Scholarly works in the Department of Political Science and International Relations
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Item The Dynamics of Africa's Cultural Affinity and the Global Electoral Outcomes: Evidence from Ekiti State of Nigeria(Crawford Journal of Politics, 2021-09-21) Aladegbola Isaac AdegbengaAre politicians only rewarded by voters for distributive allocations? Are patterns of voting always a function and reflection of how goods are distributed? The patterns that have emerged in the electoral politics of Ekiti State of Nigeria since it was created in 1996, the event of June 21st 2014 gubernatorial election and the outcome of 2015 general elections in the state have challenged the “common position within the political accountability framework that examined whether political incumbents are always rewarded by voters in return for distributive allocations”. Employing the empirical research method, this study interrogates the unexpected electoral outcome of the 2014 and 2015 elections in Ekiti State and considers the trends of Ekiti elections from 1999 to 2018, covering the Fourth Republic. Tracing the relationship between identity and distributive politics, the study finds that cultural affinity and state homogeneity are additional relevant factors that shape electoral outcomes in Africa beyond the explored distributive goods and distributive politics that generally shape global electoral outcomes.Item From 200 Dollars to 50 Dollars: The Political Economy of Nigerian Workers’ Retrogressive Living Wage in Four Decades(International Journal of Research in Business and Management, 2020-04-24) Aladegbola Adegbenga Isaac; Mike OmilusiNigeria’s minimum wage, which had its advent in 1981, seeks to set a wage floor at an amount considered sufficient to satisfy the basic necessities - food, clothing, housing, education, and recreation - of the worker. Since then, every minimum wage change in Nigeria has been preceded by agitations and sometimes strikes by the labour establishment. This paper examines the struggle of the labour movement as a crucial element within the democratisation process in Nigeria and seeks to contribute to a better understanding of the root causes, effects, and consequences of the progressive living wage in the country. It contends that more than half of the Nigerian population still grapples with extreme poverty while a small group of elites enjoys ever-growing wealth, leaving a glaring sense of inequality in the polity. Relying on available public data, the paper interrogates the deteriorating living conditions of Nigerian workers amidst the opulent lifestyle of the nation’s political class and recommends policy options to the current narrative.Item Patriarchy and Colonization: The "Brooder House" for Gender Inequality in Nigeria(Journal of Research on Women and Gender, 2020-05-04) Aladegbola Isaac Adegbenga; Jaiyeola Emmanuel OlorunfemiThe battle for women’s suffrage at English Parliament in 1866 marked the earliest recorded legal battle for equality between men and women. Since then, the issue of gender equality has grown to become a global concern. While it is generally agreed that human rights apply to all human beings (men and women included), women’s fundamental rights and freedom have been limited by patriarchal practices and traditions. The situation is worse in many African societies where colonial legacies and patriarchal culture assign superior roles to men and subordinate roles to women. In Nigeria, these practices have reduced the status of women to being inferior to their male counterparts. This in turn makes it difficult for women to fully participate in as many social, political, and economic activities as men do. Patriarchal culture has brought tremendous setbacks for women in Nigeria, which is the focus of this paper. In addition, stereotyping and stratification of jobs, skills, political offices, and businesses have become so deeply rooted in patriarchy because of the cultures and ideologies of the society. This began with the traditional gender roles in the pre-colonial era and was reinforced during the colonial era when women were forced out of commercial farming and trading to do food-crop farming and petty trading, which both bring in less money. Presently, this practice keeps women under glass ceilings and in low-paying jobs, which contributes largely to most Nigerian women being in poverty, experiencing poor health, and suffering from various abuse due to the inequality of social status between genders. Therefore, this paper critically discusses the historical perspective and analyses how colonial legacies and patriarchy are nurturing gender inequality in Nigeria, using hegemonic and Nigerian masculinity as the theoretical framework of analysis.Item The political economy of ‘Okada’ transport business as an employment strategy in Nigeria(Journal of African Political Economy and Development, 2018-12-14) Aladegbola Isaac AdegbengaMuch academic energy has been so dissipated by transport geographers on the traffic relevance of motorcycles (Okada), especially as a commercial means of providing mobility. Observably, the mutually related essence of transport and employment that led to the popularity of motorcycles in most cities in Nigeria is fast extending to multidimensional problems of economy, politics, and social malaise. The objective of this study therefore is to find out these other underlying political, economic, and social factors overshadowing the mobility relevance of motorcycles as a transport business and why it is fast becoming an employment strategy for millions of unemployed youths in Nigeria. The questions are: has it alleviated poverty in the country or has it provided for means of development of human capital for the needed industrialisation in Nigeria? The study area is Ekiti State, Nigeria, where surveys of sampling methods with random techniques are used to pick 500 Okada riders as respondents. The critical investigation in this study is to find