing should be consider first when deciding the capital structure component of an entity and also proper matching should be carried out between debt and equity. 179 | p a g e kpolode; edoumiekumo and alfred (2020) employed a paired t-test to examined capital structure with respect to performance of 11 plc formally mobil oil nigeria plc prior the change of its name and post the change of its name using secondary data from 2013 to 2019 and found out that, capital structure significantly and statistically influences the performance of the entity prior and post the change of its name therefore recommended that entities that intend to change its name should engage in more sensitization for a specific duration of time to keep stakeholders and the public at large abreast before it change its name. uremadu and onyekachi (2019) collated data from consumer goods firm sector of nigeria economy and investigated the effect of capital structure on corporate performance by employing the multiple regression of ordinary least square analytical technique and found out that capital structure has a negative and insignificant effect on corporate performance of the consumer goods firm sector of nigeria therefore opined that capital structure is not a major determinant of firm performance, hence recommended that managers and stakeholders should finance its economic activities via internal sources such as retained earnings and also managers need to becarefulwhenusingdebtasasourceoffinancingeconomicactivitiesanddebtshouldbecons iderasalast option as this is negate the pecking order theory, therefore corporate firms should use more of equity than debt in financing their business activities. ngwoke and sergius (2019) investigated the impact of capital structure on financial performance of listed food and beverage companies in nigeria with secondary data ranging from 2007 to 2016 by using the expost facto research design and multiple regression analysis was employed by using e-view statistical package and discovered that capital structure which was represented by current debt had a significant and positive effect on performance which was represented by return on equity however long term debt has no significant statistical relationship with performance therefore recommended that entities should consider equity first as a source of financing economic activities before any other sources. ganiyu, adelopo, rodionova and samuel (2019) employed secondary data to investigate the effect and relationship of capital structure on entities performance in nigeria by employing dynamic panel model on panel data of 115 listed non-financial entities in generalized method of moments estimation method in a regression model and found out that there was a significant statistical nexus exist between capital structure and entities performance when moderate debt was employed however a non-monotonic relationship exist between capital structure and entities performance when excessive debt was employed, and also discovered that most entities in nigeria finance its 180 | p a g e economic activities through short term finances therefore concurred with the portability of the agency cost theory. ezenwakwelu, onyeama, osanebi, emengini and abugu (2019) investigated the capital structure determinants and performance of startup firms in developing economies like nigeria via conceptual review by employing secondary data and found out that levered firms has more tax sheltered than unlevered firms, the more a firm is levered, the higher the rate of return to the equity holders however when the net operating income is weak unlevered firms will perform better than the levered firms also if the net operating income of an firm is strong and is also very levered it will propelled the rate of return to increase, therefore opined that the level of debt and equity in an entity has implication on the capital structure and associated risk on performance hence recommended that entities should keep an optimal capital structure. fredrick and eboiyehi (2018) employed the panel corrected standard error (pcse) technique to examined the impact of capital structure on corporate firms financial distress of manufacturing firms in nigeria by employing variables such as corporate financial distress, capital structure, firm size, assets tangibility, revenue growth, profitability and age of firms and found out that capital structure, firm growth and firm size influences corporate financial distress negatively however variables such as age of firms, profitability and asset tangibility influences corporate financial distress positively, therefore recommended that the central bank of nigeria should give preferential treatment to manufacturing sector by lower cost of borrowing, managers and stakeholders should be cautious when planning the entity capital structure, internal sources of fund should be used to finance economic activities rather than external source, and government should give preferential tax treatment to entity in the manufacturing sector. odusanya, yinusa and bamidele (2018) employed secondary data from nigeria stock exchange to investigated the factors behind a firm profitability for 114 firms ranging from 1998 to 2012 by employing the system generalized method of moments, and found out that short-term leverage, inflation rate, interest rate and financial risk have significant negative impact on firm profitability however lagged profitability has a significant positive impact on contemporaneous firm profitability therefore recommended that the cost of borrowing to the real sector of the economy should be reduced in order to minimize costs of production, enhance productivity and profitability and also necessary macroeconomic policies should be put in place by the government to curb the rising inflation rate in the economy. ajibola, wisdom and qudus (2018) employed secondary data ranging from 2005 to 2014 to investigated the impact of capital structure on financial performance of quoted 181 | p a g e nigeria manufacturing firms by employing the panel ordinary least square model and found out that there was a statistically significant nexus between non-current debt ratio which is an element of capital structure and the entity performance which was represented return on equity however a positive statistically insignificant nexus between performance and current debt ratio also a negative insignificant nexus between all other proxies of capital structure with respect to the other proxies of performance (return on asset) therefore opined that return on equity is the best performance measure with respect to that capital structure of an entity and entities should employ non-current debts in financing her economic activities hence recommended that all entities should make good capital structures decision to in order to improve its performance. oladele, omotosho and adeniyi (2017) employed secondary data ranging from 2004 to 2013 and examined the impact of capital structure on the performance of fifty eight nigerian listed manufacturing firms by employing multiple regression model and found out that capital structure has no significant impact on performance which was represented by return on equity however a significant impact exist with respect to return on assets, earnings per share therefore recommended that investors and stakeholders should consider the leverage level of an entity before committing their funds into an entity and management of nigerian quoted manufacturing firms should work very hard to optimize the capital structure of their quoted firms in order to increase the returns on equity, assets and earnings per share. birru (2016) examined commercial banks in ethiopia with respect to capital structure and financial firm performance by employing selected for a period of five years with secondary data ranging from 2011 to 2015 by employing multiple regression models his founding revealed that capital structure has a negative nexus with performance and statistically significant. muchiri, muturi and ngumim (2016) examined the nexus between financial structure and financial performance of listed firms at the east africa securities exchanges by employing secondary data ranging from 2006 to 2014 using the feasible generalized least squares approach based on hausman specification test and discovered that when the variables are combined, financial structure had a significant positive and negative nexus with return on equity and return on assets respectively however in isolation short term debt, long term debt, retained earnings and external equity had insignificant negative relationship with financial performance which was represented by return on assets although an insignificant positive nexus with return on equity, therefore recommended that entities combine both debt and equity in their financial, governments should grow and maintain their upward gross domestic product flow because this influences financial structure and also firms’ stakeholders and managers should study their financial market to understand the economy and the trend of the market. 182 | p a g e javed, younas and imran (2014) collated secondary data of 63 companies listed on karachi stock exchange and examined the effect of capital structure on firm with data ranging from 2007 to 2011 by employing fixed effects model which served as the pooled regression model and found out that there is significant relationship between capital structure and entities performance however is a mixed relationship, therefore opined that capital structure has impact on firm performance hence recommended that managers and stakeholder should be careful in making decisions that will determine the capital structure of an entity. akinyomi and olagunju (2013) obtained ten years secondary data and evaluated the factors behind of capital structure of selected manufacturing firms listed on nigeria stock exchange using regression analysis and a descriptive research design via random sample with a culminating 240 firm-year observations and found out that capital structure has a negative relationship with firm size and tax on one hand and a positive relationship with tangibility of assets, profitability and growth on the other hand, however tangibility of assets and firm size has a significant relationship. chandrasekharan (2012) investigated the factor behind the capital structure of listed nigerian firms employing secondary data employed from panel reviewed ranging from 2007 to 2011 (ten years) using multiple regression and found out that size, age, growth, profitability and tangibility are strong factors behind nigerian firms leverage, therefore opined in order to have an optimum financing mix during debt financing decisions stakeholders most especially nigeria listed entity should installed and accurately evaluate the age, size, growth, profitability and tangibility of the firms. salawu (2009) employed secondary data from 50 non-financial quoted companies and nigeria stock exchange fact books ranging from 1990 to 2004 to examine the impact of the capital structure on the entities profitability using ordinary least squares model, fixed effect model and random effect model statistical analysis approach and found out that profitability which is a measure of performance has a positive relationship with current debt and equity which served as an element of capital structure however inverse relationship exist with non-current therefore opined that nigeria entities rely so much on external financing, therefore recommended that entities should implement an efficient and effective credit policy that will improve the performance and growth of this entities and managers of the entities should also be keen about the capital structure of the entity because it influences the performance. 183 | p a g e conceptual literature the operationalizing variables for this study are examined below: return on equity ratio: this is a proxy for measuring company’s performance for the study, ajibola, wisdom and qudus (2018) opined that the best measure to be used in evaluating a company performance is the return on equity, which is adopted for the study. etale (2020) opined that the best way to measure or evaluate shareholder wealth maximization is by using return on equity. this can be mathematical expressed as the profit after tax for the respective companies divided by the equity share fund of the various entities, prospective investors will always prefer entities that pay or give more return entities. equity to capital employed ratio: this is an element of investing activities for the study, which is derived as equity fund for the various entities divided by capital employed by the various entities for the study, this also indicate the value of funds employed by the various entities to finance its economic activities with respect to her equity fund, the more the equity employed the better the chance of the entities to get more bargaining power and more incentives such as discount. debt to equity ratio: this is an element of investing activities for the study, this can be derived by noncurrent debt of the entities divided by equity fund of the various entities, this also show the financial commitment of the entities to the external stakeholders such creditors, a higher debt to equity ratio indicates more available fund for the entities to carryout it economic activities however the higher risk and financial obligation associated with that entity. methodology research methodology in this chapter (three), the we (researchers) will be discussing the research design, the population of the study, sample and sampling techniques, method of data collection, ratio analysis, method of data analysis techniques, reasons for using regression analysis and model specification. research design this refers to structure, plan and strategy that we intend to use in order to obtain the reliable information and answers to the research questions stated in chapter one of the research above. the design of this research work involves the use of secondary data (descriptive analysis) also known as the ex post facto (afterthefact) research design, with this approach the researcher does not possess the power in any way to influence or massage the study variables that will be used to determine the implication of investing activities on performance of oil and gas sector firms listed on nigeria stock exchange 184 | p a g e population as at the time of carrying out this research the feasible population of this study consists of twelve (12) firms listed on the nigeria exchange group (neg) oil and gas sector which are: 11 plc; anino international plc; capital oil plc; conoil plc; eterna plc; forte oil plc; japaul oil & maritime services plc; mrs. oil nigeria plc; oando plc; rak unity pet. comp. plc; seplat petroleum development company plc and total nigeria plc, on the average they engage both downstream and upstream activities. sampling and sample techniques the sample for this study was selected base on the availability of data on nigeria exchange group and companies website, this is the due to the fact that our research design is based on ex post facto therefore, eight (8) firms which are: 11 plc formally mobil oil nigeria plc, anino international plc, coinoil plc, eterna plc, ardova plc formally fortoil, japaul oil and maritime service plc, seplat petroleum development company plc and total nigeria plc. the selected firms are equivalent 67% of the population for the study, therefore financial statement of the listed companies with data ranging from 2013 to 2020 we reanalyzed. method of data collection the data were collected from the following source: secondary source: the secondary source of data collection for this study includes; published data on the nigerian stock exchange and the various companies web-site. i.e., using the financial statement of the various companies to analyzed the impact of investing activities on their performance from 2013 to 2020 (eight years period). data analysis techniques the researcher choose to represent the data collected in tables of frequency, using simple percentage (ratios) method of analysis, thus the statistical method used for testing the hypotheses will be the regression analysis, which was also used by etale, edoumiekumo, kpolode, and nkak, (2020) etale and uzakah (2019) to mention but afew. reasons for using regression analysis regression analysis is a set of statistical model processes for estimating the relationships between an output, also known as the dependent and independent variablesin order to achieve an outcome which will be used in making crucial decisions (rawlings, pantula & dickey,1989). http://www.nse.com.ng/issuers/listed-securities/company-details?isin=ngmobil00007 http://www.nse.com.ng/issuers/listed-securities/company-details?isin=ngcapoil0007 http://www.nse.com.ng/issuers/listed-securities/company-details?isin=ngconoil0003 http://www.nse.com.ng/issuers/listed-securities/company-details?isin=ngjapauloil4 http://www.nse.com.ng/issuers/listed-securities/company-details?isin=ngoando00002 http://www.nse.com.ng/issuers/listed-securities/company-details?isin=ngseplat0008 http://www.nse.com.ng/issuers/listed-securities/company-details?isin=ngseplat0008 http://www.nse.com.ng/issuers/listed-securities/company-details?isin=ngseplat0008 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/independent_variable https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/independent_variable 185 | p a g e model specification the above variables will tested using regression analysis with the help e-view 9.0 the model is stated as follows: roe = f (ecr,der) this can be expressed into an equation as follows: roe = β0+ β1 ecr+ β2der +μ where: roe = return on equity served as a measure of firms performance (the dependent variable). ecr= equity to capital employed ratio, serve as an independent variables and also a component of investing activities in the study. der = debt to equity ratio, served as an independent variables and also a component of investing activities in the study. β0= server as intercept or constant termβ1, β2, β3= served as the parameters or coefficients of the independent variables to be estimated through the regression. μ = is the error term of the regression equation (stochastic variable) results and discussion offindings in this chapter we will be presenting and analyzing the data of the study, and the chapter also tests the hypotheses, and presents the study’s findings. data presentation the data collected from nigeria exchange group and the companies’ web-site were presented and analyzed in this chapter. therefore the analysis is based on secondary data of the following companies: : 11 plc formally mobil oil nigeria plc, anino international plc, coinoil plc, eterna plc, ardova plc formally fortoil, japaul oil and maritime service plc, seplat petroleum development company plc and total nigeria. table4.1.1: operationalizing values (tableone) year profit aftertax (n'000) noncurrentde bt (n'000) capitalem ployed (n'000) equity (n'000) 2020 72,333,815 368,591,27 5 1,016,586,2 60 647,994, 985 2019 43,287,945 154,474,34 8 340,062,94 6 185,588, 598 2018 31,942,001 183,092,04 6 457,821,95 4 274,729, 908 2017 13,491,928 436,620,86 899,496,97 462,876, http://www.nse.com.ng/issuers/listed-securities/company-details?isin=ngseplat0008 186 | p a g e 5 3 108 2016 -35,522,432 326,481,49 8 656,614,63 5 330,133, 137 2015 -122,954,507 383,871,06 3 704,832,67 2 320,961, 609 2014 28,018,128 123,433,63 3 502,591,60 5 379,157, 972 2013 9,855,640 143,718,81 0 415,381,52 8 271,662, 718 source: author’s computations, from companies’ financialstatements. table one above showed the combined computed profit after tax for the respective eight firms listed on the oil and gas sector of nigeria exchange group from 2019 to 2012 which are: 72,333,815, 43,287,945, 31,942,001,13,491,928,-35,522,432,122,954,507,28,018,128and9,855,640allvaluesareinthousandsof naira respectively. from the reported profit calculated above, we can deduce that the firms reported its highest profit after tax in 2019 and lowest profit (negative figure) in 2014. the firms reported a negative profit between the periods of 2015 to 2014, this was due the nosedived of oil of price, output and export between the periods, this was also seconded by the graphical presentation in the statement of the problem of the study in chapter one. table one above showed the combined computed non-current debt for the respective eight firms listed on the oil and gas sector of nigeria exchange group from 2020 to 2013 which are: 368,591,275, 154,474,348, 183,092,046, 436,620,865, 326,481,498, 383,871,063, 123,433,633 and 143,718,810 all values are in thousands of naira respectively. the values presented depicted that the firms highest non-current debt was reported in 2017 (n436,620,865,000) while its lowest values was reported in 2014 (n123,433,633,000). table one above showed the combined computed capital employed for the respective eight firms listed on the oil and gas sector of nigeria exchange group from 2020 to 2013 which are: 1,016,586,260, 340,062,946, 457,821,954, 899,496,973, 656,614,635, 704,832,672, 502,591,605 and 415,381,528 all values are in thousands of naira respectively. from the reported profit calculated above, we can deduce that the firms reported its highest capital employed in 2020 (1,016,586,260,000) while its lowest values was reported in 2019 (340,062,946,000). table one above showed the combined computed equity for the respective eight firms listed on the oil and gas sector of nigeria exchange group from 2020 to 2013 which are: n647,994,985, n185,588,598, n274,729,908, n462,876,108, n330,133,137, n320,961,609, n379,157,972 and n271,662,718 all values are in thousands of naira 187 | p a g e respectively. from the reported profit calculated above, we can deduce that the firms reported its highest capital employed in 2020 (647,994,985,000) while its lowest values was reported in 2019 (185,588,598,000). operationalizing ratios (tabletwo) year roe ecr der 2020 0.1116 0.6374 0.5688 2019 0.2332 0.5457 0.8323 2018 0.1163 0.6001 0.6664 2017 0.0291 0.5146 0.9433 2016 -0.1076 0.5028 0.9889 2015 -0.3831 0.4554 1.1960 2014 0.0739 0.7544 0.3255 2013 0.0363 0.6540 0.5290 source: author’s computations, from companies’ financialstatements. table two above showed the computed return on equity ratio (roe) for the respective eight firms listed on the oil and gas sector of nigeria exchange group from 2020 to 2013 which are: 0.1116, 0.2332, 0.1163, 0.0291, -0.1076, -0.3831, 0.0739 and 0.0363 respectively, the presented also depicted that the return on equity has a negative ratios in 2015 and 2014, this was as a result of the negative profit (-35,522,432,000 and 122,954,507,000) reported in the two periods respectively, which is also as the result of the nosedived of the oil price, production and export. from the above (table two) we can deduce that the firms has its highest returns on equity in 2019 (0.2332) while its lowest return on equity ratio was in 2015(-0.3831). table two above showed the computed equity to capital employed ratio (ecr) for the respective eight firms listed on the oil and gas sector of nigeria exchange group from 2019 to 2012 which are: 0.6374, 0.5457, 0.6001, 0.5146, 0.5028, 0.4554, 0.7544 and 0.6540 respectively, from the calculated ecr above (table two) showed that the firms has its highest ratio in 2014 (0.7544) which is the prior the nosedived of oil price, production and export of oil, while its lowest ecr was in 2015 (0.4554) which in the period oil price, oil production and exportnosedived. table two above showed the computed debt to equity ratio (der) for the respective eight firms listed on the oil and gas sector of nigeria exchange group from 2020 to 2013 which are: 0.5688, 0.8323, 0.6664, 0.9433, 0.9889, 1.1960, 0.3255 and 0.5290 respectively, from the calculated der above (table two) showed that the firms has its highest ratio in 2015 (1.1960) this may likely be as a result of the nosedived of oil price, 188 | p a g e production and export, therefore more debt was obtained by them to keep the firm afloat and to meet up with other financial obligations, while its lowest der was in 2014 (0.3255) prior the nosedived of oil price, production and export ofoil. descriptive statistics (tablethree) roe ecr der mean 0.013712 0.583050 0.756275 median 0.055100 0.572900 0.749350 maximum 0.233200 0.754400 1.196000 minimum -0.383100 0.455400 0.325500 std.dev. 0.187017 0.097434 0.285025 skewness -1.201105 0.426632 0.036945 kurtosis 3.676599 2.222903 1.978437 jarque-bera 2.076131 0.443979 0.349684 probability 0.354139 0.800924 0.839590 sum 0.109700 4.664400 6.050200 sum sq.dev. 0.244827 0.066454 0.568676 observations 8 8 8 source: author’s computations, e-view9.0. table three above showed the summary of the descriptive statistics of the study variables. the table showed that roe (dependent variable), ecr (independent variable) and der (independent variable) has the mean of: 0.013712, 0.583050 and 0.756275 respectively, der has the highest value while roe has the lowest value. the maximum values of roe, ecr and der as shown in table three above are: 0.233200, 0.754400 and 1.196000 respectively, der has the highest value while roe has the lowest value. the minimum values of roe, ecr and der as shown in table three above are: -0.383100, 0.455400 and 0.325500 respectively. table three above also showed the standard deviation of roe, ecr and der are: 0.187017, 0.097434 and 0.285025, from the listed values der is most dispersed while ecr is the least dispersed. furthermore the jarque-bera statistics and the associated probability values showed that roe, ecr and der has a probability values of: 0.354139, 0.800924 and 0.839590respectively, from the above (table three) depicted that the variables are normally distributed, since the values are greater than the 5% significant level. 4.4 correlati on analysis (tablefour) roe ecr der roe 1.0000 ecr 0.5497 1.0000 189 | p a g e der -0.6480 -0.9882 1.0000 source: author’s computations, e-view9.0. table four above show the relationship between the operationalizing variables in the study. the above (table four) depicted that roe has positive relationship with ecr (0.5497) however the relation between roe and der is negative relationship (0.6480). ecr has negative nexus with der(-0.9882). multiple regression output (tablefive) dependent variable:roe method: leastsquares date: 11/11/21 time:20:28 sample: 20132020 included observations:8 variable coefficie nt std.error t-statistic prob. c 6.535118 2.260659 2.890802 0.0342 ecr 7.393806 2.692624 2.745948 0.0405 der 2.922808 0.920460 3.175377 0.0247 r-squared 0.768688 mean dependentvar 0.013712 adjustedr-squared 0.676164 s.d. dependentvar 0.187017 s.e. ofregression 0.106425 akaike infocriterion -1.362756 sum squaredresid 0.056631 schwarzcriterion -1.332965 loglikelihood 8.451023 hannanquinncriter. -1.563681 f-statistic 8.307926 durbinwatsonstat 2.680018 prob(f-statistic) 0.025733 source: author’s computations, e-view9.0. discussion of findings the regression output above (table five) showed that the coefficient of determination (r-squared) value of 0.77 approximately which indicates that 77% of changes in the dependent variable are accounted for by the combined effect of fluctuation in the 190 | p a g e independent variables. in the same vein the adjusted rsquared value of 0.68% approximately, indicates that the model used is appropriate and good fit to be used in testing our hypotheses for the study. this also indicate that there is high confidence level for acceptance of the goodness of fit for the model under study. probability value of the f-statistic 0.025733 above showed that our model is statistically significant at 5% level with a durbinwatson statistics(2.68). in summary, the regression output used in investigating the implication of investing activities (ecr and der) on performance (roe) of oil and gas sector firms listed on nigeria exchange group indicated strong significant nexus between the explanatory variables and response variable, therefore the null hypotheses for the study are rejected. we can therefore confidently say base on the regression output that investing activities does significantly impact firm performance. hypothesis testing in this section, our null hypotheses for the study is been tested against the alternative hypotheses. hypothesis one h01 there is no significant implication of equity to capital ratios (ecr) on the performances of oil and gas sector firms listed on the nigeria exchange group. the decision is based on 5% significant level, which means the null hypothesis should be accepted if the calculated p-value is greater than 5%, otherwise reject. from table five above ecr (element of investing activities) has a coefficient of -7.393806, and statistical value of 0.0405 which is within the 5% significant level. therefore we can conclude that investing activities has statistical significant impact on performance, therefore we reject our null hypothesis for our study. hypothesis two ho2 there is no significant implication of debt-to-equity ratios (der) on the performances of oil and gas sector firms listed on the nigeria exchange group. the decision is based on 5% significant level, which means the null hypothesis should be accepted if the calculated p-value is greater than 5%, otherwise reject. from table five above der (element of investing activities) has a coefficient of -2.922808, and statistical value of 0.0247which is within the 5% significant level. therefore, we can conclude that investing activities has statistically significant impact on performance, therefore we reject our null hypothesis for our study. conclusion andrecommendations in this chapter we will be summarizing the finding of this study, drawing conclusion and making recommendations. 191 | p a g e summary of finding we analyzed the implication of investing activities (ecr and der) on performance (roe) of oil and gas sector firms listed on nigeria exchange group with secondary data extracted from eight (8) companies’ website and nigeria exchange group with data ranging from 2020 to 2013 applied using regression with the help of eview. the researchers were propelled to carry out the study due the different scholars view on investing activities with respect to performance such as etale and uzakah (2019) who opined that investing activities has no significant impact on performance however kpolode, edoumiekumo and alfred (2020) etale, edoumiekumo, kpolode, and nkak (2020) opined that investing activities has a significant impact on a firm performance. another driven force behind the study is also due to the fact that nigeria get a large proportion of her revenue from this sector, furthermore the fluctuation rate associated with this sector output has drawn the researcher’s interest also to look into the impact of investing activities on the performance of the firms. investing activities play a critical role in every entity and if proper matching is not made by an entity it can drastically affect the going concern principle and in turn affect nigeria economic growth. therefore this study will be of significant values to key stakeholders such as internal (stakeholders and employees) and the same time it will also be of significant values to the external stakeholders such: the government, creditors, and prospective investors to mention but a few. in view of the above the researchers hypothesized a significant nexus between investing activities of oil and gas sector firms listed on nigeria exchange group using two variables such as equity to capital employed ratio (ecr) and debt to equity ratio (der) to represent investing activities and performance is represent by return on equity. the study hypotheses were analyzed using the simple regression with the help of e-view statistical package. our findings revealed that: equity to capital employed ratio (ecr) which is an element of investing activities has a coefficient of 7.393806, and statistical value of 0.0405 which is within the 5% significant level. therefore we can conclude that investing activities has statistical significant impact on performance, therefore we reject our null hypothesis for our study; and debt to equity ratio (der) which is an element of investing activities has a coefficient of -2.922808, and statistical value of 0.0247which is within the 5% significant level. therefore we can conclude that investing activities has statistical significant impact on performance, therefore we reject our nullhy pothesis for our study. 192 | p a g e conclusion in view of the research findings, we concluded that: the statistical and empirical evidence from the study thus far on the implication of investing activities (ecr and der) and performance (roe) of oil and gas sector firms listed on nigeria exchange group showed that investing activities has a significant impact on performance. eight (8) firms was used for the study such as: 11 plc formally mobil oil nigeria plc, anino international plc, coinoil plc, eterna plc, ardova plc formally fortoil, japaul oil and maritime service plc, seplat petroleum development company plc and total nigeria plc. with data from 2020 to 2013, the result show that the companies experience a weak level of activities between the period of 2016 and 2015 however the company recovered in 2017 and recorded its highest return on equity in 2019(0.2332). in a nutshell the findings also revealed that a negative profit doesn’t opined an extinction of an entity however if leverage is sorted and properly matched it can lead to an entity recovery, which was depicted in the study in table one and two above i.e. when the firms experienced financial downturn the resorted to borrowing more which helped them recovered in the short run. recommendations based on the research findings regarding the implication of investing activities (ecr and der) and performance (roe) of oil and gas sector firms listed on nigeria exchange group showed that investing activities has a significant impact on performance, we therefore recommended that: i. the creditors should not hesitate to give loan to firms and most especially the oil and gas companies because they play a great role in the economy; ii. managers should source for external sources of financing to boost its activities before internal sources, the findings above revealed that the external sources has helped revitalized the sector; iii. the government should create an enabling environment for firms in this sector to operate effectively and efficiently; iv. the government should also make soft loans available to entity during a financial challenging periods just like what happened in 2016 and 2015 of the study; and v. manager should match its investing activities properly to avoid over matching and mismatching of financial resources, if this is not done it may affect company going concern negatively in the long run, which will result to employees lay off, shortfall of nigeria revenue flows from this sectors. http://www.nse.com.ng/issuers/listed-securities/company-details?isin=ngseplat0008 http://www.nse.com.ng/issuers/listed-securities/company-details?isin=ngseplat0008 193 | p a g e references: ajibola, a., wisdom, o., & qudus, o. l. (2018). capital structure and financial performance of listed manufacturing firms in nigeria. journal of research in international business and management, 5(1) pp.81-89. akinyomi, j. o., & olagunju, a. (2013). determinants of capital structure in nigeria. international journal of innovation and applied studies, 3(4),999-1005. akpotohwo, f. c., ayunku, p. e., & ogeibiri, c. (2018). financial management, (1st ed.). kelrich educational publishers, bayelsa, nigeria. berleand means (1932).the modern corporationand private property. birru, w. m. (2016). the impact of capital structure on financial performance of commercial banks in ethiopia. global journal of management and business research, 16(8),2249-4588. chandrasekharan, c. v. (2012). determinants of capital structure in the nigerian listed firms. international journal of advanced research in management and social sciences, 1(2),2278-6236. etale, l. m. & uzakah, t. (2019). capital structure and firm performance nexus in nigeria: a case study of aluminum extrusion company plc. european journal of accounting, auditing and finance research, 7(10),74-89. etale,l.m.(2020).dangotecementplccapitalstructureandfinancialperformancelinkin nigeria:empiricalanalysis. america international journal of business management, 3(8),1-10. etale, l. m., edoumiekumo, a. r., kpolode, o. p., & nkak, p. e. (2020). capital structure and performance of selected industrial goods firms on the nigerian stock market. journal of business and management, 22(7),42-48. ezenwakwelu, c., onyeama, c. a., osanebi, c. o., emengini, e. s. & abugu, j. o. (2019). capital structure determinants and performance of startup firms in developing economies: a conceptual review. academy of entrepreneurship journal, 25(3), 1528-2686. fredrick, i. & eboiyehi, o. c. (2018). capital structure and corporate financial distress of manufacturing firms in nigeria. journal of accounting and taxation, 10(7),78-84. ganiyu, o. y., adelopo, i., rodionova, y., & samuel, l. o. (2019). capital structure and firm performance in nigeria. african journal of economic review,7(1). javed,t.,younas,w.,&imran,m.(2014).impactofcapitalstructureonfirmperformance:e videncefrompakistanifirms. international journal of academic research in economics and management sciences, 3(5),2226-3624. jensen m. & meckling w. (1976). theory of the firm: managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure. journal of financial economics 3,305-360. jensen m. and meckling w. (1976). theory of the firm: managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure. journal of financial economics 3,305-360. 194 | p a g e kpolode, o. p., edoumiekumo, a. r., & alfred, a. d. (2020). 11 plc formally mobil oil nigeria plc a pre and post analysis of capital structure and performance. international journal of academic research in economics & management sciences, 9(2), 8188. bingilar paymaster f., et. al. (2021) “capital structure and financial performance of oil and gas companies listed on nigeria exchange group.” international journal of business and management invention (ijbmi), 10(08), 42-54. 203 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com the politics of gas flaring in nigeria niger-delta and the negating contours: the basis of the looming crisis okechukwu, groupson-paul uc. phd groupsonpaul@yahoo.com federal university ndufu alike ikwo (funai), abakaliki – ebonyi state, nigeria abstract nigeria flares 180bn cm of natural gas per year in relation to the exploration of crude oil in the niger delta. this gas flaring expends huge amounts of energy and causes environmental pollution, degradation and disease that is also prone to climate change with a huge implication to development and economic gains. the study tries to link oil exploration and exploitation trajectory as a cause of numerous environmental, health and social problems of the oil producing communities. the political intrigues show lack of sincerity in the management of the situation posed by the flaring. this study, utilizes primary and secondary data from a key informants drawn from the communities. analytical, historical and descriptive approaches with quantitative and qualitative methods were used in the investigation. the study revealed that carbon monoxide level of ambient air exists in many communities. the study finds out that the reduction of gas flaring can improve human health conditions. the work observed that nigerian loss huge fund for not making earnings from the wasted gas, therefore affecting the economy. the study finds that local livelihood in the niger delta had been totally decimated. the study is of the view that there should be a shift from flaring the associated gas to collecting it for use as a gaseous fuel and for electricity generation. the study suggests a viral economic and energy initiatives that would integrate all efforts and policies towards promoting development and improve the life of the people in the nigerian project. key words: pollution, climate change, gas flaring, global warming, politics black cloud, political intrigues, environmental degradation. introduction nigeria, an oil producing state among the nations of opec, whose natural endowment had turned out to make her an energy power house with huge wealth in the sub-saharan africa. the sixth (6th) oil producing country in the world, the largest economy in the continent, whose wealth and riches had not march the desires and yearn aspirations of her citizens’ wants and expectation due to some avalanche of problems like lopsided economy, quasi – authoritarian federal structure, ethnic chauvinism, hyper – corruptions dossier, poor leadership and the willful neglects of the teeming mass public, that invariably implicates and showcase the attributes of a failed human capital and infrastructural development state. according to investigation, oil production has been ongoing in nigeria mailto:groupsonpaul@yahoo.com 204 | p a g e the politics of gas flaring in nigeria niger-delta and the negating contours: the basis of the looming crisis okechukwu, groupson-paul uc. for more than 56 years together with the flaring of natural gas. but unfortunately, the devastation of this waste gas had never been brought to the fore. reasons being that the perpetrators and allies had been shielded in a political hocus – pocus paradigm of primitive accumulation and interest aggregations. thus, chijoke (2002:1) aptly argued that understanding why this unsustainable practice has lasted for such a long time in the country entails the unraveling of the dynamics of the political influence of the multinational corporations over natural resources management in developing countries like nigeria. the influences of this multinational corporation do not eliminate the political intrigues of government official and the elites within the circuit of the racket in niger-delta oil deals (douglas, 1995). agreed that nigeria is endowed with quiet a number of natural resources as well as human resources, of which some of the key resources found in the nigerian environment are limestone, bauxite, bronze, oil and gas, copper, natural forest and resources such as wild life amongst others. unfortunately, among these enormous resources, only crude oil is being harness over the years. there are also a lot of petroleum products being derived from this crude, amongst, which are the premier motor spirit (p.m.s) the diesel (agro), kerosene (dpk) low poor fuel oil (lpfo) high poor fuel oil (hpfo), methyl, vaseline jelly, benzene ethanoate, and methylated spirits amongst others. gas resources in the same vein has been in its large quantity of over 40trillion cubic feet as nigerian reserves, begging for exploitation and proper utilization. its existing quantity had also caused gas flaring over the years with the attendant effect on the immediate environment where the resources are located (niger delta). nowhere in the world have communities been subjected to gas flaring on such a scale as witnessed in nigeria niger-delta region. it is estimated that the cost of volume of gas in nigeria worth over us$2.5 billion annually whilst the roaring, toxic flares affect the health and livelihood of delta inhabitants. equating this to an estimated 66% of the people that live below poverty line, who are also the sufferers of this environmental degradations and diseases, puts the country at high risk of being under severances and disaster prone state. although, arguments had arisen as to whether the people or government are responsible, of which many had contended that it might be due to consistent neglect and marginalization on the part of government. gas flare contributes significantly to climate change and affects communities all over the world. with nigeria per capita gnp lowers than at independence, with rising political instability for a country that relied heavily on mono-economic index it is thereof an appalling waste of resources that the country cannot afford. 205 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com thus, the people of niger-delta, where the oil gush out as in a platform of honey comb are many at times made to see no reason that might warrant complains or protest from them. they are only good at been called the oil producing region of nigeria, whereas the euphoria and goodies that goes with such an accolade eludes the people whose life span had been half spent in the creek and half existing in a perpetual neglect and abandonment with degraded environment, poisoned water, dried up crops and collided and polluted air that defile human breathing. cyclical exploitation, dislocation, illegal combustion of oils and devastation of the region by both the activities of federal government of nigeria, the multinational corporation and the gullible elites amongst other interest groups had perpetually pose to denied the people the very available opportunities to taste a good life because of their crazy for cheap oil money that they termed a free gift to mankind. with this kind of attitude, however, one wonders whether if at all there is a responsible government in nigeria? why has everyone abandoned all other endowed natural resources to chase cheap oil money? why is the government so on disturbed with lack of feelings to the plight of the people of niger-delta where this gas flaring had caused a great deal of havoc? premised on this thrown up issues, this study shall examine the theoretical basis of this study, the historical over of niger-delta, the logic of the investigation, the effects of gas flaring on the followings: the environment, water, farm crops, infrastructures, aqualives and forestry among others. and the possible avenues where the government and the multinational corporation are implicated in their duties for failing to manage oil exploration and exploitation well to benefits of the people and growth of the economy. theoretical arguments mindful of the level of devastations, dislocation and distortions in the niger delta owing to the effects of gas flaring and oil exploration, the study adopts the theories of environmental pollution and environmental degradation. the above theories are combined in the course of the inquiries even though they are examined separately, while the link establishing them to be complementary tools to the research investigation vis-avis the events and activities in the niger delta that are brought to the fore. the first is the: theory of environmental pollution. speaking from the perspective of gas flaring, pollution, especially environmental pollution, which comprises of the air, water and land pollution, is otherwise, the sending of impure or unpleasant substances to the atmosphere or environment to either contaminates, or mixed with the air or water with adverse effects and or causes damages of dislocation to the ecosystem of the natural environment. this study in view of the menace of pollution to the environment in nigeria – niger delta, 206 | p a g e the politics of gas flaring in nigeria niger-delta and the negating contours: the basis of the looming crisis okechukwu, groupson-paul uc. and as an adopted theory emphasis that pollution, caused by gas flaring is real. some scholars of this school like heltland gloria e. (2010), bobak, m. leon (1999), peter maull tim (2010), pietro p. (2011), baiardi d. (2010), uchida emi (2005), robert stavins (2007), cameron trudy ann (2006) and rachel carson (1962) among others argued that pollution, which is destructive and hazardous to the environment and people are due to ambient air pollution that has a great effect on health, economy and human productivity. according to encyclopedia britainica (2002), the general principle that pollution (air), especially from gas flaring, occurs all the time, all day and has a consequential damaging effects on the people is there. this is because the degree of combustion and the emitted co2 into the atmosphere is a consistent daily event in human environment, which thereafter causes havoc on lives and living organisms. in support of this notion, mittermeier (2012) observed that pollution occur when the ecosystem are not safeguarded and are tenaciously exerted with forces greater than the capacity it can absorb. it affects people and society as man depends on nature for health and jobs even in international society. in a plain word, claudia (2002) aptly noted that pollution may reduce the prestige of people either in organization, occupation or environment. it shows the difference between other groups in work and housing in any environment, because a polluted environment can only be safe inside and can debase the working environment into isolation, especially, where the air is greatly affected. in the same vein, ezzati (2002) opined that air pollution is due to situational prevalence in many localities and states. this is because air pollution and poverty are seen as priority areas for public health intervention. meaning, that air pollution like gas flaring are more serious health problem as it affects both environment and people. complementing this further, heltand, berck and maull (2010) argued that physical pollution occurs because it is virtually impossible to have a productive process that involves no waste. they went further to accentuate that pollution occurs because polluting is less expensive than operating cleanly. implicit on these analogies, it is evidence that gas flaring causes air pollution. air pollution itself is destructive to human health, which can have adverse effect on both environment and the general society. however, this theory, combined with the next theory stands to give the study a clear basis for argument and analysis in arriving at our desired result. secondary, the theory of environmental degradtion. according to the scholars of this school, like meyers r. (1985) jack d. ives (1987), cameron truddy ann (2006) g.m.p. de silva (1991) and steven shavell (2010) among others, 207 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com environmental degradation create a huge loses to the economy and it is link to other problems that denied the environment the natural gifts that ought to benefit man. agreeing to this notion, de silva (1991) aptly noted that apart from destruction of forested areas, wetlands, grasslands and bodies of water arises because of the difference between the discount rate of the individual and the society as a whole, environmental degradation could be increase when the people (poor) presses for fuel, fodder, water, land cultivation and or explorations for natural resources. he went further to argue that it is the private increases on land or environmental exploration that create intense pressure, thereby devastating the land surface. this kind of exploitation on the environment for resources to sustain livelihood helps to add to the societal woos. in support of the notion, ives (1987) opined that environmental degradation in recent time shows that many areas or region are rapidly evolving crisis. this is because the theory on which development planning and implementation are based confuses cause and effect and ignores the great complexity of the region and the people. on this statement, meyers (1985) argued that environmental degradation is as a result of the cost of land clearance arising from exploitation of natural resources for financial gain that highlight the problems involved all too clearly, since these resources provide a myriad of functional processes, which go beyond the clearly tangible areas of providing food and product for commerce. he went further to state that the loggers, farmers and builders among others can create environmental degradation through their exploits of the range and grassland and water resources, which in turn creates dislocation and distortion on the environment. inference to these notions, shows that the desires to explore mineral resources and the fell of trees can result into a highly productive potential of the area being threatened, especially if the area or quality of the soil remains poor. therefore, environmental degradation combines with pollutions either land or air due to exploration and the inserting of high forces on the soil surface can be devastating to the environment. these combined actions are not in any way different from what the study observed and witnessed in the nigerian nigerdelta environment. imperative on this, the monumentus exploitation and cyclical exploration of oil in the region by both the indigenous and multinational corporations (mnc) bodies and allies has exposed the entire region into a risk environment clearly confirmed the havoc of pollution and environmental degradation. while this air pollution, water pollution, land degradation and distortion are vehemently noticed, the questions are: what are the government doing to stopping or reduce the level destructions? why are the people who had suffered such a terrible distortion on 208 | p a g e the politics of gas flaring in nigeria niger-delta and the negating contours: the basis of the looming crisis okechukwu, groupson-paul uc. their soil be abandoned to fate? what is the role of the niger-delta leaders toward ameliorating this degradations and sufferings? what are the risk of living in this kind of environment where life and society are hostile to the populace? has the present government being able to rise up to its responsibilities? historical overview of niger-delta oil and, gas flaring the area called the niger delta, which was formerly known as the oil rivers or the british oil rivers protectorate, with about 70,000km is made up of 7.5% of nigeria’s land mass of today abia state, akwa-ibom state, cross river state, edo state, imo state, delta state, rivers state, ondo state and bayelsa state due to government new legislation in 2000 (ifedike, 2012). the area also houses over 40 ethnic groups including the efik, ibibio, annang, oron, ijaw, itsekiri, igbo, isoko, urhobo, ilaje, yoruba and the kalabari amongst others. in nigeria, with the discovery of oil at olobiri in the oil rivers in the late 1950s, to which the development and exploration of crude expanded the sector for many years. gas flaring, at the same time began in nigeria (isiguzo, 2012). but one unfortunate thing is that while nigeria became the biggest producer of petroleum in black africa with an increase of over 2 million barrel (320,000m3) of crude in a day, gas flaring, and its hazards effects were not being appropriated or checkmated until this injurious period. thereby, increasing the level of environmental problems and human devastations records. these actions, according to anyanwu (2013), were noted to have been operated by multinational corporation (mostly, the royal dutch shell and shell bp, agip, chevron, conoco, slumberg, total and texaco among others) who in turn helped in providing the nigerian state with necessary technology and financial resources. the interest in this necessary aspect with the existed effective overture has a long term problematic consequences on the populace. thus, on whether it was probably ignored willfully or by sheer negligence left much to be desired with the attendant results as it was not long as expected before the causal effects. meanwhile, beginning from the period of oil exploration in nigeria, there had been international controversies, which seems to centre on who is actually in control, and what seems also to ask what are the fate of the host communities, all these lingered. with the internationalization of oil business and the concomitant drive for oil wealth by both friends and foes of nigeria with the connivance of the elites, apam (2011), observed that the stage was not only set for the effective actions that were central to the possible devastation, pollution ecocide, kleptocracy, gas flaring, environmental degradation and human rights abuses to which some of the multinational corporation were implicated in several quarters as been 209 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com anti-human in operation and cohabitation. however, from this period henceforth, one naughty event after the other followed. the question on who actually was in control of the nigeria oil wells in the niger-delta become an issue? what was the position of the military governments then? why do the multinational corporations resolved in using diplomatic recognition of regime to keep in power who does their biddings with a huge oil exchange as international praise-singers in the eye of the world? do the people of nigeria-niger delta have a say to the oil gushing out of their domain? how enlightened were they to fight the course of the itemized issues in controversy? does this suggest that the niger delta problem was not contemporary, but from the origin of discovery to exploration, and now to the advance exploration era? on this lingered questions, this study tends to points out at the whole problem of gas flaring as one aspects of the numerous problems of the niger delta region. the pains of the affected communities and people might not probably be a disturbance to the government that is driven by the quantum of revenue generation through oil exploration. the burning of gas into the air and the unconcerned attitude of government points to the premeditated years of neglect of the people of the region. thus, partly agreeing with dede (2010) that despite the huge economic gains on oil, that one naivety that had confronted the whole situation, particularly on the government side, was the issue of not minding the devastating effect of oil exploration, but only interested in the wealth and turnover. a crude idea of capitalist orientation where life and destruction means nothing compared to value and gains of profit. meaning that the issue of gas flaring is not what government can waste resources in tackling headlong, a political intrigues portraying the government and their international partners the multinational corporations, as not concerned to the health hazard and its detrimental effects on the communities. in support of this ifedike (2012:2-3), argued that the superfluous quantity of oil, together with gas extraction comprising of over 97% of nigeria’s foreign exchange revenue was what the parties were concerned of. this is because the natural gas extracted in oil wells in the delta is immediately burned or flared, thereby causing over 70 million m3 per day that also formed the largest single source of greenhouse gas emission on the planet earth. the consequence of this hereby implies that climate change devastation, could be imminent in the delta region and the sub-saharan africa in general. in the word of climate of justice programme (2005), and the urhobo historical society (2003), this constitute the biggest gas flaring in nigeria. the activities of these multinational corporations however failed to attend to 210 | p a g e the politics of gas flaring in nigeria niger-delta and the negating contours: the basis of the looming crisis okechukwu, groupson-paul uc. the problems of this region as if they do not exist on the same earth surface. the region, their protests and campaigns were seen as baseless, economic sabotage and treasonable crime against the nigerian state, since the federal government by law owed all land and its resources. this attitude, stanley (2013) observed, is the cause of the consistent restiveness and aggressive orientations on the helpless, jobless, hopeless and confused youths of the region even to this day. the logic of investigations of gas flaring in niger delta and the damaging effects on the local communities on field investigation, this study took a tour of six gas flaring sites located in six communities in the heart of niger delta as there were several, and other pockets of oil explorations sites. such communities as: ebocha – egbema, oboma, rumuekpe, patani, bomadi and okpoloma among others formed the study locations and sites. the sample populations are the men, women and even visitors to these communities. under the sample and sampling procedure, the study concentrated on the members of the local communities within the six chosen communities, and possibly residents. imperative on the inquiry, the following data were collected and analyzed, thus: the inquiry utilizes both primary and secondary data. the primary data adopts perceptive study that is, getting to know how the inhabitants or the people in the niger delta communities perceive gas flare in the area; how the people feel about gas flare. in this process, a few unstructured questions were posed to them in order to get the perceptions of dwellers about the hazard. the questions, between five and ten or more were used in the selected communities, especially ebochaegbema community that was used as the research base, so as to get the necessary information needed for the work. the questions are designed to get accommodate personal information of persons, which was never a barrier nor was it taken into cognizance in the course of analysis as they were all victims of the same gas flaring. the second group of questions was designed to get the causes of gas flaring in the niger delta. while the third sets of questions are designed to get the impact, effect and problems created by gas flaring amongst the visited communities and the possibility of how gas flaring can be control and or useful to the host communities and the nation in particular, since gas flaring itself is an artificial phenomenon which occurs in the niger delta. the interview, which was on the key informants in the selected communities, was obtained using the simple percentage level of the response with chi-square as a means of analysis. although, as stated earlier, among the socio-economic characteristic of the people, the sex of the respondents, percentage responses, and effect of gas 211 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com flares had remained imperative in the course of interacting with people of the selected communities, which was duly considered as victims of the causes of gas flaring. table 1: distribution of population by sex. sex distribution a b c d e f total % male 9 7 6 6 7 5 40 57.2% female 6 5 6 5 4 4 30 42.8% total 15 12 12 11 11 9 70 100 source: fieldwork, february 2014. where the alphabets in the table above represents the name of the sites as follows: a = ebocha-egbema, b = oboma, c = rumuekpe, d = patani, e =bomadi and f = okpoloma. in general observation, it is noted that of the people interviewed as above, that 57.2% (40) are male while 42.8% (30) are female as seen in the data above. from table 1, above, shows the distribution of response per sex and the total number thereof. it is clear that majority of those interviewed in the course of the inquiry are male population from ebochaegbema (9), bomadi (7) and oboma (7). while rumuekpe (6) and patani (6) have equal number of key informants. it is only okpoloma (5) that have less respondents amongst the interviewed informants. however, to get the percentage of the responses, some of the unstructured questions put before the respondents are: is gas flaring an environmental friendly? does it boost the health condition of the people? is it economically advantageous to means of livelihood? does it have any negative effect on the communities experiencing it? does gas flaring have human factor or artificial factor? is it prone to unhealthy living? does government cum agents or oil firms have stake in gas flaring hazards on the people? what is the probability that government cum oil firms are not benefiting from the wastage of gas flaring? sequel to the posed questions above, the responses obtained was grouped into a simple percentage sum as shown below according to the responses from individual communities for simplicity and easy comprehend since the selected communities are victims of the same hazard – gas flaring. 212 | p a g e the politics of gas flaring in nigeria niger-delta and the negating contours: the basis of the looming crisis okechukwu, groupson-paul uc. table 2 percentage of response from individual communities letter a b c d e f cumt. cumt. % m 60% 58% 50% 55% 64% 56% 343% 57.2% f 40% 42% 50% 45% 36% 44% 257% 42.8% total 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 600% 100% where: simple % = number x 100 total 1 m = male percentage of response f = female percentage of response cumt = cumulative total cumt. % = cumulative total percentage letters a – f = represent the name of communities in view of the above posed questions and many others, the key informants were grouped into both male and female as a way of having a general overview of the response of each community affected by the incidence of gas flaring. in table 2, above, there is great difference between the male respondent and their female counterpart as 60% of men to 40% of the female at ebocha-egbema community indicate that the men are reactive and vocal in their condemnation of the menace of gas flaring in their community than the women are below average, showing that the level of awareness are not high and also not forceful. it also proved that the men have more say in the community than the women who seemed to be more concerned on family and domestic front than the menace plaguing them. this does not mean that they are in any way in support of the devious act of gas flaring in the area. the investigation noted that some of the factor informing the low slide in the women role is due to shame-shy in facing reality, like the destructive role of gas flaring in their community. at oboma community, the men with 58% and the women with 42% showed a remarkable change in the reaction of women even when the men still had upper hand. both sex however, were out to express their displeasure over the dislocation of their community by the menace of gas flaring. everybody was aware of the consequence and the environmental effects on lives and livelihood. so, the reactions of condemnation were encouraging. in rumuekpe, against the level of degradation and distortion in the community, both men and women with 50% each were highly aware and was no way ready to compromise their rights. the women show strong measure of protest in letting those concerned to their predicament to understand their plight. the 50%equal to the voice and stand of the men expresses the level of deep anger and pain on their household, 213 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com especially in trying to make an end meet from devoured land, water, crops and plants affected by several forms of infections and pollutants. the men were also intense seeing the degree of support they gather from their spouse in letting the world know the kind of game the oil companies and government officials are using them to play in the continued incidence of gas flaring. the havoc that had destroyed their means of livelihood and human existence going by the degree of plaguing diseases and high level of vulnerability of the community to policies of deception and denial. at patani community, where the coastal line and waterways was rendered no safety zone for both human and aquatic live survival, the peoples’ pain and anger are not only against the community leaders and the nigeria government official, but the percentage response show that both the men (55%) and the women (45%) are keenly aware of the level of destruction on their environment. this informed the inciting of the youth of the area to indulge in seizing or kidnapping some staff of the oil workers unless compensation and better deal are agreed upon by all the parties, since their environment is not habitable as skin disease, cough and other terminal diseases had infested the community. at bomadi, the men dominate in the cry for justice against the menace of gas flaring and other related disaster encroaching the area. the men with 64% against the women 36% was seen in the course of the research as the docile nature of the women of the area who would preferred their husband or male folks to take their role as headship of family. the weaknesses of the women also display a source of worry to the men who needed encouragement to fight their rights violations by the oil companies and the federal government of nigeria. in another realm, it seemed the women’s weakness is located on the delay and neglect of the area vis-à-vis the several years that they had complained and cried over this gas flaring menace. the men on the other hand might not relent in engendering the continued struggle against environmental and human rights violation in their community by the oil explorers. in the case of okpoloma community, found deep inside the creek with no arable or land space for cultivation, the men and women were highly aware of the degradation and destruction of lives in their water front as fish and other water food are consistently destroyed. the men with (56%) and the women (44%), indicates that there was a relative coherency in the condemnation of the activities of oil exploration in their community and its consequence gas flaring menace, which had devastated and destroyed every means of livelihood. the community lives on water that is highly polluted. the corrosion of wrings on the water surface and the dead of plant and vegetation explain the kind of lives observed in the coastal line where gas flaring, oil spillage and environmental degradation 214 | p a g e the politics of gas flaring in nigeria niger-delta and the negating contours: the basis of the looming crisis okechukwu, groupson-paul uc. had placed many of the host communities in the niger delta in a state of mercy and pity of visitors. however, in the final collation, the study had a cumulative total percentage of 57.2% for the male over 42.8% for the female. this calculation still informed from the separate individual community response to the cumulative % that the male are more aware and are at the same time in the forefront of the struggle against the menace of gas flaring that had invariably devastated their communities in the coastal line of the niger delta. in the investigation, the 100% sum in the addition to each community responses shows the coherence and strength of the people in realizing the menace of gas flaring on the environment, while at the same time speaking out to the international human rights group, amnesty international and the international community to visit and conduct survey on what they had been complaining about over the level of destruction and neglect of the niger delta host communities by both the oil companies and the nigeria government. the investigation also revealed that there are indeed gas flaring hazard in niger delta host communities like ebocha-egbema, oboma, rumuekpe, patani, bomadi and okpoloma communities of niger delta coastal line. the effects of gas flaring in niger delta obviously, it is evidence that air pollution has been the resultant effect from gas flaring. this has greatly affected the inhabitants of the host communities in the niger delta where oil exploration and environmental distortion had been going on for long. thus, isiguzo (2012) observed that gas flaring is mostly felt in the communities close to the site of the flare. some of the effects of gas flare on the niger delta are noticeable in the following areas: i. health ii. farms iii. fishing/aquatic life iv. pollution (air/water) in this regard, carson (1962), argued that this kind of pollution affects every human being from the region from the moment of conception to death. although, gas flare problem varies from one community to another depending on the severity of the flare in some of the communities as noted in the course of inquiry. in the same vein, the investigation of this study revealed through the data collected that the effect of gas flare on the above itemized fields of human environment was heinous and devious. the table below shows the degree of response and the resultant percentage of the effect on each host community. 215 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com table 3 effects of gas flaring on selected communities commu nities a b c d e f cumt/% affecte d areas r % r % r % r % r % r % r % health 6 40 5 41 4 33 4 36.4 5 45.5 3 33 27 228.9 farming 4 27 3 25 3 25 3 27.3 3 27.3 2 22 18 153.6 fishing 2 13 2 17 2 17 2 18.2 1 9.1 2 22 11 96.3 pollutio n 3 20 2 17 3 25 2 18.2 2 18.2 2 22 14 120.4 total 15 100 12 100 12 100 11 100.1 11 100.1 9 99 70 599.2 using simple percentage model of calculation: where r = number of response to the effect of gas flares % = percentage of the response on flared gas cumt = cumulative total/percentage letter a to f = representing each community as already designated above. analysis outcome i. effects on health of the people the study in a general collation had about 27 key informant interviewed, spreading the six communities with a cumulative percentage of 228.9% out of the expected 230%. the imbalance being the error incurred in the process of collection. in the result that followed, it is noted that the response on how gas flare affects the people of each community differ from one to the other. in ebocha-egbema, with 6(40%), the effects of the gas flare amongst the people shows that the incident is at a higher degree since it has crossed the benchmark of degree of seriousness amongst the people. in oboma community, the recorded figure of 5(41%) of the effect also show a degree of serious amongst the people. although, at patani with 4(36.4%), it could not cross the point or met the benchmark, but the low effect shows a degree of near seriousness. meaning that there is a tendency of increase in the level of effects on the people if not control. the result also shows no significance difference between rumuekpe 4(33%) and okpoloma 3(33%). this means that the effect of gas flare on the people is still at its lower degree but has the tendency to grow to the level of seriousness if not checked and controlled. taken cognizance that all the communities are directly affect with one measure of high, seriousness, serious and otherwise, it is imperative to point out that the general health condition of 216 | p a g e the politics of gas flaring in nigeria niger-delta and the negating contours: the basis of the looming crisis okechukwu, groupson-paul uc. the people are under a serious threat. the study also informed that gas flaring increases the risk of respiratory illnesses, asthma, impaired lung function and cancer (brunekreef and holgate, 2002). it is also noted to have often causes painful breathing, chronic bronchitis, decreased lung function, body itching, blindness, impotency, and premature death amongst others, which made ige (2007) to attest that at ebochaegbema general hospital some patients were furious over the effects of gas flaring on them. there, also observed among many inhabitants some cases of poor vision, mortality and morbidity, cough and skin diseases among the younger inhabitants. these health problems are blamed grossly on oil production activities in the niger delta, to which gas flaring is a bye-product. its effects also cause reduction in lives expectancy, birth outcome and perpetual black cloud in the environment (maull and berck, 2010). ii. the effects on farms/ farming the general effect of gas flaring on farms and farming processes were also noted to have affected the set benchmark of 155%, whereas the general recorded mark is 153.6% with 18 cumulative total instead of the recorded 20 point. the farms and farming projects at ebochaegbema 4(27%), patani 3(27.3%) and bomadi 3(27.3%) were highly affected by the hazard of gas flaring, while oboma 3(25%) and rumuekpe 3(25%) were average in term of destruction of farm crops and harvest. okpoloma is 2(22%) showing low effects but with the tendency of increasing. the general implication shows that economic trees, crops and plants are greatly affected. thus, okene (2008) in seeing the havoc caused by gas flaring at ebocha-egbema detested the degree of gas been flares into the air. he averred how a stump of what was once a coconut tree met its untimely death owing to the menace of gas flaring in the area. this degree of plant and animal farms destruction in the community indicates that the hazard of gas flare in the studied communities informed of the awful damage on the niger delta. it also means that the years of petroleum production in the coastal states have rendered lands unproductive, poisoned the waters and forests while making the environment generally inhabitable in the niger delta. to the farm animals in the host communities, the research noted at bomadi and patani that most animals like goat, grasscutter, sheep, poultry and birds are seriously infected by virus and some inhaled diseases. iii. the effect on fish/ fishing and aqua-life the people of the niger delta coastal line are renowned for their fishing and aquatic life exploits, but the robust business for which they are known for many years had been cut short by the incidence of gas flaring. all the communities were greatly affected as the percentage of this effect shows that it is highly noticed at okpoloma with 22%. 217 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com meaning that fishing, which is their only means of livelihood had been greatly affected by the pollutant from gas flaring which invariably kill the fishes and other economic aquatic life in the water and streams in the community. patani, with 18.2% also suffers the same economic loss of aquatic life due to the acidity of water and streams that might have been the only source of existence of the fishes. the record at both oboma 17% and rumuekpe 17% shows that there is similarity in the effect as most fishing water are great poisoned by the co2 emissions from the gas flaring. though, ebocha-egbema 13% share the same number but different percentages, just like others, but it does not mean that it hasn’t its own challenges as life of fishermen and fishing in the area had been greatly devastated. against the fact that gas flaring rendered the environment generally inhabitable, the coastal line and live inside water and water ways are dislocated and distorted by the menace of gas flaring. with the acidic content of most waters in the investigated communities, their means of existence, fishing had been greatly destroyed by the colour and cloudy black look of the most water in these communities. the ecosystems in this investigated communities had shown that brackish swamp forests, water changing to charcoal-black slippery to kill aquatic lives like fish and others becomes the attendant phenomena in almost all the niger delta coastal lines. this water contamination affects the fish population and affects the fishermen that rely on fishing to support their family (ifedike, 2008). iv. effects of air/water pollution the table 3.3.1 above had shown that gas flaring also cause air or water pollution. the effects of this on both water and air also helped to increase the degree of havoc on the environment and human lives. in the collected results percentage, rumuekpe with 25% experienced a high degree effect of gas flaring that were on the increase both on air and water pollution combined. the other communities like okpoloma, 22% and ebocha-egbema 20%, showing a different result was due to the fact that the numbers and the percentages are different. although, one interesting thing about this result is that both has a high incidence of air/water pollution owing to gas flaring. to patani, with 18.2% and bomadi with 18.2%, while oboma has 17% indicates that there is the likelihood of a gradual or daily increase and or reduction, which is possible. omeje (2006), on this observation, asserts that despite the substantial revenue from oil production, nigerian continues to suffer from environmental degradation associated to gas flaring. this probably also might place nigeria as the second largest gas flared in the world. in submission, okonta and oronto (2003), reiterated that the rate of gas flaring in niger delta and emissions contributes significantly to global warming, which composed of toxic gases such as sulfur oxide (so2), 218 | p a g e the politics of gas flaring in nigeria niger-delta and the negating contours: the basis of the looming crisis okechukwu, groupson-paul uc. nitrogen oxide (no2), benzapryene, toluene, xylene and hydrogen sulfide (hso2) amongst others, thereby imposing negative effect on the environment and people. however, going by level of politicking in attending to the issue of gas flaring and willful abandonment of the host communities to their fate by the government and the oil firms, to which the degree of degradation and environmental destructions as noted by this investigation exemplified, it is evidence that there is a grave contour in oil exploration management in nigerdelta. the inferences arrived at using both human and artificial factors also helped to further the research intention in finding out the causal effects of gas flaring in the niger delta. the evidence deduced from that observation showed that the enabling laws were willfully disregarded, violated and abandoned by both the oil firms and their government allies, thereby leaving the people of the area to die in their predicaments. this level of politicking also informs that there are some community leaders who convince with the government and oil companies to distort and dislocate the vulnerable members of the community. thereby exposing the element of insincerity in treating gas flaring default despite its negative implications. the politics of gas flaring: nigeria government and the multinational corporation’s roles unforgottable based on the investigations of this study, it is agreeable that gas flaring is real in nigeria niger-delta by virtue of being an oil producing state with over 180 billion cubic feet of natural gas. this affirmation also coincides with the fact that the act of safety disposal of waste gases through combustion in nigeria has been at a high magnitude for a long time since the inception of oil exploration without any solution in sight. it is also evidence that the menace had combined with environmental degradation caused by oil spillage, land slid and other natural disasters to cause untold hardships on the people of the localities of the niger delta. some basic questions that then strike the mind toward unraveling this evil acts are: do government exists at all in nigeria? if yes, is there any legislations as regarding the monitoring and controlling of the activities of the mnc firms in term of oil exploitation and environmental distortions? who manages oil exploration in nigeria? is it the nigerian state or the mncs? what are the stakes of the host communities’ vis-à-vis oil exploration benefits, developments and the consequential effects of flared gas in their communities? considering the above raised questions, and whether gas flaring is normal in any oil producing environment, chijoke 219 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com (2002) argued that it is a common practice in the oil production process, but the nigerian case attracts more attention given the volume of gas flared since the beginning of commercial oil production in the country. this, he further argued in comparism, that social responsibility attitude towards gas conservation in nigeria and canada are different, because the demand partly due to environmental requirements in canada and other advanced countries does not apply in nigeria. the point of emphases here is that the nigerian government legislation seems to be weak towards monitoring and controlling the activities of the mnc oil companies as each operates on different sphere while play the hocus-pocus game of relying on the existed laws. a political intrigue that played itself against the cry and protest of the people of the communities on the hazardous effects of flared gas was seen in the proposed legislation on the menace of gas flaring, since the investigation above has identified artificial factors as the cause of flared gas in the region. a bill was however proposed by a private person on how to checkmate the nefarious activities of the oil companies, but it was blocked by government agents who benefits from the oil companies in the year 2000. according to the arguments put forward by chijoke (2002), oranto (2003), okereke (2007), ukala (2011) and omeje (2010), in this respect, the weakness in the government push to reduce the excesses of gas flaring seem to yield no result as nothing is happening toward solving the endemic of gas flaring. chijoke (2002) further revealed that even oil producing companies in the country jointly attacked the proposed policy legislation as technically infeasible. to this effects, the companies argued that accelerating the flare programme is unrealistic, knowing that it is national policy and not private. according to oronto and okonta (2003) the nigeria government, probably on what they are gaining from the oil firms through its agents are misinformed and at same time not committed to solving the problem of gas flaring. this is because the problem is more to what the people see than to what is actually taking place in the niger delta communities where these gases are flared with impurity and as also explained in the above investigation report. the failure of nigeria government in asserting its strength to control and reduce gas flaring may likewise be agreed with chijoke (2003) and kalu (2006), who also notes that by the federal government acting on the dictates of the oil companies shows that it had relegate the health, life span and environment of many well-being nigerians to the background. the essence of the government to monitoring and control all the oil business are to create a healthy and conducive atmosphere to all players and stake holders, but when the opposite become what the people are seeing at ebocha – egbema, obioma, patani, okpoloma, rumuekpe and bomadi among others where gas flaring sites and the atmosphere turns black cloud daily with 220 | p a g e the politics of gas flaring in nigeria niger-delta and the negating contours: the basis of the looming crisis okechukwu, groupson-paul uc. several emissions, then the issue of do we have any government in nigeria becomes the reasonable questions on the lips of both the victims and the onlookers. much so, simply stating the obvious that oil exploration and exploitation processes has been mismanaged, to which the contours are the present detrimental effects on the host communities. in tandendem to all the expressed views, it is culpable for the federal government to accept the frenzy excuse of the oil companies that the technologies needed to mitigate gas flaring is presently beyond their reach, hence their demand for sufficient time to acquire such (chijoke, 2002). this is because for haven operated in the nigerian soil for more than five decades with such lapses, it means that their action had been a case of willful damage, calculated distortion and destructions of lives and environment of the affected areas of the niger delta as informed by this research investigations. this is because it makes the whole issue of gas flaring a problematic one and a mark of irresponsibility that had continually encouraged the unabated unhealthy practice in the niger delta for the government not to be in-charge of oil management. on the other hand, chijoke (2002) argued that if the government can provide the platform to mitigate gas flaring to the barest minimum, the oil firms will certainly provide the way to do it in terms of technological application. but it appears that both the government and the mncs are living on hocus-pocus paradigm since the idea of ending gas flaring in the niger delta are never certain. evidence available according to ted case studies (1998) showed that the above mentioned communities have been severely damaged by environmental pollution from oil spills, dumping of waste products, burning of excess gases, pipeline leaks, oil well blowout, gas flaring operations and widespread ecological disturbances. this long-based failed management of gas flaring did not only form and informed the basis of the degree of politicking in matters concerning these areas on the issues of environmental destruction, gas flaring and consistent pollutions that had go on unabated for years, but had also gone further to impoverished the people due to environmental degradation from oil production and the lack of adequate regulations on mnc companies to operate as they become more vulnerable to food shortages, health hazards, loss of land, pollution, forced migration and unemployment. this political instruments always used against the oppositions and protesters are political intrigues of diplomacy that had for long been applied to eliminate the people of niger delta against the willful balkanization, decimation and subjugation of their rights of existence. the nigerian government and security forces employed this act of politicking with pretentious approach of scapegoating, haven been responsible 221 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com for the extrajudicial executions of some villagers in rivers state for protesting against environmental damages and land destructions. at warri and other environs, for instance, the only time one can breathe good air is if the person is inside an air-conditioned room as heat and dehydration are often recorded even when rain is falling in the city due to the ravaging effects of gas flared into the atmosphere. the social and environmental cost of this incident is politically seen as cheap blackmail against the government of the day in responding to protest and complains. although, the government in several respects have set up probe panels, commission of inquiry and other fact finding bodies on this issue of gas flaring with even huge amount of money been spent in trying to curb the menace of gas flaring, but the ends are never visible nor result oriented. curbing flared gas as seen at patani, bomadi, okpoloma, rumuekepe, ebocha–egbema and obioma among others could substantially offer oil field operators significant safety and so many economic and environmental advantage to other stakeholders, if there should be element of sincerity of the state administrators and co-partners in the oil business in handling of the menace. the internationalisation of gas flaring having knowledge of the fact that the people of niger delta are now aware against all the manners of manipulations and antics, including the usage of the region as the spoilers in the nigerian political system in the time past by some government agents, allies and cabals in the successive governments in collaboration with the national comprador bourgeoisies and foreign partners with fake and illegal oil blocks had been existing under hide and seek game of deception to short change the state supposedly responsibility to its people. the groups, encouraged suppression and intimidations with the use of the coercive instrument of the state with some element of diplomacy, cheap blackmails and or outright annihilation of the indigenous people in order to have their way had rendered the region perpetually impotent. the restive youths or militants on the order hand had in recent time and even before and after the amnesty programme resolved to contribute to the gas flaring menace as they still steal crude and sell to international oil merchants on the high sea in exchange of arms and ammunitions while building pockets of illegal refineries in the creeks to flare associated gas to the air. in some instance they destroyed oil installations of shell bp, agip oil, texaco, total, chevron and host of others in order to cause oil spillage or oil explosion which contribute gravely to enhance the combustion of gas into the atmosphere. the nigerian government and the international oil merchants and explorers had however, not been able to tell the nigerian state the true state of things in the niger delta. the huge 222 | p a g e the politics of gas flaring in nigeria niger-delta and the negating contours: the basis of the looming crisis okechukwu, groupson-paul uc. benefits garner by the government and the multinational companies and their home governments seemed to have no regard for the life of the people of the region. this is because it is the youths or militants protest, incursion and distortion of their interest in the oil region that had probably informed their change of policies and tactics, which have not been reflected on the issues of gas flaring and communities’ destructions. the general implications of the politicisation of gas flaring activities in view of the investigated cases of gas flaring as noted at patani, bomadi, okpoloma, obioma, ebocha – egbema and rumuekpe and as still ongoing in some other locations in the niger delta, the failure of the government to attaining a terminal flare in nigeria indicates that there are deep-seated neglect and abandonment of the communities investigated above with entire nigerdelta region being affected. on the reasons that the law makers from the region and the southern part were only handpicked or selected to bid the course of the godfathers who also control and benefits from oil productions, not much will be expected in pushing to tackling the issue of gas flaring, thereby abandoning the people their fates. the hollow implication of this is that since there is no enabling regulation to control and reduce gas flaring endemic, due to the non-push full forces of the lawmakers from the region to sponsor or encourage those that have intention for that to introduce a bill, the region and its existed situation will remain defame and debase toward attaining healthy environment no matter the amount been pumped there by the nddc or government. the region, on the persisted health hazard emanating from the pollutions and devastations might in the near years experience a high incident of disabilities among generation of children. this devastating deformities may affect one per every family, ranging from the epidemics of asthma, cancer, lungs goiter, chronic bronchitis, premature deaths, stunt growth, skin burns, coarse skin, stillbirth, abnormalities in conception and other terminal and infectious diseases owing to inhaled or consumed co2 and other health hazard ailments and damages. the grave implication that accompanied such abnormalities in a society may result in what psychologist called growing incidences of delusion, traumatisation and maladjustments of citizens. simply, because such infirmities leading to societal disorder and death may impose long term effects on the communities while at the same time creating disaffection and distrust between govern and the governed. the worst devastating implications of this menace is that the people and the government loses a huge fund treating 223 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com sickness of different symptoms to which even the amount spent in fighting the impediments and pathogens may outnumber the amount that would have been used to pay compensation. the destruction of ecosystem, release of toxic components into the atmosphere and a facilitating aid of climate change devastations, may lead to the exposure of the people to benzene, resulting into a new cases of cancer since almost all the gas flaring sites located at the local communities lack adequate fencing or protection for villagers who may risk working near heat of the flare. the destructive implications of flared gas might cause human tissues damage by obstructing the free flow of blood in the vein as the cuts in turn cause cell damages and movement through the blood vessels. in addition to this, gas flaring and venturing produce more greenhouse-gas emissions than any other single source in africa south of the sahara. it is obvious also that the havocs in the region might equally have contributed to the nigeria weak economy despite huge mineral resources. thus, with over 67% of the nigerian population living below poverty level, the niger delta region alone houses 36% of poor people. it is evident that lack of political will, political scheming, avalanche of greed and corrupt elites with government mismanagement of natural resources had contributed immensely in the politicization of every activities and even life in the region, all in the bid to make quick money. conclusion and possible suggestions evidence available shows that niger delta, made up of delta state, rivers state, bayelsa state and the neighbouring states of akwa ibom, abia, imo, ondo, cross river and edo states amongst others covers 20,000km within the wetland of 70,000km, with over 20 million people and over 40 different ethnic groups that formed the main hob of the oil exploration and gas flaring centers (ifedike, 2008). every year oil producers flare and vent gas equivalent to the combined gas consumption of central and south america, indicating that africa flares and vents gas equivalent to half its power consumption. nigeria is currently the 6th leading oil producer and exporter in the world. at the same time gas flaring is not new, but the non-chalant in tackling it headlong had created untold hardship on the people, which had not only had an adverse effect on the economy, but had also lingered for many years. however, apart from the facts as adduced from the inquiry above, it is also evidence that the economic benefits of these natural resources have not in any way been properly shared with most of the large indigenous populations, thereby aggravating tensions and provocations of aggressiveness at any slightest disagreement. and, for the past 40 years, oil and gas exploration, drilling and pipelines laying have also caused a series of environmental and health problems. the government, the 224 | p a g e the politics of gas flaring in nigeria niger-delta and the negating contours: the basis of the looming crisis okechukwu, groupson-paul uc. organized private sector, and all the stakeholders in the oil and gas industry with the aid of their foreign counterparts have not cooperatively measure up to expectation as profit is the only thing prime in their minds. to some extent, they have not seen reasons in having a joint bond to making more effort in the promotion of even utilization of liquefied natural gas in factories, medium scale industries and create other avenues that will lead to the optimum stoppage of gas flaring in nigeria. the advent of the new technical options shows that it is indeed possible for such continuous flaring to cease. solution to stop gas flaring in nigeria might have informed the establishment of a liquefied natural gas plant at bonny in rivers state by the federal government and the multi-transnational (mnc) oil and gas corporations operating in the country in order to promote the export of natural gas, utilization and to discourage zero gas flaring but due to lapses and inconsistency the plant had not been adequately utilized. this investigation is of the view that if this is properly attended to with the wasted gases duly collected, that the nigerian economy might be strengthened. other than flaring, there are in principle three alternative routes for the management of associated gas resources, in terms that the gas can be: (i) re-injected into the reservoir to maintain pressure and enhanced oil recovery (eor) or stored in underground formations; (ii) used for energy purposes on the production facility or nearby facilities; (iii) collected, cleaned and sold. to reduce this practice also, the governments need to develop and enforce an appropriate legal and regulatory framework. they need to reform the gas market, getting rid of subsidies for competing fuels and making room for private operators to develop gas infrastructure. and they need to avoid tax and royalty systems that discourage operators from using the gas associated with oil production. in the same process, the government and the oil companies should equally removal all barriers and attend to the problems of the host communities that had been greatly affected by the oil business so as to encourage and creating enabling environment for all parties to oil explorations and production in the niger delta. references andorah, c.m. 2006, “environmental issues in the niger delta” in encyclopedia retrieved january anyanwu, n. 2013, gas flaring and the legislation in nigeria: where do the lawmakers go wrong. kaduna: jamal-kudo printers apam, c. 2011, the pollutants are with us: warri in cloudy atmosphere. edo: edoprinting press 225 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com argo, j.m.2001, unhealthy effects of upstream oil and gas flaring. calabar: uwemh press. ashton, n.j., s. arnott and o. douglas. 1999, the human ecosystems of the niger delta an era handbook. environmental rights action, lagos. asiado, t. 2005, rachel cargon and theory of environmental pollution u.s.a chambers harrap pub. baiardi, d. and menegatti, m. 2010 “pigouvian tax, abatement policies and uncertainty on the environment”, in (italy). berck, p. 2010, theory of pollution policies “handbook of environmental economics. vol. 1 no 1 january. bobak, m.l. 1999, the effect of air pollution on infant mortality appears specific for respiratory causes in the postneonatal period. epidemiology 10:666 – 670. brunekreef, b. and holgate, st. 2002 air pollution and health lancet 360:1233 – 1242. brunekreef, b. janssen na de hartog j, harssema h, knape m, van vliet p. 1997 air pollution from truck traffic and lung function in children. epidemiology 8:298 – 303. cameron, t.a. 2006, “directional heterogeneity in distance profiles in hedonic property value models” journal of environmental economic management, elsevier, vol. 5 (1) january. carson, r. 1962, silent spring. pennsylvania: john hopkina university press. claudia, g. 2002, a pollution theory of discrimination: male and female differences in occupations and earnings nber working paper no: 8985. issued in june. dede, a.r. 2010, gas flaring and many abandoned nigeria mineral. lagos: maritime press. ezzati, m. and d.m. kammen: 2002, household energy, indoor air pollution, and health in developing countries: knowledge base for effective interventions. annual reviews energy and environment 27: 233-270. fabio, g.b. augusto, f.m and jorge, mn 2002, poverty and environmental degradation: the kuznets environmental curve. brazil: universidade de brasilla, december. goldemberg, j. 2000, chapter 10. rural energy in developing countries. in world energy assessment: energy and the challenge of sustainability. undp. new york. gerth, j. and l. labaton. 2004, shell withheld reserves data aid nigeria. new york times. march 19, 2004. hyne, j.n. 1991, dictionary of petroleum exploration, drilling 226 | p a g e the politics of gas flaring in nigeria niger-delta and the negating contours: the basis of the looming crisis okechukwu, groupson-paul uc. & production. penn well, pub. co., oklahomma. ifedike, g.n.2008, “gas flaring continues to plague nigeria niger-delta” in this day newspaper, lagos june 11th. ige, a.c. 2007, “ebocha-egbema general hospital and the furiousness about gas flaring” in npr. ikoro, n.j. 2003, gas flaring in the nig erdelta, published by dufranc e communications. isiguzo, n.u. 2012, nigeria: the quest for mineral has destroyed the people. lagos: maritime press ives, j.d. 1987, “the theory of himalayan environmental degradation: its validity and application challenged by recent research in mountain research development. vol. 7, no 3, international mountain society press. kalu, o.a. 2006, gas flaring and air pollution over the people of niger delta. apa newsletter ii. manby. b. 1999, the price of oil: corporate responsibility and human rights violations in nigeria's oil producing communities human rights watch, new york. marie, s.o. jerrett, m. cohen, j.a. 2003, health, wealth and air pollution: advancing theory and methods. u.s.a. environ health prospects. meyers, n. 1985, the theory of land degradation: the gaia atlas of planet management. london: gaia book ltd. mittermeier, c. 2012, ecosystem and the protection of nature properties, london: ci press. nwilo, p.c. 2001, impact of oil spilling along the nigeria coast the association for environmental health sciences. nwilo, p.c. and olusegun, t.b. 2007, “impacts and management of oil spill pollution along the nigerian coastal areas” in international federation of surveyors. retrieved feb. 2012. ofeibea, q.a. 2007, “gas flaring disrupts life in oil producing niger delta” in npr. okene, e.k. 2008, “the hazard of gas flaring in niger delta communities” in npr okereke, j.n. 2007, microbial flora of oil-spilled sites in egbema, imo state, in nigeria academic journal retrieved feb. 2012. okonta, i. and oronto, d. 2003, where vultures feast: shell, human rights, and oil in the niger delta. sierra club books, san francisco. omeje, k. 2006, high stakes and stakeholders oil conflict and seurity in nigeria. port harcourt, rivers state. peter, mt and helfand. g.e. 2010, the theory of pollution abstract, in handbook of environmental economics elsevier, eds 1,vol. 1, no 1 january. pietro, p. 2008, “effluent taxes, market structure and the rate and 227 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com direction of endogenous technological change” environmental and resources economics, european association of environmental and resources economist vol.39 (2) february. projer, c.j. 2005, environmental theory and land degradation in sub saharan africa. journal of energy, climate and environmental resources. vol. 60 (4) march. stanley, c.c. 2013, environmental havocs: a global disaster. enugu: new page press. steven, s. 2010, “the corrective tax versus liability as solutions to the problem of harmful externalities” working paper nber.retrieved 2012 june 18th. strosher, m. 1996, investigation of flare gas emissions in alberta. alberta research council, alberta, canada. ----------2002, “people and the environment annual report” in spdc (the shell petroleum development company of nigeria limited) report. ________ 2006, “niger delta human development report” in undp retrieved feb. 2012. ________ 2009, see amnesty international nigeria: petroleum pollution and poverty in the niger delta uk amnesty international pub. ________ 1999, “niger delta archives of news, interviews, articles, analysis from 1999 to the present” in undp niger delta human development report. ________ 2003, urhobo historical society: urhobo historical society respond to itsekiri of western warri city. august 4th. ________ 1997, ted case studies: ogoni and oil: nigerian petroleum pollution in ogoni region. ---------------2012, “theories of pollution and impurity” encyclopedia britanica. june retrieved july 2012. ukala, e. 2011, “gas glaring in nigeria’s niger delta: failed promises and reviving community voices” climate change and environmental law seminar lee university law school washington. 