6- An Issue Overlooked in Nigeria’s Reforms: The Continuation of Government Discriminatory Practices
Corresponding Author(s) : V. Adefemi Isumonah
African Sociological Review,
Vol. 10 No. 2 (2006): African Sociological Review
Abstract
On the basis of the view that the democratic structures established by the 1999 General Elections are adequate for administering Nigeria, the Obasanjo Administration has refused to convene a National Conference of popularly elected delegates to design a new Constitution for Nigeria. It has for this reason devoted itself to economic reforms, initiating political
reforms pretentiously or actually in pursuit of its interest in political control. According to informed opinion, there are many neglected steps even in the Administration’s economic reforms project. But this paper is concerned with an aspect of political reform which in the Administration’s stillborn political reform initiatives did not receive the urgent attention it deserves for its high political and economic impact on the majority of Nigerians. This is the dichotomy governments at all levels of the Nigerian federation – federal, state and local – make between ‘indigenes’ and ‘non-indigenes’ in the allocation of economic and social
benefits. It shows the impact of this dichotomy on the rights to seek elective office and demand political accountability, which neither economic reform nor political reform initiatives have accorded necessary attention.
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- See for example, Said Adejumobi, ‘The bogey of reforms’, The Guardian, Lagos,16 August, 2006, http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/editorial_opinion/articles03, downloaded on 6/08/06, 12 noon.
- Examples of stillborn presidential political reform initiatives are All-Party Technical Committee, 1999 and National Political Reform Conference, 2005. The Administration evidently intended to use the latter to elongate the tenure of President of Olusegun Obasanjo. This intended use of the Conference was its undoing because of its unpopularity. Hence, the reform process it started collapsed on the floor of the Senate on 16 May 2006.
- Human Rights Watch, They Do Not Own This Place: Government Discrimination Against ‘Non-Indigenes’ in Nigeria, Vol. 18, No. 3(A), (2006), Washington, DC: Human Rights Watch, p.17.
- Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, Lagos, Federal Government Press.
- Kayode Fayemi, ‘Collective Rescue Mission: Restoring Integrity, Ensuring Development in Ekiti-State – A Message from Kayode Fayemi’, http://www.nigerianmuse.com/projects/EkitiDevelopmentProject/KF-CV-POLI TICS.DOC, 2006, p.1. Downloaded on 19/09/2006, 14.35. Richard L. Sklar, ‘Foundations of Federal Government in Nigeria’, in Adigun A.
- B. Agbaje, Larry Diamond, and Ebere Onwudiwe, eds., Nigeria’s Struggle for Democracy and Good Governance: A Festschrift for Oyeleye Oyediran, Ibadan, Ibadan University Press, 2004, p. 9; see also The Political Bureau Report 1987, Lagos, Federal Ministry of Information.
- The News, Lagos, 23 August 2004, p. 34.
- Adele L. Jinadu, ‘Explaining and Managing Ethnic Conflict in Africa: Towards a Cultural Theory of Democracy’, Uppsala University Forum for International and Area Studies Lecture, 5 February 2004.
- This assumption dominates the thinking of other very informed Nigerians. Witness for example, the argument of Nigeria’s English Professor and poet, John Pepper Clark, for more states for the Ijaw ethnic group. See J. P. Clark, 2006, ‘Two more homes their own’, The Guardian, Lagos, Opinion page, 19 June 2006.
- Okwudiba Nnoli, Ethnic Politics in Nigeria, Enugu: Fourth Dimension Press, 1978.
- In a critique of the elite perspective on ethnicity that suggests the elite invest in the construction of ethnic identity for their own economic and political goals, Osaghae (1991) argues that the non-elite also use ethnic identity to further their interests such as in securing a job or contract. Osaghae, E. Eghosa, ‘A Re-examination of the Conception of Ethnicity in Africa as an Ideology of Inter-Elite Competition’, African Study Monographs (Kyoto), Vol.12, No.1, 1991, pp.43-61.
