Government And Military Corruption In Nigeria

Intrastate conflict has historically been savage and chaotic; nowhere have these descriptors been more fitting than within African civil wars. A legacy of colonialism, ineffective governance, and regional conflict scars the continent, resulting in regular political instability within its territories. The Nigerian civil war of the late 1960s cost the lives of an estimated three-million people- the majority of whom were civilians who succumbed to starvation (NWE 2015). This conflict has traditionally been understood to have been caused by ethnic tensions within the state, and justifiably so (Falola 1999, 125). The ethnic cleansing of the Igbo that occurred throughout September and October of 1966 in northern Nigeria undoubtedly played a

War was inevitable: ‘This simple and seemingly innocuous action broke the last thread and split the last institution symbolizing Nigeria's nationhood and cohesion which had been regularly tampered with by the politicians since 1962. The rift between the Eastern Region and the rest of the country was total’ (ibid). In a meeting convened in Aburi, Ghana, by Ghanaian general Gen. Ankrah, leader of the eastern region military Lt. Col. Ojukwu understood the real issues at hand and convinced attendees that the only way for Nigeria to stay together is that it has to break apart, effectively implying secession. After a breakdown in communication, a frustrated federal government passes Decree no. 8 of 17th March 1967, which split Nigeria’s regions into twelve states. This was seen by Lt. Col. Yakubu Gowon as a pre-emptive, non-violence weapon against the east. The eastern region was split into 3 states. Lt. Col. Ojukwu unsurprisingly rejected Decree no. 8 and states that the Enugu, (capital of Nigeria’s eastern region) is headed for secession. On the 30th of May 1967, the eastern region of Nigeria declares itself as the independent sovereign state of Biafra. The Federal military fired the first bullet on the 6th of July 1967. Now this essay will turn to providing a background to the development of Realism as an analytical theory of International Relations.

Nigeria is one of the African countries that is responding to Western pressures to make its states acquire a liberal and democratic culture. Over the years, Nigeria has practiced what can be described as fraudulent democracy. This democracy has been characterized by obnoxious acts such as indiscriminately using money and by very powerful and influential members of the elite class, popularly called ‚political godfathers,’ imposing political leaders on the people. This situation has already become a culture in Nigeria because many politicians who want to contest and win elections always look for such persons to support them. This means that they no longer depend on the electorates to win elections, but instead rely on the political godfathers. This political culture was truncated in the 2007 gubernatorial election in Edo state, Nigeria. This paper examines how the problem of money politics and political godfatherism can be eliminated from Nigeria’s politics in order to strengthen democratic governance in the country. The methodology of the study is essentially analytical and based on lessons from

Nigeria would soon become a prime example of the issues with arbitrary borders and the long term effects they can create. Nigeria would gain its independence in 1960 and would become a Federal Republic with three regions. This federalist republic would bring out regional rivalries and fears amongst the people. Violence against Igbo would erupt around the North and soon after `the Southeast secedes as Biafra. (Reno, pg. 2) A three year war would follow and illness and hunger within Biafra would prevail. Britain got involved in the issue and would aid Nigeria in pulling Biafra back in as a way to avoid a chain reaction. Eventually, the Southeast region would give in, and return to Nigeria. However, regional distrust remained an issue, and would take on ethnic and religious dimensions for years to come. In addition, there was a deep disregard to many of the institutions and practices that had already been set in place by the people.

Nigeria was having an internal war that the Muslims started with the Ibos. It started when they gained independence in 1960. They adopted the feudal systems and had to share power with Lagos, and three state governments in the north, east, and west. In 1964, the Ibos seized power and declared a central dictatorship. The Muslims of the north didn’t like the Ibos because they weren’t Muslim. So they sparked a war in 1967. The Ibos, after a group of northern officers obtained the government positions, created their own

The Republic of Niger, a poor, landlocked country, located in the heart of Sub-Saharan West Africa. Niger has seen its fair share of change throughout the decades; moving away from the control of the French Parliament in 1960, Niger formally declared its independence. Despite this bold act of independence, Niger would not see its first steps towards democracy until the early 1990’s, when they held their first open election as a free state. However, even with the empowerment of the people in a democratic government, Niger has seen itself nearly torn apart as a result constant coups, that have occurred as recently as 2010. Such instability has led to incredulous amounts of corruption and poverty, within the Niger government. This lack of stability and constant turnover in government, has been a driving factor behind the lack of resources available for education in Niger.