86 | p a g e issues and trends in african conflicts and their implications for the spread of hiv/aids in rwandan and sierra leonean crises okechukwu, groupson-paul uc.; ukeje, ikechukwu ogeze; prisca chinyere okechukwu issues and trends in african conflicts and their implications for the spread of hiv/aids in rwandan and sierra leonean crises okechukwu, groupson-paul uc. phd groupsonpaul@yahoo.com department of political science federal university ndufu alike ikwo (funai), ebonyi state, nigeria, ukeje, ikechukwu ogeze ukejeike@gmail.com department of political science federal university ndufu alike ikwo (funai), ebonyi state, nigeria prisca chinyere okechukwu, fmlscn. prispelladiag@gmail.com center for ultrasound research and education cure, medlag consult, luth, idi –araba, agos, nigeria summary background there have been scholarly responses to and peace-agents’ interventions to the reality of diseases spread in african conflict situations. the problem however, is a lack of adequate response to hiv/aids victims in the post-conflict era. this paper looks at the employment of hiv/aids transmission as a ‘new instrument of warfare’ (niw) in rwandan and sierra leonean conflicts and the challenges of the victims in the post-war period. methods we conducted historical survey of african conflicts with special interest in rwanda and sierra leone through a combination of content analysis, descriptive and comparative approaches. a review of extant literature revealed certain contradictions in conflict responses by african states and international organisations during and after conflicts in africa. findings in the emergence of hiv/aids transmission as a niw in africa especially as a form of ethnic cleansing strategy, the study finds speedy persistence of spread of hiv/aids and the unfortunate neglect of the vulnerable victims mostly women and children in the aftermath of war. interpretation there is evidence of reoccurrence on the use of sexual violence and rape as weapon of warfare in africa and the consequence in the spread of hiv/aids pandemic. the study observed that this act was deliberate meant purposely for ethnic cleansing. the study shows that women and under aged children who are infected with hiv/aids also suffer infirmities such as vvf and other stis. curtailing the growing number of such cases will require designing of postconflict collaborative response by peace agents to reduce the suffering of victims, provide access to medicare, empowerment and education as disease control strategies. mailto:groupsonpaul@yahoo.com mailto:ukejeike@gmail.com mailto:prispelladiag@gmail.com 87 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com keywords: conflict zone, hiv/aids, vulnerable, eradication, persistence, rebels, weapon of war introduction conflicts, from the period of precolonial conquest to wars of independences of states, supremacy, nationalism and subjugations had been an issues-based thoughts and adventure. however, in the period of cold war, where regimes change: alliances, suspicions, arms trafficking and leadership struggles among others were based on superiority – dominance; down to the end of cold war, the strategy of wars also changed. to which today, the events had turned into interplay of mixfeelings and absurdity. the tones and directions of armed conflicts are now tailored into extreme annihilations and or perpetual destruction. this adventure meant to render the human race incapacitated and invalid becomes a theatre of warfare. thus, adopting the view of machiavelli (1640), that end justifies the means, to apply in most conflicts and crisis in the world. the language of war and chants of vengeance, carnage and destruction with hypocrisy and blackmail occasioned by hysteria propaganda cause or escalate many conflicts. with this global trends of conflicts wearing a new look at the end of the 20th century into the new millennium, the protagonists derive joy in taking the extreme contest to exacerbate battlefield casualties rate, especially where wars could not be won out-rightly, an indelible scares, marks and or pains are pictured on the forehead of the vanquished so that they would forever remember that they were once defeated, humiliated and or dehumanized.1,2 and since starvation was no longer one of the major weapons of war as seen in the biafra-nigeria civil war of 1967 to 1970, recent warfare had shown that such has been exchanged with rape, sexual assault and sexually transmitted diseases (stds) like: human immuno-deficiency virus (hiv), acquired immune deficiency syndromes (aids) and sexually transmitted infections (stis) among others, the battle is as good as having been won because the victims have been successfully dehumanized.3-7 with great disparities, the iraq wars, sri lanka war, the war that dismembered the former yugoslavia, afghan war and syrian war among others all differ from the many wars and conflicts in africa. these kinds of wars/conflicts being a reoccurring decimal in the human indecision to despise fellow human, repeatedly occurred in several african conflict zone in the 1990s and 2000s, due to the character of warfare that has also changed2 admitted. thus, this dread in itself, was over escalated to affecting almost the people of the continent owing to easy and free migrations within. although, old had not totally gone contrary to the views above, nor that of,8 but as a reflection of many african categorical problems,9 was quick to remind us that africa have had its own 88 | p a g e issues and trends in african conflicts and their implications for the spread of hiv/aids in rwandan and sierra leonean crises okechukwu, groupson-paul uc.; ukeje, ikechukwu ogeze; prisca chinyere okechukwu shares of problems, with the issues of rebellion, political instability, religious fanaticism, economic recession, mass poverty and civil wars that were predominant. to which, according to,10 as at 1996, an estimated 19 major internal conflicts were fought worldwide. added to these are further 42 lower intensity wars, of which a close review of the period shows that africa, with 13 conflicts at home, was ranked amongst the highest in number of distributions of the world’s conflicts and crises with extreme form being displayed. rwanda and sierra leone, specifically, being on the index of extreme conflict zones were classified so because sex, rape, sexual assaults and sexually transmitted hiv/aids were used as weapons of war. thus,11 argued that mass sexual violence did not only serve as a weapon of genocide against the tutsi ethnic group, but it was a strategic bait of external extermination of whatever that might remain of the tutsi people. in the same vein, the level of sexual assault in sierra leone towns of port loko, cambia, rogbere and mashaka among others demystified a nation without conscience, especially in the hand of the revolutionary united front (ruf). it further stated that there were act of sexual violence with severe medical and psycho-social pains visited on the women by the ruf rebels. violence against women, especially rape, has added its own brand of shame to recent wars with systematic rape often used as a weapon of war in 'ethnic cleansing', just as occurred both in sierra leone and rwanda, where women and girls contacted hiv/aids; faced with unwanted pregnancies and health complications resulting from botched abortion; suffer sexual mutilations and other injuries. most often, opposition armed groups are fragmented with no unified command structure and always driven by particularistic/parochial interests rather than national goals and civilians, especially the vulnerable categories – the aged, women and children are victims of such armed conflicts. dirty wars seek victory through horror rather than through battlefield strategies. furthermore, civilian populations are the main targets of these conflicts, while fear, brutality and murder are the basis on which control is constructed. thus, the actions of the ruf rebels, intrahamwe rebels, rwandan armed forces (raf) and the rwandan patriotic front (rpf) among others in the african conflicts zone were centered on horror. the perpetrators of the rwandan genocide viewed sexual violence against the tutsi women as an effective method to shame, humiliate and conquer the tutsi populations.7 premised on these reasons, this study, particularly interested on the facts that victims of such atrocities in african conflict theatres as seen in rwanda, sudan – darfur, sierra leone and cote d’voire are either abandoned, neglected and or left to suffer their wounds to death become a source of worry to this study 89 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com as the survivors also waste no time to spreading the pandemic due to lack of check and control.6 an act that had combined both trend and bait to inflict pains and suffering on the vulnerable and innocent africans in the conflict zone. this study, mindful of these lapses inherent in several conflict zones in africa, considered rwanda and sierra leone conflicts important in its investigation in the contemporary period. toward this end, african conflicts and the catalysis of war; the negative trends in african conflicts; hiv/aids as weapons of war of exterminations of the victims; the problems and effects in rwanda and sierra leone; the scourge of the spread in africa conflicts and the new idea (rape as a weapon) of war and the general implications among others were examined. theoretical framework of analysis the study adopts frustration – aggression theory and top-down violence model of the political conflict theory to examine how long-time deprivation, suppression, oppression and leadership struggle occasioned by greed and dictatorship led to conflict/war of annihilation by any means (rape, sexual violence and stds infection as weapon of war), especially against women and girls. (a). frustration – agression theory: the scholars who employed the frustration-aggression model in their studies to explaining situation12-18,10 among others, believes that the greater the frustration, the greater the quantity of aggression against the source of frustration. the intensity of frustration in the society can motivate men to either intense, short-term attack or to more prolonged, less severe attacks on the initiators of the thwarts.19 this implies that the severity of deprivation affects both intensity of violence, and the extent of human and physical damages. mild deprivation motivates little violence, moderate deprivation push more across the threshold and very intense deprivation encourages large segments of political community actions.14 this is because, according to,15,18 destructive behavior, which is a fundamental property of the human organization of men and exposed to noxious stimuli that cannot be avoided or overcome, hence, having the innate disposition, to strike out at their sources. striking out may or may not reduce the frustration, but it seems to be an inherently satisfying response to the tension built up through frustration for years.12 arguing along the same line,18 posited that the depraved may go all out to show how odious they are to the frustrations and their generations if not checkmated. as such action may be a mark of revenge or otherwise for the ultimate drive of all actions. the desire to release tension is not the only source of aggression, however, response to tension may themselves include the resort to violence.20 these actions are 90 | p a g e issues and trends in african conflicts and their implications for the spread of hiv/aids in rwandan and sierra leonean crises okechukwu, groupson-paul uc.; ukeje, ikechukwu ogeze; prisca chinyere okechukwu seen in those who rebels against their political community. thus, implying that frustration–aggression relationship provides the dynamics for the relationship between intensity of deprivation and the potential for collective violence as witnessed in the rwanda’s war in (1959-1994) and sierra leone’s armed conflict (1992-1998). as a sequel to these contentions, the following questions demand answer, viz, could the rebelling against the tutsi leadership as occurred in rwanda 1959, against the hutu leadership in 1988, 1990 and 1994 among others, be due to the level of frustration suffered by both the hutus from 1849 to 1959, and then the tutsis from 1962 – 1994? should we agree that it was due to the long denial and suppression that had availed the ruf to toe the line of action that they deemed possible in the period of civil war? can the view of,18 above, be linked to the act of infecting the women and girls in rwanda and sierra leone with hiv/aids as a way of shaming the respective governments and people7? why do the rebels/warlords choose to humiliate the people with the kind of atrocities visited on the society? how has these long years of deprivation and frustration propelled the magnitude of aggression and destruction seen in these societies? why should hiv/aids be seen as the most appropriate weapons of war to be used by the planners of the genocide in rwanda and the warlords of sierra leone civil war? does the hutus, in recounting their pains, frustration and dehumanization in the hand of the tutsi oligarchy, despite their large population of about 84% afford them the opportunity to adopt and perpetuate the kind of leadership style they initiated? does the imposition of forced labour and untold hardship and grievous exploitation of the people by the tutsi oligarchy inform the hutus to detest the tutsis? during the period of the tutsi oligarchy rule, the intrigues of cheat, hate, greed and forceful deprivation of their land, cattle, sheep, wives and daughters amongst others to the detriment of the depraved people was extolled. the temines ethnic group of sierra leone, on the other hand, being the largest in population, the owners of the land where all the mineral resources like gold, diamond and cobalt among others are being mined are never allowed to rule the land since independence in 1962. the minority limbas, krios and fulas had ruled with treacherous dislocation of the temine land. they are otherwise seen and treated as second class citizens upon their wealth. their sons are not allowed to be promoted in the military, civil service and even political offices. all these deprivations and ill treatments informed the kind of aggression and wanton destructions with infesting of the victims with hiv/aids as a way of revenge by the temine owned ruf. (b). top–down violence model: such scholars as,13,21-23 sees the model as an instrument of the ruling class against their opposing subjects. 91 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com this occurs in the forms of instilling fear, intimidation, checkmating of opposition using hysteria propaganda, repression and suppression of the hated enemies and so on. according to,22 top– down violence model is when the act of violence or destruction are planned and mobilized from the top to the lower echelons of the society by political actors or leaders. it is usually funded by the political leaders and or entrepreneurs. this kind of action is always targeted against oppositions, threatening group and or at a particular ethnic, sect or religious groups. this consist of a powerful group who help to mobilizing violence from the top by creating large number of followers (recruits), who in turn helps to executing, re-recruiting and or using major coercion to actualizing the goal of the leaders. top-down violence model, which is the same as disorderliness in conflict are manipulative scheme of wicked repression, used by seat-tight leaders to perpetually retain power by all means.13 this, mostly seen among african leaders in the contemporary period is despicable. agreeing to the above assertions,21 reiterated that it is mindless, mad and senseless act. combined with hysteria propaganda, it tends to brainwash and even risk to death many in the name of protecting the nation state. it projects ethnic hatred, mindless violence and chaos by instilling fears on the mass-public while perpetrating evil– annihilation. this act helps largely to abuse the civilian population, even when such is termed as being an unfortunate deviation from the laws of war or as a means to a military/rebel ends.24 in the case of rwanda and sierra leone above, this study identified war and abuses like rape, sexual assault, sexual dehumanization and sexually transmitted diseases on the vulnerable by the perpetuators as a means of achieving their ends. the arising questions to this effect could be why should government plan the annihilation of its own citizen? what benefit do the government tend to gain by destroying the same people it wishes to govern? why should hysteria propaganda and ethnic chant be used to destroy the society? why should the victims be neglected after haven suffered sexual assaults and rape? was the sexual transmission of infectious diseases meant to reduce the population of the hated or otherwise? however, the two theories above have a great linkage with the study as it separately and expressly show that what informed the action of the ruf rebels, interahamwe rebels, rpf rebels and the raf was due to long years of suffering, frustration, deprivation an social neglect by government after government while the top – down violence approach of the hutu government officials after a concise plan and brainwashing was meant for the genocidires to expedite action using ethnic cleansing as instrument of hate to do away with the remains of the common enemies – the tutsis. 92 | p a g e issues and trends in african conflicts and their implications for the spread of hiv/aids in rwandan and sierra leonean crises okechukwu, groupson-paul uc.; ukeje, ikechukwu ogeze; prisca chinyere okechukwu on the other hand, against the reasons that there had been many persistent neglects of victims of conflict years after the war has ended might also have indicated the degree of pains and challenges of the neglected people of rwanda and sierra leone. this sorrow, bad and painful situations could be examined in two broad perspectives: the first is that of those victims who were already hiv/aids and other stds carriers, which freely mix with the returnees from refugee camps and possibly spread the endemic diseases. then, second are those who are aware of their status but out of the euphoria and or in the seek for greener pasture travels freely to other neighbouring countries, especially states’ in conflict to spreading the pandemic in the name of ad hoc workers, mercenaries, sex workers and non-governmental organization (ngo) among others, thereby acting as both a baits and possibly peace agents or peacekeeping soldiers among others. african conflicts and the new ideas of war conflict is not new in africa and it is inevitable.12,16,9 however, what becomes the necessary evil in such crises is not only the processes but the various trends and dimensions that accompanied its executions. this probably might have been followed by negative attitudes and wastages, especially as seen in the recent times, where wars are prosecuted against the victims and the vanquished. perhaps also, truce on the catalysis or accompanying factors in most of the recent african conflicts are narrowed down into two spheres that might had made it a juicy venture or otherwise includes, one, total war of leadership struggle and the subsequent power sharing measures are at times assumed and adopted. two, win or lose the war for an enthroned ethnicization against victims. these kinds, having been seen in rwanda, sierra leone, liberia and possibly the democratic republic of congo drc) and darfur (in sudan) among others tends to suggest that weapons, arms, armoured tanks, missiles and bombs are gradually been abandoned to a new phase of warfare. where men trade infections like goods in order to exterminate or annihilate the unwanted races and people. an instance from congo dr,25 revealed that the congolese women in the 1997 war noted that the most insane fantasies have found their expression. when seven soldiers rape a women or little girl, and thrust a knife or fire shots into her vagina, for them the woman is no longer a human being, she is an object. and since there are no longer any laws or rules, combatants pour out their anger and their madness on to women and little girls. according to the26, members of the hutu militias (interahamwe) and the national army of rwanda were noted to have targeted women and girls in the genocidal campaign of mass sexual violence. similarly,7 reiterated that the perpetrators, the extremists themselves 93 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com viewed sexual violence against the tutsi women as an effective method of shame and to conquer the tutsi population, the moderate hutu women supporters, mostly those who held opposing political views. in another instance,11 argued that mass sexual violence did not only serve as weapon of war against the tutsi ethnic group, but it was a strategic bait of external destruction of whatever that might remain of the tutsi people. different from the above observation,27 it is noted that violence against women in sierra leone is a co-factor of hiv/aids infections and population reduction among the opposition to temine ascendency. however, both rwanda and sierra leone illustrate how war affects men and women differently. what form the catalysis (m) of war is that if gun cannot defeat the enemy, hiv/aids infections are used as a weapon of war by other means. there are links between conflict and the spread of hiv/aids in african armed conflicts. although, quantifying that links is difficult, because reliable statistical data are not readily available, but evidence of the outcome of the pogrom has affirmed that most of the examined cases are tented towards that assumption.28 it is evident that what constitute major issues in the sierra leonean and rwandan armed conflicts/wars, apart from leadership struggle was hate and the ploy to do away with the archenemies by any means, thereby requiring the adoption of the most inhuman tactic of infecting the victims with hiv/aids. this argument,29 noted that in the 1990s there was more focus on war-time sexual violence than ever before in the anal of african conflicts, to which it was affirmed that there were strong but complex relationship between sexual violence and war mostly targeted against the gender. although, rape cases in war zone is not new as observed by30, because systematic and organized rape was a tactic of war. agreeing to this notion,31 reiterated that sexual violence is a common part of military conquest. in contemporary time men had treated women as spoils of war from the first expansionist societies. but the idea and outright usage of hiv/aids/stds as a measure to cow the enemies or extinct them is new and very destructive. this also bring to fore the incessant and deplorable manner by which victims of war are abandoned, neglected or treated with disdain. in this paper, evidence from the literature review so far indicate that the events in sierra leonean town of (magburunka), where aminata koroma and khadijah morgaui, two teenage girls between the ages of 15 and 16 years, who were infected with stds, boils, swollen legs and black spots all over their bodies, beard their minds on the degrees of traumatization they went through since their predicaments. this ranging from abandonments to outright neglects by friends and immediate families, not to talk of the humanitarian 94 | p a g e issues and trends in african conflicts and their implications for the spread of hiv/aids in rwandan and sierra leonean crises okechukwu, groupson-paul uc.; ukeje, ikechukwu ogeze; prisca chinyere okechukwu groups who careless about them and failed to help. to these according to a field based research conducted by32, sandra koulabaye at braihmon – county, recounted: it seems the war was still on and everyone is still hiding. i suffered from vvf from the age 12 years owing to rape resulted pregnancy that kept me invalid for life due to poor handling and early neglect by all around me. at 22 years old, with hiv/aids positive, i still wet clothes and napkins at every 20 minutes due to the infirmity. for khadisah bah and rukiat aluhassan at masebi and matutuka respectively… since we were taken into sex slavery by the ruf at the age 14 and 16 years, we had wished we never existed, because the men who infected them with hiv/aids/stds and tb are no more and, here we are suffering the pains. without arv, which we cannot even afford today, it would have been over long ago. the questions that are pertinent here are: what happens to the voiceless in conflict zone? why is it that only the known records, relatives, prominent persons and possibly those at refugee camps that are officially recognized as displaced or victims or conflicts, whereas their many suffering, passing through pains and trauma that are not heard of or care for? the answers may be unknown or simply put, african conflicts are always complex and the accompanying trends forms the complexity and catalysis of the war that goes along to affecting everything. hiv/aids and conflict fanned mediums in africa ideally, it is nullity to compare two different and major conflicts as having semblance, but one pertinent occurrence in most recent african conflicts has been the will of the indecent group to emulating the evil that their kind or party displayed while humiliating a perceived enemies or people. the rwandan war/genocide and the sierra leonean war were both rooted in ethnicity and its manipulation by warlords for parochial gain.33,34 the functional mechanism of attaining this quest as nursed and desire were also centered on ethnicization35, which informed the actors to see rape, sexual violence and the act of infecting the victims with stds, hiv/aids and tb among others as a bait to exercising their dominance over the lesser groups or enemies. this negative trend, which has become part of african states army/rebel warfare strategy portends a great danger as other upcoming crises like the boko haram insurgence in nigeria, tuareg rebels in mali, the central african rebel groups have adopted such heinous method of warfare to decimate the helpless civilian population, especially the vulnerable categories (women and girls). the rwandan and sierra leonean wars are among the best classical cases of how the wars have resulted in the spread (both during and after the war) of hiv/aids. 95 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com the rwandan experience with the end of the war/genocide, to which the combination of both theories above had a link not only to the events unfolding then in rwanda but as clearly shown that the stage and reactions of the people portrayed as such, thereby leading to the kind of violence visited on the vulnerable and victims. the other also explains the action of the rpf rebels and the role of the seating hutus’ government with the revisiting of the past treatment of the hutus by the former tutsi regime, resulting to war. the baseline survey of32 noted that an average rwandan women and girls, on both side of the conflicts were beaten, raped, and tortured. the violence did not end either when the women arrived at the refugee camps, as rapes occurred frequently in and around the camp.35 as a result, a number of women became pregnant.33 the degree of sexual abuse resulting into easier hiv/aids transmission becomes more prevalent. according to36, citing the statement of francisca, “the rwandan hutu militia at the barrier said they could protect me, but instead, they kept me and raped me in their homes. it was a case of one militia member who keep me for two or three days. and then another would choose me thereafter. if killers group approaches, they would say that i am their sister. i had to stay with these men because i would have been killed otherwise. a condition was very favourable for hiv transmission. after the attack by the rebels, i cried out and they stabbed me, carried me to forest where i meet other women and girls. a few years later, an rpf soldier came to my house and wanted to have sex with me. i tried to convince him that i was hiv positive and couldn’t have sex. it was like a rape because he was a soldier. i felt i could shout. he wanted to marry me and since he was a soldier, i felt i had no choice. i only made him have a test and he was already hiv positive. the rwandan population, generally devastated by the genocide now have a 25% population infected by hiv/aids virus with a steady daily increase of the infirmities on the people. the resultant effect of (hiv/aids endemic) on the people according to7, shows a dwindling life expectancy of 34 years amongst the women, while the average infant mortality rate has increased from 53% to 81% death per every 1,000 live birth in the country. over 10 million children between the age of 16 and 21 have lost one or both parents to hiv/aids.37 similarly,38 opined that the genocidares had two weapons, guns and machetes to infect victims with hiv/aids. reacting to this situation, 39 opined that the hutu extremist also accused the tutsi women of being too proud and that the only way out is to use hiv/aids as part of their arsenal, raping them to infect them. hence, the organizers orchestrated rape to humble the tutsi. by and large, rape and hiv/aids infestation was alarming in the rwandan conflict. it was a place where tears dried up, where the above 96 | p a g e issues and trends in african conflicts and their implications for the spread of hiv/aids in rwandan and sierra leonean crises okechukwu, groupson-paul uc.; ukeje, ikechukwu ogeze; prisca chinyere okechukwu mentioned percentage of the women are hiv/aids carriers, with many emotionally traumatized. sierra leone situation according to40, the sierra leone war, which initially was armed conflicts among men owing to leadership problems arising from long years of denial, suffering, frustration, deprivation and social neglect that later degenerated into violence against women and girls, as they were subjected into brutal forms of sexual violence, including sexual mutilation and killings. the foday sankoh led ruf and the hunter militias turned most women into sex slaves, where rape, sexual mutilation and dehumanization were in the extreme. the war which dragged from 1992 to 2002 witnessed the worst atrocities against women and girls. recounting the incidence in port loko, matukuka, mashebi and cambia, the41 noted that in sierra leone alone, in the period of the conflict about 58% of the urban women and another 80% of the rural women and girls were infected with hiv/aids. out of which about 33% of the girls suffered v.v.f with hiv/aids combined owing to rape and rupture of uterus. according to42 many of the young women who survived the civil war in sierra leone suffered sexual abuse of rape, sexual assault, forced pregnancy and some were kept as bush wives and dragged across the war front; and that many women suffered low-self-esteem, depression and infection among others, which are common outcome of hiv/aids. this mass rape and forced impregnation adopted as weapon of war saw non-timene ethnic women, especially the limbas suffer a great deal in the hand of their captors, the ruf rebels.32 a pathetic case is that of aminata, an eleven-year-old limba girl, which39 revealed that after the killing of her parents by the ruf at gbologhun in cambia district, she was raped consistently until economic community of west african state (ecomog) came to her rescue. then, at eleven years, she was pregnant and abandoned. at the time of birth, she was told that the wall between her vagina and bladder may be affected, she suffered fistula, a broken and ruptured uterus, leading to uncontrolled bladder as urine run uncontrolled and the odd of soaking of clothes or pads became incessant. the above cases show the dehumanizing impacts of african conflicts on citizenry as the bad memories of what women and girls experiences in conflict zone is not only disturbing but lingers on for years. issues in african conflicts according to43, most african conflicts, either before or after independence, had not been on national issues as seen in them when agitating or struggling for freedom to attain independence. but like an act repeating itself, immediately after independence, they soon forget the pains of the trenches, the mould and early morning dews that they bath with. struggle for power now take the center stage. patriotism is thrown away. what each want to gain now become the bone of contest. then conflict ensues. of 97 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com interest, devious war strategies and tactics employed to dissipate the society. some sees ethnic chanting and chauvinism as the best product to market, while some see ethnic humiliation, cleansing and ethnicization as the best tool to despise the enemies by employing the act of infecting captors with hiv/aids and stds to show odiousness. the conflict in turn impede on human lives, the vision to protect the weak, the helpless and the vulnerable. women and girls quickly become the victims of expected protectors as rape, sexual assault, abuse, mutilation, hiv/aids, fistula and unending traumatization become their nightmares. thus,26 argued that there was an estimated 250,000 to 500,000 rape cases committed in rwanda during the genocide, while women and girls in sierra leone were not different. they were systematically subjected to rape, gang rape, infected or otherwise killed or injured by having arrows, spears or other objects pushed into their vagina or being shut in the genitals.44 this kind of war strategies that has proved uncontrollable, but adopted as a new system of warfare are today seen in conflicts in the drc, darfur (sudan), tuareg rebel uprising in mali’s north, boko haram insurgency in nigeria , central african republic crisis and even other pockets of wars and protracted armed conflicts in africa. wars are no longer the act of testing the might of men but a desire to capture women and girls for sex slavery with the intent of infecting them with hiv/aids and other stds viruses.3 thus, agreeing with the research findings of,45 that the increase in african states conflicts that was initially high has though reduced drastically, but has not shown any change in the growth of hiv/aids scourge in africa as it is still near 82% from the 1994 (45%) after the rwanda and somali crisis combined. for instance, a disclosure from an alleged escapee among the over two hundred chibok school girls that was abducted by the boko haram armed group in the north-east nigeria informed that “one of the girl was being raped 15 times by 15 men every day … the girl is now traumatized and confused”.46 this new method of out-rightly using sex and infestation of hiv/aids transmission as a weapon of war had portrayed african in a bad light thereby projecting that the epidemics of aids virus and its casualty ratio in ten years’ time might place african as a risk zone; this time, not on poverty but on the dread of hiv/aids pandemonium as risk in african societies. trends and spread premised on this new dimension of war in africa, targeted at mostly women and girls, it is evident that the following are noticeable in the processes: i. the scourge of hiv/aids might be by direct unprotected sex through rape, which is the highly adopted method; ii. most victims were placed in a situation where they were forced to exchange sex for survival; 98 | p a g e issues and trends in african conflicts and their implications for the spread of hiv/aids in rwandan and sierra leonean crises okechukwu, groupson-paul uc.; ukeje, ikechukwu ogeze; prisca chinyere okechukwu iii. absence of food, shelter and security often encourage such act; iv. the act of intimidating partner by way of violence, thereby making it difficult to negotiate safe sex in relationship can lead to infesting of the victims easily with the dread disease. hence, sexual violence, a widespread act, mostly in conflict zone as noted in rwanda and sierra leone are problematic to the african people. it is apparent that economic disruption, war or conflict also exacerbates gender based violence in number of ways, but the recent occurrence in many of the african conflict zones, especially as examined in rwanda and sierra leone left such to be desired. that is why, the true understanding of the extent of violence against women and girls at the hand of warlords/rebels in the name of war or conflicts are worrisome to all. implications on african society according to47,1 the systematic raping of women and girls in several of the african conflicts as a method of warfare is a gross human violation, portraying the actors of the wars as senseless fighters without any purpose other than looking for cheap manner of settling sexual urges. an intention that might have informed the assertion about the hutu rebels, according to48, that their leaders asked them (troops) to rape the tutsi women as part of their genocidal campaign, in order to quicken the transmission of hiv/aids, which is the fastest way of wiping out the tutsi race from the face of the earth. going by the various contentions above, it is evident that armed conflicts exacerbated the spread of hiv/aids in many ways. this is because it disintegrates countries, with negative consequences of societal dislocations and collapse of state institutions and social services among others. specifically, the conflict in rwanda and sierra leone contributed greatly to the spread of hiv/aids and other stds. noted to have aided this spread easily was the high incidence of refugees overflow and migration within that period. in sierra leone, for instance, over 62% of rural health units were nonfunctional in the immediate aftermath of war in most of the above mentioned provinces. for rwanda, especially schools, apart from classes being disrupted, children or pupils caught in the cross fire becomes immediate victims or booties of war, even when they are not taught the life skills that will protect them from hiv/aids, hence, they are consumed by the heat of war predators and agents of infections, the rebels.4 beside the complex nature of the rwanda and sierra leone conflicts the war complicated the efforts at determining the accurate rate of hiv/aids victims, thereby making it easy for the fleeing refugees to spread the pandemic in their place of host so 99 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com easily. this also, to some extent, provided excuse for inaction and lack of political will to check or tackle the spread of hiv/aids as some receiving countries see their involvement as mere helping people in distress. finally, the overwhelming implication of the widespread of hiv/aids in african conflicts uncontrolled indicates that rape, unprotected sex, sexual assault and forced pregnancy amongst others have been adopted as a way of life, thereby portend danger and great risk to the continent. this is because it does not only undermine the progress of stopping hiv/aids transmission but it also put the lives of the entire continent in serious danger. this negative act also directly affects women across the services, including methods of protecting self. the fallout also poses serious challenges to sexual negotiation like the use of condom, the prevention of the spread of hiv/aids and creates serious burden to healthcare system as it may impede on survival chances of carriers and new victims with low immune system. conclusion and recommendation going by the un security council resolutions 132549 and 130850 under and respectively, which argued that women and girls are disproportionately vulnerable to hiv infection during conflict and post-conflict periods. that is, they may be by fleeing home, loss of family members, loss of means of livelihood and may have little or no access to healthcare among others. it is to be argued that sex and hiv/aids transmission is a weapon of war in the modern african warfare. the study finds that the speedy persistence of the spread of the scourge in conflict zone had for long been neglected. the study revealed that in worst cases, under aged children who are infected with hiv/aids also suffers other infirmities like virginal vascular fistula (vvf). the study observed that the existed evidence of the menace exposed the growing number of carriers that are mostly women and children in african conflict zones and, are yet neglected and abandoned. a disheartening scenario that has clearly informed the crude state of african level of awareness compared to the western world where modern warfare is centered on technological know-how and not on consistent rape and virus transmission as a way of dissipating and dehumanizing the enemies. it is also obsolete in modern time to agree with31 that sexual violence is a common part of military conquest documented from earliest historical records to contemporary conflict. this study, would rather see the argument of,37 that sexual violence targeted against women and girls in the name of mass violence is brutal and invisible form of a systematic use of rape to serve a political ends as objective contention. that is why, this study would probably suggest the use of peacekeepers and other peace agents in tracking down the distributors of this pandemic. at the same time the exposure of the sufferers for treatment and curtailment is very necessary. 100 | p a g e issues and trends in african conflicts and their implications for the spread of hiv/aids in rwandan and sierra leonean crises okechukwu, groupson-paul uc.; ukeje, ikechukwu ogeze; prisca chinyere okechukwu the contention and usage of the two theories above showed that the populist were manipulated due to the evidence of deprivations, frustration, denial and social neglect, to which they were easily brainwashed by the government agents cum rebel leaders who used them to their own end in destroying the general society of rwanda and sierra leone. meanwhile, the actions of the perpetuators should not in any way, be accepted in scoring cheap political points either in the battlefield or peace time. just as the mass rape organize as part of systematic violence campaign with physical and psychological torture on rwandans by the hutu intrahamwe rebels were quickly dismantled by the opponents. references 1 allen c. warfare, endemic violence and state collapse in africa”. review of african political economy, 1999; 26 (81): 367-384. 2 strauss s. wars do end! changing patterns of political violence in sub-saharan africa. african affairs, 2012; 111(443): 179–201. 3 aginam, o. and rupiya, m.r. 2012, hiv/aids and the security sector in africa. new york: unu press 4 klot, j. and delargy, p. 2007, sexual violence and hiv/aids transmission. new york. 5 thomas, k. 2007, sexual violence: weapon of war, impediment to peace” in forced migration review 6 medecins san frontieres, 2004, “i have no joy, no peace of mind, medical, psychological and socioeconomic consequences of sexual violence in eastern drc” msf amsterdam. 7 melvern, l. 2004, conspiracy to murder – the rwanda genocide. london: verse pub. pp. 56 – 57 8 williams, hs. (2011), religion as a protective mechanism for families affected by hiv/aids. retrived from www.mcser.org/ journal/index.php 9 lund, m. 1996, preventing and mitigating violent conflict. washington dc. creative associate international pp.4-6 10 stedman, s.j. 2004, “conflict and conciliation in sub – saharan africa” in brown, m. ed. the international dimension of internal conflicts. cambridge: the mit press p.234 11 gott, r. 1998, “sierra leone and new labour militarism” in z –nett magazine. new york. 12 banks, m. 1996, in ekoko, ae, “confidence and security-building measures and the management of african conflict” in vogt, m. et al peacekeeping as a security strategy in africa. enugu: fourth dimension pub. p.439 13 berdal, mats et al (2000), greed and grievances economic agenda http://www.mcser.org/ 101 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com in civil wars. usa: lynne reinnier pub inc. pp 1 – 3 14 berkowitz, l. 1965, “the concept of aggressive drive: some additional consideration” in advances in experimental psychology. vol. 11, new york: academic press. 15 cantril, h. 1967, “sentio, ergo sum’ motivation reconsidered” in journal of psychology, lxv, january. 91 -107 16 coser, l. 1966, the frustration of social conflict. new york: the free press. 17 gurr, t.r. 1974, why men rebel. new jersey: princeton university press. 18 maier, n,r.f. 1949, frustration: the study of behaviour without a goal. new york: mcgraw –hill 19 gurr, t.r. and ruttenberg, c. 1967, the conditions of civil violence: first tests of a causal model. princeton: centre for international studies. princeton university press no. 28. 20 runciman, w.g. 1996, relative deprivation and social justice. berkeley: university of california press. 21 malone , dm (2000) hiv/aids and securitization theory: security and conflicts, retrieved may 2015 from www.ejt.sagepub/19/1/115refrs 22 keen, david (2000), “incentives and disincentives for violence” in mats berdal et al, greed and grievance: economic agenda in civil wars. usa: lynne rienner pub inc. pp 19 – 20 23 duffield, mark (2000),”globalisation, transborder trade and war economies” in mats berdal et al greed and grievance: economic agenda in civil war. usa: lynne rienner pub inc. 24 mark, rd (2001) changing patterns of hiv/aids stigma and uptake of voluntary jun 13th. london. 25 2004, “broken bodies, torn spirits living with genocide, rape and hiv/aids” in amnesty international, a publication of africa rights (retrieved april 18th, 2015) 26 rene, d.-s. 1996, un special rapporteur of the commission on human rights. 27 benjamin, a.j. 2001,“conflict, post-conflict and hiv/aids the gender connection: women, war and hiv/aids west africa and the great lakes” in world bank international women and children’s day. march 8. 28 mark, rd, (2008) engaging men in prevention and care for hiv/aids in africa. london. 29 skjelsbaek i. 1997, gender battlefields: a gender analysis of peace and conflict, oslo: peace research institute of oslo report no. 6. 30 olujic, b.m. 1999, “women raped and war: the continued trauma of refugee displaced persons in croatia, retrieved april 13th, 2015. http://www.ejt.sagepub/19/1/115refrs 102 | p a g e issues and trends in african conflicts and their implications for the spread of hiv/aids in rwandan and sierra leonean crises okechukwu, groupson-paul uc.; ukeje, ikechukwu ogeze; prisca chinyere okechukwu 31 lerner, g.1986, “i felt like a slut: the cultural context and women’s response to being raped” in journal of traumatic stress. 7 (3) pp. 363 390. 32 human rights watch 2003, “we ‘ll kill you if you cry”, sexual violence in the sierra leone conflict. vol. 15, no. 1 (a), january. 33 keane, f. 1996 the season of blood: the journey into rwanda. london: penguin book. 34 nyankanzi, e. 1998, genocide: rwanda and burundi. vermont: schenkman books inc. pp. 7-8 35 mamdani, m. 2001, when victims become killers; colonialism, nativism and genocide in rwanda. princeton; princeton university press. p. 191 36 2004, “marked for death, raped survivors living with hiv/aids in rwanda” in amnesty international report pub, 6th april retrieved. 37 madre, t. 2004, “demanding justice: rape and reconciliation in rwanda” in an international women’s human rights organisation. retrieved 16th sept 2014 38 mukanyirigira, c. 2002, “women raped and infected with hiv/aids, kigali – coordinator of avega” in the christian science monitor weekly digital edition. 39 itano, n. 2002 “how rwandan’s genocide lingers on for women”, the christian science monitor november 27th. 40 oosterved, v. 1998, “when the women are the spoils of war” retrieved april 11, 2015 from http//www.unesco.org/courier/ 1998_08/uk/ethnque/txt.l.ht 41 2000, “the heart of the matter: sierra leone, diamond and human security partnership africa and canada” in human rights watch africa report, january. 42 humana, c. 2002, “problematic issues of families living with hiv/aids in sierra leone”. academic edition, march 11.for women. 43 bala, s. 2014, “quality of leadership vital for strategic decision-making, us/african generals say” in africa centre for strategic studies. abuja. 44 mangaui, a. 2006, “experience of a raped and bush wives in cambia district, sierra leone. reuter monthly report. 45 nepad (2004) the new partnership for africa’s development (nepad). abuja, educational/public awareness series. 46 dumo, e. 2014, “chilling revelation of escaped chibok girl raped 15 times by 15 men every day” in punch newspaper, june 7. 47 power, s 2003, a problem from hell: america and the age of genocide. usa: perennial pub. p.72 48 walker, r. 2005, “rape, genocide and traumatization in rwandan war” in bbc. african report index. 16th april. 49 2000, see “the security council adopted resolution http://www.un.org/womenwatch/osagi/wps/#resolution 103 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com (s/res/1325) on women and peace and security” on 31 october 2000 50 2000, see “un security council resolution 1308 (2000) on the responsibility of the security council in the maintenance of international peace and security: hiv/aids and international peacekeeping operations 17th july. http://www.un.org/womenwatch/osagi/wps/#resolution 113 | p a g e innovation strategies for curbing examination malpractice in public examinations in nigeria owo emmanuel chinonso e-mail: emmanelsonco@gmail.com department of council matter, registry division abstract examination occupies a very strategic position in our lives especially in education sector. teachers rely on them for a comprehensive evaluation of their students to decide whether a student merits being promoted to another level. despite the strategic importance of examination, the integrity and credibility of public examinations have been greatly eroded and tarnished with increasing incidence of examination malpractice. this paper defined the concept of examination malpractice, trends in examination malpractice in nigeria, forms of examination malpractice and innovation strategies to curb examination malpractice in nigeria. finally, while emphasizing the urgent need for institutions to embrace integrity on a sustainable basis, the paper x-rayed what the stakeholders should do to remedy the odious and unacceptable act of examination malpractices. introduction sustainable development requires the availability of competent and committed human resources. using education as a tool, the government hopes to produce manpower that will serve in different capacities and contribute positively to the nation’s socio-economic and political development. in nigeria, achievements at any level of education are crowned with certification for those who successfully completed the course of study with good academic records. thus, at the end of secondary school education, students are expected to sit for public examinations such as the west african senior school certificate examinations (wassce), conducted by west african examination council (waec), senior school certificate (ssce), conducted by national examination council (neco), the national technical and business certificate examinations (ntce/nbce), also conducted by the national business and technical examinations board (nabteb). in addition, there are various certificate examinations conducted by the joint admission and matriculation board (jamb) for admission into universities, polytechnics and colleges of education. examinations occupy a very strategic position in our lives (educational and industrial) today. teachers and counsellors rely on them for a comprehensive evaluation of their students and clients. to decide whether a student merits being promoted to another class, a series of achievement tests that will eventually culminate in a well founded decision has to be given. in industrial setting, experts in human relations and employment bureaux utilise tests in reaching a decision as to the mailto:emmanelsonco@gmail.com 114 | p a g e employability of an individual applicant. despite the strategic importance of examination or test taking for diagnostic, placement, classification and quality control in nigerian institutions, the integrity and credibility of public examinations have been greatly eroded and corrupted with increasing incidence of examination malpractice. olagboye 2014, lamented that, the situation appears so bad that many nigerians and interested stakeholders including employers of labour have almost lost confidence in the values of examinations and their results. in a study conducted by arijesuyc 2010, he warned that government and major stakeholders should feel sufficiently concerned because of the threat of examination malpractice to the educational system and national development. he further noted that, the majority, scope and sophistication of examination malpractice in the country, has rendered the products, and credentials of the schools doubtful. each year billions of naira is lost by parents and governments when examination bodies cancelled hundreds of thousands of results as a result of examination irregularities. describing the trend which examination malpractice has taken since the last decade, arijesuyo 2010 observed that examination malpractice had become a well-organized business in which supervisors/invigilators of examination subject teachers and even school authorities and their host communities have played prominent roles. it is no longer news that invigilators are often beaten up by desperate students who accuse such invigilators of standing in their way to cheat. ukoha (2017) reported that some host communities in nigeria have chased away invigilators considered to be uncooperative during examinations all in the name of securing key to success for their wards. from the foregoing therefore, one may conclude that various group of people partakes in encouraging examination malpractices. most of the time, the family, the school and the society serve as reinforcers that promote anti-social behaviours of examination malpractice. this paper therefore examines the concept of examination malpractice, trends in examination malpractices in nigeria, forms of examination malpractice and innovation strategies to curb examination malpractice in pubic examinations. meaning of examination malpractice examination malpractice is any illegal act committed by a student single handled or in collaboration with others like fellow students, parents, teachers, supervisors, invigilators, printers and anybody or group of people before, during or after examinations in order to obtain undeserved marks or grades (adesina, 2015). the means of perpetrating this illegal act may range from bringing in unauthorized materials to the examination hall, disrupting the conduct of examinations, buying examination papers, changing of grades after examination and impersonation to using money or candidate’s body to earn marks. examination malpractices constitute one of the greatest problems that have generated a lot of discussions among nigerians because it threatens the very foundation of the educational system. examination as an instrument for decision-making, is always prone to fear and anxiety. many examinees would want to pass the examination by all means. also, many school authorities and parents would want to explore means of getting good 115 | p a g e grades for their students and children. hence, they resort to different forms of malpractices before, during and after examinations. according to adesira 2015, examination malpractices include leaking out questions to students, giraffing and smuggling of material into examination hall. others are deliberate extension of time by supervisors and invigilators, change of scores, buying and selling of examination grades, question papers and prepared answers, and trading sex for question papers, marks and grades. also, ekukugho 2011, identified impersonation, collusion between candidates, collusion between candidates and officials, assault and intimidation, mass cheating, teacher-student affair, bribery, spying, submission of multiple scripts, use of coded or sign language, multiple entry for the same examination among others, as different forms of malpractices in nigeria. trends in examination malpractices in nigeria the phenomenon of examination malpractice is not new in nigeria and indeed all over the world. in nigeria, the history of examination malpractices could be traced back to the colonial days when the “nigerian chronicle” of january 9, 1912 widely reported how the questions of senior cambridge local examinations syndicate leaked (fasasi, 2018). after independence, there was hardly any year when there was no examination malpractice recorded by the leading examining bodies in nigeria. adesina, 2015 reported incidences of examinations leakages in west african examination council (waec) papers in 1963, 1967, 1971, 1977 and 1981 as a result of which administrative panels of enquiry were set up. the federal government panel of enquiry was set up to investigate the 1977 examination leakage; the panel recommended as follows; “sanctions for waec officials who were involved in the malpractice, introduction and use of continuous assessment as a factor for award of certificate and shedding of waec workload and the establishment of new examination bodies” (adesina, 2015). consequently, new examination bodies were established. these were joint admission and matriculation board (jamb) established in 1978 now renamed unified tertiary matriculation examination (utme) in 2010 to conduct matriculation examinations for admission into universities, polytechnics and colleges of education; national business and technical examination board (nabteb) established in 1992 to conduct business and technical examinations; national board for educational measurement (nbem) established in 1992 and changed to national examination council (neco) in 1999 to conduct school certificate examination (arijesuyo, 2010). as a result of the alarming and worrisome trends in the figures and statistics of examination fraud given by the leading examination bodies in respect of postprimary public exit examinations in recent years, and the attendance crises on the country’s educational system, a number of legislative and administrative promulgation were enacted by the federal government between 1984 and 2000. the federal government’s promulgation of decree 20 in 1984, which stipulated a 21-year jail term for those found guilty of examination malpractice. also, there was decree 33 of 1999 stipulating imprisonment for a term up to five years or fine of n50, 116 | p a g e 000.00 to n100,000.00 for any person convicted of examination malpractice (arijesuyo; 2010). in spite of these measures, the menace continued to occur in virtually all public and institutionally organized examinations and the situation appears to have defied recommended solutions. despite all the efforts of the government, examining bodies and other major stakeholders in the nation’s educational industry at curbing the problem of examination malpractices, it has remained persistent and intractable. the west african examination council (waec) annual statistical report of examination malpractice for the waec/ssce post-primary exit examinations between 2000 and 2010 indicated that 781,019 (8.25%) of 9,465,978 candidates who sat for wassce were either withheld or cancelled during the period as a result of examination malpractice. the report further showed that the national examination malpractice index (emi) has remained persistently high ranging between 5.47 and 12.87 during the period surveyed. this means that of every 100 students who wrote waec between the period of 2000 and 2010 in nigeria, at least 8 of them were involved in examination malpractice. arising from the above considerations and coupled with the commitment of federal government to implement the decisions reached at its summit on “confronting the scourge of examination malpractice: threat to the nigerian educational system”, held between 21st and 22nd of august 2006, the federal ministry of education in 2007 blacklisted and derecognized 324 secondary schools across the nation as centres for conducting public examinations from 2007 to 2010. in order to further explain the sophistication of examination malpractices in nigeria, jamb’s public relations officer confirmed in 2007, that two candidates were caught during the 16 may, 2007 university matriculation examinations (ume) having received text messages on their phones and the text messages received were seen to contain information relevant to the examination that was in progress. such problems led to the resolve by the nigerian universities to conduct post-ume examinations to further screen the candidates before admission since they doubt the validity of the ume scores of the prospective students. similarly, available record from the national examination council (neco) indicates that 6,465 cases of examination malpractice were recorded in the 2020 senior school certificate (neco) examination, whereas in 2019, 17,004 cases were recorded (premium times may 6, 2021). from the report above, it could be concluded that this national problem which started as a mustard seed in form of mere cheating in early 60’s to collision in the 70’s, smuggling in of scripts into the hall in the 80’s and later metamorphosed to impersonation, and hiring of contractors in the 90’s has today grown to become an organised crime among the stakeholders. it is now like a fig tree. and the problem is still pending in the nigerian society. 117 | p a g e forms of examination malpractice 1. impersonation: impersonation is the hiring of touts to write examination by appearing in the halls as the genuine candidates. atonka (2010), stated that it involves male candidates sitting in for girls and verse versa in some sensitive papers, twins writing examinations for each other in connivance with the school examination officers/invigilators or supervisors and other examination officials. 2. collusion: this arises when an assigned invigilator or supervisor is receiving or giving assistance to candidates in the examination hail for gratification. 3. examination leakages: this is a situation where question papers are seen by candidates prior to the writing of the examinations and are traceable to the printing press or persons connected with the custody of the question papers. 4. mass cheating: this is a traceable large scale organized cheating involving school authorities, examination officials and candidates through the answering of the questions on the chalkboard for the candidates to copy. 5. smuggling of answer scripts: this involves candidates having external assistance to take to and fro the examination hall answer scripts duly prepared by syndicates in connivance with invigilators and/or supervisors and other examination officials. 6. dubbing: dubbing is an arrangement involving the invigilators or supervisors whereby candidates are allowed to copy from each other in the hall. 7. insult/assault on supervisor, invigilators/ inspectors by candidates: this takes the form of beating of examination officials, destruction of examination official’s cars and manhandling of examination officials and/or using indecent language on supervisors and invigilators who fail to cooperate with them. 8. bringing foreign materials into the examination hall: such as textbooks, cribs, past questions papers either containing numerous notes or used as disguise for current ones that have been smuggled out, photocopies of prepared answers. 9. procurement of answer booklets: this is one of the ways the syndicate operates; whereby they have enough current answer booklets through the assistance of the examination body personnel. they tactically exchange written answer booklets with their candidates before stoppage time and/or in connivance with the school examination officer and the assigned supervisor. 10. enrolling syndicate and self: this happens during the enrolment, the syndicate will be enrolled alongside with the candidate using fake names. in the examination hail, the syndicate will be doing the writing and at the end exchange answer booklet with the candidate. 11. inscription: students have now advanced to the level of inscribing materials or information on anything like parts of their body, for example palms, thighs, baby pampers; dresses, handkerchiefs, rulers, purses, chairs, tables, walls of examination halls and so on. some student even code points and synthesize their notes in such a way that they will be the only one that could understand and use them for cheating. 118 | p a g e 12. personality connection: there are cases where some influential students make use of godfathers in politics, economic high towers, parents, and cult members to influence the outcome of examinations. innovation strategies to curb examination malpractice in public examinations in nigeria despite various efforts of the government and examination bodies to curb the menace of examination malpractice especially in public examinations in nigeria, the perpetrators kept on devising new strategies to execute the act. it is therefore needful that stringent measures are invented to eradicate examination malpractice in nigeria. these measures include: 1. introduction of web-based biometric data capture: this is the most suitable means of identifying and authenticating individuals in a reliable and fast way through unique biological characteristics. it involves the computer based registration of candidates for the examination. 2. biometric verification of candidates: this involves the identification and verification of candidates for the examination based on recognizable and verifiable data. it compares data for the person’s characteristics to that person’s biometric template to determine resemblance. 3. introduction of computer based test (cbt): this is a paperless process by which examinations are designed, developed, delivered and scored by computer with the key element of multiple choice question (mcq) “the questions are authored and loaded onto the servers, these questions are then delivered to the test-taker base on a randomization algorithm. the assessment is marked by the computer and result is instantly made available. 4. provision of uniform writing materials to candidates. 5. introduction of customized question paper booklets. 6. installation of short message service (sms) tracking devices at all examination centres that can access network. 7. screening of candidates with metal detectors. 8. juggling/scrambling of question. 9. installation of closed circuit television (cctv) cameras in all examination halls to check malpractice. 10. introduction of question paper types. 11. the use of security bags to carry examination materials as against metal boxes thereby making the carriage of examination materials very easy and less cumbersome. 12. the use of examination watch groups. 13. increase in the number of scanners for speedy processing of candidates scripts. 14. improvement in examination administration. 119 | p a g e 15. the creation of more examination towns and custodian points for easy distribution and retrieval of examination materials. 16. upward review of salaries and allowances of examination resource person. 17. retrieval of examination materials right from the examination day in order to forestall any form of post-examination malpractice. 18. prohibition of mobile phone in examination hall. 19. prohibition of the use of ear piece in examination hall. 20. maintenance of high integrity by examination officials at all times in order to serve as deterrent to other stakeholders. 21. enormous deployment of security personnel to all exams centres during the conduct of any public examination; and dismissal of any security agent that is caught aiding and abetting examination malpractice. 22. schools in both rural and urban areas must meet all needed requirements before they are recognized as exams centres. only the schools that have required facilities must be recognized by the supervisory body. 23. sending of only credible staff to monitor public examinations by examination monitoring unit of the ministry of education and examination bodies. 24. punishing of schools and individuals involved in examination malpractice. conclusion examination malpractice, which started in nigeria as a minor misdemeanour has not only assumed a frightening dimension, it seems to have become a permanent feature of nigeria education system. efforts by governments, examining bodies, institutions, individuals and concerned groups towards eradicating it have not yielded meaningful results. rather, the situation has become worse in recent times. the new trend involves an organized system of the supervisors, invigilators, teachers, and in some cases heads of schools. there is therefore the need for a team effort to stem this social malaise that has become inimical to educational development in the country. examination malpractice is a social problem that has wrecked unimaginable havoc to the entire fabric of nigeria. it is a hydra headed problem that requires a multidimensional approach to its resolution. any effort aimed at resolving this problem must be collaborative, that is, involving all stakeholders in the education sector, if not, such efforts will end up being an exercise in futility. 120 | p a g e references adesina, s. (2015). growth without development: nigeria’s educational experience 1914-2004. abeokuta: educational industries nigerian ltd. arijesuyo, a. e., & adeyoju, c. a. (2010). effectiveness of cognitive restructuring counselling strategy on students’ attitude towards examination malpractice: implications for social re-engineering. nigerian journal of applied clinical & counselling psychology. (in press). atonko, b. (2010). can holds education summit ask government to tackle examination malpractice through special court. sunday trust, september edukugho, e. (2011). waec’s conflicting results: minister blames lack of communication for confusion. vanguard newspaper 15th september pg.30 ekukugho, r. (2011). waec to publish the list of indicted supervisors, invigilators. vanguard newspaper february 17 fasasi, y. a. (2018). quality assurance: a practical solution to examination malpractices in nigerian secondary olagboye, a. a. (2014). introduction to educational management in nigeria. ibadan: daily graphics (nigeria) limited omebe,c.a. (2012). fundamentals of basic science and technology. fred-ogah publishers emene-enugu. ukoha, k. (2017, february 17, 18). names of banned schools. week end times, p.4 west african examination council (2000-2010) annual statistical report of examination malpractice. 177 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com the millennium development goals and rail transport development in nigeria: a critical review akwara, azalahu francis department of political science, federal university wukari, taraba state, nigeria aakwara@yahoo.com; aquara23@nokiamali.com udaw, joseph effiong department of political science, federal university wukari, taraba state, nigeria ettete2001@yahoo. com ezirim gerald e. department of political science, university of nigeria nsukka. enugu state, nigeria abstract the millennium development goal (mdg) is an embodiment of development issues adopted by member nations of the united nations organization to accelerate the rate of development in their countries. as adopted in nigeria, it aims at the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger; achievement of universal primary education or eradication of illiteracy; promotion of gender equality and empower women; reduction of child mortality; maternal health improvement; combating of hiv/aids, malaria and other diseases; ensuring environmental sustainability; and the development of global partnership for development. these objectives are incorporated into the development agenda of the various member states. the achievement of these goals will among other things depend on the availability of necessary and sufficient infrastructural development in the countries, especially a developed transport system. this study examines the role transportation would play towards the realization of these mdgs in nigeria. and each of these goals are examined in connection with their transportation factor requirements; and the consequences the lack (or inadequacy) of this factor can bear on fulfilling the goals. the paper finds that the transport requirements for the achievement of these goals in nigeria are lacking, especially in the rail transport sector. while appreciable progress is being made to develop the other transport sectors viz: air, road and water transport, the rail transport sector suffers neglect. the paper finds that the law establishing the railway makes the rail system an exclusive reserve of the federal government in nigeria, and that this has prevented private participation in the sector and has led to the underdeveloped nature of rail transport system in the country and this inhibits the achievement of the millennium development goals in the country. the paper recommends the review of the act to allow for private participation in the sector to reposition the sector to provide the necessary transport services necessary for the realization of the millennium development goals in nigeria. keywords: development; transportation; gender-equality; empowerment; poverty eradication. introduction the millennium development goal (mdg) is an embodiment of development issues adopted by member nations of the united nations organization to accelerate the rate of development in their countries. as adopted in nigeria, it aims at the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger; achievement of universal primary education or eradication of illiteracy; promotion of gender equality and empower women; reduction of child mailto:aakwara@yahoo.com mailto:aquara23@nokiamali.com 178 | p a g e the millennium development goals and rail transport development in nigeria: a critical review akwara, azalahu francis; udaw, joseph effiong; ezirim gerald e. mortality; maternal health improvement; combating of hiv/aids, malaria and other diseases; ensuring environmental sustainability; and the development of global partnership for development. these objectives are incorporated into the development agenda of the various member states and are facilitated through human interaction, availability of appropriate infrastructural facilities and good governance. in every human society, interaction is unavoidable. this is more so when a defined geographical space (such as nigeria) is variedly endowed with human and material resources in significant quantities. such condition necessitates exchange among individual and group components of the society, thus implying transport-demand. munby (1968) attests that transportation is an indispensable need of every human society no matter its mode of operation. it, therefore, becomes imperative that state planners and policy-makers must lend ample consideration to the means and modes of both human and material mobility. transportation is not sought after for the purpose of mere movement. relocation of materials and labour impact on economic values of items are also involved. this fact is underscored by adefolalu (1977), who identified transportation as a phase in the production process. in his view, production process is complete only when the goods produced get to the final consumer. odugbemi and ajiboye (1998) recognized the vital role transportation plays in achieving effective distribution or logistic chain. in this connection, commerce and other economic activities often largely account for transport-demand. by extension, it can be established that the quantum of economic activities in a society significantly impacts on the general well-being of its members. in specific terms, a country such as nigeria can be said to aggregately experience development only when there is improvement in both individual and collective well-being of her populace. in this trajectory, we realize that transportation is pivot to human activities and wealth creation. based on the foregoing, this discourse dwells on the millennium development goals (mdgs), as a global blueprint for improving the lot of mankind. it is the extent to which this blueprint addresses transportation and transport development that this paper seeks to inquire. specific focus is on nigeria. the mdg document is appraised in the light of deliberate and specific statements that target transport infrastructural development. statement of problem the nigerian railway system has been in existence since 1898 and its existence was given a legal backing through an act establishing the nigerian railway corporation (nrc) in 1955. the 1955 act forbids any organization, individual or group to carry out any railway activity. in other words, railway 179 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com operation in nigeria is an exclusive prerogative of the federal government. this legislation, sadly, accounts for the near-moribund state the nrc finds itself today. while the road and air mode sectors were developed in the post-civil war infrastructural development agenda, the rail sector development was neglected. the result of this trend is the near-comatose state the rail system finds itself in nigeria. considering the importance of transportation in the socio-economic development processes of a country as nigeria, it becomes imperative to investigate what are nigeria's millennium development goals in the transport sector and how have the goals addressed the problems in the railway transport system in the country. what are the challenges ahead and what are the solutions? theoretical orientations and development models in public policy planning and administration the term, 'development', is relative when viewed in the context of public administration. in the view of ali (2011), what defines development in third world countries largely lies in the avoidance of social unrest and the maintenance of power. when viewed against rostow's (1960) identified stages of economic growth model, it means that third world countries are at the stage of pre-condition for take-off into self-sustaining growth. it is in the atmosphere of tranquility that other developmental and indeed, advance stages of growth can be attained. whereby a society is still grappling with sustenance of social stability, further development and growth activities are stalled. according to rostow's model, the required mix of savings and investment through national planning and capital investment forms the basis for achieving developmental growth. another model of development is premised on false paradigm-theory. according to this school of thought, underdevelopment is caused by faulty and inappropriate advice from international 'experts'. in this connection, lapses in international organization recommended policies can be suspect when they do not address the specific and obvious needs of some of its beneficiaries or members. rodney's (1972) concept of development is specifically in the african perspective. issues such as illiteracy, hunger and poverty were identified by rodney as primary debilitating factors of development in africa. according to him, development begins when the rhetoric questions that address illiteracy, hunger and poverty are answered. it should be noted that just addressing these development foundational issues only brings a society to a pre-condition for contemporary development. it is the substantial aggregate improvement in the wellbeing of members of a society that defines development. sustainable methods of exploiting nature are, therefore, emphasized as a vital feature of development in the real sense. other models of development in public 180 | p a g e the millennium development goals and rail transport development in nigeria: a critical review akwara, azalahu francis; udaw, joseph effiong; ezirim gerald e. administration are built around institutional, incremental and comprehensive changes. these are all issues that are more appreciated in terms of their sustainability value. these are the issues to be addressed by the millennium development goals in various nations of the world. 1. transport-need and transport development in 21st century nigeria with a landmass of over 900,000 square kilometers, nigeria's topography is suitable for all modes of transport. water, rail, road, air and pipeline modes that dot parts of the country are, majorly, legacies that represent neo-colonial exploitation. ports were developed to serve as western and eastern inroads/gateways for agro-based raw materials in and out of nigeria to europe, especially. rail network was designed to complement colonial transport plan of linking the hinterland of the northern parts with the coasts of lagos and port-harcourt. fifty-two years after independence, these transport infrastructures still remain primary in nigeria's transport system. while the maritime sector has been developed in terms of capacity and fair country-wide spread, the rail sector continues to be bogged by systemic neglect. it is to this rail transport sector that discourse now turns. although the nigerian railway system has been in existence since 1898, the act establishing the nigerian railway corporation (nrc) was instituted in 1955. the 1955 act forbids any organization, individual or group to carry out any railway activity. in other words, railway operation in nigeria is an exclusive prerogative of the federal government. this legislation, sadly, accounts for the near-moribund state the nrc finds itself today. while the road and air modes sectors were developed in the post-civil war infrastructural development agenda, the rail sector development was neglected. the result of this trend is the near-comatose state the rail system finds itself in nigeria. however, there are committed moves made by the current government of president goodluck jonathan to review the act. presently, the bill in that respect has received a second reading in the national assembly (nigerian pilot, 2012). as a proactive measure, the federal government has embarked on a 25-year strategic vision of repositioning and modernizing the existing rail system. considering the millennium development goals (mdgs) as a longterm developmental agenda, transportation is crucial to almost every sector this agenda seeks to address. again, the sustainability objective which the mdgs roadmap holds can be largely achieved through effective and efficient transport provision. mdgs and nigeria’s transport development plan at this juncture, it is appropriate to appreciate the mdgs in the light of transport relevance. each of the broad 181 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com based eight goals is considered vis-a-vis transport relevance in achieving specific targets of the goals. due to volume constraint, we refrain from elaborate listing of goals' targets. rather, goals and their relevant targets are mentioned only for the purpose of enunciation. the broad-based goals of the mdg roadmap are as follow: goal 1: eradication of extreme poverty and hunger; goal 2: achievement of universal primary education; goal 3: promotion of gender equality and empower women; goal 4: reduction of child mortality; goal 5: maternal health improvement; goal 6: combating of hiv/aids, malaria and other diseases; goal 7: ensuring environmental sustainability; and goal 8: development of global partnership for development. source: www.un.org/documents/ga/res/ 55/a55r002.pdf -a/res/55/2 (2000) each of these goals are examined in connection with their transportation factor requirements; and the consequences the lack (or inadequacy) of this factor can bear on fulfilling the goals. mdg goal 1: eradication of extreme poverty and hunger: the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger is a two-pronged initiative. hunger and poverty are mutually inclusive socio-economic phenomena. from a holistic perspective, goal 1 is directed at food security. by inference, agro-based and agro-allied activities and production are involved. the importance of transportation in agricultural production is expressed by ajiboye (2011). transport efficiency and effectiveness affect the basic functions of production, distribution, marketing and consumption. from the foregoing, it is clear that both hunger and poverty alleviation (and possibly, eradication) can be achieved when efficient transportation infrastructure are provided and made accessible. it must be stated here that agricultural transportneeds vary widely because of seasonality and the nature of products. abumere and oluwasola (2001) are of the opinion that losses that could arise from lack of appropriate transport facility; and product spoilage can be curtailed once transportation inadequacies are addressed. goal 2: achievement of universal primary education; goal 2 is focused on education. more so, children form the nucleus of targeted beneficiaries. and, as a persuasive public policy, incentives for acceptance and compliance are imperative. various government gestures such as: free school feeding, stipends, free textbooks and uniforms (among others) aimed at encouraging primary school enrolment and attendance can only be complemented by transport provision. in nigeria, the enugu state government has a free-ride-toschool (and return) scheme for primary and secondary school students, within the 'coal city'. access to primary school facilities, http://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/%2055/a55r002.pdf http://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/%2055/a55r002.pdf 182 | p a g e the millennium development goals and rail transport development in nigeria: a critical review akwara, azalahu francis; udaw, joseph effiong; ezirim gerald e. especially in rural communities, is marked by long distances to some homesteads. the lack (or inadequacy) of appropriate transport means for the rural school children, who are part of the over seventy percent of the 140 million citizens can be a great impediment to achieving the target of ensuring that children (everywhere) will be able to complete a full course of primary school. provision of adequate means of transportation serves as ample motivation to students, teachers and other school staff. besides, it provides the relaxed platform learners and teachers require for pre-classroom and post-classroom engagements. it is in this enabling teaching and learning conditions that the benefits of education can be maximally attained for development. goal 3: promotion of gender equality and empowering women; goal 3 is closely related to goal 2. the marked differences lie in gender emphasis. for the purpose of elucidation, it is pertinent to enumerate some of the progress-monitoring indicators of this goal at this point. these indicators are as follows: • ratios of girls to boys in primary, secondary and tertiary education • ratio of literate females to males of 15-24 year-olds • share of women in wage employment in the non-agricultural sector • proportion of seats held by women in national parliament it is expected that the measurable parameters of these indicators rise in favour of female. yet, the fact still remains that education is key to achieving them. in the same vein as goal 2, the transportation factor is substantially relevant to attaining the first two indicators. other indicators are offshoots of the first two. the argument can therefore be rested on the premise that transportation is vital to the foundation for women empowerment. goals 4, 5, and 6: reduction of child mortality; maternal health improvement; and combating of hiv/aids, malaria and other diseases; goals 4, 5 and 6 share a common sectoral base. the focus of these three goals strongly relate to health. but we must not lose trend of this discourse which is the relevance of transportation in the fulfillment of the mdgs, especially these three under consideration. issues of child mortality, maternal health, and disease prevention require institutional infrastructural facilities. these facilities are at locations. therefore, public transport means (vehicles) and infrastructure (roads) for accessing such places are equally as important as the facilities themselves. yet, transportation implications of these lifesaving cum lifeimproving initiatives are given less consideration. it must be stated, here, that no matter how wellintended a public policy or project might be, accessibility of such project to targeted individuals is paramount. in many ways, 183 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com transportation and health correlate paradoxically either in terms of ease of access to facility (especially in emergency cases), or accident causality. for instance, obi and odumosu (2011) observed that although hiv/aids has a far-reaching impact on all sectors of the nigerian economy, the transport sector employees were identified as being particularly vulnerable. it was further recognized that long-distance drivers (ldds) play a central role in promoting the spread of hiv/aids in nigeria. in a related effort, morenikeji and adegoke (2004) resorted to the training of peer educators, among transport workers. the objective of using peer educators is to achieve a multiplier effect of awareness within the transport sector. goal 7, perhaps, bears the most contemporary transportation-related focus. environmental sustainability subsumes issues such as gaseous emissions and ozone depletion, energyuse, maintenance of biological diversity among others. development is said to be sustainable only if consuming activities of the present has minimal negative impact on the future. increasing household vehicle ownership in nigeria poses serious environmental challenge. as walsh (2003) observed, a common source of environmental pollution is vehicular emission. they are major sources of volatile organic compounds (vocs) and nitrogen oxides, the precursors to both tropospheric ozone and acid rain; carbon monoxide (co); toxic air pollutants such as diesel particulate; and chlorofluorocarbons (cfcs). yet, not even the goal 7 target is definite on substantial transportation regulation to mitigate the sector's contribution to pollution. rather, the mdg document generically admonishes countries to integrate the principle of sustainable development in their policies and programmes; and reverse the loss of environmental resources. goal 8: development of global partnership for development lastly, goal 8 which focuses on global partnership for development has numerous targets. but the point still remains that whether in bi-lateral or multi-lateral relationship among nations, trade is often implied. although such trades usually involve exchange of goods and services, physical products (in the forms of raw materials and finished items) dominate the transactions. here, again, the massive deployment of vehicles for transportation is almost inevitable. yet, none of this goal targets denotes deliberate policy or action in respect of transportation. rather, the document is concerned with fiscal issues such as official development assistance (oda), tariffs, debt management, gdp among others. other areas of physical concerns include essential drug availability, youth job-creation, information and communication technology (ict) and the special needs of landlocked countries and small island developing states (sids). 184 | p a g e the millennium development goals and rail transport development in nigeria: a critical review akwara, azalahu francis; udaw, joseph effiong; ezirim gerald e. the importance of transportation in the achievement of the mdgs transportation, no doubt, is a vital factor for human interaction and communication. a country such as nigeria, which is variedly endowed with resources, will naturally stimulate interaction among locations where there are surpluses and lack. the millennium development goals (mdgs) declaration was signed by 189 countries, including 147 heads of state, in september 2000 as a global policy agenda, targeted toward ensuring an overall objective of sustainable mankind development. the mdgs have targets that are inter-related. these goals and targets represent partnership between developed countries and developing countries. according to the declaration, such partnership is determined toward creating an environment at national and global levels conducive to development; and elimination of poverty. partnership objective of this magnitude inevitably involves trade and commerce. thus, transportation becomes crucial. it is in the light of transportation factor that this paper examined the goals of the declaration to determine the level of consideration given to it. while appraising the mdgs and their relevant targets, it is observed that the document has selected sectoral focus in agriculture, education, social justice, health, environment and international relations. health is given a generous focus due to the fact that true well-being lies in good state of health credence to the cliche: “health is wealth”. in all of what the mdgs seek to address, we observed that transportation is pivotal to their realization. it is so much so that the nonrecognition and non-inclusion of transportation infrastructure development in the declaration is identified, by this paper, as a flaw in the document. relevant goal targets and indicators for monitoring their progress imply transportation infrastructure requirements in order to achieve and assess them. yet, no deliberate pronouncement of transportation development is in the agenda. such acts of omission, in killik's (1983) view, form the sources of weaknesses in plan implementation. other sources killik identified include deficiencies in plan documents; institutional and bureaucratic weaknesses (including inadequate planning resources); exogenous shocks; and political factors. no doubt, the lack of emphasis on transport infrastructure and service development in the declaration is a deficiency in the plan document of mdgs. conclusion with almost three years to the mdgs' fulfillment target time (2015), some indicators for monitoring the goals' progress continue to largely depend on transportation elements. for instance, the proportion of population living below $1 per day can be reduced if adequate rural road infrastructure is 185 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com available for agro-product evacuation since about 70% of the nigerian population is agrarian. in the same vein, scholars such as egbuna (2001) as well as ajiboye and afolayan (2009) identified dearth of transport infrastructure and services as major factors militating against food production and circulation in developing world. access to healthcare facilities in order to reduce infant and maternal mortality rates, as well as accessing skilled health personnel, promptly depends on effective and efficient transportation provision. the same ease of access is also required for educational facilities. perhaps, the most prominently transportation-related goal is that of environmental sustainability. reduction in ozone-depleting emissions substantially requires addressing regulations in respect of vehicle emissions. such regulations are imperative in view of the transportation effects the global partnership goal can spin-off. the secondary position which the mdg document accords transportation is, indeed, a major flaw in the global effort at facilitating human development. recommendations in view of the foregoing discourse, and the ensuing observations, the following recommendations are hereby put forward: 1. the mdg targets must emphasize adequate transport provision in order to reinforce their realization. 2. the nigerian railway system must be developed, as relative bulk carrier, in order to garner the benefits of carbon footprint reduction and fuel efficiency. 3. there is urgent need to review the 1955 railway act in order to encourage private participation. 4. appropriate transport infrastructure such as roads and vehicles should be provided in all modes to facilitate access. 5. effective legislation aimed at regulating toxic automotive emission must be put in place. 6. there is need for dedicated and integrated intermodal transport system to accentuate mdg efforts of the nigerian government to fulfillment. these recommendations serve as policy remediation, or addendum, aimed at addressing the mdg agenda flaw of relegating transportation imperativeness. as aptly recommended by huzzayyin (2005), sustainable transport development within the context of developing countries must meet the requirements of inexpensiveness, simplicity, durability, self-support, accessibility, cleanness and social acceptability. in the light of these requirements, odeleye (2011) highlighted the need for nigeria to join the league of other developing countries such as egypt and mexico in the utilization of compressed natural gas (cng) in public transportation. the mdg platform provides a launchpad for attaining the continental goal of new partnership for africa's 186 | p a g e the millennium development goals and rail transport development in nigeria: a critical review akwara, azalahu francis; udaw, joseph effiong; ezirim gerald e. development (nepad). at the level of the nigerian statehood, the national economic empowerment and development strategy (needs) can be factored to deal with the observed lapses of the mdg declaration. after all, the mdg programme is a blueprint that accommodates initiatives which will ultimately lead to the set objective of development and poverty reduction. references abumere, s.t. and oluwasola o. (2001). “food supply to ibadan: a study of rural-urban linkage”. research report no. 29, development policy centre, ibadan. adefolalu, a.a. (1977). “significance of transportation” in, rural development in environmental and spatial factors. proceedings of 20th annual conference of geographical association of university of ife, ile-ife. ajiboye, a.o. (2011). “the effects of transportation system on food marketing and security in nigeria” journal of logistics and transport, vol. 4 (1), pp. 53-68. ajiboye, a.o. and afolayan, o. (2009). “the impact of transportation to agricultural production in a developing country: the case of kolanut production in nigeria” international journal of agricultural economic and rural development, vol. 2(2), pp. 49-57. ali, a.a.g. (2011). “development planning in africa: key issues, challenges and prospects”. a background paper commissioned by the united nations economic and the social council, economic commission for africa (uneca) at the meeting of the committee of experts of the 4th joint annual meetings of the au conference of ministers of economy and finance and eca conference of african ministers of finance, planning and economic development. addis ababa, ethiopia. egbuna, e.n. (2001). “food security in nigeria: the challenges and way forward” a selected papers presented at the 2001 annual conference on natural resourceuse, the environment and sustainable development. the nigerian economic society, pp.307326. huzzayyin, a.s. (2005). “impeding the promotion of sustainable transport in developing countries: views on the constraints”. in international conference on sustainable transportation in developing countries proceedings, abudhabi, united arab emirate. killick, t. (1983). “development planning in africa: experiences, weaknesses and prescriptions”; development policy review, vol. 1, pp. 47-76. morenikeji, a.m. and adegoke, d. (2004). “hiv infection prevention among road transport workers in ojo lga of lagos state” in, international conference on 187 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com aids, abstract no. tupee 5384 munby, d.i. (1968) (ed.) transport: selected readings. harmondsworth pengun. washington d.c. nigerian pilot newspaper (2012). http://nigerianpilot.com/index.php /business/4856-fg-nass-agree-toamend-nrc-act-1955. electronically retrieved on november 17, 2012. obi, p. and odumosu, a. o (2011). “erudification and edification of inter-state heavy goods vehicles (hgvs) drivers on hiv/aids spread” journal of logistics and transport, vol. 4(1), 1-12. odeleye, j. (2011). “natural gas as alternative source of energy for sustainable public transportation in nigeria” journal for logistics and transport, vol. 3 (1), pp. 11-21. odugbemi, o.o. and ajiboye, a.o. (1998). “transport factor in cash crop production and distribution: the kolanut example” journal of transport studies, 2(1) pp. 89-106. rodney, w. (1972). how europe underdeveloped africa. boglel’ouverture publications, london. rostow, w. w. (1960). the stages of economic growth: a non-communist manifesto, cambridge: cambridge university press. walsh, m.p. (2003). “vehicle emission trends and forecasts: the lessons of the past 50 years” in, blue sky in the 21st century conference, seoul-korea. http://nigerianpilot.com/index.php/business/4856-fg-nass-agree-to-amend-nrc-act-1955 http://nigerianpilot.com/index.php/business/4856-fg-nass-agree-to-amend-nrc-act-1955 http://nigerianpilot.com/index.php/business/4856-fg-nass-agree-to-amend-nrc-act-1955 33 | p a g e post covid-19 education crisis and the need to sustain blended learning for better pedagogical practices in public universities in enugu state by victoria c. chibuike (faben) phone: 07035808229 e-mail vcchibuike@yahoo.com department of business education enugu state university of science and technology & precious c. chibuike esq phone: 07034213057 e-mail: barrpreciouschisom@gmail.com department of sociology enugu state university of science and technology & francisca n. ukwueze phone: 0803 545 3764 e-mail: franciscaukwueze@gmail.com enugu state college of education (technical), enugu abstract the main purpose of this study was to determine the needs to sustain blended learning by business educators and law lecturers in post covid-19 era for better pedagogical practices in public universities in enugu state. the study was guided by two research questions and two null hypotheses tested at 0.05 level of significance. a descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. the population of the study was made up of 48 respondents (21 business educators and 27 law lecturers) of university of nigeria nsukka and enugu state university of science and technology in this 2020/2021 academic session. no sampling was made since the population is manageable. therefore the entire population was used for the study. data for the study were collected through the administration of questionnaire instrument on the respondents. the instrument was subjected to a reliability test after validation through a pilot test administered to ten (10) business educators and ten (10) law lecturers in nnamdi azikiwe university awka. data collected from the pilot test were analyzed using cronbach alpha to ascertain the internal consistency of the instrument. the analysis yielded coefficient indices of 0.86 for cluster a and 0.82 for cluster b of the questionnaire respectively. the overall coefficient index obtained for the instrument was 0.84 which was a strong indicator that the instrument is reliable. mean and standard mailto:franciscaukwueze@gmail.com 34 | p a g e deviation were used to analyze the data in respect of the research questions while t-test statistic was used to test the null hypotheses. findings of the study indicate that blended learning skills strategies were found needed by business educators and law lecturers to sustain better pedagogical practices in public universities in enugu state. conclusion was drawn and recommendations were made that blended learning skills should be reemphasized and continually sustained by business educators and law lecturers to sustain better pedagogical practices in public universities in enugu state. blended learning strategies in the same vein should be continually sustained by business educators and law lecturers to sustain better pedagogical practices in public universities in enugu state. key words covid-19, blended learning & pedagogical practices introduction the covid-19 pandemic and its ravaging effect on all spheres of human endeavour, education inclusive is too alarming. many countries of the world including nigeria short down every form of business and social activities. schools, colleges and universities were close down. education was in huge crisis as a result of the close down, even till today. online teaching started on an untested and unprecedented scale. students’ assessments also started online, with a lot of trial and error and uncertainty for everyone. in nigeria and enugu state in particular, the case is not different. people thought that the severe disruption in academic activities is going to be short-lived only to discover that the reverse is the case. people were compelled to observe social distancing and high degree of personal hygiene, (okpalaojiego and onukwuli 2021). this seriously affected learning environment adversely. people were unprepared. measures were introduced to checkmate the effect of covid-19 in so many areas including academics. as a result, so many online teaching and learning activities set in including blended or hybrid learning. blended learning, also known as hybrid learning, is an approach to education that combines online educational materials and opportunities for interaction online with traditional place-based classroom methods. it requires the physical presence of both teacher and student, with some elements of student control over time, place, path, or pace, (graham, woodfield & harrison 2013). the term "blended learning" was initially vague, encompassing a wide variety of technologies and pedagogical methods in varying combinations (some making no use of technology whatsoever). in 2006, the term became more concrete with the publication of the first handbook of blended learning by bonk and graham. graham challenged the breadth and ambiguity of the term's definition, and defined "blended learning systems" 35 | p a g e as learning systems that "combine face-to-face instruction with computer mediated instruction” (bonk & graham 2006). in a report titled "defining blended learning", norm (2012) suggests that, in its current form, blended learning "designates the range of possibilities presented by combining internet and digital media with established classroom forms that require the physical co‐ presence of teacher and students". blended learning is learning which combines online and face-to-face approaches. by means of online discussion forms, educators can monitor the class discussions. these discussions help teachers or educators identify topics that need clarification or that have captured the interest of students, and they can use the insights gained by them to structure class time. the emphasis is on digital education where educators and lecturers are pushed to reconceptualize what it really means to be an educator or lecturer in the post covid -19 education crisis. technology has become an essential force shaping much of our teaching and pedagogical practices. pedagogy is a term that refers to the method of how teachers teach, in theory and in practice. pedagogy is formed by an educator’s teaching beliefs and concerns the interplay between culture and different ways to learn. in order to help students to build on prior learning, meaningful classroom relationships must exist. pedagogy refers to the study of teaching approaches and how they affect learners. a carefully considered pedagogy is essential in enabling students to learn more effectively and can help them develop high-order thinking skills. technology has also placed a number of demands and exigencies on us and to meet these exigencies we need to develop a set of key digital skills. digital skills are defined as the ability to find, evaluate, use, share, and create content using digital devices, such as computers and smart phones. with the demands of an increasingly digitized environment occasioned by covid-19, there is a growing awareness among educators that teaching and learning need to evolve and be sustained in order to prepare educators and students in this post covid-19 education crisis period. therefore, the main purpose of this study is to determine the needs to sustain blended learning by business educators and law lecturers in post covid-19 era for better pedagogical practices in public universities in enugu state. specifically the study sought to determine the: 36 | p a g e 1. blended learning strategies needed by business educators and law lecturers to sustain better pedagogical practices in public universities in enugu state. 2. blended learning skills needed by business educators and law lecturers to sustain better pedagogical practices in public universities in enugu state. research questions 1. what are blended learning skills needed by business educators and law lecturers to sustain better pedagogical practices in public universities in enugu state. 