out why the respondents are engaged in the ‘Okada’ transport business and why they abandoned their various trades as artisans and their education. It is to examine Okada’s business’ prospect of buoyant economy and the observable Okada riders’ daily income and association with political elite. The study is to also find out why ‘Okada Unions’ are becoming second arms of political parties, forming strong pressure influences' and'stated groups’, which are always motivated by politicians to attain political gains. The study will be raising policy options for the government that will not only secure a socio-political and economic future for the country as a developing nation but will also be predicting the outcome of the monolateral Okada economy across Nigerian cities.Item The Political Economy of the New Slave Trade in Africa(Global Journal of Human Social Science Sociology, Economics & Political Science, 2012) Aladegbola Isaac Adegbenga; Olaniyan Azeez O.A macroanalysis of various enquiries into the nature and causes of Africa’s crises may reveal a continent placed on perpetual slavery. From trans-Atlantic slave trade to colonialism; from colonialism to flag independence and Neo Colonialism; from trade imperialism to human trafficking; from the rampaging momentum of globalisation to erosion of Africa's culture and communal morality; from ‘Tokunbo’ syndrome and currencies, Africa seems to be on the verge of internationally inspired perpetual servitude. The costs of these old and modern vices are enormous, and the task of salvaging them is not less so. While the paper exposes the two divides, it goes to argue that the actualisation of the New International Economic Order (NIEO) remains a must for Africa as a continent if she must survive the present socio-economic and political disempowerment, eating deep to her efforts at meeting the aims and objectives of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG).Item Political Development and Revolution in Modern States: Interrogating the Necessity of Revolution in Nigeria(Crawford Journal of Politics, 2021-03-07) Ogunwa Samuel Adetola; Ogunwa Florence AdeseekeThis work identifies and discusses the phenomenon of revolutions. While there is no consensus as to what constitutes a revolution, revolution makes total alteration in the life of a political system. Several reasons have been deduced for revolutionary movements in countries. The reasons are so germane that when the government fails to carry out the constitutional responsibilities of the state. This is essentially and particularly important in democratic societies when the ruling governments did not keep to the promises made to the electorates during electioneering campaigns. The failure of government sometimes influenced the military to stage a coup, and toppled the government, even the democratic government elected by the people. The dictatorial governments have been removed either by the military coup d'état or revolution. Consequently, the contagious effect of the ancient or pre-twentieth revolution affected the twentieth-century revolutions, and these revolutions equally spread to the current century, even the “Arab Spring” between 2010 and 2012: Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Bahrain, to mention a few. The change of governments has restored the hopes and aspirations of the people and the future of the countries and the people at large. The work convincingly argues that there is no single environmental factor that makes the revolutionary movement prevail. Series of events are what make revolution possible. Nigeria as a country has not experienced the phenomenon of revolution but has had the government changed by the military on several occasions. The military In politics, Nigeria has made incremental adjustments; these patchwork's or reforms are not politically and holistically articulated, and perhaps the amendments have some political undertones. Today, both objective conditions are readily available to trigger a revolution, even another military rule, but it only needs subjective conditions to trigger it. This paper argues that revolution is inevitable—not even the change of government by the democracy or military will do—but a radical and fundamental adjustment to the political architecture of the country. Nigerians have been shortchanged for good governance. The paper concludes that to avert upcoming political upheavals and consequences of revolution, which may alter the Nigerian state convincingly, the political leaders need to redesign governance in the country to meet the aspirations of the people in all ramifications.Item Managing Globalization for Sustainable Development in Nigeria.(The Public Administration and Social Policies Review, 2015-04-17) Ogunwa Samuel AdetolaManaging globalization for sustainable development in Nigeria is now more imperative than ever before, if the quest for development in all ramifications is to be achieved holistically. The development anticipated from globalization has turned to be zero-sum game since economy of globalization is intended towards consolidating the North hegemony. Developing countries continued to receive the pitfalls of globalization in spite of the fact that the developed and developing worlds should be co-beneficiaries. Also, globalization is subjective and at the same time Eurocentric as it propagates the philosophy of Western ideology housed in the New World Order. The paper is a warning signal for the Nigerian government to put the country in order, so that the wave of globalisation, which allows multinational corporations to decide the fate of others through nationalisation and internationalisation of national properties of the peripheries to those of metropolitan cities who neither reside in the peripheries, nor sent agents across the globe to monitor investments in and out. The paper argues that Nigeria has been at the receiving end of globalisation, and in fact globalisation is a socioparasite on the country’s quest for greatness. For