African Journal of Stability & Development

“A Sea of Troubles”: Oil Theft, Crude Economy and the Business of Organised Energy Crime in the Gulf of Guinea

2023-05-19T13:03:38+00:00

The menace of oil theft in the Gulf of Guinea (GoG) has evolved into a ‘syndicated enterprise’ which mirrors underlying economic principles of formal business operations. The involvement of organised crime groups in primordial resource appropriation has altered dramatically the region’s energy landscape, accelerating a transition from an economy of greed to an economy of crime, underpinned by organised socio-economic structures which exploit the fragility of a manifestly troubled Gulf. The objective of this study flows from a resurgence in oil theft in the Niger Delta region,
threatening energy-dependent economies like Nigeria and the wider Gulf of Guinea. The study submits that oil theft is an enterprise crime, and the resurgence of criminality particularly in Nigeria is a corollary of the entrenchment of organised crime in the region’s energy landscape and the availability of a flourishing crime environment in the Gulf of Guinea. The study concludes that oil theft poses a significant and growing threat to national and regional security, and combating criminality requires a cocktail of measures anchored on a robust appreciation of the nature of organised crime and the context within which it is nourished in the region.

National Security Policies of Nigeria and Benin Republic as Strategies for Curbing Cross-border Crimes

2023-05-19T13:11:30+00:00

This study interrogates the constantly changing national
security policies of Nigeria and Benin Republic in response
to the cross-border security threats that are currently ravaging
the two West African countries. The common focus in extant
literature is on the diverse transnational organised crimes,
with little or no attention paid to the manner in which the
security threats have substantially shaped the national security
policies of the two states. The study is guided by critical
human security theory. Data was collected from primary
sources; 13 interviews were conducted in Nigeria and Benin
Republic, which were complimented by direct observations
at the Nigeria-Benin borders. Some data were also derived
from secondary sources, and the analysis of data generated
was essentially qualitative, using descriptive and content
analyses. Findings show that the security policies of both
countries are encapsulated in an array of different documents
and that they are, essentially, reactions to the constantly
evolving security threats. The study calls for the
harmonisation of border security policies of the two
neighbouring countries in order to successfully rein in on
cross-border criminal cartels.

Prophets with Lying Spirit? Nigerian Prophets, Prophecies, and an Endangered Democracy

2023-05-19T13:12:17+00:00

This paper is a theoretical empirical study derived from what
has become a recurring decimal each time Nigeria is preparing
for general elections. Our experience over the years has
shown that electioneering processes in Nigeria comes with
different prophesies about the eventual outcomes of the
elections by prophets claiming to know the mind of God or
having exclusive insights on the candidates whom God has
chosen. Most of these prophecies are contradictory to some
others, sometimes, implying that there are different gods
responsible for revealing the prophecies to the prophets.
These prophecies embolden the different aspirants that they
are the chosen ones and hence boosts their expectations of
victory at the polls, sometimes without carrying out the usual
electioneering process of campaigning, having manifestoes
and trying to win the electorates legitimately. Of further
concern to us is that the belief in the prophecies trickle down
to the electorates by influencing their choices. When their
candidate eventually fails to win, then the elections are seen
to have been tampered with and declared unfair. Most often,
this leads to rioting, violence and attendant vandalisation of properties and loss of lives. The candidate who fails to win
election goes to court and a process of unnecessary prolonged
litigation ensues. Thus, virtually every elections end in
contestation in court thereby making a mockery of election
and the electioneering process. This tendency is what this
paper interrogates, especially as it touches on endangering
democracy in Nigeria.

Factors Informing the Voting Behaviour of Teaching Staff of Egbeoba High School Ikole- Ekiti in 2018 Ekiti Gubernatorial Election

2023-05-19T13:13:01+00:00

Since the return of democracy to Nigeria in 1999, politics in
Ekiti State has been characterised by swings in political and
electoral behaviour in support of the two rival political parties.
This has made the political terrain of the state unpredictable
in respect of voters’ attitude during elections. This study
examines the factors that influenced voting behaviour of the
electorates in 2018 governorship election in Ekiti State. It
also examines the interplay between the campaign promises
and voters’ participation during the election. The study further
ascertains whether party identification and gratification have
an overriding influence on voting pattern in the 2018
governorship election. Data was obtained from both primary
and secondary sources. Focus Group Discussions were used
to sample the opinion of a secondary school teaching staff
who are residents in Ikole-Ekiti, Ekiti State. Primary data
gathered were analysed, using content-analysis method. The
study discovered that campaign promises increased voters’
turnout and stimulated voting behaviour while vote-buying
increased voter turnout but changes voters’ choice. It was also discovered that militarisation of the election has a less
significant role to play in voting patterns.This study
recommends that vote-buying should be discouraged as it
affects democracy by producing candidates that are not
credible.