2. what are blended learning strategies needed by business educators and law lecturers to sustain better pedagogical practices in public universities in enugu state. hypotheses the following null hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. ho1. there is no significant difference between the mean ratings of business educators and law lecturers on the blended learning skills needed by business educators and law lecturers to sustain better pedagogical practices in public universities in enugu state. ho2. there is no significant difference between the mean ratings of business educators and law lecturers on the blended learning strategies needed by business educators and law lecturers to sustain better pedagogical practices in public universities in enugu state. methods survey research design was adopted in the study. this is because the researchers sought the opinions of the respondents on the issues of concern. the study was conducted in the department of business education and faculty of law, university of nigeria nsukka and enugu state university of science and technology. the population of the study was determined from the survey conducted by the researchers and it is made up of 46 respondents (21 business educators and 27 law lecturers) from both university of nigeria nsukka and enugu state university of science and technology. the whole 48 respondents were used for the study. no sampling was made. the instrument for data collection was a structured questionnaire titled “questionnaire on postcovid-19 education crisis and the need to sustain blended learning for better pedagogical practices in public universities in enugu state (qpcecnsblbpppues)”. the questionnaire contains 30 item questions and was structured on a four point rating scale of very highly needed (vhn), highly needed (hn), moderately needed (mn) and not needed (nn) with corresponding value of 4, 3, 2 and 1. the respondents were 37 | p a g e requested to indicate the extent of their agreement or disagreement with each of the items considered as the need to sustain blended learning for better pedagogical practices in public universities in enugu state. their suggestions and corrections were used to produce the final instrument used for the study. the validity of the instrument was established by giving copies of the drafted instrument to three experts, one from the department of business education and one from the faculty of law while one is from measurement and evaluation unit of the department of mathematics and computer education, enugu state university of science and technology. the instrument was subjected to a reliability test after validation through a pilot test administered to ten (10) business educators and ten (10) law lecturers in nnamdi azikiwe university awka. data collected from the pilot test were analyzed using cronbach alpha to ascertain the internal consistency of the instrument. the analysis yielded coefficient indices of 0.86 for cluster a and 0.82 for cluster b of the questionnaire respectively. the overall coefficient index obtained for the instrument was 0.84 which was a strong indicator that the instrument is reliable. nworgu 2015 asserts that if a reliability coefficient index of an instrument was 0.60 and above, then the instrument is deemed reliable. three research assistants were used in the administration of the instrument and out of 48 copies distributed, 46 copies were returned giving 94.73percent return rate. weighted means with standard deviation were used to answer the research questions. decisions on the research questions were made using the lower limit and upper limits of the mean based on the four point scale. the standard deviation was used to determine the homogeneity or otherwise of the opinions of the respondents. the t-test statistics was used to test the null hypothesis at 0.05 level of significance. the statistical package for social sciences (spss) computer programme was used for data analysis. the null hypothesis was not rejected where the significant value was less than 0.05 level of significance at appropriate degree of freedom, otherwise the hypothesis was rejected. results the results of the study were presented in tables based on the research questions and hypotheses that guided the study (see table 1-4). research question 1 1. what are blended learning skills needed by business educators and law lecturers to sustain better pedagogical practices in public universities in enugu state? 38 | p a g e table 1 mean ratings and standard deviation on the blended learning skills needed by business educators and law lecturers to sustain better pedagogical practices in public universities in enugu state s/n blended learning skills needed by business educators and law lecturers to sustain better pedagogical practices in public universities business educators law lecturers overall _ x sd decision 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 using internet for research  interacting with computers using web browsers cloud computing / aws digital library powerpoint presentation ability to manipulate keyboard _ x sd1 3.48 0.62 3.25 0.75 3.17 0.84 3.43 0.76 3.29 0.85 3.09 0.90 3.38 0.58 3.48 0.62 3.31 0.73 3.02 0.66 3.42 0.50 3.05 0.96 3.48 0.50 3.29 0.71 _ x sd2 3.43 0.76 3.35 0.62 3.15 0.87 3.31 0.76 3.35 0.78 3.27 0.71 3.25 0.85 3.38 0.72 3.21 0.80 3.05 0.66 3.49 0.71 3.18 0.81 3.49 0.71 3.30 0.75 n = 46 3.43 0.67 3.30 0.69 3.16 0.86 3.27 0.76 3.32 0.82 3.18 0.81 3.32 0.67 3.43 0.67 3.26 0.77 3.10 0.66 3.49 0.61 3.12 0.87 3.49 0.61 3.29 0.72 needed needed needed needed needed needed needed needed needed needed needed needed needed needed 39 | p a g e ability to use search engines ability to scan documents  documenting and recording information  collecting data and information send messages through emails creating project templates cluster mean/sd results in table 1 above showed the overall mean ratings range from 3.10 – 3.49 indicating the agreement of the respondents (business educators) and (law lecturers) in public universities in enugu state that the 13 items were blended learning skills needed by business educators and law lecturers to sustain better pedagogical practices in public universities in enugu state.the cluster mean of 3.29 also indicates agreement. the low cluster standard deviation of 0.72 showed that the respondents had similar views on the blended learning skills needed by business educators and law lecturers to sustain better pedagogical practices in public universities in enugu state hypothesis ho1 there is no significant difference between the mean ratings of business educators and law lecturers on the blended learning skills needed by business educators and law lecturers to sustain better pedagogical practices in public universities in enugu state. 40 | p a g e table 2 summary table of t-test analysis of mean ratings of business educators and law lecturers on the blended learning skills needed by business educators and law lecturers to sustain better pedagogical practices in public universities in enugu state variables business educators law lecturers n 21 25 _ x 3.29 3.30 sd 0.71 0.75 df 249 t-cal 0.4 t-crit 1.96 decision do not reject h0 table 2 showed that the calculated t-tables at 0.05 level of significance and 249 degree of freedom was 0.04; while the critical t-value under the same conditions was 1.96. since the calculated t-value was less than the table value, the null hypothesis was therefore not rejected. this means that there is no significant difference between the mean ratings of business educators and law lecturers in enugu state on the blended learning skills needed by business educators and law lecturers to sustain better pedagogical practices in public universities in enugu state research questions 2 1. what are blended learning strategies needed by business educators and law lecturers to sustain better pedagogical practices in public universities in enugu state? table 3 mean ratings and standard deviation on the blended learning strategies needed by business educators and law lecturers to sustain better pedagogical practices in public universities in enugu state s/n blended learning strategies needed by business educators and law lecturers to sustain better pedagogical practices business educators _ x sd1 law lecturers _ x sd2 n-46 overall _ x sd decision 14 15 16 create annotated, interactive and 3.50 0.69 3.44 0.66 3.23 0.79 3.51 0.71 2.75 0.77 3.21 0.75 3.50 0.70 3.10 0.72 3.32 0.77 needed needed needed 41 | p a g e 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 engaging video content create visually engaging contentuse social bookmarking websites curate and share resources with your class create digital portfolios 1. create engaging presentations 2. use right technology tools. choose a blended learning model start with a description of the curriculum outline your goals 3. redefine your role in the classroom. 4. determine learning objectives. define learning outcomes.  use self-blend model use the online driver model use the flex model the face-to-face driver model  online lab school model. 3.28 0.72 3.30 0.73 3.20 0.79 2.86 0.97 3.15 1.03 3.18 0.81 3.02 0.66 3.60 0.66 3.14 0.86 3.20 0.73 3.08 0.91 3.20 0.79 3.23 0.79 3.17 0.84 3.52 0.54 3.19 0.75 3.12 0.82 2.92 0.96 3.49 0.71 3.05 0.96 3.05 0.66 3.52 0.77 3.15 0.86 3.19 0.72 3.29 0.74 3.12 0.82 3.21 0.75 3.15 0.87 3.40 0.63 3.29 0.74 3.16 0.81 2.89 0.97 3.32 0.89 3.12 0.87 3.10 0.66 3.56 0.72 3.16 0.86 3.19 0.73 3.19 0.83 3.16 0.81 3.32 0.77 3.16 0.86 needed needed needed needed needed needed needed needed needed needed needed needed needed needed 42 | p a g e cluster mean/sd 3.22 0.79 3.20 0.77 3.23 0.78 needed the result in table 3 above showed the items mean ratings ranging from 2.89 -3.56 depicting agreement. this means that business educators and law lecturers in enugu state were in agreement that the above blended learning skills are needed by business educators and law lecturers to sustain better pedagogical practices in public universities in enugu state. the low standard deviation (0.78) shows similarity views of the respondents. hypothesis ho2 there is no significant difference between the mean ratings of business educators and law lecturers on the blended learning strategies needed by business educators and law lecturers to sustain better pedagogical practices in public universities in enugu state table 4 summary table of t-test analysis of mean ratings of business educators and law lecturers on the blended learning strategies needed by business educators and law lecturers to sustain better pedagogical practices in public universities in enugu state variables business education students law students n 21 25 _ x 3.22 3.20 sd 0.79 0.77 df 249 t-cal 1.11 t-crit 1.96 decision do not reject h0 the result of the t-test analysis in table 4 shows that the calculated t-value at 0.05 level of significance and 249 degree of freedom was 1.11; while the critical t-value under the same conditions was 1.96. since the t-calculated was less than the t-value, the null hypothesis was therefore not rejected. this means that business educators and law lecturers in enugu state did not differ significantly in their mean ratings on the blended learning strategies needed by business educators and law lecturers to sustain better pedagogical practices in public universities in enugu state 43 | p a g e discussion of findings the findings of this study are discussed in line with the research questions and the hypotheses that guided the study. blended learning skills needed by business educators and law lecturers to sustain better pedagogical practices in public universities in enugu state the findings of this study according to research question one indicated that the 13blendedlearning skills in table one are neededby business educators and law lecturers to sustain better pedagogical practices in public universities in enugu state some of those blended learning skills include; ability to use search engines, using internet for research, interacting with computers, using web browsers,cloud computing / aws, etc. the findings of this study agreed with (chibuike, 2015) who noted that blended learning has become an important tool and indispensable aid for running today’s education. it is one of the most potent forces that have come to prominence as a result of rapid changes in technological innovations occasioned by covid 19 pandemic. blended learning, which mixes traditional face-to-face education with technology, has become increasingly popular in educational institutions today. this style of learning provides a way for educators to engage students through visuals and online interaction. quite unlike the traditional school, today’s school is characterized with computers, word processors, printers, photocopying machines, telephones, fax machines, internet activities etc, that the business educator and the law lecturer preparing for a world of work should be effectively prepared and professionally trained to handle these electronic devices to meet the demands of the present day pedagogical practices. by using a combination of digital instruction and one-on-one face time, students can work on their own with new concepts which frees teachers up to circulate and support individual students who may need individualized attention. teachers can now streamline their instruction to help all students reach their full potential,"saritepeci, mustafa; et al. (2015). the null hypothesis tested on the blended learning skills needed by business educators and law lecturers to sustain better pedagogical practices in public universities in enugu state indicated that there was no significant difference between the mean ratings of business educators and law lecturers in enugu state. the findings of no significance difference indicated that business educators and law lecturers in enugu state had no significant difference in their opinion on blended learning skills. 44 | p a g e blended learning strategies needed by business educators and law lecturers to sustain better pedagogical practices in public universities in enugu state the study further found out that all the identified blended learning strategies are needed by business educators and law lecturers to sustain better pedagogical practices in public universities in enugu state. some of those blended learning strategies include; create annotated, interactive and engaging video content, create visually engaging content, use social bookmarking websites, create and share resources with your class, create digital portfolios create engaging presentations, use right technology tools etc. . the findings of the study also indicated that a significant difference does not exist between the mean ratings of business educators and law lectures on blended learning skills needed by business educators and law lecturers to sustain better pedagogical practices in public universities in enugu state. the result of the study showed that business educators and law lecturers had the same view on the identified blended learning skills needed by business educators and law lecturers to sustain better pedagogical practices in public universities in enugu state. the result of this study is in agreement with that of graham, woodfield & harrison, (2013)who noted that technology has placed a number of demands and exigencies on us and to meet these exigencies we need to develop a set of key digital skills and strategies. the findings of the study also indicated that a significant difference does not exist between the mean ratings of business educators and law lectures on blended learning strategies needed by business educators and law lecturers to sustain better pedagogical practices in public universities in enugu state. the result of the study showed that business educators and law lecturers had the same view on the identified blended learning strategies needed by business educators and law lecturers to sustain better pedagogical practices in public universities in enugu state. conclusion the study investigated thepost covid-19 education crisis and the need to sustain blended learning for better pedagogical practices in public universities in enugu state. the study identified blended learning skills and bl strategies needed by business educators and law lecturers to sustain better pedagogical practices in public universities in enugu state. the identified bl skills and strategies were found needed by business educators and law lecturers to sustain better pedagogical practices in public universities in enugu state. recommendations based on the findings and conclusion, the following recommendations are made: 45 | p a g e 1. blended learning skills should be re-emphasized and continually sustained by business educators and law lecturers to sustain better pedagogical practices in public universities in enugu state. 2. blended learning strategies in the same vein should be continually sustained by business educators and law lecturers to sustain better pedagogical practices in public universities in enugu state. 3. business educators and law lecturers in enugu state that are updated should get themselves acquainted and updated with blended skills and strategies skills to effectively perform and be relevant in their duty post. references bonk, c.j. & graham, c.r. (2006). the handbook of blended learning environments: global perspectives, local designs. san francisco: jossey‐bass/pfeiffer. p. 5. chibuike, v.c. (2015). relevance and extent of use of blended learning in business education classroom delivery in enugu state. journal of research in science and technology education (jorsted). 5(1) 87-96 okpalaojiego, e. c. & onukwuli, a. g. (2021). surviving strategies of business firms in covid-19 pandemic era. research as a panacea to management and socioeconomic sustainability in covid-19 era. : 60-172. association of management and social sciences researchers of nigeria siemens, g., gašević, d., & dawson, s. (2015). preparing for the digital university: a review of the history and current state of distance, blended, and online learning. pg. 62. athabasca university. retrieved from http://linkresearchlab.org/preparingdigitaluniversity.pdf graham, c. r., woodfield, w &harrison, j. b. (2013-07-01). "a framework for institutional adoption and implementation of blended learning in higher education". the internet and higher education. blended learning in higher education: policy and implementation issues. 18: 4– 14. doi:10.1016/j.iheduc.2012.09.003. issn 1096-7516. nworgu, b. g. (2015). educational research: basic issues and methodology (3rd edition). nsukka: university trust publishers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/doi_(identifier) https://doi.org/10.1016%2fj.iheduc.2012.09.003 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/issn_(identifier) https://www.worldcat.org/issn/1096-7516 46 | p a g e friesen, norm (2012). "report: defining blended learning" a jump to a b c saritepeci, mustafa; et al. (2015). "the effect of blended learning environments on student motivation and student engagement: a study on social studies course". education and science. https://www.normfriesen.info/papers/defining_blended_learning_nf.pdf 104 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com international diplomacy and the politics of managing rwandan crisis: lesson for developing states okechukwu, groupson-paul uc. phd groupsonpaul@yahoo.com department of political science, alex ekweme federal university ndufu alike ikwo (funai), ebonyi state, nigeria. abstract the rwandan crisis of 1994, still fresh in the mind of many over the loss of about 1,250,000 people – mostly tutsis and modulate hutus in one hundred days of ethnic genocide that was planned and executed by the hutu government, with no help from anywhere in the world to rescue the victims turned out to be an international embarrassment of abandonment. diplomatic inaction being the climate of the time however cast doubt on the notion that diplomacy is the peaceful conduct of relations. the study, therefore, in adopting primary and secondary data utilizes descriptive, in-depth interview method of key informants drawn from the nigerian institute of international affairs (niia), military observers (milob) and the academe as an analytical concept to arriving at its goal as it is situated on national interest model of the power theory framework. the study notes that diplomacy and diplomatic intrigues pervaded the whole situation unchecked; that this abandonment though might have being deep rooted in the poverty of no oil, no diamond, no gold, and no timber among others, encouraged the degree of ethnicization; that the theoretical context of diplomacy is quite different from the practical context as actors’ behaviour are modulated by their avowed interest, which allowed the disparity in the treatment of small state like rwanda by the international system in the period under investigation. these absurdities, these maltreatments and misplaced priorities that seek numerous answers however, informed the revisit of the rwandan crisis. key word: diplomacy, national interest, disparities, genocide, ethnicization introduction with the end of cold war in 1989, the focus of international politics thus shifted to re-alignment and the formation of new alliances, especially among states of eastern europe while africa was turned a dumping ground to the dangerous weapons used in the cold war threat era. at the same time, africa was also designated as only good for charity recipient (okigbo, 1992). a factor that its scramble and struggle coupled with bad political leadership helped to plunging the continent into unabated conflict. in the preceding decade, conflicts and wars in africa was fought primarily within states by rebels and national armies, with the victims being predominantly civilians and the vulnerable groups in the society. these rebels, militia groups, and state armies use conspicuous terror such as rape, looting, and massacre as part of their war and military strategies. it is a situation characterised by mass killings, mailto:groupsonpaul@yahoo.com 105 | p a g e international diplomacy and the politics of managing rwandan crisis: lesson for developing states okechukwu, groupson-paul uc ethnic cleansing which the actors regarded as the inevitable consequences of war, rebellion and conflict (rupesinghe, 1998). by 1990, the burundi and liberia wars took between 100,000 and 500,000 lives each (gott, 1998). from 1995 onwards, there were ongoing wars in angola, liberia, sierraleone, somalia, sudan, among others. several other countries that were prone to severe crises or civil cum political instability, at one time or the other were cameroon, kenya, nigeria, togo and congo dr (then zaire). in some other countries, however, low-level ethnic and political conflicts remained contained, but unresolved in such countries as chad, congo, djibouti, ethiopia, malawi, mali, mozambique, senegal, south africa and uganda. according to stedman (2004:237), as at 1996, an estimated 19 major internal conflicts were fought worldwide. added to this are a further 42 lower intensity wars and 74 lethal violent political conflicts experienced within this period. a close review of the period under study clearly shows that africa, with 13 conflicts at home, is ranked amongst the highest in the number of distribution of the world’s conflicts and crises. berridge (1997) observed that these crises were escalated by foreign friends or foes alike, who, in the midst of such crisis, usually concealed their real intentions and hid under the canopy of providing assistance in terms of funds and advice, to pursue their national or selfish interests. arguably, no nation has been able to solve all of its problems as such can only be reduced to barest minimum or otherwise. thus, massimirano (2010) noted that the challenges of a nationhood or nation-state are complex and mostly demanding. with rwanda inclusive in this category, even after the events of 1994 that was caused by the colonial german/belgium – indirect rule system’s favouritism and designation, beginning from 1849 to 1959 with the seed of discord sown amongst the hutus, tutsis and twas respectively, which did not only help to torn the country apart, but had allowed outside influence that capitalized on their impoverished status to explore the land to the detriment of the general society (nyankanzi,1998), thereby explaining the high profile and depth of the country’s political quagmire. this outside influence – diplomacy, which had explored a great deal on the people, though, may not be said to have allowed the people to experience total stability or social civility at any particular point in time, but instead were said to be the root cause of the problem in rwanda, as it encouraged and supported bad ethnic political leadership of the hutu government. rwanda, then, was seen faced with a great element of disunity with persisting misgivings in the polity with inept diplomatic hypocrisy. thus, in this study, diplomacy, both preventive, small state, and or coercive diplomacy amongst others, which seemed to have dominated the event of 1994 in rwanda were put on trial toward 106 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com attending to the rwandan crisis. also disparities in the treatment of small state in the international political system were also examined among some selected states toward arriving at the desired goal of the study. theoretical argument this study adopts the national interest model” of the power theory framework. national interest is the totality of state’s values. it is an instrument of action, which evaluates the sources of nation’s diplomatic foreign policy. it serves as a means of justifying, denouncing, or proposing policies. the notion of national interest tends to confine the intended meaning of what is best for a nation in foreign affairs. national interest in a simpler term rests on the notion that a state cannot engage in anything without having interest attached to it. hence, it is as old as mankind itself. with theorists like joseph frankel, hans morgenthau, and hugo grant amongst others, the model had argued that state’s interest is always in anything that will be of benefit to it. hence, to the state, it is inevitable, as she selfishly devices means of actualizing her goals in any particular situation. frankel (1993), agreeing to this view, postulated that people maintain social order in a bid to satisfying their selfish national interest. he contended that national interest is a fundamental notion that defies definition by reference to other terms, because it is analytically convenient although often empirically impossible to determine whether the value found in the formulation of a specific interest had been internalized by the decision-makers or introduced only in response to environmental pressures, generally domestic but sometimes also international. morgenthau (1960) sees national interest in terms of power. to him, national interest is the perennial standard by which political action must be judged and directed, hence the objective of a foreign policy must be defined in terms of national interest. he went further to posit that the interest of the state is that peace should be maintained, but whereby such fails against an aggressor, that the state should alternate her interest for war. hugo (1969), one of the protagonists of the school aptly noted that states behave the way they do because it is in their interest to do so. construing from the above contentions, and in relation to the subject under study – international diplomacy and the politics of managing the rwandan crisis: lesson for developing states, certain questions that needs to be asked to further this investigation are: namely, why are african states known for continual crisis and high incident of political instability? why were the problems of rwanda and her politics of succession a major issue to african and the world, particularly in the period under study? why was it that in the postcold war-africa, certain forms of 107 | p a g e international diplomacy and the politics of managing rwandan crisis: lesson for developing states okechukwu, groupson-paul uc government, especially the type that encouraged the rwandan conflict was recognized unlike in the present time? why was the west divided and ready at the same time to make mockery of their fellow state that had failed in their area of sphere of influence in the course realignment? why did the kind of contours that enveloped diplomacy in the rwandan crisis allowed for the annihilation of such a great number of citizens? why was african diplomacy dwarfed of any kind of remedy against the abandonment of the people of rwanda? why, in comparism was the kind of treatment meted to rwanda exceptional in relation to the way other small states that had passed through the same situation of crises different? while the above questions may sound rhetoric or answered in thoughts, the major reasons for such intuition are the place and roles of national interest in state qua state and government qua government relations. it suffices to notes that these characters are always found in a conflictual paradigm of their separately avowed national interest that needs to be satisfied. a fact to which might have contributed in creating the situation leading to the escalation of conflict in rwanda. thus, while we further observe the role of national interest, it will suffice to highlight with reason that the french interest in rwanda are vacillated between the desires to preserve her traditional sphere of influence in the region where her economic interest in tea and cash crop prospecting is at stake owing to other states’ interest. just as vassilier (1997), notes that africa lies in the sphere of the united states and europe global interest, which might have led to abandonment of rwanda in the crisis days to french failure. this could be an outward demonstration, rather than a sign of real national interest of states’ mentioned above. the high incidences of political intrigues sequel to power successions problems in rwanda and africa in general informed the reasons for this revisit to the rwandan war/genocide of 1994. the role of diplomacy and power struggle in african states and the ominous reasons why the spatial problems had remained and left many african states in a state of perpetual sympathy with rwanda inclusive before the rest of the world explains the awful decadence of leadership problems amongst the people. the salient features that had been masking the cyclical leadership problems in africa, leading to the abysmal diplomacy role as occurred in the rwandan crisis, however, also lay its contradictions as experienced and seen in the rwandan conflict since all actors were directly or indirectly modulated by its national interest model. the value concepts of diplomacy diplomacy has been defined in different ways by different people. hamilton (1996:1-2) defines diplomacy as the peaceful conduct of relations amongst 108 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com political entities, their principals and, or accredited agents. it is a process that is sometimes regarded as a necessary evil but; regrettably, at other times with a deep respect. accepting this observation, lund (1996) reiterated that diplomacy had played a more significant role in human affairs in the present than ever. although as old as mankind, diplomacy, according to richard and hamilton (1996) had made the necessity for organized dialogue in an era when the relative certainties of a bipolar states system have so recently given way to a disorderly, confused multipolarity, as witnessed in the frenetic pace of contemporary diplomatic activities. in another dimension, diplomacy, according to wolton (1954:12) is an honest man (an ambassador) sent to lie abroad for the good of his country. to mcjohnson (1976), diplomacy is concerned with the management of international relations. this is because diplomacy deals with tact, skill, and cunning to achieve a set of goals thus, its application in the old was seen as a necessary evil, because then, it was agreed that it was better to hear the message than to kill the messenger. this acceptance in the classical greek philosophical doctrine, however, gave rise to the first tenet of diplomacy, which is the principle of diplomatic immunity. according to alken (2005:3) the political scheming and intrigues are well sustained in the political disagreement and agreement when the level of diplomacy employed becomes successful, meaning that diplomacy helps to bring systematic skill to apply on the negotiations or dialoguing of issues in most political spheres. stranger cited in hamilton (1996: 3) observed that in a world where war is everybody’s tragedy and everybody’s nightmare, diplomacy is everybody’s business. consequent upon the collapse of long – established hegemonies and the reemergence of long neglected enmities, the art of diplomacy has placed a high premium on the work of those skilled mediators, negotiators and representatives. therefore, in collating the views of the scholars above, particularly in the assertion of wolton, in terms of practice of diplomacy as observed in the ancient byzantine empire, hamilton (1996:1517) revealed: that in the late tenth century, during the visit of envoys of prince vladimir of russia to byzantine, they seemed to behold amid wreaths of incense and the radiance of candle young men, wonderfully arrayed, floating in the air above the heads of the priests and singing in triumph, “holy, holy, holy is the eternal. in explaining the motion on the air to the envoy: “the emperor noted that if you were not ignorant of the christian mysteries, you would know that the angels of god themselves come down from heaven to celebrate the office with our priest”. 109 | p a g e international diplomacy and the politics of managing rwandan crisis: lesson for developing states okechukwu, groupson-paul uc it is comparatively easy to understand what an irresistible effect this would likely have, and did have, on the visiting dignitaries and those who might have had the intention of attacking or engaging the empire in war and how it was achieved because of this diplomacy at work. in another instance, the byzantine emperor, in carrying out her state functions, especially on the issue of foreign relations, had in her code 515, stated that there was a law in the code which empowered and ordered the emperor to lie and to violate his oath if it was necessary to do so for the wellbeing of the empire, implying that in diplomacy, if it means to tell a lie to save the state, one should not hesitate to do so (hamilton, 1996). agreeing with the above contention, sti nnett (2005:26) reiterated that diplomac y has a chequered history. it is the practice of verbal discussion with the intent to influence, transmit a position or negotiate on a given issue or situation for a mutually acceptable outcome. diplomacy is an art because it requires a unique mixture of empathy, persuasion, bluster, cajoling, amongst other things (goldberg, 2005:6). shultz and moltang (2005) also noted that in modern diplomacy, roles and intrigues in intergovernmental organizations and non-governmental organizations has helped the workings of globalization of communication and transportation to opening up new avenues for the conduct of diplomacy emanating from the various definitions of diplomacy given above, several types of diplomacy, which according to woldspring (2009), include economic diplomacy, multi-tracks diplomacy, preventive diplomacy, coercive diplomacy, panda diplomacy, ping pong diplomacy, cultural diplomacy, small state diplomacy, shuttle diplomacy, gunboat diplomacy, citizen diplomacy, appeasement diplomacy amongst others. however, away from the several types of diplomacy, there are also processes through which diplomacy works. these, according to zartman (2007), include negotiation, mediation, reconciliation, reporting and representation, which help to quicken the workings of diplomacy. meanwhile, against the conditions of the events that informed the topic under study, beginning from 1990 to 1994, that is, from the period of the build-up of the crisis to the period of conflict escalation in rwanda, scholars had argued in respect of the application of any of the three – preventive diplomacy, small state diplomacy and or coercive diplomacy, among others as they affect the rwandan crisis on either success or failure of the practice. premised on this, the study in consideration of the rwandan crisis, will seek permission to briefly examine the above-mentioned. a. preventive diplomacy and rwandan crisis in this sub-section scholars were critical of what preventive diplomacy is, what constitutes it, how it is applied and where, if possible, had it been successfully utilized or otherwise. thus, 110 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com calhill (2000:37) observed that the essence of preventive diplomacy is not only to employ tact in dialoguing among the conflicting parties, but the act of employing persuasion to stop conflicts or wars before they start or escalate. this, according to him, is because lives are more saved and protected than when the battle or conflict escalates to destroy more than imagined. to zartman (2007) preventive diplomacy focuses on negotiation as practiced in different issue areas. agreeing with the scholar’s assertions as above, lund (1996:11) argued that preventive diplomacy is the international movement toward responding to early warnings of conflict and attempting preventive measures before it escalates to severely violent levels. to him, this includes knowing the root cause of the conflict, and dialoguing out the differences towards ending any escalation. accepting the emphasises, touval (1996) queried reasons for the failure of diplomatic attempts to prevent war and maintain a unified yugoslavia instead of allowing its disintegration. he critically blamed the idea of preventive diplomacy as lacking clarity and credibility owing to the lapses in the former. disagreeing with touval, cohen (1997:23-39) argued that cross-cultural differences have significant effects on preventing crisis and diplomatic negotiations. yugoslavia was an example of failed diplomacy because there was failure to understand and appreciate these differences. meaning that, for preventive diplomacy not to lack clarity and purpose, then the content, process and style of negotiation must go hand in hand with the cultural differences. however, being specific on international conflicts like the rwandan crisis, lund (1996) observed that one of the major reasons why preventive diplomacy was somehow ignored in the 1990s was due to the complexity of the problems and the multiplicity of conflicts going on at the same time, just as the rwandan crisis caught everybody napping. could the contentions above be a cogent reason for the failure of preventive diplomacy in rwanda? against the backdrop of the above notion, and with the event catching everybody unawares, dallaire (2003) disagreed and argued that preventive diplomacy was the best method needed to avert the rwandan holocaust, but it was not there. to him, the failure could be located in the lack of the major characteristics of preventive diplomacy, such as adhering to early warning that the risk of conflict exists, the causes and the nature of the potential conflict being identified and the consent of the parties within the jurisdiction to which preventive action is to be taken. supporting dallaire’s analogy, nye (2008) posited that the element of timing is also crucial. the potential conflict should be ripe for the proposed preventive action. this was absent in rwanda. this assumption, in both conflict prevention and preventive diplomacy, shows that intractable conflicts are easier to avoid before they happen rather than being fixed once they have occurred. there is a great deal of 111 | p a g e international diplomacy and the politics of managing rwandan crisis: lesson for developing states okechukwu, groupson-paul uc truth in this assumption, although some conflicts are likely to be unavoidable. in view of the reasoning that preventive diplomacy is usually used in the international arena and that it refers to efforts of outside nations or groups of nations to prevent the escalation of conflicts between or within other nations, perry (2001) further argued that conflict prevention is the best approach to managing conflicts but it was not there in rwanda. these preventive measures include early warning, fact – finding, early deployment to demilitarized zones and confidencebuilding measures. accepting the assertions above, ghali (2002) noted that preventive diplomacy has had a long and instrumental role in international relations. meanwhile, reye (2000) in total disagreement with the issue of absence of preventive diplomacy in rwanda noted that track one of the preventive diplomacy was duly applied at arusha because in the field of preventive diplomacy, track one, which is the formal negotiation between official representatives of the parties involved was carried out until the breakdown of peace in april 1994. however, nye (2008), reasoning from the reychler standpoint, argued that if track one of preventive diplomacy was applied in rwanda and it failed, then, should one accept the fact that the lapses may be located on small states diplomacy incapacitation? b. small state diplomacy and rwandan crisis according to shultz and moltang (2005:43), the issue of small state diplomacy could be viewed from two angles: one, the small states are always at the receiving end of every event in the international system, whether positively or negatively motivated. two, small states lack developments that are determined beyond their borders such as climate change, water, security and shifts in global economy; hence, it is through diplomacy that they can address their desires to attain expected goals, as it is obvious that with the absence of these factors the small states have strong incentives to support international cooperations. corgan (2008), however, argued that when a small state takes up a task that is above its strength, even if that small state were to devote its entire diplomatic service to the project, only half the required task could be completed. this is the sort of problem that any small state faces in dealing with global politics. given the right circumstance, they could prevail against far larger powers and could even have palpable influence on the world stage. meaning that, in modern times, some small states, notably switzerland, iceland, norway and finland, amongst others had shown how a focused and well – informed diplomacy could produce remarkable results, especially when vital economies or security are involved in the interactions. 112 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com in addition, sperling (1999:17) argued that when a small state is in trouble, the urge to help such a state is quickened when it is realized that such a state belongs to the same alliance with the great powers. the hope of rescue depends on how cooperative the small state is to global issues. citing a recent instance, corgan (2002) noted that the general response to the kuwait invasion in 1991 was successful because of kuwait’s general interest in the global happenings, even when the invasion was a clear violation of international norms. furtherance to this, henrikson (2006) noted that small states are viable and active partners within the international community: a common characteristic of small states is the thrust and nature of their diplomacy that goes with persuasion and consensus building. in the view of payne (2004:63) small states are highly dependent on development beyond their own borders. for example, in the environmental field, small states are highly vulnerable to the adverse impacts of natural disasters. on security, small states are quickly and deeply affected by regional and global conflicts and instabilities. in this regard, otienno (2000) aptly stated that one of the problems of rwanda in the dark days of her trouble was the limited resources at her disposal. this was among the reasons why rwanda could not conduct effective diplomacy that posed a great challenge to her in the days leading to the genocide, a factor, which made her fall an easy prey to the several kinds of diplomacy that were dictated from outside. accepting this assertion, dallaire (2003) still went ahead to query the great powers; saying, should we agree that the previous cooperative nature of small states diplomacy has been eroded by the heated competition in an increasingly globalised world, thereby making vulnerable states like rwanda to be abandoned and betrayed in the days of the war/genocide in her domain or should we accept the exacerbated differences amongst small states as a reason for not attending to the rwandan crisis? against the backdrop of the fact that rwanda was among the small states left behind in her days of trouble due to incapacitation and inability to fend for itself, could it be agreed that this abandonment might have compelled her, owing to different interests, to yield to some element of coercive diplomacy as observed amongst quarreling parties to the rwandan crisis? and, how could a small state like rwanda employ diplomacy to help build stability which is vital for her own existence when there were several interests attached to the political conflict? c. coercive diplomacy and rwandan crisis going by the manner through which preventive diplomacy and small states diplomacy were examined in the preceding sub-sections, it is imperative also if the act of coercive diplomacy is probably considered as having something to do with the issue or approach which had been employed in the process leading to the rwandan 113 | p a g e international diplomacy and the politics of managing rwandan crisis: lesson for developing states okechukwu, groupson-paul uc war/genocide. in the course of this review, scholars, apart from offering definitions, also seem to be divided, even as they went ahead to explain to what extent such could be employed in conflict situations. thus, emphasis is also placed on the conflict between the rwandan government and the opposition towards achieving or failing to achieve their aspirations. according to woldspring (2000), coercive diplomacy is the attempt put forward towards achieving aspiration or a target by a state, a group within a state or non-state actor – to change its objectionable behavior through either the threat to use force or the actual use of limited force. coercive diplomacy presupposes the use of threat or military force to achieve political objectives. thus, otienno (2000:99), in agreeing with the above-held view noted that coercive diplomacy is essentially a diplomatic strategy, one that relies on the threat of force rather than the use of force. if force must be used to strengthen diplomatic efforts at persuasion, as adopted by rwandan patriotic force (rpf) against the rwandan government in the 1990s, it is employed in an exemplary manner, in the form of quite limited military action, to demonstrate a resolution and willingness to escalate to high levels of military action, if necessary. in support of the above contention, byman (2008) asserted that coercive diplomacy is a political diplomatic strategy that aims to influence an adversary’s incentive structure. it is a strategy that combines threats of force, and if necessary, the limited and selective use of force in discreet and controlled increments, in a bargaining strategy that includes positive inducements. the aim is to induce an adversary to comply with one’s demands, or to negotiate the most favourable compromise possible, while simultaneously managing the crisis to prevent unwanted military escalation. the aforementioned assertions, however, may not have been ruled out in the rwandan crisis. thus, in support of the use of coercive diplomacy by states to achieve their goal, art and kristol (2003) observed that in the 1990 1991 gulf war, the usa applied it but it failed to persuade saddam hussein to exit kuwait and the result was the use of total force on the former. another instance of coercive diplomacy was the cuban missile crisis between the usa and the former ussr in 1962 in which kennedy used coercive diplomacy to blockade the ussr naval passage until the withdrawal of the missile by the ussr, which was achieved instead of using total force against the ussr. in this regard otienno (2000), states that there is, indeed, the confirmation that the rpf used coercive diplomacy from its military base at uganda/rwanda border to compel habyarimana to accept negotiation as a way out of the rwandan quagmire. in the same vein anyidoho (1998:2-3) argued that a guerrilla force of the rpf using limited force invaded 114 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com rwanda in 1990 to persuading the government of habyarimana to change policies on the treatment of citizens, a failure which led to invasion. it is possible therefore, that rpf used coercive diplomacy to checkmate the rwandan government of general habyarimana. disparity and treatment of state: rwanda reexamined the main trust of this study is: “that the disparity in the treatment of small states in the international diplomacy might have provided the contour that led to the abandonment of rwanda in the 1994 war/genocide”. this is examined based on the situations of things at rwanda in 1994, to which different intrigues were brought to play in the process of suspicion and the actual conflict period. all the situations were meant to meet the demand of the actors who in turn makes the people to feel depraved and neglected against their suffering. rwandan crisis and its interrelationship with the outside world within the context of the international system was a huge challenge, to the international community, the united nations, and africa in particular. these adduced reasons and questions are tackled referencing the raised main trust. such questions are: what could be considered as the negative treatment of small states in the international politics, rwanda inclusive? in relation to the rwanda situation in 1994, could she have been considered less importance in the international politics vis-à-vis the kind of treatment meted out to her in the period of war/genocide? comparatively, under small states diplomacy, can rwanda, israel and kuwait be equated in any positions in the context of international politics or is there any difference? could there be an element of international conspiracy to the rwandan crisis? and presently, with the assistance of foreign aids, direct foreign investments, trade liberalization, neodemocracy and opening up among other; could this be part of the western world ploy to appease rwandans for long years of neglect and abandonment leading to the 1994 war/genocide? however, going by the raised questions and the guiding main trust in this section as stated above, the study, which had earlier adopted national interest model in all of its analysis, may resolve to utilizes some tenet of “power framework” and, “conflict theory” in furthering its explanations. this is specifically, in addressing the negating value and the interplay of national interest model within the context of the rwandan crisis. it is evidence that the complexity, challenging and prolonged phases of the conflict was aided by the role of the outside powers, the weaknesses in oau and the structures of the indigenous rwandan. power framework, which is the ability to make one do whatever the other wants, even when there are dislikes or likes, accepted or not accepted, might be considered as one of the tool in the treatment of small states in the 115 | p a g e international diplomacy and the politics of managing rwandan crisis: lesson for developing states okechukwu, groupson-paul uc international system, since power is an important variable in all political equations. thus, machiavelli (1532) and hobbs (1662) conceived politics in terms of power. dahl (1953), also, argued that power is the capacity to change the probability of outcomes, while deutsch (1964) asserts that power is the ability to make things happen that would not have happened otherwise. the implication is that the interplay of power and its ability was not ruled out in the rwandan crisis. there was a strong indication of the existence of power intrigues. the intrigues and functions of power as displayed by the actors made the conflict unique in the annals of african history. conflict, on the other hand according to boulding (1962:1) is an activity that is found almost everywhere in the world of man. amongst all the categories of conflicts, political conflict seems to be most devastating and destructive, both in idea and actions. laue (1990:17-18), further postulated that conflict is a natural and inevitable part of all human social relationship. it is the escalated, natural competition between two or more parties about scarce resources, power and prestige. banks (1996:439), also, argued that conflict is both inevitable and necessary. it is inevitable, because both people and groups have basic needs, expressed in society through competing values, clashing in order to provide the catalyst for development. beside, on the consideration of the issue of small states’ diplomacy, it is important to state some of the elemental make-up of small states vis-à-vis their place in the international system. according to dokubo (2011) small states emerged during the westphalia treaty of 1648. at that period they projected some degree of collective voice or vote to balance the dominance of the then super powers, even to this day. their diplomatic activities on the un were for one vote per sovereign state. the essence being according to henrikson (2006:8), for the greatest chance of safety and survival of small states, which lies in law, in institutions and, especially in diplomacy. however, in determining the strength and capability of small states in the present world order, opinions are divided on what constitute a small state coupled with the hiccups of small states diplomacy. thus in respect of rwanda, power (2003) asserted that the un did not shot its door to the situation there, but was doing little as less priority and less concerned of a small state diplomacy as rwanda. an allegation that was never debunked by the un. these allegations of negligence to the crisis in rwanda were not hidden as the un fell more negligent in the later incident in rwanda, amongst which, were the failure of the belgium and france to implement the delegated function on the rwanda crisis by the un. against the adamancy of the un when the arusha peace talks resumed on 16 march 1993, the body resolved not to 116 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com participate fully as a negotiator, which too many critics and analyst like (melvern, 2000) and power (1997) noted as a betrayal of trust for the body held to protect and save lives, in lieu to the charter principle. henrikson (2006) in this respect, while sympathising with rwanda, argued that a small state is one that cannot protect itself by it, own efforts. small states require allies or to be ally. in the same vein, richard (1999:10) asserts that small states diplomacy is particularly affected by developments which are determined beyond their border against the fact that diplomacy is the main vehicle by which small states are able to ensure that their goals are addressed in the global arena. but analyst being critical of the un lip service in the rwandan crisis as noted by melvern (2004:16), that there was more of un interest in liberia, somalia, former yugoslavia, cambodia, mozambique and georgia amongst other than rwanda, a small state with nothing to offer, to which even ally had abandoned. supporting the contention, dallaire (2003:10) notes that the un had a low priority over the mission in rwanda. to the same effect, buggingo (2005) aptly stated that rwanda was never of any importance to the un less worried about of whatever happens to it. to williams (1970:23), small states are pawns. they are not the knights, the bishops or the rooks in the international chess – but merely the pawns, counting for only one each in points. on the positional advantages, richard (1999) reiterated that small states under the right circumstances can prevail against far larger powers and can even have palpable influence on the world stage. a case in point was the role of israel, kuwait, qatar, switzerland, and vatican in international politics. small states can only manage and manoeuvre to promote their interests within a framework established by and for larger powers. this means that rwanda, though being an impoverished small state, possess such opportunity. it is also evidence that the small state status greatly affected rwanda in all ramifications, especially, at the period of its crisis. this singular act made the peace talk to look more unrealistic and unreliable, as power (1997) aptly opined that the un participated in the peace deal as an observer, which indicates how unserious the body had been with the rwandan crisis from the onset. the analyst blamed the un’s non-chalant attitude and kind of diplomacy even under the security council resolution 812 (1993) is unbecoming of the behavior of an international body meant to maintain peace. also, under the security council resolution 846 (1993) (melvern 2000:24-28) and destexche (1995:34) blamed the un’s role as trying to pave way for unhealthy competition in rwandan conflict. the level of diplomatic interplay between the un, srsg and the people of rwanda according to anyidoho (1998:11) created a great gap that was 117 | p a g e international diplomacy and the politics of managing rwandan crisis: lesson for developing states okechukwu, groupson-paul uc exploited by the warring factions leading to war/genocide, which probably made people to accused the un of bias. added to this, keane (1996:37) argued that while the un and security council in new york were polarized and nursed sympathy to one group or the other the un and unamir in rwanda was seen to have been considerably compromised. premised on these analogies above about small states, especially on the positional advantages (strategic importance) in the international system in relationship with big actors; the manner of fate suffered by rwanda in the period of her crisis and her influence in the global politics, speaks nothing than an abandoned small state left to fend for itself. in the same continuum, the research will hereby, takes our minds back to the drawn questions above and the raised main trust while examining the issues of the position and importance of rwanda to the international system, and, the comparism of rwanda and the rest (israel and kuwait) preferably in the context of international system with regard to differences. i. the position and or importance of rwanda in the international system agreeing with schultz and moltang (2005) and rana (1999), that small states are viable and active partners within the context of international community; that for a small state to succeed well in diplomacy, it must completely be a sovereign entity, not merely in the sense of having legal independence and international recognition, but in the full sense of national self-possession. on whether to this effect that rwanda has self-possession. rwanda, since 1962 is a sovereign and independence state, and a non-veto member of un security council in 1994, has the status of small state. then, if that be the issue, the question that readily strikes one is: why is the treatment of small states like rwanda in 1994 done with such disparity and impunity, given its status? according to dokubo (2011) in international politics, with respect to rwanda, the big states swallows’ small states and the small states in turn eat worms. this is because the small states cannot work miracles in the globalized world that is still dominated by great powers unless they follow their fellow lilliputians. furthermore, international constraints, domestic politics and foreign policy create uneasy change in small states (fredrick, 2010:13). shultz et al (2005:43) had argued that small states are always at the receiving end of every event in the international system, whether positively or negatively motivated, and that small states lack developments that are determined beyond their borders. rwanda, in 1994, was found wanting in this regard. upholding this view, nani (2011), agwu (2011) and agbu (2011) argued that rwanda was less important, insignificance and extremely poor. nani (2011), further states that the less position of rwanda in the international politics might have encouraged the international community and the united nations to probably allow the event that 118 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com took place to happen. agwu (2011), also, notes that rwanda, from all sense of purpose, is not viable in the international system. the less importance of rwanda, as in lacking any strategic importance and cooperation in international politics and governance, also weakened any attempt at helping. thus, the un failure and abandoned the people of rwanda as confirmed in what dallaire (2003) posited as the devil incarnated in form of human being, came down from hell to feast on innocent blood was never false. arguing from the angle of international diplomacy, adeleke (2011) noted that it is true that diplomacy is the main vehicle through which small states like rwanda can voiced its predicament in the global arena, but rwanda’s lack of the necessary natural supporters for international cooperation had helped to put it in a disadvantaged position. he agreed with nani (2011) that there was international conspiracy among the un, usa, belgium, france and the rest of the international community over the issues in rwanda. this is because even when their (un peacekeepers) strength was reduced from 2700 troops to 250 men and moved to kenya, un trucks, vehicles, equipment and communication gadgets were left behind only for the invading rpf to use same to over run the country against the rwandan armed forces and the hutus government. implying that the international community wanted what took place to actually happen. it could be summarised that there is disparity in the treatment of small states like rwanda in the international system, especially in the period of its crisis in 1994. it was noted that some of the negating factors which provided the contour to that kind of treatment were due to lack of relevancy in the power configuration of states that are less important and who contributes minimally to the advancement of the international system. coupled with the fact also that national interest is the totality of states’ values, just as power is the means to national end (morgenthau, 1964). it is absurd for any state to invest where its interest is not protected. hence, going by the preceding analogy, the research adduced main trust above, however, could be said to have merit. ii. comparism of rwanda and the rest (israel and kuwait) in international system comparatively, in looking at rwandan crisis and other small states like israel and kuwait amongst many others, vis-àvis the kind of negative attention given to it in the days of crisis in 1994, and the kinds meted out to others like israel in the middle east conflict and kuwait in the days of its invasion in 1991, this study which tends to state the difference, also link the events to the staggering evidences on the disparity in the treatment of small states in the international system. 119 | p a g e international diplomacy and the politics of managing rwandan crisis: lesson for developing states okechukwu, groupson-paul uc a) israel according to agbu (2011), in the treatment of small states like israel, rwanda and kuwait based on their position, importance and influence in the global politics, the state of israel, is overwhelm above all others. israel, though a small state, has power and influence over many states. the jewish lobby which is a strong force of the israel descent in new york had made the country to see itself as most favoured nations (mfn) in the world. nani (2011) asserts that in the international politics, it is not the size of a state that matters, but the state’s capability and strength, which speaks of its strategic importance, military might and technology, and to which israel is strategically placed and at advantage. in the same continuum, dokubo (2011) explained that apart from israel being the western world strategic interest in the middle east, it has a developed educational system with a profound link to the world, highly skilled diplomats that are technically advanced and sound. to adeleke (2011) israel possesses the quality that makes it to be taken seriously in every actions and situations. as a small state, israel is able to prevail on superior powers outside its domain and cannot be commonly treated in the international system as rwanda was treated in 1994. b) kuwait kuwait is a small state and could be likened to what corgan (2008:18-19) argued as has been given occasional successes against the agendas of larger states owing to its wealth and resources in most critical arena that enhanced its influence. agwu (2011) who agrees with the notion above argued that kuwait, which is located at the international strategic importance of the u. s’s policy in the middle east, is a small state whose oil and wealth has provided a viable link to world economy and politics, thus, agreeing with williams (1970) that small states have limited range, and can rarely enter into large, complicated and strategic international power play. thus, kuwait was rallied round against iraq invasion because of its economic importance to the international community. collaborating this view, agbu (2011) argued that it was because kuwait was a strong ally to the western world; hence, ignoring it at that period was like giving a strong economic bloc away to a new comer. he submitted that kuwait, located in the geopolitical configuration of america in the middle east, cannot be abandoned. kuwait oil and wealth explains the manner in which it was treated in the international system, which differ greatly from the treatment meted out to rwanda and mostly same to many africa states in crises. rwanda according to schultz (2001) a small state that is highly dependent on development beyond its border hardly survive in a period of crisis. this is because such a small state is highly vulnerable to the adverse impact of climate change and natural disasters and 120 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com other internal problems, be it political or otherwise. adding to this observation, fredrick (2010:16) noted that the foreign policy of such a small state like rwanda, is seen as a response to the constraints and politics of international system that at times may abandon it as was in the case of rwanda in 1994. although the contention seemed to be disputed upon, owing to the fact that the importance of such a state domestic politics is expected to determine its foreign policy, he quickly added that rwanda’s domestic policy is a make-up of what was imported from outside its domain with implications. agbu (2011) argued that rwanda, unlike israel and kuwait, has nobody to speak for it. furthermore, being a natural forest country of trees, wide life and interlocked – hilly state, which the possibility of help was ruled out such might have informed the event of 1994. agwu (2011) in furthering assertion, add that it is because rwanda is not strategic to any power configuration, it is a small country with no oil well, no diamond and of no importance in the international system compared to israel or kuwait, thereby prompting its abandonment in 1994. inference to the contentions above and in the re-examinations of the tool of analysis mentioned above to explaining the political dynamism that led to the war/genocide in 1994 at rwanda and the interpretations or consideration of the element of power relations it is evidence that rwanda was negatively treated by the international community. rwanda, a small state that was inexperience, was left to experience the momentum of international power struggle in the emerging new international system. the power play of the international community, especially between america and france left much to be questioned on their role in the abandonment and failed diplomacy. as the factors in the lapses also left the hutu government to annihilate both tutsis and modulate hutus alike in the peak of the crisis. in the context of position and relevance in the international system, rwanda was found wanting and missing. conclusion in view of the foregoing, it is evidence that the role of actors in international conflict, internal state political crisis, and regional conflicts alike had been modulated by national interest backed by element of politics and power, to which most crises had leaned on as a supporting beam in either escalating the propensity of the of conflicts or the longevity of its duration with diplomacy being the end point of either the execution or stayed-execution in the world context. imperatively too, there are huge politics in the treatment of state in the international system. more especially, small states who may not be able to make any impact in the affairs of international system beyond their capacity. at times they are neglected or 121 | p a g e international diplomacy and the politics of managing rwandan crisis: lesson for developing states okechukwu, groupson-paul uc seldomly ignored in case of any internal upheavals as was in the situation of rwanda. rwandan people being close in interaction and relationship to outside world against such treatment might have seen that they are the architect of their own misfortune. this is sequel to the fact that its abysmal relationship to the outside world actually played on the kind of diplomacy that was used to addressing its political crisis in the period between 1988 to 1994. this means to say that the relationship a state puts up towards a neighbour, either inside or outside its domain or the world in general at times modulates the kind of treatment apportioned to it in time of trouble or conflict. moreover, it is evidence that even before then, and thereafter, that diplomacy in rwanda from the period of build up to the time of conflict escalation in 1994 was already a complete failure. if the role of individual states to the rwandan crisis had portrayed a negating adventure from the onset, it then means that it is these hiccups that created the several contours that in turn led to the conflicts and the consequent abandonment and wilful neglect of the people in the period. the superior base of power struggle between united states and france also, perhaps, displayed the intrigues, denial and delay to act and the consequence lapses in the diplomatic practices of the states to the crisis in rwanda that enhanced and encouraged the kind of diplomacy witnessed in rwanda in 1994 war/genocide. references agbu, o. 2011, interview, niia lagos (international diplomat and research fellow); 4th july agwu, f.a. 2011, interview, niia lagos (international diplomat and research fellow); 4th july. adeleke, a.y. 2011. interview, na (member 242 recce bn,nicon/nibatt. contigent to rwanda crisis 1994; 4th july 2011. alken, j. (2005), “containing intractable conflict: cases in perspective, diplomacy.” ed. by gay, m. and heidi b. conflict research consortium. colorado: boulder press anderson, s.1993. the rise of modern diplomacy, 1450-1919. london: espionage simplistic press annan, k. 2004, a special speech on the 10th anniversary of the genocide in rwanda, gizozi genocide centre at butare new york: un publication anyidoho,h. k. (1998), gun over kigali. accra: fountain pub. pp. 14 banks, m. 1996, in a.e. ekoko “confidence and security building measures and the management of african conflicts” in m. vogt et al. peacekeeping as a security strategy in africa. enugu fourth dimension pub. p. 439. 122 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com berridge, g.r. 1997. international politics: states, power and conflict since 1945 new york: st. martin’s press. boulding k. e. 1962, conflict and defense: a general theory. u.s.a. harper and row pub. p1. brahm, e. (2005) “diplomacy: beyond intractability” in conflict research consortium. colorado: universit y of colorado press. buggingo, e. 2005. interview, march, rectorate butare. calhamer, allan (1954) introduction to diplomacy. harvard: avalon hill press.\ cantril, h. 1961. human nature and political system. new brunswick: rutger university press. clark, i. e.h. (1999) “small states politics” in carr international politics seminar, aberystmyth university. cohen, r. (1997) negotiating across culture: international communication in the interdependent world, rve. washington: usip press. corgan, michael (2008) small states diplomacy: a new focus. london: astropole press. corgan, michael (2002) “iceland and its alliance: security for a small states” in journal centre for small states studies. boston: mellen press. crowe, e. 1970, british foreign interest and diplomacy in the new age. london: iloyus park press publishers dahl, r.a. 1999, “conflict approach and class analysis” in his modern political analysis. ed. london: oxford university publishers. dahl, r.a. 1953. modern political analysis. 1st edn, new jerseey: prentice – hall inc. dallaire, r. (2003) shake hand with the devil: the failure of humanity in rwanda. canada: vintage canada pub. 2003, p.2 destexhe, alain (1995) rwanda and genocide in the twentieth century. new york: new york university press. p.64 deutsch, m.1990, “a theoretical perspective on conflict and conflict resolution” in dennis jd sandole et. al. conflict management and problem solving: interpersonal to international application. london: frances pinter pub.pp. 38 49. dokubo, c. 2011, interview, niia lagos (international diplomat and research fellow); 4thjuly. frankel, j. 1993, contemporary international theory and the behaviour of states. new york: oxford university press. ghali, b. b. 1996. the united nations and rwanda 1993-1996: an introduction, secretary general of un. new york: un blue book series. pp. 10 – 11 henrikson,a. 2006. “small states diplomacy and international 123 | p a g e international diplomacy and the politics of managing rwandan crisis: lesson for developing states okechukwu, groupson-paul uc democracy” in international studies association journal. town and country resort convention centre, san diego. usa keane f. 1996. the season of blood: a rwandan journey. london: penguine books kristol, w. 2005. coercive diplomacy and politics of persuation. canada: netlog publishers laue, j. h. 1990, “the emergence and institutionalization of third party roles in conflict”in dennis jd sandole et. al. conflict management and problem solving: interperson al to international application. london: frances pinter pp. 17 18 machiavelli, n. 1532. the prince, trans. g. bull. middlesex: penguine books. massimirano, j. 2010 state and challenges of development. uae: dubai publishers. mcjohnson, r (2001), “sierra leone – from rational violence to peace,” in pan african association monthly paper. new jersey p.12 melvern, l. 2004. conspiracy to murder: the rwandan genocide. london: verso pub. pp. 40 49 morgenthau, h. 1960. the politics among nations: the struggle for power and peace.3rd edn. new york: alfred a. knopf. nani, a.a. 2011, interview, na (member 242 recce bn, nicon/nibatt. contigent to rwanda crisis 1994; 4th july 2011. neye, p.c. 2008. small state diplomacy and the western faults: a concise analysis. london: newsport printers nyankanzi, e. 1998. genocide: rwanda and burundi. vermont: shenkman books inc roschester. okigbo, p. 1992. eu economic agenda: a lesson for ecowas. in nigerian economic and social research quarterly journal ibadan: niser pub. p. 86 otienno, n. (2000), “what’s the problem with africa,” a guest column, yale divinity school, yale daily news pub. co. inc jan 18. payne, a. 2004. diplomacy and the jamaican policy: the context of issue. new jersey: alfa and gorden press power, s. 2003. problem from hell: america and the age of genocide: u.s.a: harper perennial publication. power, s. 1997. never again: the world’s most unfulfilled promise. usa: new content publication. rana, k. 1999. the diplomacy of small states. london: west-ferron pub. reye, m.f. 2000. united states diplomacy and the rest – mexico talk. 16th march. 124 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com richard, j. 1999. states, conflicts and democracy in africa. new york: prentice-hall inc. rupesinghe, k. 1998. civil wars civil peace: an introduction to conflict resolution. london: pluto press. p. ix. schultz, k. 2001. democracy and coercive diplomacy. new york: cambridge university press schultz, t. and moltangs, v.s. 2005. “diplomacy: what the troops really need and national strategy for victory in iraq” state department manual. new york. sperling, j. (1999), “nato double expansion and the challenges of reforming natos military structure” in europe in change. manchester university press. stinnett, a. t. 2005. diplomacy and fallacy of international politics. new delhi: amann and jaspon press .................. 2004. see vies perdues’ la violence du genocide in aegis trust, pp. 4 7 ………………1996. see human rights arms watch dossier for rwanda, february p.40 …………….. 2003. see international criminal tribunal for rwanda reports, orders decision and judgement 1998, vol. 2 bruyland brussels p. viii ……………..1972, see international encyclopedia of social sciences vol. 11 and 12 new york: macmillan and free press. …………………1997. see the pillars of government plan in the official rwandan document of undp september p. 12 ……………….. 2004. see the new republic of rwandan constitution, article 170, 179 and 182. ……………….. 2000. see republic of rwanda (minaloc), decentralization policy, kigali ………………...2002. see republic of rwanda (nprp, minecofin), rwanda: poverty reduction strategy paper, kigali. touval, a. (1996) “case study: lesson of preventive diplomacy in yugoslavia” in managing global chaos: sources or and responses to international conflicts. washington dc. united states. turner, t. 2005. interview, february, political science dept. butare. vassilier, a.m. 1997, “africa in the changing world” west africa magazine. dec. 18th. vincent, a. 2005. interview, january 28, at kivu lake resort waxman, m. 2008. coercive diplomacy and defence policy of states. usa: part and parcel print williams, r.j.1970. the age of louis xiv: the rise of modern diplomacy. cambridge: mass woldspring, k.r. 2000. the elements of diplomacy and western thought. bolton: mart and calhunt publishers. zartman, w. (2005) preventive diplomacy: setting the stage” in conflict research consortium. colorado university. 153 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com human resource management and development of the tourism and hospitalityindustry in nigeria akwara, azalahu francis; biu, iliyasu m.; abutu, grace; okwelume, rose 1department of political science, the federal university wukari, taraba state, nigeria, email: aakwara@yahoo. com. (corresponding author). 2 &4department of political science, the federal university wukari, taraba state, nigeria, 3department of tourism and hospitality management, the federal polytechnic idah, kogi state, nigeria abstract tourism as an activity of movement and discovery of new places, peoples and its affiliates has always been with man. this inherent multifaceted activity generates enormous income among nations and contributes to national gdp more than certain sectors of a nation’s economy when it is properly harnessed, deliberately planned, positioned and repositioned over time. most times, the key to the success of tourism amongst other sectors has been human resource management. the outcome of human resources if untapped, mismanaged and underutilized is counterproductive to growth and development in all ramifications. this paper, therefore, relies on content analyses of secondary documents to discuss the impact of human resources management on the development of the tourism and hospitality industry in nigeria. the study finds that human resource management is essential for the successful development of any sector of the nation’s economy and recommends amongst other things the professionalization and training of personnel in the tourism industry. this will enhance the growth of the industry and attract international and local tourists to nigeria; help in job creation, increase foreign exchange earnings and contributes to the socio-economic development of the nation. key words: tourism; tourism destination; tourism system; motivation; human resource, management introduction the movement and discovery of new places and people known in a simple form as tourism has become a major factor in the world economic development. its global impact is enormous in multiplier terms. despite the security challenges, the world travel and tourism council (wttc) (2008) noted the gigantic progress in world’s tourism as it contributes about 10.3% of world gross domestic product; with an annual turnover of about $87 billion (us); and that the world travel and tourism industry supports about 234 million jobs which is about 8.7% of total world employment. despite this information, the potentials from the tourism sector are greater than can be imagined; especially in developing nations dependent on very lean sources for national income. nigeria has sought to key into this industry in recent years through government and non-governmental participations. these stakeholders range 154 | p a g e human resource management and development of the tourism and hospitality industry in nigeria akwara, azalahu francis; biu, iliyasu m.; abutu, grace; okwelume, rose from the national tourism development cooperation (ntdc), federal and states ministries of culture, national parks commission, nigeria conservative fund, united nations educational, scientific and cultural organization (unesco) and local and foreign investors in the sector. the extent of having vast return on investment in the tourism industry at any given period is anchored on facilities, infrastructural facilities and policies connected with the industry and adequately trained manpower to manage the sector effectively. it is clear that tourism is a business of human relations. therefore, availability of competent personnel in the tourism industry amongst other factors translates to sustained socio-economic growth and development. in nigeria, this is obvious given that her diverse people and culture with its vast natural resources and sites form a basis to achieve multi-sectorial growth and development. to this end the human resource problems facing the tourism sector are examined. the attraction of people to any tourism destination anywhere in the world lies on multiple factors. these are infrastructures roads, healthcare system, transport, hotel, restaurants, recreation facilities, communication, and financial intermediation, as the exchange of currencies, credit cards among other things; and competent managers who can stand proudly up to say “we are here; we have what will make you happy! please come over”. the prevailing public policies and the human resources available in the tourism industry are at the apex of the requirements. this is besides peace and security that crowns it all. in specific terms, nigerian tourism development has gone through many phases. before the arrival of the colonialist, we indeed had our diverse cultures, cultural sites, natural habitats from the mangrove swamps and forest in the niger delta region in the south to the flat savannah grassland in the north. nigeria though geopolitically detached and not infrastructural developed, had tourism in practice in the pre-colonial and colonial era. this is displayed in the continuous attempt to preserve our objects of art, cultural heritage, forest as games reserve and develop new tourist destination as the obudu cattle ranch and tinapa holiday resort all in the cross river state, amongst other sites and tourist destination locations across nigeria. the scope of nigeria’s tourism is as great as her land mass and size, as all 36 states and the federal capital territory, abuja have tourist sites. the socio-economic benefits in the short and long run are determined by the extent of proper synergy of human and material resources already endowed upon nigeria. okpoko and okpoko (2002) and okpoko (2006) identified some key elements that affect or influences tourism development and human resources as the level of economic and infrastructure development in the 155 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com country (transportation railways, roads, water navigation, and air services; communication and accommodation); the amount of capital investment by public and private investors in the sector; aggressiveness of marketing and sales programmes; socio-political stability; and the herd of qualified management and skilled personnel. to this end the problems of tourism development in nigeria under study are summarized as the lack of investments in tourism projects; inadequate promotion and information; lack of tourist destination managers (poor human resources management); negligence by the governments (federal, state and local); and other stakeholders; terrorism and insurgency; and militancy and kidnapping; and human resource management needs which forms the focus of this study. statement of the problem human resource is essential for the success of any given business venture. when the right caliber of personnel is not available in any business venture, that business falters, fails and dies, and that particular sector of the economy remains underdeveloped. this study looks at the manpower needs of the tourism and hospitality industry in nigeria and how this has affected the development of the sector. in doing this, the following problems were raised and addressed: what are the manpower needs of the tourism and hospitality industry in nigeria? are these manpower needs available in the country? what are the impacts of the absence of the right caliber of personnel on the development of the sector? and what should be done to remedy the situation so that the sector can contribute to the socio-economic development of the country? theoretical framework tourism as an academic field of study is interdisciplinary in nature, and it derives some of its theories from other disciplines. theories of economic development, and a good number of theories have been advanced to explain the process of economic development in society, especially the balanced and unbalanced growth approaches (nafziger, 1997), and retention of a workforce within any given sector of the economy through juicy and equitable reward system and satisfaction of expectations (vroom, 1964). the first theory is examined and explained within the features of tourism development as it borders on the basis of general economic development. the balanced and unbalanced growth approaches scrutinize whether development occurs across all sectors of the economy or whether there is development in a few leading sectors that will act as a springboard for the development across the economy as a whole. to this end, the balance growth theory advocates that it is not possible to overcome the natural forces in a stagnant economy by investing in and developing only a few export sectors. this is the situation with nigeria, which has operated as a mono-economy since independence in 1960. 156 | p a g e human resource management and development of the tourism and hospitality industry in nigeria akwara, azalahu francis; biu, iliyasu m.; abutu, grace; okwelume, rose cooper et al. (2008) who discussed these theories argued that unbalanced growth at where investment occurs in just a few leading sectors is far more achievable with resources of developing countries and that these leading sectors will drag the other sectors up eventually. this is evident as the recent interest and investment across the south-south state of cross river with the development of the tinapa holiday resort in calabar, and the obudu cattle ranch reserve in obudu; and developments in other geopolitical zones in the country. the second theory used in this study which is within the human resource management context is the expectancy theory. this is predicated on the idea that people are influenced by the expected result of their action. vroom (1964) anchors this on motivation as a function of performance. though expectancy theory cannot be linked to a single scholar, vroom’s (1964) expectancy theory aimed specifically at work motivation. his model is based on three key variables: valence, instrumentality and expectancy. based on this theory, managers should give attention to a number of factors including the following: (1) use rewards appropriate in terms of individual’s performance. high incomes with high fringe benefits that attract the required workforce should be used. (2) attempt should be made to establish a clear relationship between efforts and benefits, especially to make workers perceive a clear relationship between their performances and rewards. (3) establish clear procedures for the evaluation of individual levels of performance. (4) pay attention to intervening variables such as amities and traits, role perception, organization procedures and support facilities. based on the above, the tourism sector in nigeria as any other around the world is sustained by the caliber of human resources available in them at all levels and their proper management. tacitly, the trends of the human relations movement of the early 20th century, researcher such as abraham maslow, elton mayo, mary parker follet, and david mcclelland formed the basis for studies and created business values through the strategic management of the workforce. this is evident due to globalization trends and issues of diversification of the economies of the developing countries of the world. conceptual clarification tourism scholars, researchers and professionals in the field of tourism and beyond have accepted that, the concept “tourism” is conceptually weak and ambiguous. though cooper et al (2008) have argued that tourism lacks the basic rigors and focus common in the academic field of study, yet it can be classified as an interdisciplinary discipline and therefore conceptually diverse in explanation. 157 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com tourism is coined from the word ‘tour’ which connotes movement. this could be moving for different purposes, but acceptable tourism is a means to an end. in more concise form, tourism arises out of the movement of people to and from where they stay, to various places or destinations furthermore, there are two important elements in tourism the journey to a destination and the stay (including activities) at the destination. the journey and stay take place outside the usual environment or normal places of residence and work; therefore, tourism gives rise to activities that are distinct from those at resident and work places. indeed, most times, the movement to destinations is temporary and short in outlook, and this could be within (domestic) or outside (international) a country. tourism in terms of purpose could be for leisure and recreation i.e. holiday, sport, cultural, visiting friends and relatives. it could also be for study, health, and business and professional purposes. in nigeria, this word is not common but it is practiced inadvertently. tourism system according to cooper et al. (2008), all other academic disciplines view the activity of tourism as an application of their own ideas and concepts. in order to avoid a somersault of ideas, they anchored this subject matter on the leiper’s model (1990). leiper’s model takes into account many issues that border on the activity of tourist. given this, the model considers a range of an external environment such as the society, its culture and norms; its politics and political processes; and the economy as the constituent elements and determinants of tourism. human resource management human resource management has been described in its basic form as the discipline that focuses on finding and keeping the best employees and focuses on employees as the foremost resource in any enterprise. the leading firms whether in the public or the private sector in the world are driven by great minds. to this end, greer (2001) is of the opinion that human resource management aims primarily at ensuring that any given organization has in place, the people's capabilities and culture to support its strategic direction or objectives. thus, human resource management is the process of getting the best work from each employee by providing the right incentives and job environment, all with the goal of meeting the objectives of the organization. within this context, the nigerian tourism industry aided by good policies and infrastructural development can be a money spinner for the economy, if and only if the industry is driven by the right kind of personnel in all its ramifications. human resources and tourism development in nigeria tourism in nigeria has developed through various phases of our national history. at the governmental level, the development of tourist’s facilities was taken in a planned manner from the 158 | p a g e human resource management and development of the tourism and hospitality industry in nigeria akwara, azalahu francis; biu, iliyasu m.; abutu, grace; okwelume, rose colonial era. this was followed-up with the colonist laying the general groundwork to preserve our national arts and cultural heritage, as well as our natural forest and game reserves. as noted by archibong (2004), tourism in nigeria centers largely on events due to the country’s ethnic diversities and wide geographical features which include rain forest, savannah, waterfalls and other natural attractions. these were all in existence before the arrival of the colonist in the 18th century. the tourist sites in nigeria including festivals and cultural celebrations (such as durbar festivals in the north; the oshun festival of oshogbo in the west; the ofala festival in the east), the nation’s national parks located in old oyo, yankari; cross river, kamuku and kainji. and new ones at gumti-ghasaka, mambilla plateau aso rock in suleja, kwa water falls in cross river, and museums amongst manynatural attractions, were preserved and developed for tourism purposes. the industry by the estimates of the world travel and tourism council (wttc) (2007) put nigeria’s revenue related to tourism and travel at over $10 billion (us) dollars; and is approximately 6% of the nation’s gdp per annum. the potentials are enormous in the terms of diversification of the nigerian economy, but the tourism industry suffers from the country’s epileptic power supply and archaic railways, poor roads and costly air travel and very recently terrorism. the human resources management aspect within the context of this study requires that we identify the manpower needs that can support the industry, and that can give to the stakeholders within the sector and to the government the highest returns on investments. besides the tourism sites which have tourism guides and other operators who make up the workforce, the accommodation/restaurants and transportation sectors are identified as vital to the industry. as wanhill (2003) observed, there are local and global forces representing historical, political, economic, sociocultural and technological factors that influence the tourism sector, and the interplay of these forces (environmental determinants) is the main cause of the sector’s heterogeneity. accommodation for instance covers hotels, guest houses, farmhouse accommodation, bed and breakfast establishments and composites; the human resources available needs improvements in their productivity through the use of technology, and training for efficient and management effectiveness. most of the accommodation facilities (70%) are privately owned since after the strong push by the winds of privatization in the late 1990s; hence there is the challenge of human resources with the professional aura within the sector. the transport sector in nigeria is highly lopsided with most movement by roads, few by air, sea and rail. the use of the railway system which is solely owned by government has declined since the late 1980s and its deliberate usage in the tourism industry very minimal. the 159 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com personnel involved in the transportation and accommodation sectors and the other support services of the tourism industry are most times in the private sector. the peculiarities of those involved are that they are highly underemployed in terms of wages, placement and conditions of service; there is a wide gap between workers who are undereducated and unprepared for jobs in the contemporary business environment and few thoroughly bred professionals in the hospitality and tourism industry; the absence of policy friendly conditions of services i.e. hiring, safety, unionization, compensation, health, pension standards, etc. the commercial cities of lagos, abuja, kano, kaduna, port harcourt, aba, amongst others in nigeria, which ought to have measures of standardized operations as per personnel in the tourism and hospitality industry are in reality very few and limited by international standards hence the need to look at the manpower needs of the tourism sector in nigeria. what are the manpower needs of the tourism industry in nigeria? people make a business successful. human resource management is the direction of people to achieve desired goals within an organization. it starts with matching the people within the workforce with their positions when they are employed, and motivating them toward a full realization of their potentialities and at the same time achieve organizational goals or objectives. since the right caliber of a workforce is essential for the achievement of organizational goals, the first question that comes to mind is: what caliber of manpower is required by the tourism industry? does nigeria have enough of it presently, if no why? the manpower needs of a typical tourism and hospitality outfit will among other things include the following: graduates of tourism and hospitality management; bi-lingual graduates, bilingual secretaries and linguists; graduates of international relations; engineers (civil, electrical, mechanical, computer); medical personnel doctors, nurses and technologists; marketers and business administrators; accountants; botanists and florists; security experts; geographers and environmentalists. all these are required at the west african school certificate (wasc); ordinary national diploma (ond); higher national diploma (hnd); bachelor of science (b. sc.); bachelor of arts (b.a.); master of science (m.sc.); master of arts (m.a.) and at the doctor of philosophy (ph.d.) levels. but most establishments in the hospitality industry do not have most of these manpower needs in their employment. while most of these manpower needs are available in nigeria, there is the acute absence of the graduates of tourism and hospitality management across the country. this is because the educational institutions charged with the training of this manpower only produce or train the middle level manpower needs of the industry and not for the high 160 | p a g e human resource management and development of the tourism and hospitality industry in nigeria akwara, azalahu francis; biu, iliyasu m.; abutu, grace; okwelume, rose manpower needs of the sector. only the polytechnics, in nigeria, train people for the tourism and hospitality management industry in nigeria and only very few polytechnics have the facilities to train this level of manpower need. the universities in the country have not really developed courses in tourism and hospitality management to train for the high level manpower needs of the industry because they have not recognized the potentials of tourism in contributing to national development. even if they are to do so now, they would need to recruit foreign nationals into the departments if they are to produce high level manpower needs for the industry. only very recently did a university in nigeria the imo state university owerri start a degree course in catering and hotel management. secondly, only very few universities in nigeria offer courses, in history and archeology, which has relevance to tourism. because history and archeology are not quite rewarding in terms of employment, only very few students register to study history when they cannot get admitted into other courses of study in the universities. this has forced the history departments to change the name from “department of history” to “department of history and diplomatic studies departments” in order to attract students into the department. most high level manpower found in the tourism sector trained abroad, and a good number of them are foreign nationals. because the country cannot produce the right caliber of staff for the industry, most reputable hotels and tourist sites in the country are owned and managed by foreign nationals with nigerians as supporting staffs. this is not good for the sector. nigeria also has very few bi-lingual graduates, bilingual secretaries, and linguists. those available are not willing to take up employment in the tourism and hospitality industry because of the poor reward system in the sector. they would prefer jobs with some other private enterprises with appealing reward systems. so also are the other manpower needs of the industry graduates of international relations, engineering, medicine, marketing, accountancy, botany (florists), security experts, geography and environmental sciences. when the universities come to realize the proper place of tourism in national development, they would develop academic disciplines to train the required manpower. when the required manpower is developed, this manpower will then develop the industry to be what it should be and to contribute to national development. the next problem is the reward system in the industry. investors in the industry do not want to hire trained staffs due to the high reward expected by the staffs. so to keep down cost and maximize profits, investors would prefer employing local middle level manpower and use them in high level positions and on very low rewards. investors would not want to train their staffs for their high level manpower needs for the fear of 161 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com losing such staffs to other investors after training. another factor for the absence of qualified manpower for the industry is poor public perception of workers in the industry. these perceptions are based on cultural and traditional values of the society. holidays and leisure are unknown to most africans except during festivities. any one that patronizes hotels and leisure parks within a local setting is usually seen as a societal misfit and a good-for-nothing. this has affected people in seeking employments in the sector until very recently, and also in their choice of tourism as a course of study. even in the polytechnics that offer the course, only students with very weak academic backgrounds are found in the departments. they study the course as a last resort when admissions to other departments fail. do we have such calibers of staff in abundance? to ensure that the sector has the required personnel, there is the need train those on the jobs already in academic institutions at home and abroad. there is also a need to establish academic departments in universities to train high level manpower for the sector and encourage people to study tourism and hospitality related courses, and to take up employment in the industry. this we know was done after the local government reforms in nigeria in 1976 for the local government administrative sector. then, there is a need to make firms in the industry to endow chairs in the universities and polytechnics and to contribute at least 2% of their annual profits to institutions offering the courses. this will further help to develop a course of study and the industry in the country. what do we do to retain the right caliber of manpower within the industry? to retain the people already on the job, there is the need to give to the employees’ good incentives to remain on the job when employed. an enhancement of their take home pay and their access to other fringe benefits would make the job more appealing to prospective applicants and help to change public perception of people who work in the industry, and encourage the local communities to accept the development of tourist sites or destinations within their communities. certain percentages of the equity holding of the tourist destinations should be given to the staffs and the local communities to encourage the local communities to co-own the facilities and employees to stay on their jobs rather than seek for alternative or more rewarding employments elsewhere. and the operators of the tourist destinations should adopt viable and responsive social responsibilities towards the host communities to encourage safety of the destinations and to encourage their patronage by tourists. 