globalisation to be relevant in Nigeria and to benefit the majority of the Nigerian peoples, the leaders at all levels of governance should be autonomous and sensitive before globalisation is accepted in all ramifications. The paper concludes that there are benefits to be derived from the globalising world, if both the givers of globalisation and the receivers of globalisation can create an atmosphere where political, economic, social, and cultural consensus can be made so that what becomes ‘A’, that is, the Global North, becomes ‘B’, that is the Global South, and what becomes the Global South becomes the Global North in the long run.Item Globalization and the Quest for Development in Nigeria(American Journal of Social Science Research, 2014-07-22) Ogunwa Samuel Adetola; Ologbenla DerinGlobalization and development in Nigeria is now more imperative than ever before, if the quest for development in all ramifications is to be achieved holistically. The development anticipated from globalization has turned to be a zero-sum game since the economy of globalization is intended towards consolidating the North hegemony. Developing countries continued to receive the pitfalls of globalization in spite of the fact that the developed and developing worlds should be co-beneficiaries. Also, globalization is subjective and at the same time Eurocentric as it propagates the philosophy of Western ideology housed in the New World Order. The paper is a warning signal for the Nigerian government to put the country in order, so that the wave of globalization which allows multinational corporations to decide the of fate of others through nationalization and internationalization of national properties of the peripheries to those of metropolitan cities who neither reside in the peripheries, but sent agents across the globe to monitoring their investments in and out. The paper argues that Nigeria has been at the receiving end of globalization and in fact globalization is a socio-parasite on the country’s quest for development. For globalization to be relevant in Nigeria and to benefit the majority of the Nigerian peoples, the leaders at all levels of governance should be autochthonous and sensitive before globalization is accepted in all ramifications. The paper concludes that there are benefits to be derived from the globalizing world, if both the givers of globalization and the receivers of globalization can create an atmosphere where political, economic, social, and cultural consensus can be made, so that what becomes ‘A’, that is the Global North becomes ‘B’, that is the Global South and what becomes the Global South becomes the Global North at long run.Item Governance and Covid-19 in Developing Countries: Observations from Nigeria(crawfordjournalofpgstudies.org, 2022-06-09) Ogunwa Samuel Adetola; Ogunwa Florence AdeseekeThe governments across the world were caught unprepared for the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic that claimed several lives. Millions of people struggled between life and death in both developed and developing countries. The disease was so devastating that various governments closed their borders and shut down socio-economic and political activities. People were devastated because there was no movement within and between countries. To cushion the challenges posed by the coronavirus, governments, and organisations in different countries provided palliatives ranging from financial incentives to food items, among others, for their citizens, even helping the needy countries. The paper argues that the effect of COVID-19 in Nigeria is greater than the COVID-19 pandemic itself. Nigerians defiled the directives of their governments largely because these governments’ palliatives not only yielded negative development but were only for the few selected Nigerians. Besides, the elites who were infected by COVID-19 struggled to have space within the limited bed spaces with the masses. Thus reaping from the bad governance they put in place. The paper concludes that the events of 2020, particularly the coronavirus, provided a holistic call to the governments in the country to without delay to put in place institutional mechanisms that will address the issue of good governance: energy, roads, security, particularly modern health care facilities which the government and the governed can access with tokenism for their well-beingItem The Role of Political Parties in Federal Societies: Assessment of Nigeria(Crawford Journal of Politics, 2019) Ogunwa Samuel AdetolaThe role of political parties in a federal system of government was focused upon in this contribution. The paper argues that political party and democracy are twin concepts that draw on one another. Political parties rely on the institution of democracy in the selection of its flag bearers to make political representation democratic, transparent and accountable. Furthermore, the political parties in a federal setup may be abnormal when they are not democratic in purpose. The abnormalities in political parties particularly in Nigeria is the basis of pathologies, ideological emptiness, and lack of internal party democracy within and among them are the consequences of poor governance in the polity.Item Democracy, federalism and governance in Nigeria(Journal of Governance and Development, 2024-04-25) Ogunwa Samuel Adetola; Abasilim Ugochukwu DavidNigeria became one of the federal societies under the supervision of the British colonial government in 1954. Federalism and democracy ceased when the military government usurped and suspended the Republican Constitution in 1966. The periods of military rule witnessed over-centralisation of power at the centre, while the federating states became Lilliputians. The usurpation of jurisdictional competencies and centralisation of power made the federating states and local governments default on their socio-economic responsibilities. The paper aims to elucidate the intricate relationship between federalism and democracy in Nigeria, shedding