Intergovernmental Harmony: An Imperative for Navigating Covid-19 Pandemic in Nigeria

2023-05-19T13:13:50+00:00

The reality in the world today has to accommodate the
distortions and unprecedented global challenges necessitated
by the coronavirus disease which has affected all aspects of
human endeavours, thus demanding swift response from
the government to chart the course through the pandemic
into progress and normalcy as the pandemic has greatly
affected all sphere ranging from economic, social, health,
educational, to religious aspect of life. An understanding of
the crucial role of government in mobilising necessary
stakeholders across relevant sectors and levels of government
has made harmonious intergovernmental relations paramount
in navigating the coronavirus pandemic in Nigeria because
all actors must be deliberately engaged in a coordinated
manner while leveraging a result-oriented approach to achieve
the desired outcome. The methodology used for this research
work is qualitative in nature with reliance on secondary data.
Systems theory is the adopted theoretical base of analysis,
thus, informing the stance of this discourse that
intergovernmental relations is key in effectively navigating the pandemic in Nigeria. The study identified that the usual
acrimonious interplay between all levels of government in
Nigeria will be antithetical to the post-covid-19 developmental
effort of the Nigerian State, hence, there is the need for
synergy, common alliance, coordination, and unity of purpose
between and among all levels of government targeted at
making her developmental efforts during and after the
pandemic plausible. This study recommends a robust
intergovernmental management system that will help
coordinate the interactions and relationships between the
various governmental levels and actors as this will catalyse
sustainable progress in battling the pandemic.

The United Nations Women and Gender Equality in Nigeria:

2023-05-19T13:15:20+00:00

Over the years, the United Nations made several attempts to
prioritise gender equality through the establishment of
international treaties, conventions, and creation of entities
dedicated to address the needs of women. The UN Women
is one of such laudable initiatives. It is in this connection
that this paper examined the challenges of promoting gender
equality in Nigeria, focusing on the agenda set by UN Women.
Specifically, the paper looks at Nigeria’s progress so far in
attaining the four target areas of the UN Women in Nigeria.
The target areas include: Peace, Security and Humanitarian
Action, Economic Empowerment and Resilience, Leadership
and Political Participation, and Ending Violence against
Women. The paper leveraged the critical and liberal feminist
theories to analyse gender equality issues and the challenges
posed to the UN women efforts in promoting gender equality
in Nigeria. The paper argues that Nigeria has made some
progress in the target areas of the UN Women through the
ratification of international treaties, policy formulation, and
creation of agencies. The UN women has also demonstrated
commitment to its aim of promoting gender equality in Nigeria in its four thematic areas of engagement through campaigns
and advocacy, capacity-building, partnerships and strategic
alliances; service delivery and improving access to services.
However, there are challenges that hinder the promotion of
gender equality in the country. These challenges include: the
Nigerian law, insecurity, the political terrain, cultural and
religious practices, human rights record, funding, poverty;
and COVID-19 Pandemic. The findings of this paper reveals
that UN Women plays an important role in advancing gender
equality in Nigeria. The paper concludes that institutional
structures that hinders the progress of gender equality in
Nigeria should be addressed so as to solve the socioeconomic problems that has posed a major threat to the UN
women programmes and works. This, the paper recommends
that a lot can be achieved by creating institutions and
implementing policies that encourage and drive economic
growth among women in the country. Domesticating
international conventions and eliminating discriminatory laws
against women in the Nigerian constitution will also help
address the challenges of the UN Women in Nigeria.

Community Governance and Socio-Economic Development Realities in Nigeria

2023-05-19T13:16:53+00:00

This paper explores the nexus between community governance and the realities of socio-economic development at the local level. This work relies on secondary data. The paper reveals that institutional frameworks at community level have potentialities in the realisation of socio-economic development in Nigeria. The paper recommends that extensive national value re-orientation and spirit of communalism are the needed mechanisms that would inspire patriotic citizenship/leadership and active civil society which is able to drive the process of utilising both local human and natural
resources for the actualisation of socio-economic development in Nigeria.