162 | p a g e human resource management and development of the tourism and hospitality industry in nigeria akwara, azalahu francis; biu, iliyasu m.; abutu, grace; okwelume, rose what will be the impacts of having the right caliber of staff within the industry? when the right calibers of staffs are present at the tourist destinations, the destinations would attract other businesses into the community and help to develop the community into a new town. this would change the nature of the local economy. there would be improved and competitive services in all sectors of the economy within the localities and of course more returns on investments. the trickling effects would flow into all sectors and regions of the nation and the nation would develop economically. there would be employment and poverty reduction at tourist destinations through job creation. new towns and cities would grow, and old towns would demand urban renewal. there would be a growth in the national gdp because the economy is diversifying; more tourists would be attracted and more foreign exchange earned. economic growth and development would ensure through infrastructural development (water supply, new and better road networks; electricity supply would be made available and improved; schools and academic institutions would develop around the destinations to cater for the educational needs of the population; there would be markets for local products; healthcare facilities would spring up to cater for the people and the tourists as more tourist destinations develop, and more profits would be made by the investors. developments in infrastructural facilities would certainly increase longevity as the quality of lives would be improved. people would afford to live more comfortably, happier and satisfied lives. their obituaries would now start with “with gratitude to god for a life well spent.” rather than “with heart full of sorrows, we announce the death of...” politically, the nation would be more stable as there would be cultural exchanges through tourism. more cultural festivals would develop to attract tourists into the societies, and these would create the much needed national integration and improve the citizen’s sense of national identity. it would encourage inter-ethnic marriages; reduce interethnic cleavages and leads to more cultural exchanges. this would create a good image for the country abroad and encourages international relations, trade and cooperation. conclusion and future of tourism development in nigeria some of the noticed peculiarities of the tourism industry discussed above, in conjunction with the personnel need in the tourism industry in nigeria paints a picture of the work environment full of uncertainties, and high labour turn-over. this invariably will leave a highly demotivated workforce and in turn could lead to drop of revenue earnings in the sector which has the potential to diversify the nigerian economy in the long run. the future of human resources management in the development of the nigerian tourism industry should be anchored on the following: 163 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com (1) revalidation of the 2006 tourism development master plan with the aim to incorporate it into nigerian’s national legislation as well as the establishment of the nigeria a tourism bank. (2) establishment of professional training programs to transform the largely undereducated personnel in the industry to a formidable team. (3) affiliate all training centers for the tourism and hospitality industry in the public and private sector to universities, polytechnics and monotechnics in nigeria. this is aimed at standardizing input and output for best global practices. (4) encourage unionization and professionalization of personnel in the sector towards better conditions of service. this will reduce the levels mediocrity and ameliorate high labor turnover in the sector. this emphasis stems from the understanding that tourism is a hightouch, high-tech, high involvement industry where it is the ‘people’ that make the difference. to this end, the ability to witness the much expected diversification of the nigerian economy through the tourism industry depends largely upon the skills, empowerment, training and knowledge of the human resources available in that particular sector of the nigerian economy. references archibong, m. (2004) “nigeria: goldmine waiting to be tapped”. the sun (online) (retrieved 2007-06-21) cooper g. et al (2008) tourism principles and practices, london: pitman.greer, charles leiper, n. (1990) tourism systems massey university auckland, new-zealand. (dept. of mangt. systems occasional paper 2.) okpoko, a.i. and okpoko p.u. (2002) tourism in nigeria, nsukka afro-orbis pub. ltd. okpoko p.u. (2006) issues in tourism planning and development, nsukka afro-orbis pub. ltd. vroom, e.v.h. (1964) work and motivation. new york: john wiley. world travel and tourism council (wttc) (2008) “tourism: myths and realities” in, cooper c.; fletcher, j.; fyall a. and gilbert d. wanhill (2008) tourism: principles and practice. essex: parson education ltd. wanhill, s. (2003) “interpreting the development of visitor attraction product” in, fyall a.a; garrod b. and leash a. (eds) managing visitors attractions: new direction. butterworth, heinemann 231 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com globalization and underdevelopment in africa okechukwu, groupson-paul uc. phd groupsonpaul@yahoo.com department of political science federal university ndufu alike ikwo (funai), abakaliki – ebonyi state, nigeria arua, christopher chukwu ceejakchioma@gmail.com department of political science federal university ndufu alike ikwo (funai), abakaliki – ebonyi state, nigeria abstract globalization is a choice in an effort to solving the worlds’ problems, even against riots and protest on the issues. this paper surveys trends in international economic integration and inequality in development as a result of the emergence of globalization. it distinguishes among the different dimensions of globalization (trade and capital flow). the negative impact of globalization on africa development is analyzed using the dependency theory framework. the study notes that there is evidence on the link between inequality and globalization. africa as a continent had been manipulated by the policies of western political actors; this is because market opportunities are more limited for low technological nations like ours. again, africa was totally ignored by the north who have more interest in profit(s) than developing the continent. the study utilizes analytical concepts and documentary approaches. the study suggests that much more focus has to be placed on changing economic policies; policy conditions imposed through structural adjustment programme (sap) have to be loosened and some of the multilateral disciples exerted on developing countries through the world trade organisation (wto) agreements be re-examined. keywords: globalization, underdevelopment, structural adjustment programme, modernization, western political actors. introduction africans indebtedness to international financial institution/organization and developed countries of the world has reached an alarming and catastrophic stage. the appalling stage of africa’s technological development; the exit of developed minds from the continent acronym “brain-drain” and avalanched of protests against the political regimes and the concomitant political instability in african states, are all causative variables and symptoms of underdevelopment in african continent (gunder, 1982). these multitudinous problems which stare africa in the face are weighty enough to sink the continent even deeper in the mesh of underdevelopment and globalization and underdevelopment in africa okechukwu, groupson-paul uc. ; arua, christopher chukwu mailto:ceejakchioma@gmail.com 232 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com misery. even the certainty of political redemption becomes a dilemma, as the political leadership which ought to redefine the focus of developmental strategies are ignorant of the intricacies of african developmental problems. added to this grim statistics of africa’s wretchedness are all series of interstate conflicts; the menace of inter-tribal wars, the sanguinary disaster occasioned by religious fanaticism (boko haram insurgency and isis) and the vulnerability of african states to external powers influence (offiong, 2001). accordingly, the united nations population projections in 2014, affirm that african population will be more than double from 900 million in 2010 to 1.9 billion in 2050. looking further ahead, african share of world population is projected to double from 15 percent in 2050, with over2.1 billon people living on the content (un, 2010). clearly, if current levels of low economic growth persist, the vast majority of africans will remain desperately poor throughout this century and the wealth gap with other regions of the world will widen. while africa’s population surges ahead, population growth in other regions are projected as slowing and particularly in europe decreasing. interestingly, no nation in contemporary history has developed in isolation of the international economic system or without trading. none of the asian countries that have reduced poverty during the past four or five decades achieved the economic growth that made this possible by relying solely on internal resources. and as such, any economic success of any sort has reflected openness to trade and the acquisition and adaptation of modern technology (offiong, 2001). yet african case is different, the marginalization of africa by the world aiden business leaders and their multinationals (captain of industries). thus, africa has been handed over to the international financial institutions; the world bank and the international monetary fund (imf), to handle as they will. the resultant effects have been the ironfisted economic policies associated with the structural adjusted programme (sap) engineered executed by the word bank and imf. funny enough, the sovereign nations of the third world countries, particularly, africa have been de-soverignised and the financial institutions are managing their economies (ogbuagu, 1995). the structural adjustment programme as a policy was a carefully but systematically brought into play by the g-7 and their allies to reverse nationalistic policies of the south (africa) by providing loans in exchange for significant and fundamental changes in their political economy, changes that further tie these countries inextricable to the industrialized nations (ogbuagu, 1995). saps have accentuated poverty in africa, because their institution is not meant to help african countries, bearing in mind that technology is not transferable. instead, they are among other things designed to impose strict 233 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com conditonalities to any new credits or rescheduling of debts, and force africa and other third world nations to adjust to the whims and imperative of the inequality at the global market, thereby opening up their markets to the north and other industrialized countries. this orchestrated global economic interconnectedness or economic globalization is deeply hurting africa badly and this spells unconscionable or if like unbearable poverty for the continent. this paper is arranged into four parts. the first is on the conceptualization of major concept(s) of the topic; the second part is the theoretical framework of the paper. while the third is on the effect of globalization through sap as a policy, and the last section is recommendations and conclusion. conceptual clarification attempts will be made to clarify these two concepts: globalization and underdevelopment. what is globalization? this question has assumed ever-greater importance with the emergence of the world trade organization as a force for trade liberalization throughout the world, with the increased economic integration of europe, with the collapse of communism in the late 1990s. the concept of globalization has attracted public debate by scholars and as such, the issue can be frustratingly confused. most seriously, scholars often define globalization as encompassing many different phenomena, some of which little or nothing to do with globalization as economists define it (rourket, 2002). accordingly, globalization as economists define it encompasses declining barriers to trade, migration, capital flows, technology transfers, and foreign direct investment. gracia (1998) assert that globalization implies changing the way production is organized as required by the general dismantling of trade barriers and the free mobility of financial and productive capital, in the context of accreted technological change. he stated further that technological development in the sphere of information and electronic services have been a catalyst for speeding the process; bring about global production, distribution and consumption. ademola (2003) refers globalization to be the increase integration across countries of markets for goods, services and capital. buttressing further by stating that globalization implies in turn acceleration expansion of economic activities globally and sharp increases in the movement of tangible and intangible goods across national and regional boundaries. with that movement, individual countries are becoming more closely integrated into global economy. akpakpan (1999) equally refers globalization to be the increasing integration of national economies into the world economy, it showed up in the increasing importance of the external sector to domestic activities. it is usually measured by comparing importance of globalization and underdevelopment in africa okechukwu, groupson-paul uc. ; arua, christopher chukwu 234 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com the ratio of exports to the gross domestic product (gdp) overtime. shevardnadze (2002) sees globalization as the new epoch offers new challenges and new global problems such as environmental catastrophes, exhaustion of resources, bloody conflicts and poverty. mucchiell, (2004) argued that globalization for countries and firm is characterized by openness of economies and a global market in which “firms” strategies focus on resources, seeking along with synergies and standardization in market offering. reduction of technology and policy related barriers in fdi, trade and communication, which have combined to produce a rise in international integrated production. globalization is generally considered by porter (1999) as a new stage of international economic integration in specific markets where the competitive positions of the main actors (that is the mncs in an oligopolistic environment) are increasingly internationalizing their operators and are deeply affected by their mutual interdependence, and by the strategic behaviours of their competitors. khor (1993) in his book titled “globalization and the south: some critical issues” examined the implications of some of the main features of the globalization process for developing countries. he made several proposals for developing nations in considering national levels policies to face the globalization challenge(s) as well as for coordination among developing countries in facing negotiations or making proposals at the international level. in other words, he stated that while there are many aspects to globalization among, the most important is the recent globalization of national policy-making not only through the normal of orthodox theories, but more importantly, through international agencies, such as the bretton woods institutions and the world trade organization, through which the north has leverage or dominance over the south. it is also argued that, while there are some advantages to an open regime for developing nations, the impact of openness depends on a country’s level of development and preparedness to take on the challenges of subjecting local production units to foreign competition, of being able to break into world markets, and of weathering the vitality and fickleness of private capital flows and their propensity for leading recipient countries into a trap. it is therefore imperative that africa continent will be given the chance to have an adequate range of options, of when, how and to what extent to open their economies foe african countries to maintain flexibility in policy option, they have to collectively press their case in international fairness and institutions where decisions on the global economy are made. understandably, human development report (2012) explain the dilemma of economic globalization is the way it has widened the gulf between the haves and the have-nots; stressing that people also fret about their jobs. both jobs and 235 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com income have become more precarious, as global mergers and intense competition pressure companies into streamlining their operations. hiring and firing workers according to the current needs of the market makes sense for a company concerned with increasing its profit, but plays havoc with peoples’ lives, a situation which is not healthy for africa as a continent. having clarified the concept of globalization, it is pertinent at this juncture to equally digest the second concept “underdevelopment”. it will sound unreasonable to discuss the concept of underdevelopment without grasping what development is all about. this is because both concepts are like a simens twins, and as such they cannot do without one another. amartya (1999) whose work has been central to the broadening of perspective on the meaning of development and poverty reduction, in his book, “development as freedom” embodies the key idea of development as the enhancement of individuals’ abilities to shape their own lives. nyerere (1993) sees development as a process of profound structural transformation that cannot simply be imported. he stressed that there is ample evidence that successful development is vitally linked to the resilience of the economy, polity, and civil society, all functioning in a spirit of harmony to promote shared goals and objectives. thus, the success of the south’s (africa’s) struggle against its underdevelopment will depend on the ability of the continent of africa to reform and regenerate its economies, polities, and societies in line with its basic developmental goals. rodney (19 86) equally said that development in human society is a many-sided process to implies increased skill and capacity, greater freedom, creativity, self discipline, responsibility and material well-being. however, to many, development is a means as well as an end. as a means, development is often viewed as the sum total of those activities directed towards the attainment of certain goals, such as a developed economy and equitably distributed social services, human mastery of his environment and free individual participation in the affairs of the state (world bank, 2000). as an end, development is often regarded as a quantitative realization of human happiness and well-being or simply, the satisfaction of basic needs in an economically, politically and structurally transformed society. for example, in the field of development and underdevelopment, a number of variables can serve as indicators; birth rate, death rate, literacy, income, calories can be used. death rate may be used to indicate the level of development in public health in political system which in turn may be employed to analyze the overall development level of social welfare services and consequently the level of general development in the country. similarly, wood (1994) believed that development indicators may also be globalization and underdevelopment in africa okechukwu, groupson-paul uc. ; arua, christopher chukwu 236 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com used to mean any qualitative or quantitative measures of some factors or characteristics of development that is identifiable as part of the process of development. it constitutes the measurement of the salient features or particular aspects of development recognized as the central value choice of the gals of development. for example, whatever the specific definition of development a certain level of:  standard of living  literacy  social welfare services  school enrollment  the reduction of infant mortality  increase in per capita gnp  active participation in the political and economic process, are considered to be the goal of development. having tactically, but systematically defined development, it makes it easy to comprehend the concept of underdevelopment. although the term underdevelopment seems ubiquitous, it is rarely defined with much rigor. one reason for lack of precision is that the term is being used in so many different issue areas. obviously, underdevelopment is not absence of development, because every people have developed in one way or another and to a greater or lesser extent. underdevelopment makes sense only as a means of comparing levels of development. it is very much tied to the fact that human social development has been uneven and from a strictly economic view-point some countries have advanced further by producing more technologically ahead and becoming wealthier (rodney, 1986). interestingly, the concept of underdevelopment has no straight jacket definition(s), rather, it is better explained through its structures than define. hundreds of millions of people living in africa suffer from hunger, malnutrition, and preventable diseases, and are illiterate or lack education and modern skills; that is to say that there are gaping disparities in education, literacy, population and life expectancy. for example, among the less-industrialize countries in africa, sixty percent of the population is undernourished and over 10,000 die daily as a result of prolonged malnutrition; africa’s economies are highly dependent of the north for trade, investment and, as well as money policies (effiong, 2001). in line with the view expressed above, okolie (2015) remarked that underdevelopment is linked to the blind, chaotic and unregulated administration of curative tablets purchased for cancer patients and wrongly administered to nigeria patients; noting that the adverse effect of the drugs will be volume. therefore itemized some of the basic features of underdevelopment economies to include:  personalization of state power  planning without execution  abject poverty  high elasticity of socio-economic inequality 237 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com  devaluation of currency/inflation  over dependency on foreign aids/grants  budgetary deficit and deficit financing etc. the aforementioned characteristics are not mutually exclusive and exhaustive but noted that a good number of the citizens living in the underdeveloped economies are subject to abject poverty and penury (okolie, 2015). having mention that majority of african states are highly dependent on countries of the north for trade, investment and money policies. majority of them were formal colonies of the west and are mainly agricultural countries in the sense that they rely on agriculture and have little or no industry. but their agricultural yield are far less than those of the developed countries and highly unscientific. african countries are suppliers of primary products and importers of finished goods (ogbuagu, 1995). theoretical explanation of globalization and underdevelopment of africa in the theoretical explanation of globalization and african underdevelopment, it is necessary to bring into focus various theories of thought of political analysis which will serve as a guide to understanding of this paper. the “dependency theory” perspective is adopted for the paper. just like modernization theory, dependence theory is a model of economic and social development; but the difference is that dependency theory explains global inequality in terms of the historical exploitation of poor societies (africa) by the rich and powerful ones. dependency theory is a marxist critique of modernization theory which focuses on internal factors created by external factors rather than external factor in themselves. the argument of the dependency theorists is that, historically, no state sets up any universal standard of development. the gap between the developed nations and the underdeveloped states has nothing to do with differing political cultures but the historical impact of industrial revolution in europe which ushered in industrial capitalism which subsequently made for imperialism, colonialism and forceful integration of pre-capitalist into world capitalist system (effiong, 2001). the propanders of dependency theory are paul baran (1957), andre gunder frank (1966), theotonio des santos (1970), and others. they are of the opinion that dependency place primary responsibility for african poverty and underdevelopment on western imperialist powers. it holds that these powers have impoverished africa and the rest of the third world so that today poor countries are dependent on rich ones. the development of rich countries paralleled the underdevelopment of the poor countries. the roots of this ruinous globalization and underdevelopment in africa okechukwu, groupson-paul uc ; arua, christopher chukwu 238 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com process extend back several centuries. in other words, the ultimate outcome of this process according to o’conner (1971) is that “the underdeveloped nations assumed a dependency status (the last step before outright control) i relation to the western powers chiefly because the former were in debt to the latter. what was significant about the shift from consumer goods to capital goods in world trade was that the colony-to-be needed long-term credits or loans to pay for the capital goods, and that finally, the relationship between the backward country and the metropolitan country one of debtor and creditor. and this was but a small step to dependence and dominance” from this theoretical explanation, it is clear that, the dominance of the us and its allies in the world capitalist economy, coupled with the introduction of international financial institutions namely; world bank and international monetary fund (imf) through the much propagated and re-invigorated globalization and its conditionalities/process, africa are trapped into unrealistic development policies or strategies. these as a result compounded the development policies of africa into accepting and swallowing the pill(s) of trade liberalization, foreign direct investment, privatization, deregulation etc. arguing further, ihonubere & ekekwe (1988) observed that underdevelopment in africa is pervasive, dynamic and enduring; that it is rooted in history, reinforcement and reproduced through structural and institutional articulation with global capitalism. in addition to external dimension, underdevelopment is fundamentally reinforced, intensified and deepened through internal relations of production and exchange, parasitism and non-authonomization of the state structure. while policies like selfreliance and indigenization programmes which sought to put the african bourgeoisies in charge of the commanding weights of the economy have been viciously subverted by internal and external interests, policies of structural adjustment which seek to integrate peripheral economies structurally of the imf and the world bank and in some cases made available such facilities as the enhanced structural adjustment facilities (e.s.a.f.) and external fund facility (e.f.f.). structural adjustment policy as agent of deepening dependence it is important to note that the increased contact between the developed and he underdeveloped countries of africa and the globalization of the world economy has been a frontal attack on the dependency theory which has all along contended that such relationship have always survived to the detriment of the poor continent of africa. by emphasizing that trade liberalization and interdependency as the recommendation of walt rostow, yet, africa is the region 239 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com worst affected by structural adjustment programme. it will be recalled that the lingering economic crisis of africa in the 1980s namely debt burden and debt service obligations, adverse balance of payments and huge and rising trade arrears, as well as excessive dependence on agriculture. in addition, worsened by scarcity and high dependence on external sources for industrial inputs, galloping inflation exacerbated by inappropriate policies, unproductive investment, deterioration infrastructure and productive capacity, limited administrative and technical and corruption (ogbuagu, 1995). besides, the above difficulties faced debilitating external economic difficulties which had to do with its declining ability to attract new foreign aids, loans and investments and to maintain a reasonable level of credit worthiness in the international market economy. against the background of the heavy foreign debts and deteriorating economic performance, africa countries were pressured by multilateral financial organizations, commercial banks and donors’ countries to accept intervention by international financial institutions; world bank, imf and the likes (ghai, 1991). interestingly, this pressure was quite timely and effective because african countries were in dire need of foreign exchange to honour their debt obligations and also maintain level of imports (offiong, 2005). in return for debt rescheduling and new credits, the international financial institutions (world bank and imf) and other foreign creditors insisted on a wide-ranging but generally uniform package(s) of economic reform. as at mid-1990s, a little above 40 countries including nigeria had adopted structural adjustment programme(s) (saps) aimed at relieving external and internal imbalance and facilitating the resumption of growth. given this imperative, saps are not designed to either solve or aggravate the economic crisis in africa. osakwe (1993) sees sap as a policy package which focuses on demand management and the supply side of economics. it seeks, at macrolevel to employ some demand management strategies in order to influence, at micro-level, the response of production units of the economy. according to ould-mey (1996) adjustment policy in africa is the manifestation of the western countries to expand their markets, increase their exports, and secure debt payments through a carrot-and-stick programme of providing loans to fiscally bankrupt third world government particularly african continent in exchange for fundamental reforms in their political economy. he stated further that, adjustment policy or policies and liberalization policies are sweeping the entire south, thereby opening and re-strengthening the relationship between developed nations and that of africa in particular, through what many scholars describe as debt globalization and underdevelopment in africa okechukwu, groupson-paul uc. ; arua, christopher chukwu 240 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com trap, where a country seek new loans to pay old ones. at this juncture, let us summarize the main objectives of sap, and what is globally referred to as international monetary fund (imf) and the world bank conditionaliies. the objectives of structural adjustment programme (sap) are:  to restructure and diversify the productive base of the economy in order to reduce dependence  elimination of price distortions in different sector of the economy  more trade liberalization, and  promotion of domestic savings in the public sector, improve the sector’s efficiency and intensify the growth and potential of the private sector. for government to overwhelmingly achieve the above stated objectives, the international monetary fund/world bank (financial institutions) must adopt the following policy instruments or “standard conditionalities” for doing business with african countries with shaky economies;  exchange rate adjustment which centers on currency devaluation, coupled with liberalization of the external trade and payment system.  further rationalization and restructuring of public expenditure and custom tariffs.  control of money supply and credit.  interest rate policies to enhance domestic savings and achieve appropriate allocation of resources.  fiscal policies to reduce government expenditures and deficit financing regulation of the prices of goods and services and factor input (offiong, 2001). however, the aforementioned conditionalities are not exclusive, as more continued to be added and these have adverse effect(s) to the development of the third world, particularly, african countries. consequently, in view of all these, african countries are being forced to adopt pro-western policies because they can hardly make any political or economic decisions which are not approved by the western powers that controls and also dominates the imf and world bank (financial institutions). the resultant effect of the above statement is that african leaders can never be liberated from the dependency syndrome or economic restructuring measures of the north. unfortunately, such economic reforms championed by the imf and world bank are capable of undermining or cause severe development problems to african countries. globalization and its consequences on african development all over the world globalization as raised fear that the market could rend the 241 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com social fabric of societies. antiglobalization protestors proclaim that “the world is not for sale” (world bank, 2009). globalization has made africa to be caught in an international poverty trap and this means that pervasive poverty and lack of economic growth within african nations has effects that cause economic underdevelopment to persist and even increase. the consequence of globalization in africa is not limited to currency devaluation, and economic liberalization, and the disaster it brings upon the poor, the widening gap, among others. in the economic sector, the distribution of global wealth has never been fair, but globalization has widened the chasm between rich and poor. in subsaharan africa and some other lessdeveloped regions, income has actually decreased in the past three decades. the international community allows nearly three billion people; almost half of all humanity, to subsist on and 2 or less in a world of unprecedented wealth (anan, 2002). one of the major causes of this huge social divide is financial selfinterest. moreover, globalization has also favoured the growth of rich multinational companies that have practically taken over the world market for certain products (amnesty international, 2014). in 2012 for example, just twelve companies controlled 86 percent of the $362 billon telecommunications business. the globalization of culture is another area of concern, which involves clashes of culture and the spread of materialistic values. the interchange of ideas is an important feature of globalization, and nothing symbolizes this phenomenon more than the internet. unfortunately, the internet is not merely used to spread beneficial information, culture, and commerce. as friedman (2013) points out that some web sites promote pornography, racism or gambling. a few even give specific instruction on how to make homemade bombs. television and films also have an enormous influence on how people think. the messages on the world’s screens often come out of hollywood, the world principal factory of make-believe. the values that this vast entertainment industry reflects often promote materialism, violence or immorality which at the long run affects or bring negative development to african countries. nevertheless, governments, educators and parents invariably find it extremely impossible to hold back the tide. to a large extent, globalization has magnified african countries problems that already existed in our imperfect world. rather than offering solutions to underdevelopment in africa, it has become part of the problem. for example, in the areas of “crime” and “terrorism”. unfortunately, tools of trade and commerce can easily be converted into tools of crime. as the multinational corporations have led the drive to globalization and underdevelopment in africa okechukwu, groupson-paul uc. ; arua, christopher chukwu 242 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com globalize the world’s economy, so the “crime multinationals; organized crime syndicates have been quick to exploit it” (human development report, 2009). the elimination of many customs controls and the increasing movement of people also make it much easier for drug cartels to transport illegal drugs from one country or continent to another. interestingly, drug cartels have found a host of new opportunities to launder their billon-dollar profits. again, international mafia groups have also developed a lucrative business in prostitution. every year, they ship nearly 500,000 women and girls from the shore of africa to western europe for this purpose; the majority against their will (human development report, 2000). terrorists are not left out. they use the tools of globalization. all these atrocities mentioned have an adverse effect to the development of africa, particularly nigeria. the world has rapidly become much more vulnerable to the eruption and, most critically, to the wide-spread and even global spread of both new and old infectious diseases. such diseases in the like of zika virus, hiv/aids and ebola, as well as people can travel around the globe; the dramatic increases in worldwide movement of people, goods and ideas is the driving force behind the globalization of diseases (un programme on hiv/aids). in some countries of arica, microbes and viruses are not the only unwanted global travelers, intentional dumping of toxic waste are efforts by the western countries to undermine development in africa. arising from the above explanations, it is obvious that the principal problem is that economic globalization is driven by the desire to make money. the profit motive rarely takes into account the poor and the disadvantaged continent of africa. an unregulated global economy dominated by corporations that recognize money as their only value is inherently unstable and is impoverishing humanity in real term. conclusion globalization is a serious challenge to africa. globalizing is not an even process. the rich are in the mainstream. for the poor africa, they africa need to be rescued from the specter of marginalization. repositioning africa in a globalized economy calls for both policy and intellectual review of the trends and patterns of african substructure production system in terms of export capacity and infrastructural facilities. without productive technology, africa has nothing for the world trade except to consume foreign goods and services. africa in a globalizing era hinge s on basically articulating anew export development strategy and policy package for the continent, particularly as globalization has been accompanied by widely diffused technological progress in transportation and communication. more specifically, globalization has been created and continues to be 243 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com maintained by liberalization of economic policies in several key areas. recommendations the prospect(s) for africa in a globalized economy must include:  governmental discipline, politics to revitalize growth, diversity and promote exports and improve market access abroad for african experts.  a viable export development strategy for africa should exploit the regions comparative advantage, particularly in primary production (first).  there is also a need to strive for governance at a national level that combines economic development and social justice.  if democratization/development process in africa is to be relevant to africa, it must reflect the values of its operational environment, and must originate from within african continent. this shows the irrelevance of those conditionalities stipulated by western world as prerequisites for development and democratization.  finally, the policy conditions imposed through structural adjustment have to be loosened, and some of the multilateral disciplines exerted on developing countries through the wto agreements have to be reexamined. references ademola, o. 2003. africa, asia and the dialectics of globalization akpakpan, e. 1999. the state of economy in africa. abuja: niia. amartya, n. 1999. development and poverty reduction. india: cambridge press. amnesty international report 2014. new york annan, k. 2002, 22nd may. globalization: hope and fear. awake, p 7. friedman, t. l. 2013. globalization, curse or cure? new york: macmillan publishing company. ghai, d. 1991. the imf and the south: the social crisis and adjustment (ed). new jessy: zed book. gracia, m. e. c. 1998. latin america’s pattern of globalization and regionalization. new york: undp. gunder, a. 1982. dynamics of global crisis. usa: library of congress publication. human development report 2012. globalization and inequality: reducing hunger in africa. new york. ------------------------------------2009. new york. ihonubere, j. & ekekwe, e. 1988. dependent capitalism, structural adjustment and democratic possibilities in nigeria’s third republic. ibadan: african spectrum. globalization and underdevelopment in africa okechukwu, groupson-paul uc. ; arua, christopher chukwu 244 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com khor, m. 1993. south-north resources flows. malaysia: third work network. mucchielli, j. 2004. globalization and regionalization. new york: international bussiness press. nyerere, j. 1993. the challenge to the south. enugu: fourth dimension publishing company ltd. o’conner, j. 1971. the meaning of economic, imperialism. in fann, k. t & hodges, d. c. (eds), reading in us imperialism. boston: porter sergeant press. offiong, d. 1980. imperialism and dependency, obstacles to african development. enugu: fourth dimension publishers. --------------2001. globalization: postneodependency and poverty in africa. enugu: fourth dimension publishers. ogbuagu, c, s. a. 1995. development policies and programmes. calabar: university of calabar press. okolie, a. m. n. 2015. global political economy and development: different people, some market and glorification of poverty, 92nd inaugural lecture. university of nigeria, may, 14th. o’rourke, k. h. 2002. “europe and causes of globalization, 17902000”. paper presented at the conference from europeanization of the globe to globalization of europe. geneva, 10th-12th january. osakwe, j. o. 1993. “the economy”: seven years of ibb. the daily times, ould-mey, m. 1996. global restructuring and peripheral states: the carrot and stick in muritania. boston: rowman and littlefield. porter, m. 1999. globalization of finance and development prospects in africa. new york: undp. rodney, w. 1986. how europe underdeveloped africa. london: bogle-l’ouverture publication. shevardnadze, e. 2002. hopes and fears of globalization. london: faber and faber press. united nations, 2010. african debt crisis: a continuing impediment to development. new york. united nation programme on hiv/aids, 2000. new york. world bank, 2000.global development finance 2000. washington d.c. wood, a. 1994. north-south trade, employment and inequality: changing fortunes in a skill-driven world. oxford: clarendon press. 108 | p a g e optimizing digital literacy for sustainable development in nigeria: issues and challenges by onyam, ijeoma dora university library, university of nigeria enugu campus dora.onyam@unn.edu.ng (08036146029) chukwu, ebele georgina college library, enugu state college of education technical chiebele@yahoo.com (08035861074) abstract this paper explores the impact of digital literacy on sustainable development in nigeria. exploratory design was adopted for the study in which qualitative data was obtained through in-depth review of relevant literature and the researcher’s personal observation of the scenario. the literature revealed that the poor state of nigeria’s economy is a factor that is responsible for digital illiteracy in nigeria; the state of infrastructures such as icts and digital literacy skills is a serious impediment to digital literacy in nigeria; inadequate funding of libraries in nigeria is affecting provision of icts and encouraging digital illiteracy, library services are very significant in digital literacy and sustainable development in nigeria. inadequate access to computer and internet connectivity could undermine digital literacy and sustainable development in nigeria. based on this, the paper made some recommendations including: the federal and state governments in nigeria should show seriousness in addressing the infrastructural problems impeding digital literacy and sustainable development in nigeria; federal and state governments in nigeria should partner with the private sector in ensuring that the necessary infrastructures that will facilitate digital literacy and sustainable development are provided; the private sector should assist public libraries with ict facilities that will enable them acquire ict literacy skills and enhance digital literacy for sustainable development in nigeria. the position of the paper is that libraries are key actors in the attainment of the sdgs and that the different types of libraries irrespective of nomenclature have a place in the 2030 agenda. keywords: optimize, sustainable development, nigeria, issues, challenges, digital literacy mailto:dora.onyam@unn.edu.ng 109 | p a g e introduction sustainable development is a concept that projects the image of a nation among the comity of nations in the world. the united nations (un) member states and the un general assembly formally agreed in september 2015 on the sustainable development goals (sdgs) and conceived a global agenda for development that is based on “economic prosperity, social inclusion and environmental sustainability” which is known as the 2030 agenda for sustainable development (un, department. of economic and social affairs, 2018; ifla, 2019). in response to this development, the un’s broadband commission for sustainable development, which was established by international telecommunication union (itu) and united nations educational, scientific and cultural organization (unesco) in 2010 broached the idea of promoting development and empowerment of each and every individual and society through the benefit of broadband (un dept. of econ. affairs, 2018). since the creation of the sdgs and the 2030 agenda, the commission has been concerned with identifying the ways in which ict can be applied in the execution of the 17 sustainable development goals and 167 indicators to measure their progress (ifla, 2019). the underlying rational for such ict and development initiatives, according to un broadband commission for sustainable development is “the expanding body of literature on the correlation between ict and economic growth and its potentials in poverty alleviation that has emerged since the world summit on the information society a decade ago with the rise of the information society and knowledge economy in the g8 agenda (un department of economic affairs, 2018). international federation of library association (ifla) (2017) have also keyed into this laudable programme by displaying its relevance in the un 2030 agenda. in solidarity with the un, it stated that “the un 2030 agenda is a political commitment, which means that everyone, including libraries and civil society, will have a vital role to play in making sure governments are accountable for implementing the sdgs”. this statement implies that libraries in nigeria have a role in ensuring the success of the implementation of the sdgs. as earlier stated, sustainable development is a concept that projects the image of a nation among the comity of nations in the world. it determines the extent to which a country is concerned with solving survival needs of its citizens such as food, healthcare, poverty alleviation, education and a host of others. in this regard, nations must not only endeavour to satisfy the needs of the present generation but must plan to also solve those of future generations. to achieve this noble objective requires access to information by all citizens of a nation. it is for this reason that information and communication technology (ict) is considered relevant due to its propensity to disseminate information extensively and rapidly. this also explains why they are being applied in virtually every facet of human endeavour in a bid to fast-track sustainable development in the society. thus, digital literacy (a concept that has emerged from ict utilization) has become a measuring device in determining the level of sustainable development of nations. nigeria is one of the 110 | p a g e developing nations of the world that has keyed into the sdgs agenda in its bid to ensure the wellbeing of its citizens and the socio-economic growth of the country. however, the question that comes to mind is, to what extent has nigeria embraced digital literacy in sustaining its developmental efforts? is digital literacy making any impact on the country’s sustainable development? what is the role of libraries in digital literacy and sustainable development in nigeria? the paper is an attempt to provide answers to these questions and a few others. owing to this, the paper will consider i. the nature of digital literacy and sustainable development in nigeria. ii. the impact of digital literacy on sustainable development in nigeria. iii. the issues and challenges of digital literacy and sustainable development in nigeria. iv. the role of libraries in digital literacy and sustainable development in nigeria. v. strategies that would enhance digital literacy and sustainable development in nigeria. methodology the paper adopted the exploratory research design in which qualitative and quantitative data was obtained through in-depth review of relevant literature. conceptual clarification digital literacy there are numerous descriptions of digital literacy. some scholars posit that to understand digital literacy, one has to first know what digital divide is. this is due to the fact that ict has affected all facets of human endeavour. according to ifijeh, iwujames and adebayo (2016) the ability to possess and apply ict in our daily activities is critical and this is used to determine the level of a country’s sustainable development and its status among all other nations. they further stated that it is this disparity that has resulted in the term “digital divide”. digital literacy therefore is the ability of individuals and groups to access information and communication technologies. digital literacy does not only involve access to internet but also availability of hardware and software, relevant content and services; and training for digital literacy skills required for effective use of information and communication technologies (reder, 2015 cited in iji and abah, 2019). generally, definitions of digital inclusion usually entail areas of access to computers and the internet. sustainable development sustainable development has been described in many forms. udoudoh et al (2019) opined that sustainable development is “ability to make development sustainable, that is to ensure that it meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. adejumo and adejumo 111 | p a g e (2014,cited in udoudoh et al, 2019) captured sustainable development as being all about resource exploitation at a rate that would not be detrimental to future generations. a concise and lucid version of sustainable development is that further given by udoudoh et al (2019), that is “not using up resources faster than the planet can replenish or restock –maintaining better quality of life now and for incoming generations to come”. nature of digital literacy and sustainable development in nigeria the predecessor of sustainable development goals (sdgs) being millennium development goals (mdgs) was introduced in year 2000 by the united nations (un) to address the issue of sustainability in development globally. consequently, eight goals were outlined with the intention of achieving them by 2015. the goals addressed issues to do with poverty and hunger eradication, achievement of universal primary education, promotion of gender equality and empowerment of women, reduction of child mortality, improvement of maternal health, combating hiv/aids, malaria and other diseases, ensuring environmental sustainability and develop a global partnership for development (ifijeh, iwu-james and adebayo, 2016; gillwald, 2017; odoudoh, omame and adamu, 2019). however, the un noticed by 2015, that many developing countries (nigeria inclusive) were far from realizing the mdgs. it was this scenario that led the un to summon another meeting of the 189 member countries in 2015 and adopted the 2030 agenda of a set of 17 sustainable goals that is meant to end poverty, fight inequality and injustice and tackle poverty (odoudoh, omame and adamu, 2019). a prerequisite for achieving sustainable development was prescribed by the un in which member countries were implored to ensure full participation of their citizens in development programmes and strengthen the capacity of citizens to access and utilize timely information. this in turn informed the application of icts in information generation, processing and dissemination in the 21st century, meant to facilitate the achievement of the sdgs (ifijeh, iwu-james and adebayo, 2016). be that as it may, the nature of digital literacy and sustainable development in nigeria leaves much to be desired. albeit there are institutional frameworks on ground that are meant to facilitate the attainment of the sdgs, their functionality and efficacy cast doubts on their ability and capacity to help in achieving the sdgs. the nigeria communication commission (ncc), national information technology development agency (nitda), federal ministry of information and culture and a host of others are not performing up to expectation. adejumo and adejujumo (2014) cited in udoudoh, omame and adamu (2019) observed that, changes in the integrated approach, to social, economic and environmental issues have not really facilitated the development goals in nigeria. the authors confirmed that problems such as low per capita income, inequitable distribution of homes, low capital formation, inefficiency in the mobilization of resources, overdependence on a single commodity (oil) as a major source of income, 112 | p a g e unemployment, inflation, flooding, ethnicity, environmental pollution, corruption and lopsided income distribution have always been on the increase. the most recent, according to the scholars is economic recession in the country, which has worsened and continues to worsen the economic situation of the masses in terms of general increase in prices and quality of goods. this narration appears to be the nature of digital literacy and sustainable development in nigeria presently. it is perhaps for this reason that the federal government of nigeria established the ministry of communication and digital economy in 2019, which is meant to create the desired digital awareness and encourage digital literacy among its citizenry. this in turn is likely to foster the development of a digital economy in the country. impact of digital literacy on sustainable development in nigeria given the poor state of digital inclusiveness in nigeria, the sustainability of its development becomes questionable. this is due to the apparent inadequacy of essential infrastructure that would drive sustainable development. critical infrastructure such as icts and digital literacy skills are grossly inadequate. joryesimi (2006) supports this assertion when he said: “the implementation of sdg goals can be very challenging, especially for countries that are faced with serious infrastructural problems”. lamenting further on this situation, ifijeh, uwu-james and adebayo (2016) stated that “sustainable development will remain a mirage in any country whose citizens cannot effectively and efficiently deploy the use of icts to access and utilize quality information”. apparently, this statement reflects the true scenario in nigeria. it can therefore be deduced from the foregoing that digital literacy is impacting on sustainable development in nigeria to a low extent. issues and challenges of digital literacy and sustainable development in nigeria some of the issues and challenges of digital literacy and sustainable development in nigeria include: affordability: as indicated by ifijeh, iwu-james and adebayo (2016), cost of ict services is a major barrier to effective use of internet and broadband. they averred that, majority of those who access internets do so through mobile devices such as smart phones and tablets. citing a survey on availability of internet in nigeria (2014), ifijeh, uwujames and adebayo reported that 70% of the respondents who could not access internet services adduced this to the high cost of internet services. according to the report, as cited by ifijeh, uwu-james and adebayo “only 3.4% of households or 747.025% have internet connectivity, while 62% of internet users depended solely on their mobile phones for online access”. similarly, digital literacy requires that citizens be digitally literate. however, in nigeria, statistics show that 95% of nigerians do not own a personal computer, yet sustainable development, which hinges on digital literacy and access to ict facilities, is indispensable (olufuye, 2018). 113 | p a g e literacy and language barrier: the literacy rate in nigeria is 56.9% (ifijeh, uwujames and adebayo, 2016;gillwald, 2017). the authors also lamented that one-third of the adult population in nigeria still lack basic literacy and a considerable number can only speak and write in the local languages other than english; and because most ict facilities are produced or configured in english, this category of the population is digitally excluded. from this researcher’s observation, the emphasis should not be on literacy in general alone, but computer literacy needs to be thought simultaneously with literacy programmes that are conducted allover the country. this would enhance the acquisition of digital literacy. disparities in urban and rural areas: the obvious differences in the availability of infrastructure in urban and rural areas area hindrance to digital literacy and sustainable development in nigeria. urban areas appear to have better infrastructure than rural areas. this results in the exodus of young people to urban areas in a bid to benefit from better infrastructures and services. a publication on “trading economics: rural population in nigeria (2014,cited in ifijeh, uwu-james and adebayo, 2016) reported that 84% of urban dwellers have access to mobile phones, while only 58.5% of rural dwellers have access to mobile phones”. they further stated that majority of phone owners in rural areas use them for making calls rather than for accessing the internet in searching for important information. this researcher, however observed that, some rural settlers who can afford data use their phones in accessing the internet and do other online transactions such as ebanking, e-commerce and a few others. lack of digital literacy: lack of basic digital literacy has been considered to be a major setback to sustainable development in nigeria. digital literacy, according to ifijeh, uwujames and adebayo (2016) “is the ability to identify, search and utilize required information in multiple formats from a wide range of sources presented through information and communication technologies”. current events show that icts are increasingly dominating our activities. those that do not have access to internet and digitalized services have there fore been excluded from benefitting from the privileges offered by ict facilities. this researcher also observed that, the wide publicity that is given to digital literacy and ict over the media presently is gradually improving the situation of digital illiteracy in the country. cybercrimes: cybercrimes have become rampant in the cyber space. hackers are increasingly succeeding in hacking into personal and organizational files. apparently, this has resulted in crimes such as identity theft and exposure to hate sites. this development has resulted in reduction in the use of internet and online services by a portion of the population (olufuye, 2018).there is no doubt that if this is not checked, it will constitute a danger because as more people become digitally literate, the rate of cybercrime will likely increase, especially among young people. this is due to the large 114 | p a g e number of unemployed youths that are turned out in our higher institutions of learning in the country every year, who are mostly digitally or ict literate (udaudoh, omame & adamu, 2019) libraries, digital literacy and sustainable development in nigeria libraries and librarians/information professionals have a crucial role to play in bridging the digital divide and ensuring digital literacy in the society. this can be achieved through effective dissemination of relevant information that would foster digital literacy. as ifla (2017) rightly noted, “libraries support many aspects of the un 2030 agenda’s vision and the sdgs; libraries are key public institutions that have a vital role to play in development at every level of society” furthermore, citing a survey on digital literacy (2014), ifijeh, iwu-james and adebayo (2016) averred that “libraries all over the world have renewed determination to support access to digital content, technology and services”. in doing this, according to the scholars, digital content libraries must go beyond the level of acquisition to information and digital literacy, dissemination of information resources through various ict media and training for students, teachers and other users of the library. the various types of libraries have a role in ensuring digital literacy for sustainable development as highlighted here. academic libraries in ensuring digital literacy and sustainable development in nigeria, academic libraries should: 1. provide lessons in computer skills and technology training. this could be online or within the library. 2. enhance efforts of digitization of library resources. 3. ensure the provision of digital content through mobile devices, social media, and virtual research environment. 4. support and encourage open publishing platforms, wikis, blogs, social media, citation tools, institutional technologies, data visualization tools, etc. 5. teach students and teachers how to navigate library catalogues and databases in order to search and find information. 6. teach users how to search and locate required information from internet platforms, such as search engines and data bases. students need to learn about search engines and boolean logic; they need to define concepts and key words; library users need to be able to critically evaluate resources relevant to their needs. 115 | p a g e 7. students should be taught how to use social media sites such as twitter, for research and for considering ways in which they can share, network and source for information. 8. students should be introduced to different types of digital resources and content. 9. students should be taught ways to be up to date with research findings in their fields by visiting journal table of contents, which alerts one on recent updates on journals of their interest as soon as they are published. 10. digital literacy should be encouraged in students by teaching them the art of creating blogs in order to enable them discuss their research findings. this will encourage and build confidence in them and enhance their digital competence. public libraries public libraries, in their bid to encourage digital literacy and sustainable development in nigeria should: i. offer free classes on internet use, teach access skills that would impact the economic, social and cultural heritage of the people. ii. encourage basic computer skills in users. iii. provide information resources in various formats and guide in the proper use of the information resources. iv. provide free internet services and training for users. v. be part of any digital literacy initiatives; participate in programmes aimed at developing people with digital skills, as this would enable them satisfy their information needs and also enhance their capacity to contribute to sustainable development. vi. engage in awareness campaigns on the need for people to acquire basic digital literacy skills. this is due to the apparent migration of essential services to online platforms. some of these essential services include: admission issues, drivers license requests and renewals, pension’s enquiries, etc (ifijeh, uwujames and adebayo, 2016; adebayo, ahmed and adeniran, 2018). special libraries–these libraries exist within organizations and serve the information needs of staff in their parent body. in their attempts to encourage digital inclusion and sustainable development in nigeria, special libraries should: i. provide information resources in digital format and encourage their use; ii. ensure regular provision of internet services; iii. organize ict literacy skills acquisition programmes; iv. organize workshops, seminars, symposiums and the like on ict/digital resources application in libraries; 116 | p a g e v. reward staff that display high competences in digital resources application in job performance. in summary, the findings of this paper include the following: 1. the nature of digital literacy and sustainable development in nigeria is not impressive. 2. the poor state of nigeria’s economy is a factor that is responsible for digital illiteracy. 3. digital literacy is impacting on sustainable development in nigeriat o a low extent. 4. the state of infrastructures such as icts, and digital literacy skills is a serious impediment to digital literacy in nigeria. 5. the numerous challenges such as lack of access to internet, digital illiteracy, disparities in access to infrastructures in urban and rural areas, cybercrimes, etc are great obstacles to digital literacy and sustainable development in nigeria. 6. inadequate funding of libraries in nigeria is affecting provision of icts and fostering digital illiteracy. 7. library services are very significant in digital literacy and sustainable development in nigeria. recommendations and conclusion the paper has attempted to explore the impact of digital literacy on sustainable development in nigeria. it first gave a generic scenario of digital literacy and sustainable development from the perspectives of the un and other international organizations. attempt was then made to discuss the topic based on the objectives stated in the paper. it highlighted the summary of major findings and concludes that the state of digital literacy for sustainable development in nigeria leaves much to be desired, and if nigeria is to make meaningful headway in this direction, the public and private sectors of the economy must go into partnership in ensuring that all the necessary infrastructures that will facilitate digital literacy for sustainable development in nigeria are provided. in view of the findings in this paper, the following recommendations are proffered: 1. the federal and state governments of nigeria should show seriousness in addressing the infrastructural problems impeding digital literacy for sustainable development by repositioning the institutional frameworks that would ensure effective and efficient digital literacy for sustainable development in nigeria. 2. the federal and state governments of nigeria should partner with the private sector in ensuring that the necessary infrastructures that will facilitate digital literacy and sustainable development are provided. 117 | p a g e 3. the federal and state governments of nigeria should establish a special fund for public libraries in the country to enable them procure the necessary infrastructure that would facilitate digital literacy for sustainable development in nigeria. 4. tetfund should encourage beneficiary institutions to give more attention to libraries in their domain in order to enable them acquire the necessary facilities that will encourage or enhance digital literacy for sustainable development in nigeria. 5. the private sector should assist public libraries in acquiring the necessary facilities that will enable them promote digital literacy and sustainable development in nigeria. references adebayo, o.a.; ahmed, y.o. &adeniran, r.t. (2018).the role of ict in provision of library services: a panacea for sustainable development in nigeria, lincoln: digital cannon university of nebraska. ifla (2017).tool kit: libraries development and the united nations 2030 agenda. gillwald, a. (2017).from the digital drive to digital inequality, paper presented at the law and development research conference, university of automap, belgium, 20th-22nd september, 2017. ifijeh,g, iwu-james, j.&adebayo, o, (2016).digital inclusion and sustainable development in nigeria: the role of libraries. available at http://eprints.covenantuniversity.edu.ng/id/eprint/6631 iji,g.o, &abah, j.a. (2019).internet skills as measure of digital inclusion among mathematics education students: implications for sustainable human capital development in nigeria; international journal of education and knowledge management, 2(i),1-16. joriyesimi, r, (2016).the challenge of implementing sustainable development goals in africa: the way forward. african journal of reproductive health,20(3),13-18. olufuye, j. (2012).digital literacy and public access policy issues: as measures for promoting open knowledge environment (oke) in nigeria, nigerian internet governance forum. sustainable development challenges: world economic and social study(2013).department of economic and social affairs. udaudoh, s.j.; omame i.m &adamu a.l.g.(2019). digital economy: harnessing the benefits tackling the challenges for sustainable development in nigeria, international journal of arts, languages and business studies. 2(1),20-29. http://eprints.covenantuniversity.edu.ng/id/eprint/6631 8 | p a g e good governance accountability in nigerian public service: interrogating the role of independent corrupt practices commission (icpc) and state corruption by ugwoke magnus chinwe department of bursary escet abstract good governance is associated with the provision of administrative, institutional, economic, social and political framework that fosters development. its discourse therefore, focuses on public' sector management. it thus calls for emphasis on the role of a "sound ‘' system of public management and administration, which underpins the development quest. indeed, its supportive pillars for achieving this essence can be located in accountability, transparency and effective enforcement of laws and regulations. but this seems quite scarce in the nigerian state as can be gleaned from a number of functioning institutional complexes. lately, the independent corrupt practices commission (icpc) impasse sharply interrogates this recurrent dilemma. in the light of the above, the paper examines the politics of the icpc to highlight upon the oddities of public corruption with legislation under the fourth republic. it also probes the symbiotic connection between accountability and good governance, and analyses this raging problematic in the nigerian case. lastly, it explores opportunities for reinventing a corrupt-free governance programme that denigrates graft. key word: corruption, institution, governance, accountability, development introduction to say that nigeria is perilously plagued with corruption at all levels is to say the obvious. this social cancer which is not limited to only nigeria rears its ugly head in all societies. it is the degree that differs from one society to another. as far back as the second republic, smith (1976) depicted nigeria as ‘a country where human society is plunging compulsively into ever greater depths of corruption and decay'. the greater the development plans, 'the larger the scale of corruption which their implementation encourages by diverting efforts that are being made for the benefit of the community into private gain at the community’s expense. nigeria's nascent democracy is confronted with problems of institutionalized corruption, the laceration of the average nigeria citizen’s psyche and its heightened progressive and profound encroachment on the nation’s fabric in the malthusian speed of "geometric rather than arithmetic progression". this situation institutes politics of self aggrandizement where the unwritten rule is "make your financial hey while the sun of 9 | p a g e political office yet shines" (adekunbi, 20oo). following from the above, the national firmament is besieged by widespread abandonment of the pursuit of excellence but the glorification of mediocrity in practically every area of life politics, economy, education, healthcare, judiciary, law enforcement agencies traditional institutions and religion. the mind set is that the price to pay for honesty, fidelity, truth, hard work and diligence are too high hence the need to settle for the shortcuts and quick fix resort to mutual betrayal, opportunism and manipulation all in the bid to make it at all costs and by any means (ehusani, 2003). following from the foregoing, the ravenous and devastating issue of corruption and corrupt practices touches all in its various shades of gratification, influence peddling; tardiness etc. in awareness of this fact, rtd gen olusegun obasanjo as the presidential aspirant during the election campaign of 1998 promised a total war against corruption as the priority of his administration coupled with it being a major election manifesto of his party the people's democratic party (pdp). in fulfillment of that promise, after his election and inauguration, the first bill, he sent to the national assembly in june 1999 was on anti corruption. the bill was passed into law after almost a year with the president's assent to it on tuesday, 3th june 2000 as the law of the corrupt practices and other related offences act 2000 (anti law, 2000). this anti corruption law demonstrated the renewed commitment to rid nigeria of corruption that has made transparent accountability in governance at all levels. it is also geared towards redeeming nigeria's image abroad, which has been sacrificed and massacred. to curb this scourge justice akanbi (2003) chairman of the independent corrupt practices commission (icpc) reiterated that combating this plague cannot therefore "be wished away or left in the exclusive domain of the politicians" it is expected that the establishment of the commission which is supposedly not like other isolated pieces of legislation of past administrations will ensure that corruption will be handled from different integrated fronts such as legislative, sociological, economic and political thereby purging out corruption not merely in-the public sector but the private sector as well. the festering tumor of corruption within the polity has continued to cause the steady decline in the quality of governance and in the commitment to accountability. as it were, crisis of transparency rejoices under the different appellations of gratification considered as settlement thus causing a conspicuous lag in the achievement of good governance. the practice in many democracies in ensuring accountability to and for the public's interests is, perhaps the most vexing problem due to the pervasive lack of accountability with government and the public departments under their charge, moncrieffe, (200i). however, the loss of faith in accountability in governance cannot be entirely blamed on military regimes having in mind that civilian, politicians, public office holders, organized and unorganized private sector, institutions, corporations and agencies are collectively culpable. 10 | p a g e this paper attempts to provide a realistic mid-term review of the icpc and its priorities and to create a clearer picture of the prospects and challenges facing the government in its quest to achieve socio-economic progress. the greatest challenge that emerges from this study is that of the deepening difficulties with building institutions that can practice accountability. pertinent questions such as. are the strategies designed by icpc to build accountability sufficiently reflective of and responsive to the different contexts they are meant to assist? or better still how does the icpc commission's strategy that seems to represent the most articulate vision of public accountability have some 'sacred cows' that seem to escape the dragnet of the commission. the paper also tries to bring into relief how successful its enforcement mechanisms are bearing in mind it's most daunting "constraints" especially the national assembly's failure to appreciate the poignancy and central position occupied by the rule of law in a democracy especially with the challenge of the enactment of the icpc act 2000 and its subsequent repeal. the paper will address the following: conceptual clarifications, an overview of measures at combating corruption, analysis of the icpc, evaluation of the achievements and constraints and establishing the relationship between "good governance" and accountability as it relates to checkmating corruption. conceptual clarifications to pave a way to understanding the problem on hand let us define the following concepts: corruption, good governance and accountability. among social scientists the question of what is corruption is not that easily settled however, a definition mostly adopted is that of the oxford english dictionary which defines it more broadly, as "perversion or destruction of integrity in the discharge of public duties by bribery and favour. however, this definition fails to capture the developed meaning of corruption as related to behaviour. to this end, smith (1976) defines it as 'diversion of material wealth, intended for effective achievement of socially desirable ends, into the pockets of individuals'. adegbite (1976), director of the corrupt practices bureau in 1976 defined corruption as, 'change from sound to putrid state, or from a state of uprightness, correctness or truth to a bad state or to a tainted use to which money is put to get things done illegally.' hoogvelt (1976) says it is a process of trade in societal rewards. following from the above, adegbite and hoogvelt see corruption as a curable mechanical fault in the societal machinery, smith sees it as the way the machinery normally functions, a view he shares with ola oni and bade onimode who state that, "the basis of corruption is the system of bankrupt capitalist values which are essentially materialistic, selfish and depraved". by its very nature, every capitalist society, because 11 | p a g e it is selfish and exploitative, is a corrupt society. behavior typically extolled under capitalism includes an infinite capacity to take advantage of other' people, a ruthless determination to get one's way by all means and an insatiable obsession for material accumulation which are also the source of corruption. by and large, corruption involves the acceptance of he accepts money or money's worth for something under ones duty not to do or to exercise a legitimate discretion for improper reasons. definitions are by nature elusive owing to the fact that words, their interpretations and applications sometimes vary from one culture to the other. however, the operational definition for corruption in this paper will be against the background of the anticorruption act which covers a wide spectrum or acts more than the simple act of giving and. receiving of bribes. these are the use of one’s office for pecuniary advantage, gratification, influence peddling, insincerity in advice with the aim of gaining advantage, less than a full day's pay, tardiness and slovenliness (anti-corruption law, 2000). thus, achieving the objective of clarifying the meaning of "good governance" lies in recognizing that the concept determines accountability and transparency in governance in line with the widespread corruption that is siphoning a nation’s resource. according to the oxford dictionary, governance means "the act or manner of governing, of exercising control or authority over the actions of subjects or a system of regulations." governance, as distinct from government refers to the relationship between civil society and the state; between rulers and the ruled; the government and the governed". mccarney, halfani and rodriguez (1997), the implication of the above is that the concept of "governance" transcends that of "government" to include civil society. to the african regional seminar (1997) governance is a new agenda for inclusion of civil society in the process of government. it is the inclusion of human intentions, the identification of peoples' needs, their priorities, thereby responding to the increasing need to establish an exchange system beyond prescribed rules. governance is thus more than good government. it is a process, the operations of which require honesty, accountability, transparency, consultation, participation and consensusbuilding in essence, therefore, governance may be taken as denoting how people are ruled, and how the affairs of a state are administered and regulated. given that there are different views as to what constitutes good governance, some of which are culturally determined, the central focus is to highlight the core characteristics which are widely accepted. these derive from the universal declaration of human rights (1948) that has been signed and thus accepted which include the following:  the political rulers and government officials are both held accountable to the ruled for their actions through clearly formulated and transparent processes, and more particularly that the legitimacy of a government is regularly established through some well defined open process of public choice such as elections, referendum, etc (article 21)  the safety and security of citizens is assured (articles 3 & 5) and the rule of law prevails, 12 | p a g e such that contracts can be fairly enforced both among private operators (lndividual or enterprises) and between a private operator and the state.  the ready availability of information that will permit accountability to be practiced, laws to be correctly applied, markets to function, and people to be creative and innovative (article 19)  public agencies are responsive to the need of the public and social and economic development is promoted for the benefit of all citizens in an equitable manner(articles 22,23,24 &25)  freedom of association and expression of opinions (article 19) the above features capture the idea of good governance especially as it relates to its two distinct but intertwined dimensions of governance. the political dimension relates to the degree of genuine commitment to the achievement of good governance and the technical aspect relates to the issues of efficiency and public management. without political commitment there will be no efficiency in public administration. this goes to show that state's responsibilities for the provision of public social and infrastructural services and in creating an enabling environment is the bane of governance. in the same light, accountability will not assure better governance unless public agencies are made more competent. the above, brings the concept of accountability to the fore as it relates to governance. accountability thus emphasizes the 'answering for the use of authority'. this is known as expost accountability which in principle refers to holding public officials accountable through the law, other monitoring and sanctioning mechanisms, and ultimately through elections. accountability can be viewed in another dimension described as ex-ante or positive accountability. this suggests that in order to act effectively in the citizen's interest, representatives must -as a general principleknow what these interests are; allow for deliberation and consultation so that policies may be correct where appropriate; keep the public appraised of policy choices and provide explanations and opportunities for the public response, particularly where it is not obvious that actions are in accordance with the public's expressed interests and provide the appropriate mechanisms and act in such a way that citizens are able to assess the quality of their representation. ex-ante accountability allows for continual check on policies, it also aims to enhance the responsiveness of agents of those whom they are expected to serve (johnson, 1974). measures at combating corruption an overview in the years before and immediately after independence, nigeria was not that known to be a corrupt nation. indeed, conviction of honour and integrity was the watchword. 13 | p a g e tafawa balewa left no record of any attempt to admit there was corruption and indiscipline in his government, let alone controlling it (agang, 1983). unfortunately, following the various coups d'etat the average nigerian's value judgement changed. one of the major and incontrovertible reasons for the january 1966 coup d'etat and collapse of the first republic was the massive corruption of the governors and the regime. reports abound of a man who became the minister of works who had the road to his village quickly tarred, secondary schools cited and pipe borne water provided (ibid). some gave contracts to people from their villages, tribes, thereby denying capable artisans contracts thus making tribalism on the ascendance resonating the fact that tribalisrn, nepotisrn, perfidy and corruption were the enemies of nigeria (ibid.). major nzeogwu who" led the coup underscored the significance of corruption and the aim of the coup plotters "to establish a strong, united and prosperous nation, free from corruption and internal strife". he warned that "embezzlement, bribery or corruption, obstruction of the revolution are all offences punishable by death sentence" (kirk – green, 1971) subsequently, the hijackers ironsi and gowon who accused the balewa administration of corruption and indiscipline ended up being accused of corruption and indecisiveness. for example. during yakubu gowon's regime, the godwin damon’s affidavit could not remove gomwalk but just managed to retire 2 brigadiers on account of corruption after heavy pressure. yet the 2 brigadiers were turned millionaires through cement contracts (agang, 1983). the regime also instituted probes into the operations of the marketing boards system and unearthed the structural linkages between the marketing boards and the dominant political parties that controlled the regional and federal government in terms of the pockets of individuals. the regime did not actually have any mechanism to combat corruption though it campaigned against corruption in the news media. the overthrow of gowons regime in july 1975 by a new regime in the mantle of general murtala muhammed and later general olusegun obasanjo who took over in august of 1976 on the grounds of corruption and indiscipline further dramatised the role of corruption in illegitimising the authority of rulers and government. in murtala 's october 1st, 1975 address to the nation he complained bitterly of indiscipline thus: "the slackening and the traditional checks, the general tune and efficiency of the services have progressively deteriorated to an intolerable limit" (muhammed, 1983). considering this a serious threat to government, all members of staff found wanting in efficiency and probity in any way were retired with full benefits and in cases of misconduct dismissed out rightly as a disciplinary measure. this idea was laudable but after his demise in the hands of dimka and his clique, corruption found its way back into the exercise. murtala’s administration also created purges in the setting up of public complaints commissions and probe panels. the public complaints commission was established by the decree (now act) no 31 in october,1975 to checkmate malpractices and the bureaucratic mistakes, abuse of office and incompetence of those in authority that have their roots in corruption. however, the common complaints lodged before the commissions are in respect of delay in payment of retiring benefits (pensions and gratuities), death gratuities, wrong dismissal, termination of appointment and loss of the postal, money orders and parcels (ibid). 14 | p a g e obasanjo on taking over the mantle of leadership reasoned that people should exercise self control so that society does not generate into indiscipline. lawlessness and corruption (agang, 1983). to this end, this administration established the jaji declaration to also combat corruption but in the long run managed to leave governance more immoral than it was met. take for instance, it was alleged that a federal military government contract of n45,216,000 for some international trade fair job was revised by his administration to the tune of n95,820,000 rose to n116,257,893.00 (ibid) the administration of alhaji shehu shagari was no better despite his administration’s launch of an ethical revolution to intensify the fight against corruption and to reinforce the national ethics of discipline, self-reliance and patriotisrn' contained in section 22 of the nigerian constitution,1979. this revolution did not create any wonders for the simple reason that the problems thrown up by corruption are taken to be the cause of the menace. the root causes are what smith (1976) noted as being "the phenomenal growth of organized deceit in public life, unprecedented increases in organized crime and general lawlessness, profiteering and sharp practices of all kinds, decay in sexual immorality, disintegration of the family, class conflict and brutality of so called law enforcement agencies" thus, to smith, it is impossible to fight an enemy unless the enemy is correctly identified rather than the perennial concern with superficial symptoms that 'evades probing the roots of the disease, perhaps for fear of the pain this may cause. buhari / ldiagbon (december 31, 1983 may 25, 1985) administration showed more mettle in the combat for corruption with their institution of war against indiscipline (wai). with this measure, many nigerian's desisted from many corrupt .and indisciplined acts until their overthrow by the babangida regime (august 1985-1993) whose administration had no agenda for corruption. in fact during his era corruption knew no bounds in nigeria. it is no accident that advanced fee fraud (419ners) had their 'golden' age during his era. to this end, more than any other regime babangida’s administration carried "moral devaluation to its apogee" okey, (2003). abachas era (1993-1998) suffered the same wobbling spate of gratification despite his shoddy wai-c (war against indiscipline and corruption) where he practically garnered all the country's wealth to himself. a regime that once sent his security operatives to go to central bank and pick up more than one billion dollars (ibid). thus, under his administration, corruption, lack of accountability, mysterious deaths and intimidation assumed human focus so much so that no one dared ask for accountability. the abdusalami abubakars brief stay in government (1998-l999) before handing over to the incumbent civilian president major gen. obasanjo rekindled the dwindling hopes of nigerians when he said that "under this administration, all rules and regulations designed to help honesty and transparency in dealing with government will be restored and enforced" (ologunde, 2002). he further re-affirmed that there would be no sacred cows to get away with the breaching of the rule of law, or the proper action of corruption and evil but at the end of the day his government was indicted of misappropriation (ibid) 15 | p a g e the above cited antecedents of corruption prompted retired general olusegun obasanjo’s administration in the fourth republic setting up an independent corrupt practices and other related offences commission (icpc) also known as anti-corruption law with a focus to stamping out gratification and other related offences (anti-corruption law). the above overview of past administrations and strategies adopted for corruption reveals an endemic situation, so much so that the enthroning of accountability is an uphill task. this then projects nigeria as a country where human society is plunging compulsively into ever-increasing abyss of corruption and decay, the paradox of a developing society. the anti-corruption law: establishment of commission and powers the anti corruption law of the federal republic of nigeria 2000-cited as "corrupt practices and other related offence act" came into force on the 13th of june, 2000. lts section 3(1) established a commission to be known as the independent corrupt practices and other related offences commission (lcpc) otherwise known as anti-corruption law. this law in its section 3(2) states that "the commission shall be a corporate body with perpetual succession and a common seal and may sue and be sued in its corporate name. section 3(6) states that the chairman of the commission which must be a person of proven integrity shall be appointed by the president, upon confirmation by the senate and shall not begin to discharge the duties of their offices until they have declared their assets and liabilities as prescribed in the constitution of the federal republic of nigeria. in this law corruption includes bribery, fraud and other related offences. property means real or personal property of every description including money whether situated in nigeria or elsewhere, whether tangible, and includes an interest in any such real or personal property. gratification means: a. money, donation, gift, loan, fee, reward, value security, property or interest in property being property of any description whether movable or immovable, or any other similar advantage, given or promised to any with intent to influence such a person in the performance or non-performance of his duties b. any offer, dignity, employment, contract of employment or service and any agreement to give employment or render services in any capacity c. any payment, release, discharge or liquidation of any loan, obligation or other liability, whether in whole or in part; d. any valuable consideration of any kind, any discount, commission. rebate, bonus, deduction or percentage e. any forbearance to demand any money or money's worth or valuable thing f. any other service or favour of any description, such as protection from any penalty or disability incurred or apprehended from any action or not, already instituted, and including the exercise or the forbearance from the exercise of any official power or duty; 16 | p a g e and g. any offer, undertaking or promise, whether conditional or unconditional, of any gratification within the meeting of any of the proceeding paragraphs (a) to (f) anti corruption law 2000). some provisions of the anti-corruption law provisions in 19, 21, 22, 23, 29 and 40 of the act which have influence peddling, inflation or over-pricing of contracts, awarding contract when no budgetary provisions have been made, failure to report corruption and virements as crimes/offences punishable under the promulgated corrupt practices and other related offences act (anti-corruption law,2000) shall be used for evaluation. thus: section 8(1) states that any person who corruptly: asks for, receives or obtain any property or benefit of any kind for himself or for any other person on account of (1 )anything already done or omitted to be done, or for any favour in discharge of his official duties or in relation to any matter connected with the functions, affairs or business of government department, or institution in which is serving as an official in the discharge of his official duties or in relation to any such matters aforesaid is guilty of an offence of official corruption and is liable to imprisonment for seven (7) years. section 9 (1) states that any person who corruptly (a) gives, confers or procures any property or benefit of any kind to, on or benefit of any kind to, or for a public officer or to, on or for any other person is guilty of official corruption and shall on conviction be liable to imprisonment for seven (7) years. section 13: any person who receives anything, which has been obtained by means of act constituting felony (a serious crime e.g. 419) or misdemeanor by means of all act done at a place outside nigeria, which if it had been done in nigeria would have constituted a felony of misdemeanor and which is an offence under the law in force in the place where it is done, knowing the same to have been so obtained, is guilty of felony. section 19: any public officer who uses his office or position to gratify or confer any corrupt or unfair advantage upon himself or any relation or associate of the public officer or any other public officer shall be guilty of an offence and shall on conviction be liable to imprisonment for five (5) years without option of fine. this is otherwise known as the offence of using office or position for gratification. section 21 (1): any person who without lawful authority or reasonable excuse offers any advantage to any other person as an inducement to or reward for or otherwise on account of that other person's refraining or having refrained from bidding at auction conducted by or on behalf of any public body, shall be guilty of an offence and on indictment pay a fine of the current price of the property and imprisonment for three (3) years. section 22 (i): any person who, without lawful authority or reasonable excuse, offers an advantage to a public servant as an inducement to or reward for or otherwise on account of such public servant's giving assistance or using influence in, or having given assistance or used influence in subsection (b) which posits also that the payment of the 17 | p a g e price, consideration or other money's stipulated or otherwise provided for in any such contract or sub-contract as aforesaid, shall be guilty of an offence. section 22 (4) : any public officer who, in the discharge of his duties awards or signs any contract without budget provision, approval and cash backing, shall be guilty of an offence under this act and on conviction be liable to three (3) years imprisonment and a fine of one thousand naira. section 23 (1): any public officer to whom any gratification is given, promised, or offered, in contravention of any provision of the act shall report such gift, promise or offer together if known, of the person who gave, promised or offered such gratification to him to the nearest officer of the commission or police officer. any person who fails without reasonable excuse, to comply with sub-section (1) shall be guilty of an offence and on conviction be liable to a fine not exceeding one hundred thousand naira or imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or both fine and imprisonment. section 29: subject to the provision of section 29 to 34 of this act the commission may, issue summons directed to a person complained against or any other person to attend before the commission for the purpose of being examined in relation to the complaint of in relation to any other matter which may aid or facilitate the investigation of the complaint, and the time and place at which the inquiry is to be held. section 40: subject to such limitations as is provided under this act, every person required by an officer of the commission to give any information on any subject which it is the duty of such officer to inquire into under this act and which it is that persons statutory power to give, shall be legally bound to give information, failing which he shall be guilty of an offence on conviction liable to imprisonment for six (6) months or a fine (n10,000) ten thousand naira, achievements so far the icpc has scored a number of feats despite the daunting tides it has had to cope with. accordingly, the springboard for evaluation shall be some facts from the chairman’s recent accounts of his stewardship, which are: the score sheet records that most african countries see the lcpc act as a model on which to fashion their own legislation, as the act is more efficacious and effective in tackling the menace of corruption and corrupt practices. the pertinent question then is how can the efficacy be measured? to this end, the chairman posits that the act unlike earlier legislations blocked all loopholes which often provided escape route for criminally minded persons who plunder and loot the nation's wealth with impunity. 18 | p a g e however, despite the ploy to delay most of the cases in court or stalling them ostensibly on the ground of the constitutionality of one section or another the act has been tried and tested in the supreme court judgment delivered on the 7th of june 2002 where its validity and constitutionality were challenged in the case of ondo state and abia state governments (between governor orji kalu, who on the suggestive grounds of political animosity to the president was one of the first political office holders to challenge the law in court) vs federal government of nigeria and the act was held to be valid (emmanuel, 2003) the dismissal by the courts of the legal entanglements allowed the commission to initiate 'investigation and consequently prosecution of public and private individuals indicted in corrupt practices. sequel to this, the anti-corruption commission on september 30, 2002, achieved its first conviction in the contravention of ss22 (4) of the anti-corruption law as stated above when a kogi state high court judge sentenced egwuba, the former chairman of ibaji local government council in kogi state to a compulsory three years imprisonment on the charge of awarding a contract without budgetary approval (ibid). the commission justifies its feat by stating despite the arguments advanced by critiques some years before the anti-corruption law act 2000 was promulgated, no single recorded prosecution for corruption was made in any of the regular courts (akanbi, 2003).this then goes to show the high rate of cover up of criminal practices and the lip service paid to the purging of corruption in the system by the various codes and policy frameworks of past administrations. moreso, the claim by critiques is that the penal code (1960) used in the north and criminal code used in the south contained adequate provisions, which dealt with cases of corruption, gratification and other matters which invariably makes the promulgation of the anti-corruption law unnecessary. the former which is a compromise between the english and islamic law modeled after the indian and sudanese penal codes makes it an offence for a person/public servant to accept gratification as a motive/reward for rendering official act or service to any person with the public service. the latter (criminal code) is divided into official and judicial corruption. the former centres on any form of gratification by the public servant while the latter involves judicial officers who ask or receives any benefit so as to influence their judicial duties (okonkwo and naish, 1980). the commission also boasts of some cases under prosecution 17 criminal matters in various designated courts, involving 39 accused persons, 287 petitions have reached various levels of investigation with 518 petitions being processed (akanbi, 2003). the anti corruption law is the toughest in the history of our nation by its incorporation of the spirit of national rebirth which is the driving principle of the obasanjo administration (anti corruption law, 2000) in the provisions of the lcpc act, 2000 which has special provisions as 19 | p a g e regards the admissibility of evidence, the burden of proof in a given case, and the special powers of the chairman all of which facilitate effective and expeditious handling of corrupt cases. the act also contains provisions which enable the commission to set into motion the machinery for the appointment of independent counsel by the chief justice of nigeria to investigate all chief executives of states and their deputies (ibid) these cases which involve men of substance and position who are directors in government establishments, parastatals and ministries further debunks the 'sacred cow 'phenomenon. a cogent example, is in the complaint against 2 former ministers after they had left office with the prosecution of one of them which is now at an advanced stage because it falls within the operative date of the act while the other case that was committed before his appointment as minister cannot be treated because the commission has no retroactive measure (ibid). accordingly, it is remarkable that for the first time in the annals of this country, a high court judge, directors, business tycoons, commissioners of states have been put in the dock to answer charges of corruption. more so, no fewer than 15 governors have their cases pending before the commission with investigations in many of them nearing completion (ibid) constraints or politics of the anti corruption law a number of constraints hamper the exercise of the independent corrupt practices and other related offences commission (icpc) otherwise known as the anti-corruption commission. the instructive principal constraint of the icpc is the accusation in line with the commission's crisis of definition and relevance due to the various executive and legislative wrangling on its operational law. the commission has suffered having some of its sections being knocked down as being unconstitutional especially these two controversial sections of (ss 26(3) and 35. the former states that "a prosecution for an offence shall be concluded and judgment delivered within(90) working days of its commencement save that the jurisdiction of the court to continue to hear and determine the case shall not be affected where to hear and determine the case shall not be affected where good grounds exist for a delay" while the other states that "where the commission is satisfied that a summons directed to a person complained against or any person has been served and that person does not appear at the time and place appointed in the summons, the commission shall have' power to arrest and detain any such person complies with the summons"(anti corruption law act,2000). the other legal obstacle is the non-proactive nature of the icpc law. nigerians had expected the commission to swoop down on past military administrators who misappropriated public funds. but contrary to expectations, the commission turned out to be another hoodwink employed by obasanjo to portray his sense of seriousness and 20 | p a g e commitment. it came as a rude shock when the chairman of the commission justice, mustapha akanbi at a symposium on corruption organized by members of the nysc ( anti-corruption community service group) said "the icpc act was enacted long after the tenure in office of these heads of state. if you want us to investigate generals babangida, abdulsalami and buhari, we lack the power to do so as the act is not retroactive having in mind that the operative date was 13th june, 2000, oliver and enewan (2000). moreover, the act acts only when an act of corruption is reported it formally in writing or orally. the obasanjo’s administration winning the war against corruption appears to be a pipe dream with the icpc already being branded a "toothless" for its failure to prosecute the "big-catch" since its inception whilst the ordinary nigerian gets harassed bv the anti-corrupt commission. for instance president obasanjo a few years back challenged nigerians to show him proof that babangida corruptly enriched himself (oke 2003). it was a silly burden to trust upon the poor, abused nigerians, since all and sundry know a corrupt man when they see one. the joke would be on babangida and indeed the icpc that is waiting for a written conviction that characters like ibrahim babangida who after ruling nigeria for eight years, emerged as a stupendously wealthy man. public estimates of his assets are in billions of' dollars. it is public knowledge that he lives in a 50-bedroom mansion, that he owns a private jet as well as a fleet of expensive cars (ibid.). no body in the presidency, the national assembly or the stooge icpc has ever sought to ask the man how he accumulated all the wealth. why does the president, an avowed crusader against corruption still insist that he has no evidence that babangida stole public funds? witch-hunting has been a major forte on which the icpc has been criticized. a cogent example is that, apart from the late general sani abachas family and his cronies who were compelled to return large sums of money to the government, nigerians are still waiting for questionable characters who had stupendously embezzled public fund" to be brought to book nwana, (2003). a character like mbadinuju (the ex-governor of anambra state), who has broken all records in graft, by brazenly pocketing public funds through giving a standing order to a bank to pay forty million naira each to a none existent contractor in anambra state. this was a state whose citizens suffered untold hardships because for many months neither teachers nor civil servants could be paid salaries (ibid). this whole situation smacks of double standards as it seems to appear that the chairman of icpc does not understand the meaning of corruption or does it mean that anti-corruption laws are meant primarily for the recovery of the abacha loot and taming the national assembly and dealing with lesser citizens? another nagging constraint is the decision by the legislators to repeal the anti-corruption act 2000 by a section of the new bill that is to be cited as corrupt practices and other related offences commission. this came on the heels of the political contrivance by opponents of the obasanjo administration in the house of representatives who on august 13,2002 initiated an impeachment 21 | p a g e motion alleging sundry corrupt practices against the speaker of the house, alhaji ghali na 'abba (emma, 2003). on the heals of the above petition was another filed on october, 27, 2002 against senate president anyim pius anyim by the maverick senator arthur nzeribe, on the camp of the presidency was targeted at achieving political points at the expense of the senate (ibid). these reasons advanced though are altruistic but, in truth, did not tally with their concealed objective which was to extort funds from the target for self-fortification against impending challengers in the coming elections (ologunde, 2002). this, arthur nzeribe, alluded to as regards the fraudulent collection of money in his honesty (at least according to him "even among thieves, there should be honour") admitting that he collected three million naira bribe together with others so as to soft pedal on the impeachment bid of the president (ibid). the allusion then is the situation in the house of representative who was the arrowhead of the impeachment process. what is the source of the funds being used by "unknown nigerians "to bribe legislators? and this leads one to querying why the icpc is still tarrying to investigate all the senators since the allegation contravenes section 19 and 21 of the graft law as mentioned above. with the investigation against the senate president on course the senate purportedly claimed to review the powers and appointments of the members into the icpc. the aim of the reviews initially was to whittle down the perceived influence of the executive arm of government over the commission through stripping the president of his power of appointing the commission's members and chairman as stated in section 3(6) of the icpc as cited above. however, with the accelerated rate of the investigation almost at the nip of nailing both of them and subsequently put an end to the impeachment saga, the senate moved from the threat to review to the repeal of the anticorruption law, 2002 act in its entirety. the court order by justice egbo egbo who is hearing the case brought by the aggrieved lawmakers at the abuja high court had issued an order asking both parties to the case to maintain status quo pending the determination of the case soniyibi, (2003). the senate's disregarded this injunction and proceeded with repealing the act. the repeal determines the deceitful camouflage by the legislators especially in their repeal with the existing act vide 50 in the law without a saving provision. the repealed act provides that all offences committed under the provisions of the 2002 anti-corruption act would not be liable to prosecution in the new law thus inevitably, conferring immunity on all those presently being investigated by the commission (olojede, 2002). this action in george orwell's 'animal farm' implies that the assembly members are more equal' than others. the icpc experience of crisis of expectations has further placed nigeria as the second to the last most corrupt nation in the world by the transparency international who still question nigeria's readiness to combating corruption bideh, (2003). the palpable advance fee fraud (419) scam in nigeria projects a false image about nigeria and indeed is a blow to the hue and cry against corruption and financial crimes. lnfact, had the federal government faithfully executed the provisions of the icpc act. the most recent blacklisting of nigeria by the international financial watchdog. the financial action task force (fatf) olawale, (2003) would have been averted. the blacklisting by lnternational task force's was on the failure of nigeria to legislate on such as 22 | p a g e issues on finance houses, stock broking firms, investors' advisers, thrift collectors which are veritable for icpc combating financial crimes. however, it is believed that the new commission on independent economic and financial crimes commission will address the shortcomings which icpc suffered. it is however, important to note that with the new administration still under rtd general obasanjo and the senate under a new mantle of leadership of adolphus nwabara as president, a new icpc bill. with this bill, it is hoped that the areas of conflict between obasanjo and the national assembly in the application of the former anti-corruption law, 2000 act, which the former leadership of the national assembly said was "a weapon of intimidation' by the president against political opponents would have been achieved, murray, (2003). so far the bill has scaled through the first reading on the floor of the house of representatives (ibid). good governance, accountability and the politics of corruption. in consonance with the popular definition of democracy as the government 'of the people, by the people and for the people, the concept of good governance is created with the impression that trappings of political power have been extended to the masses. thus, the end of all government is in the enjoyment of their rights without oppression. the question then is what conditions must operate in order to enable us confirm that a government is for the people? this question finds leaning in the extent to which government is perceived and accepted by the citizenry to be legitimate, committed to improving public welfare and responsible to the needs of the citizenry; competent in ensuring law and order and in delivering public services, able to create an enabling policy environment for productive activities, and equitable in its conduct, favouring no special interest or groups" ismail and pierre, (1991). following from the above, the legitimacy and perhaps, the stability of the democratic system is, in part, dependent on the extent to which the electorate are operating in the public interest. political accountability then becomes critical to representative democracy. however, in practice there is a pervasive lack of accountability because "as the political and bureaucratic elites holding office will manipulate state power for their own benefit unless constrained" bayart, (1989). the lag in accountability by public officials as is evident in nigeria today in the monster of corruption might not have developed to this scale if governments have been able to enforce financial discipline along with efficient management control. for instance, president obasanjo has been criticized at home and abroad for a penchant to spend huge government money on unproductive ventures such as the abuja stadium that was built for more than 50 billion naira and the spending of more than 700 billion on repairing the country's refineries yet they are not functional. okey,(2003). this indiscipline in reckless spending brings to bear the idea of ex-post accountability which implies that a public official is liable to sanction, if in the citizens’ perception, the responsibilities of the office have been executed inappropriately or satisfactorily, monclieffe, (200i). 