light on the repercussions of their erosion during military rule. Through a comprehensive review of historical events and constitutional changes, this study examined the consequences of over-centralisation and jurisdictional encroachments during military governance. The paper revealed that the institutionalisation of federalism, once embraced without due consideration, led to detrimental adjustments and crises during military rule, significantly impeding socio-economic and political development. The paper concluded that democracy and federalism are twins ‘brothers’ and will remain relevant and last long when Nigerian leaders, particularly elected representatives, undertake constitutional reforms that prioritised power devolution to states and local governments. This adjustment, rooted in justice and fairness, will rejuvenate the symbiotic relationship between democracy and federalism, ensuring lasting relevanceItem Globalization and the Quest for Development in Nigeria(American Journal of Social Science Research, 2015-03-07) Ogunwa Samuel Adetola; Ologbenla DerinGlobalization and development in Nigeria is now more imperative than ever before, if the quest for development in all ramifications is to be achieved holistically. The development anticipated from globalization has turned to be a zero-sum game since the economy of globalization is intended towards consolidating the North hegemony. Developing countries continued to receive the pitfalls of globalization in spite of the fact that the developed and developing worlds should be co-beneficiaries. Also, globalization is subjective and at the same time Eurocentric as it propagates the philosophy of Western ideology housed in the New World Order. The paper is a warning signal for the Nigerian government to put the country in order, so that the wave of globalization which allows multinational corporations to decide the of fate of others through nationalization and internationalization of national properties of the peripheries to those of metropolitan cities who neither reside in the peripheries, but sent agents across the globe to monitoring their investments in and out. The paper argues that Nigeria has been at the receiving end of globalization and in fact globalization is a socio-parasite on the country’s quest for development. For globalization to be relevant in Nigeria and to benefit the majority of the Nigerian peoples, the leaders at all levels of governance should be autochthonous and sensitive before globalization is accepted in all ramifications. The paper concludes that there are benefits to be derived from the globalizing world, if both the givers of globalization and the receivers of globalization can create an atmosphere where political, economic, social, and cultural consensus can be made, so that what becomes ‘A’, that is the Global North becomes ‘B’, that is the Global South and what becomes the Global South becomes the Global North at long run.Item Revisiting the Civil Society and Democratic Governance in Africa: Present or Absent in Nigeria?(JPPUMA: Jurnal Ilmu Pemerintahan dan Sosial Politik UMA (Journal of Governance and Political Social UMA), 2023-06-18) Ogunwa Samuel Adetola ; Ogunwa Florence AdeseekeThe civil society midwife democratic government in 1999. They fought for it. Although some died in the process of agitating for democracy, the fundamental human rights and rule of law are firmly entrenched, including the freedom of association, free movement, and speech among others. The paper argues that today’s democratic government was worked for, but those who worked for it did not participate in the transition program since the military's characteristics, particularly those of General Ibrahim Gbadamosi Babangida, keep the transition program in perplexity and continuous. The failure of the leaders and members of civil organisations to participate is responsible for the crisis of governance. Those elected into governments across the states, including the federal government largely masquerading behind politics as governance output. The paper is of the view that the civil society organisation in the country cannot claim irresponsible to Nigerians since they ushered in democratic rule; therefore, efforts must be geared towards validating the purpose of democracy and the dividends of democratic governance in Nigeria.Item Globalization and the Quest for Development in Nigeria(American Journal of Social Science Research, 2015-07-03) Ogunwa Samuel Adetola; Ologbenla DerinGlobalisation and development in Nigeria are now more imperative than ever before if the quest for development in all its ramifications is to be achieved holistically. The development anticipated from globalisation has turned out to be a zero-sum game since the economy of globalisation is intended towards consolidating the North hegemony. Developing countries continued to receive the pitfalls of globalisation in spite of the fact that the developed and developing worlds should be co-beneficiaries. Also, globalisation is subjective and, at the same time, Eurocentric, as it propagates the philosophy of Western ideology housed in the New World Order. The paper is a warning signal for the Nigerian government to put the country in order so that the wave of globalisation, which allows multinational corporations to decide the fate of others through nationalisation and internationalisation of national properties of the peripheries to those of metropolitan cities who neither reside in the peripheries, but sent agents across the globe to monitor their investments in and out. The paper argues that Nigeria has been at the receiving end of globalisation, and in fact globalisation is a socio-parasite on the country’s quest for development. For globalisation to be relevant in Nigeria and to benefit the majority of the Nigerian peoples, the leaders at all levels of governance should be autonomous and sensitive before globalisation is accepted in all ramifications. The paper concludes that there are benefits