In Nigeria, the government possesses the authority to distribute and generate money. Adichie reveals the government’s influence over the economy through Aunty Ifeoma’s financial circumstances. Aunty Ifeoma asserts, “[w]e just called off yet another strike, even though no lecture has been paid for the last two months. They tell us the Federal Government has no money” (76). The University’s financial burden implies that the Nigerian government is simply lying to conserve the money for themselves, further emphasizing

150). Democracy is supposed to be about equal opportunity but when bribery is brought into the balance it disrupts the scale to tip the scales into the favor of the politicians which goes against the principle of democracy (“Rise of Democracy”, para. 1). In the majority of Latin American countries there is a system called “compulsory voting” which makes it illegal not to vote. Although it is illegal not to vote, in Brazil’s case, only 78.90% of eligible voters voted for the presidential campaign in 2014 (“Voter Turnout”, para. 3). While there is a huge amount of corruption in Latin America, it can be overcome. In September of 2015, a crowd of Guatemalans chanted at President Otto Perez Molina, “Resign, now.” Their voice was heard as the ex-Guatemalan president stood down from office and is now in prison awaiting trial over an alleged corruption scandal (Watson, p.1, para. 1-3). This is just a glimpse of the power the people can hold. If the voters can get a current president out of office than imagine what can happen if everyone were to vote for who they truly believe is worthy of representing and governing the country.

The first was the weak sense of nationalism caused by all the ethnic groups where religion played a major part of the division. The main three ethnicities in Nigeria are Hausa-Fulani, Yoruba, and Igbo; the former is Muslim while the two latter are Christians. The second cause mentioned was the “divide and rule” which was a British tactic to employ ethnic groups against one another, and thus “helped ensure that ethnicity would be the main line of political cleavage after Nigeria became an independent country.” The third cause is the personal rule system based on “big men” and what this means is that Nigerian’s who worked for the British used their personal relationships to gain power and wealth, and in a certain way it is still used today in the Nigerian government. The fourth devastating cause was the “creation of an increasingly active and interventionist state during WWII and after until its independence in 1960, but that opened the doors to patronage, which would be used to gain political power and wealth. The past reveals the problems Nigeria has had for several decades, some of which have not disappeared but seem to get progressively worse. (CITATION)

Nigeria is an Agricultural and oil rich nation but characterised by Political instability, corruption, poor

     Nigeria has been a country in political turmoil for a long time. The country was created in 1914 under British colonial rule and at that time it was considered a protectorate. It was not until 1960 that Nigeria received independence from the United Kingdom. One of Nigeria's problems politically is that it has over three hundred different ethnic groups. The three largest of these are the Hausa-Fulani, Igbo, and Yoruba. At the time of the independence of Nigeria it was split up into three states with each state being under the control of one of the major ethnic groups. The natural resources of the other 297 ethnic groups were exploited for the major three groups,

South Africa has experienced many occurrences of fraud and corruption in the recent years (Tracey, 2015). In addition to the amount of corruption, most of it is unreported and therefore being no punishment. (Brink, 2015) However President Jacob Zuma was brought to court for the R246 million of the taxpayers money that he used on Nkandla (News24Wire, 2015). The social effects of this, is a deep lack of trust and faith towards the ANC and the

Corruption can be defined as the use of entrusted power to accumulate public wealthy for personal benefit. Corruption is not peculiar to any country, continent or state; it is sure a global issue which is an endemic to all government all over the world. However, corruption is prevalent in the Niger delta region of Nigeria; public officers in this oil producing state of Nigeria are corrupt. Consequently, it has defied the Niger delta from developing politically and economically which has left the states reputation in a mess. Radicalization of youths, abject poverty and -political instability are the three leading effects of corruption in the Niger delta region of Nigeria.

The corruption is quickly become one of most global and permanent phenomena which every Africa country fight for well- being of population.my country was good before that we lost of value our money (Fcfa) lead unemployment, hospital shortage ang hungry. How can we decrease of rate the corruption in our country? I think that we have yet many things to do, but we will talk the reason why the Cameroon is corrupting such as his background, causes and effect.

Since the return to civil democratic rule in 1999, Nigeria has witnessed the relative deterioration of its internal security. This is worrisome because internal security crisis is inherent with tendencies that threaten national unity and the peace of the state. This research attempts a critical analysis of the causative of the relative insecurity in Nigeria in relation to the problem of policing in Jos which is located in the northern region of Nigeria.