23 | p a g e to be fully effective, measures to achieve political and legal accountability used to be accompanied by arrangement to make bureaucracies accountable. to this end, the performance of public agencies and officials require monitoring so as to correct bureaucratic abuses and inefficiencies. waste in the bureaucracy in nigeria has been going on as far back as the “60’s” when it over bloated to the extent that a public servant could have as many as 16 cars or more in their fleet, purchased by government, maintained and serviced by government including free houses to the public servants and a retinue of stewards and aides just for the convenience of few, nwana (2003). it is believed that this unpatriotic wasteful indulgence which nigeria leadership have goaded civil service into allowing will find relief in this administration’s decision to address the issue of waste through the monetization policy. the savings that the government will now make from monetization would be used to provide more amenities and infrastructures for the citizens. to serve the public interest, there should be financial and managerial accountability, which will ensure circumspect accounting and financial procedures so as to reduce waste. consequently, there should be emphasis on parliamentary accountability and transparency for effective administration of law in the public interest. in this wise the legislators choice to ignore and disrespect the restraining order from the court to maintain status quo ante on the icpc was purposive in disregarding of the rule of law. the situation in awka and indeed the entire anambra state has defied the functions of government for the common good as regards the maintenance of law and order. when few individuals without the people’s mandate take it upon themselves to define the political power configuration of the state, there is bound to social and political disequilibrium (dayo, 2003), thus denying the citizens the essence of governance since may 29, 1999, when pdp government assumed power in the state. thus, when a leadership lacks standards the government becomes deficient in values and morality, which are tell-tale signs of the negation of democratic/good governance principles. sequel to this, instituting good governance in a system that thrive on treachery, falsehood, corruption and indiscipline resonates. moncrieffe, (2001) position that “elected representatives ought to have objectives that are designated not to benefit themselves or their favored associates but the entire electorate, that they are under contract to serve”. the non-delivery or at best very poor delivery of public service or programmes by government has created a pall on the degree of responsiveness to the peoples designated end and expectation is a measure of a competent government. the review of the relationship between good governance, accountability and the eradication of corruption in nigeria, unearths in all the sectors of the society an unprecedented rot and decay, which could lead to imminent collapse. this protracted nightmare thus imposes on the people a weakness to hold on to any dream that there exists an incorruptible nigerian (even if there exists people like late dr dora akunyili of nafdac who returned 12 thousand pounds sterling of the 24 | p a g e medical allowance for a surgery that she did not undergo to the ptf and has recently become the first african to clinch the much coveted transparency international integrity award for fighting and defying corruption) let alone being able to find citizens that can stand tall and say with conviction the national anthem "i pledge to nigeria my country. to be faithful, loyal, and honest. to serve nigeria with all my strength, to defend her unity and uphold her honour and glory. recommendati0n to a large extent, it can be acknowledged that inculcating disciplinary values in the nigerian system is a gigantic task. thus, it is beyond the capacity of a few in a commission like the icpc to combat in a short while but rather a call for a combined effort of all citizens to combating the menace of corruption. to achieve this, the following recommendations will aid in minimizing the scourge:  the judicial system must be strengthened and the law enforcement agencies thoroughly cleaned up, restructured and re-oriented so that they can efficiently combat corruption.  government should ensure that the rate of unemployment is reduced and those already employed should be well remunerated so as to check gratification.  creating awareness on the ills of corruption through enlightenment programmes in the media and through seminars  religious values of honesty, probity and hard work should be revisited in the teachings of the church more than teachings on prosperity.  nigerians should be alert to ensure that their elected representatives carry on their official duties without gratification. conclusion the paper has revealed that corruption is a malignant tumor that feeds on its hosts to death if not quarantined. the struggle therefore of checkmating this scourge is one for the survival of the nigerian polity having in mind that it has been the major cause of the failed attempts at democracy since independence. what then is on trial is not so much the triumph of the commission over corruption. in its short span, but the realization that the anti-corruption law act 2000 was on its way to being antidote to the cankerworm when it was blighted by the untimely repeal by the legislators. thus pursuing the shadow of the ideological, constitutional shortcomings of the law/act will succeed in drawing a red herring on the path of the nefarious act of corruption that may not in any way ameliorate the problems raised. 25 | p a g e refeences adekunbi, ero (2002), " an intoxicated political class", tell magazine akanbi, mustapha (2003), "my stewardship", tell magazine adegbite, j (1976), "how it all began", the daily times newspaper, lagos anti-corruption law of the federal republic of nigeria. times press limited agang (1983), effects of indiscipline and corruption-workers attitude to work at the national seminar on " ethical re-orientation's committee on " indiscipline and corruption and their adverse effects on the nigerian society and economy" kongo conference hotel, ahmadu bello university, zaria, april ii-15th bayart, jean-francois (1989), l'etat en afique: la politique du ventre. paris fayard dayo benson (2003), "quest for peace", sunday vanguard, lagos. emmanuel aziken (2003), "amended icpc act: anti graft law or legitimizing corruption" unday vanguard ehusani george (2003), "the corruption of religion", sunday guardian. hoogvelt (1976), the sociology of developing societies. macmillan. london. ismail seragelding and pierre landell-mills (1991), "governance and the external factor" the world bank annual conference on development eonomics, april 25-26, 1991. kirk-green, a. (1921), crisis and conflict in nigeria: a documentary source book, 1966-1967, vol. i johnson, n. (1974), "defining accountability", public administration. vol 17 sola williams (2002), " how nigeria earned second position" news watch magazine. mohammed, h (1983), " public complaints commission as an instrument for controlling corruption-assessment and suggestions" a paper presented to the ethical committee's national seminar on" indiscipline and corruption and their adverse effects on the nigerian society and economy", kongo conference hotel, ahmadu bello university, zaria, april ii-i5 moncrieffe, j. (200i), "re-conceptualizing political accountability", international political science review, vol 19, no 4 murray, j. (2003), "obasanjo sent new anti-graft bill to the national assembly, the punch, thursday, july 10, p 3 nwana harry (2003), "by the way column" vanguard newspaper, wednesday. july 9, p.i0 olawale ronke (2003), bank chief blames government for sanction over financial crimes", the guardian, friday, august 15 ologunde funso (2002), "bribe givers and takers", sunday champion, november 24. okey ndibe (2003), “combacting the scorge 24of 419” the guardian, thursday,july 26, p 65. oyatomi kunle (2003), "monetization: a right step" sunday vanguard, august 10, p 9 oni 0 and onimode, b. “economic development of nigeria. the social alternative”,nigerian academy of arts. sciences & technology. ibadan, pp. 6& 75. oliver 0 and enewan ekpenyong (2002), "civil society, democracv and,accountability", human rights defender. 1st quarter magazine. vol. 4, no 2, pp '2 & 13 26 | p a g e okonkwo and naish (1980), criminal law in nigeria. lbadan. spectrum books. smith abdullahi (1976), "the development of corruption", new nigerian newspaper, jan. 26. seniyibi tobi (2003), "lcpc', legislative's disregard for judiciary" the punch, friday, may 16, p. 38 22 | p a g e child labour for family poverty alleviation: a debacle to the development of the nigerian child: ‘lessons from rural communities of ebonyi state’ okechukwu egwu ibiam; francis a. akwara; godwin i. udeuhele; okechukwu groupson p. christopher c. arua; emmanuel o. agha; joy u. egwu. ibiam child labour for family poverty alleviation: a debacle to the development of the nigerian child: ‘lessons from rural communities of ebonyi state’ okechukwu egwu ibiam, francis a. akwara, godwin i. udeuhele, okechukwu groupson p. christopher c. arua , emmanuel o. agha, joy u. egwu. ibiam 1department of political science, 3department of sociology alex ekwueme federal university ndufualike, abakaliki, ebonyi state, nigeria, 2 1department of political science, ebonyi state university, abakaliki, independent researcher, enugu abstract child labour for family poverty alleviation is a daunting challenge facing both the children and their poor families in ebonyi state rural communities. this phenomenon constitutes a debacle to impacted families because it is dehumanizing, erodes societal values and prolongs economic woes, (ilo, (2007 and global child labour conference, 2010). its preponderance is not only detrimental to the health of the children involved, it also distorts their educational and overall development. inferences from studies on child labour by word bank, (2000), unicef (2004), human right watch, (2004) and unrisd, (2005), revealed the existence of between 100 and 200 million child labourers across the globe, with an embarrassing 20% of the data coming from africa, (unicef 2004), showing that african children, which of course include our research population; between the ages of 10-14 years, representing 17% of africa’s total labour force, are actively engaged in this practice, (word bank, 2000, cbn 1999, olaitan. et al, 2000). using the social exclusion theory for the content analyses of qualitative data collected from the study, it was revealed that child labour practices remains a thriving enterprise among our research population in ebonyi state rural communities, with adverse consequences on those impacted. the existence of these rural families under nigerian government’s neglect having ossified extreme poverty among them, has also exacerbated child labour in the area. this paper there called to question the continued practice of child labour for family poverty alleviation despite its negative effects on this population. accordingly, some recommendations as lasting solutions were in the areas of the need for the nigerian ebonyi state and government to enact stringent anti-child labour laws with punitive measures against its perpetrators, to serve as deterrent for its furtherance. other recommendations were for greater involvement of help agencies through mitigations, advocacies, increased rural child education and the introduction of people-oriented programmes that promote improved socio-economic life and welfare for the rural dwellers of ebonyi state. key words: child labour, family, poverty alleviation, debacle, nigerian child, development, rural communities. introduction child labour is a form of wage earning activity in which children are engaged that has come over the years to constitute serious challenges to the development of 23 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com all affected children, (unicef 2004 and human right watch 2004). it is a menace spreading across societies with devastating impact on rural communities of most developing nations such as those in the rural areas of ebonyi state of nigeria. there are incidences of high level of child abuses through illegal labour services which experts say ossifies underdevelopment among impacted families, (immink and olagoke, 1997). some worse forms of child labour, which also exists among our research population; have been recorded to include child forced labour, child slavery, child debt bondage, child prostitution, and pornography as well as child trafficking, that impact negatively on the child’s overall development, (ilo convention 182,1999a and 1999b). in weak nations of the world such as nigeria whose economies have maintained a steady depreciation under inept and corrupt political rulers, studies have mainstreamed inherent challenges of child labour as a major area highlighted as needing to be addressed, with clarion calls for concerted efforts being made on stake holders to pay greater attention to the scourge, ((muhammed, gbenga, john, tunji, frank and edward, 2008). among nations of sub-saharan africa, southern asia and latin america where various forms of poverty are associated with low level of socio-economic development, there also records of their having the highest level of child labour practices in their land, (unrisd, 2005, world bank, 2000), olaitan et al, 2000). there are indices of poverty as a cause and effect of child labour with great impacts among citizens of nations of these societies due to the prevalence of political instability, leadership ineptitude and infrastructural decay, official corruption leading to consequential increases in discontent among the citizens, who then resort to child labour as a last option, (nwachukwu et al 2000). the high prevalence of child labour among economically disadvantaged families of ebonyi state rural communities is corroborated by reports of the united nations international children education fund which reveals the existence of between 100 and 200 million child labourers across the globe with african children constituting an embarrassing 20% of the data, (unicef 2004). the unicef data furthered that african children between the ages of 1014 years, (and even far lesser ages); represent 17% of africa’s total labour force. this is a disturbing vicious circle which african leaders are hamstrung to address, evidenced among the rural dwellers of ebonyi state of nigeria, as a practice spiraling into variants of problems such denial of the child’s access to basic education which ossifies mass illiteracy across generations of these communities and their neighbors. associated with these practices are child slavery, child abuses in social relations embedded in morality and sexuality, child prostitution, delinquency, engagement of school age youths as political thug, cultists, alcohol and drug 24 | p a g e child labour for family poverty alleviation: a debacle to the development of the nigerian child: ‘lessons from rural communities of ebonyi state’ okechukwu egwu ibiam; francis a. akwara; godwin i. udeuhele; okechukwu groupson p. christopher c. arua; emmanuel o. agha; joy u. egwu. ibiam related offences. within these communities are also families thrown into generational pauperization arising from child abuses that lead them into fixated deprivations, physical and psychological trauma. these conditions are common among the rural dwellers that are unable to meet their daily social and economic obligations due to lack of access to farmland, health facilities, basic skills and education, a situation that places affected in near total losses of selfesteem, high risks of exposure to diseases, infections, illness and high mortality rate, (cbn 1999). despite the jamborees, publicity and gimmickry by both the ebonyi state and nigerian government about their achievements in poverty alleviation programmes for the rural dwellers, it is obvious that the positive impacts of such programmes are yet to be felt by the rural dwellers. there hardly seem to be any recorded success story by these rural dwellers regarding such programmes ostensibly initiated by government to alleviate their poverty. the failures of government in checkmating family poverty and child labour are alleged to be associated with sharp practices and infamies strengthened in government circles through a confederacy of profligacy in governance (ibiam, 2014), between a decadent officials of the executive arm of government, inept political jobbers in the legislature, a compromised judiciary, corrupt law enforcement agencies, a weak civil society and a haplessly idle and selfindulgent bureaucracy who have elevated corruption to an official instrument of governance in nigeria. these failures of government and her agencies in addressing nigeria’s development challenges having exacerbated the nation’s socio-economic woes, have inadvertently, ossified child labour practices for family poverty alleviation. beyond governments’ illusory policy postures, grandstanding and propaganda towards poverty alleviation exemplified in a legion of phony socio economic relieve packages such as napep and other agencies for poverty alleviation among impacted families, (napep,2006; www.nigeria.first.org, napep: 2008, www.napep.ng.org.), it is an indisputable fact that such programmes recorded colossal failures across the niger in rural dwellers. such failures have culminated into endless challenges facing rural communities in both ebonyi state and other parts of nigeria, with impacted families taking the painful decision of engaging their children in unwholesome practices such as child labour and other dehumanizing activities as a last resort to meet their family economic needs at the detriment of such children’s development. it can therefore be argued that child labour among families of ebonyi state rural communities is partly a fall out of failed governance as well as a cause and effect of family poverty which has grown into a cankerworm with multidimensional consequences on our research population. http://www.nigeria.first.org/ http://www.napep.ng.org/ 25 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com the problem child labour for family poverty alleviation constitutes a daunting challenge to the development of children of the families of the rural communities of ebonyi state, nigeria. whatever the reasons may be, child labour is not only detrimental and inimical to the development of children of these rural communities of ebonyi state, it is also a debacle to the future development of these people as its continued practice portend great danger of reversing their civilization back to the state of nature, (unicef 2004 and human right watch 2004). in an effort to address this menace, this paper called to question all circumstances that condition the exploitation of child labour for family poverty alleviation in the rural communities of ebonyi state of nigeria, in line with the growing concerns and contentions by researchers. the emphasis here was the need to expose the ills associated with child labour, draw strength from already existing mitigation efforts which may have been in existence across the globe, (ilo convention 182, 1999a; ilo, 1999b and carneiro, 1977) and in that order provide alternative resolutions to the practice. child labour has become nigeria’s national dilemma which condition and dispose citizens to incidences of cruelty to the child against their call by nature to the responsibilities of providing for our children’s wellbeing. this is a major failure by the government and society at large in their duties to families that have rendered families vulnerable, thus causing them to resort to the use of available means to source economic relieve which are readily found in child labour. this conversely exposes the children so engaged in child labour to other forms of challenges such as vagrancy, wondering, destitution, crime and diseases. with the child so encumbered, other forms of challenges emerge in forms of family dislocation and disintegration, community disorder, socio-economic insecurity, general malady and sudden death of those impacted. this practice having become a challenge to human dignity and development, especially among ebonyi state rural communities, require concerted efforts at its exposure, with lasting solutions provided through studies such as this that highlights specific cases within specific localities. method: the methodology adopted in this study was exploratory design which dealt with qualitative research that did not require numerical data. exploratory design was applied here in view of the prevalence of deviant characteristics within the study population which dealt with specific historical data regarding the circumstances under which the phenomena of child labour suffused and pervades, (eboh, 2009; shafi, 2011), guided by secondary literature arising from findings of previous related studies. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/qualitative_research 26 | p a g e child labour for family poverty alleviation: a debacle to the development of the nigerian child: ‘lessons from rural communities of ebonyi state’ okechukwu egwu ibiam; francis a. akwara; godwin i. udeuhele; okechukwu groupson p. christopher c. arua; emmanuel o. agha; joy u. egwu. ibiam as much as the purposes for the use of previous data from secondary sources as shown here may not have been envisaged by the original collectors who got such from quantitative analyses, the diverse usefulness of such data was duly acknowledged, (bryman, 2016,). furtherance to this, content analysis was applied in drawing inferences about child labour and related poverty conditions among the research population through processes that created a paradigm shift from being a mere academic exercise to a reality check that gave the study a ‘human face’ within simple people oriented communally based contextual perspectives that addressed the challenges of child labour for family poverty alleviation in ebonyi state. population and area of study the population of study was drawn from some rural communities of ebonyi state of nigeria. out of the total state population of 2,176,947 citizens spread across the thirteen local government areas, (npc 2006), some rural communities were purposeful chosen to provide manageable data for this study. the decision for the selection of some of the rural communities out of the entire population was occasioned by the challenges that faced this study in the area of capacity to manage the large populations under the circumstances of time and limited resources. here the purposeful or judgmental technique (black and champion 1976 and obasi, 2005), was adopted as an approach which assured that the chosen rural communities possessed similar representative elements and characteristics for the entire population. as much as there have been studies on child labour among populations across climes by scholars based on wide ranges of perspectives, (unicef 2004 and human right watch 2004, ilo convention 182, 1999a; ilo, 1999b), our study focused on this specific portion of the population of ebonyi state of nigeria because of the dominant characteristics of child labour practices among most families in these areas. such characteristics include abject poverty, rural slum life and poor sanitation and lack of basic socioeconomic amenities for the families as well as dearth of basic infrastructure such as good roads, electricity and good water supply. others include low school enrolment and high dropout among their school age children, early girl child out of wedlock pregnancies, child marriage, child abandonment and homelessness for orphaned children as well as general community underdevelopment. all these pervaded among the research population of ebonyi state to condition them to engage in child labour for poverty family alleviation. poverty in generic terms, poverty is a condition under which persons, groups or communities lack the basic necessities of socio-economic existence. this involves endemic cases of lack of food, clothing, medical care and shelter as well as lack of access to financial 27 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com resources and other material requirements for a reasonable good human existence needed to give meaning to human social and economic life. here, we can adopt a working definition of poverty as: a state where an individual is not able to cater adequately for his or her basic needs of food, clothing and shelter, is unable to meet social and economic obligations, lacks gainful employment, skills, assets and selfesteem; and has limited access to social and economic infrastructure such as education, health, and portable water, but has high risks of exposure to illness and even death… (central bank of nigeria,1999:23) for the word bank (2000:10) the dimensions of poverty are also in the areas of lack ‘in psychological wellbeing, social exclusion, basic infrastructure, good health and assets. arising from here, it can be argued that poverty is a historical phenomenon that has existed with mankind with diverse global impacts on people’s socioeconomic conditions. it afflicts and affects people in various depths across nations, continents and clime subject to the dialectics of the materialist conditions of existence of men as they contend for the ‘equitable’ allocation of the scarce resources of their societies, (ake, 1982). ‘poverty increases citizen’s vulnerabilities by depriving them basic education, leading to stagnated illiteracy which in turn poses multitudes of other challenges to contemporary ideals and values of civilized life. it creates a state of deprivation that makes the deprived vulnerable and violent in nature’, (onah; 2006), which in turn create situations with negative impacts on a nation’s body polity. among our research population in ebonyi state of nigeria, poverty occurs to them fundamentally at the two fronts of lack of access to basic education and politically motivated socio-economic cleavages within which are subsumed other issues of bad governance, inept and corrupt political leadership as well as state complicity in orchestrated ethnoreligious differences that aggravate inequitable resource distribution. stemming from these are other factors that range from national class characterization of citizens for vested interests, citizen’s rights deprivation and lack, as well as debt burden with adverse effects under which impacted families have continued to seek alternatives for survival which they find in the ‘dictum of using what one has, to get what he needs’; which finds expression in child labour and other unwholesome practices among impacted families. pressured by challenges of low industrialization, low productivity, unemployment, high population growth rate, massive ruralurban migration, poor human resource development and gender bias common among dependent nations such as nigeria, (otu, ibiam, and agha, 2015), 28 | p a g e child labour for family poverty alleviation: a debacle to the development of the nigerian child: ‘lessons from rural communities of ebonyi state’ okechukwu egwu ibiam; francis a. akwara; godwin i. udeuhele; okechukwu groupson p. christopher c. arua; emmanuel o. agha; joy u. egwu. ibiam citizens have continued to get by through unwholesome practices su.ch as child labour. our research population exist as part of the citizens of the nigerian nation cited by the united nations development programme (undp) with high poverty burden in its debut on human development index (hdi) report of 2006 which ranked nigeria at the 137th position out of 174 nations bedeviled by poverty, measured at a value of 0.4, (unrisd, 2005, ekpeyong and assian 2011). the indicators in these reports show that any country with hdi value below 0.5 is considered to house very extremely poor citizens which is the pathetic case of nigeria with an hdi value of 0.4 that falls below the 0.5 standard, under which poverty pervades to continue pushing the citizens into various forms of unethical practices that does not even spare children. this is a vice that entangles the families involved into greater socio-economic woes, exemplified in the experiences of families among our research population in ebonyi state of nigeria. here families who engage their children in child labour have not only lost their children to this menace, they have also suffered double jeopardy in the hands of unscrupulous child labour agents and merchants. they experience disruptions of regular payment of agreed stipends often offered to them through indirect contact persons and channels who do not only enslave theses children but also betray the social contract trusts reposed on them by deliberately defaulting in the payment of agreed sums to these impoverished families. in many instances, this ordeal has often led to conflicts between the parties with violence meted against such families because impacted families have gone too far to put pressure on such unscrupulous individuals and groups to keep their bond. punitive and extreme measures have often been taken by the agents and merchants that ‘uncooperative and recalcitrant’ families have suffered permanent losses such as disconnections of contact with their children in the process, as their children are often carted away like cargo to distant farm lands and factories in unknown cities where they face perpetual affliction. under deliberately orchestrated antagonistic relations between the families and the child labour agents, children from blacklisted families have often been separated and subjected to untold hardship that include physical, psychological torture to modern day slavery, sexual abuses, child prostitution, various forms of inhuman treatments and sudden death. these families are alleged to have suffered such loses without any form of legal actions undertaken on their behalf because of their families’ poverty, illiteracy and lack of access to legal services. in few cases where some of the children subjected to these indignities were fortunate to escape from their task masters in the ensuing imbroglio, they have often ended up in strange lands and urban areas as street urchins, child 29 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com prostitutes, street gang stars, illicit drug peddlers or addicts and armed robbers who feed on society as agents of the criminal underworld. beyond the socio-economic, health, security and other forms of hazards poverty poses to those impacted, it also triggers off processes of endemic generational poverty in their children and the society, (nwabueze, 1992). these are abundantly evidenced in the life of those impacted among the helpless rural dwellers under study in ebonyi state, whose common characteristics include stark illiteracy, ignorance and social malaise, (okojie, 1987and nmom, 2003), as well as structural inequalities that ossify national under development, (appel 2009). faced with these general societal challenges and other personal problems of lack of access to basic needs of life and avenues of redressing abuses associated with their poverty conditions, (unicce, 1999), families so impacted have often increased their vulnerability by sending more of their children into the labour market for family poverty alleviation, thus engaging in situations that accelerate them to higher vulnerability to extreme poverty, (ekpeyong ed., 2011). chester surveys published by nigeria’s federal office of statistics (fos) and unicef, (2009), as well other related studies under (undp), unfpa, world bank and who, (2012b), buttress our position with serious indicators of extreme poverty among a greater number of citizens of developing nations that include nigerians in forms that lead citizens into risky survivalist tendencies such as child prostitution, theft, armed robbery, street gang life styles, illicit drugs peddling and child labour. in nigeria, the failure of governments over the decades at addressing the nation’s socio-economic woes such as inept national leadership, impunity and corruption and other economic debacles which have been elevated to state crafts, it was established that indeed our research population which falls within the strata of citizens in nigeria’s rural communities with high poverty incidence, (okojie, 1987), are brazenly motivated into vices. there can therefore be no over emphasizing the fact that the end of poverty occasioned by child labour and all its other associated ills may remain a mirage among our research population ebonyi state rural communities of nigeria, if the ever increasing catastrophe of citizen’s income levels and access to secure socio-economic livelihood. this assertion stems from ever increasing challenges of social insecurity, citizens’ unequal access to economic and wealth distribution as well as high level of external national economic dependency (olaitan. et al, 2000 cited by okonkwo, 2006) that cumulatively dispose poor rural families to adopt survivalist strategies such as child labour. 30 | p a g e child labour for family poverty alleviation: a debacle to the development of the nigerian child: ‘lessons from rural communities of ebonyi state’ okechukwu egwu ibiam; francis a. akwara; godwin i. udeuhele; okechukwu groupson p. christopher c. arua; emmanuel o. agha; joy u. egwu. ibiam child labour in generic terms, child labour is the engagement of a child in activities demanding the exertion of such a child’s burgeoning energy in highly demanding rigorous socio-economic reproduction process beyond such a child’s capacities for wages that often accrue to other persons. this practice which has become a global socio-economic phenomenon traces its wide spread to outset of the industrial revolution in the interest of bourgeoisie’s wealth accumulation which many scholars have continued to contend against in view of its challenges to the development of the young child. anugwom (1997:8) opines that; at the onset of industrial revolution when displaced citizens of england’s sources of livelihood could no longer be guaranteed by access to land occasioned by capitalists’ enclosure movement, families’ quest to meet economic needs amidst rising cost of living; had them mobilize every member of the family into paid employment. in this process, many poor and uneducated parents put their children to work in factories in order to earn money for the upkeep of the family, arising from the above and other vagaries of industrial revolution, labour in general and child labour in particular, became commoditized to be bought and sold across societies for economic benefits of the highest bidder. while bourgeois capitalism continued to exert dominance over the labour of men in their socio-economic re-production processes, class divisions among citizens of societies became ossified along the strata of the rich and poor, resulting to wealth accumulation in the interest of the rich. this in turn created a corresponding order of alienation, misery, conflict, physical and mental poverty which remains the lot of those the system adversely impacted, (marx cited in ake, 1981). inferring from these arguments, it is furthered that historically, industrial revolution marked the water shed to the involvement of children in the labour market as beasts of burden for their task masters as a means of earning paltry wages for family up keep. with the acceleration of industrialization and its vagaries and subsequent invasion of africa for the supply of cheap raw materials and cheap labour which led to unhealthy rivalry among european interests in africa, resulting to the 1885 berlin conference where africa was partitioned for european colonization for their effective economic interests (coleman, 1958). following on the heels of this partitioning was the excruciating cheap labour services engaged in by indigenous africans in favour of the colonial administrators within which african children were subjected to harrowing conditions for european economic development, (rodney, 2005). child labour exploitation was 31 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com engaged in by the opportune class without a thought for the consequences on the labourers, their gender and ages, a situation that left in its wake a vicious circle that deepened child labour exploitation across africa. data on the vagaries of child labour in human society across climes exist in literature under which scholars such as amin (1994); created distinctions about its practice based on some motivators for families’ engagement of their children in such labours. research findings by the undp (1994), united nations (un) (1998), unicef (2009) and ilo (2007), ucw and ilo, (2010), also provide guide, relevant information and succinct reference data that give deeper insight and understanding of the vicious circle of poverty occasioned by child labour practices. contemporary africa is on its part becoming entangled in the commoditization of the labour of children, lip service efforts being made to mitigate its practice. this situation which has pressured affected families into the unholy act of child labour for family poverty alleviation is common place among poor rural and urban slum dwellers who continue to engage in child labour practices without the consent and willingness of the child in question, (ilo, 2007 and dobson, 2009). despite perceived and actual challenges child labour pose to the over-all development of the child and their families, the practice continues to gather obnoxious momentum among the rural communities of ebonyi state where cherished decades old traditional communal family life styles are being swept away. the infamies of child labour for family poverty alleviation has indeed truncated familial bonds that strengthen the mental, emotional, physical, social, educational and overall development of affected children. the debate on child labour for family poverty alleviation amidst all the arguments for and against child labour, liberalist proponents have maintained that child labour is not as problematic as it is being presented, considering the various opportunities it offers the affected child in terms of employment, skill acquisition and empowerment as well as wealth creation to the families involved. these proponents justify their position on socio-economic determinants as the major factors that dispose poor families and guardians towards child child labour practices, (bass, 2004). they further that the necessities of socio-economic survival are major imperatives that cause pauperized families to seek for other sources of extra income for family poverty alleviation, by engaging all family hands on deck. these scholars aver that it is only those with a positive outlook on life that survive today’s challenges based on the motivation to think and act outside the box. to these pro-child labour analysts, surviving today’s competitive socio-economic life demands that poor families must put all available hands on 32 | p a g e child labour for family poverty alleviation: a debacle to the development of the nigerian child: ‘lessons from rural communities of ebonyi state’ okechukwu egwu ibiam; francis a. akwara; godwin i. udeuhele; okechukwu groupson p. christopher c. arua; emmanuel o. agha; joy u. egwu. ibiam the plough and if doing so requires factoring in their children’s labour to improve family income, then efforts have to be made to accommodate the same in families. these proponents further that under severe domestic and socio-economic challenges, parents are required to fend for their families within legitimate bounds, to this end, such families are compelled to engage in inwards sourcing which many easily find in child labour, (binder and sorgin, 1999). popular opinion here holds that though such situations have in few cases posed some degrees of physical, psychological and emotional disorder to members of some families, the fact remains that in the competitive world of today, families must work out survival strategies beyond the dependency syndrome. unfortunately, most parents operating on this mantra have become enmeshed in greater problems with their responsibilities as parents, resulting to greater problems such as the distortion of family bonds and loss of children. on the contrary, proponents of egalitarianism and child rights protection who stand vehemently opposed to child labour of any kind have argued that as much as the capitalist system encourages individualist endeavours by citizens for socioeconomic survival, the conditions that foster labour practices differ from one clime to another. subject to existing customs, values and laws that protect the right of citizens against abuses, the exploitation of the labour of individuals must not encourage practices that jeopardize the proper development of children. accepted that families’ abject poverty remains a cause and effect of child labour which arise from wider socioeconomic improprieties that frustrate individuals and families access to the welfare provisions of society, it does not imply that the future of children should be compromised for the family succor. as much as families may lack access to employment opportunities, social security and services, such must not compel parents to engage their children in child labour as a means of getting by on daily needs, (okojie, 1987and crosson, 2008). anti-child labour scholars argue further that family decisions to engage in child labour are often taken as last resorts, compulsion and in some cases such decisions are often taken under pressure from child labour merchants whose impunity often creates room for them to take undue advantage of impacted families. other factors here include; a failed state welfare system occasioned by elite conspiracy with the rentier state to expropriate the resources of dependent societies such as nigeria, for vested interests to the detriment of citizen’s welfare, (ibiam, 2014). such situations can be found in circumstances such as structural inequalities, adverse socio-economic environment that negatively affect poor and weak families, wide spread illiteracy among the rural dwellers, family members’ health challenges, poor wages, mass 33 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com retrenchment of workers, unemployment and general national under development, (appel, 2009, and nwabueze, 1992). evidence abound about the adverse consequences of child labour to show how children are often permanently separated from their families and homes while in a faraway wild world where their only choice for staying alive is to yield to the dictates of their tormentors in fear of punishment, rejection, destitution and other dangers they stand to face in lands if their masters or mistresses rejects them. a few have taken the brave decision of taking their destiny in their hands by running away from their tormentors to distant cities where they live at nature’s mercies. despite these arguments, the fact remains that child labour is a serious socio-economic problem to humanity that must be eliminated. as much as children need to be engaged in some form of work as a means of training them to acquire skills and relevant knowledge, preparatory to their adult life, there is also the need for the separation of child labour from child work. child work is an acceptable african child development processes within the african sociocultural compacts, because of its focus on the values of treating the child as a divine gift from god to be cherished, protected and trained to sustain the genealogy of the family, without commoditizing their labour, (haspels and suriyasrn 2003). since african families pride themselves in the proper upbringing of their children by nurturing and training them to acquire skills with which they can sustain their own families at adulthood, children in this order should always be engaged in child work, each according to his or her age and ability; based on laid down african traditional educational practices for the development of children beyond any consideration that subject them to unnecessary hardship and exploitation. juxtaposing child work or domestic work in traditional african societies against child labour in contemporary capitalist africa respectively, we argue that while the former is operated, moderated and superintended within the family, for the greater benefit of the child and family without any considerations for profit motive, the latter being the contemporary child labour practice based on capitalist values, does not coincide in domain with the interests of the african child and the family, (okpara, 1986, okojie, 1987 and adudu, 1989). mitigations mitigations against poverty, child labour and related practices do exist in both ebonyi state and nigeria as well as at the international arena in forms of advocacy, public policies and laws coupled with public-private sector partnerships and international collaborations aimed at discouraging the practice. the ilo convention no.182 identifies as the worse form of child abuse among nations to include all forms of child 34 | p a g e child labour for family poverty alleviation: a debacle to the development of the nigerian child: ‘lessons from rural communities of ebonyi state’ okechukwu egwu ibiam; francis a. akwara; godwin i. udeuhele; okechukwu groupson p. christopher c. arua; emmanuel o. agha; joy u. egwu. ibiam slavery, forced or compulsory child labour, compulsory recruitment of child soldiers into armed conflicts, engagement of children in child prostitution, pornography, illicit drug related activities and involvement of children in work that may be injurious to their health, (ugbaja, 1999:20). the year 2009 united nations’ adoption of the secretary general’s report number 110, which sought for global support for the elimination of child labour emphasized that child labour being; ‘any work carried out by children in conditions below those established by the united nations convention or by ilo standards should be considered as economic exploitation against the child which must be discouraged’. article 32 of the convention of the rights of the child (crc) of 1989 outlines the right of children including their being protected from performing any work that is likely to be hazardous to their wellbeing, interferes with their education or is harmful to their health, physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development as well as work which exposes them to economic exploitation. paragraph 2, of the same article further encourages member states to have regard to ‘the relevant provisions of other international instruments’, when setting rules governing the minimum age and conditions of employment of young persons. within this domain, some solutions have been projected in the areas of broad protection, prevention, law enforcement, and victim assistance as are documented in the uno resolutions on child labour exemplified in the declaration of the international year of the child in 1979 (ebigbo, 1988). these efforts gave salvo to the enactment of national laws by member states pursuant to the protection of the right of the child. these are the areas where 1989 u.n. convention on the rights of the child, the 1999 i.l.o. documents on ‘worst forms of child labour convention’, and the year 2000 u.n. protocol to prevent, suppress and punish trafficking in persons, especially women and children becomes fundamental. it can however be conceded that nigerian government has made efforts at the protection of the child since 1899, under the colony of southern nigeria, (akukwe, 1979), followed by other legal pronouncements of 1958, 1966, 1974, (okeke, 1988), caped with the 1974 labour act. this 1974 act collated all other efforts to state clearly that no child shall be employed to work under any form of labour for wages in whatever capacity except in the light of work done for family agricultural, horticultural and domestic good as may be permitted by the family with the approval of the labour minister. the nigerian government also took the child labour show boat to the un presumably to join serious member states to formally adopt the three international labour organization (ilo) conventions which set the minimum rules for the employment of children at sea, in industry and underground. in addition, 35 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com the country signed a memorandum of understanding in august 2003 in collaboration with ilo to launch a country wide programme under the international programme for the elimination of child labour (ipec), (akukwe, 1979). government went a step further to attempt the implementation of the west africa cocoa agriculture project (wacap) and passed the law on child rights act sections 28 and 29 which sought to prohibits exploitative labour, enforceable under sections 58 – 64 of the labour decree of 1974, now the labour act. other mitigations against child labour practices have also been approached from a broad consensus which focuses on preventing children from entering into child labour in the first instance, through advocacies among the citizens with a focus on the economically disadvantaged families at the rural areas who form the vulnerable target groups in the efforts at ending child labour. unfortunately, our study population in the rural communities of ebonyi state presents a test case of a people who these mitigations against child labour practices may not have impacted positively. as much as these mitigations may have in principle, existed in nigeria and indeed in ebonyi state for ages, the level of awareness among the rural dwellers of the areas studied remains dismal. there is a near total absence of government efforts at bringing mitigation policies against child labour to the people. this explains the reason for the massive involvement of those in the rural communities in child labour practices. common efforts at advocacies and mass education of the rural dwellers about the ills of child labours have remained a tall order, beyond the lame policies enacted by government and the international jamborees on child labour attended by nigerian rulers. child labour has remained on the increase in the absence of the enabling environment, infrastructure and social welfare security in these ebonyi state rural communities needed to encourage poor families to seek for their poverty alleviation beyond child labour. theoretical underpinning the social exclusion theory was adopted for this study based on its explanation of the processes and consequences of marginalization and exclusion of individuals and groups or segments of the people of a given society from participating in sharing the resources and opportunities available in their society. this theory opines that through the political calculations of the dominant exploiter class in control of specific states’ apparatuses, (ibiam, 2014), the trajectory of citizens’ access to the distribution and consumption of public wealth are often skewed to favour specific individuals or groups to the detriment of the larger population. proponents of this theory include lee, (ed.), (1975), pacione, (1977), walker, (1977) and hills, (1997) whose works 36 | p a g e child labour for family poverty alleviation: a debacle to the development of the nigerian child: ‘lessons from rural communities of ebonyi state’ okechukwu egwu ibiam; francis a. akwara; godwin i. udeuhele; okechukwu groupson p. christopher c. arua; emmanuel o. agha; joy u. egwu. ibiam have contributed immensely to the efforts being made to address the challenges of socio-economic inequality among societies. there are various forms of negative and inhuman practices sustained by the ruling class in most crude capitalist societies that ossify discrimination, marginalization, rights denials and expropriation of the masses by the few opportune class. social exclusion often occurs in such societies through varying form of systematic deprivations that may have started as acts of social bias, stereotype and prejudice which then grow into social stigma, degenerating into discrimination and rejection. here a systematic separation of specific segments of the given society are often mobilized through an elitist instigation of their sectarian, religious and ethnic group alliances to threaten the interest of those targeted for negative actions. this is then followed by other actions motivated by political actors at different societal levels for purposes of consolidating their access to the control of the national economy, environment, resources and other forms of social benefits in favour of their class. in nigeria, this class has continued to create differentials among the citizens through acts of deprivation, marginalization, disempowerment and alienation which crystallize into forms of relations that pitch those perpetually disadvantaged against the opportune class, who the former see as their oppressors, (otu, ibiam and agha 2015). responses to this order by those excluded have often resulted to discontent and acrimony which permeate through the fabrics of the society to impact the nation’s socioeconomic and other forms of development and in that process create new forms of social order that leaves in its wake social actions that include civil disobedience, demonstrations, upheavals and internal strife (ibiam 2011, 2014). by extension, this order has unwittingly degenerated into citizen malaise towards their state which often causes affected citizens to quest for solutions to their needs by other means possible, now found common among the rural communities of ebonyi state of nigeria. among our research population in the rural communities of ebonyi exist these conditions created by the ‘dominant class in control of the state structures’, (ibiam, and itumo, 2014), instituted through definite state policies which benefit their idiosyncratic pervasions through political actions that orchestrate economic deprivations, that ossify abject poverty among the larger populace in the state. the relevance of this theory to this study lies in its advocacy that resolving problems of poverty and child labour require mitigations aimed at re-focusing re-invigorating the inherent capacities of those impoverished to encourage their resilience and ingenuity as a means to increasing their socio-economic productivity. it requires taking proactive measures through advocacy and material 37 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com empowerment to encourage marginalized persons to shift their efforts away from child labour practices as a last resort towards other forms of survival strategies such as entrepreneurial activities that promote human dignity. beyond the hue and cry as well as the grandstanding of the ruling class on issues of poverty alleviation in nigeria, (napep, 2001) this theory exposes the inherent contradictions regarding the roles of the ruling class in the sustenance of various forms of exploitation of the impoverished populace, which propel the poor rural dwellers into child labour practices. the theory advocates for conditions that encourage citizens to stand against exploitation, marginalization, segregation and dehumanization as well as other acts of citizen exclusion from participating in the distribution of their society’s resources. this theory furthers that citizens negatively impacted under social exclusion in their societies should be discouraged from resorting to survivalist tendencies with grave implications on both their families and their children, which rural dwellers find solace in child labour for family poverty alleviation and that often degenerate into a life time family albatross. we can therefore argue under the social exclusion theory that the pauperized condition of the rural dwellers forces them to negatively oriented self-reliance within which they resort to the use of what they have to get what they need, easily found in child labour for family poverty alleviation. positive attitudes towards life challenges is what is required of those marginalized in society based on their ability to mobilize their inner energies and social contacts to forge new forms of frontiers to create new social and economic relations within which they re-tool themselves inwardly and outwardly based on humane positive approaches. they must reach out to each other to form clusters of self-help and improvise with available resources that include their inner capacities, intelligence, creativity, craftsmanship, and social relationships to build cohesions and cooperative groups and deploy the same to challenge their environment to eke out a living beyond self-defeatist and destructive practices such as child labour. on a wider perspective, this theory seeks for concerned individuals and groups who can gather support around those negatively impacted by child labour practices to create turn around conditions that give rise to positive actions for their development. the challenges of child labour within this domain requires that positive actions are taken by help agencies and nongovernmental organizations (ngos), faith-based organizations (fbos) and humanitarian bodies to aid those marginalized and impoverished among our research population in the rural communities of ebonyi state so they can reach out to self-help programmes beyond expectations of 38 | p a g e child labour for family poverty alleviation: a debacle to the development of the nigerian child: ‘lessons from rural communities of ebonyi state’ okechukwu egwu ibiam; francis a. akwara; godwin i. udeuhele; okechukwu groupson p. christopher c. arua; emmanuel o. agha; joy u. egwu. ibiam help from the government that may never come their way. findings this study established existent correlations between child labour and family poverty under which indicators in the two variables exist as twin challenges to citizens of the rural communities of ebonyi state, nigeria. there are consequential impacts of child labour as a cause and effect of poverty across various socio-economic strata of our research population and indeed among other societies. the relationship family poverty and child labour existing as economic linkages to each other such that each constitutes a conditioner and outcome of the other in a vicious circle. out of these are variants of challenges that include perpetual abject poverty, child abuse in forms of denial of the child’s access to basic education, which ossifies mass illiteracy across generations, child slave labour leading to other occurrences which are embedded in moral and sexual abuses, child prostitution, delinquency, alcoholism, drug abuse and violent crimes. without their consent and sometimes forcefully, children from the rural communities of ebonyi state, nigeria are shipped to various cities of nigeria to serve as house helps, shop or bar tenders depending on their ages and farm or factory workers. some also are taken by brothel operators as child prostitutes, pimps, street beggars and agents of various unimaginable antisocial activities that rake in huge sums of money for their exploiters. in exchange for these services to be rendered by these children that are not usually disclosed to their families; some inconsequential monetary payments, stipends and gifts in kind are made to parents by agents on behalf of their would-be masters or mistresses. these children are then taken to various cities and locations across the length and breadth of nigeria where they are subjected to dehumanizing conditions that often cut them off from the social ties of family life. there are often intricate webs of linkages that create difficulties for the child labourers entangled in the system to abscond or be saved from their exploiters orchestrated through contracts with ignoramus and greedy uncles, aunties, relatives and friends. such transactions are designed to hoodwink and commit the small minded poor parents of such children unwittingly into eternal contracts that place their children on a perpetual servitude and sometimes modern day slavery that undermines their future development. within this circle are specific challenges faced by the child involved in this practice in forms like physical and psychological cruelty, destitution, various kinds of deprivation and health challenges. there are also issues of problems of family dislocation, disintegration, poverty of various shapes and shades, community disorder, socioeconomic insecurity and general malady 39 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com for all so enmeshed in the imbroglio culminating into violence and sudden death for the parents and even the child in some cases. this study further established that children from our population of study in ebonyi state of nigeria are often contracted out into the labour market at very tender ages through syndicates. a great number of such child labourers from these rural communities of the state are either migratory, transitional or permanent labourers whose wages accrue to some other persons than their parents or themselves. they are provided with bare necessities that keep them alive for the next day’s labour as hawkers, farm workers, menial workers in factories, peddlers and traffickers of various forms of illicit products sourced through middlemen and subsidiary business syndicates who hold hegemonic control over them. poverty, inequality and insecurity remain the major factors responsible for child labour among the communities where the percentage of absolute poverty continues to rise with the levels of incomes of over 65 percent of citizens dropping continually, (aniekwe, 2002). under the pressure of survivalist tendencies, most parents and guardians have resorted to subjecting their children and wards to one form of child labour or the other. other factors responsible for child labour among the research population were identified in the areas of parental death, separation of parents or guardians, illiteracy, (aniekwe 2002), traditional believes, customs, values systems, social insecurity, (onukwuli 2002). as well as parental negligence of responsibilities to their children, and ineptitude on the part of government officials involved in the enforcement of child protection acts and laws of nigeria, (illoh, 1999). discussion the burden of resolving child labour practices is principally anchored on the need for concerted efforts at prevention against the odds of seeking solutions to the challenges posed by the practice in our society. as onerous and tasking as preventing child labour may seem, considering its wide range and diverse dimensions; the basis lies in preventing the circumstances that compel families to engage in it for family poverty alleviation. it is disturbing and disappointing that despite all the mitigations through international and national declarations, advocacies official state policies and legal frameworks against child labour, the practice has continued unabated. in the midst of all the mitigations, child labour practices remains on the increase, leaving in its wake emotional, psychological and physical dislocations for both the children and their families. associated with these are family disintegration, rural poverty, varying degrees of child abuse, rural-urban slum, misery, high mortality, sicknesses, diseases and death, (word bank, 2000, cbn, 1999, olaitan. et al, 2000 and global child labour conference, 2010 and ekpeyong, 2011). child labour 40 | p a g e child labour for family poverty alleviation: a debacle to the development of the nigerian child: ‘lessons from rural communities of ebonyi state’ okechukwu egwu ibiam; francis a. akwara; godwin i. udeuhele; okechukwu groupson p. christopher c. arua; emmanuel o. agha; joy u. egwu. ibiam practices have not only come to stay as a menacing socio-economic way of life, it has also put rural communities in a multi phased dilemma. just as many communities of nations of sub-sahara africa are overwhelmed by poverty that leads them to attempt getting by through child labour, (unicef, 2004), the same is predictably playing out in the abject poverty of citizens of ebonyi state rural communities. without succor and external help, many pauperized families have accepted the failure of their political leaders and have accordingly resorted to child labour. rather than engage in street begging, or sit at home to wait for death induced by hunger and diseases, or even engage in contentions, agitations, strive and social action that may endanger them and exacerbate their conditions, (ikejiaku, 2009), those impacted have reluctantly resorted to child labour practices. cases exist of families discovering too late that they have been hoodwinked into enslaving their children to perpetual bondage under unprofitable child labour. such discoveries have led such families into depression and other forms of psychological disorder which sooner than later result into disasters for the family in various forms that includes terminal diseases and sudden death. most of the families among our research population are living with tales of woes that befell them from the consequences of child labour, with affected children growing into adulthood imbued with negative and anti-social traits that often cause other members of the society to see them as outcasts, social deviants and criminals. as adults, they exist along deviant life patterns that lead to negative parenting models within which they construe child labour as a norm. they wallow in ignorance and illiteracy while degenerating into a life that is disinclined to the norms of a civilized society. seeing nothing wrong in engaging children as labourers, they establish a pattern of transaction that subjects every child within their neighborhood, including theirs to various forms of trauma associated with child labour. conclusion child labour is a human catastrophe which rural families of ebonyi state are recycling among themselves despite the harrowing experiences evidenced in the lives of escapee and returnee child labourers who have told tales of woes to others. child labour and the associated problems have lingered among citizens due to class appropriation interests orchestrated through ‘the conspiracy between the nigerian hegemonic predatory elite and the rentier state’ that viciously expropriate the society’s resources, (ibiam, and itumo, 2014). this has led to alarming increases in incidence of poverty level and other development problems profoundly felt among the rural populace, which are evidently found among our research population. the sources of the problems of child labour were also identified in this study 41 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com as being multi-phased with the environment, the government, political leaders, cultural practices, families and individuals having a fair share of the blame. it was established in this study that among the rurak dwellers of ebonyi state of nigeria, child labour is primarily induced by family poverty which conversely rebounds to encumber family challenges and multiply the poverty conditions of these rural dwellers. no matter the arguments and semantics in the discourse across the divide to either justify or condemn child labour practices, the fact remains that child labour cannot help family poverty alleviation; its entry into any family deepens the poverty of families so impacted. we can conclude here by asserting that there was a near total lack of advocacy from public spirited individuals, help agencies, the civil society and social partners against child labour practices across these communities with necessary awareness among our research population of the rural communities of ebonyi state about the challenges of this practice being at a near zero level. child labour remains a thriving way of life among the rural communities of ebonyi state, despite claims by the government and other help agencies that family poverty alleviation services were being provided for these rural communities as a means of discouraging them from such harmful practices. recommendations as much as the solutions to the challenges of child labour for family poverty alleviation are in their legions, the first step lies in the recognition by all citizens of nations that it is an endemic problem that must be eradicated. we must all recognize that children are gifts of god bestowed on us to cherish, nurture and groom to develop the best of their abilities, each according to his or her calling by nature for the sustenance of our generations. we must all agree that it is unacceptable for the same adults who enjoyed the best of society’s love and care under our fore fathers during their time as children of the past, to turn around and form cartels and syndicates that engage in obnoxious and inhuman practices that compromise today’s children under child labour for profit motives. to overcome child labour challenges, there is need for political leaders and governments to be responsive in fulfilling their primary duties through the provision of necessary development infrastructure and social welfare services for the citizens. there is need for new strategic approaches to the design and adoption of public policies which touch on citizen’s welfare that will in turn re-position families for improved socio-economic conditions needed to discourage child labour and its challenges. emphasis should be placed on prevention and protection of children in vulnerable families and communities against the merchants of child labour 42 | p a g e child labour for family poverty alleviation: a debacle to the development of the nigerian child: ‘lessons from rural communities of ebonyi state’ okechukwu egwu ibiam; francis a. akwara; godwin i. udeuhele; okechukwu groupson p. christopher c. arua; emmanuel o. agha; joy u. egwu. ibiam with criminal legal imperatives put in place to prosecute offenders. higher premium should be placed on the provision of palliatives, welfare services and economic empowerment for pauperized rural families in both ebonyi state and other communities ravaged by this menace. this should include strategies for victim assistance, reconciliations and compensation with financial and material provisions made from proceeds of fines and property confiscated from the sponsors and perpetrators of child labour. there should be greater emphasis placed on addressing household vulnerabilities and poverty conditions that dispose families to child labour. there can never be the over emphasizing the fact that family poverty remains the root cause of other forms of social problems and criminalities involving. there is therefore an urgent need for primacy to be placed on the provision of basic needs of families in the areas of food, clothing, shelter, health care and improved welfare services as well as the creation of easy access to credit opportunities to diminish the vulnerabilities that exposure such families to poverty which in itself becomes the high way to child labour. child labour victims should be provided opportunities for formal education while those who cannot continue their education can be encouraged to acquire skills and other capabilities to cause their gainful employed. this will go a long way in reducing their frustration which can force them to return to the old ways that had impoverished and dehumanized them. there is also a great need for social mobilization, re-socialization, reorientation and value re-positioning aimed at building the capacities of the children impacted by child labours, their parents and critical take holders about the need for collective efforts aimed at discouraging child labour in our societies. beyond the moribund traditional approaches of continental boundary deterrence and protectionism for myopic national interests, african leaders must be encouraged by the international community, help agencies and concerned citizens to address the rising tide of child labour through a vigorous pursuit of poverty alleviation policies that can protect our children from all forms of abuses. references ake, c., (1982), social science as imperialism: the theory of political development, ibadan university press aziaki, s. (2003), inequities in nigerian politics, yenagoa: treasure communications research limited. carneiro, robert l. (1977) a theory of the origin of the state, studies in social theory no 3. menlo park, ca: central bank of nigeria (1999), nigeria’s development prospects, poverty assessment 43 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1, no. 2 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com and alleviation study of community conflicts in nigeria, ibadan: spectrum books limited. coleman, j.s (1958). nigeria: background to nationalism. california: university of california press. deng, l. a. (1995). poverty reduction: lessons and experience from sub-saharan africa. working paper series on development: paper presented at the workshop for chairmen, vicechairmen and councilors in cross river, nigeria eboh, e. c. (2009). social and economic research: principles and methods. enugu: african institute for applied economics ebegbulem, j. c., ekpe, d and adejumo, t.o, (2013). oil exploration and poverty in the niger delta region of nigeria: a critical analysis. international journal of business and social sciences, 4, 3. ekekwe, e. (1986). class and state in nigeria, ibadan, longman production central bank of nigeria (1999). nigeria’s development prospects, poverty assessment and alleviation study. community conflicts in nigeria, ibadan: spectrum books limited. eboh, e. c. (2009). social and economic research: principles and methods. enugu: african institute for applied economics. ibiam, o.e (2014); the dominant class and the state in nigeria: a confederacy of profligacy. african journal of politics and administrative studies (ajpas) 6,2 ibiam, o.e and itumo, a (2014), a rentier state and the predatory elite: the dilemma of nigerians, african journal of politics and administrative studies (ajpas) 6,1. igwe, o (2005) politics and globe dictionary; aba, eagle publishers ikejiaku, b.u. (2009). the relationship between poverty, conflict and development. journal of sustainable development, 2 (1):16-25. iie, n. m (1999) management and organizational theory and practice, enugu: vougasen ltd. ilo, (2010), joining forces against child labour, inter-agency report for the hague global child labour conference of 2010 / understanding children’s work (ucw) programme – geneva: matunhu, j. (2011). a critique of modernization and dependency theories in africa: critical assessment, african journal of history and culture, 3,5, 65-72. muhammed, k.y., gbenga, a. john, p., tunji, a., frank, i. and 44 | p a g e child labour for family poverty alleviation: a debacle to the development of the nigerian child: ‘lessons from rural communities of ebonyi state’ okechukwu egwu ibiam; francis a. akwara; godwin i. udeuhele; okechukwu groupson p. christopher c. arua; emmanuel o. agha; joy u. egwu. ibiam edward, k, (2008). ‘from the groundup impacts of a propoor community-driven development project in nigeria. ifpri discussion paper, 0756.1-4. npc (2009), national population commission report on 2006 census gazette 2, 96. abuja otu e, ibiam, o.e, & agha, e.o, (2015), politics in nigeria: to what extent has the gender agenda gained momentum? iosr journal of humanities and social science (iosrjhss) volume 20, issue 5, ver. 1, pp 01-10 e-issn: 22790837, p-issn: 2279-0845. www.iosrjournals.org doi: rodney, w, (2005). how europe underdeveloped africa, abuja: panaf publishing. united nations (un). 1998. debt bondage, un economic and social council, working group on contemporary forms of slavery, geneva. united nations children’s fund (unicef), (2009), the state of the world’s children: special edition: celebrating 20 years of the convention on the rights of the child (new york, ny). undp (1994). human development report, new york: oxford university press limited.3,12, 2013washington d.c, world bank, 329-337. varma, s. p. (2009), modern political theory. new delhi: vikas, publishing house pvt ltd. vogelin, e. (1952), the new science of politics. chicago: university of chicago press. world health organization (2012b) who, unicef, unfpa and world bank, world bank (1990). world development report, washington d. c.: the world bank. http://www.onusidaaoc,org/eng/publications/pove rty.htm; ‘the united nations development programmes and poverty eradication for sustainable lively hood’. journal on the national poverty eradication programme (napep), abuja, napep publications april (2001) http://www.dawodu/poverty.com poverty alleviation in nigeria: a perspective. http://www.iiste.org http://www.ucw-project.org http://www.dawodu/poverty.com; http://www.iiste.org http://www.ucw-project.org http://www.wikipedia.com http://www.dawodu/poverty.com; http://www.onusidaaoc,org/eng/publications/poverty.htm; http://www.nigeria http://www.unrisd.org. http://www.africa.org. nigeria http://www.onusida-aoc,org/eng/publications/poverty.htm http://www.onusida-aoc,org/eng/publications/poverty.htm http://www.onusida-aoc,org/eng/publications/poverty.htm http://www.dawodu/poverty.com http://www.iiste.org/ http://www.ucw-project.org/ http://www.dawodu/poverty.com; http://www.iiste.org/ http://www.ucw-project.org/ http://www.wikipedia.com/ http://www.dawodu/poverty.com; http://www.onusida-aoc,org/eng/publications/poverty.htm http://www.onusida-aoc,org/eng/publications/poverty.htm http://www.nigeria/ http://www.unrisd.org./ 53 | p a g e arms proliferation and the rise of insurgency in nigeria: a trend or a bait? okechukwu, groupson-paul uc.; ayodeji o. adedeji arms proliferation and the rise of insurgency in nigeria: a trend or a bait? okechukwu, groupson-paul uc. phd department of political science federal university ndufu alike ikwo (funai), abakaliki –ebonyi state, nigeria groupsonpaul@yahoo.com ayodeji o. adedeji department of political science federal university ndufu alike ikwo (funai) abakaliki –ebonyi state, nigeria adeayo2000s@yahoo.com abstract nigeria, with the worst porous border in the sub-saharan africa, for long, is a victim of nefarious crimes of small arms and light weapons trans-border trades leading to arms proliferation. these arms proliferation, encouraged by failed internal mechanisms, had become a great threat since the inception of democratic dispensation. to the extent that, the activities of the several militia groups and over ambitious politicians had affected security measures. the number of small arms and light weapons on the individual and group hands, outnumbered the arms in the armed forces and police armouries combined, armoured tanks excluded. the study, aware that in the midst of crisis, foreign friends and foes alike, concealed their real intentions, to pursue their national and selfish interests. a trend that encourages arms conflicts and its escalations. this study, situated on the game theory framework, utilizes secondary data and analytical approach. the study notes that there are small arms and light weapons proliferation in nigeria through disgruntled groups. the study finds that porous border crimes might have aided in-flow of arms. the study observed that poverty and unemployment played a role. the study suggests that arms mop-up and conflict education be initiated. key words: conflicts, small arms, light weapons, porous border, militia group, and arms proliferation. introduction the issue of small arms and light weapons proliferations upsurge, especially, at the end of cold war and the end of 20th century into the new millennium, has made the world to witness more terrible and devastating arms struggles and wars as it supposedly ought to have occurred in the period preceding the 21st century. mailto:groupsonpaul@yahoo.com mailto:adeayo2000s@yahoo.com 54 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com between the end of cold war and now, conflicts and wars in the world and africa in particular, have been fought primarily within states by rebels, extremists and national armies, with the victims being predominantly civilians and vulnerable groups in the society owing to the high incidence of small arms and light weapon proliferations. the value placed on illicit small arms over human lives was more than ever priced. thus, the degrees of destruction and carnage as noted in iraq, bosnia herzegovina, liberia, somalia, rwanda, sri lanka, yemen, burundi, serbia, georgia, tbilisi, congo dr, afghanistan, sierra leone, cote d’ivoire, mali, libya, syria and israel – palestine amongst others were more catastrophic than ever. it is a situation characterized by mass killings and ethnic cleansing, which the actors regarded as the inevitable consequences of war, rebellion and conflicts (rupensinghe, 1998). this notion, thereby, prompting baffour (2014), to argue that the current events in many parts of the world seem to suggest that the global efforts to fighting against the proliferations of small arms and light weapons require enhancement. much so, it is obvious that the world is still awash with small arms and light weapons exacerbating the already debilitating catastrophic human suffering, especially its impact on women and children and the geographically spreading that is more devastating in the southern hemisphere. the illicit circulation of small arms, light weapons and their ammunitions destabilizes communities, impacts security and development among others in all regions of the world. nigeria with the highest and worst porous border in the sub-saharan africa has for long been a victim of illicit small arms and light weapons proliferations. a context that could not only be placed squarely on its unhealthy internal mechanism, nor at the door steps of it is oliver twist neighbours who pop-in and out of the country with lip-services, but could be underpinned on the parlance of being a rich man in the midst of many poor people, whose own system it careless about and, whose neighbours’ intents and plight it neglects, thereby making itself a victim owing to bad leaderships. in support of this contention, danjibo (2014 and 2013) observed that with the emerging, daunting, security challenges beleaguering the nigeria state, there is no doubting the fact that nigeria has today become a theatre of the utility of small arms and light weapons. a fact, ikelegbe (2014), also posits that nigeria has been particularly plagued with violent conflicts in the last two decades. several of these conflicts have been conducted by militias (insurgency rise in the niger delta, boko haram in the north east and ombass in the north central), cult groups, islamic fundamentalist, armed youth, thugs, criminal groups and area boys. in the circumstances, insecurity has been a huge concern to the citizens. and of course, thus, given rise to which 55 | p a g e arms proliferation and the rise of insurgency in nigeria: a trend or a bait? okechukwu, groupson-paul uc.; ayodeji o. adedeji democratic rules has been associated with rising lawlessness, violent criminality, insecurity, violent political and widespread small arms and light weapons proliferations. premised on the foregoing, this study examine whether illicit arms is a bait or trend to the rising rate of terrorism/insurgency in the country or phrasal conflict term, the theoretical argument, stating the obvious, evaluates the schemes and skills adopted by the actors. the factors that led to small arms and light weapon proliferations in nigeria discussed; and, then, the need for thorough scrutinization of every greek gift “of helping” as such may go with implications and or manipulations to demisfy the society to be more cancerous than cancer. illicit arms: a bate or trend for insurgency rise in nigeria the very reason that the arms were officially unregistered, unlicensed, unrecognized and or illegally stolen or acquired makes these (small arms) weapons an illicit item…and or as noted in ecowas convention (1998) cap 1 art.1: sect. 5, which states inter alia, ‘that small arms covers all that is carried out in violations of the convention’. evidently also small arms come into a country through or by chance of smuggling by irresponsible persons who might have the intent of destabilizing or checkmating the established institutions and agencies in whatever form or projections. thus, agreeing with aning (1999:76), who argued that it is evident that a catchy of salw, which is bait for conflict encourages the occurrence of internal insurrection that might have been supported by external actors and rebel within the society. although, pokoo (2014), not disputing the above contentions went further to infer that small arms have its own socio-cultural value in west african communities – like, as used in hunting, festivals and other social events, for protecting farms and properties among others. then, on how this ill has become a bait to conflict as enunciated above, he was quick to point out that it has not only become a bait, but also the heart of violent destructions around the world, threatening human security and fundamental human rights, that west africa was never an exception. accepting these assertions as a fact, orji (2014), added that the widespread availability of salw has exacerbated and prolonged conflicts, raising new ones for recognitions, and also contributed to violence destruction that has impeded the processes of development in africa. to confirm these views, ki-moon (2012) noted that “the world is over armed and peace is underfunded”, which in tandem with annan (2012), who also noted that the havoc in term of the change they cause, small arms, indeed, could well be described as weapons of mass destruction. meaning that, as at today, small arms proliferations has also assumed a trend among individuals, groups, homes and the general society to possessing it. it suffices then to say that there is no home in nigeria today that 56 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com does not have one form of arms or the other. even recently at shomolu area of lagos, some policemen, crime fighters, were quick to resist going to track down some car snatchers up northern part of the country, claiming that with the national election at the corner that arms are in many homes less loosing lives in case of any attack. since this item is found in several homes due to its handiness or otherwise, and in line with general definition, small arms, otherwise termed illicit items, that are traded on by men on illicit trades, according to un (1995) and ecowas convention (1998) among others includes: light machine guns, assault rifles, revolvers, self-loading pistols, grenade launchers, sub-machine guns, exploding bomb, an incendiary bomb or gas bomb, rocket launcher, a missile, a missile system and landmine; carbines and light machine guns. the light weapons, on the other hand are: heavy machine guns; portable grenade launchers, mobile or mounted; portable anti-aircraft cannons; portable anti-tank cannons, non-recoil guns; portable antitank missile launchers or rocket launcher; portable anti-aircraft missile launcher; mortars with a caliber of less than 100mm among others. these weapons are responsible for the majority of battle related conflicts and deaths. in explaining how devastating and worrisome the effects are to the world, africa and nigeria in particular, the religion for peace world assembly (1984) observed that an estimated 60 – 90% of all direct conflict victims are killed with firearms, simply because small arms and light weapons are conflict fuel, instability driven and poverty manipulated. these weapons of war, mostly used against the innocent and the helpless by many politicians, war mongers, power manipulators, selfacclaimed islamic extremist/ fundamentalist terror groups and senseless security agents sees it as readily made instruments to perpetually subdue and subjugate the general society. a scenario where the events of the late 80s into the 90s greatly influenced creating unhealthy political system in many part of the world most of especially crises-riddled african society. following the end of cold war, the two major factors that have mitigated and drives conflict are political powers – leadership tussles and the economic might of who controls the spoils of the states. the actors in this context are the major sponsors of small arms and light weapon proliferation. the actors in turn manipulates their followers, allies and surrogates who form the bulk of the tools for either importing, spreading and/or smuggling of the small arms and light weapons to achieving their goals. it is also this group that sees arms possession and arms usage as bait for conflict by brainwashing, manipulating, inciting and arming the end users. on the other hand, the second group sees arms possession as a trend and something that many homes must acquire. thereby, agreeing with united nations (1995), 57 | p a g e arms proliferation and the rise of insurgency in nigeria: a trend or a bait? okechukwu, groupson-paul uc.; ayodeji o. adedeji that these small arms and light weapons are used to destabilizing regions, igniting crisis, fuel conflicts, and prolong conflicts/war, obstruct, confiscates relief goods and progress, undermine peace initiatives, exacerbates human rights violations and abuses, hamper development and foster culture of violence. these group, the end users and possible at times, the victims, being the political touts and thugs (onuoha, 2012), otherwise vent their anger on the innocent civilians of the society; as they fall within the class of impoverished, unemployed and miscreants of the society, whose existence have been destroyed, messed-up, meaningless and cheated upon by the state. a situation, dube (2014), classified as a people, a country at war with itself, all illegal guns were once legal before being diverted, to the tussle of the haves and the have nots. these were the type of scenarios seen at liberia, sierra leone, angola, congo dr, cote d’ivoire, mali, burundi, rwanda, sudan and libya wars among others, whose atrocities ranges from maiming, amputating, killings, raping and infecting of the surviving victims with hiv/aids among others. the high degree of illicit small arms and light weapons proliferations being a bait of conflict as posit by vendley and ali (2010), states inter alia, that proliferation and misuse of small arms is a worldwide progressive complex and multifaceted phenomena that affects people of all… by virtue of their easy availability, low cost and manageability, small arms and light weapons (salw) have become the weapon of choice in most conflicts in the world today and have helped raise levels of armed violence even in areas at peace… a trend that suddenly arose and a bait that had caused several havoc and damages…where more than 1000 lives are lost each day to small arms violence. these assertions, however, stands to sum up the fact that illicit small arms and light weapons are bait to conflicts in the world and africa in particular, with the new growing emphasis of also being a trend among many nigerians today. this, with a far-reaching and long lasting impact that extends well past their immediate use in conflicts is the new haven for insurgence in the land. in submission, however, berman (2014) noted that small arms have been used extensively to sponsor armed violence in west african states, particularly in nigeria where insurgency has at several occasion chased out the federal troops at different times, thereby weakening governments’ ability to function, threatening civil aviation, grossly distorting the minds of the youths and practically leading to detrimental long term societal changes. theoretical arguments this study, in reference to the situations mentioned above, is poised to adopt an eclectic approach to its theoretical analysis with the combination of game theory framework, frustratingaggression theory to interrogate this study: 58 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com a: frustration-aggression analysis became a popularly known intellectual savvy as a theoretical canon within the realm of political studies with the writings of ted gurr (1970) in his book ‘why men rebel? even though plethora of scholars through their works have earlier before gurr (1970), contributed immensely to the domain of conflict studies with the use of frustration-aggression theory: maier (1949), berkowitz (1965), coser (1966), cantril (1967), bank (1996) among others. as a theory, frustrationaggression analysis is premised on the fact that there is a nexus between aggression and frustration. the theory assumes that those who are frustrated in life might likely be aggressive and that there is a tendency that frustration due to inability to achieve some basic things in life might lead to aggression. gurr and rutenberg (1967), opined that an intense frustration in the society provides a veritable platform to motivate men to either intense, short-term attack or to move prolonged, less severe attacks on the initiators of the pains; that severity of deprivation affects both intensity of violence, causing human and physical damages. in other words, berkowitz (1965), mild deprivation motivates few violence, moderate deprivation push more across the threshold and very intense deprivation encourages large segments of political community actions. this, according to cantril (1967) and maier (1949), destructive behaviour, which is a fundamental property of the human organization of men and exposed to noxious stimuli that cannot be avoided or overcome, hence, having the innate disposition, to strike out at their sources. it is in this respect that the study finds theory relevant to interrogate the issues that revolve around arms proliferation and the rising wave of insurgency in nigeria. this study argues that insurgency in nigeria became prolonged due to social neglect, poverty, mass unemployment, and social inequality owing to the multiplier effects that such frustration can cause in the society. it is argued in the study that frustration to achieve basic minimum living standard daily is a precursor to aggression/ violent conflicts vis-à-vis the unmitigated insurgency deadly activities that are rising every now and then in nigeria. however, this theory has been criticized for its gender discrimination. the theory often fails to identify the gaps in various gender studies. it does not prove why men are likely more to be aggressive than the women and it is not always true to say that men often fight than women. this is difficult to prove due to insufficient reason. besides, it is not always through to say most frustrating situations are prone to aggression or to say most conflicting situations are inwardly motivated by one form of aggression or the other. or can we still link frustration-aggression syndrome to fulani herders versus farmers’ violent killings throughout the country? or is there no boiling point at which human aggression in the society can be saturated? the dichotomy between frustration leads to aggression 59 | p a g e arms proliferation and the rise of insurgency in nigeria: a trend or a bait? okechukwu, groupson-paul uc.; ayodeji o. adedeji varies from different individuals’ perception to another. however, some of these weaknesses are captured with the use of game theory framework of analysis. game theory framework, without neglecting the interplay of national or self-interest model. the choice of game theory however, overwhelmed all other related theories and also covers some of the inherent weaknesses associated with frustrated-aggression theory. game theory involves combined manipulation, scheming and propaganda to achieve desired objectives. thus, scholars like plano and riggs (1953) opined that it is a body of thought dealing with rational decision strategies in situations of conflict and competition, of which each participant or player tends to maximize gains and minimize losses. in tandem with the above assertion, mager (1972) argued that it is a form of arithmetic mode of interactions of actors striving to maximize their utilities. to newman and magestern (1957), it is used to define the economic man as a rational actor who believes in gain rather than losses. agreeing with this contention, stranger (1960) posits that game theory is a domineering concept with the intent of greed and logical reasoning of manipulating others against their desires, against the society and against the entire system. in the same continuum, levy and thompson (2010), argued that game theory is the act of rationally advancing security, power and wealth in any societal contest. therefore, if game theory involves the manipulation of numbers, persons and materials to achieving set goals, whose rules are defined vis-à-vis the distribution of resources and the strategic possibilities that are open to each player in the employment of these resources, then, the questions this study raises are: what are the possibilities that the flooding of the country with illicit small arms and light weapons are not politically motivated since substantial evidence implicates the political class as seen at every electioneering period? why are illicit arms a bait to conflict in the society with insurgency rearing ugly heads in almost every part of nigeria? what do the actors who encourage the in-flow of small arms and light weapon into the country tends to achieve? why are possessions of small arms in the country now a trend seen among every home? what are the possible implications of this illegality to the general society? is it possible that these sponsors and their agents intend to undermine the territorial integrity of the country by any means? should we also agree that corruption helped to make it difficult to control the in-flow of small arms and light weapons during peace time operation? what are nigeria’s strategies for national cooperation and integration towards security, good governance and human rights? do the importers of these small arms and light weapons intend to destroy what they hope inheriting and administering at the same time? how can these quantities of small arms and light weapons be possibly mopped up from the street of 60 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com nigeria? these are some of the vital questions addressed in this study. taking into cognizance that apart from the political class and the government, whether ruling or in opposition utilizes the concept of manipulation, scheming and propaganda to suffocate the governed into perpetual fear, to which small arms and light weapons proliferation has not only become a bait to several conflicts and crisis but had also assumed a trend in the present context, especially, the period preceding electioneering contest. a period, the actors also indulge in employing and deploying all arsenals with strategic game plan on how to gain political power at all cost. empirical analysis of data from field work with the aid of statistical inferences, this study empirically analyses data collected from fieldwork. it also put in vogue the core theoretical analyses to determine whether arms proliferations triggered off the rising-wave of insurgency and ethnic militancy in nigeria is a question of a trend or a bait. in order to logically elucidate the research, stand point, the study also relied on the following hypotheses to analyze the subject-matter within the ambit of an empirical scientific testing: a. research hypotheses 1. that political power struggle during electioneering process or quest for power in nigeria enhances arms proliferations vis-àvis insurgency in nigeria; 2. that social inequality, poverty, unemployment and other forms of social neglect induce illegal arms possession in the light of this, the raised hypotheses are subjected to inferential statistical analysis, using chi-square method of data analysis. the raw data are generated through questionnaires administered across the six-geopolitical zones in nigeria. these questionnaires are openly-structured and the respondents include both males and females on a geo-political basis in nigeria having purposively been selected. the variable, such as arms struggled and non-arms struggled; proliferation and non-arms proliferation; transborder crime and legitimate trade were used to determine whether there is a significant different/relationship between observed frequencies and expected frequencies with a view to rejecting or retaining the null hypothesis (h0). in social statistical analysis, the level of significance of one-tailed test for chisquare analysis is 0.05% or 5% and critical table value (cv) for chisquare when the degree of freedom(df) for x2 test of independence is df = (r1)(c-1) where r = number of row and c= number of columns. in this study, we have two rows and columns apiece. hence, the df at 1 from the critical table value is 3,841. and in a bid to further illuminate our understanding of the subject-matter for this study, we 61 | p a g e arms proliferation and the rise of insurgency in nigeria: a trend or a bait? okechukwu, groupson-paul uc.; ayodeji o. adedeji categorized each of the six-geopolitical zones into different indices/variables based on flow of arms, civil unrest and the unceasing rising-wave of violent conflicts emanating from each zone in nigeria. b. administration of questionnaire this study uses north-west and` southsouth categorization of arms struggled and non-arms struggle; north-east or south-east categorization of arms proliferations and non-arms proliferations; north-central or southwest categorization of trans-border crime and legitimate trade, a total number of one thousand questionnaires (1000) were administered within the purposively sample selected two states across each of the six-geopolitical zones. hence, the statistical tables below show the data analysis of the various responses from male and female respondents data analysis: this paper uses chi-square (x2) method of inferential statistics to analysis the various responses from different respondent purposively selected based on the six-geopolitical zones of nigeria from north-west, north-east, northcentral, south-south, south-east and south-west regions in nigeria. north-west zone: test of significance of the null hypotheses (h0) this study presents its two hypotheses above from the descriptively and interpretively analyzed so that the null hypothesis could be subjected to more inferential statistical analyses. hence, the two hypotheses raised were tested for significance at p< 0.05which was analyzed and interpreted effectively. in the north-west zone of nigeria, arms and non-arms struggled dichotomy were used to interrogate the two null hypotheses. h01: there is no significant relationship between arms smuggled and non-arms smuggled as to whether due to its (rising wave of insurgency) pervasiveness that political power struggle during electioneering process in nigeria will not enhance arms hostilities within the two states of sokoto and niger from the north-west zone. evidence from the sample survey conducted as it is shown below in this study reveals that, the first null hypothesis is rejected wherex2 > cv, 11.1 > 3.841 at p <0.05. this means there is a perfect agreement between our first hypotheses and the indices/variables that we used to measure or determine whether political power struggled in the north-west nigeria has a nexus with arms and nonarms smuggled in the zone. h02: that there is no significance relationship between arms/nonsmuggled and poverty, inequality, and other forms of social neglects as to whether due to the (rising wave of insurgency) multiplier effects in the society cannot be blamed or linked to the incessant and unwarranted violent 62 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com conflicts in the zone. this hypothesis was tested for significance using chisquare test and below table shows the synopsis of the analysis in which α= 0.05, degree of freedom = (r1) (c – 1) = (2-1) (2-1) = 1, critical value (cv) = 3.841 where the calculated x2= 11.1 interpretation for h01 and ho2: since x2 > cv, 11.1 > 3.841, therefore h01/null hypothesis as formulated above in this study is rejected at p<0.05. this shows there is a perfect agreement between our earlier hypotheses (h01 and h02) which deny the existence of no relationship between the two variables. since the two null hypotheses have been rejected by our test, it further reveals that the quest for political power struggle during electioneering process among politicians from the north west zone is a consequence of rising wave of insurgency vis-à-vis arms hostilities in the. hence, there is a nexus between poverty, inequality with other forms of social neglects arms/non arms smuggled which can be attributed to the unceasing/rising nature insurgency in the zone. our analysis from north-west zone in nigeria shows that the two null hypotheses using arms and non-arms smuggled dichotomy were rejected at p< 0.05 level of significance and chi-square table below gives a reliable credence to the above test: table 1: chi-square test for null hypothesis in north west (sokoto and niger states) frequency observed (fo) sex arms smuggled non-arms smuggled total column male 26 24 50 female 10 40 50 total row 36 64 100 overall total x2 = (𝐹𝑂−𝐹𝐸)2 𝐹𝐸 as chi-square formula where fo= frequency observed, fe= frequency expected. expected frequency 63 | p a g e arms proliferation and the rise of insurgency in nigeria: a trend or a bait? okechukwu, groupson-paul uc.; ayodeji o. adedeji to calculate (fe), we use 𝑇𝑂𝑇𝐴𝐿 𝐶𝑂𝐿𝑈𝑀𝑁 ×𝑇𝑂𝑇𝐴𝐿 𝑅𝑂𝑊 𝑂𝑉𝐸𝑅𝐴𝐿𝐿 𝑇𝑂𝑇𝐴𝐿 f0 fe (fo-fe) (fo-fe)2 (𝑭𝑶 − 𝑭𝑬)𝟐 𝑭𝑬 26 10 24 40 18 18 32 32 8 -8 -8 8 64 64 64 64 3. 