to be derived from the globalising world if both the givers of globalisation and the receivers of globalisation can create an atmosphere where political, economic, social, and cultural consensus can be made so that what becomes ‘A’, that is, the Global North, becomes ‘B’, that is the Global South, and what becomes the Global South becomes the Global North in the long run.Item Critique of Public Administrative Reform System(Africa’s Public Service Delivery & Performance Review, 2016-03-01) Aladegbola Isaac AdegbengaThe public service of any nation is its veritable instrument for national development. If it fails, the gamut of policies meant for the nation’s development would have failed. In this sense, the observable developmental deficits in Africa cannot, therefore, be separated from the failures of the continents public service and the largest chunk of these failures are located on the ethical behaviour of the public servants who are taking the service mostly as a colonial service. Writing from Nigeria's hindsight, the author observed that most nation’s public service in Africa, like its larger society, has not been able to separate themselves from their history, the history of “colonial mentality.” In a way, an enduring problem noticeable within the public service in most sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) states has been what appropriate strategy will remove, the clove of “colonial mentality” associated with the public servant behaviour even years after decolonization of most SSA states and in spite of various post independent reforms put up to rectify these deficiencies. Has the knowledge of Africa Solution to Africa Problem (ASAP) instil the right type of ethical behaviours that will accept the public service as African service and not foreign service of the old exploitative order, divide and rule system and the ‘not my business’ syndrome that pervaded the era of colonial rules? It is critical that the failure of public service is a failure of service delivery in Africa. This paper, using Nigeria as a case study, does not only chronicle these failures/challenges as it affects Africa development strides, it also offers a process of public service ethics education as a strategy, in order to have long-term and sustainable solutions that will promote public service delivery in Africa.Item When Communalism Partners Modern State(European Journal of Research in Social Sciences, 2020) Omilusi Mike; Aladegbola Isaac AdegbengaExperience and practice have shown clearly that community policing can effectively contribute to reducing crime and promoting security. Community-oriented policing is based on the premise that citizens should be empowered to enhance their quality of life and prevent or eliminate crime and the problems that lead to crime. Drawing from this premise, this article investigates and analyzes the success story and challenges of Community Policing in Nigeria. It examines the interface of communalism as an ideology (rooted in traditional African society) and modern strategies of policing neighbourhoods and how this has impacted on community safety.Item Striking a Balance between Two Extremes(Interdisciplinary Journal of Sociality Studies, 2022) Aladegbola Isaac Adegbenga; Adefisoye Taiwo OladejiThe outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and subsequent government’s responseactions generated fascinating reactions and interpretations from different quarters in Nigeria. The country’s vibrant socio-political and religious spaces were inundated by a series of interpretations, thoughts and opinions, especially by prominent clergies from the Pentecostal Christian faith. Five perspectives emerged: the divinely-permitted pandemic/punishment perspective, the eschatological perspective; the Satanicorchestration perspective; the conspiracy perspective; and the pragmatist’s perspective. This article examines the thrusts, strengths and limitations of these perspectives in the light of scientific explanations of the global outbreak of COVID-19 and government’s response-actions in Nigeria. The standpoint was used as the theoretical underpinning for the study, while the argument was based on secondary sources, including audio/visual sermons/addresses of various clergies on the subject matter. These were content-analysed and subjected to historical and descriptive methods. Findings show that while some of the claims and interpretations by proponents of the perspectives were labelled ‘unscientific’, unverifiable, outrageous and premised on sentiments, such claims went a long way to shape beliefs, public perception and disposition to the pandemic and subsequent measures by the government. It was concluded that such overriding influence ought to have been leveraged by the government to achieve compliance with its measures and manage the pandemic regarding its spread and the administration of vaccines.Item Politics of Policies: The Quest for Qualitative Education in Nigeria(Adonis & Abbey Publishers, 2016) Aladegbola Isaac Adegbenga;The quality of education means much to the development of any nation. The government of Nigeria since independence realizes the unique position of education as a catalyst to the development of individual and the society at large. Much as they do; and much as they pronounce it; education polices and its implementation procedures at all levels of governmental powers in Nigeria have revealed intricacies in politics which brought Nigeria into a situation of ‘one leg forward and two legs backward’ as far as achieving qualitative education is concerned. The persistent fall in the standard of education is no longer debatable. The issue is in analyzing the politics and ‘policies’ that have contributed to this fall and search for a ‘ground’ where qualitative education would be achievable. This paper examines the undeniable relationship between politics and education using a system approach analysis and exposes their interrelationship in evolving qualitative education in Nigeria.