- This section draws some of its field reports from Human Rights Watch, They Do Not Own This Place.
- Ibid., p. 27.
- The Constitution states in 14 (3), that ‘The composition of the Government of the Federation or any of its agencies and the conduct of its affairs shall be carried out in such a manner as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria and the need to promote national unity, and also to command national loyalty, thereby ensuring that there shall be no predominance of persons from a
- few State or from a few ethnic or other sectional groups in that Government or in any of its agencies’.
- Seven o’clock broadcast of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), Port Harcourt, 17 April 2005.
- Radio Rivers 2 (FM Station), 9-10 a.m., Interview, 28 July 2005.
References
See for example, Said Adejumobi, ‘The bogey of reforms’, The Guardian, Lagos,16 August, 2006, http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/editorial_opinion/articles03, downloaded on 6/08/06, 12 noon.
Examples of stillborn presidential political reform initiatives are All-Party Technical Committee, 1999 and National Political Reform Conference, 2005. The Administration evidently intended to use the latter to elongate the tenure of President of Olusegun Obasanjo. This intended use of the Conference was its undoing because of its unpopularity. Hence, the reform process it started collapsed on the floor of the Senate on 16 May 2006.
Human Rights Watch, They Do Not Own This Place: Government Discrimination Against ‘Non-Indigenes’ in Nigeria, Vol. 18, No. 3(A), (2006), Washington, DC: Human Rights Watch, p.17.
Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, Lagos, Federal Government Press.
Kayode Fayemi, ‘Collective Rescue Mission: Restoring Integrity, Ensuring Development in Ekiti-State – A Message from Kayode Fayemi’, http://www.nigerianmuse.com/projects/EkitiDevelopmentProject/KF-CV-POLI TICS.DOC, 2006, p.1. Downloaded on 19/09/2006, 14.35. Richard L. Sklar, ‘Foundations of Federal Government in Nigeria’, in Adigun A.
B. Agbaje, Larry Diamond, and Ebere Onwudiwe, eds., Nigeria’s Struggle for Democracy and Good Governance: A Festschrift for Oyeleye Oyediran, Ibadan, Ibadan University Press, 2004, p. 9; see also The Political Bureau Report 1987, Lagos, Federal Ministry of Information.
The News, Lagos, 23 August 2004, p. 34.
Adele L. Jinadu, ‘Explaining and Managing Ethnic Conflict in Africa: Towards a Cultural Theory of Democracy’, Uppsala University Forum for International and Area Studies Lecture, 5 February 2004.
This assumption dominates the thinking of other very informed Nigerians. Witness for example, the argument of Nigeria’s English Professor and poet, John Pepper Clark, for more states for the Ijaw ethnic group. See J. P. Clark, 2006, ‘Two more homes their own’, The Guardian, Lagos, Opinion page, 19 June 2006.
Okwudiba Nnoli, Ethnic Politics in Nigeria, Enugu: Fourth Dimension Press, 1978.
In a critique of the elite perspective on ethnicity that suggests the elite invest in the construction of ethnic identity for their own economic and political goals, Osaghae (1991) argues that the non-elite also use ethnic identity to further their interests such as in securing a job or contract. Osaghae, E. Eghosa, ‘A Re-examination of the Conception of Ethnicity in Africa as an Ideology of Inter-Elite Competition’, African Study Monographs (Kyoto), Vol.12, No.1, 1991, pp.43-61.
This section draws some of its field reports from Human Rights Watch, They Do Not Own This Place.
Ibid., p. 27.
The Constitution states in 14 (3), that ‘The composition of the Government of the Federation or any of its agencies and the conduct of its affairs shall be carried out in such a manner as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria and the need to promote national unity, and also to command national loyalty, thereby ensuring that there shall be no predominance of persons from a
few State or from a few ethnic or other sectional groups in that Government or in any of its agencies’.
Seven o’clock broadcast of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), Port Harcourt, 17 April 2005.
Radio Rivers 2 (FM Station), 9-10 a.m., Interview, 28 July 2005.