5556 3.5556 2.0 2.0 x2= 11.1 null hypotheses is rejected by the test since x2= 11.1> 3.841 (critical value) where it denies the existence of relationship between arms smuggled and non-arms smuggled and the rising wave of insurgency in nigeria having subjected our null hypothesis to analysis with the use of two indices/variables. a. north-east zone: test of significance of the null hypotheses (h01) this study utilizes the first null hypotheses above from the descriptively and interpretively analyzed so that the null hypothesis could be subjected to more inferential statistical analyses. hence, the first hypotheses raised were tested for significance at p< 0.05 which was analyzed and interpreted effectively. in the north-east zone of nigeria where respondents were sampled from borno and adamawa states, the two indices/variables of (arms-proliferation and non-arms proliferation dichotomy) used for our analysis in this zone are different from the north-west due to the high rate of boko haram insurgency in the northeast. these two indices/variables are only used to explain our h01/ first null hypotheses. h01: that there is no significance relationship between armsproliferations/non-arms proliferation and power struggle during electioneering process due to its (rising wave of insurgency) multiplier effects in the society can be blamed or linked to the incessant and unwarranted killings and violent conflicts amidst loss of lives and properties in the zone. this hypothesis was tested for significance using chi-square test and below table shows the synopsis of the analysis in which α= 0.05, degree of freedom = (r 1) (c – 1) = (2-1) (2-1) = 1, critical value (cv) = 3.841 where the calculated x2= 4.39 h02: that there is no significance relationship/difference between armsproliferations/non-arms proliferation and social inequality, poverty, unemployment and other forms of social neglect as to whether due to (rising wave of insurgency) unmitigated killings and loss of lives and properties 64 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com and these can induce illegal arms possession in the north-east zone using borno and adamawa states as sampled subjects for this study. the calculated value of x2 is less than critical table value (cv), 4.39 is greater than 3.841. this null hypothesis is rejected at p < 0.05 because calculated value of x2 is greater than critical value from the table and hence h01 is rejected. interpretation for ho1 and h02: since x2 is greater than cv, 4.39 is greater than 3.841, therefore h01/null hypothesis as formulated above in this study h0 is rejected at p<0.05. this shows there is a perfect agreement between our earlier hypotheses (h0) and the variables (arms/ non-arms proliferation) which shows that there is a relationship between the null hypotheses and two variables/indices used to measure the rising wave of insurgency in nigeria. since the null hypotheses has been rejected by d test, it further reveals the nexus between political power struggle during electioneering process among politicians from the north east zone as well as issues of poverty, social inequality amidst unemployment do have a direct consequence for the rising wave of insurgency vis-à-vis arms hostilities in the zone. hence, there is a direct link between arms/non-arms proliferation and political power struggle in the north east zone. our analysis from north-east zone in nigeria shows that the first null hypotheses using arms proliferation/non-arms proliferation dichotomy were rejected using 0.05 level of significance and chi-square table below gives a reliable credence to our analysis above: table 2: chi-square test for null hypothesis in north-east (borno and adamawa states) frequency observed (fo) sex arms proliferation non-arms proliferation total column male 35 14 49 female 26 25 51 total row 61 39 100 overall total x2 = (𝐹𝑂−𝐹𝐸)2 𝐹𝐸 as chi-square formula where fo= frequency observed, fe= frequency expected. expected frequency 65 | p a g e arms proliferation and the rise of insurgency in nigeria: a trend or a bait? okechukwu, groupson-paul uc.; ayodeji o. adedeji to calculate (fe), we use 𝑇𝑂𝑇𝐴𝐿 𝐶𝑂𝐿𝑈𝑀𝑁 ×𝑇𝑂𝑇𝐴𝐿 𝑅𝑂𝑊 𝑂𝑉𝐸𝑅𝐴𝐿𝐿 𝑇𝑂𝑇𝐴𝐿 f0 fe (fo-fe) (fo-fe)2 (𝑭𝑶 − 𝑭𝑬)𝟐 𝑭𝑬 35 14 26 25 29.89 19.11 31.11 19.89 5.11 -5.11 -5.11 5.11 26.1121 26.1121 26.1121 26.1121 0.8736 1.3664 0.8393 1.3128 x2= 4.39 since the calculated value of x2 is greater than cv, 4.39 is greater than 3.841, null hypothesis is rejected and this shows there is existence of perfect relationship between arms/non-arms proliferation and the rising wave of insurgency in nigeria having tested the null hypotheses earlier with the two variables/indices used. b. north-central zone: test of significance of the null hypotheses (h0) in this zone, this study utilized cumulative responses of the sampled respondents with the use of indices/variables such as trans-border crime and legitimate trade in kwara and benue states where the two hypotheses were analyzed descriptively and interpretively. hence, the null hypotheses are subjected to a more inferential statistical analysis and these hypotheses were tested for significance at p< 0.05 which was analyzed and interpreted effectively. in the northcentral zone of nigeria, trans-border crime and legitimate dichotomy were used to interrogate the two null hypotheses. h01: there is no significant relationship between trans-border crime and legitimate trade as to whether due to its (rising wave of insurgency) pervasiveness that political power struggle during electioneering process in nigeria will not enhance arms hostilities within the north-central zone. as shown below in this study, the first null hypothesis is rejected where x2 greater than cv, 4.81 greater than 3.841 at p <0.05. hence, our test rejects the null hypothesis of this study and accept the existence of relationship between the subject-matter and the two indices/variables which was used to do the analysis. h02: that there is no significance relationship between trans-border crime/ legitimate trade and political power struggle as well as poverty, social inequality as to whether due to its (rising wave of insurgency) multiplier effects in the society can be blamed or linked to the incessant and unwarranted 66 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com violent conflicts in the zone. this hypothesis was tested for significance using chi-square test and below table shows the synopsis of the analysis in which α= 0.05, degree of freedom = (r 1) (c – 1) = (2-1) (2-1) = 1, critical value (cv) = 3.841 where the calculated x2= 4.81 interpretation for h01 and ho2: since x2 is greater than cv, 4.81 less than 3.841, therefore h01/null hypothesis as formulated above in this study is accepted at p<0.05. this shows there is a perfect agreement between our earlier hypotheses (h01 and h02) which accept the existence of no relationship between the two variables. since the two null hypotheses have been rejected by d test, it further reveals that the quest for political power struggle during electioneering process and issues of poverty, inequality and other social neglect has a direct consequence of trans-border crime and legitimate trade in the north-central. hence, there is a nexus or direct link between political power struggles; poverty, inequality with other forms of social neglects and trans-border crime/legitimate trade in the north-central zone which can be attributed to the unceasing/rising nature insurgency in the zone. our analysis from north-central zone in nigeria shows that the two null hypotheses using trans-border crime/legitimate trade dichotomy were rejected using 0.05 level of significance and chi-square table below gives a reliable credence to the test: table 3: chi-square test for null hypothesis in north-central (kwara and benue states) frequency observed (fo) sex trans-border crime legitimate border trade total column male 32 19 51 female 20 29 49 total row 52 48 100 overall total x2 = (𝐹𝑂−𝐹𝐸)2 𝐹𝐸 as chi-square formula where fo= frequency observed, fe= frequency expected. 67 | p a g e arms proliferation and the rise of insurgency in nigeria: a trend or a bait? okechukwu, groupson-paul uc.; ayodeji o. adedeji frequency expected (fe) to calculate (fe), we use 𝑇𝑂𝑇𝐴𝐿 𝐶𝑂𝐿𝑈𝑀𝑁 ×𝑇𝑂𝑇𝐴𝐿 𝑅𝑂𝑊 𝑂𝑉𝐸𝑅𝐴𝐿𝐿 𝑇𝑂𝑇𝐴𝐿 f0 fe (fo-fe) (fo-fe)2 (𝑭𝑶 − 𝑭𝑬)𝟐 𝑭𝑬 32 20 19 29 26.52 25.48 24.48 23.52 5.48 -5.48 -5.48 5.48 30.0304 30.0304 30.0304 30.0304 1.1324 1.1786 1.2267 1.2768 x2= 4.81 since calculated value of x2 is greater than cv, 4.81 > 3.841, therefore h0/null hypothesis is rejected because it denies the existence of relationship between trans-border crime/legitimate trade and the rising wave of insurgency/ communal violence in nigeria having rejected the initial hypotheses formulated for the study. c. south-south zone: test of significance of the null hypotheses (h0) from this zone where ethnic militia activities are very rampant, this study uses arms and non-arms smuggled dichotomy to analyze its two hypotheses above descriptively and interpretively. hence, the null hypotheses are subjected to more inferential statistical analyses. hence, the hypotheses raised were tested for significance at p< 0.05 which was analyzed and interpreted effectively. in the south-south zone of nigeria, arms and non-arms struggled dichotomy were used to interrogate the two null hypotheses. the two sampled states are river state and cross river states in the niger-delta zone. h01: there is no significant relationship between arms smuggled and non-arms smuggled as to whether due to its (rising wave of insurgency) pervasiveness that political power struggle during electioneering process in nigeria will not enhance arms hostilities within the north-west zone. as shown below in this study, the first null hypothesis is rejected where x2 > cv, 4.0 > 3.841 at p <0.05 h02: there is no significance relationship between arms/nonsmuggled and poverty, inequality as to whether due to its (rising wave of insurgency) multiplier effects in the society can be blamed or linked to the incessant and unwarranted violent conflicts in the zone. this hypothesis was tested for significance using chisquare test and below table shows the synopsis of the analysis in which α= 0.05, degree of freedom = (r1) (c – 1) 68 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com = (2-1) (2-1) = 1, critical value (cv) = 3.841 where the calculated x2= 4.0 interpretation for h01 and ho2: x2 = 4.0 since x2 is greater than cv, 4.0 > 3.841, therefore h0/null hypothesis is rejected therefore the two/null hypothesis as formulated above in this study are rejected at p<0.05. this shows there is a perfect agreement between our earlier hypotheses (h01 and h02) which attests to the existence of relationship between the two variables. since the two null hypotheses have been rejected by d test, it further reveals that the quest for political power struggle during electioneering process among politicians from the south-south zone is a consequence of rising wave of insurgency vis-à-vis arms hostilities in the. hence, there is a nexus between poverty, inequality with other forms of social neglects arms/non arms smuggled which can be attributed to the unceasing/rising nature insurgency in the zone. our analysis from south-south zone in nigeria shows that the two null hypotheses using arms and non-arms smuggled dichotomy were rejected at 0.05 level of significance and chi-square table below gives a reliable credence to our analysis: table 4: chi-square test for null hypothesis in south-south zone (river state and cross river state) sex arms smuggled non-arms smuggled total column male 30 20 50 female 20 30 50 total row 50 50 100 overall total x2 = (𝐹𝑂−𝐹𝐸)2 𝐹𝐸 as chi-square formula where fo= frequency observed, fe= frequency expected. expected frequency to calculate (fe), we use 𝑇𝑂𝑇𝐴𝐿 𝐶𝑂𝐿𝑈𝑀𝑁 ×𝑇𝑂𝑇𝐴𝐿 𝑅𝑂𝑊 𝑂𝑉𝐸𝑅𝐴𝐿𝐿 𝑇𝑂𝑇𝐴𝐿 69 | p a g e arms proliferation and the rise of insurgency in nigeria: a trend or a bait? okechukwu, groupson-paul uc.; ayodeji o. adedeji f0 fe (fo-fe) (fo-fe)2 (𝑭𝑶 − 𝑭𝑬)𝟐 𝑭𝑬 30 20 20 30 25 25 25 25 5 -5 -5 5 25 25 25 25 1 1 1 1 x2= 4.0 since since calculated value of x2 is greater than cv, 4.0 is greater than 3.841, therefore h0/null hypothesis is rejected and this shows there is relationship between arms/non-arms smuggle and insurgency in nigeria having tested the null hypotheses with the use of two indices/variables in this study. d. south-east zone: test of significance of the null hypotheses (h0) in this zone, this study uses arms proliferation and non-arms proliferation dichotomy from abia state and anambra (aguleri and umuleri areas) to analyze its two hypotheses above descriptively and interpretively. hence, the null hypotheses are subjected to more inferential statistical analyses. hence, the hypotheses raised were tested for significance at p< 0.05 which was analyzed and interpreted effectively. in the south-east zone of nigeria, arms and non-arms struggled dichotomy were used to interrogate the two null hypotheses. h01: there is no significant relationship between arms proliferation/non-arms smuggled and political power struggle in this area to determine as to whether due to its (incessant inter-communal violence) pervasiveness that political power struggle during electioneering process in nigeria will enhance arms hostilities within the north-west zone. as shown below in this study, the first null hypothesis is rejected where x2 is less than cv, 0.37 less than 3.841 at p <0.05 h02: there is no significance relationship between arms proliferation/non-proliferation and poverty, social inequality, unemployment in this area as to whether due to its (boundary disputes over lands) multiplier effects in the society can be blamed or linked to the incessant and unwarranted violent conflicts in the zone. this hypothesis was tested for significance using chi-square test and below table shows the synopsis of the analysis in which α= 0.05, degree of freedom = (r1) (c – 1) = (2-1) (2-1) = 1, critical value (cv) = 3.841 where the calculated x2= 4.0 70 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com e. interpretation for h01 and ho2: x2 = 0.37 since x2 is greater than cv, 0.37 is greater than 3.841, therefore h0/null hypothesis is accepted, therefore the two/null hypothesis as formulated above in this study are rejected at p<0.05. this shows there is a disagreement between our earlier hypotheses (h01 and h02) which accept the existence of no relationship between the two variables. since the two null hypotheses have been accepted by d test, it further reveals that the quest for political power struggle during electioneering process among politicians from the south-east zone has no nexus direct consequence to incessant inter-communal violence and arms hostilities in the south-east. also, our text above accepted the existence of no relationship between poverty, inequality with other forms of social neglects arms proliferation/non arms proliferation in this zone. our analysis from south-east zone in nigeria shows that the two null hypotheses using arms proliferation and non-arms proliferation dichotomy were rejected at 0.05 level of significance and chi-square table below gives a reliable credence to our analysis: table 5: chi-square test for null hypothesis in south-south zone (abia and anambra states) frequency observed (fo) sex arms proliferation non-arms proliferation total column male 34 18 52 female 20 28 48 total row 54 46 100 overall total x2 = (𝐹𝑂−𝐹𝐸)2 𝐹𝐸 as chi-square formula where fo= frequency observed, fe= frequency expected. expected frequency to calculate (fe), we use 𝑇𝑂𝑇𝐴𝐿 𝐶𝑂𝐿𝑈𝑀𝑁 ×𝑇𝑂𝑇𝐴𝐿 𝑅𝑂𝑊 𝑂𝑉𝐸𝑅𝐴𝐿𝐿 𝑇𝑂𝑇𝐴𝐿 f0 fe (fo-fe) (fo-fe)2 (𝑭𝑶 − 𝑭𝑬)𝟐 𝑭𝑬 34 20 18 28 28.08 25.92 23.92 22.08 5.92 -5.92 1.5 -1.5 35.0464 35.0464 35.0464 35.0464 1.2481 1.3521 1.4652 1.5872 x2= 5.65 71 | p a g e arms proliferation and the rise of insurgency in nigeria: a trend or a bait? okechukwu, groupson-paul uc.; ayodeji o. adedeji x2 = 5.65 since calculated value of x2 less than cv, 0.37 < 3.841, therefore h0/null hypothesis is rejected which shows there is a nexus between the two indices/variables used to analyse the study and arms proliferation/non-arms proliferation in nigeria using southsouth zone as a sampled survey for this study. e: south-west zone (a): test of significance of the null hypotheses (h0) using sampled respondents from idiroko in ogun state via benin republic route, this study utilized transborder and legitimate trade dichotomy to explain its two hypotheses above from the descriptive and interpretive point of view and also subjected the null hypothesis to more inferential statistical analyses. hence, the two hypotheses raised were tested for significance at p< 0.05 in ogun state/idiroko/ seme border via benin rep as part of the south-west zone of nigeria, trans-border trade and legitimate trade dichotomy were used to analyze the two null hypotheses. h01: there is no significant relationship between trans-border crime/legitimate trade as to determine whether due to its (arms proliferation across nigerian borders) frequent border conflicts that is usually occasioned by political power struggle during electioneering process in nigeria will enhance arms hostilities within the nigerian border at idiroko in ogun state via benin republic route from the south-west zone. evidence from the sample survey conducted as it is shown below in this study reveals that, the first null hypothesis is rejected where calculated value of x2 is greater than critical table value (cv), 4.92 > 3.841 at p <0.05. this shows that there is a perfect agreement between our first hypotheses and the indices/variables that we used to measure or determine whether political power struggled in the south-west nigeria has a nexus with arms and non-arms smuggled in the zone. it can be explained further since our test has rejected the initial null hypothesis that trans-border crime and legitimate trade have a high implication as to the cause of arms hostilities that have been ravaging nigeria for several years most especially during the electioneering campaign process in nigeria. h02: that there is no significance relationship between trans-border crime/ legitimate trade in the ogun state/idiroko via seme border/ benin rep route in the south-west and poverty, inequality, and other forms of social neglects as to whether due to the (rising wave of border conflicts/insurgency) multiplier effects in the society that can be blamed or linked to the incessant and unwarranted violent conflicts in the zone. this hypothesis was tested for significance using chi-square test and below table shows the synopsis of the analysis in which α= 0.05, degree of freedom = (r1) (c – 1) = (2-1) (2-1) = 1, critical value (cv) = 3.841 where the calculated x2= 4.92 and our test here 72 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com rejected the null hypothesis that is earlier formulated which deny the existence of relationship between the indices/variables used and the null hypothesis. this is an indication that trans-border conflicts occasioned by political power struggled and unemployment/poverty has a direct link to the rising wave of insurgency and other ethnic militancy struggle in nigeria. interpretation for h01 and ho2: since our calculated value of x2 is greater than cv, 4.92 > 3.841, therefore h01/null hypothesis as formulated above in this study is rejected at p<0.05. this shows there is a perfect agreement between our earlier hypotheses (h01 and h02) which deny the existence of no relationship between the two variables. since the two null hypotheses have been rejected by d test, it further reveals that the quest for political power struggle during electioneering process among politicians from the south-west zone is a consequence of rising wave of insurgency vis-à-vis arms hostilities in the. hence, there is a nexus between poverty, inequality with other forms of social neglects where trans-border crime and legitimate trade can be attributed to the unceasing/rising nature insurgency in the zone. our analysis from southwest zone in nigeria shows that the two null hypotheses using arms and nonarms smuggled dichotomy were rejected at p< 0.05 level of significance and chisquare table below gives a reliable credence to the above analysis: table 6: chi-square test for null hypothesis in south-west zone (ogun state/idiroko and seme border via benin rep) frequency observed (fo) sex trans-border crime legitimate border trade total column male 24 25 49 female 14 37 51 total row 38 62 100 overall total x2 = (𝐹𝑂−𝐹𝐸)2 𝐹𝐸 as chi-square formula where fo= frequency observed, frequency expected (fe) to calculate (fe), we use 𝑇𝑂𝑇𝐴𝐿 𝐶𝑂𝐿𝑈𝑀𝑁 ×𝑇𝑂𝑇𝐴𝐿 𝑅𝑂𝑊 𝑂𝑉𝐸𝑅𝐴𝐿𝐿 𝑇𝑂𝑇𝐴𝐿 73 | p a g e arms proliferation and the rise of insurgency in nigeria: a trend or a bait? okechukwu, groupson-paul uc.; ayodeji o. adedeji f0 fe (fo-fe) (fo-fe)2 (𝑭𝑶 − 𝑭𝑬)𝟐 𝑭𝑬 24 25 14 37 18.62 30.38 19.38 31.62 5.38 -5.38 -5.38 5.38 28.94 28.94 28.94 28.94 1.5542 0.9526 1.4933 0.9152 x2= 4.92 since calculated value of x2 is greater than cv, 4.92 is greater than 3.841, therefore h0/null hypothesis is rejected and it reveals the existence of relationship the trans-border crime/legitimate trade and the rising wave of insurgency in nigeria where the two variables/indices were used to test the hypothese raised for this study. south-west zone (b): test of significance of the null hypotheses (h0) using sampled respondents from lagos state/high sea, this study utilized transborder and legitimate trade dichotomy to explain its two hypotheses above from the descriptive and interpretive point of view and also subjected the null hypothesis to more inferential statistical analyses. hence, the two hypotheses raised were tested for significance at p< 0.05 in lagos state/high sea in the south-west zone of nigeria, transborder trade and legitimate trade dichotomy were used to analyze the two null hypotheses. h01: there is no significant relationship between trans-border crime/legitimate trade as to determine whether due to its (arms proliferation across nigerian borders) frequent border conflicts that is usually occasioned by political power struggle during electioneering process in nigeria will enhance arms hostilities within the nigerian border in lagos state and other high sea areas that link to lagos in the south-west zone. evidence from the sample survey conducted as it is shown below in this study reveals that, the first null hypothesis is rejected where calculated value of x2 is greater than critical table value (cv), 4.94 > 3.841 at p <0.05. this shows that there is a perfect agreement between our first hypotheses and the indices/variables that we used to measure or determine whether political power struggled in the south-west nigeria has a nexus with arms and nonarms smuggled in the zone. it can be explained further since our test has rejected the initial null hypothesis that trans-border crime and legitimate trade have a high implication as to the cause of arms hostilities that have been ravaging nigeria for several years most especially during the electioneering campaign process in nigeria. 74 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com h02: that there is no significance relationship between trans-border crime/ legitimate trade in the lagos state/high sea route to the south-west and poverty, inequality, and other forms of social neglects as to whether due to the (rising wave of border conflicts/insurgency) multiplier effects in the society that can be blamed or linked to the incessant and unwarranted violent conflicts in the zone. this hypothesis was tested for significance using chi-square test and below table shows the synopsis of the analysis in which α= 0.05, degree of freedom = (r 1) (c – 1) = (2-1) (2-1) = 1, critical value (cv) = 3.841 where the calculated x2= 4.94 and our test here rejected the null hypothesis that is earlier formulated which deny the existence of relationship between the indices/variables used and the null hypothesis. this is an indication that trans-border conflicts occasioned by political power struggled and unemployment/poverty has a direct link to the rising wave of insurgency and other ethnic militancy struggle in nigeria. interpretation for h01 and ho2: since our calculated value of x2 is greater than cv, 4.94 > 3.841, therefore h01/null hypothesis as formulated above in this study is rejected at p<0.05. this shows there is a perfect agreement between our earlier hypotheses (h01 and h02) which deny the existence of no relationship between the two variables. since the two null hypotheses have been rejected by d test, it further reveals that the quest for political power struggle during electioneering process among politicians from the south-west zone is a consequence of rising wave of insurgency vis-à-vis arms hostilities in the. hence, there is a nexus between poverty, inequality with other forms of social neglects where trans-border crime and legitimate trade can be attributed to the unceasing/rising nature insurgency in the zone. our analysis from southwest zone in nigeria shows that the two null hypotheses using arms and nonarms smuggled dichotomy were rejected at p< 0.05 level of significance and chisquare table below gives a reliable credence to the above analysis: table 7: chi-square test for null hypothesis in south-south zone (lagos state/high sea) frequency observed (fo) sex trans-border crime legitimate border trade total column male 27 16 43 female 23 34 57 total row 50 50 100 overall total x2 = (𝐹𝑂−𝐹𝐸)2 𝐹𝐸 as chi-square formula where fo= frequency observed, fe= frequency expected. frequency expected (fe) 75 | p a g e arms proliferation and the rise of insurgency in nigeria: a trend or a bait? okechukwu, groupson-paul uc.; ayodeji o. adedeji to calculate (fe), we use 𝑇𝑂𝑇𝐴𝐿 𝐶𝑂𝐿𝑈𝑀𝑁 ×𝑇𝑂𝑇𝐴𝐿 𝑅𝑂𝑊 𝑂𝑉𝐸𝑅𝐴𝐿𝐿 𝑇𝑂𝑇𝐴𝐿 f0 fe (fo-fe) (fo-fe)2 (𝑭𝑶 − 𝑭𝑬)𝟐 𝑭𝑬 27 16 23 34 21.5 21.5 28.5 28.5 5.5 -5.5 -5.5 5.5 30.25 30.25 30.25 30.25 1.4070 1.4070 1.0614 1.0614 x2= 4.94 x2 = 4.94 calculated value of x2 is greater than critical table value (cv), 4.94 > 3.841, this implies that the null hypothesis is rejected and further reveals that there is a relationship between the trans-border-crime/legitimate trade and the rising wave of insurgency in nigeria as occasioned by political power struggle during electioneering process, social inequality, unemployment, and other forms of social neglects in nigeria. nigeria and the issues of small arms proliferation: a bait or trend the nigerian environment is not new to the presence of small arms and light weapons. apart from the ended civil war in 1970, berman (2014), in an arms survey revealed that armed groups obtain small arms from several sources among which are peace operations, from poorly guarded state stockpiles and from gullible security agents. with the highest and worst porous border in sub-saharan africa, starting from the nigeria border to cameroon, (from akpabioyo in calabar up to gembu in saudana local government in adamawa and borno to cameroon border in the north east), the nigeriachad –niger border (stretching from sokoto, kano, kastina, gombe, yobe to borno), the nigeria – benin – togo borders (beginning from lagos, ogun, osun, kwara, niger up to sokoto states) informed of a loose territory that infiltration and trespassing cannot be comprehended daily. a situation that it is possible to say, that the nigeria state stands at the mercy of each individual and groups who are in constant suspicion of each other’s’ might, like in the days of cold war paradigm. this is because the number of weapons in the hand of the individual and/or group outnumbered the armed forces and police arms and ammunition in their armouries combined, except the latter’s armoured tanks. with several challenges in the past, which bothered on coups and counter coups with importation of arms, political instabilities, inter-ethnic and religious clashes in the ‘90s, the military annulment of june 12, 1993 elections, the activities of the ethnic militias of opc, apc, bakassi boys and egbesu; 76 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com the activities of militants like mosop, mend and ndvf insurgence in the niger delta and the massob among others (ikelegbe, 2014), to which the country was highly militarized. a situation that sees the embrace of democracy in 1999 as an eye opener for everyone, people and group to agitate for their rights and seek justice where possible. these conditions and processes that seem to have quickened the possession of arms illegally by many were unchecked. coupled with the kind of hate exhibited against the military by both the over-caged political class, the depressed and depraved in the society, to which the hastiness at the demilitarization, dislocation of military locations and barracks and lessening of command structural powers among others helped the easy flow of small arms and ammunitions into the country by dubious old brigade politicians and their tutored new breeds that are more deadly and over adventurous than ever were seen manipulating things , while pretending to allow the military to go back to the barracks without any checkmating at all are part of the outcome of where we are today. however, to further examine the presence of small arms and light weapons proliferations in nigeria, the following points shall be considered: (i) politicians and illicit arms agreeing that power is the currency of politics (deustch, 1957), and that to acquire political power based on interest aggregation (frankel, 1993), that the average nigerian politician tends to be ruthless with intimidation, manipulation, propaganda and scheming (plano and riggs, 1953) against the would be opponents. premised on this, it is evident that some politician spent huge amount of money in acquiring small arms to fortify self and march their words and intents in achieving desired goals with violence. thus, icg (2009), in its arms survey noted that between 2002 and 2007 that over 35% of illegal small arms and light weapons acquired into nigeria by some fastidious and over ambitious politicians were in a bid to gain political power into the different elective offices in the nigerian new democratic dispensation. a revelation that was confirmed by davis (2014), when he stated in an interview with the australian broadcasting service that one thing he noticed on arrival in 2004 in nigeria was that politicians at the beginning of every electioneering year import and amass weapons to pursue political power, using thugs and militia groups. thus, implying that arms acquisition in nigeria is seen as a trend amongst political actors. and that whereby a potential politician fails to acquire arms, then, he or she has not started the journey toward power acquisition. in the same continuum, obasi (2014), further argued that both state armed groups and non-state armed groups like the militias and militant groups through the help of retired servicemen in the different ethnic groups commonly aid the possession of illegal arms as they help radicalized, 77 | p a g e arms proliferation and the rise of insurgency in nigeria: a trend or a bait? okechukwu, groupson-paul uc.; ayodeji o. adedeji indoctrinated and facilitated with greed and ideological argument of selfprotection, which could equally be seen as a planted taproot of arms, a bait for violence. in the same period, arms struggles were noted among some opposing political parties in osun, oyo, ondo, anambra, lagos, plateau, kaduna, kano, enugu, akwaibom, rivers, kogi and benue states among others. these catchments of arms and light weapons are still missing in actions as they are not seen, retrieved or recovered by the law enforcement agents from the indecent politicians till today while those that felt into the hand of touts and thugs are still being used to terrorize the general society. merging these contentions with the observation of danjibo (2014), while quoting from the studies of mensah (2002) and obasi (2002), as noted, that it is very clear that there are between one and three million small arms and light weapons circulating in nigeria, which is excluded from the figures before the crisis in libya and the terrorist activities of boko haram. thereby, agreeing with vendley and ali (2010) that small arms and light weapons are easy to carry. just as recently demonstrated by the pdp governorship candidate for lagos state in 2015 at iju road campaign, where the thugs and policemen were shooting sporadically because of the handiness of the arms that they were carrying. small arms cause massive and widespread death and injury. easy to use, conceal and maintain. they are primary tools of political violence in almost every conflict where the innocent suffer most (ii) transborder trade on small arms and light weapon trans-border trade in small arms and light weapons, apart from the trade in blood diamond and gold seems to be more lucrative even over illicit drug and human trafficking because over there at the border line these items are considered as both trend and bait. the buyers and sellers come with different intention as the purpose and dictates of it centred on power, money, violence, protection and control. with nigeria, being a transit route for drug, the trade in small arms puts the country’s territorial boundaries at a great danger. moreover, with the end of the libyan war and arab spring, all the arms used in that war were shifted down to the sahel region, to which the northern part of the country has witnessed a terrible arms struggle with the existence of boko haram insurgence. coupled with the several porous border and corrupt security agencies, illegal arms importation and trade have been on the high side. the boko haram sects’ relationship with the tuaregrebels in mali, the egyptian connection, the rebel group in mauritania, the muslim rebel group incentral african republic and their recent engaged relationship with the islamist state in iraq (is) make the inflow of small arms and light weapon a daily occurrence. thus, thereby supporting the view of boutwell and klare (2000), that trans-border trade and crime enhance the transfer of deadly weapons from country to country, just as their ownership is transferred among fighters, security forces and war 78 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com profiteers. it is obvious also, that once weapon enter an area, they can remain there for many years. guns in particular have a functional lifetime of many years. small arms change the dynamic of conflict instantly (vendley and ali, 2010) argued. the question that no one seems to be attending to is, what effect is the role of the ecowas moratorium/convention document of 1998, signed by each member states in 2006? the moratorium is strategy devised to control the spread and misuse of small arms. this legal binding document prohibits the spread, misuse, conceal or otherwise the related material and the small arms and light weapon and their ammunition (badmus, 2009). this is due to the fact that while members of the ecowas are committed not to import, support or manufacture small arms and light weapon, the arms had continued to enter the sub-region to fanned conflicts owing to the joy the people derive in acquiring it as a bait and trends. meaning that there is mistrust somewhere, as that betrayal of trust now affects nigeria with the flooding of small arms and light weapons on the streets of the country. (iii) poverty, unemployment and easy usage of arms according to tabaiyaka (2003), africa remains the most food deficient continent in the world, to which nigeria house over 46% level of poor people, with a growing unemployment rate of over 55% of the population, despite her rich wealth. the question is: what is nigeria government doing with her wealth and endowed natural resources? this is because according to sach (1998) and tabaiyaka (2003), the prediction is so grim, that unless radical measures are adopted, the story might be different. in addition, danjibo (2014) notes that it is not only on what goes into the mouth, but the process of obtaining those scarce natural resources like who owns the parcel of land among others. he concluded by saying that it is the poverty of the owner of property and space that the ife versus modakeke communal conflicts had hinged on for years in destroying the society. that, in one of the face-off, 1995/1996, that people were amazed by the quantum of salws that were used during the period of conflict. thereby, underlining the available evidence that poverty allows for easy manipulation of the people to pick or sought to acquire arms to fighting a course since the people has seen the acquisition of arms as trend and a bait to confronting the enemy. the youths are so impatient and frustrated that they can now accept to fight on the side of insurgence or sees themselves as veritable tools for war or crisis, so as to escape the sting of poverty and unemployment (galadima, 2014). thus, increasing the growing strength and number of the militia groups, militants and even those that joined the boko haram insurgence could be traced to these shortcomings of unemployment and poverty. in the same continuum, badmus (2009), noted that in the midst of poverty and lack of wants that the spread of small arms prevail faster. their 79 | p a g e arms proliferation and the rise of insurgency in nigeria: a trend or a bait? okechukwu, groupson-paul uc.; ayodeji o. adedeji effects are devastating as many agree to pick up arms in support of bad and corrupt leaders thereby yielding to the awaiting arms bait pivot to go ahead with arms violence. in a vicious cycle, they are both the cause and effect of violence. they not only kill the innocent, they also maim, prolong conflict, choke development and deepen poverty. (iv). internal mechanism working against the numerous government policies on reducing the inflow of small arms and light weapon into the country is the devious effect of internal mechanism. despite, the fact that nigeria is a signatory to several of the international documents, conventions, protocols, embagos, political code of conducts, frameworks, moratorium and declarations among others, it still sound incomprehensive, negating and absurd that she could not curtail the huge inflow of illicit arms into the country owing to disloyalty and corruption. this deception, mistrust and betrayal that has aided arms as trend and bait in the country are pinned on the failure of the various security agencies in checkmating the flooding of the country’s border with illicit trades and banditry. the custom and excise department might not be sincere in implementing to letter the new ports inspection policies, just as their compatriots at the border might have pretended to be unaware of the bringing in of illegal firearms and prohibited materials into the country unchecked. it is only in some cases of where the identified smuggler fails to settle by way of gratification that arrest and possible public display of such are seen in the media. the custom and other security agencies at the border also are careless about the level of infiltration into the country by unknown arms banditry or people who at times disguises as cattle herdsmen or pastoral who also smuggle in small arms into the country unmonitored. in the armed forces, the ethics of the job are not only slipping off from the command structure, but internal wrangling and disloyalty seem to have pervaded the ranks and files. the possibility that many soldiers and officers’ loyalties are questionable is not in doubt with recent happenings. a ploy which also paved the way for small arms and light weapons to be smuggled into the country unchecked, with corruption as a possible bait to enhancing arms in – flow into the country. complementing this observation, danjibo (2014), was quick to point out that the soldiers who arrived from operation ground like sierra leone, liberia, mali and sudan/daffur among others may not be honest enough to declare their arms completely. there are the tendency that some might acquire illegal arms unknown to their commanders and as such in turn bring it into the country unchecked and unregistered. such actions have not only contributed in increasing the quantities of small arms but acted as a failed internal mechanism to aid conflict and violence in future as 80 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com the soldiers and even their civilian friends now possess arms. the nigerian police not different from the rest, with a huge task to perform, have not in any way proved an average nigerian wrong on the bad image sentiment. if not true, one wonders how those with these illegal small arms crossed the purported check points uncaught. the armed forces, police and custom and excise department are the eyes of the society and major player in checkmating the inflow of small arms and light weapons into the country. since it is obvious that small arms afflict countries in conflict acting as a bait and those in peace acting as a trend and are available long after conflict has ended (vendley and ali, 2010), something must be done before we are turned victims. the statistics that over 55% of small arms and light weapon in nigeria are illegally acquired and are in wrong hands remains a fact. small arms and light weapon proliferation as indicated in the above discourse have been particularly devastating with every geopolitical zone inclusive. small arms have killed and displaced many civilians across the country, and to which the people of north-east nigeria are currently passing through such ugly trend up till today. the major end users and possible recipients of these arms acting as both trend and a bait in nigeria are the ethnic cum religious militias, political thugs, armed robbers, kidnappers, terrorist groups, private security guards and cult groups among others. the general implications in view of the direction and context of this study, the followings stand out as the possible implications: i. the issue of small arms and light weapon proliferation in nigeria as observed should be tackled with carefulness, especially while attending to the problems of dispute, disagreement and political misunderstandings, as any miscalculation of such might triggeroff unassumable confrontation leading to conflict since it is presumably clear that arms are already a bait and trend in the country. the already tensed society need a capacity building mechanism that could be used to sway the mind of many into moral consciousness and reasoning rather than many seeing arms possession as a trend that is mandatory for every home to acquire. ii. poverty breeds violence. and arms as a bait under manipulation and brainwashing can induce youths into arms conflict. hence, it is an onus on the government to initiate a programme that could keep some percentage of the population, especially the youths busy daily instead of looking for or indulging in something that fans conflict or restiveness. iii. the political class who are part of these problems should have a change of mind, especially in expressing sentiments, wanting power at all cost, or even openly criticizing negatively, as the followers are 81 | p a g e arms proliferation and the rise of insurgency in nigeria: a trend or a bait? okechukwu, groupson-paul uc.; ayodeji o. adedeji always ever ready to hear from them. they should see politics and its gaming skills as sporting engagement instead of seeking for power endlessly. as the negating likelihood might lead to arms struggle, or the same arms being turned against the society. therefore, such unhealthy competition that might jeopardize the stability of the entire nation should be avoided. iv. the strength of every nation lies in its security forces. hence, the nation’s security forces should be strengthened, updated, retrained and made to be in tune with the best practices. the various failures in checkmating crime, smuggling-in of small arms and light weapons among other, trans-border trades are due to the negating values of what security duty and its goals were all about in a nation like this. we don’t rule out the issue of bad eggs, corrupt ones, disloyal ones, and incompetent ones, but the reinforcing of ethics of the duty with the necessary provision makes a better security agent. for it is when such trust and loyalty fails that the need to seek for help outside arises, as not attending to those shortfalls exposes the nation to all form of ridicules and fear of any threat and unknown. conclusion and recommendation arguably, the degree of small arms and light weapon proliferation is not only complex and high, but this study has come to agree that several arms are scattered all over the streets of the geopolitical zones, thereby acting as both trends and bait to the several insurgency being witnessed by the country. and that it is only as many – individuals as possible, who are desirous of peace that can help in putting an end to this deadly monster. for like a timebomb, waiting to explode, the urgent attendance to the factors discussed above will in a million help to reduce tension. as the evidence of the catchment of illicit small arms and light weapons available on the street are more than what the army, police and security agents have in their armouries combined, with exception of armoured tanks. firstly, nigeria has to avoid the possible trend of arms circulation in homesjust as it is abhorred by our constitution; we need to tackle our problems squarely by reducing the rate of arms acting as a bait for conflict. secondly, the government should if possible, declare an amnesty in each geopolitical zone to mop-up illicit small arms in the country with rewards attached. thirdly, the authority with its agencies such as noa, women affairs, youth development, religious bodies and ngos, should establish a conflict/violence education programme to educate every average nigeria on the need to stay away from conflict and violent. the negative imports and consequences, which outweighs the intent, are very disastrous. fourthly, since it is evident that security lapses and loophole have considerably 82 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com contributed to the in-flow of illicit small arms and light weapons into the country, the government should task the agencies to strengthen their services to checkmate this awful security breaches. fifth, there should also be an opening up of the economy by the government to partner with the private sectors on the area concerned with initiatives for creating jobs, so as to reduce the level of unemployment and poverty. evidence, has showed that job lost, idleness and unemployment are veritable tools to small arms and violent induced crimes. nigeria, being a signatory to several of the regional, africa and international instruments or conventions on illegal arms procurement, proliferations and promotion of violence, need to harmonize her laws with, especially the ecowas convention on small arms and light weapons proliferations. in that light, nigeria must endeavor to sustain the full implementation of the un programme of action on the prevention, combat and eradication of illicit trades in salw in all of its aspects. the att universal legal instrument for regulating arms manufacturing, exportation, importation, transfer and booking, to which she is a signatory to must be adhered to strictly. with such an action, the tendency and possibility that the issues of arms proliferation, the rising wave of insurgency and prospecting violence with these arms acting as both a bait and trend would be curtailed to the barest minimum. references alobi, l.e. 2014, “a review of nigeria efforts at combating small arms and light weapons (salw) proliferations: the natcom experience” in the national stakeholders consultative forum on illicit small arms and light weapons (salw) proliferations in nigeria, 2nd-4th june. aning, k. e.1999. “peacekeeping under ecomog: a subregional approach” in jakkie, c. and creg, m. ed. from peacekeeping to complex emergencies. johannesburg: i.s.s. pub. badmus, i. 2009. managing arms in peace process: ecowas and the west african civil conflicts. centro de estudos africanos. uppsala, sweden. baffour,a.d. 2014, “containing gun culture, terrorism, armed violence: south africa experience” in the national stakeholders consultative forum on illicit small arms and light weapons (salw) proliferations in nigeria, 2nd-4thjune.abuja berman, e.c. 2014, “an appraisal of global terrorism, armed violence and small arms and light weapons proliferation” in the national stakeholders consultative forum on illicit small arms and light weapons 83 | p a g e arms proliferation and the rise of insurgency in nigeria: a trend or a bait? okechukwu, groupson-paul uc.; ayodeji o. adedeji (salw) proliferations in nigeria, 2nd-4thjune.abuja boutwell, j. and klare, m. 2006. “small arms and light weapon: controlling the real instrument of war” in the bulletin of the atomic scientist, aug./sep. boutwell, j. and klare, m. 2000. “scourge of small arms” in journal of scientific america. june. boutwell, j. and klare, m.1999. “the kalashnikor age” in the bulletin of the atmic scientist. jan./feb. coady, c. a. j. 2002. the ethics of armed humanitarian intervention. washington dc: peaceworks pub. danjibo, n. d.2014, “trends and dynamics of the proliferation of salw and armed violence in south-west nigeria” in the national stakeholders consultative forum on illicit small arms and light weapons (salw) proliferations in nigeria, 2nd-4th june. abuja deustch, k. w. 1957. contemporary political analysis: the reader’s view. london: affront page press. dube, j. 2014, “containing gun culture: sharing experience” in the national stakeholders consultati ve forum on illicit small arms and light weapons (salw) proliferations in nigeria, 2nd-4th june. abuja frankel, j. 1993. contemporary international theory and behaviour of states. new york: associate press. galadima, h.s.2014, “trends and dynamics of salw proliferation and armed violence in northcentral nigeria” in the national stakeholders consultative forum on illicit small arms and light weapons (salw) proliferations in nigeria, 2nd-4th june. abuja. ikelegbe, a. 2014, “trends and dynamics of small arms and light weapons proliferations and armed violence in south –south nigeria” the national stakeholders consultative forum on illicit small arms and light weapons (salw) proliferations in nigeria, 2nd-4th june. abuja. kartas, m. 2014, security assessment in north africa armed groups and arms trafficking dynamics in libya: what implication for the wider region. kathi, a. 1999. “hearts of darkness: black market arms trafficking in africa” in bulletin of atomic scientific. jan./feb. keane, f. 1996. the season of blood: a rwandan journey. london: penguin books. keilli, f. l. 2008. “small arms and light weapons transfer in west africa: a stock-taking, united nation institute for disarmament research, disarmament forum: the complex dynamics of small arms in west africa, no.4. 84 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com levy, j.s. and thompson, w. r. 2010. causes of war. wiley-blackwell. a john willey and son ltd. lumpe, l. 1999. “leader of the pack” in bulletin of atomic scientist. u.s.a. jan./feb. mager, l. 1972 comparative political inquiry: methodological survey. london: classical press. mamdani, m. 2001. when victims become killer, colonialism, nativism and genocide in rwanda. princeton: princeton university press. melvern, l. 2004. conspiracy to murder: the rwandan genocide. london: verson pub. muhammed, t.l. 2013 combating proliferation of small arms in west africa. published 4th june. newman, j. v. and manegestern, o. 1957. concepts of game theory: the real analysis. london: oxford university press. obasi, n. 2014, “armed groups and armed conflicts in nigeria, causes, motivation and mechanism for armed conflicts reduction” the national stakeholders consultative forum on illicit small arms and light weapons (salw) proliferations in nigeria, 2nd-4th june. abuja. okechukwu, g. p. 2009. “ethnic militias and the travails of democracy in post-military nigeria”. a working paper of the journal of alternative perspectives in social sciences. florida. u.s.a. onuoha, f. 2011 “small arms and light weapons proliferation and human security in nigeria” african centre for the constructive resolution of disputes (accord). orji, n.d. 2014, “implementation of international, regional and national control mechanism: what hope for illicit salw reduction in nigeria” in the national stakeholders consultative forum on illicit small arms and light weapons (salw) proliferations in nigeria, 2nd-4th june. abuja. plano, j. and riggs, r. e. 1953. dictionary of political analysis. london: oxford university press. paver, s. 2003. a problem from hell: america and the age genocide. usa: perennial pub. pokoo, j. 2014, “benefits of effective marking and tracing, stockpile, management and weapons database in national small arms and light weapons control” in the national stakeholders consultative forum on illicit small arms and light weapons (salw) proliferations in nigeria, 2nd-4th june. abuja. stranger, d. j. 1960. man, the state and war: a theoretical analysis. new york: columbia university press. teson, f. 1998 humanitarian intervention: an inquiry into law and morality. new york. 85 | p a g e arms proliferation and the rise of insurgency in nigeria: a trend or a bait? okechukwu, groupson-paul uc.; ayodeji o. adedeji vendley, w. f. and ali, m. 2010. small arms and light weapon: africa religion for peace africa. weinberg, g. l. 1994. a world at arms: a global history of world war ii. cambridge university press – the pitt building. …….. 2014, “an appraisal of terrorism, armed violence and salw in west africa and the implementation of sub-regional instrument (ecowas convention)” in the national stakeholders consultative forum on illicit small arms an light weapons (salw) proliferations in nigeria, 2nd-4th june. abuja. ……… 2014, “un international arms control” in unrec. mandate a/res/40/151/g unoda. www. smallarmsstandards.org, www.un. org/disarmament/unsafeguard. 2009, “country reports on small arms and light weapon proliferation in west africa” icg monthly bulletin. 1984, religion for peace world assembly declaration. 1997, un docus, a/52/298, “small arms report of the panel of experts. august. http://www.smallarmsstandards.org/ http://www.smallarmsstandards.org/ http://www.un.org/disarmament/unsafeguard http://www.un.org/disarmament/unsafeguard 201 | p a g e global security challenges and sustainable development in africa: an analysis of climate-change-as-anew security-threat paradigm. dr. aloysuis-michaels okolie; ohiaegbu chiemezue prince; okechukwu, groupson-paul uc. global security challenges and sustainable development in africa: an analysis of climate-change-as-anew security-threat paradigm. dr. aloysuis-michaels okolie, department of political science, university of nigeria, nsukka e-mail:aloysuis.okolie@unn.edu.ng ohiaegbu chiemezue prince department of political science, university of nigeria, nsukka e-mail: talk2prince2001@yahoo.com; prince.ohiaegbu@unn.edu.ng okechukwu, groupson-paul uc. phd groupsonpaul@yahoo.com federal university ndufu alike ikwo (funai), abakaliki – ebonyi state, nigeria abstract this paper looks specifically on the linkage between climate change and sustainable development vis-à-vis africa’s security in the 21st century. drawing from the security rethinking studies, and environmental literature, we argue that the most important but often disregarded, and undertheorized analytics domain in the contour of africa’s security and geostrategic considerations is the nexus between weak sustainable economic development model and existential threat that do not lend themselves to military response. the central thesis is that the greatest threat to environmental security emanates not from poverty, but from the process of wealth creation, hence the impossibility of an environmentally sustainable capitalist economic development in a non-dematerializing global economy. the paper concludes by nothing that the extant international adaptation measures to climate change, not only reduces africa’s adaptive capacity but also predisposes it to the cascading cataclysmic consequences of the developed countries’ ecological footprint. finally, against the background that climate change is bound up with other social and economic issues facing developing nations that are fundamentally related to inequality and injustice, the paper recommends the principle of ‘common but differentiated responsibilities’ in the climate-change-as-a-security-threat global mitigative measures, if global environmental security must be concretized into action. keywords: africa, sustainable development, nuclearisation, climate change, new threat paradigm; human insecurity, ecological footprint, human security. introduction/problematique in an increasingly interconnected system, there is neither invulnerability nor developmental irreversibility; rather, the weakness of the periphery increases the exposure of the centre, making the entire configuration, including the centre, more unstable, the seemingly secure societies of the world started realizing that they too were vulnerable to events in the less secure and hence underdeveloped regions of the globe;, mailto:talk2prince2001@yahoo.com mailto:prince.ohiaegbu@unn.edu.ng mailto:groupsonpaul@yahoo.com 202 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com interconnectedness means that dysfunctions in the weaker components of the global fabric result in reciprocating. given the retro feeding nature of these trends, no region of the world can be immune to impending crises of potentially catastrophic proportions (head, 1991:5). in the aftermath of the cold war, an intellectual firestorm was created around the emergent securitization framework between the “pronuclear” school and the “antinuclear” school in africa. at the end of the securitization debate , ‘nuclearization’ was presented as the footnote of africa’s security policy framework by the “nuclear theologians” (mazrui,1967;weidenfield and nicolson,(1964); subramanian ,(1982); adisa, (1981); aluko (1981); subramanian (1982); ibikunle, (1976); marwah and schulz,1975); nweke, (1980;1985,and 2000).by implication, national security was defined as the acquisition of nuclear capability, and political independence, considered meaningless if africa cannot acquire it. however, in the emergent shift in security construct which now stands in direct opposition to the earlier traditional realist state-centric conceptualization of security, one can at least in theory distinguish between ‘defense policy’, which focuses exclusively on the military dimension, and ‘security policy’, which takes a broader view and incorporate other security domains. in the new international peace and security agenda, the prospect of uncertainty and the dynamic nature of change, and unanticipated disaster are now taken into consideration in security threat projection. and the systemic relationship between climate change and security in terms of both its functions and dysfunctions have become a subject of growing public debate and academic inquiry leading to the outpouring of scholarly literature (garcia, 2008; maybee, 2008; kuwali, 2008; podesta and ogden, 2007; barnett, 2003; stripple, 2002). such systemic or ecological interactions and security do not respect the boundaries and political jurisdiction of nation-states. this is what makes the environment-security nexus an aspect of states’ external sovereignty (as that concept refers to relations among states), and at the same time an aspect of internal sovereignty (as it refers to a regulatory function of public policy (reinicke, 1998). put differently, the interdependence between states, environmental issues, and national security cut across the domestic-international public policies at any level from the local to the global. upon this recognition, the impact of climate change on peace and security was top on the agenda of the united nations security council debate held on april 17, 2007 (un department of public information, 2007). given direct and indirect negative spillovers of environmental problems, a new threat that undermine human sustenance, human livelihood, safety, and survival has led to the climate-change-as-asecurity-threat nexus analytics of 203 | p a g e global security challenges and sustainable development in africa: an analysis of climate-change-as-anew security-threat paradigm. dr. aloysuis-michaels okolie; ohiaegbu chiemezue prince; okechukwu, groupson-paul uc. securitization. thus, the international community has noted that climate change as environmental problem is a serious threat to national and international security, and that it would be counterproductive to treat climate security concerns solely or even primarily with the traditional tools of national defense; which may not be best suited for the purposes of reducing the vulnerability of countries to natural hazards made worse by climate change. in other words, climate change is no longer about environment, it is increasingly about development.evidently, the intersection between africa’s incorporation with the global capitalist economy, its “ecological footprint” and “ecological debt” (an neutral index of the ecological (un)sustainability of man’s activities on the environment), implies that africa is susceptible to the “hot spots” of the emerging non-military human security threats even under the environmentally sustainable development (esd) model as being practiced. this is because, economic growth relies upon exploitation of natural and social capital, on the one hand, and climate change results from human activity, rather than pure forces of nature. despite this hindsight, a critical reading of past efforts at addressing “ecological debt” such as the "limits to growth" debate of the 70's championed by the "club of rome", the brandt commission's, the palme’s commission; the brundtland’s commission (chaired by mrs. cro harlem brundtland, the then prime minister of norway), rio summit of 1992 (the united nations conference on the environment and development) multilateral environmental agreements (meas),the intergovernmental panel on climate change (ipcc), and koyoto are at best the merger of environment and economics in decision making masquerading as multilateral mitigation and adaptive measures. as a result, human actions have continued to influence the climate, human induced climate change (ipcc, 2005), because the global economy, and consumption are still based on the weak model of sustainability that allows the total depletion of exhaustible resources as long as the derivative (forex) revenue is invested in tangible and intangible assets. the implication of this according to ohiaegbu is “the destruction of natural resources of today on tomorrow which leads to an "unsustainable situation" which developing nations have been subjected to, in satisfying international demands by depleting its share of nature’s resources, its natural capital” (ohiaegbu, 2006:106). for many reasons, the security problems facing contemporary africa deserve more rigorous and comprehensive attention. first, africa has become a major flashpoint of livelihood and other aspects of human security which interact with geo-strategic (or “hard”) security issues (smith and vivekanada, 2007; kimoon cited in the washington post, editorial, and 16 june 2007:15). for http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/natural_capital http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/natural_capital 204 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com instance, west africa has accounted for 15 percent of cumulative disaster events in africa between 1975 and 2002, which rose by 94 percent from the 1970s to the 1990s, or 154 disasters during the first five years of this decade, compared to 136 during the past two decades. this paper takes its departure from the point that africa’s securitization framework is myopic because it has not ‘captured the need to reach out in defence of people as well as the state’ (oberleitner, 2005: 190-191). thus, what constitutes an ‘existential threat’ in a world of "every state for itself'' (cooper, 2002:16) has not been determined in the contour of africa’s security and geostrategic considerations. whereas the emergent shift in security construct now stands in direct opposition to the earlier state-centric conceptualization security, africa’s “new security threat paradigm’’, however, has all the birth marks and finger prints of us global war on terrorism (gwot), a timeless, borderless geopolitical strategy whose presumptions is that all conflicts, insurrections and civil wars is terrorist threats, regardless of the facts on the ground. this explains the presence of such security coalitions, and institutions like the gulf of guinea guard,(ggg); the trans-sahara counter terrorism initiative (tscti); the gulf of guinea energy security strategy (ggess);combined joint task forcehorn of africa (cjtf-hoa), african conflict prevention pool (acpp), a unit created by the u.s. central command (centcom); the special operations command europe (soceur) of the u.s. european command (eucom);the terrorist interdiction program (tip) ,and the pan-sahel initiative (psi),among others (combined joint task force-horn of africa fact sheet 2006, http://www.hoa.centcom.mil/) in african continent. as the national security community have begun to characterize climate change as "the ‘coming anarchy’, a shift in focus to human security would therefore require securitization that is quite different from those that focus almost exclusively on the security of the state, regime or military security (willet ,2004: 114).there is no longer considerable ambiguity and confusion about what kind of security system” is most appropriate for africa (ajulu, 2004: 272-273), a more desirable type of security for africa is the one that dwell more on human security. for africa, human security means is the welfare of the individual, and by extension, the community, as against threats to regimes and the territoriality of nation states, earlier emphasized by the traditional realist state-centric conceptualization of security. this article proceeds as follows. the first part presents the changing discourse on security showing how the concept has expanded, why it did, and the need for rethinking the traditional realist paradigm of national security. the second part discusses the debate between developing nations, and the 205 | p a g e global security challenges and sustainable development in africa: an analysis of climate-change-as-anew security-threat paradigm. dr. aloysuis-michaels okolie; ohiaegbu chiemezue prince; okechukwu, groupson-paul uc. developed nation over who was responsible for ecological footprint and ecological debts and who should pay for the adaptation to the impacts of climate change. the third part highlighted africa’s susceptibility to the “hot spots” of the emerging non-military human security threats. let us begin by appreciating the changing discourse on security. changing discourse on security: transition from nuclear security to human and environmental security the issue of survival remains the base value of global politics, indeed, of all human agencies. one common feature of a traditional realist paradigm/approach to ‘security’ is that, the state is made the ontological referent object of security. under the realist traditional security framework supported by the doctrine of raison d’état, and the ‘leviathan’, state's security in the final analysis is only definable in terms of sovereignty and territorial integrity. thus, security being the primordial consideration of states often equated with their existence, state security was defined as ‘national security’ as opposed to the security of individuals, groups of one sort or another, civil society, world society or common humanity (see. buzan, 1994, lippman, 1991; meinecke, 1984). such a vision of security predisposed “states to priorities their own national security interests over and above the interests of individuals who live both within their own territories, and within other states (klare, 2001). with such a ‘corporatesecurity state’ framework, the government’s imperative is to provide security for its corporate interests in order to fulfill its national interests. however, such conception of security was never without its critics. the parsimoniousness of the traditional approach by paying disproportionate attention to the military dimension of security, not only made analysts to ignore other issues which were of equal importance and also blinded analysts to the inter-relationship between different threats to the different sectors: economic well-being, environment-related issues, social stability, etc (buzan,1998).in the wake of the end of the cold war, the narrowly militarised of a traditional realist paradigm understanding of ‘security’ started becoming anachronistic as a new framework of securitization known as ‘human security’ emerged that cover virtually all the measures that threaten human survival, and dignity (government of canada,1999); hampson,2000).thus, following the changing menus and priorities of world politics, the subject matter of security has undergone both a “broadening” and a “deepening” as well as a revisioning . as could be seen from the contours of the debate on security rethinking in security studies (see figure 1), the subject and the object of human security is now socially or environmentally constituted (see cell 2: and cell 4: in fig 1). therefore, it is not only issues that pertain to military security (cell 1: and cell 3) that impinge upon individual’s security. 206 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com the emergent shift in security construct now stands in direct opposition to the earlier traditional realist state-centric conceptualization. as a result, at least in theory one can talk of a transition from nuclear security to human security or, the security of person. for example, in the case of britain, one can now distinguishes between ‘defence policy’, which focuses exclusively on the military dimension, and ‘security policy’, which takes a broader view incorporating economic and trade issues. fig. 1: a matrix of security studies what is the source of security threat? military, non-military, or both? cell:1 national security (conventional realist approach to security studies) cell2: redefined security e.g., environment and economic security) cell 3 intra-state security, e.g., civil war ethnic conflict, and democide) cell 4: human security, e.g., environment and economic threats to the survival of societies, groups, and individuals) as a result, the idea of human security is now seen in terms of fivefold interwoven interaction between subsystems linked by specific bridges: environment and economy linked by resources; economy and society by social forces; society and polity by brokers and alliances; and politics and culture by ideology (just as in the relationships between the earth, a unified complex: interacting whole of air, water, land, and living organisms) (nef, 1985). the un development programme 1994 report and the creation of the commission on human security which published its report on human security now, in 2003, presents a more complex, varied, and nuanced visions of human security, as the security of the individual; safeguarding and expanding people’s vital freedoms, shielding people from acute threats and empowering people to take charge of their own lives’ (commission on human security, 2003:iv).such an ontology of security is in contrast to the traditional realist approach to ‘security’ in which the security of the regime in power was made the ontological referent object of security. upon the realization that mankind was living in a world of mutual vulnerability (head, 1991), and ecological interactions do not respect the boundaries and political jurisdiction of nation-states, the impact of climate change on peace and security was top on the agenda of the united nations security council held debate on april 17, 2007 (un department of public information, 2007). environmental 207 | p a g e global security challenges and sustainable development in africa: an analysis of climate-change-as-anew security-threat paradigm. dr. aloysuis-michaels okolie; ohiaegbu chiemezue prince; okechukwu, groupson-paul uc. security is an aspect of states’ external sovereignty (as that concept refers to relations among states), and at the same time an aspect of internal sovereignty (as it refers to a regulatory function of public policy (reinicke, 1998). this is because the interdependence between states, environmental issues, and national security cut across the domestic-international public policies at any level from the local to the global. yet, climate change does not affect people equally; the related disasters and impacts often intensify existing inequalities, vulnerabilities, economic poverty and unequal power relations (brody et al., 2008; ipcc, 2007). cost of climate change the stalemate between the developing, and developed nations in the climate change negotiations bound up fundamentally with inequality and injustice, can be resolved by the application of the rio principles when it states that a ‘state has sovereign right to exploit its own resources in accordance with its own policies, without harming the environment elsewhere (principle 2); environmental protection is an integral part of development (principle 4); and the polluter pays principles, including the internalization of costs and the use of economic instruments (principle 16) (haas, and levy, 1992:12).related to this , is the principle of ‘common but differentiated responsibilities’ which has become a key principle for the developing nations in the climate change negotiations. the position of most developing countries of differentiated (baumert, et al.,1999) responsibilities which implies that they should not be required to take any substantial commitments of their own in combating climate change (harris, 2003: 27), is underscored by the historical responsibility of developed countries for climate change. thus, a ‘common but differentiated responsibilities’ as stressed by the developed countries lays the principle of fair burden-sharing according to responsibility in the light of international justice, and is only a restatement of the ‘the polluter pays principles’ and the use of economic instruments (principle 16) in retrospect. this is justified realizing that developing countries are more exposed to climate hazards and less resilient, would be hit hardest by the economic and social impacts of climate change. they are projected to bear some 75–80 percent of the costs of damages induced by climate change (unfccc, 2007a). warming of 2°c could permanently reduce annual income per capita an estimated 4–5 percent in africa and south asia. the estimated losses for high-income countries are smaller, dropping the global annual average loss in income per capita to about 1 percent (world bank 2010c). africa represents only a small fraction, 2.5%, out of the total carbon dioxide (co2) emissions per year, yet 14% of the population of the world lives here. the emissions per inhabitant in libya, the seychelles and south africa are on the level of the lowest among oecd 208 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com countries with the other african countries trailing lower behind them. fig.2: industrialized countries emit most anthropogenic co2 (area proportional to historical co2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion, 19001999) regionally, emissions (both per capita and in total) are at their highest in united states (30.0%); europe (27.7%); former soviet union (13.7%), and china, india, and developing asia (12.2), or 83.6% taken together. in other words, most of the "greenhouse gases" (ghgs) of which the most important are carbon dioxide (co2), nitrous oxide (n2o,) and methane (ch4) working as a ‘greenhouse’ surrounding the earth were discharged by developed countries over the past few centuries. developed countries remain the largest per capita users of both total energy and industrial energy. a fact that must be remembered is that western countries and industrialized asian nations like japan and the republic of korea have moved many of their factories to developing countries such as china and india, where cheap labour allows them to manufacture at lower costs than at home. this globalization of production has resulted in the scenario in fig 3, the discharge of much more waste in poor nations that otherwise would have been released in developed countries. 199 | p a g e global security challenges and sustainable development in africa: an analysis of climate-change-as-anew security-threat paradigm. dr. aloysuis-michaels okolie; ohiaegbu chiemezue prince; okechukwu, groupson-paul uc. fig.3: the challenges of global warming and climate change over the years, industrial development has overexploited natural resources, polluted the air and water, altered the climate and resulted in enormous accumulations of waste from industrial facilities and from products discarded at the end of their life or displaced by newer models. the united national industrial development organization’s industrial development report (2011) noted that industrial development has brought unprecedented improvements in standards of living– but at an environmental cost. it noted further that pollution, resource depletion and the waste of discarded products, each at an all-time high– are major causes of environmental degradation and climate change. policy-makers must address them as they remap development paths (unido, 2011) one way of considering equity in terms of burden-sharing is by looking multilateral funding of adaptation efforts. arguably, not all funds pledged by developed countries have yet been made available, and some developing countries cite difficulties in accessing what funds are available. by one recent accounting, bilateral programmes have committed $110 million to more than 50 adaptation projects in 29 countries (frankel-reed, 2006). the world bank reported in 2006 that provided approximately $170 million “on the order of approximately $50 million over about five years,” mainly through the gifted world bank gef (2006) for the preparation of national communications, which address both mitigation and adaptation its support for adaptation had been. given the nature, and rate of funding, it becomes uncertain how the world bank could generate from “a few tens of millions” to $1 billion for adaptation purposes by 2012.this is in spite of the fact that there has been six more intergovernmental negotiating committee (inc) meetings from rio to kyoto (1992-1997). 209 199 | p a g e global security challenges and sustainable development in africa: an analysis of climate-change-as-anew security-threat paradigm. dr. aloysuis-michaels okolie; ohiaegbu chiemezue prince; okechukwu, groupson-paul uc. for the developing world, equity is about getting a fair share of the global common, and burden-sharing according to responsibility in the light of international justice, “cannot be avoided if the deep north-south divide that has characterized cooperation in the global economy were to be bridged. in fact, the us and australia threaten to drop their insistence if developing countries were not to get involved in new commitments. contrary to what was promised in the berlin mandate, some developed countries and the us in particular continued to push for commitments for developing countries. for instance, the third stage (1997), the post-kyoto agenda was a matter of how to make the agreement acceptable for certain developed countries and thereby secure their ratification (najam et al.,2003:222).thus, in the absence of commitment to mitigation, defined as any anthropogenic interventions that can either reduce the sources of greenhouse gas (ghg) emissions (abatement) or enhance their sinks (sequestration),and the promotion of a national-level analysis of the various technologies and practices that have the capacity to mitigate climate change (mitigation assessment ) by the international community, africa keeps paying the ecological debts of the developed countries’ ecological footprint. are human security issues in africa’s security and developmental equation, distinct from or similar to the existing ones on regime and/or territorial security? africa’s ecocatastrophes: the burden of global ecological footprints of weak sustainability. possible climate change/security interactions over time since africa is vulnerable the more to livelihood security and other aspects of human security which interact with geostrategic (“hard”) security issues (dfid, december 8, 2005). there is a complex matrix of possible climate change/security which interacts with the environment, adding further stresses to africa’s deteriorating situation. the international centre for trade and sustainable development (ictsd) provides possible impacts on rural livelihoods and food security, which is further compounded by matrix of possible climate change/security interactions over time (figure 4) fig 4: number of undernourished, incorporating climate change effects (in millions 1990 2020 2050 2080 2080/1990 ratio developing countries 885 772 579 554 0.6 asia, developing 659 390 123 73 0.1 210 199 | p a g e global security challenges and sustainable development in africa: an analysis of climate-change-as-anew security-threat paradigm. dr. aloysuis-michaels okolie; ohiaegbu chiemezue prince; okechukwu, groupson-paul uc. sub-saharan developing 138 273 359 410 3.0 latin amercia 54 53 40 23 0.4 middle east & north africa 33 55 56 48 1.5 source, joachim von braun, ifpri. impact of climate change on food security in times of high energy prices, background paper prepared for the international centre for trade and sustainable development (ictsd) figure 5 below depicts the matrix of possible climate change/security interactions over time. in the short term (2007-2020); medium term (2021-2050) and long term (2051-2100) direct impact of global weather catastrophes will involve local conflict over water, and some international conflict over water. many countries on the african continent are prone to recurrent droughts; some drought episodes, particularly in southeast africa, which are associated with el ninos, or enso (el nino -southern oscillation) events in ipcc jargon. figure 5: matrix of possible climate change/security interactions over time direct impact indirect consequences slowonset water food health megaprojects disasters bio-fuel sea level short term (2007 2020) local conflict over water failure to meet mdgs failure to meet mdgs long history of developmentinduced displacement from 1950s nation states begin to lose credibility due to inability to prevent large disasters isolated food fuel competition & price spikes small number of displac ements medi um term (2021 2050) increas ed local & some internat ional conflict over water significant displacement due to famine interacts with food production problems displacement of rural poor due to cdm & large scale dams & other state based mitigation & adaptation projects significant political unrest due to failure of drr & inadequate recovery in many countries food-fuel competition increases & biodiversity erosion increas ing displac ement & nationa l/ internat ional 211 199 | p a g e global security challenges and sustainable development in africa: an analysis of climate-change-as-anew security-threat paradigm. dr. aloysuis-michaels okolie; ohiaegbu chiemezue prince; okechukwu, groupson-paul uc. tension long term (2051 2100) major internat ional conflict over water major displacement & political upheaval major displacement due to epidemics major urban upheaval and other political fall out from mega-project displacement major upheaval with international implications due to unattended weather catastrophes major discontent due to food-fuel competition major internat ional tension s due to populat ion displac ement in the short term (2007-2020), indirect consequences of global weather catastrophes were attributed to the failure to meet mdgs. concerning the mdgs individually, undp (2007) states: …climate change may pose a threat to food security through erratic rainfall patterns and decreasing crop yields, contributing to increased hunger. furthermore, adverse climate change impacts on natural systems and resources, infrastructure, and labor productivity may lead to reduced economic growth, exacerbating poverty. these effects threaten the achievement of mdg 1. loss of livelihood assets, displacement and migration may lead to reduced access to education opportunities, thus hampering the realization of mdg 2. depletion of natural resources and decreasing agricultural productivity may place additional burdens on women’s’ health and reduce time for decision-making processes and income-generating activities, worsening gender equality and women’s’ empowerment (mdg 3). increased incidence of vector-borne diseases, increases in heat-related mortality, and declining quantity and quality of drinking water will lead to adverse health effects threatening the achievement of mdgs 4, 5, 6 and 7. in general terms, the realization of mdg 7 may be jeopardized through climate change negatively impacting quality and productivity of natural resources and ecosystems, possibly irreversibly, threatening environmental sustainability. climate change, a global phenomenon, calls for a collective response in the form of global partnerships. climate change has the potential to cause powerful systemic shocks to human development across a large number of countries and its threat potential in terms of human development impacts are likely to prove irreversible. the march 2008 european council report provided a striking synopsis of the challenges that climate change poses to international peace and security: the immediate and devastating effects of global warming will be felt far away 212 199 | p a g e global security challenges and sustainable development in africa: an analysis of climate-change-as-anew security-threat paradigm. dr. aloysuis-michaels okolie; ohiaegbu chiemezue prince; okechukwu, groupson-paul uc. from europe, with the poor suffering disproportionately in south asia, the middle east, central asia, africa and latin america, ultimately bearing the consequences. the fact that the consequences of climate change is disproportionately felt by the poorest who are least responsible for it, makes the issue of climate change one of justice as much as economic development. similarly, the intergovernmental panel on climate change (ipcc) in its fourth assessment report noted that the poor of this planet are most likely to suffer the worst effects of climate change. the ipcc 2007 report maintains that africa is very likely to suffer very damaging impacts and at present commands the least resources for coping and adapting to these stresses: the regional increase in temperature will be higher in africa than the global mean in some cases up to 50%. desertification will advance significantly, especially along the sahel zone, which stretches from senegal in the west to somalia in the east, as well as in southern africa these trends will lead to a decrease in the availability of water resources and agricultural land even as population increases and economic growth expands. this development will especially affect those states in which agriculture plays a significant role. 250-550 million people could be affected by hunger if there is a temperature increase of 3°c; it is likely that, by 2050, 75% of all undernourished people will be concentrated in africa. some countries' agricultural yields could decline by more than 50% by 2020 and incomes by more than 90% by 2100. in west africa, a roughly 500 km long metropolitan belt is developing between accra and the niger delta, which will be highly vulnerable in the face of any rise in sea level (ki-moon, 16 june 2007). climate change, increasing levels of water stress, and water-related crises a key challenge in responding to climate change is the increasing number of events of too much and too little water. from 1999 to 2008, floods affected almost 1 billion people in asia. the corresponding figures were about 4 million in europe, 28 million in the americas and 22 million in africa. for instance, the 2010 flood in pakistan affected more individuals than the combined impacts of the indian ocean tsunami (2004), the kashmir earthquake (2005) and the haiti earthquake (2010). flash floods in the himalayas are estimated to cause the loss of at least 5,000 lives every year. water is a critical resource for personal and national survival, and management of many of the world’s 261 international rivers will face severe tests: many coastal freshwater aquifers will suffer stalinization as a result of sea level rise. in africa alone, according to the ipcc 2007 report by 2020, between 75 and 250 million people are projected to be exposed to an increase of water stress due to climate change. if coupled with increased demand, this will adversely 213 200 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com affect livelihoods and exacerbate waterrelated problems. similarly, from various undp reports (2004) the threat of climate change and human development in countries in africa is alarming as increased levels of water stress will have a significant impact on food security in some countries in africa with yields from rain fed agriculture being reduced by up to 50% by 2020. it added that drought affected areas in sub-saharan africa could expand by 60-90 million hectares, with dry land zones suffering losses of us$26billion by 2060 (2003 prices), a figure in excess of bilateral aid to the region. it is estimated, in addition, that an additional 1.8 billion people could be living in a water-scarce environment by 2080. climate change is expected to have significant impacts on water supplies creating or exacerbating chronic shortages and on water quality. there is already widespread acceleration of glacial retreat and in many areas stream flow is shifting from spring to winter peaks. if continued, these shifts could affect the availability of water for agriculture and other uses. sea’s level rise will result in saltwater intrusion into coastal fresh water aquifers, potentially reducing water resource availability. changes in quantity and intensity of precipitation are likely to result in more floods and droughts and increased demand for irrigation water. water management often requires costly investment in infrastructure. given the long economic and physical life of reservoirs, water withdrawal, treatment, delivery, and disposal systems, adaptive responses are generally slower in water management than in agriculture (burton and may, 2004). one of the expected consequences of climate change is a rise in the sea level, due to heat expansion of water and glacier thawing (yao, 2002). according to the ipcc some of the expected consequences of a further increase in the mean temperature are sea-level rise, melting of glaciers, changed precipitation patterns and increased frequency of extreme weather events, all of which could have severe negative effects on human life and well-being as well as on the economy (ipcc 2001a). for instance, in china the annual average size of the area struck by flooding period between 1950 and 1989 was 8 million hectares, and from 1990 to 1998 this area has increased to 16.7 million hectares in average (ncccc, 2001). chinese research has estimated that a 1-meter rise in sea-level would inundate 92,000 square kilometers of china’s coast, thereby displacing 67 million people that live in coastal areas (world bank, 1997 in harris 2003). the coastal areas are also expected to suffer from the increased frequency of severe storms, salt-water intrusion and land loss (ipcc, 2001a). major cities have been warned against sea level rise (wagner, 28 march 2007). according to a team at keele university and the uk’s centre for ecology and hydrology, a large number of countries will suffer moderate, high, or severe 214 201 | p a g e global security challenges and sustainable development in africa: an analysis of climate-change-as-anew security-threat paradigm. dr. aloysuis-michaels okolie; ohiaegbu chiemezue prince; okechukwu, groupson-paul uc. stress and sea level rise in the long term and its collateral impacts on river flow as well as ocean discharge regimes will cause displacement of many millions of people currently living in coastal areas. for the small island nations of the world, especially the many cultural groups living on coral atolls, entire nations may face complete submersion. the study notes that, “of the more than 180 countries with populations in the lowelevation coastal zone, about 70 percent have urban areas of more than five million people that extend into it. the authors then list tokyo, japan; new york, u.s.; mumbai, india; shanghai, china; jakarta, indonesia; and dhaka, bangladesh. one could add other cities as well to the list, for example, cartagena, colombia; lima, peru; buenos aires, argentina; and recife and rio de janeiro, brazil. considering the fact that africa consists of four major basins which are bordered on the ocean side low-lying, africa’s is not exempted from the exposure to sea level-displacement-security (ibe, and awosika, 1991: 105-12). nicholls (2004) expects 200 million environmental migrants by 2080, whereas the friends of earth (2007) expects the same number by 2050 already, including 1 million in small island states. on the regional level, unep expects in africa alone 50 million environmental migrants by 2060 (boano, et al., 2008). christian aid (2007) classifies the expected environmental migrants by breaking down its predicted number of approx. 0.9 billion people by 2050 to 250 million people affected by droughts, floods and hurricanes and 645 million by dams and other development projects. vulnerable africa’s coastal cities include dakar, senegal; accra, ghana; lagos, nigeria; luanda, angola; cape town and durban, south africa; maputo, mozambique; dar es salaam, tanzania; and mombasa, kenya; and mogadishu, somalia. in nigeria for instance, coastal flooding plagues parts of the country, especially lagos state and the adjoining state of ogun. although coastal flooding represents a threat to coastal communities worldwide, the threat is potentially acute for coastal cities, such as lagos, which is already stressed to its limits by a population of 17 million. in the event of sudden rise of sea level of only 20 cm, it is estimated that over 740,000 people would be displaced in nigeria. a rise of 1 m would lead to 3.7 million internally displaced persons (idps), and 2 m would render over 10 million homeless people in the country (paehler, 2007). several african coastal zones, many of which already are under stress from population pressure and conflicting uses, would be adversely affected by sea-level rise associated with climate change. the coastal nations of west and central africa (e.g., senegal, gambia, sierra leone, nigeria, cameroon, gabon, and angola) have low-lying lagoon coasts that are susceptible to erosion and hence are threatened by sea-level rise, particularly because most of the countries in this area have major and 215 202 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com rapidly expanding cities on the coast. flooding is a common environmental challenge in lagos and its environs, and its impact would worsen in the years ahead as the sea-level rise interacts with other factors, like weak municipal waste disposal, poor drainage systems, demographic pressure, and collapse of social infrastructure. the west coast often is buffeted by storm surges and currently is at risk from erosion, inundation and extreme storm events. the coastal zone of east africa also will be affected, although this area experiences calm conditions through much of the year. however, sea-level rise and climatic variation may reduce the buffer effect of coral and patch reefs along the east coast, a result of which will lead losing a sizable proportion of the northern part of the nile delta through a combination of inundation and erosion, with consequent loss of agricultural land and urban areas. the cost of dislocation which includes stalinization of coastal aquifers and other low-lying fresh water resources and loss of infrastructure will be difficult for poor countries to bear, especially in africa. this observation is further reinforced by the intergovernmental panel on climate change report (2007): towards the end of the 21st century, projected sea-level rise will affect lowlying coastal areas with large populations. the cost of adaptation could amount to at least 5-10% of gdp. mangroves and coral reefs are projected to be further degraded, with additional consequences for fisheries and tourism. related to sea level rise is the issue of shortage of fresh water resources. of the 19 countries around the world currently classified as water-stressed, more are in africa than in any other region, and this number is likely to increase, independent of climate change, as a result of increases in demand resulting from population growth, degradation of watersheds caused by land use change and siltation of river basins. a drop in water level in dams and rivers could adversely affect the quality of water by increasing the concentrations of sewage waste and industrial effluents, thereby increasing the potential for the outbreak of diseases and reducing the quality and quantity of fresh water available for domestic use. the relationships between south africa and lesotho and between egypt and ethiopia illustrates that conflict may erupt between downstream and upstream riparians. this situation is particularly dangerous if the downstream country also believes it has the military power to rectify the situation.). what is important here is that such disputes occur not only among nation-states but also in areas of ethnic, regional, and subnational tensions, where competing loyalties and sovereignties make politics extremely volatile in fact, competition for pastoral land and water has been a driving force behind the majority of local confrontations for the last 70 years in some african societies (okidi, 1992, gleick, 1993:79-112). 