State and the Commodification of Natural Resources: A Framework of Analysis

2023-05-19T13:17:51+00:00

The commodification of nature and framing of the environment as natural resources have become increasingly prominent in international environmental governance discuss because most natural resources are traded through organised commodity exchanges. The result the depletion of natural resources with the attendant negative impact on the environment and the poor. Commodification has brought about the framing of the environment as a ‘natural resource’
and has become increasingly prominent in international environmental governance. The role of international organisations like the World Bank, United Nations
Environmental Programme (UNEP) through Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) and The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) and its adoption by the Convention on Biological Conservation are indications of the concepts wide-ranging appeal. This paper sees commodification and the role of different actors as putting a price on nature’s goods in the form of species banking and conservation finance as a strategy for solving a range of environmental problems from climate change to deforestation. The paper concluded that commodification should be seen as an approach to bringing ethics into natural resources management, capable of generating incentives that are required to guide people towards ethical use of natural resources to the advantage of all.

Repositioning Nigeria Towards Sustainable National Integration Through National Orientation Agency

2023-05-19T13:18:49+00:00

Threats of disunity keep ravaging Nigeria’s independence since 1960. The need for disintegration from the nation grows over time especially from the south-eastern and southsouthern regions of the country, and this eventually resulted in Nigeria’s civil war of 1967-1970. Hostilities promoted by ethnic tensions are also higher than ever before. Insurgency which started in the north-eastern region since 2009 has continued to claim several lives and properties till date. Herdsmen and farmers conflicts have also continue to escalate in the north-central region of the country. While, cattle rustling and armed banditry keeps growing in the northwestern region. Attacks and bombardments of oil facilities have been employed by aggrieved militants in the Niger Delta Region to get at the country. Religious intolerance has also continued to result in confrontations that often claim several lives across the northern region of the country. The thrust of this paper is hinged on these threats that have been confronting Nigeria’s national unity. The paper appraises efforts of the National Orientation Agency (NOA) in the task of promoting national integration in Nigeria. Descriptive analysis was adopted in this paper and data were sourced through secondary means from journal articles, magazines, newspapers, bulletins, lecture notes, diaries, and the internet. The paper revealed some of the impediments to national integration in Nigeria to include but not limited to: politics of identity, corruption among the political elites, power struggle and allocation of resources to the federating unions, religious intolerance, and internal conflicts as well as overcentralisation of power. Recommendations were then made towards repositioning the country’s sustainable national unity.

Traditional Institutions and Conflict Resolution in Contemporary Africa

2023-05-19T13:19:56+00:00

The failure of post-colonial African states in providing solutions to the incessant crises confronting them has been traced to their detachment from their institutional and cultural values. The argument is that modern techniques at resolving internecine conflicts in the continent have not yielded optimal results over the years. Whereas, in traditional African societies, the mechanism put in place to address conflicts prevented the atrophying of the communities and occasioned activities that promoted peace among members of the societies. Traditional Africa’s approaches to conflict resolution are believed to be largely guided by unique norms, values, as well as cultural and traditional settings of the community. These promoted their capacity to co-exist peacefully, to commune together, to respect one another, to forgive and to reconcile. In order to see how these can be replicated in contemporary Africa, research efforts have been dedicated to proffering alternative models that are contextually based, and more suitable for African societies. Therefore, in contribution to the volume of research in this area, this paper examines the indigenous institutions of conflict resolution in traditional African societies using the Yoruba societies as reference points. Specifically focussing on Ipetu-ljesa community in Oriade Local Government area of Osun State, Nigeria, the paper x-rays the role of the indigenous institutions of conflict resolution in Africa, the challenges they face in contemporary times as well as possible ways of engaging this model for conflict resolution in African societies.

An Empirical Investigation of Procedural Effect for Tax Administration in Lagos and Osun States of Nigeria

2023-05-19T13:59:54+00:00

All resource-dependent countries have experienced catastrophic economic and political crises, leading inevitably to their inability to meet the delivery of basic needs and security to their citizens. Many have had to turn to taxation to meet the shortfall in revenue generation from natural resources. This paper discusses the concepts of Tax, Tax Administration, Development of Tax, Tax Imposition, Model of Tax Administration, Nigerian Tax Laws, Tax Regulations, Fiscal Issues and Tax Transaction in Nigeria. It attempts to discuss some theories that have helped us to have vivid understanding of the subject matter of discussion. These theories are: Social Contract Theory, Benefit/Utility Theory, Ability to Pay Theory, and Principle of Equal Distribution Theory. Using data collected from Lagos and Osun State, this study sought to understand what the effect of procedure for tax administration has on effective taxation in the states. It is concluded that if tax administration in the study areas is well executed, the development of basic infrastructures for the general good of the citizens will improve, and this in turn will make citizens to see the need to want to comply more with tax demands.