216 198 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com fig 6: water poverty index (wpi) source: water poverty index http://www.ceh.ac.uk/sections/ph/waterpovertyindex.html a june 2007 report by the united nations environmental programme (unep) identified drought cycles, desertification, and land degradation as important contributing factors to the current crisis (united nations environment programme ,2007; united nations news april 17, 2007). a 2008 oxfam report noted that seven droughts between 1991 and 2000 have increased food insecurity, and prompted animal losses conflict, and cattle rustling. this is very critical to the production of food crops in most climate-dependent economic activity. as climate patterns shift, changes in the distribution of plant diseases and pests may also have adverse effects on agriculture (gitay et. al., 2001). the distribution of fresh water worldwide is another source of insecurity. water is an unevenly distributed resource, but distribution alone is not the main question. the central problem for most of the world population is access to clean water. it relates directly to health, energy, and food security. this is where the quandary lies. out of the proven 40 856 km3 of fresh water worldwide, subsaharan africa possesses about 9%; east asia and the pacific, 19%; south asia, 12%; the middle east and north africa, 0.67%; and latin america and the caribbean, about 26%. the oecd countries, in turn, contain within their territories more than 20% of the global fresh water (world bank 1992), and the remaining 13% is in the eastern european region, including the former soviet union. control over water resources is a vital and strategic humansecurity issue. also, with the same level of water precipitation, a business as usual scenario models indicate that likely 217 http://www.ceh.ac.uk/sections/ph/waterpovertyindex.html 199 | p a g e global security challenges and sustainable development in africa: an analysis of climate-change-as-anew security-threat paradigm. dr. aloysuis-michaels okolie; ohiaegbu chiemezue prince; okechukwu, groupson-paul uc. surface temperature rises by 2100 will be in the range 1.40 to 5.80c, dependent on latitude and longitude. for southern africa; sub-continental warming is predicted to be greatest in the northern regions. temperature increases in the range of between 10c and 30c can be expected by the mid-21st century, with the highest rises in the most arid parts of the country. of greater consequence for south africa, as a semi-arid country, is the prediction that a broad reduction of rainfall in the range 5% to 10% can be expected in the summer rainfall region. this will be accompanied by an increasing incidence of both droughts and floods; with prolonged dry spells being followed by intense storms. it is anticipated that climate variability and change in the sahel will have overwhelming impacts on agriculture and land use, ecosystem and biodiversity, human settlements, diseases and health, and hydrology and water resources. with respect to agriculture and land use, climate change will likely elicit a significant change in agricultural production both in terms of the quantum of products as well as the location or area of production (fig.7). such “extreme precipitation events” causes increased soil erosion (adejuwon, 2004.the on an ecosystem leads to low yield of agricultural products for industries that depends on it. this is the case in cocoa farming in okitipupa, of ondo state in nigeria where changes in rainfall pattern leads to change in the yield of cash crops like cocoa and rubber, palm oil. this has affected cocoa grower scheme and contract farming for supply of cocoa beans (nigerian tribune, wednesday 23 april, 2008. page 26) fig 7: production trend of major export crops in nigeria (1960-1994) crop metric tons (000) export earnings (in million) remarks as at 1994 1960 1980 1994 1960 1980 1994 cocoa 180 143 100 35.0 15.0 10.0 56% consumed locally palm produce 617 134 22 38.2 0.0 0.0 100% consumed locally rubber 58 98 99 14.2 8.0 10.0 very little for export cotton 151 0.0 262 5.9 0.0 0.0 100% consumed locally source: ministry of agriculture, fisheries & forestry, ondo state. accessed from: http://www.ondostate.gov.ng/min_aff.php, on july 28, 2010 218 http://www.ondostate.gov.ng/min_aff.php 198 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com the implication of the above environmental trends is that it affects security in nigeria by exacerbating the effects of other security stressors, like poverty and disease. for instance, agriculture is the main source of food, industrial raw materials, and employment (about 70%) in nigeria. this is very critical for agriculture which is the economic mainstay in most african countries, except the oilexporting countries, contributing 20-30 per cent of gdp in sub-saharan africa and 55 per cent of the total value of african exports. another way of seeing “extinction risk from climate change” (fig.8) to paraphrase thomas, and 18 co-authors is to look at ecosystems and biodiversity. changes in natural ecosystems are among the first observable impacts of climate change. generally, apparent effects of these threats include loss of biodiversity, rapid deterioration in land cover and depletion of water availability through destruction of catchments and aquifers. source: proceedings of red cross /red crescent climate centre international conference 2007 another ipcc (1997) report noted that, where extreme weather events become more intense and/or more frequent, the economic and social costs of those events will increase, and these increases will be substantial in the areas most directly affected. the report went further to state that more and more megadisasters such as those associated with hurricane mitch (1998), the orissa super-cyclone (1999), hurricanes katrina and rita, and tropical storm stan (2005) often produce cascades of secondary physical hazards such as 1. rising temperatures (global warming) 2. changes in local average climate (warmer, changing rainfall, higher sea levels, etc.) 3. changes in local risk of extremes (heat wave, flood, drought, storm, etc.) changing vulnerability changing disaster risk 4. socio-economic circumstances, natural resources, political stability, etc. etc. fig 8: climate change and its implication for disaster risk 219 199 | p a g e global security challenges and sustainable development in africa: an analysis of climate-change-as-anew security-threat paradigm. dr. aloysuis-michaels okolie; ohiaegbu chiemezue prince; okechukwu, groupson-paul uc. landslides (as nicaragua during mitch or in vargas, venezuela in 1999) or downstream inundation when dams overflow or dam authorities release large volumes of water to safeguard large dams (as in mozambique at present and in several recent years).they also trigger changes in social relations, including the exacerbation of unequal gender relations evident in literature on gender differentiated impacts of natural disasters ( fao. ,2010a; fao.,2010b). this suggest that the impacts of climate change will also be gender differentiated. climate change and gender as with natural disasters, climate change is likely to exacerbate previously existing patterns of discrimination that, on average, render women more vulnerable to fatalities and reduce their life expectancy, especially for economically poor women, more than men. disasters that lead to increased physical, social and economic insecurity, and affect women and children, are among some of the push factors that give rise to trafficking. therefore, insecure disaster regions must be considered as potential areas for such harmful activities. women and children are at greatest risk and most susceptible to trafficking and exploitation in times of disasters (hodge and lietz, 2007). natural disasters, such as earthquakes and tsunamis, and climate-related disasters, such as floods or famine crises, may disrupt local security and safety nets and increase levels of stress, family conflict and mental health issues. therefore, they contribute to the neglect of children “overcrowding, chaotic conditions, lack of privacy and the collapse of regular routines can contribute to anger, frustration and violence”, with children (especially girls) and women being the most vulnerable individuals .women or children face a greater risk of becoming targets for exploitation, gender-based violence and human trafficking when they are unaccompanied, separated or orphaned, due to the erosion of social controls and protections that normally regulate the behavior within households and communities (fao. 2010a; fao. 2010b). climate change and national health problems one of the most worrisome national security threats of climate change is the spread of disease, among both people and animals. the u.s. global change research programme, which congress created in 1990 to coordinate the work of 13 government agencies on global warming, released a report that identified 11 key health areas at risk from climate change. among the concerns were diseases spread by food, water and pests such as mosquitoes and ticks; respiratory allergies; asthma and other respiratory diseases; and heatrelated deaths and illnesses. the impact of disease on africa's stability has long been a concern for u.s. intelligence and military officials, and the national intelligence council recognized in a national intelligence estimate in 2000 that "climatic shifts" were likely to allow 220 200 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com diseases such as malaria and yellow fever to spread to new areas. as illustrated in fig figure 9 below human health is being increasingly recognized as having strong environmental components. obvious examples include the importance to human health of good air quality, clean drinking water, clean food, and minimal exposure to toxic chemicals and uv-b radiation. recent changes in the epidemiology of lyme disease, hantavirus, malaria, trypanosomiasis, schistosomiasis, cholera, and yellow fever are attributable to changing land-use practices. direct effects include increases in heat stress, decreases in cold-related mortality, and increases in air pollution–related pulmonary and allergic complications. indirect effects, some mediated through interactions with land-use practices, include increases in the geographic distribution of a variety of diseases including malaria; dengue fever, yellow fever, and hantavirus. the increased health risks are likely to be most acute in developing countries. this is because many climate-related infectious and vector-borne diseases are associated with warm or hot weather conditions and, most importantly, because public health systems, which can substantially reduce health risks, tend to be relatively weak in many developing countries (campbelllindrum et. al., 2003). africa is at risk primarily from increased incidences of vector-borne diseases and reduced nutritional status. thus, there is increased morbidity and mortality in sub-regions where vector-borne diseases increase following climatic changes would have far-reaching economic consequences. fig 9: tropical cyclones, prolonged droughts, extreme rainfall, sea level rise, mosquito bites source: proceedings of red cross /red crescent climate centre international conference, 2007 221 198 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com epidemics accounted for 40% of disasters in the sub-region during 1975 to 2003, compared to 20% by flood and drought, and cause most human fatalities and debilitation. there has been a reported increase in the prevalence or outbreak of diseases, such as malaria, cerebral-spinal meningitis, and heat strokes in nigeria for instance. for example, the world health organization (who) reported there were about 17,500 cases of “serious” outbreaks of meningitis in the northern part of nigeria in early 2009. no fewer than 960 people died of the disease, especially in bauchi, gombe, taraba, yobe, and zamfara states. obviously, in an environment of worsening poverty and falling health standards, citizen’s expectation from the government increases. with reference to nigeria, climate change-related flooding has already had immediate impacts on food production, livelihood assets, and human survival, in both rural and urban areas in nigeria. there are about 61 active erosion sites in the 177 communities in anambra state, estimated to cost over 17 billion (naira). one of such erosion sites in umuchianaekwulobia has submerged 75 buildings and displaced about 437 families. in 2008, for instance, erosion washed off the rail line linking aba and port harcourt, leading to a decline in economic activities in aba, abia state. soil erosion has destroyed many communities and rendered about 200,000 homeless as internally displaced persons in abia, enugu, and anambra states of southeastern nigeria. heavy rainfall and perennial flooding in some states, like adamawa, bauchi, borno, kebbi, lagos, nassarawa, niger, ogun, plateau, sokoto, and yobe, in 2007 affected about 50,000 people, and killed about 63 persons. in bauchi state, no fewer than 24 persons were reported dead, while 5,787 farmlands and 13,609 houses, worth over n 717.3 million (naira), were destroyed by the flood. in gombe state, similar floods induced about a 50 percent hike in prices of grains. consequently, 100 kg bags of maize, beans, millet, and sorghum increased to n 3,400, n6,000, n4,000, and n3,000 respectively, as against n 1,700, n 3,000, n2,000, and n 1,500 three weeks before the flood disasters. dr tunde arosanyim, chairman of the all farmers association of nigeria (afan), attributed the flood to global warming, describing it “as the worst in 20 years” (onuoha, & ezirim, 2010). defective adaptation measures as 'environmental terrorism’ while a key factor in reducing future risks in developing countries lies in strengthening the development of effective adaptation measures (tol and dowlatabadi, 2002; ebi et. al. ,2005).by default, however, adaptative measures that emerged from international climate effort such as unfccc have their side effects, what literarily amounts to 'environmental terrorism’, “incidents in which the environment itself is disrupted with ecological consequences of the act" (schwartz, 1998: 484).this is already taking place in the form mega-projects 222 199 | p a g e global security challenges and sustainable development in africa: an analysis of climate-change-as-anew security-threat paradigm. dr. aloysuis-michaels okolie; ohiaegbu chiemezue prince; okechukwu, groupson-paul uc. conceived by nation -states as solutions to climate change such as the planting of large scale forestry under the kyoto protocol’s clean development mechanism (cdm).for instance ,such large-scale investments as in the case of bio-fuels which is seen in the medium and long term as a substitute for green house gas-producing petro-based energy sources have had the perverse effect of taking considerable land out of food production and diverting food grains, thus raising food prices and eroding biodiversity. on this count, africa is experiencing corporate plunder of its land. according to the international food policy research institute: 150 million in the democratic republic of congo, in ghana, the norwegian firm biofuel africa secured 38,000 hectares for 'the largest jatropha plantation in the world; european companies have grabbed over 600,000 hectares of land for the cultivation of agro fuels crops; in mozambique sun biofuel has acquire more than one-seventh of the country's total area for growing energy plants estimated above 11 million hectares; in swaziland the british multinational d1 oils have acquired over 3,000 hectares in various parts of the country in addition to over 1,000 hectares at d1 oils-operated farms, in madagascar a south korean firm daewoo logistics plans to buy a 99-year lease on over a million hectares for the production of 5m tones of corn a year by 2023, and to use another 120,000 hectares for the production of palm oil; in sudan there are efforts by the state to attract investors for almost 900,000 hectares of its land; in ethiopia, the government set aside 24 million hectares for the production of fuel crops (hailu,2008; rosengrant, et al, 2006; knaup,2008; borger, 2008) cognizant of the extensive commercial interest in development of advanced biofuel, in august 2011, president barack obama announced that the u.s. navy, along with the departments of energy and agriculture, would invest up to $510 million to co-finance construction or retrofit plants and refineries capable of producing significant quantities of advanced biofuels over the next three years. the biofuels being pursued by military and commercial interests include hydrotreated renewable jet fuel (hrj) and hydro-processed renewable diesel fuel (hr-d), both of which can be made from the same materials or feedstock. production-level feed stocks include oil seeds such as camelina, jatropha, rapeseed, soybeans and babassu; animal fats; and plant and cellulosic materials such as crop residue, wood scraps and switch grass. in this regards, seattlebased altair fuels, affiliated with sustainable oils, is building two biorefineries to supply drop-in substitutes for traditional jet fuels to the air force, with production beginning in bakersfield, calif., in late 2012 and in tacoma, in 2014. also, sapphire’s plant is projected to be producing 100 million gallons of renewable diesel 2013 and jet fuel by 2018 and 1 billion gallons by 2025. additionally, an australian coalition including qantas, virgin and 223 200 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com boeing plans to ensure that five percent of australia’s aviation fuel will be biofuel by 2015, and 40 percent by 2050. to recapitulate, the implications of these private-sector investments in biofuel besides causing corporate plunder of africa’s arable lands are bound. ultimately, it leads to “the destruction of africa’s natural resources of today on tomorrow in satisfying international demands by depleting africa’s natural capital ,its share of nature’s resources,”(ohiaegbu, 2006:106) as the commercialization and internationalization of biofuel production has become a self-fulfilling prophecy. also, this alternative source of energy while reducing the dependence of the developed nations on fossil fuel from the developing nations will reduce the foreign exchange of oil exporting nations. these further reduce africa’s adaptive capacity, and help explain climate-change-as-a-securitythreat nexus and its implication for africa’s insecurity and sustainable development in a changing global security architecture in the 21st century. conclusion in the foregoing analysis, we have highlighted some of the current environmental trends posed by climate change that serve as the transmission belts of the security threats to africa. the following observations emerged from the analysis :(1) following the aftermath of the cold war and changing menus and priorities of world politics ,the subject matter and foci on security discourse ,security undergone both a “broadening” and a “deepening” as well as a revisioning which significantly led to socially and environmentally reconstitution of human security; (2) the main challenge to security narrative for managing current climate variability still remains how to link economic security with environmental sustainability in a non-dematerializing global economy,(3) the underlying assumptions of mainstream “ecoefficiency” approach to development under the kyoto protocol’s clean development mechanism (cdm) is neo-liberalism , at best the merger of environment and economics in decision making masquerading as multilateral mitigation and adaptive measures (mmams),and therefore, cannot serve the cause of sustainable human security; finally (4) the search for new paradigms for security must take cognizance of the cascading consequences of existential threat from climate change that do not lend themselves to military response and are capable of producing “deadly pandemics and other natural disasters” with wmd-like effects . contingent upon the above observations, the following recommendations are proffered as policy options for africa’s needed new securitization and security threat projection: i. the importance of climate policy to national security demands that it receives much greater prioritization, and therefore, national security 224 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/natural_capital http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/natural_capital 201 | p a g e global security challenges and sustainable development in africa: an analysis of climate-change-as-anew security-threat paradigm. dr. aloysuis-michaels okolie; ohiaegbu chiemezue prince; okechukwu, groupson-paul uc. consequences of climate change should be fully integrated into national security and national defense strategies; ii. the african political leadership should securitize the issue of climate change by prioritizing a revisioning of security which sees individual, and human security as the ultimate referent object in any securitization framework, and projection of security; iii. with multiple, complex connections among, environmental quality, human migrations, war, disease, social disruption, and ecoterrorism, security consequences of climate change should be fully integrated in national development plans of african nation-states since [t]he environment has a profound impact on african national interest in the sense that environmental forces transcend borders and oceans to threaten directly the health, prosperity and jobs of african citizens national security should be increasingly seen as an environmental issue, hence providing for proactive measures for responding to climate shocks that may come from within or outside africa’s territorial borders; iv. as climate change response actions can potentially act as a significant factor in boosting sustainable economic and social development, a national strategy specifically designed to bring this about must include the major objectives of poverty alleviation and the creation of jobs; v. two simultaneous and parallel courses of action is need: the transformation of african energy systems, our lifestyles, our economies, in order to minimize, and preferably prevent, climate change; and preparing for the disastrous consequences of the global warming which is already on the horizon, with a view to engage in a comprehensive and profound dialogue on the new security challenges facing us; vi. having seen that the developed countries’ ecological footprint is being paid by africa’s ‘ecological debts’, an euphemism for the historical responsibility of developed countries for climate change, africa’s approach to reducing or coping with climate risks should be a complementary elements of a comprehensive international effort, and a national self-help reactive–proactive approach which a balance of the mitigation and adaptation side of the climate change response equation. the policy proposals presented here are illustrative rather than exhaustive, but they have the potential to strengthen national security by reducing africa’s vulnerabilities to climate change. 225 202 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com references adejuwon s.a (2004) “impacts of climate variability and climate change on crop yield in nigeria” climate –change unit, department of environmental assessment, federal ministry of environment, abuja adisa, j. (1981). “the limits of nuclear capability”, daily times lagos, march 2006 ajulu, r. (2004). ‘african security: can regional organizations plan a role?’. in shannon field, peace in africa: towards a collaborative security regime. johannesburg, south africa: institute for global dialogue, pp. 265-282 aluko, o. (1981). essay on nigerian foreign policy, london george allen & union. borger, j. (2008).'rich countries launch great land grab to safeguard food supply'. the guardian, london, saturday november 22, 2008 boyd, r. (2005). ‘gender and human security issues: building a programme of action-research’. development in practice, 15, 1, february 2005: 115-121 brundtland, g.h. (1989). our common future. oxford university press, new york, ny, usa. buzan, barry & ole wæver, (2003). regions and powers: the structure of international security. cambridge: cambridge university press. buzan, b; wæver o, and wilde, (1998). security: a new framework for analysis. boulder, co: lynne rienner. campbell-lendrum, d. h., corvalan, c. f. and prüss-ustün. a. (2003). “how much disease could climate change cause,” in a. j. mcmichael, d. h. campbelllendrum, c. f. corvalan, k. l. ebi, a. k. githeko, j. d. scheraga, and a. woodward, (eds). climate change and human health: risks and responses. geneva: world health organization, pp. 133-158. combined joint task force-horn of africa (2006). fact sheet, accessed at http://www.hoa.centcom.mil/ december, 20th. daly, h. (1996). beyond growth. boston: beacon press. food and agricultural organisation. (2010a). gender dimensions of agricultural and rural development: differentiated pathways out of poverty. http://www.fao.org/ (accessed 31st october, 2011) franke, b. ( 2007) .“enabling a continent to help itself: u.s. military capacity building and africa’s emerging security architecture,” strategic insights, vol.6 no. 1,pp. 1-13. gberie, l. (2005). ‘africa: the troubled continent’, african affairs, 104, 415, 2005 gleick, (1993)."water and conflict: fresh water resources and 226 203 | p a g e global security challenges and sustainable development in africa: an analysis of climate-change-as-anew security-threat paradigm. dr. aloysuis-michaels okolie; ohiaegbu chiemezue prince; okechukwu, groupson-paul uc. international security," international security, vol. 18, no. 1 (summer), pp. 79-112. government of canada (1999). “human security: safety for people in a changing world,” department of foreign affairs and international trade, may 1999, hailu, n. b. (2008). 'africa: agrofuels, energy and trade linkages,' a paper presented at the conference on agrofuels by friends of the earth africa, held in abuja, nigeria, 13 august hampson, f. o. (2000). “the axworthy years: an assessment,” presentation prepared for delivery to the group of 78, national press club, ottawa, october 31, http://www.hri.ca/partners/g78/e nglish/peace/hampson-axworth. head, i. (1991). on a hinge of history: the mutual vulnerability of south and north. university of toronto press, toronto, on, canada. hopkins, r.; paarlberg, r.; wallerstein, m. (1982). food in the global arena. holt, rinehart and winston, new york, ny, usa. hopkins, r., puchala, d. (1978). the global political economy of food. university of wisconsin press, madison, wl, usa. ibe, a.c. awosika, l.f. (1991). “sea level rise impact on african coastal zones”. in s.h. ominde and c. juma, eds., a change in the weather: african perspectives on climate change, 105-12. african centre for technology studies: nairobi, kenya [reprinted with permission by ciesin http://www.ciesin.columbia.edu/d ocs/004-153/004-153 . ibikunle, supo (1976). “breaking the monopoly of atomic power”. times international. lagos. intergovernmental panels on climate change fourth assessment report on climate change (2007): synthesis report, summary for policymakers. accessed from http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessmen t-report ,accessed on march, 28 2010 ipcc (1997). “african coastal zones”.in ipcc special report on the regional impacts of climate change: an assessment of vulnerability http://www.grida.no/climate/ipcc/ regional/ jinadu, l. a. (2000). ‘the dialectics of democracy, development, peace and security in africa’. in l. adele jinadu ed., the political economy of peace and security in africa: ethnocultural and economic perspectives. harare, zimbabwe: aaps books,2000: 111 ki moon, ban (16 june 2007). “a climate culprit in darfur”. the washington post. editorial. 16 june 2007. available at :http://www.washingtonpost.com/ accessed on march 23,p.15 klare, m. (2009).“repudiate the carter doctrine”. foreign policy in focus (fpif), jan 22,. 227 http://www.ciesin.columbia.edu/docs/004-153/004-153 http://www.ciesin.columbia.edu/docs/004-153/004-153 http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report 204 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com http://www.fpif.org/articles/repudi ate_the_carter_doctrine knaup, h. (2008).'africa becoming a biofuel battleground'. business week, 8 september. martinez-alier, j., g. munda and j. o’neill (1999). “commensurability and compensability in ecological economics”. in m. o’connor and c. spash (eds.), valuation and the environment: theory, method and practice. edward elgar, cheltenham. marwah o, a schulz (eds.) (1975). nuclear proliferation and near nuclear countries. cambridge, mass: university m press. mazrui ali a (1967). towards a pax africana: a study in ideology and ambition, london: meadows, d.; et al. (1974). the limits to growth (2nd ed.). new york, ny, usa: universe books nef, j. (1995). “environmental policy and politics in latin america: the chilean case”. in dwivedi, o.p.; vajpeyi, d.k., ed., environmental policy and developing nations. lynne rienner, boulder, co, usa. pp. 145–174. nicholas, s. et al. (2006). the economics of climate change (the stern review). cambridge university press: cambridge. norman myers, (1989)."environment and security," foreign policy, no. 74 (spring 1989), p.32. nweke, a. g (1980). harmonization of african foreign policies, 19551975: the political economy of african diplomacy. brookline, mass.: african studies center, boston university nweke, a. g. (2000). functionalsim and the new world order: the dwindling options for africa. african political science review. vol.1 number. 1 p.36 nweke, a. g. (1985). african security in the nuclear age, enugu, nigeria: fourth dimension publishers oberleitner, g. (2005). ‘human security: a challenge to international law?’, global governance, 11, 2005: 185-203 oberthür, s. (2001).” linkages between the montreal and kyoto protocols: enhancing synergies between protecting the ozone layer and the global climate”. international environmental agreements: politics, law and economics 1(3):357-377. ohiaegbu, p.c. (2007). nigeria’s foreign investment and trade relations,1960-2006. m.sc. thesis presented to the department of political science, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of master of science degree in political science (international relations). okidi,c. (1992)."environmental stress and conflicts in africa: case studies of african international drainage basins," paper prepared for the project on environmental change and acute conflict. 228 http://www.fpif.org/articles/repudiate_the_carter_doctrine http://www.fpif.org/articles/repudiate_the_carter_doctrine 205 | p a g e global security challenges and sustainable development in africa: an analysis of climate-change-as-anew security-threat paradigm. dr. aloysuis-michaels okolie; ohiaegbu chiemezue prince; okechukwu, groupson-paul uc. oladipo, e.o. (1995). an indication of abrupt change of rainfall and it potential impact on energy development in nigeria. in: umolu, j. c. (ed). global climate change: impact on energy development. damtech nigeria limited, nigeria. nigeria: agriculture. accessed from: http://www.nationsencyclopedia.c om/ , on july 15, 2011 onuoha, f.c. & ezirim, g.e. (2010). “climatic change and national security: exploring the conceptual and empirical connections in nigeria”. journal of sustainable development in africa, clarion university of pennsylvania, usa. vol. 12, no.4.available online at: http://www.jsdafrica.com/jsda/v12no4_summer 2010 parikh, j. (1995). “joint implementation and the north and south cooperation for climate change.” international environmental affairs, 7(1). renner, m. (1989). “national security: the economic and environmental dimensions”. the world watch institute, washington, dc., usa. worldwatch paper no. 89. report of the world commission on environment and development and the general assembly resolution 42/187, of 11 december 1987. rosengrant m.et al, (2006). bioenergy and agriculture: promises and challenges', international food policy research institute. sabelo, j. n. (2004). ‘putting people firstfrom regime security to human security: a quest for social peace in zimbabwe, 19802002’, in alfred g. nhema, the quest for peace in africa: transformations, democracy and public policy. addis ababa: international books with ossrea, september, 13, pp.297322. smith, d and janani, v. (2007). “a climate of conflict: the links between climate change, peace and war”, international alert. http://www.international-alert.org/ accessed on june,23. subramanian, (1982). (ed.). nuclear myths and realities. new delhi: abc publishing house. tol, r.s.j. and dowlatabadi. h. (2002). “vector-borne diseases, development, and climate change.” integrated environmental assessment, 2, pp. 173-181. thomas, c. et.al.(2004). “extinction risk from climate change.” nature, 427, pp. 145-148. undp. (2004). reducing disaster risk: a challenge for development. geneva: undp bureau for crisis prevention and recovery http://www.un.org/specialrep/ohrlls/ldc/globalreports/undp%20reducing%20 disaster%20risk.pdf; 229 http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/africa/nigeria-agriculture.html http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/africa/nigeria-agriculture.html http://www.jsd-africa.com/jsda/v12no4_summer2010 http://www.jsd-africa.com/jsda/v12no4_summer2010 http://www.jsd-africa.com/jsda/v12no4_summer2010 http://www.un.org/special-rep/ohrlls/ldc/global-reports/undp%20reducing%20disaster%20risk.pdf http://www.un.org/special-rep/ohrlls/ldc/global-reports/undp%20reducing%20disaster%20risk.pdf http://www.un.org/special-rep/ohrlls/ldc/global-reports/undp%20reducing%20disaster%20risk.pdf http://www.un.org/special-rep/ohrlls/ldc/global-reports/undp%20reducing%20disaster%20risk.pdf 206 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com united national industrial development organization (2011). industrial development report -industrial energy efficiency for sustainable wealth creation capturing environmental, economic and social dividends united nations environment program. (2007). sudan: post-conflict environmental assessment. nairobi, kenya: june 2007. available at: http://www.unep.org/sudan/. united nations news (2007). “security council holds first-ever debate on impact of climate change on peace, security, hearing over 50 speakers”. security council 5663rd meeting april 17, 2007. available at: http://www.un.org/news/press/do cs/2007/ volman, d .( 2008).u.s. military programs in sub-saharan africa 2005-2007, africa security research project paper, http://allafrica.com/resources/ view/00010822.pdf. wagner, t (2007) “major cities warned against sea level rise” independent (south africa) march,28. weidenfield and nicolson. (1964). “the united nations and some african political attitudes”, international organizations, vol. xviii, summer. heinemann). willet, s. (2004). ‘development and security in africa: a challenge for the new millennium’, in geoff harris ed., achieving security in sub-saharan africa: cost effective alternatives to the military. pretoria : iss, 2004: 101-120. 230 http://www.unep.org/sudan/ http://www.un.org/news/press/docs/2007/ http://www.un.org/news/press/docs/2007/ http://allafrica.com/resources/ 1 | p a g e the fallacy of diplomacy of interventions in african conflicts by okechukwu, groupson – paul alex ekweme federal university ebonyi state groupsonpaul@yahoo.com okechukwu prisca chinyere enugu state college of education (technical), enugu prispelladiag@gmail.com abstract africa, yes, was bedevilled by several conflicts and crisis. occasioned by incompetent leadership, styled to tyranny, greed, corruption, primitive accumulations and wanton self – eliminations of other an enterprise that was applauded, condemned, and yet funded by friends, sympathizers, and neighbours alike in the name of intervention. in different manners they came; in different manners they aided conflict, and in different manners they exploited the empty state to perpetual abjection. true or false interventions are meant to diminish the state. no state experienced it and remains the same. yet we were informed that diplomacy is a peaceful conduct of relations among states, only for it be for the africans an awful fallacies of interventions in state crisis. key words: diplomacy, leadership, primitiveaccumulation, interventions, arms-aid introduction intervention to either save lives and or to help in ameliorating problems occasioned by wars, conflicts, rebellion, disasters, and displacements against persons, people, groups, and society amongst others are seen as a noble course meant to uphold the respect for human life, dignity and rights to existence. it also acted as the basting of hopes to many as preached by diplomacy, which is the peaceful, conducts of relationship among political entities, their principals and accredited agents, hamilton (1996). the debasement and defaming of these notions in the african context however had made many to believe in the reverse of strang (1961) view that in the world where war is everybody’s tragedy and everybody’s nightmare, that diplomacy is everybody’s business this is due to the facts that in the midst of african several crises, interventions have being taken to mean different thing to different people, groups, organization and even mailto:prispelladiag@gmail.com 2 | p a g e neighbours. this is because many at times the rich, poor, strong, and even the weak pray that the richly endowed or the have not countries and otherwise should experience crisis so that they can help to either plunder or dismember the frontier. the victims of such distortions are mostly the states endowed with crude oil, gold, diamond and uranium among others. most of the struggles are centered on political power and control of the state. berdal (2002) noted that the economy of war profits interveners in several ways to confirm the intention of many interveners. to some, the respect for human life and dignity allows them to see destruction, disaster and gross displacement in the fleeing state as something that needs voluntary desires to be helped if it warrants intervening. be that as it may, the united nations general guideline for intervention and peacekeeping (1995) sees intervention in the current dispensation as a necessary evil, but how necessary and urgently desired becomes a question the body has not been able to find an answer to. premised on this notion, diplomacy of intervention in african states several conflicts are viewed from different perspectives in this discourse. for it is in this manner of interventions, expressed in different diplomatic intrigues, that confront our sense of reasons to argue whether there are actually interventions in itself; is intervention a hocus – pocus fallacy of states’ pride to display her strength; another dimension of impoverishing and exploiting the state in crisis to total abjection; and or an act meant to arm and encourage a continual crisis while the visitors consistently loots and plunder the state treasury and values. instances has shown that from the religious injunctions of the old (holy bible) that unnecessary looting and plunder of state to some extent attracts divine punishments to even the fourth generation, compared to today’s practice under globalization, which such act are meant to enhance the participators riches and provide wealth to the impoverished and enslaved soldiers of peace. thus, jetley (1999) observed that the nigerian officers and soldiers connived with ruf rebels to trade in diamond and exchange of arms against their basic responsibility of being here (sierra leone). in faraway ruhengeri – rwanda, punnier (1997) reiterated that the french soldiers were seen exchanging tutsi girls from their captors (hutu soldiers and the interahamwe militias) for a grenade. at niger – delta, nigeria members of dokubo/mend (2004) accepted exchanging crude oil with sophiscated weapons in the high sea with some international arms dealers. such also existed in sudan-darfur crisis, angola crisis, and uganda crisis among others. all these were the kind of interventions in conflicts going on in africa if you care to ask me. meaning that none ever intervene without thinking of what will be gain, either in the long or short run. more so, since it is rare and hard to find genuine interventionist. in furtherance to this, the followings discussions after the theoretical arguments drive home our points: theoretical arguments 3 | p a g e mindful of the level of destruction, devastations, dislocation and distortions in the africa towards the end of the 21st century into the new millennium, to which africa has never been the same due to the kind and manner of interventions in african politics and governance, this section, co-opts to adopt the national interest model of power framework as a point of emphasis, also establishes it as a link or complementary tools to the research investigation of the events and activities of the subject under study while bringing the anomalies to the fore. national interest model of power framework the study is situated on the national interest model of power framework. this is because interest is the main cause of actions as found amongst the sahel nations relationship to arab springs (libya in particular) and, the libyan government foreign policy and diplomatic affair in african is also centred on interest, if we agrees with morgenthau (1960:8) that national interests is the totality of state value. he further argued that national interest is the perennial standard by which political actions must be judged and directed, hence the objective of a foreign policy must be defined in term of national interest, which are those things that constitute the interest of the nation. scholars of this school had argued that no state ever go into anything without having interest attached. they noted that state’s interest is always in anything that will be of benefit to it. they concluded that state’s interest is always inevitable, as she selfishly devices means of actualizing her goals in that particular situation. furtherance to this, frankel (1993:76-80) agreed that people maintain social order in a bid to satisfying their self national interest; that national interest is a fundamental notion that defy definition by reference to other terms, because it is analytically convenient although often empirically impossible to determine whether the values found in the formulation of a specific interest had been internalized by the decision-makers or introduced only in response to environmental pressures, generally domestic but sometimes also international. beard (1934:22-24) opined that national interest is a national honour, the public interest and general will of a state; as employed by the state. meaning that national interest enjoys a considerable favour as a basis for action. buchan (1975:30) posits that the interest of the state is that peace should be maintained, but whereby such fails against an aggressor, that the state should alternate her interest for war. construing from the above contentions, and in relation to the subject under study – the arab springs and insecurity in the sahel region: the precarious impacts on local governance, certain questions is further adduced in this investigation, such as, why are the events in the sahel region a bye-product of the arab springs crisis? what are the factors aiding the spread of the crisis in the sahel region of africa long after the end of libyan war? how has this crisis in the sahel region affected local governance in the 4 | p a g e african continent? what are the stake of the aggressors in the sahel region vis-à-vis the rapid spread of the crisis from mali, niger, chad, mauritania, nigeria and the far north of the african continent among others, is there any effort been made by the regional bodies like ecowas and others towards tackling and possibly ending same in the shortest period? what does ecowas protocol and instrument say about regional insecurity? and what are the possible panacea to ending the effects on local governance? while the above questions may sound rhetoric or answered in thoughts, the major reasons for such initiation are that the national interest of state qua state, government qua government, state qua government, and government qua citizens are always found in a conflictual paradigm of their separately avowed interest, that are needed to be satisfied. in this realm, it suffices then to accept that national interest embraces and synthesizes the voluminous work on the relationship between domestic and foreign policies, on selfsufficiency and independencies vis-a-vis as currently taking place in the sahel region of africa. in a simplistic evaluation then, it is obvious that the role of national interest of all the parties to the africa problems are centred on the struggle of whose interest will outwit the other, thereby displaying all manner of interventions on the african soil. the prime agenda and motive, not minding the consequential implications that had come to play itself in making the african conflict states ungovernable and unstable due to the shift in base of the illicit arm struggles that had overtaken the whole of the continent owing to arms migration, interests and poverty of the people of africa, the following discussion will further explicates the level of fallacy of diplomacy in african politics and governance. (a) arms-aid in africa as a response to conflict aid is an assistant given to a needy person, people, group or country by way of help toward alleviating, rehabilitating, and resettlement among others. it is meant to giving the victims a sense of belonging against the injury, devastation, damages and lost suffered in the course of war or disasters. thus, aid in this respect is not viewed from the monetary value, loan grant and or something that has to be paid back. they are aid for either saving lives or help in continual destruction of lives. hence, according to suhrke (2004) aid regime as otherwise called is a loosely organized entity, held together more by common norm and purposes than authoritative arrangements of funding and decision-making, a sort of governance without government. but this notion had been long debunked due to the fallacy of role that the bodies play in recent time. this regime includes the set of actors, national, international, un agencies, government and humanitarian groups; which are widely recognized and shared key characteristics across africa conflict zones in the name of humanitarian intervention agencies (ibid). but how interventionist they are, 5 | p a g e becomes a question yet unanswered, because there had been several arguments made by scholars and observers to conflicts zone, particularly in africa that most agencies or bodies who comes in the name of humanitarian intervention agencies never mean well vis-à-vis their aim and objectives, both to the victims and to the state in conflict. the above notion, stemmed from the investigation and analysis that followed, referencing the role and presence of the agencies in the conflict zones; of which most conflicting parties are no longer at peace receiving or welcoming them as partners of peace or peace initiators due to their awful different roles in conflict zones. premises on the existing arguments, this sub-section of the study looks at the issue of arming by-and-of both the victims and perpetrators in conflict while portraying the action that the existence of such humanitarian group are to help in rescuing, resettlement, reconstruction, rehabilitating and refocusing among others, the vulnerable. an act aimed at giving the victims a sense of belonging in the society they once cherished and existed, but due to the struggle for power, wealth acquisition and fame, they had been displaced, dislocated and devastated with harms done to them by way of injury and lives destruction. these kinds of war crime do most occur in state experiencing conflict with the issue of arms-aid playing a vital role in keeping the conflict unabated. it becomes more intensed and volatile in an area favoured by mineral resources, such as gold, diamond and possibly crude oil among others, which invariably aggravates the crisis. this does not mean that there are no sincere and genuine humanitarian agencies in conflict zone. it suffices to explain from the observation that these are the reasons why problem in this area at times goes on and on in a conflict zone. such issues unknown to either the major humanitarian agencies or the international bodies such as the un blue helmet and other donating nations make mess of the project for peace. however, on the same inference, while arms-aid and arms-trade are not new in african conflicts, it is also obvious to affirm that both acts are quite different in practice and conduct, although at the same times they are mitigated by those who supposedly by indication of interest to lending a helping hand on a needy state or people, who had been devastated by the calamities of war. arms-aid seeks to rearm the dispossessed rebels or losers so that the war can continue. to shearer (1998), it encourages a dissatisfied group to take-up arms against a constituted organization or government. it is done at times by way of exchange of which the losers might be willing to forfeit certain goods to the aiding organization or party. at times, these rehabilitating group indulges in stealing diamond, gold or uranium among others only to exchange it with the humanitarian agencies who in turn make a shipment of arms for the regrouping of the former so that the war can take another dimension; while at times the arming is done out of sympathy by the agency who stands out to gain, perhaps if the beneficiary succeeds in reclaiming power. 6 | p a g e in this regard (shearer, 1998) arguably noted that the image of aid agencies as protectors of the weak and victims of violence has been tarnished by those who accuse them…armsaiding, helping warring parties, feeding fighters rather than beneficiaries – or, more seriously, fueling war economics and prolonging conflict.accepting that it is this changing nature of war, the explosive growth in the humanitarian aid industry, and the diminishing political will on the part of states to intervene in domestic conflicts that had helped in the escalation of conflicts, especially in africa. a particular instance to this act of arms-aid according to human rights armed watch (2004) is noted in the rwanda conflict of 1994, liberia in 1993 – 1995, sierra leone in 1998 – 2000, congo dr/zaire in 1995 – 1998, and sudan 2000 – 2004 onward among others. the rwandan genocide against the tutsi and moderate hutus by the hutu extremist government was brought to an end by the rpf who chased the former out of rwanda. according to (human rights armed watch, 2004) and unhcr (2000), this dislodged ex-rwanda soldiers, and interahamwe rebels of the population between 1.2 to 1.5 million people had fled into the french safe zone at ruhengeri and gisenyi in the south-west rwanda, where they were welcomed by the french soldiers who before now had joined them at checkpoints to victimized the tutsi. the french zone was perceived by many as a place of asylum for large numbers of people involved in the massacres. the french and its humanitarian agency re-armed those they could, and a month later, in anticipation of the french withdrawal from the zone, some 60,000 to the 80,000 only about half of who were in identified camps, left the southwest to zaire, turner (2001) revealed. agreeing with this revelation, (shearer, 1998) who places the role of the humanitarian agency on what he called aiding or abetting syndrome, reiterated that perhaps the most disquieting example of where aid (arms) had distorted a war economy in recent years was the relief assistance given to the refugee camps established in eastern zaire (congo dr). humanitarian assistance not only ensured the existence of the hutu refugees’ camps in eastern congo dr but also rwandaise who were of former rwandan army joined to exploit the opportunity. it is this rearming in the form of aid that had prolonged the conflict in the great lakes region till today, he concluded. a submission that the persistency of the crisis with pockets of several rebel groups continually springing up shows that they are still in possession of arms and weapons of several calibers. on the other hand, the role of ugandan in the rwandan conflict according to mahmood (2001) was glaring as yoweri museveni was determined to aid by re-arming the rpf, even when they were defeated in october 1990 invasion, towards their capturing power in rwanda. the rpf paid no money but they were aided as a compensation for their efforts in seeing museveni to power in 1986. porteous (2004), agreeing with the observation as noted above asserts that africa’s wars were remarkable for the brutality 7 | p a g e of the tactics used by belligerents to secure their strategic objectives. these heinous atrocities, which range from mass murder and ethnics cleansing, to amputation, starvation, forced labour, rape and cannibalism among others are more noticeable amongst the rearmed group in the conflict zone. in a further reaction (porteous, 2004), while examining the role of arms –aid in the liberia cum sierra leone conflict aptly noted that the ecomog became as much part of the problem in those conflicts as the solution. this is because ecomog, and particularly nigeria who was the leading interventionist single handedly armed the ulimo-j rebel group of roosevelt johnson and partly also arms –aided the inpfl of yormie johnson who has so many nigeria citizens as fighters and combatants in the game. these actions did not only help in factionalizing the conflict but it speedy up its prolongation. nigerian army officer and soldiers according to jetley (2000) identified the exchange of diamonds with arms at kono, tongo field and kiodu in sierra leone with members of the ruf rebels of late foday sankoh. these dual roles of the nigerians also made her to loose more of her soldiers in the conflict than any other states, because the rebels uses the same arms against the ecomog groups of which nigeria is part and parcel. another instances of arms-aid are the role of the united states in ending the treacherous regime of mobutu sese seko of zaire/congo dr. madson (2001:1) noted , while examining the covert and overt operation of america in the great lakes region conflicts affirmed that the military aid programmes of the u.s, largely planned and administered by the us special operations command and the defence intelligence agency (dia), have been both overt and covert meant to aid intervention and invaders against mobutu. america had seen the out-usefulness of mobutu and suggested a strong interest in zaire by way of changing him. the america mpri – a virginia private military company was used to armed the rwandan and uganda soldiers and the oppressed banyamulenge tutsi in goma, bukavu, ituri and kivu area. the rwandan and ugandan government willing to pay back to mobutu for his nasty role in the genocide of 1994 in which mobutu supported the hutu extremist and equally provided them a safe haven after the rpf capture of kigali was never forgotten. in a further revelation (madson, 2001) asserts that america single handedly sponsored this action by arming the coalition known as the afdl-cz, under the command of laurent kabilla. the us embassy official when accosted conceded that he was in goma to do more than meet rebel leaders for lunch. explaining his presence, he said. “what i am here to do is to acknowledge them (the rebel coalition) as a very significant military and political power on the scene, and, of course, to represent american interest. 8 | p a g e in a further collaboration, according to kathi (2001) of the human rights armed watch, (a specialist in monitoring arms transfer), confirmed that american’s role in arming the coalition to overrun kinshasa was real, and that under the enhanced inter-national military education and training (e-imet) program, which was like killers training killers squad, there were over 100-armed u.s troops in the area to help actualize the aim. the essence of this arming of uganda, rwanda troops, the banyamulenge tutsi and kabila groups to overthrown mobutu (madson,2001) noted, was of two significant values; first to establish american influence in the great lakes region and eastern africa against the several abuses and lost of influence by the french, who had been a problem of the region. two, with the elimination of mobutu, american could assert its total control of the mining fields and regions without any competition. thus, the arming and all other cost incurred by america are not to be paid instantly or directly but the payment would be made by their exploration of the minerals of the dr congo uncontrolled. these were however achieved in part as mobutu lost out and kabila assumed power, but in all, they are part of intervention to the great lakes region crisis. a question then raises in this situations suffices to argue are there any thing like genuine diplomacy of intervention in crisis when power, wealth, and personality interest had priced the citizenry unknown to their changeling dismay. the same weep that was used in chasing out mobutu was used against kabila after few months because he (kabila) was not only selfish and greed but was not mindful that the instrument used in destroying others can equally be destroyed. following the failure of kabila to respect and honour the agreement entered into with his backers, which saw mobutu out, he booted out on a more tactical paradigm. this is what was termed the second intervention in congo dr conflict. a case many had described as the invasion of the latter by outside powers of rwanda, uganda and their chief ally. in the process arms and funds were provided to settle score with kabila. this is because, turner (2005) in his own words, noted that’ before then kabila was known as a wretched socialist, struggling to survive, who engaged in illegal diamond thievery and deals for sustenance”, so it would be naïve and sheer greed for him to think of abandoning his backers without paying back their expenses. it is evidence to note that in this respect that betrayal of western interest never goes unpunished. a situation to which the american over zealousness and desires to lead arms-aid programs in the region was never negotiable. the detestation expressed by (turner, 2005) convincible showed the abysmal role of america and cia in always arming ex-rebel against incumbents who are against their economic and military interest. while arms-aid are of two edge-swords, of both gains and lost, it is pertinent to note that unlike arms-trade, the arms-aid had a lot of string attached while the deals are on, whereas in arms-trade, it is your money that speaks and not what you use the arms to cause or achieve, that matters. 9 | p a g e the cases of arms-aid in the darfur crisis in sudan saw the government of omar elbashirbeing accused of backing and arming arab-tribal militiamen known as the janjaweed. this group has caused a great mayhem against the non-arab civilian, who is opposed to the government at khartoum. the ethnic cleansing in darfur are against the background that the leading rebel groups from the west, the sla, the jem and the slm had been opposing omar el-bashir government. based on that, the janjaweed instead of confronting the justice and equality movement rebel (jem), the sudan liberation army (sla) and the sudan liberation movement (slm) had to resorts in killing civilian population from that region while claiming that it is a war against the rebels. the reason behind the role of the khartoum government was not only to keep the rebel groups in the western region on-check, but also to enable them contain one problem at a time. the battle with the spla since 1966 had caused a great wastage and destruction than to contend with more from the western region. hence, the arab tribal men of janjaweeds militias are armed and sponsored by the khartoum government to keep those rebels busy. moreso, the government felt that economically, it might spell doom for them, if they do not checkmate the western darfur opposition properly. the entire north and khartoum itself survive on the revenue accruing from oil and diamond from the southern and western (darfur) sudan axis. thus, the government cannot afford to loose out on both side. on the gain of the janjaweed, several promises were made and treaty entered into in the wake of successful out lodging of the jem, sla, beja and slm amongst others on government behalf. tom (2004) in this regard noted that to facilitate the activities of the janjaweed, some government military and police personnel were drafted to aid and train the fresher of the janjaweed rebels toward keeping the course on. however, of all this arms-aid programs embarked upon by nationals and international groups in the pretence of response to conflict, one remarkable questions that the study raised are how is an arms-aid a response to conflicts in africa, when it suggests that most of the interventionist are men and women with different economic interest. david shearer, tom porteous, wayne madson, vacler havel and jeffrey bontwell among others had come to argued on a three separate notions: one, the view of (shearer, 2004) and vacler (2004) had noted that probably the so called arms-aides presumed that their presence in the pretence of interventionist while aiding the victims to survive, is to scare and deterred some major contenders. moreso, peradventure, when peace returns, they can solely appropriate the state unabated. this does not negate them from giving the refugees or victims the hope and opportunity that they are still human whose happiness and welfare are still paramount in their nation’s affairs. the second, according to the inference made by (portoeus, 2004), is that the armed victims still have the rights to fight their course even when the persecutors might felt that they have won. 10 | p a g e the third as observed by (madson, 2001) who argued that by arming either group means that they can still defend themselves despite the odd. showing that with a great determination, they can still ascend or assert themselves on the state. implying also, that they had not all being exterminated, bearing in mind that the state belongs to all of them, and that he who fight and run away, will live to fight again. these reasons, however, no matter how they are viewed, may tally with some instances above, whereas in some it is totally not admissible. but be that as it may, it is very clear, and known that not all who run to conflict zone are actually there for the purpose of helping the victims and displaced persons. most agencies are not only spies, but also agent of dismembering the state further. this is because their most avowed interested is on the economic gains of war among others. thus, no wonder the growing level of humanitarian agencies and non – governmental organizations had been on the increase in the present times. (b) arms -trade in african as a response to conflict arms-trade in african conflict is not new. they are bargains made by either the government in power or the rebel cum dissatisfied groups fighting the national government and or rebel qua rebel groups, with outside power influence under cover. it is the need to procuring arms to execute their course at a particular cost that led them into arms trade. it is one of the most illicit and illegal arms deals that had kept many wars or conflict in africa going. although, at times where the arms deal are negotiated officially, the selling party may not know the reasons for the request other than that the host country has surplus weapons in its armoury and would want to disposed-off some. arms-trade, unlike arms-aid, is totally based on profit making. hence, what determines the extent and quantity of purchase is the amount such a buyer has in making their purchases, as the price at which the dealer are willing to trade the goods are also important. thus, melvern (2004) argued that nigeria is the highest importer of weapons in africa because of surplus wealth. meaning that in most cases, it is the rich country that procures weapons for safekeeping. but where otherwise, the small ones engage in such, it becomes a problem, as its devastating effects outlaws its usefulness. these also informed that there are several arms dealers with varying price list; with differing manners of shipments; and with categories of weapons at a particular stage. due to the fact that arms trade is the bane of all economics of war and conflicts. arms-trade, apart from drug and oil cum diamonds’ proceeds are adjudged the most attractive, lucrative and profiting. although illegal but termed the fastest moving business in the world. despite the treaties on arms reduction and proliferation, the scale of illicit arms deals-both small and medium range, light and lethal weapons among others has grown. these dealers had consistently violated the tenets of the treaty in their drive 11 | p a g e for making huge profits from the world’s most lucrative and destructive trade that habours no respects and obedient. these are done and dispatched by states and or mercenary groups who are employed at times as experts to training the user on weapon handling and test-firing of the weapons to ascertain how operable they are. rowe (2005) in drawing attention to the problem of the illegal trade and arms transfer of small weapons and light tanks noted that most manufacturer are not worried without appropriate legislation, that those weapons get into the hands of rebels movement and government who have nothing to do with weaponry. he further asserts that arms embargoes, travel restrictions against arms, and the checkmating of rebel movements and their possession of arms among others are not obeyed. to him, these are one of the major problem hunting almost every states and people in africa, because there are many arms in several hands, which had rendered government agents inactive and even afraid at every conflict. in nigeria alone, the approaching of electioneering season amongst the politicians are fever induced nightmare itself to the electorates. a culture that had become a common phenomenon in african electoral parlance. attesting to this, observation from some states that are always tensed at every internal crisis particularly election matters such as nigeria, liberia, kenya, togo, congo dr, south africa, sierra leone, and guinea bissau among others, shows that the number of light and medium range weapons with high sophistication and caliber in individual hands are more compared to the number, army and police weapons put together. this is because the only thing that can differentiate theirs from the latter is the national army’s armoured tanks. for, remove the armoured tanks from the army armoury, pascal (2003) opined that the types of sophisticated weapons in the hand of individuals and groups on the street will chase the army and police combined into the most hidden forest in the east or southern part of africa. in line to the above, kimberly process (2004) has also identified another area that had tremendously encouraged arms-trade as the illicit trade on diamond, gold and crude oil. money made from this is easily channel into procuring arms to execute unnecessary wars by rebel groups, corrupt government officials and agents who want to remain in control of power among others. asari dokunbo, a militant leader in the nigerian niger-delta conflict in 2003 proudly affirmed that the government is aware of their exploits and exchange of crude oil in the high sea with weapons and arms dealers. the weapons they in turn used to terrorize the nigerian people and government over the control of resources in their region. agreeing with this open confession, agboola (2009) posits that it is the wealthier of money from crude oil that availed henry okah of mend in nigeria to engage in arms trafficking in far away angola. a project he could not complete before the long arm of the law caught up with him. on the other hand, according to amnesty international (2002) and global witness (2004) to many people, diamonds symbolize love, happiness or wealth. while for many others, it means conflict, misery and 12 | p a g e poverty.this evidence was noticed in angola, congo dr, sierra leone, liberia, and sudan among others during and after their wars. profits from this unregulated diamonds trade are used to fund armed conflicts. as a result, tens thousands of african civilians have over the past years been killed or tortured and millions have been displaced. conflict diamonds accounts for some four percent of the international diamond trade… to which proceeds from it had promoted arms trade to a great magnitude… and to which its impacts has devastated communities in the west, central and north africa. agreeing that the proceeds from diamonds, gold and crude oil and other lucrative minerals has helped to ember violent conflict in african by way of illicit arms trade and conflicts enhancements armed trade in itself are a big contributor to the destruction, devastation and gross human rights abuses and violations in africa. the questions that appeals for concerned are: what are the world community doing to stop this dispersal of illicit trade on arms; why has the world community kept quite on seeing big nations or agents of such merchants of death or of such states selling arms to a weaker and poverty ridden ones without minding the consequences on both parties, especially the already depreciated one that want final extinction; what are the role of the united nations, security council and other peace agents on the issue of enforcing arms embargoes and why are the initiators of these regulations violating the rules themselves? the united nations ( 2001) under this perspective noted that virtually all the conflicts studied, especially in africa elicited the direct political, economic or military involvement of other states and multinational organization who mostly at times, act as conduit to arms trade. the illicit trade in arms and the transit across border of rebel and government forces tended to sustain conflict and destabilize neighbouring states. the illicit trades in natural resources coming from zaire (congo dr) are conflicts of both transnational phenomena. this is because it provides groups and government engaged in conflict with an impetus to continue to fight. thereby, making the great lakes regions uninhabitable. but when these are narrowed down to the rwandan crisis from 1959 to 1994, many questions are then posit as to how has this issue of natural resources affected the rwandan situation. analyst in this regard was quick to reiterate that the former french president francois miterrand and his son, jean-christopher run and maintain a big tea and coffee farms at gisenyi and ruhengeri in collaboration with the akazu cabinet of late habyarimana. jean-christopher mitterrand, who represents his father empire, uses the wheel of both states to do everything humanly possible to protect the estate. this coupled with other alliance and dealings, explains the role of france in making sure that rwanda remains the fiefits of its cronies. according to walker (2004), france did not play a different role in the crisis that confronted habyarimana regime of terror and scapegoating from 1973 to 1994. to 13 | p a g e explain these roles further, the human rights watch armed project (1995) reported that prior to the genocide, in january 1994 that the country was being flooded with weapons. these were so readily available that anyone could exchange two beers for a grenade. according to the report france was the principal sources of arms shipment to the rwandan army, the interahamwe militias and the gendarmes during the period. and today the same initiators are amongst the propagators of peace where conflicts and war had been teleguided to the elimination of oppositions. the above evidence was concurred by the view of prunier (1996) who asserts that a few weeks to the outbreak of genocide, arms had become plentiful in rwanda, grenades were sold alongside mangoes and avocadoes on fruit stands at markets around kigali. he added that un mission in rwanda (unamir) official were aware of, but could not cope with or monitor, the scale of illicit arms trading.a trade modus that had not only failed to leave the african region since 1990s to date, but had consistently set the regions ablaze with fires and cross-fires of rebels and national armies’ bullet. another inference in support of this notion was as noted by alusala (2004) when he asserts that it was the arming of citizen and loyalist to the government of late habyarimana, which was the order of the days in that period, that astronomically encouraged the zeal of the killers to kill as much as they could against the common enemies. he further reiterates that the real aim, according to a secret government documents, was to distribute close to 2,000 assault rifle to civilian and members of mrnd under the guise of self-defence. some of the victims interviewed such as vincent kamahirimana and others attested that the government and france armed the interahamwes, soldiers, gendarmes and civilians to kill the tutsi. they further assert that some of the arms are still with the interahamwes and ex-soldiers of the rwandan army at congo dr forest. in explaining the degree of arms trade in rwandan crisis melvern (2000) confirmed that celestine kabanda, the then foreign minister of rwanda in 1990 negotiated arms deal with egypt of which the foreign minister signed s surety in favour of the rwanda government before his president hosni mubarak on the 28 october 1990. rwanda made a purchase, which cost us $5.899million of 60,000 grenades, 2 million rounds of ammunitions, 18,000 mortar bomb (82 and 120 mm), 4,200 assault rifles, rockets and rockets launchers. the shipment also cost rwanda about us$65,000 dollars. the money was paid into the commercial international bank of egypt. this revelation further stated that an estimated us $112 million was spent on arms by the tiny africa country of rwanda, thereby becoming the third largest importer of arms in africa behind nigeria and angola. hence, there was a seemingly unstoppable flow of small arms and light weapons into rwanda through arms trade bargain circuits. 14 | p a g e at the same period, according to power (1996) the latehabyarimana and his allies had diverted us $216million of international funding from european union, germany, belgian and usa meant for sap projects to procuring of weapons in preparation for the final solution. a syndrome the government of sassou ngueso, museveni, and robert mugabe amongst others had in several occasions fingered as projecting in the continent. agreeing with this observations, (melvern, 2000) asserts that while the arusha accords were been negotiated, a project began to import arms, huge number of machetes and other agricultural tools from china and japan under the supervision of a businessman, george rutaganda, who was the vice chairman of the interahamwe currently serving life sentence. in ascertaining the role of france, egypt and south africa on the issue of arms deal and importation to rwanda prior to the committing of the genocide by the perpetrators, vincent and muregira (2005) in an interview agreed that, with others inclusive, france is the principal sources of arms flooding of rwanda. inference to this agreement was the revelation of a french news paper, le figaro (1998), in confirmation of the french involvement as stated in its report that the serial number of the two surface-to-air missile that struck the aeroplane carrying late habyarimana and others in april 1994 matched those missiles seized from iraq by the french troops during the gulf war of 1989 – 1991. the report according to exupeny (1998) also disclosed that his source were french soldiers, who had claimed that after the missile had been confiscated, it was later sold to rwanda government force between 1992 – 1994 as arms trade deal. considering the records of arms trade and the categorical indictments that followed, it is evident that rwanda prior to its genocide 1994, was a center where numbers of small arms and light weapons were sold to ember the already plagued ethnic society into flame, of which its consequence result had been a disastrous effects in the history of man and african losses. thus, goose et al (2004) in accepting the observation and assertions made above posit that the post-cold war era has seen profit motives replacing east-west rivalry as the main stimulus behind weapon sales in the context of arms trade. in addition to this, countries of the warsaw pact and nato (2002) have been indicted for selling off their arsenals on open markets, with the result that the prices of some weapons, such as ak 47s have been fallen below cost. a categorical question that could be asked in these respects is: why? and for what purpose was french flooding rwanda with arms, if there are no hidden agenda. and what could rwanda do with arms of such magnitude in the midst of negotiations and mediation going on at arusha? and who is the one funding rwanda arms purchases?, among others 15 | p a g e although france claimed that all the arms shipped to rwanda at the period was to help late habyarimana in deterring the encroaching menace of rpf. france also argued that there was never an arms deal with rwanda, instead all what she did was to arms-aid the small state to protecting its sovereignty. this, also informed the keeping of about 1,190 french military men, made up of 300 paratroopers, 600 troops, two company of parachutiste and paramilitary of the french secret service among others in rwanda, to help the government. on the same accusation against egypt’s role in the rwandan conflict, (melvern 2000) contended that the egyptian government were short of words over the outcome of the effects of the arms sold to rwanda, but were at the same time never regretted their roles. according to her, ghali when accosted after his secretaryship of un claimed that he was bidding his country’s duty then, and that there was nothing wrong in selling the arms that was no longer in use by its military to a country that needs it. ghali in submission reiterated that his action in 1993 would still be performed again and again if given the opportunity. on the issues as affecting the arms trade in the period of sierra leone conflicts, neither liberia, libya and or any of the arab nations had owned up why sierra leone and sankoh were supplied some catchments whose shortfall encouraged the ruf to resorts to arm, leg and body mutilations and amputations with machetes and club among others. on the on-going sudan conflicts, china a major player and backer of the general el-bashir and janjaweeds with current actions and supports of osama bin laden had failed to see reasons that the victims are mostly the vulnerable and not the main oppositions who had fled the country to take refugee in neighbouring states.these underline statement above therefore re-emphasis the controversy surrounding arms deal and violation as a chimera, because it is the same group of actors who pretends to enforce arms embargo, non-arms proliferation among others that are actually the groups violating same, and making mess of the system due to their interest on the lucrative business. to many of these states, they are trying to intervene to maintain peace just as france admitted above. seybolt (2001) in confirming the accusation asserts that the major armed conflicts revealed a diverse set of antagonistic groups, variously driven by political ambitions, economic motives, ideology and fear. the ultimate objective of all the groups was to sell their arms while stopping others to do same, to secure control over governmental power or territory while declaring respect for sovereign state whereas individuals within the groups and their supporters or government were motivated by greed.a game african primitive and poor leaders like a pawn on the chess board had been manipulated to destroyed inn-self while remaining underdeveloped and good only for charity recipients. it is justifiable to agree with (alusala 2004) who had noted that it is this greed and economic of war as shown in the french, egypt and south africa role in arming rwandan extremist and government among other that encouraged the end of action in rwanda by way of genocide. this is because, he further reiterated that there is arming in the name of arms trade and arms aid as weapon flood strife torn states and region, not 16 | p a g e only fanning warfare as was in rwanda, but also undermining international efforts to embargo arms and to compel opposing parties to respect human rights. in another continuum, role of uganda, ethiopia, america, britain, china, russia, egypt, eritrea and some arab nations in the sudan conflict, where ethnicity and religious war are been fanned by few of the arab nations had replicated the same atrocities as committed in rwanda. to complement this antics, the role some africa state like nigeria, libya, liberia, and apartheid south africa among others with the aid of lebanese traders activities in sierra leone, however made the old historic state a sorry state of itself. the case of french aquaina oil arms trade to nguesso congo republic is neither different from the role some big actors like russia, america, china, britain and arab world among others are exhibiting in sudan. chossudovsky (1999) and pierre (2004) who made a study of banking records and conflict funding in rwanda, sudan, liberia, sierra leone, and the torn somalia cyclical conflicts among others concluded that without international finance the money would not have been available for the purchase of guns, mortar, mines laying, machetes and tools to be distributed to the rebels, militias or for expanding the army, or for substantial arms deals or for the beer, petrol, clothes and food given to the armed forces, rebels, the militia and their families. simultaneously, this led to the public service collapse and there was famine and a rise in unemployment. they also confirmed the fact that south africa dealers sold arms worth us $36.263 million to rwanda between 1990 and 1992, 20,000 r-4 rifles, 10,000 hand grenades, machine gun, 1.5mm rounds of ammunition. and the chinese provided weapons, but under a credit scheme of us $1million for mortar, machine gun, multiple rocket launcher and grenades. the quantities of these weapons especially the hand grenades made it that everyone associated to the genocide perpetration was seen having enough to commit the act in the wake of the genocide. thus, (mamdani, 1998) in this respect aptly noted in his own word on visit to postgenocide rwanda at ntarama church, that ‘i scanned the walls with their gaping holes. the guide explained to me that those were made by the interahamwe so that they could throw grenades into the building. those in the church were lucky, because they died instantly, compared to those outside who had a protracted, brutal death, in some cases drawn out over as long as a week with one part of the body cut daily, he noted. moreso, i raised my eyes, away from the heaps of skeletons of those mostly killed by grenades. indicating that the availability of hand grenades and other weapons like the common avocado pears on the street of rwanda was in circulation. recently too, in darfur, the janjaweed cuddle ak47 and sub-machine gun like a mother cuddling her baby with jealousy going by what abdulrasheed (2007) noted that the weapons are commonly abused and used in committing genocide even as amis and subsequently the unamis patrolled passes the villages. 17 | p a g e evident to these assertions are noted when considering the role of some states in african crisis. such states as libya, burkina faso, cote d’ivoire, ghana, guinea and nigeria in the liberian/sierra leone conflicts vis-à-vis arms trade and passage, that did not only escalate the conflict but factionalized the parties interest. the roles of the above mentioned states in the sudan conflict to some extent are called interventionist tendency, whereas their interest had made the whole scenarios fallacy. the importation of ethnicity and religious bigotry, which in turn acts as the major force escalating the conflict had also helped in factionalized as arms rebellion spring up from every corner. the roles of america, russia, france, congo dr, china, cuba, congo republic and apartheid south africa in the angolan wars of many years was not only noted as devious and destructive but it goes a long way to explicates the degree of arms trade in african conflict fanned by diamond and gold trade of exchange. an act that had not only undermines the degree of diplomacy in practice but had also destroyed the concept of genuine diplomacy and state tact. these remarkable failure of diplomatic intercourse explains not only the level of biasness of states in treating issues that needs urgent attention, such as conflicts in the aforementioned states but avail the readers and spectators the opportunity to accept that what matters in terms of such actions and state diplomatic practice is interest. thus, agreeing with the view of (abdulrasheed, 2007) that intervention in african conflict (sudan) is negative and never serious in term of what the au actually wants to achieve in sudan. the african union (au) was in sudan only to observe the fight and killings and not to counter or stop the fight. the un, on the other hand, are afraid of staff casualties, hence, her presence is only welcomed after the killings, destruction and damages had been awfully concluded. a bad idea of intervening in conflicts. for, if you cannot quench the fire, don’t add more firewood. it is political… the mandate or documents are not being followed… it is a matter of figurehead presence, he concluded. the flooding of state in conflicts to this effect, with arms from arms trade had made most ongoing conflicts proved difficult to end, with the majority having lasted for over fifteen years or combatants haven the will and capacity to continue to fight due to plentiful of arms. one pertinent thing about armed conflicts in africa is that apart from the fact that all categorical conflicts has been engendered by the level of arms proliferations and arms deals, it was only the biafran – nigerian war of the late 60s and the rwandan rpf course against national army of rwanda in 1994 that had gone by the way of victorious end, allowing the victor to remain in power, but away from this observation, and in contrast to the findings of historical studies where major armed conflicts have subsided or ended in recent time, this has been the result of negotiation, not victory. the rpf victory was propelled by the level of arms sophistication of the rebels who were in a strong arms aid and arms trade deal with uganda, america and britain among others. all arms bargaining were carried out via ugandan government with outside world. thus, showing 18 | p a g e that every party to conflict is not only involved in arms deal but try to be more sophisticated than the other parties. it was also obvious in this regard to argued that due to the sophistication, determination and fearlessness of the rpf rebels made for the easily over running of the national army of late habyarimana and the hutu extremist so called self-defence group, who were busy killing innocence and armless citizens. the reality is that arms trade not only enthrone insecurity in states, but it also allows the ground for agents of destabilization as noticed in congo dr where the ex-rwandan soldiers and interahamwes, with their run away arms are causing great deal of havoc and blood letting in the great lakes region. arms trade which had added up as both backer and engine house to several conflicts in africa (burundi, liberia, cote d’ivorie, sudan, uganda, niger – delta, and rwandan) cases in particular had not only contributed in fanning more destructive crisis and human wastage in africa but it had deprived those states the needed human labour and human capital toward development owing to the kind of diplomacy in practice. going by the analogue posits above it is obvious that western scholars, however, might sees all the states act in conflict towards africa crisis predicament as a diplomatic intervention and overtures, but one thing is so evidential against whatever notion or opinion that most –socalled interventions in african conflicts are situated. this is because; they majorly patterned and foisted on falsehood against any kind of diplomatic posture. a contention that stemmed on the flawed workability of all known principles towards ending conflict and instability paradigm as characterized in african situations. (c) food aid to africa as a response to conflict food insecurity in africa derives from a number of causes amongst which are human created socio-political and armed conflictual causes had entailed a great deal of suffering on the average african citizens, especially those in conflict or just coming out from war. several arguments in this respect had concluded that the multiplicity of the africa food crisis and war are great influence to food shortage and the behaviour of persons in conflict zones, those helping people in conflict to survive and those agencies or government who suppose to distribute food accordingly to the needy. keen (2000) noting this from the economic function of conflict, to which food crisis are one of its elements, reiterated that a short-term economic function of conflict may lie in the benefits extracted from aid that is sent during the conflict in form of food. messer (2004) in support of this observation noted that the prospect of appropriating relief foods appears to have encouraged raiding, stealing and even killings of those termed hindrance to reaching food sources, since raiding can create predictable suffering and a predictable windfall of aid. violence may lead to providing food in conflict and in gaining access to the food once it arrives, she added. the information emanating from conflict zones and the general africa food problem had made scholars such as tabaiyaka (2003) to argue that africa remains the most food deficient continent in the world. the predictions are so grim, that unless radical measures are undertaken, starvation in the continent will be much worse into the next decade than 19 | p a g e it is today. this is stemmed from the investigation that food crisis is particularly exacerbated by armed conflict in many countries and region with more than 20 africa countries being directly or indirectly affected by armed conflict since 1990s. the crises in these countries has not only led to destruction of food production and trades, barren land and dwarf crops production but also created huge refugee populationsabout 30 percent of the global refugees’ population. fashina (2007) adds that oppositions to peace in sudan had made food security and arrival impossible and death casualty on the increase due to hunger. an imperative that had defeated food aid and response to darfur crisis. acute food shortages have been caused in many regions, with a decline of 12 percent in sub-saharan africa alone due to conflict azeeh (2007) affirmed in support of the above observations. going by the deductions above, and in reference to the emphasis of this study, it is of good intention to first examine the situation of rwanda, sudan, liberia and angola and sierra leone among others vis-à-vis food crisis problem, before the advent of crises and war. three elements combined to add to the situations in the above mentioned countries. the socio-economic crisis, the state crisis and the internal or proximity heterogeneity. the socio-economic crises dooms such or such other group to exclusion and toughen collective identifying perception of group around ontological needs. the state crisis results in its incapability of properly assuming its duties and the state places itself in the service of a minority of the privilege by giving its backings to injustice and frustration against other groups. these were the characteristics of the first two republic of rwanda, the government of omar elbashir in sudan, the lacking of the government of dos santos in angola, and the inherited confusion of johnson from taylor in liberia. rwanda, like other easternafricanstate is engulfed in land crisis that had lasted for many centuries and had continued unabatedly. rwanda as inferred is land of thousand hills to which food production was greatly affected by the hilly and sloppy elevation of the environment. the non-existence of arable land also made it impossible for the country to grow food on commercial basis, instead and even at a subsistence level, the country was still not able to feed itself. against land scarcity and environment deficiency, the tutsi oligarch and the belgian administrator controlled the few available lands before independence. during these periods, the ruling oligarch and their mentor did not only dispossess the people their land, but the victims and others were turned into force labour. according to (melvern 2000) force labour was customary and strictly enforced. in these periods, food scarcity was high and many people went into exile in the neighbouring tanzania and burundi in search of food. in sudan – darfur, according to (azeeh 2007), since 1983, the major crop of millet, groundnut, and guinea corn among others had not been planted or cultivated due to refugees over flow and wanton devastation caused by war. drought in some manner also helped the fleeing and displaced people to beg for food, while the vulnerable dies out of hunger and disease. evident available show that the perpetrators steal the expected food 20 | p a g e aid, whereas it is on record that food has been delivered – in – aid to the needy. a situation that raises questions of what kind of food aid is it to the people in conflict zone who are deprived of the food in the long run. how can the hungry and victims’ dies before the foods meant to save lives get to the them? evident in many conflict zones through observation indicates that hijackers and rebels, causing more casualty than those who fell by bullets, plunder food aid. a case in point is the long angolan war where apart from the landmines that had made farming and the forest unfriendly to the people, the unita rebels are notorious for diverting and stealing foods meant for the depraved people. angola conflict houses the highest landscape of landmine in african sub-sahara. thus, in the words of cornnard (2004), most food comes in through congo dr and zambia to angola. the foods, an aid from outside are captured at times by rebels, smugglers and conflict promoters to make the refugees slaves of many years. youths who cannot exercise patient and frustrated ends up accepting to fight on the side of the rebels or government force so that they can have a taste of food. in liberia, ecomog camp was turned into feeders/welfare home as the hungry and devastated take refugee against the non-availability of food aid. the level of helplessness according to oman (2001) makes them to do all sorts of odd jobs for the interveners so that there could be peace in their stomach each day. ‘chop-chop as they cry out to oga man (nigerian soldier man)…’ shows that no food. the aid received is only for the few privileged. a flash back on the rwandan case shows that the animosity of these atrocities was also visited on the tutsi when they were overthrown in 1959. food crises and non-availability of land was identified as major issues aggravating the rwandan crisis. with high density of population, poor and difficult land and inadequate soil, suffering erosion and draught, rwanda was faced with an irregular rainfall and the basic problem of how to feed all the people. hence, otunnu (1998) observed that most of the tutsi who went into exile in uganda and tanzania witnessed severe food starvation to which many died in the refugees camp at luwenro triangle in uganda. in the same vein the treatment of refugees then were not taken serious as refugees are only left at the mercy of their host. idi amin and milton obote were implicated for having starved the rwandans at the luwenro triangle of food and several denials to death against non-availability of food aid. moreso, in the period of the post-rwanda crisis, the issue of food crisis and food aids was prevalent. for the rwanda conflict took its multi-year toll in the country-level of food production and importation; in community-and household-level livelihood and in individual nutrition health, and longevity. these were facilitated in the manner by which those who came after the 1994 genocide treated the matter on food aid and the existing problems of starving and dying. evidently, there was no food relief in the course of the crisis but after many had died, gone into exile in tanzania, congo dr, burundi and uganda, food aid actually arrived (tabaiyaka,2003) noted. but as (duffield, 2004) 21 | p a g e noted, starvation, disentitled or deprived, failure and hitches on relief efforts made mess of the issue toward those who actually need the food in angola and liberia. the failure of the un in rwanda also led to consequent failure in food distribution due to insecurity (melvern,2004) argued. one noticeable phenomenon in all the examined conflict zones is that while there is insufficient food, the warring factions continued to amass and store up food while the depraved suffers uncontrolled and unattended to. many at times, noted (prunnier 1997), the rebels are issuing themselves with the food meant for refugees and at times the interahamwes would hijack all the relief meant for the vulnerable. likewise as noted by sach (2003) in liberia and sierra leone as perpetrated by the ruf and lurd rebels. onu (2007) agreeing to this evident inferred that in southern darfur that the janjaweed were also seen doing same against the people of zaghaim and sarlfi umara in this respect (messer, 2004) posit the questions that if food aid are relieves meant for those in critical starvations, and it did not reach them, instead hijacked by those who had no pity on the vulnerable, then how do you call it food aid? this is because from the simplicity of what we saw on the ground, the food meant for refugees at bukavu and goma was diverted to feeding those rebels of interahamwes and ex-far soldiers instead of the displaced hutu/tutsi populations. are we not encouraging them to muster courage and strength in keeping the fight on she retorted. analytically, the fact remains, but for the reasons that it is always very hard to define refugee proper and those mixed in their midst who pretend to be one. whereas they are only after food and other relief materials as they still have the intent of causing havoc. the same situation was noticed at the camp in the tanzania border with rwanda. the food meant for refugees are stolen or hijacked by the rebels to the detriments of the vulnerable (messer,2004) further reiterated. thus, in this situation, many refugees died of hunger due to the act of diverting food relief from intended beneficiaries, and or acts of siege warfare includes seizing or destroying food stocks, livestocks and other relief materials. the post war rwanda according to idps (2004) shows that over 650,000 rwandaise need food assistance, and that many deaths recorded after the war were mostly those who had no access to food and those who were depraved of food. although (messer,2004) on the other hand had argued that most food aid are turned into food war, because the seizure or hijack are done as a deliberated use of hunger as a weapon or hunger suffered as a consequence of armed conflict. agreeing with this view, waal (2004) noted that the essence of the rwanda interahamwe seizing the food meant for refugees at goma in congo dr and down akagera camp in tanzania was because the hutu had not finish dealing with the tutsi as the act recorded several deaths in rwanda apart from those killed with machetes. 22 | p a g e premised on these arguments, it is evident that food aids to some respect are response to conflict for those who are starving, if actually it will reaches them. it is also not a response to conflict since it was not well protected and allowed to fall into the hand of the rebels who use it to punish the refugees who supposedly to be the beneficiaries. based on these existing skepticism about what constitute food aid in terms of the needs that it solve their problem of hunger and starvation and in respect to the aid donors who might claim that it was a response to the existing crisis, whereas the aim are defeated by those who work as aid workers and voluntary personnel. one pertinent thing about the issue of relief or food aid as observed by sambivura (2005) in the byumba province was that ‘it is understanding that everything that come from outside rwanda in form of food are aid but it does not happen the way it is acclaimed because most food that came in were meant to sustain the rebels, whereas the people in kajemba camp are dying of hunger. this had continued to happen in many conflict zones where aid meant for refugees are diverted, even in the eye of the international aid agencies but still they claim that their food or material aid are in response to the on going conflict. particularization of aid after delivery should be the point of contention and not the arrival of food without the acknowledgement by the recipients. although, while one may be forced to criticize the internal characteristic models of both aid – workers and the government or agencies, it still boiled down to the assertions that most aid donors do take side in conflict zone, and that determines also the place, where and which vulnerable groups or victims and otherwise affected persons vis-a-vis what angle or direction aid should be channeled to, because many conflict victims or deaths are due to denial from food, water, and health among others. a problem that presented itself as noted to have cause between 1.2 and 1.5 percent of deaths in rwanda in 1994; just as it is happening elsewhere in africa today kageriaria (2005) noted. however, in whichever way one look at the notion behind aid and especially food aid, the reasons posting its abuses are facts that need to be investigated. then the intentions of aid donor and interest, if at all also, need to be examined since it is obvious that not all agencies or groups that tend to be a helper in conflict zone are actually performing the expected roles. moreso, the need for a stronger security to guide relief aids should be the first priority in embarking on any aid donation to people in conflict, because knowledgeable information had also attested to the fact that even where food resources are available from domestic or external (relief) sources, access is selective, which ought not to be so since it has been earmarked as a relief for people in need in conflict zone. as already noted in the case of rwandan aged-long crisis, to which government had selectively deny access to the tutsi and moderate hutus, owing to the fact that certain members of households and communities at byumba, gisenyi, gitarama and gikongoro commune of greater kigali has less access to regular food, causing many deaths without any weapons attack. 23 | p a g e finally, agreeing to the view of keen (1999), food aid in a conflict zone as existed in rwanda in 1994 was real, but many factors tend to undermine the distribution, with the notion of the arrival of aid, and to which hand it falls into. these are because not all people, communities and or regions are equally affected by the hijack, stealing or raiding. after all, some individual always profit in times of shortage and conflict, while some raid to punish the rebelling groups, and in recent conflicts, asset-stripping of political marginal peoples and the relief and development aid business have provided windfalls for certain groups. the darfur situation being the most recent dread of power and political struggle as (onu, 2007) revealed that the janjaweed and the rebel groups who were found among the amis at every instance knows where the food is going and how to stop it or intercept it against the expectation of the poor people in the villages who had been informed of the food arrival before hand. suggesting that food aid were actually delivered but situational circumstances within the forces of the conflict denied the refugees and hungry people of africa the relief meant for them. (d) abandonment abandonment is a terminology deducing left to fate, deserted, forsaken and or demanding that you should defend yourself and fed for yourself amongst others. clear reasons that many could attribute the case of the rwanda people in the 1994 genocide or the long delay of africa and the world agreeing to intervene in the darfur crisis. the people of western darfur in the 2002 – upward was caught in conflict of power and resources control with northern sudan just as the igbo of nigeria in the 1967 civil war/genocide was systematically forgotten by the then oau and britain in the catastrophic human annihilation of that decade. to the view of (buggingo 2005), who in an interview xrayed issues down the memory lane, recounting the several abandonments that the people of rwanda has suffered in the time past and asserts that the 1994 was the climax of international communities abandonment, because even when the united nations took over from the league of nations in 1923, the rwandan people and the tutsi in particular had experienced series of abandonment. such as the 1959 social revolution against the tutsis rule, the 1963 massacres of tutsi for protesting and the 1973 tutsi pogrom by late habyarimana to revenge the past misrule of the tutsi. all these atrocities was never questioned or rallied round to save lives at the period seen by the international community. against these explanations, it is obvious that the issue wasn’t new in rwanda. most importantly, one may desire to examine by questions on what constitute abandonment in conflict zone, even if we refuses to deduce reason and understandings of what (buggingo,2005) was driving at. abandonment occurs in every conflict situation and environment but what make up the level might differ from conflict to conflict. the act of those having the well withal, forsaking those in pains, dyeing, dislocated, 24 | p a g e threatened for annihilation among others, since their living (the latter) or dyeing mean nothing to them (former) was obviously on display by their inactions against the perpetrators, which was prevalent also in rwandan case. on the issue of sierra leone, the world might have viewed gen abacha action in the latter as honouring their protectionist treaty of early 1990s, but the average man in sierra leonean whose arms or legs had not been amputated or maimed by fodday sankoh, moris kalone and or hing norman atrocities felt relief and protected by gen maxwell kobbe advancing force to save lives. the poor in the forest of yale, bubuna masebi, gbolounhun,braimah-kant, port loko, lunsa, massaka, matutuka, and cambia district among others were happy that nigeria came promptly to save lives without any ceremony or delay, compared to the darfur villages of abu-sufiyan, angabor, kelie-kelie, labado and muhiajilia among others that were allowed and neglected to go on flame, both human and materials unprotected. informed by this thinking, it is understandable to infer that most conflict in africa experienced the same act of abandonment, which made the study to fault the concept of ethics of humanitarian intervention in the former. no conflicts in africa have ever witness immediate counter-confrontation with the perpetrators excepts that carried out by nigeria in the former. all had always been after several months or years, which also faulted the united nations peacekeeping mechanism. moreso, to what dallaire (2003) observed as understanding the events in rwanda in 1994, means the understanding of the moral minefield our peacekeepers are forced to negotiate when we ask them to step into the world’s dirty wars… because they that sent the troops, may instigate their betrayal, project racism and promote international politics to abandon them and the victims. this implies that the rwandan case of abandonment was not only termed as usual, normal but as despicable as it was, indicates international involvement, since everything evil, killings, abduction, hacking and maiming among others was carried out in the front of the intentional and watchful eyes of the un blue helmet soldiers and observers due to orders, thereby making them to be the chief witness to the death of the rwandaise and at the same time making them the helpless spirit of sympathizing men who could question self by saying “why should this be happening without action to stop it”, by the same un soldier and observers (melvern, 2000) revealed. against the statement of an eyes witness, who was not only betrayal and abandoned by the un as affirmed above by (dallaire, 2003) a belgium lieutenant lemaire retorted in retrospect “there were explosions nearby and the sound of grenades and shooting. there were roadblocks. then came the news that ten belgian peacekeepers had been murdered by rwanda soldiers….the belgian government had decided to pull out its soldiers. it was unbelievable. the belgians were the backbone of the missions. and what would happens to the people they were protecting?” no one had an answer. of course the muteness confirmed the words abandonment. he, even went ahead to address the over 25 | p a g e 20,000 people saying “that while the un flog flew over the camp they are safe, but that would not last, because the politician in brussels were withdrawing the soldiers, so they should endeavour to slip away under cover of darkness lemaire in (melvern, 2000) contended.sss the helpless officer who would want to continue to protect the would be victims laments in dismay of what a fate, what a future and what a doom for the abandoned people, whose killers were hanging around by way of surrounding the camp in wait of the departure of the un peacekeepers in the second week into the one hundred days of the carnage. the people did not slip off as advised, instead they approached him saying in the event of a pull-out, ‘you should shoot us first, telling him that a bullet was preferable to being cut to piece with a machete keotane mboneye explain. the above revelation did not only informed us of the kind of abandonment, but it conferred on the over 20,000 people that they are doomed to die come what may. “i did not want to leave, but i did not think there was any other solution, was lemaire last statement”, to confirm the helpless spirit of sympathy… who asked why is this happening, but he cannot take any action to stop it because of order of the un and its allies. in another instance, by chance a french jeep was passing and as it drives on to the playing field its soldiers was applauded by the crowd. one by one the un vehicles left the school grounds. but it was soon obvious what was happening, that the peacekeepers were sneaking away, ‘we could not believe what they were doing… just abandoning us when they know the place was surrounded….there were thousands of unarmed refugees….it seemed unthinkable’. against this scenario, an excerpt from (melvern,2000) further explained that: people tried to hang on to lorries the belgian soldiers brandished their weapons, and fired into the air so that the people will never think of following them… the french soldiers prevented others from getting too close to the peacekeepers… at 13.45pm the last belgian soldiers pulled out of the camp…. people started to cry. the psd members tried to calm everyone and told them that they must defend themselves. but we had no weapons, not even a stick, someone said…we have no choice now, death or survive is the closest answer. immediately, soldiers and militias started firing at the people and throwing grenades into the crowd. in the crowd were pro-democracy opposition politicians and human rights activists, but the vast majority of people carried identification cards with the designation tutsi. there were both young and old people and some 26 | p a g e who could barely walk. in another development, but still over the issue of abandonment, it was noted that: most people, having been abandoned by those who supposed to protect them, decided to try to escape to un headquarters. but instead they were herded along the road by the militia and soldiers. as we walked… the soldiers and militia terrorized us with their grenades and guns… they slapped and beat people up, stealing their money…… it was a long walk and the militia were everywhere. as we walked along, the militia were hitting people with machetes. some of the people who were wounded fell down and were trampled upon. there were militia coming from different directions and they had machetes. some people tried to break through the militia but were struck down with machetes. we were so stunned that no one cried out….. it was only afterwards that you heard the voices moaning in agony…… then the interahamwe came in and started with the machetes, knives and spears…..people in pain were told that they would be finished of quickly with bullet if they paid money. there were children crying over the bodies of their dead parents. and on regret of abandoning the innocence to die, on the tarmac and in front of television camera, one of the peacekeepers slashed his blue beret with his combat knife to explain how he felt on the un terrible role in rwanda (melvern, 2000) observed. however, in looking at the issue of abandonment, away from what was observed and narrated on the ground by the few survivals, one is poised to demand explanation from the international community, which passed laws over sixty years ago with the specific mandate of ensuring that genocide was never again perpetrated. scholars such as melvern, power, prunnier, fergal, doyle, and walker amongst others had noted that the international community had not only failed to prevent it happening in rwanda but, by pumping in funds intended to help the rwandan economy, actually helped to create the condition that made it possible. this is because the whole of international community was involved while genocide was being planned as noted by (melvern, 2000), for: the un and many of its agencies, independent aid groups and two of the most powerful international institutions, the world bank and imf, who gave loan without monitoring its expenditure… and when it was time to utilize the resources to exterminate others, the givers abandonment them (the helpless minority) for the extremist who collected the loans and spend it to carry out the carnage. 27 | p a g e the same thing would have happened in sierra leone, after british soldiers was captured by the ruf rebels, if nigeria and others had waited for the un intervention. just as the ambushing of the american soldiers by the somalia warlord led to the withdrawal of the american troops and the subsequent abandonment of the somali people in an over sixteen years of protracted conflicts that had wrecked havoc on the horn of africa to this day. against the foregoing, it is imperative, consequence the records as had show that the manner of intervention in african crisis itself had in many ways compounded the existed crisis situations as sympathy-role of agents of peace had become more detrimental in different respect with differed role to parties in conflicts, thereby leaving victims of conflicts at the mercy of the different warlords as observed in somalia, angola, and rwanda respectively. there had been interventions in africa conflicts in the real sense of intervention, but the moderality and phases of actions is what portrayed the intentions of actors as a hocus-pocus fallacy. for incident as noted by the research in 2004, from january to december, saw the british – imat organisation and the un-backed canadian jets flies from hasting airfield to kono airstrip, transporting and protecting war-diamond for the war merchants of whereas the nigerian soldiers, the ukraine choppers transport soldiers, and the bangladesh radio signal soldiers among others were only meant to protect the kossoh/hasting axis of the un operations. a situation that it was only the late gen. maxwell kobbe advancement was able and fit to contend with the ruthless ruf coalition in 1997 april to 1998 most deadly war as the then war-diamond merchants were no where insight at sierra leone. the presence of the merchants later were considered intervention thereafter in the sierra leonean conflicts, just as on the international markets the wardiamonds were sold on un designated price as all other diamonds coming from that conflict zone were termed blood-diamonds with a drastic devaluation of the values, because sankoh and his allies were in the opposition. the world had not been able to tell us the differences between war-diamonds and blood-diamonds of sierra leone, who buys them and carat values or is it a mere nomenclatures. this propaganda paradigm, however, were noted to be a terminology employed to diminish the opposition in conflict under power debacle in economics of war parlance (keen, 2000) argued. meaning that in african pains and sorrows, the dealers on blood-diamonds and war-diamonds are guilty of the same offence as all actions are done to the detriments of the poor and vulnerable in conflicts who strove in pain and mystery as victims of war. permit this research therefore to argue that intervention and the role of interveners should not only be seen as good in gaining and neither only at contributing to make peace. every intervener should equally see losses as part of the sacrifices in ensuring peace and not only on what would be gain either in long or short run. hence, the idea of exploiting the victims’ land, abandoning the vulnerable in need and or aiding only those having access to minerals like gold, diamonds, and crude oil among others which in turn promote crisis should be 28 | p a g e discarded as peacemakers apart from been agents of peace can equally fall as a victim in the midst of separating the fighters. analysis, deduction and conclusion agreeing that arms-aid, arms-trade, food-aid and element of abandonment are the intrigues that had dominated african conflicts situations in the last six decades, it is also obvious to note that the initiators of this projects are not charity – producers of these goods that they gives out to the displaced, victims and the vulnerable even when it comes from separate donors. and why the poor african people appreciate these enormous donations, it should also be noted that at any context of this actions the interest of the giver and that of the receiver are always seen in contention and in equilibrium and vise –versa. for where balances are stroked gains are made and where betrayal is experienced disequilibrium are encountered. in this discourse, the research means to state that the kind of intervention in africa had not wholly being done with utmost sincerity and intent of ensuring a lasting peace enthronement. this had been the major reason why several african conflicts had not only been exacerbated, prolonged, and protracted due to interests that sees it happen and would wants to see it continue to their separate gains against the suffering of the people in conflicts zone. currently, the conflicts in nigeria niger-delta is growing with arms and exchanged with crude oil going on as weapons of complex nature are being delivered in open air into the creeks with no one criticizing the game of arms trade nor intervening until the pillage defiles all known warehouses in the creeks of warri, okirika, bayelsa and environs among others, thereby calling for usage when the opportunity avails. of which then, those termed as hawk to conflict zones would arrive to add to the tempo and propensity of the await destruction of the region and the nigerian nation. as we awaits this fallacy of intervention and the in pending war, it is agreeable to notes that there was the element of fallacy of diplomatic of intervention in rwanda, angola, liberia, somalia, sierra leone, congo dr, and sudan among others. this fallacy had permitted the long duration and messmerization of several states in conflicts into destructive and awful charity recipients. consequent the extensiveness of this discourse, there are clear evidence as illustrated above that the degree of fallacy of diplomatic interventions in african crisis are abysmally chimerical. this contention also stemmed from several scholars held view that had been argued as different from what is obtainable in europe, latin america and or asian continents. in the midst of this dirty game however, one does not rule out the fact that african have some bad leaders whose activities had being problematic, but the pains of the teeming vulnerable should the main priority. 29 | p a g e it is of necessity and reasonable to argue that african conflicts/crisis are not at instance being given the necessary attention toward ameliorations, instead most at times the prolongation with intentional exacerbation makes the complexity of the conflicts difficult to understand. moreso, the abandonment, the uninteresting nature and the irrelevancy compared to other regions or continent conflicts are source of worry and problematic. no matter how sentimental scholars might argue or contest the highlighted reasons as portending fallacy in african conflicts from outside attention and assistance, one thing stood assured that the degree of fallacy surpassed the level of genuineness, sincerity and actuality in meeting the ending point of the various crises in africa timely with prompt resolution. this poor performance and initiatives are the major reasons contributing to say why african crisis and conflicts had been part of the world’s nightmares in recent time. suggestions against the background, and from the analogical bases of this discourse, it is real and evident to reiterate that time had come and gone when element of hocus-pocus are combined with dummy diplomacy as part of state propaganda game in the process of intervention in saving lives in conflict zone. premised on this reason, to curb the exacerbated degree of fallacy in intervention be it political or diplomatic initiations, the followings are possible suggestions: i. that the international mandate on intervention be it local or internationally based with respect to conflicts should be reinvigorated to observe the required rules by participant nations. ii. the rate at which organizations and state agencies flood and involves in interventions should be checked with possible stringent measures to allowing only those who possess the necessary clout, integrity and business to be welcome to conflict zone. iii. that actors to conflict or crisis arena from the onset of intervention should be implored to make their intentions known against any breach of procedures. iv. states nursing the intention to be in conflict should be only those who obeys the international treaty on arms embargo and arms proliferation treaty. v. that african leadership should strengthen internal security and the level insecurity in borders to disallowed arms smuggling and arms trade as currently rampaging the continent. vi. that national laws should be redefined to checkmate security excesses and provision of arms-aid and arms-trade in the continents by security agents and highly placed individuals, especially during the period of election and electioneering campaigns. 30 | p a g e vii. the african union regional bridges should enact a law that could possible be use as a measure to challenge individuals or agents within the continent who indulges in promoting conflicts and arms trade among others. viii. that time had come when measures put in implace will not only discourage big time conflicts promoters, who sees every conflict as a veritable ground for arms trade and arms trafficking; even those who disguised under arms-aid toward goals, to never dream of intervening in conflict any possible humiliations. ix. the un intervention mechanism if must be taken serious now, should re-examined their peace-enforcement mechanism and enforce it against the present peacekeeping posture in africa as the latter had not confidently favoured the people in the past six decades, instead escalated and prolonged many conflicts. x. the un should equally disabuse her staff and agents in sensitive position from putting their national interest first before the international objective of peace making as a viable option for global village, than allowing the events that occurred in rwanda, balkan and other regions where there had been salient annihilations and abandonments in conflicts zones caused wholly by the activities of the body members from repeating itself. references abdulrasheed, j. (2007), amis and military intervention in darfur – africa observing the deaths instead of intervening. rex reports, june. agboola, m. (2009) “okah regain freedom” in daily sun newspaper, nigeria july. alusala, nelson (2005) “africa standby force: east africa moves on” in african security review journal of studies, vol. 14, no 2. alusala, nelson (2005) “the arming of rwanda and the genocide” in african security review journal of studies, vol. 14, no 2. azeeh, joshua (2007) amis and military intervention in darfur” in au unconfidential report and pocket notes, sudan. berdal, mats et al (2000) greed and grievance: economic agenda in civil war. usa: lynne rienner pub. inc buggingo, emmanuel (2005) “the abandonment of the tutsis by international community” an interview, nur. butare, february. chossudovisky, m. (1999) “human security and economic genocide in rwanda” in caroline thomas et al (eds) global human security and the african experience, london: lynne rienner pub. inc. cornnard, jones (2004) “reports on the responses to children affected by armed conflict and the role of amis in sudan conflict. march. dallaire, romeo(2003) shake hand with the devil: the failure of humanity in rwanda, canada: vintage canadian pub. 31 | p a g e dokunbo, m.a. (2004) ‘state of the nigerian nation and niger delta” african independent television network news, may. duffield, mark (2000) “globalisation, transborder trade and war economies” in berdal mats et al, greed and grievance: economic agenda in civil war. usa: lynne rienner pub. inc exupeny, p.de saint (1998) “african crisis and the west” in le figaro newspaper april 7, paris. fashina, hassan (2007) “history of the darfur conflict and present peace initiatives” in au unrestricted report manual, november. (2004) “conflict diamond – jewelers keeping consumers in dark” in amnesty international and global witness journal of studies. (1995) “general guideline for intervention and peacekeepings” un charter, new york. goose, stephen (2004) “deadly conflicts and armed trade in africa is the causes of conflict and promotion of durable crises” in journal of studies on africa. new york. (2004) human rights watch arms project reports on rwandan genocide of 1994, new york, august, 16. (1997) human rights watch arms project on africa, july. jetley, vijay (2000) “report on the crisis in sierra leone” in the news magazine, 9th october. kamahirimana, v. (2005) “the terrible role of interahamwe in 1994 genocide in rwanda” interview, national university of rwanda, 10th february. kagerira, thierry (1998) hunger and war: enemies of humanity in rwanda 1994, paris: model et lurat pub. kathi, austin (2001) “america in congo dr mess” human rights watch arms project, september. keen, david (2000) “incentives and disincentives for violence” in berdal mats greed and grievance: economic agenda of civil wars. usa: lynne rienner pub. inc. keohane, robert (2003) the genocide in rwanda: intervention, ethical, legal and political. london: briggs and pascal pub. (2004) “the true cost of diamonds in conflict diamonds” kimberly process and amnesty international reports. (1998) see le figaro newspaper, february, paris. madson, wayne (2001) “america’s covert operations in the great lakes regions” washington dc, may 17. mamdani, mahmood (2001) when victims becomes killers: colonialism, nativismand genocide in rwanda. princeton: princeton university press. melvern, linda (2004) conspiracy of murder: the rwandan genocide. london: zed books pub. melvern, linda (2000) a people betrayed: the role of the west in rwanda genocide. london: zed books pub. messer, ellen (2004) “armed conflicts and hunger – how conflict causes hunger” war in africa journal of studies, october. 32 | p a g e muregira, e. (2005) “murambi – gikongoro genocide site” an interview, april. oman, taihiru (2003) “reports on capacity building of african union forces in darfur: gender based violence” au unrestricted pocket notes. onu, agha (2007) “child protection and child rights in conflict situations components” amis and military intervention in darfur, handout for amis civpol and military manual. otunnu, ogenga (1999) “rwanda refugees and immigrants in uganda” howard adelmana et al the path of a genocide: the rwandan crisis from uganda to zaire. brunswick transaction pub. pascal, knowell (2003) africa and violent conflicts: the east african tragedy. new york: mount castrellpub. power, s. (1998) never again: the world’s most unfulfilled promise. usa: new content pub. prunnier, gerald (1997) the rwanda crisis 1959 to 1994: history of genocide. london: hurst and co. proteous, tom (2004) “resolving african conflicts in war” in african crimes of war project, october. rowe, e.s. (2005) “reports identified 23 parties to conflicts on council agenda that continue to recruit, use children” sg 4684th meeting press release sc/7631. sach, jeffrey (1999) end of poverty: the africa questions. london: caleb and co pub. sambivura, n. (2005) “poor soil and poverty in rwanda after genocide.” interview, at byumba, january 30th. seybott, b. t. (2001) “major armed conflicts” in sipri yearbook: armaments, disarmament and international security. london: oxford university press. shearer, david (2000) “aiding or abetting? huamanitarian aid and its economic role in civil wars” berdal mats et al, greed and grievance: economic agenda in civil wars. usa: lynne rienner pub. inc. shurke, astrl (2004) “aid regimes and african ngos” in africa humanitarian action (intrac) addis ababa, december. tabanyaka, ann (2003) food poverty or food insecurity in armed zones of africa: a recourse to doom. london: princes and plats. turner, thomas (2005) “uganda, rwanda leader to discuss congo dr rebellion” in reuter. waal, de alex (2004) “rethinking aid: developing a human security package for africa,” new economy 11(3) sept. oxford: blackwell pub. walker, robert (2005) “an interview” at bbc office, urunana health unlimited – uruchill opposite kigali national stadium. march. 245 | p a g e oil politics and war in libya: arming of rebels and the new phase of neo democracy evaluated okechukwu, groupson-paul oil politics and war in libya: arming of rebels and the new phase of neo democracy evaluated okechukwu, groupson-paul groupsonpaul@yahoo.com abstract this study examines the conflict in libya in the context of international politics in the role of alliances against the hate regime of gadhafi. under islamic socialism, libya embraced globalization – trade liberalization in the recent past, but, yet, its leader remained a threat to many. the findings revealed the over zealousness of actors to capture, control and appropriate the national wealth of libya – the oil, under a hocus – pocus paradigm of neo-democracy. the hate expressions, premeditated acts, propaganda and blackmail formed part of the contour that escalated the conflict. this, thus call for questioning and, the re-examinations of the role of the international communities and the united nations in the arming of rebels/insurgence and the sponsoring of violence in a sovereign state under any platform. for, if the destructions in libya was due to a particular individual or groups interest, then, grave implications on the global world remains a time bomb vis-à-vis the new phase of neo-democracy. introduction libya, meshed in the continuum of the arab world unrest in the present time, with long over stayed; and long endured people and society, that had lived under a benevolent dictator paradigm of the gaddafi dynasty, that according jones (2011:2) the cause of the unrest and war is a global problem requiring global monetary and economic reforms, that whose cause is the economic conditions, the primacy of material conditions of existence, and the distributions of wealth; the effect is sectarian, political, national division and unrest. meaning that, libyans could be likened to a people who live under a closed system, with over bearing pressure, that the authority is always checkmating and been able to contain the pressure for a while, even when the pressure might have built up with time and at a certain point, the present, exceed the strength of the system, thereby causing it to crack. this, being part of the situation we saw in libya, that played out its own rhythm, but could that be the factor that created the sudden wake-up of the people after forty-two years? or is there a new factor of issues hinged on freedom and neodemocracy the western democracy, that arouse the venoms of the protesters, later turned rebels-insurgence to call for democratic reforms, whereas in reality, they are calling for better economic life on one hand, and on the other, they want open socioeconomic system that democracy and its pressure could be dissipated through elections and peaceful change of government. although, democracy is only a means to an end (dahl, 1954), even as the driving forces to the libyan revolution cum war might have been centred on the above mailto:groupsonpaul@yahoo.com 246 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com mentioned factors, economic factor with other issues like chronic high unemployment rate, poverty among others had combined with an inflation in food prices that are volatile mix. though, surprisingly too, no one is talking about the economy with loud voice, but neo-democracy and freedom. meaning that the real force propelling the unrest is beyond both the people and col. gadhafi combined. a feature that might have led to the civic class outburst, to agreeing with david hume (cited in cantrill, 1967:102) that we recall our sense of justice and sympathy, and permit injustice and enmity to take their place in driving home every act of frustration and deprivation with aggression. beside these, the tendency that there are other salient but powerful factors that might have mitigated this turn of event in libya is not in any way ruled out. such issues as a payback time to a long hysteria – enemy of the west, who the young leaders of the western extraction, hungry with broken economy, penniless with unimaginable bailout upon bailout, that the present economic status of their states never favoured their regimes are restless and wished re-colonising some states to become pennywise are possible. with sentiments driving them to remember with vividness and vengefulness, the acts of the old enemy of the west that swims in oil wealth in the maghreb, with no debt record to them or any in the world, who was once the cause and problem of their enormous squander in the past leading to the present wreckages of bailout and recessions – “the gaddafi dynasty, must be revisited, they tortuously muted” (friesen, 2011:4). furthermore, and just as the arab adage puts it, the hand that you cannot cut, kiss it, and gaddafi on the other hands is not a hand that they can kissed, but must be cut. thus, the ploy and forces for oil politics and war in libya was intensified. against this folding event, the view of jones (2011:2) is highly appreciated when he notes that rulers who learn from history and create a socioeconomic system that is open will achieve stability and continuity while those who fight against the socioeconomic laws may win some battles in the short term, but will lose the war. a notion that invariably amplified the western rulers’ desires under the robotic united nations to arm the libyan rebels cum insurgence in order to win the war by all means. while this may be seen simply as part of the process of moving towards the new world order and part of the shift of power from the west to the east, one question that strikes the minds is – do the international community’s (40 countries) arming of the rebels to ousted a long time legitimate regime of col muammar gadhafi in the name of establishing neo-democracy in libya the right actions? is the oil politics antic not so obvious and glaring and a devastating paradigm towards recolonising a sovereign state like libya no matter the odds on the table? should 247 | p a g e oil politics and war in libya: arming of rebels and the new phase of neo democracy evaluated okechukwu, groupson-paul one agrees that the booting out of gaddafi from a nation that is not in any way indebted to the outside world or neighbours is a good measure toward forcing such a state into indebtedness? what was the level of casualty against the protesters and people of libya prior to the period of north atlantic treaty organization (nato) arms bombardment of libya that should warrant the former killing innocent civilians under the watchful eye of the un human rights propagandist that had remained silent while in supports of their masters’ oil – money seekers want to annex and control libyan oil wells even when the war of forty nations against gaddafi had not ended. however, in evaluating these pieces, the inquiry will pay attention to the role and place of conspiracy theory and possible frustration-aggression theory with adequate problematic issue underpinned. libya in the history libya, with a vast territory whose desert concealed a considerable oil and gas resources in huge quantity, is not new to international politics and the politicking in market values. although, this territory combined with its present neighbours of morocco, algeria, and tunisia fall within the sphere of colonies that encouraged the german defeat of the french in 1871 and the consequent inevitability factors that sparked – off the first world war of 1914 to 1918 away from the european internal quagmires (khadar, 2011:1-2). with about 6.2 million population, the libyan oil that gush out over 2 million barrel per day and another 3.5 billion natural gas per day accounts for over 35 billion dollars of every revenue alone, thereby making libya one of the richest countries in africa. according to thudicey (2008:104), yes, libya was not new to the antic of international politics and politicking in market value, simply because the then king idris alsenoussi had between 1959 to 1969 traded-off most of the country’s values, with oil, gas, and cobalt inclusive to the colonialist who he played the puppetsurrogates to. benefitting from the sale of this oil were the italians, the british and the americans. king idris had developed pro-western policies that saw the establishment of the british and american military bases at tripoli before the sack of the monarch. the libyan monarch, king idris al senoussi was overthrown on the 1st sept. 1969 by a young military officer, col. mu’ammar gadhafi. he was brought in via the winds of change sweeping through african continent by way of the military barrels. at the period, across the north african states in particular, starting from egypt in 1952, sudan in 1958, algeria in 1662, 1965 amongst others (okechukwu, 2009:73-74); gadhafi found gen nasser exploit in egypt as encouraging virtue worthy to emulate. he was inspired by this military sagacity of nasser and thereafter declared himself as the spiritual heir to of nasser (khadar, 2011). 248 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com against the general discontent, exploitation, corruption and lopsided economy that was encouraged by the western imperialist, col. gadhafi in assuming power requested the closure of all foreign military bases, nationalized all the banks, oil firms with the confiscation of properties and allowed for indigenous control of the economy. the italian, british american and other allies were the worst hit by this drive toward improving the lives of the citizenry that had been decimated and distorted under the imperial influence. the regime soon established a direct link with the then soviet union as his ‘green book was published to declare libya an islamic – socialist state. this islamic socialism, otherwise called jamahiriya socialism is a system of direct democracy, where he argued that power and democracy are what make the people unique and that peoples’ power should be the centre of every governance. the irony of this pronouncement and its publication compared to what followed the regime’s power-crazy drive, did not only made mess of the political idea of islamic socialism, but it destroyed the basis of his coming to power eight years later. following this power dictatorism of col. gadhafi, libyan at home was perpetually caged against any form of dissension against the government. the ideals of the islamic socialism stated to dwindle and eventually became questionable when the once accepted leader involved in materialism and property acquisitions. towards the crazy for more and possibly to attain fame, gadhafi under pride and prestige engulfed himself in dirty and unexpected rackets with arsonist, kidnappers, murders, and men and women who were anti-human race, as he sponsored, aid and monitor annihilators world over. to the poor africans, he became a benevolent dictator. he also indulges in sponsoring illegal regimes change as occurred in liberia, sierra leone, burkinafaso, chad and niger republics amongst others. furthermore, as the saying goes tell me who your friend(s) is and i will tell you who you are! was the case of gadhafi. he fraternized with the arab extremist and anti-human groups, who kill in the name of god, hate in the name of god and destroyed in the name of god. a clandestine totem that had been used by villain men to cause confusion in the society and the world in general. according to jones (2008), khadar (2011), hrw (1988) amnesty international (2000), anderson (2011) and abaza (2001) amongst others, gadhafi’s wealth and the country’s status must have driven his craze to antagonize the same people he pledged to protect in 1969. khadar (2011) while viewing the idea of gadhafi dialoguing with the tribes’ men and at the same time brutalized them was one of the undoing of the regime twenty years after. agreeing with thus contention, abaza (2011) noted that what actually cleared the doubts of all suspicions against the regime was its anti – west, with anti – american rhetoric by the libya leader in 249 | p a g e oil politics and war in libya: arming of rebels and the new phase of neo democracy evaluated okechukwu, groupson-paul particular, being pronounced as one of the unbecoming character of a man who claimed to be a – masses oriented leader. to worsen the issue was the event that took place at the peak of cold war, when gadhafi severed the relationship with ussr (khadar, 2011). a contradiction that pride, wealth and prestige helped his ignorance of ‘pay day coming’ to believe so much in himself. across the mediterranean, the united states and its allies in europe fingered gadhafi as being responsible for the terror attack in 1985; the aiding of the 1988 scottish airline bombing which claimed the lives of all the crews and passengers. this heinous attacks and other mindless sentiments of gadhafi, coupled with his anti – american propaganda, the then u.s. president ronald regean in 1986 launched attack on the gadhafi compound in tripoli while the master minder of the lockeribe bombing mohammed meagrahi was jailed for life. gadhafi – libya was declared a terrorist and a rogue state by the western world. gadhafi on the other hand, not relenting engaged in multibillion dollar nuclear energy plant meant to produce weapons of mass destruction (alain, 2011:18). however, the events of 2003, to which the us and its allies invaded iraq made col. gadhafi to down – played his intentions of building weapons of mass destruction. against the fate of saddam hussein, gadhafi adopted the arab proverb “the hand that you cannot cut, kiss it”, by dismantling all the nuclear plants. he encouraged open of the economics system and by 2004; libya welcomed many world leader – friends and former foes to attend the first ever international trade fair that was solely organized to boost investment opportunities of the king of the maghrebs. according khadar (2011:4) and alain (2011:6) gadhafi’s metamorphosis was adjudged a miraculous situation. this is because a rogue state has been rehabilitated and has even been raised to the rank of a friendly state (clausder, 2007:15). the white house, in its characteristic manner according to merriden (2008), ‘libya has taken an important step and it follows that it has begun to do what it takes to join the international community’. in the words of khadar (2011) the man the west booed, harassed, vilified and called mad dog of mad libya was now seen as a political realism, respectable man that one can invite and cajole… thus, in line with the trade liberalization processes, opening up and complete globalization policies in full implementation, gadhafi was advised by the west to toe neodemocracy to which he also set the stage going on that area before the unfortunate incidence. although, the process was slow as he would have prayed that the successor comes from his lineage prior to the unrest in the arab world to which libya was never an exception. conceptual basis of argument this piece adopts conspiracy theory with little a digression into frustration – 250 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com aggression theory to explaining to the world why the western leaders spearheaded by french president nicholas sarkozy, american president barrack obama and the british prime minister david cameron amongst others wants col muammar gadhafi to go by all means. conspiracy theory being the most destructive scheme in the politics of the plot to destroy; the politics of confirmation of an accused that must be destroyed and cheap blackmail against an accused among others was used to condemn gadhafi while frustrationaggression theory was used to incite the citizenry against their leader, as the arab world was misled to destroyed col. gadhafi. thus, libya, with a huge wealth and stable system under a benevolent – dictator, whose people never complained except the fact that it was closed to the predicators and vultures, who actually since 2004 after the trade liberalization and opening up scheme of globalization and, to which the investment friendly banner was hosted, had never had a fair share of the essence of removing all the trade barriers in libya, hence they needed a judas to help them to expose the ills of the so long a quiet country. in the words of khadar (2011:1-2) libya with lavished incomes could become a major business centre, even a financial hub in the maghreb if not checkmated by the west and, or possibly allowed to partake in the politics of oil dealings among others. in the development that follows, this work will vividly look at the conspiracy theory in its merit with a slight mentioning of the frustration-aggression theory by the way and, as affecting the libyans in the linkage. a. conspiracy theory according to american heritage dictionary (2004:257) conspiracy is the act of seeking to explain a disputed case or matter as a plot by a secret group or alliance rather than an individual or isolated act. meaning that conspiracy theory tends to explain an event as being the result of an alleged plot by a covert group or organization or more broadly the idea that important political, social or economic events are the products of secret plots that are largely unknown to the general public. the scholars of this school like david pipes (1998), milton w. cooper (1991), david icke (2004), michael barkun (2003), harry g. west (2003), todd sanders (2003), young katherine k. (2010) and frank p. mintz (1985) among others had argued that conspiracy theory are based on the notion that complex plots are put into motion by powerful hidden forces. agreeing with this view barkun (2003:3) holds that a conspiracy theory is a belief which explains an event as the result of a secret plot by exceptionally powerful and cunning conspirators to achieve a malevolent end. he clearly points out that conspiracy theories are often presented as special, secret knowledge unknown or unappreciated by others. it is a scheme in which the masses are the brainwashed herd, while the conspiracy 251 | p a g e oil politics and war in libya: arming of rebels and the new phase of neo democracy evaluated okechukwu, groupson-paul theorists in the know can congratulate themselves on penetrating the plotters’ deception. in support of the contention above, young (2010:275) argued that not all conspiracies are imagined by paranoids. instead events had shown that every real conspiracy has had at least four characteristics features: groups, not isolated individuals, illegal or sinister aims, not ones that would benefit society as a whole; orchestrated acts, not a series of spontaneous and haphazard ones; and secret planning, not public discussion. pipes (1998:15) agreeing with young also noted that there are five assumptions distinguishing the conspiracy theorist from more conventional patterns of thought: appearances deceive, conspiracies drive history; nothing is haphazard, the enemy always gains, power, fame, money and sex account for all. in yet another postulation, but with contrast, chomsky (2002:17) asserts that conspiracy theory is more or less the opposite of institutional analysis, which focuses mostly on the public, long-term behaviour of publicly known institutions, as recorded in, for example, scholarly documents or mainstream media reports, rather than secretive conditions of individuals. arguing from a different of view point, mintz (1985:4) submits that the notion of conspiracy was popularized by the academic group. he argued that it devotes belief in the primacy of conspiracies in the unfolding of event or history. furthermore, given this popular understanding of the term conspiracy theory, it can also be used illegitimately and inappropriately, as a means to dismiss what are in fact substantial and well – evidenced accusations. the legitimacy of each such usage will therefore be a matter of some controversy (young, 2010:282). although, it is evidence that throughout human history, political and economic leaders genuinely have been the cause of enormous amounts of death and misery, and they sometimes have engaged in conspiracies while at the same time promoting conspiracy theories about their targets (mintz, 1985:6). the humanistic psychologists in agreeing with these notions aptly state that even if the cabal behind the conspiracy is almost always perceived as hostile there is, often, still an element of reassurance in it, for conspiracy theorists, in part because it is more consoling to think that complications and upheavals in human affairs, at least, are created by human beings rather than factors beyond human control. however, when reviewing the contention of barkun (2003), mintz (1985) and the view of the humanistic psychologists, it is evidence if strongly suggested that there are linkage of the events that unfolded in libya with the antics of the western leaders’ determination to do away with the perceived eternal enemy – col muammar gadhafi by all means. the view of mintz (1985) also show case the 252 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com fact that the conspiracy against gadhafi apart from been a well-structured, has also caused enormous amount of death and misery on the average libyan citizen, not only on those killed by nato air strike but also those who were sick and remained unattended to; those hungry and might have died of misery; and, those died of traumatisation and shocks owing to the firing powers of war. this, thereby making the assertions of the humanistic psychologists to hold water as pointedly noted that some western cabal were behind the conspiracy since they had perceived gadhafi as an eternal enemy. meaning that, it is in a bid to sustain the conspiracy theory of the western leaders against gadhafi that the crisis was given a human face. thus, the idea to inciting the libyans citizenry against their leader, which actually established the taproot of the unrest through the embodied sentiments of frustration – aggression theory. b. frustration – aggression theory this theory is a product of relative deprivation, emanating from either misrule or mismanagement or otherwise. scholars of this school are the likes of keith, a. (1946), lewis coser (1956), david hume (1961), richard synder (1957), gurr ted robert (1974) and cantril hadley (1967) among others. these scholars argued that men’s circumstances changes. however, and what they have learned does not always prove suitable for deriving satisfaction from the changed circumstances, thence, they become frustrated, because there are relative deprivation knocking at their door steps. agreeing that incompatible goals, apart from the acts of frustration and deprivation generates conflicts in several ways, cantril (1967) argued that when we sense conflict between the significance that we bring to a situation and which have worked in the past but seem to have no corresponding role in the present, then emerged a situation of unsatisfied desires, thereby allowing frustration to sets in and, if the tension or conflict that goes with it is not checked, but remains fundamentally unpleasant, of which if not avoided or overcome and therefore released in expressive nonrealistic way, violence eruption. according to gurr (1974:22) men rebel when their expectations from the state are not met; when they fail to get satisfaction due to change in circumstance; the frustration men gets and relative deprivation that causes the sense of conflicts among the parties is established. keith (1946) in support of this notions, argued that destructive behaviour might explain yet another fundamental property of human organism, of which when men are exposed to noxious stimuli to which they cannot avoid, then they might through an innate disposition strike out. the striking out may or may not reduce the frustration, but it seems to be an inherently satisfying response to the tension built up through frustration. coser (1956) in the same vein noted that 253 | p a g e oil politics and war in libya: arming of rebels and the new phase of neo democracy evaluated okechukwu, groupson-paul aggression and violence were often noted to be the most available measures of releasing tension arising from frustration. thus, aggression, being both physiological and psychological evidence found in such a situation, helps to extend the tension already built. the basic frustration – aggression theory, he further noted, that the greater the frustration, the greater the quantity of aggression against the source of frustration. hume (1961) reiterated that these principles operate in wide range of individual behaviour, including the action of those rebelling against their political community. thus, he concluded by saying that these informed our sense of justice and sympathy, and permit injustice and enemity to take their place in driving home every act of frustration and deprivation with aggression. meaning that when there is no collective value of satisfaction, that men, society may be disposed to violence. furthermore, in a society that there are absence of value expectations, value capabilities and value opportunities among others, the frustration – aggression relationship might provide the potential for collective violence. in view of the above two considered theories of conspiracy theory and frustration – aggression theory being used – or combined in the interplay to ousted the former libyan strong man, col. muammar gadhafi out of power, it is pertinent to note that the involvement of both can only be accepted with necessary evidence being laid down to drive home the point that it is the conspiracy theory in particular that encouraged and inspired the libyan citizens to stage the protest and unrest that led to the rebellion/war in the period under study, owing to long and unhealed pains of frustration, characteristics of bad leaderships. these contentions agreeing with jones (2011:1), that if the system in a country is close, it might be able to contain the pressure for a while, but the pressure will build up with time and at a certain point it will exceed the strength of the system thereby causing it to crack. in another instance, when people go under pressure in life, be it economic or otherwise, they might seek support from the people close to them who might be greater than them as frustration sets in (badran, 2011:10). when such reasons are considered in term of the situation of things in libya for near – forty-two years, to which the people never protest or revolt and according to berlusconi (2011) the libyans love gadhafi as i was able to see when i went to libya. it is powerful people who have decided to give life to a new era by trying to oust gadhafi. this instance and other sentiments that follows probably may justified the notion that it is conspiracy theory that informed or waked up the element of frustration – aggression against the gadhafi regime. to ascertain the degree of evidence to conspiracy theory against gadhafi by the western allies as lead by nicholas sarkozy of france, pottenger and 254 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com friesen (2011:1) argued that under the responsibility of protect: the war in libya was launched but there was no confirmation whatsoever from pentagon that gadhafi fired on his own people from the air. meaning that if the war in libya was fought on the pretext and unjustifiable actions that gadhafi was killing civilian and the nato and the united states had the responsibility to come to the rescue of the innocence, then if such a measure is intended to spread falsehood in order to enhance the projection towards getting a targeted enemy, then it is a share conspiracy to committing action against gadhafi. in yet another fact that exposed the us and its allies on the conspiracy against gadhafi, ruff (2011:4-6) argued that if the usa defence secretary and chief joint of staff (robert gates and marshall mullen) claim ignorance of the event in libya, then the question is who is the real war criminal. gadhafi or obama – sarkozy amongst others. for in the words of gates (2011), i would note that the un security council resolution provides no authorization for the use of armed forces. there is no unanimity within nato for the use of armed force. if this statement were actually true, then, it exposes not only the level of conspiracy and premeditated act of sovereignty violations but also the degree of dirty and awfulness of the international community. such action also explicates the manner of naivety and greed of using cheap blackmail by the us – nato mission group to get at their common enemy on the course for their invasion of libya. to further state in clear term the element of conspiracy in the invasion, friesen (2011) noted that despite the fact that robert gates and marshal mike mullen relied on the western press report and falsehood, without any confirmation of whether gadhafi was actually firing at his people, the questions of reasoning is, what happened to the casualty record since before the nato’s arrival, the victim of the unrest number stood at 305 people, but after the invasion the death toll rose to 5,000 people. these numbers are mostly of the nato air strike. another question again that struck the mind is who are the real killers of the civilians? what and where is the un human rights group? what is the western interest in libya? contradicting the western interest, gates (2011) reiterated that we are in the same realm of speculation, pretty much, as everybody else. i haven’t seen anything that would give us a better read on the number of rebels that have been killed than you have. he further contended that whether gadhafi would be prepared to leave voluntarily or not, unless some form of force, whether it is rebels or the ultimately the un sanctions or western intervention. meaning that the suspicions, conspiracy and the inciting of the people against gadhafi was a pure usa diplomacy, since according to ramsay (2006:65) the idea that more recently the united states has become the home of conspiracy theories because so many high – level prominent 255 | p a g e oil politics and war in libya: arming of rebels and the new phase of neo democracy evaluated okechukwu, groupson-paul conspiracies have been undertaken and uncovered since 1960s, become a real fact, just as it is also adduced that their conspiracy theory would survive only by having some agents to incite the masses as was done by the c.i.a. agents who was actually enrolled into cia syndicates by gadhafi but was in turn used against him. the hocus – pocus of neodemocracy and oil politics in libya: the western interest. the politics of regime change paradox in the arab world in recent time was not only an eye opener, just as barrack obama in the egyptian uprising muted “that we are inspired by the event in egypt…the government should respect the will of the people...”, whereas unknown to the onlookers the unfolding event in the arab world is targeted at core – perceived enemies of the west. but it is a common knowledge that the west cannot openly encourage armed rebellion in a state where they will in turn end-up been the only sole arms dealer, monitor and disarmmentee. hence, every action, criticism, support and sympathy must be hinged on popular governance-democracy. whether it is a government slated on the more you look, the less you see syndrome, even if it is by way of landslide riggings to actualise the interest of the west. this might be one the reason why obama repeatedly request that the peoples’ wish be obeyed – neo-democracy of the western model must be enthroned. in time past, it is a fact that the united nations in decrying the level of poverty of development and instabilities in the third world countries in particular, as occasioned by long years of military misrule in its 32nd general assembly that it was opined that from 1995 upward to the present that no military rule will be allowed into the general assembly or tolerated unless such state embraced neo-democracy (okechukwu, 2009:82). the idea was generally welcomed by all the countries still under military rule and those relinquishing autocratic rule. in the light of this and within that period many african states’ dictators were encouraged to metamorphose into civilian rule. an act ojewole (1997) saw as a kind of democratic succession in africa that is coded soldiers – politicians. this is because they started off as career military officers and later succumbed to the ultimate aphrodisiac of power, with bazooka in their hands and presidential palace in sight. these soldiers shot their way to power. against this development and by the end of 1994 many african leaders has transformed from military rule to civil democratic governance. the system, neo-democracy, in africa, ake (1994:15-18) argued, that the west has laboured so much on their own interest to bringing the system solely for the democratization of the disempowerment in africa. this is because it goes beyond the transformation of the state and related conditions as they are only interested in what they will gain from the system rather than the development of 256 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com the indigenous people and society. in support of the above notion, okafor (2004:1-2) asserts that neo-democracy (liberal democracy) in its salvafic mission in africa could be seen as a failure; because it is like a baby sitter which watches hand-akimbo as africa degenerates. thus, going by this contention as far back as the onset when the same west asked the african leaders to transform from military dictatorship to neo-democracy compliance of the west so that they could last on the throne, they thought it not wise also at then to advise the surrogates that in democracy nobody stays longer than the time allowed. but today, and since then, that the so called allies had been hallucinating on diminishing returns paradigm, to which there had been no change in the political system or development of the states, thereby confirming the earlier assertion of (ake, 1994) that it is only for what they (west) will gain that the idea of neo-democracy was introduced. for since then, they never complained until now that the west is extremely-economically bankrupt and broke and, are looking for whom to re-colonised that they now thought it right to say that some of the african leaders had overstayed on the throne of their states. and to which the regime of muammar gadhafi that was already toeing the line of neodemocracy was fingered as devious and inhuman. these kinds of value judgment are not only naive, but mischievous with intent towards economic milieu recolonisation. due to the fact that col gadhafi to this effect was not only affected because of ignorance’s to understanding the present order even when the west through tony blair, the former british prime minister acknowledged that gadhafi is a political realist. recounting why it shouldn’t have been gadhafi in this unipolar world, controlled solely by america, after all the processes that had been put in place, khader (2011:2) noted that gadhafi metamorphosis was seen as miraculous, whereas in reality it is the result of a simple geopolitical calculation to which the u.s reigns is masterly fashion, and to which libya does not stand its ground and the american neoconservatives would want to skin him alive if refused to make some changes. hence, gadhafi in showing how serious he was puts an end to his weapons of mass destruction programme while paving way for the establishment of the western patterns of democracy. he reconciled with the west and throws open his country air and land space for investors. this fit was seen in 2004 when he embraced the western globalization system with opening up, trade liberalization, removal of all known trade barriers to foreign investment and bilateral trade treaties. the libyan international trade fair was much talked about. to international commentators, gadhafi’s transformation has brought respect and prestige to the libyans as live has been given new relief. however, according to khader (2011), and ruff (2011) danger is not 257 | p a g e oil politics and war in libya: arming of rebels and the new phase of neo democracy evaluated okechukwu, groupson-paul completely unfounded. this is because gadhafi had not handed over the oil wells and gas sources into their hand for control. their firms (shell bp, texaco, total, elf aquine and others) were still been treated as second tier investors. italy, south africa, russia and japan companies were still in full control of the marketing of the libyan oil and wealth. secondly, gadhafi does not owe any debt in the world and her external reserve is over two hundred billion dollars. at the same time some of the western countries owed the country some substantial amount of dollars. thirdly, gadhafi is so slow about embracing a comprehensive tenet of neo-democracy, probably because his son serf-al-islam is been prepared for such position under the british tutelage for his doctor of philosophy (phd) come 2012, when the country had planned for elections. a terrifying condition that many were not in agreement with, but impatient in seeing gadhafi not been sincere in upholding his words. furthermore, the fear of the retention of the same family dynasty is not rule out. thus, the refusal by some was seen as a good course to making sure that gadhafi goes, coupled with a close economic direct investment may be sustained, hence, according to ashton (2011) gadhafi was persuaded to nominate trusted and preferably former allies as agents of c.i.a. to which he obliged, but unknown to him that the same men would be used against him in the later days as earlier stated that danger is not completely unfounded. this is because, according to ashton (2011) revolutions sometimes have the tendency of unlocking darker political forces but hopefully the move towards neo-democracy in a country where it can help to reinforce the positive aspects rather than the negative is very vital to the west interest. afterall, the british – lord palmerston’s famous quote about the motivations behind british foreign policy, ‘we have no eternal allies, and we have no perpetual enemies. our interest are eternal and perpetual, and those interest it is our duty to follow (encyclopedia britanica, 1992:411), was rekindled as the war rages on in tripoli. the irony of the conspiracy theory also saw these groups who called themselves friends of libya to turn out to honour the name libya where it turned out also find that libya has a lots and lots of them indeed. of course, it always helps if they join to get a couple of billion in oil reserves knocking about, which makes the whole friendship thing a bit more cynical to understand that they could defile the nato bombing to gather to deliberate on libya oil and how it must be harnessed to solving their own problems (economic recessions) and not that of the purported crying libyans as portrayed by the western press that gadhafi had depraved (reed, 2011:5-6). just as the arab league openly stated that they were misled into libya (ruff, 2011), how are we sure that tomorrow, the united nations will not say that they were pressured into killing of gadhafi by the western allies. even when against 258 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com all odds, the west and the un had used neo-democracy totem as the benchmark to vilify their common enemy or those who disagreed with their nefarious policies of subjugation as was seen in yugoslavia and iraq. hence, with the hope that building a democratic state will be easier in libya than elsewhere since libya has a small relatively homogenous population. thus, the easing out of col gadhafi was cogent and a necessary evil. with this, the scheming idea of obama and his allies who hatched the plan had only waited patiently for opportunities to eliminate gadhafi. this showed the kind of over zealousness, desperate and poor attitude of the french president who was terribly looking for money by all means to finance his re-election as the initial financier is now late. nicholas sarkozy becomes the centre of the conspiracy and the pawn to inciting of the libyans rebels against gadhafi. the question that the actors who orchestra the libya unrest could not answer was why using neo-democracy totem as the best bet to win the heart of the hallucinating world leaders in order to get rid of gadhafi? why did these actors rely on hocus-pocus paradigm to convince the arab world that gadhafi was killing his people? why didn’t they come out to state their categorical interest on the libyan oil and natural resources instead of fanning violence to eliminate the man perceived as hindrance to their interests and course of these years? why was interest on libyan oil the pivotal diplomacy of the west in paying back to gadhafi all his atrocities for years? on the other hand, the view of jones (2011:4) that throughout history, national and international conflicts can be traced to economic reasons is justifiable in the libyan case as they can be disguised under different pretence and may take different forms as conflicts evolve, but these forms are the effects and not the cause. this, simply also made the acceptance of the fact that the western states’ invasion of libya was never normal but abnormal since it was centred on their economic interests hinged on democracy, war/violence and the sharing of boots. these was witnessed, according to ruff (2011:1-4) that at the libyan energy resources centre, david cameron and nicolas sarkozy was seen with the ntc members while the war was still on. they were in the country to negotiate on how the oil export and sales will be absolutely free to their country. their presence also explained the kind of western democracy façade that is fake with their strategies of the most horrible rogues promoting state terrorism and fascism and assisting even their eastern allies to keep creating problems for humanity (abunimah, 2011:18). extracting reasons from the points above and questions raised above by scholars over the main causes of the western invasion and act of terrorism in libya with the usual bracket propaganda that it is time for gadhafi to go and give 259 | p a g e oil politics and war in libya: arming of rebels and the new phase of neo democracy evaluated okechukwu, groupson-paul democracy in libya a chance as repeatedly hinted by hilary clinton, the u.s secretary of states, it is obvious and reasonable to agree with the critics of the latter that the hunger for libyan oil and other rich resources might have been the contending issues for the push to either see col muammar gadhafi into exile or killed so that they can confidently display their democratic hocus-pocus while the thieffry of the oil and other resources goes on unabated in an unbearable magnitude. the war in libya then, by this emphasis, be that as it may, has no any other reason to be established other than ‘oil politics war’ hinged on a façade that its instruments were conspiracy theory and frustration – aggression theory that was substantially employed to smoothen the whole project towards achieving the desired goal. war and the arming of rebels in libya the international communities of the united states, britain and france in particular, in expanding the tenets of their conspiracy to deal with gadhafi once and for all, could be said to have manipulated the united nations and others in taking a decisive action against gadhafi regime. this is sequel to the view of risk (2011:26) that nicholas sarkozy and david cameron muted the idea of no-fly zone so as to avoid col gadhafi airlifting of mercenaries and using his military aeroplanes and armoured helicopters against the civilian. it was this insinuation that informed their idea at the same time, that gadhafi was killing innocent civilians. to facilitate this ulterior motives, the two countries of britain and france drafted the ‘resolution’ 1973 on no-fly zone and imposed it on the united nations security council for ratification (ruff, 2011). however, alleging fear on its implication, the us defence secretary robert gates were quoted as warning with caution, to the us congress that on no fly zone as agreed with britain and france, that if such is approved, it would begin with an attack on libya’s air defence, which might affect both the civilian and the combat military without any distinction. but the white extremist who wanted if possible to skinned gadhafi alive ignored the warning, thereby giving way to deal with the external enemy at all cause (risk, 2011:24). to exemplify the reason on the conclusion that gadhafi had over stayed its usefulness, the afp (2011:3) noted that france and britain did draw up the resolution 1973 on no fly zone and was able to convince the security council and general assembly of the united nations on adopting it. the truth that it was never a un draft was seen when the french and britain argued that nato will be made to enforce it. this argument also under scored the high level of the conspiracy against gadhafi. in a further revelation, leading to the war, even when the young and uncoordinated protesters decried of abandonment by the international community, who had inspired them to go ahead against their leaders, thus, 260 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com agreeing with gurr (1974) that in most rebellion, apart from the people being dissatisfied against government policies may be inspired from the outside against a hate regime. and as it is obviously known that gadhafi regime fall within this angle of measurement before the international community and their press, nothing was left other than to quicken his exit. accepting this observation, risk (2011:14) revealed that the u.s in playing a covert position had asked the saudi arabian government to help it supply weapons to the rebels in benghazi. such weapons as anti-tanks rocket, mortar and surface to air missiles and medium range weapons were what gadhafi opponents needed. he further reiterated that the united states however, warned agents (saudi arabia) of being careful since it is the same arms embargo as stated in resolution 1970 as applied to libya – gadhafi regime that is also applied to it (and the rebels). meaning that it was the weapons shipped from saudi arabia that actually affords the rebels the gut to confront the gadhafi regime. in addition to this, global security consultancy (2011:5) noted that the british and france on their own side had talked ‘strafer, an egyptian special operations force unit 777, the militia group led by mukhtar alakhdar, a member of al-qaeda group and the tunisian volunteers to join force with the rebels to fighting gadhafi. meanwhile, going by the word of gates (2011) and mullen (2011) that there was never any confirmation, either from pentagon or agents on the ground or whatsoever to ascertain that gadhafi was firing at his people from the air, and that they were in utter ignorance as to what was happening in libya. in reactions these revelations, one remained dumbfounded as to where did america, britain and france got the news that warrant the issuing of the no fly zone resolution by the united nations, the arming of rebels through saudi arabia and qatar. and the employment of mercenaries from britain, france, egypt and tunisia to helping the rebels to win the war against gadhafi, even when there was arms embargo resolution 1970 prohibiting such practices? since, also the same us defence secretary gates (2011:2) informed the international press that the un security council resolution 1973 and 1970 did not in any way provides authorization for the use of armed force. there is no unanimity within nato for the use of armed force. meaning that even within the us cabinet and the presidency there are divided opinion on what kind of action should be taken against gadhafi in the thick of the potential conspiracy theory of the actors against the former. it is also this contrasting and contradicting scenario that prompts kevin (2011:10-15) to argued that the western press, especially the bbc, cnn and french media, must be commended for helping to set libya ablaze with the kind of falsehood and information misgivings that they fed their war marshals in their air conditioners offices who never see or know the true event or what was happening in libya other than 261 | p a g e oil politics and war in libya: arming of rebels and the new phase of neo democracy evaluated okechukwu, groupson-paul to instruct their war merchants to roll out tanks and missiles over one of the most stable economic buoyant nation in the maghreb, because they wanted to partake, if not control, the gushing oil and gas of libya. logically, therefore, confirming from the views of robert gates and marshal mike mullen amongst others that the west had become a tool to the destruction of libya (cooper, 2011:3). meanwhile, reacting to the double – edge – sword game of america, booth (2011:1) argued that the us had breached the un security council’s arms embargo on libya for sending arms through saudi arabia to the rebels. he however, wondered how the us could violate the resolutions that cover everybody in the conflict, which also means that you cannot supply arms to the rebels. in another instance, sands (2011:1) opined that they could not see how the us could legally justify sending arms into libya under the current resolutions. to dissipate the degree of reaction against the abuse of the resolution, clinton (2011) was quick to give the excuse that there may be amendment to resolution, so that there could be a legitimate transfer of arms to the rebels if the country should choose to do that. this singular assertion of hilary clinton also admit that the us was aware they had violated the un resolution 1973 and 1970 on libyan crisis either owing to permanent interest or a procedure meant to deal with an eternal enemy – gadhafi. in what seemed to be a battle of indecision and decision line, and a conspiracy of moulding up statements of the un resolutions, the us had pinned their decision on both the resolution 1973 and 1970. but against this stands of the us, grief (2011) noted that the resolution 1973 was meant to strengthen the earlier resolution 1970 in arms embargo, hence, it will be wrong to say that reading the two together can circumvent the arms embargo since the resolutions make clear it is for the security council to decide whether to strengthen, suspend or lift the arms embargo, and not for member state to act unilaterally. in support of this assertion the nato secretary general, anders fogh rasumussen stressed the importance of respecting the arms embargo, while affirming that the un mandate authorizes the enforcement of an arms embargos…we are not in libya to arm people but to protect people (see guardian.co.uk, 2011). on how true and sincere the statement painted above was, becomes a confusing paradigm of hocuspocus since nato at that time was france and britain, who had marginalized all other members, even the powerful, like the german. and it had not been ruled out that humanitarian agents in conflict zones do many at times act as conduct pipe to the arming of rebels (okechukwu, 2011:10-11). booth (2011) in furtherance to this allegation and findings from the information that us and its allies in libya is implicated and, one would be interested to see what the us argument would be in detail. this is because taken 262 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com together the two resolutions don’t preclude the provision of arms to the rebels. with damming reactions against the role of usa, nato, britain and france amongst others in libya over the arming of the rebels, war and destructions in libya some humane individuals like hague (2011:2) had regrettably stated that our action in libya, it would breach any common sense too-no one seems to have any knowledge of history. remember what happened when we armed and trained the mujahideen to fight the russians…. what we are doing in libya has many possible consequences and a nice cozy prowestern democracy (neo-democracy) is incredibly unlikely. we shouldn’t have got involved. the bbc doesn’t help with its naïve and gullible reports, it seems to think that post – gadhafi libya would be like islington or hampstead, very wrong. the arming of the anti – gadhafi rebels will only go on to devalue the west in the eyes of the rest of the world. however, deducing from the acts to the violation of the un resolutions 1973 and 1970 respectively, couple with the several reactions trailing the actions of the u.s, britain, france and other states that joined forces in the war against gadhafi under speculation of allegations, the concept of international law, especially the law of treaties may be brought into the fore. according to the vienna convention on law of treaties 1969, which states inter alia, ‘pacta sunt servanda’ meaning that international agreements to which a state enter into must be observed. that is to say, that once in force a treaty is binding upon the parties to them and must be performed in good faith. good faith here, suggest that a state that expresses its consent either by signature, ratification or by accession is bond by the treaty (green, 1987:163167). in line to this contention, and in agreement to the un arms embargo, epps (2010:1) argued that the essence of creating a global regulatory framework for the effective control of conventional arms transfer is to strengthen arms embargo implementation. this is because arms embargo could become mutually supportive instrument of the international community for maintaining international peace and security. the arms embargo is legally binding convention on states, parties to established global standards to improving the national regulation of international arms transfers. arms embargoes are reactive tools intended to prevent the transfer of all conventional weapons to particular targets. another question consequent this could be to call to the mind, how mandatory was member states expected to obey the arms embargoes? the united nations arms embargoes are imposed by the un security council under the authority of chapter vii in the un charter which presupposes that all member state ought to obey it. but, if most of the security council arms embargoes are intended to prevent transfer of conventional weapons to the target of the embargo, 263 | p a g e oil politics and war in libya: arming of rebels and the new phase of neo democracy evaluated okechukwu, groupson-paul why should the us engaged in the arming of the rebels in libya? what is her interest? what do she intend to achieve in the international system, mindful of the fact that many look up to it? what moral burden is it trying to convey to its forty (40) loyalist states that allied with it to kill gadhafi? against this posture, it seems that the events of the cold-war era had not considerably been forgotten or forgone, but the basic information expressed by the actions of the big actors in the libya quagmire is a time – bomb, that its consequence may sooner or later play itself out either in libya or amongst the perceived allies as the sharing of every criminal boots or loots had been the major exposure of all criminals to a particular crime, because the arming of rebels in libya is criminal. a complete violations of the un arms embargo treaty; a violation of the rights and sovereignty of state (libya), as stated in the westphalia treaty of 1648 and 1962 on state ratification; and a clear indication on aiding to commit violation of the geneva convention of 1949 on targets against sect, tribe, group, innocence, and targeted group with the intention to exterminate or annihilate them under the genocide conventions. this is because if gadhafi was the target, what then happened to the over 20,000 civilians’ deaths caused by the nato air strike. the un human rights body is silent the issues because they were involved in the unfortunate incident that they directly or indirectly teleguided against humanity in libya. although, this may be controversial but the agency need moral burden to strengthen the record that they were not party to the blackout in libya with aid of western press. libyan crisis and the african helplessness: au silence strolling from cyclical poverty, insecurity, corruption, bad leadership and high level of incapacitation, africans , particularly, north of the maghreb, especially the vulnerable might not hesitate to question their maker if given the opportunity, ‘why they were created in that part of the world’, where nothing is pleasant; where nothing is enjoying; where nothing is interesting; where killing is applauded; where nothing is appealing and where every inch of the time, minute, second, and day is crises. this might be the general deduction due to the arab world uprising and unrest occasioned by what jones (2011) sees as bad socioeconomic and political absence. the odds facing the african continent on the libyan crisis, just like what transpired in the rwandan conflict of 1994 were best settled as most of the african states leaders were confused as none of the member state of african union deemed it fit or attempted to intervene. even the continental body were meshed in self contradictions of who to follow. what was noticed and heard amongst the member states was the normal cold feted and hand that did not discriminate to join them colonial 264 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com allies and the western press to express hatred on gadhafi. none was willing except south africa, who was able to disagree with the western invaders on their intention to intervene for the purpose of oil business. jacob zuma, who in his early life and his country had passed through a more terrible and destructive audacity of the colonial britain and others never hesitated in asking the western fortune seekers to allow africa to handle it in africa way, the persistence could not yield any effort as gadhafi fate had been sealed. the african union, which had gradually slipped into the old order, was never heard condemning the negative western reports against libya. the body’s failure to counter any of the allegations on the air was due to what was on the ground, coupled with what has always being their problem of incapacitation and poor logistics. the libyan crisis, if for nothing need africans to show interest and mediate into the situation, bearing in mind that history will never forget gadhafi in his role toward african union re-birth. col gadhafi was able to persuade the african leaders in july 2002 at harare to return back to the view and vision of the african founding fathers on the issue of united african states; the issues of being indifference in african states crisis; the issue of one high command; the issue of collective security and collective sovereignty amongst others as enunciated by nkrumah (1965). through his efforts the oau was rejuvenated and reestablished as au. a more proactive african union meant to tackle african problem. against the turn of event however, all turned into dog eat dog on him when the western leaders whose economic woes was looking for a free oil and gas money to resuscitate their economic recession came knocking by inciting the people against their leader. meanwhile, a pertinent question that needs to be asked is why were the african states always keeping quite at every unfortunate event in the continent? why are they always helpless when it comes to neighbours’ problems? where are those who professed self-acclaimed african giant? why are they playing supportive role to invaders like us, france and britain? is africa no longer the centre peace of the nigerian foreign policy? the despicable thing about the whole scenario was that south african and uganda been the only voice calling for caution wouldn’t have face the problem alone if a country like nigeria did not align itself with the western invaders due to her weakling leader. according to global research (2011:9) nigerian, that ought to show and sue for caution was among those that voted for the un resolution 1973 to establish a libyan no-fly zone in its capacity as non-permanent member of the security council on march 17, 2011. nigeria also recognized the ntc, thereby creating hollow division in au against its initial refusal to accept the international community stands on libya. this hasty decision did not only shock many even 265 | p a g e oil politics and war in libya: arming of rebels and the new phase of neo democracy evaluated okechukwu, groupson-paul the citizenry but it showed a cowardice attitude towards what it stand for vis-avis african problem for african solution as adopted at harare in 2002. the nigerian decimal decision also weakened the au call for peace deal amongst the muammar gadhafi government and the ntc. however, two-third of the african states, especially those who are weak, poverty driven and never good at taking decision on their own were against gadhafi based on the western press reports and the persuasions of the western actors’ lobbyist. most of them who had benefitted from gadhafi largess that helped them to pay their workers’ salaries suddenly remembered that they had an ally whom they could depend on to punish gadhafi in order to be a good follower. these states also failed to call on the au security council to investigate and brief the assembly on the true situation in libya. the usual western brainwashing was used to sandpaper all the nations including malawi, nigeria, niger, mozambique, mali, senegal, rwanda, sierra leone, liberia, seychelles, swaziland, gabon, and cote d’ivoire among others. on the other side were south africa, zimbabwe, uganda, zambia, equatorial guinea, guinea, ghana and lesotho amongst others who strongly opposed the international community decision to humiliate gadhafi by all means. to show how detestable some african leaders felt over the ambush of gadhafi in both the african and international fronts, jammeh (2011) critically allege a grave fear over african future. he further blamed the african union for its unacceptable silence in a situation like the on goings in libya. he tongue lashed many african leaders who welcome the french foreign minister alain juppe, who was sent by the west to lobby the african leaders in supporting the intervention and condemning the gadhafi regime with the alleged accusations of killing her own people. it was against these hate sentiments of the regime that many african states were said to have based their sentiments and condemnation of gadhafi while deeply relying on the western information misgivings. this kind of information misgivings paraded by the west against gadhafi without any authentication, couple with the perpetual silence of the african union and the unholy acceptance of the condemnation of gadhafi as a murder by the western leaders to which this feeble minded and weakling leaders in same african states accepted with hook and sinker, explained the reason for the double ambushes against gadhafi and his regime. most of these gullible african states leaders who once see gadhafi as a benevolent dictator only turned to betray the african union collective sovereignty and collective security charter principles. the event in libya was never worst compared to egypt and tunisia, salama (2011). the only major problem was that the africans in the un had joined force in outright condemnation of gadhafi, while unaware of the western interests 266 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com and intention in libya. agreeing with this observation, ruff (2011:1) argued that the west misled the arab and the african so that they can convincibly nail gadhafi. based on this notion, does it mean that the africans had not learnt from the past history, especially on what happened in rwanda, angola and sudan? can one say that the role of alain juppe was to destabilize african while trying to re-insert the french dwindling foreign policies on africa. premised on the revelations above and the cynist scheming of the western world, which the african states and members of au were short-lived of the pre-history of crisis on the african soil, especially where there is mineral resources like oil, gold, diamond, timber or gas to scramble for by the parties to conflict in africa. the long silence and intermittent statements of au, the body that supposedly ought to mediate and resolve the conflict was unfortunate. the role of states that before now were being looked up to as a driving force for african peace motivator, but surprisingly had proved otherwise explained the level of decadence, poverty, inept and incapacitations. it also shows how far a state can go to denial its neighbour in conflict even under the new au interference principles (see au charter principles, 2002). already, it is on record that under the un responsibility to protect, that are always quoted by the invaders, and as further buttressed by vacler (2000) that we live in a new world in which all of us must begin to bear responsibility for everything that occurs, that there ought to be an african intervention in the libyan crisis by the african union or any member state, and not the situation that the french envoy alain juppe will be sent to african to talk states to agreeing that the west arming of rebels and intervention is the best for africa. this is because whatever action or intention of the west to convince the african states are basically on what they intend gaining. a posted question that needed a rethink is where were the west in the rwanda crisis of 1994? why should the west hurriedly left somalia in 1992 to date? why was darfur crisis a prolonged battle before the western intervention if the responsibility to protect in the un charter was actually working? against all these, do they consider africa in any sense of reasoning, even when their actions are detrimental to the african sense of brotherhood and security? silence in african parlance means acceptance of fate and what it bestowed. the african union silence and watching of another arms shipment into african continent repeating itself like the period of cold war, to which not long before then, many african states in that decade was set ablaze, while the suppliers in turn oiled their remnant to armoury either watch, abandon the victims or comes back to advise on sharing of power under the western model of democracy, thereby agreeing with okechukwu (2011:5) that arising from these unpleasant and undemocratic 267 | p a g e oil politics and war in libya: arming of rebels and the new phase of neo democracy evaluated okechukwu, groupson-paul transformation, africa was quick to be turned into a battleground; in the name of power struggle, power sharing and possible resource control with some parties benefiting, while some loses. a fact that turner (2005) also observed as a criminal tendency and processes meant to manipulate towards attaining power at the end of the resolution of the crisis while still retaining the western interest in the system, as the opposition or rebels in libya may be allowed to share power and seats of governance irrespective of their integrity and stake in the state. thus, going by these points of arguments, it is obvious that the perpetual silence of au to the crisis, the high level lobby that had wooed over two-third of the african leaders to supporting the western invasion and nato terrorism on the libyan soil; the double ambushing of gadhafi by the western world and the african sycophants and the helpless citizenry who might be weary and confused on who to support could have contributed immensely in expanding the hate expressions that had combined with the premeditated acts of the west, propaganda of the western press and cheap blackmails to form part of the contour that escalated the conflict in libya. general implications in the general evaluation of this piece, it is evidence that several implications abounds, both in the face of the international political system of the international community that makes law and violates it at the same time (melvern, 2000); the african frontier, being a continent that had persistently meshed itself in the incapacitation paradigm; the libyan neighbours and the spring up of different armed groups looking for who to sub-due at any instance; the libyan society that had been polarized with discontent and ethnic bigotry, rooted in vengeance and pay back syndrome; and or, probably the vulnerable masses who are always at the receiving end of every political upheaval, social disequilibrium and the porous insecurity nature of the region, that might await all parties to the libyan project as the last had not been heard of the aftermath of the country’s revolution. to start with, according to hague (2011) the consequences that trail the invasion and the arming of the rebels in libya are yet to manifest. the united states and its allies has not survived the arming of rebels in iraq and afghanistan, just as the arming and training of the mujahideen against russia and the enormous problems created had remained a great challenge and huge loses to the international community. no one seems to have any knowledge of history, of how the dangerousness of late saddam hussein, the late osama bin laden, abdullah ojullan of the pkk amongst others who were the handmade of the us when they were crazy about achieving a high popularity and power towards an end. these same crops of agents late confronted the americans – 268 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com their mentor in war power supremacy when it was obvious that the devils trained in the dark had grown extra and dangerous horn before the mid-day. it is on record that the same persons later rose up to be a torn on their master’s flesh – the united states. another inference that points to same scenario was the use of men like victor bout, leonid minin and armstrong amongst other merchants of death to distribute deadly weapons in conflict zones as was seen in the us operations in the 1990 gulf war, to which they helped in transporting weapon to bagdad. with the us and others like britain and france violating arms embargo of the international system, their agents like the characters mentioned above might not be bordered in doing the same against even the international system. a scheme this study found to be devious and callous, especially in arming rebels to overthrow a legitimate government in whatever platform or reasons. the invasion of libya and the arming of the rebels against gadhafi were not only political but economically driven. this also led to one of the basic fact postulated by booth (2011) that the us and its allies breached the un arms embargoes on libya portend a terrible danger. this action also confirmed the earlier willingness to breach the resolution 1970 and 1973, as reiterated by susan rice statements when she noted, that they have not made that decision but that they have not certainly ruled out such to arms rebels. this statement of naivety and unrepentant processes and procedures marked the deficiency in american positive thinking about others interests in the global system. this is because it had just probably displayed to the world that the un is a mere tissue paper in the hand of the powerful nations, and of which at the same time confirmed the reason why the so called resolution 1973 was drafted outside the un body and imposed on it for ratification in order to satisfy their individual political and economic desires on libya. on their economic interests, which actually exposed the thinking and actions of the west into libya was the crazy for oil and gas. the implication of this over zealousness however exemplified the notion that obama – battling with economic recessing, high unemployment and, the fall of the wall street may face a grave hell in his reelection bid in 2012 with no money in the pocket, while sarkozy whose major benefactor, oman bongo of equatorial guinea, the chief financier of his last election is dead and nowhere to fall back to, had not only put himself between the devil and the blue sea, of men with drug money bags in france and conservative bureaucrats with stringent spending. meaning that, he needs money from elsewhere to finance his 2012 re-election or go the way of others. thus, the steady relationship established between him and the judas in libya needed to yield a good fruit before the french election in 2012. the meeting of the french leader and the role of men 269 | p a g e oil politics and war in libya: arming of rebels and the new phase of neo democracy evaluated okechukwu, groupson-paul like mustapha abdul jalil and mahmoud jibril amongst others of the national transitional council (ntc) leadership was never hidden toward the conspiracy theory. according to ruff (2011:3) there is nothing like permanent peace in the world now controlled by western terrocracies. no one had expected that usa and europe would attack an emerging friendly libya. in fact, there have been no rivalries or conflict between libya and the western powers, rather they are cooperating with each other, for oil, getting libyan energy resources was paramount. hence, they want to make the oil import now absolutely free, which is tantamount to act tainted towards economic sabotage (ashton, 2011:2). this study, however, did not differ with ashton (2011:1-2) and ruff (2011:3) that the main reasons why cameron and sarkozy visited libya while the war was still ongoing at bani wali was purely economics. after all, they never wore any military regalia as their separate countries commander-inchief of the armed forces or as the field marshal of the battle. and neither do they have any bullet proof on as marshal mike mullen or even robert gates as they claimed to be on assessment mission. cameron and sarkozy had just temporary exposed themselves to a dangerous stray bullets flying all over the places. this move was not only a mark of impatient, over zealousness to greed and as chief instigator who will not want to miss out from the sharing of the war booties. it also underlines fact that it was on the quest for the libyan oil that the war was fanned and staged. the oil politics and war as has been seen and witnessed in libya mean that there is nothing like respect for state sovereignty if what one state sought cannot be attained at its peaceful demand. a twist implication also suggesting that the world is gradually going back to the empireonic era where obtaining, mafianism, and the brutish idea of hobbs state plays itself out in the act of conquer and occupy basis. then in placing the dice before their european colleagues was never welcomed. according to franchon (2011:6-8) suspicious among the eu members also points to the reason that the intervention in libya was mere of economic idea than any other. the international commentators on the other hand had also faulted the sudden proactive burst of the french. this some will not fail to point out that sarkozy is currently more preoccupied with his reelection in 2012 bid and the breakthrough of marie le pen, than the actual protection of the libyan people (anderson, 2011:4-5). thus, states like the german and other european union members who felt marginalized or schemed out from the libyan crisis was never happy as they never supported the intervention at early stage. this also points out that amongst the eu members that there is also element of conspiracy theory suspicions against their own interests. furthermore, the west has no business interfering in arab affairs, if libya did 270 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com not have any oil well. the west would not have demonstrated the same willingness to intervene, after all democracy is not exportable with missiles or destructions of those intended to govern. it would have been wiser to provide the libyan with the means to defend themselves instead of intervening illegally (badran, 2011). it would have been better for libyan people with the help of their arab brothers to make its revolution than the western involvement thereby stalling and shielding them from taken all the necessary risks since in the arab proverb who wants honey is exposed to bee stings. to contradict the united states effort while probably showing some discontent against the cabinet member of the obama administration, the us state dept even listed the libya rebels as terrorist group, to which the nato leaders are guilty under the us code for providing material support to terrorist group (cartalucci, 2011:7). to expand this degree of disagreement among the us citizens, ron (2011) reiterated that the current situation in libya may be short term victory for the empire, but it is a loss on america republic. and i fear it may be devastating for the libya people. there is no doubt that gadhafi is a bad guy, and that he has brought misery and harm to his country. however, our involvement in another country civil war is costly and unconstitutional. we have spent $1billion dollars on a war that the administration has fought not with the consent of the congress but under a nato flag and authorization of the un. it is a serious thing for a president to engage us on a war. he is bind by our constitution to seek authority from the people, through congress but he did not prior to engaging in military action. however, on general security situations before and after the invasion, it is critically erroneous and destructive to give the west a clean slate performance. this is one of the reasons why this study earlier on adjudged the whole situations as a time bomb, because of the way the actors to the gushing libyan oil hurriedly rushed into libya. if the war against gadhafi had been fought alone by the indigenes who felt dissatisfied with the regime, then, probably a little help from the outside as argued above would have been acceptable. it would have been a clear struggle against the dictator, of which who becomes the winner, might be immaterial. but the people of libya – both hate and liked – know that they wouldn’t have been able to face gadhafi, just as the west know that it wouldn’t have been easy to end the war so quick, instead it would have been another desert war for them alone to be able to confront gadhafi just after few years that he bought massive weapons from america. imperatively too, the overwhelming criticism against the west for invading libya might be correct going by the rules, processes and procedures for either intervention, responsibilities to protect and or on who should be responsible. 271 | p a g e oil politics and war in libya: arming of rebels and the new phase of neo democracy evaluated okechukwu, groupson-paul the following instances therefore fall as a damming fact against the western manner of intervention and actions in libya. analysts like anderson, hague, ashton, ruff and di-vitto amongst others had unanimously argued that the us and its allies violated the un arms embargoes by arming the rebels who were not even defined. two, the major actors of britain, france and the us had erroneously endangered their own national security. a scenario that looked like a dog turning back to its vomits, owing to a long drawn enmity and war between the west and al-qaeda terrorist groups in the middle east and its environs. for apart from the above earlier mentioned groups that was recruited to fight along with nato, the libyan islamic fighting group (lifg) having a link with al-qaeda under the leadership of abdel hakim al-hasidi who was once caught, tortured and released by the america c.i.a. was recruited and declared a pro-democracy group by the west. another is the mujahedin-e khalq (mek) that was seen fighting the us and the others at iraq and afghanistan, and based in iran was among the new intakes to fight gadhafi. the simple fact that the actions of obama, cameron and sarkozy portends danger to their citizens, countries and the world in particular goes a long way to show the degree of absurdity. this is because for their government to armed the same groups that they abhorred, who had fought them standstill at kabul and baghdad and now recognised, recruited and armed as pro-democracy fighters to do away with gadhafi owing to their drive for economic interests to sustain their dwindling and weak regimes is sheer inconsistency with reality. it also means that the bloods of the average american, british and french killed by these destructive groups means nothing to their leaders but a mere self-indulgent with no course by the individuals. third, according to ashton (2011:9-10), the violation of the us code section 2339a and 2339b had implicated their leader for betraying their people by providing material supports in the most egregious, overt case since the code was written. this also means that the leaders of the us, france, britain and nato are clearly guilty of providing a listed terrorist organisation with materials, training and arming to fight muammar gadhafi, the eternal enemy. all these are done criminally under the guise of international law rubber stamped by the contrived un and bolstered with support from the equally contrived international criminal court, showing how partially and why more people are unable to understand the scope of criminality involved in nato’s intervention in libya. finally, if the west had for long denounced the al-qaeda, mek, lifg, tunisian volunteers, the unit 777, the zanitans group and abdel hakim alhasidi who led one of the rebel squad had remained a strong man of alqaeda, then the saying that... nato will return defeated... because most of the 272 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com western recruited allies are former/still enemies of the west sounds probably realistic. this is because the idea of calling them pro-democracy or social group in the eyes of the world is not only risky and insincere, but an act of trying to sell a deceptive dummy to the world in trying to fight the common enemy, which one of the antic of conspiracy theories. in the words of di-vitto (2011:16), the action of the west, aided by the disgraceful manipulation of news by the main stream media: bbc, cnn, unhcr amongst others caused the level of aggression on libya, the arab nations and arab world, on who control africa and the great middle east amongst others which in all are illegal military actions. the killing of gadhafi by the nato terror and nato war crime was all about oil war and oil politics, which had helped in welcoming al-qaeda back fully into the region. conclusion evidence had shown that the libyan crisis was far different from any other major political crisis that had ever taken place in the african soil and it is also ever different from international and humanitarian timely response or intervention to any states crises in africa, which at the same makes the moves, manoeuvres and actions very suspicious. although, this might be located on the fact that the crisis was taken place at a time when the world was facing a deep seated economic recession with bail outs upon bail outs that had ever threatening the global economic system. it was also a time when long enemies of states are been settled by way of pay back. hence, the death of saddam hussien, the timely demise of osama bin laden in the hand of america invaders. unlike the rwandan crisis, where in 1994 the international community folded its arm and abandoned the people because of poverty of mineral and natural resources. an event that was also overtaken by the end of gulf war, the balkan crisis and others, which had encouraged buoyancy in oil price boom less states felt uninterested in tutsis annihilation. so also was the angolan crisis, sierra leone crisis, the liberian crisis and the sudanese-darfur crisis amongst others, that was the struggle for leadership and the appropriation of oil, diamond, gold and timber monies amongst others which was fanned by cold war and post – cold war manoeuvres of actors who had for long settled their differences. in the case of libyan crisis, which was inspired and spurred by the arab world uprising, that was hinged on freedom and neo-democracy, that the concept of hocus-pocus paradigm did locate it on conspiracy theory of the quest by the economically broken nations of the west who were looking for timely – opportunities to annex and probably recolonised states that its open door-policy does not tally with their economic investment overture. coupled with the releases of the 2012 elections time table in america and france, that is a huge challenge, both to finance and garner supports on issue based by the 273 | p a g e oil politics and war in libya: arming of rebels and the new phase of neo democracy evaluated okechukwu, groupson-paul incumbents going by their streams of abysmal records of performance vis-àvis promises made not kept in france over civil unrest; the over forty million americans job seekers suffering from unemployment, and the london looting, student fees hike and social unrest, among others located in failing economy. col. muammar gadhafi, being a long enemy of the west who though had embraced them and was even called a political realist for his change of political pendulum by tony blair, and who owe no debt in the world but swims in billions of dollars that had not tangentially circulated round was targeted. for sure neo-democracy and freedom cannot be preached with missiles, air-to-land surface missiles, tanks, mortars and medium range weapons or rocket launchers amongst others as the west paraded in libya. therefore, implying that there are more to the libyan invasion, destructions and the killing of muammar gadhafi than what we saw and heard in the crisis. the fact that gadhafi had violated their citizens in the time past means that men like mahmoud jibril and mustapha abdel jalili who were once the best brain that gadhafi assembled in tripoli was the judas and the sheep in wools clothing to the dismembering of libya. nicholas sarkozy and his country had not in any way benefited from the libyan oil and this is the opportunity. the same sarkozy and cameron drafted the un no fly zone and imposed it on un with the america veto. america and its allies, the saudi arabia and qatar armed the rebels while the british and france provided mercenaries and war strategist that designed the war against gadhafi. thus, with the naivety of the western press like bbc, cnn, aljazeera, and monde amongst others the hate expressions, premeditated actions, propaganda and cheap blackmail was mounted up against gadhafi on one side and on the other meant to brainwash the libyan citizen and instigated them against their leader. venom of frustration-deprivation bitterness was rejuvenated to push for aggressive tendency that conspiracy theories helped to smoothened. a strong force and factor which formed a huge contour in process towards the escalation of the conflict. this, thus call for questioning and, the re-examination of the role of the international communities and the united nations in the arming of rebels cum insurgence and the awful idea of sponsoring of violence in a sovereign state by the other while violating the westphalia treaty of 1648 and the reaffirmed treaty on states 1962 in whatever platform. of course, the war in libya against muammar gadhafi and his people had clearly shown that it is the western interests of america, france, britain and others in gaining from the gushing libyan oil and gas that sparked – off the destruction, and killings of the innocent and the accused by the nato led force who had professed to protect the vulnerable, but turned out to be the chief murder, if there is anything as such in the lexicon. the grave implications of these actions are yet to manifest as it remained a time bomb as peace cannot 274 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com be driven by violence, freedom cannot be attained by way of destruction and neither can democracy or neodemocracy be established with missile, and traumatisation of the beneficiaries since it is oil politics that is on in libya. references abaza, k. (2011) “the implications for the arab uprising: libya situations differently compared” in guardian.co.uk abunimah, a. (2011) “military to military relations: america and libya agrees under col. gadhafi” africom project new york. anderson, l. (2011) “demystifying the arab spring: passing the difference between tunisia, egypt and libyan crises” free weekly update, foreign affairs.com angrist, m.p. (2011) should we sell fear: antics of conspiracy theory. london: first press ashton, m. (2011) “five reasons to be optimistic about libya’s future” posted to web search 11th sept. badran, t. (2011) “intervention in libya: policymakers should rely on history” independent monitors paper. new york. barkun, m. (2003) a culture of conspiracy: apocalyptic in contemporary america. calfornia: university press. booth, r. (2011) “arming libyan rebels net allowed by the united nation resolution”, guardian. co. uk, wednesday 30th march. brain, m. (2001) introduction to conspiracy theories. united states of america: oliver stone press. bruce, r. (1992) “libya terrorism: the case against col. gadhafi in the contemporary review. washington. byman, d. (2011) rebels with a cause: the history of governance, from the u.s. civil war to libya. may/june news line. cantril, h. (1967) human nature and political system. new branswick: rutger university press. cartalucci, t. (2011) “libya rebels listed as a terrorist group by the u.s. state sept. 18th. chomsky, n. (2011) documenting mainstream conspiracy: linquist and scholar, contrasts conspiracy theory. u.s.a.: honaca press. clausder, s.p. (2011) “the united nations and its allies enforces no fly zone in libya” daily telegraph newspaper. march 27th. cooper, k.t. (2011) “illegality has become legal for americans”, news post international botton: united kingdom. coser, l. (1956) conflict theory and current politics in continuities in 275 | p a g e oil politics and war in libya: arming of rebels and the new phase of neo democracy evaluated okechukwu, groupson-paul social conflict study. u.s.a: university of chicago press. di-vitto, y. (2011) “anti war, middle east, world war” www.mathaba.net. 25th august. epps, k. (2010) un arms embargoes and arms trade treaty. working paper, projects ploughshares ontario canada: pandora press, june. edward, m.g. (2011) “mercenavies in libya, britain and france fingered” independent magazine, london, june 18th. franchon, a. (2011) “strategic review strategy” le monde sept. 11th.fisk, r. (2011) “arming of rebels in benghazi” independent newspaper 7th march new york. eljahmi, m. (2006) libya and the u.s: gadhafi unrepentant middle east quarterly. ________ (2011) “libya and the west once enemy – once friend – once enemy” global research sept. 18th. green, m.a.n. (1987) international law. 3rd eds london: pitman pub. grief, n. (2011) strict implementation of arms embargo necessary, conference: direct of legal studies. university of kent. united kingdom. gurr, t.r. (1974) why men rebel. new jersey: princeton university press harry, g.w. et al (2003) transparency and conspiracy: ethnographes of suspicion in the new world order. u.s.a: duke university press. hague, w. (2011) “the un resolution” in guardian. co. uk march 30th. icke, d. (2004) and the truth shall set you free: the 21st century, london: bridge of love press. jammeh, y. (2011) “criticism: au silence on libyan crisis” in global research august 17th. jean, p.c. (2011) “france and britain: a new special relationship march 26th. jones, m. (2011) “an interview on middle east analysis” global risk and mitigation strategies on the changing political landscape. ceo magazine service. keith, a. (1946) evolution and ethnics a new york: puitnam press. khader, b. (2011) libya: history of a failed revolution 1969 – 2011. cermac, university catholique de london. kravetz, m. (1984) conspiracy theory and open – secrecy: culture of events in america: minneapolis: classque press. kevin, m. (2011) “split on libya averted as nato given military control, guardian co. uk. laxner, l. (2010) ‘libya eight wonder of the world’ bnet (via) find articles: uk. __________ (2011) libya chemical weapons destruction costly, arms http://www.mathaba.net/ 276 | p a g e escet journal of educational research and policy studies (escjerps) vol. 1 issn: print 2811-2717 https://journal.escetjerps.com control association. www.armscontrol.org. melvern, l. (2004) conspiracy to murder: the rwandan genocide. london: version publication. melvern, l. (2000) a people betrayed: the role of the west in rwandan genocide. london: zed books publication. merriden, f.c. (2008) a new lease on life for humanitarian: how operation odeyssy dawn will revive the responsibility to protect. london: forterites prints. militon, w.c. (1991) behold a pale horse: london: light technology pub. mintz, f.p. (1985) the liberty lobby and the american rights: race, conspiracy and culture. london: free press inc. okafor, f.c.n. (2004) neo-democracy and poverty management in africa: the ideals, illusion and realities. awka: mercury bright press. okechukwu, g-p. (2011) “the polities and failure of ethics of humanitarian intervention in african crisis” journal of alternative perspectives in social sciences. vol. 3, no. 3, florida: japss press. okechukwu, g-p. (2009) military in politics and the third colonization of africa: beyond destruction and despairs. lagos: lawpat prints. paul, r. (2011) lake jackson, texas republican presidential candidate, “issued statement on the situation in libya. washington. pipe, d. (1998) the hidden hand: middle east fear of conspiracy. new york: st. martins press. pipe, d. (1992) dealing with middle east conspiracy theories. orbis: orbis central press. ramsay, r. (2006) conspiracy theories. pocket essential london: loobis press. reed, r. (2011) “libyan essay” london review books vol. 33, no. 9, 28 april. reed. r. (2011) “friends of libya” london review book april vol. 33, no. 10. rory, s. (2011) have we go again on the libya intervention. independent newspaper. london. rudy, n. (2011) “the arab world journey unsettled” mirror graph newspaper. 26th march. cairo. ruff, a. (2011) lesson from nato terrorism over sovereign libya: nato – unsc must end illegal war against libyan arabs. http://abdu/ruff.wordpress.com/. sands, p. (2011) “the law cover everybody” conference on international law. university college london. salama, v. (2011) arab back allied offensive on libya as leader gadhafi remain defiant, bloomberg. www.bloomberg.com/news/ 2011/3/2/quarterly. sanders, t. (2003) main stream conspiracy theories: transparency http://www.armscontrol.org/ http://abdu/ruff.wordpress.com/ http://www.bloomberg.com/news/%202011/3/2/quarterly http://www.bloomberg.com/news/%202011/3/2/quarterly 277 | p a g e oil politics and war in libya: arming of rebels and the new phase of neo democracy evaluated okechukwu, groupson-paul and conspiracy discussed. u.s.a: wilcox press. stanik, j.t. (2003) “reagan’s undeclared war with gadhafi”. daily telegraph march 20th. thierry, m.(2011) “world politics: aggression on libya, grand oil theft” mainstream media. qatar. thudicey, f.z. (2008) the face of real enemies: conspiracy theory updates. new york: abc press. turner, t. (2005)“au and the new dimension to conflict resolution in africa”, interview butare: university of rwanda. march 18th. vacler, h. (2000) “interventions and the vulnerable” in the ploughshares monitor, june vol. 22, no. 2. __________ (2010) “history of libya under muammer gadhafi”. in wikipedia encyclopedia. december. wolff, s. (2011) “libya: a solution worse than the problem: international security. tuesday 22nd march. young, k.k. et al. (2008) sanctifying misandry: goddess ideology and the fall of man mcgill: mcgill – queen university press. 