INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF

ADVANCED STUDIES IN ECONOMIES AND PUBLIC SECTOR MANAGEMENT

Vol. 1 No. 1 November, 2013

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ADVANCED STUDIES IN ECONOMICS AND PUBLIC SECTOR MANAGEMENT Vol. 1, No. 1, November, 2013

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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ADVANCED STUDIES

IN ECONOMICS AND PUBLIC SECTOR MANAGEMENT Vol. 1, No. 1, November, 2013

EDITORIAL BOARD

DR. JOHN ENAHORO

BABCOCK UNIVERSITY, ILISHAN-REMO, OGUN STATE, NIGERIA

DR. (MRS.) EDOKPAYI, JUSTINA NGOZI

AMBROSE ALI UNIVERSITY, EKPOMA.

DR. BASHIR JUMARE

BAUCHI STATE UNIVERSITY, BAUCHI STATE

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Infective Political Leadership and the Challenges of stSustainable Development in the 21 Century Nigeria - - 4

Damian Mbaegbu, Ph.D & Eleazar Gbandi, Ph.D

Nigeria Economic Reforms in the Era of Globalization:Exporting Wealth and Importing Poverty - -21Mahmoud M. Lawan, Ph.D & Sa'idu Abdullahi

Type of Marriage among the Atyap in Nigeria:Effect of Religious Denomination and Religiosity - - - -38Avong, Helen N.

Escaping the Poverty Trap in the Niger Delta: Exploring the Role of Education - - - - - -57Dr. Love O. Arugu

The Role of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOS) in Agricultural and Rural Development in Nigeria: A Case Study of Women Farmers Advancement Network (WOFAN) - - -70Aminu Mohammed Lawan

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INEFFECTIVE POLITICAL LEADERSHIP AND THE CHALLENGES OFSTSUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN THE 21 CENTURY NIGERIA

DAMIAN MBAEGBU, Ph.D & ELEAZAR GBANDI, Ph.DDEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

BENSON IDAHOSA UNIVERSITYBENIN CITY, NIGERIA.

ABSTRACT

The Research Problem this study investigates is the relationship between ineffective political leadership in Nigeria as evidenced by the rate of Gross Domestic Product (G.D.P) and the challenges of sustainable development. The challenges of sustainable development in this paper are the selected indices of socio-economic growth namely, the rate of capacity utilization in manufacturing industry, the rate of electric energy generation, the rate of unemployment and the frequency of industrial actions. The G.D.P rate at current factor cost is used as proxy for economic growth/development. The study utilizes secondary data generated from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and the Central Bank of Nigeria Statistical Bulletin for the purpose of descriptive and inferential analyses. The Statistical Programme for Social Sciences, SPSS was employed in the correlation analyses. The findings are that G.D.P rate has lacked sustainability: It rose and fell erratically over the period of analysis giving evidence of ineffective leadership. Secondly the analysis shows that the G.D.P rate is positively related to the rate of capacity utilization and the rate of electric energy generation. Finally the analysis also shows that G.D.P rate is negatively related to unemployment and the frequency of industrial actions. The conclusion is that to achieve sustainable growth /development objective the leadership should address the challenges as follows (1) increase the rate of capacity utilization and the rate of electric energy generation (2) reduce the rate of unemployment and frequency of industrial actions. The researchers recommend the adoption of transformational/charismatic leadership devoid of sloganeering as strategy to achieve the objective.

KEYWORDS: Political Leadership, Gross Domestic Product, Sustainable Development Challenges, Transformational/Charismatic Leadership.

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INTRODUCTIONLeadership is a very important variable for the success of any political entity, organization or group of people. The religious books, the Holy Bible and the Holy Koran have borne witnesses to this fact from time immemorial. In Proverbs 29:2, we read: “when the righteous are in authority the people rejoice, but when the wicked beareath rule, the people morn.” The Hadith of the Prophet Mohammed even detailed out the conduct expected of a leader. It reads:

When you speak; speak the truth, perform when you promise. Discharge your trust. Be chaste in thought and actions and withhold your hands from striking, from taking that which is unlawful and bad.

The importance of leadership therefore can never be overemphasized. Unfortunately there has been crisis of political leadership in Nigeria since independence in 1960 but more especially between 1982 and 1999. This fact has been documented by eminent authorities on the Nigerian Federation. In Achebe (1983) it was stated that the trouble with Nigeria was simply and squarely a failure of leadership, that there was nothing wrong with the land and people of Nigeria. Again in Eghosa (1999) it was stated that Nigeria has been blessed with abundant human and material resources but unfortunately the country has lacked the ingredient of purposeful leadership to harness the resources for sustainable development. Nigeria was therefore likened to a crippled giant. This is an unimpeachable fact. Take for example the whole land mass from the Accra plains to Cotonou is a dry land that supports little in terms of agriculture compared with Southern Nigeria. According to Geographers this is due to the topography and natural configuration of the coast line that diverts rain bearing winds to Nigeria thereby denying Togo and Benin Republics valuable rainfall for rainfed agriculture. The effect is that Nigeria produces enough root crops for food as well as cash crops for export such that even if there were no mineral resources Nigeria could still survive on a cash crop economy given good leadership. Again the population of Nigeria is another source of strength. The population is large, youthful and hardworking. All that is needed is effective leadership to harness the abundant human and material resources for sustainable growth and Nigeria will take off. (Rostow, 1960).

The evidence of leadership failure through unrealised plans and policy somersault today are low capacity utilization in industry, low electric energy generation, high rate of unemployment and high frequency of industrial actions. These, as independent variables, and the sustainable development challenges have impacted adversely on the Gross Domestic Product (G.D.P.) used as proxy for economic growth. This in turn has made sustainable development unachievable in Nigeria. In theory if G.D.P. experiences sustainable growth, all things being equal, it will drive investment in social infrastructure and political institutions: there will be good roads, schools, houses, hospitals, water, credible elections, good governance at all levels, honest judiciary and good laws. These are the indices of

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sustainable development and the challenges of political leadership in Nigeria. The problem this study seeks to resolve is the apparent ineffectiveness of political

stleadership to address the challenges of sustainable development in the 21 century Nigeria.

The specific objective this paper seeks to achieve is to examine the relationship between the G.D.P. at constant prices and the following variables: capacity utilization in industry, power generation, unemployment rate and frequency of industrial actions.

HypothesesTo operationalize the study we formulate the following hypotheses in their null versions.1. G.D.P is not positively related to capacity utilization in industry and electric

energy generation.2. G.D.P is not negatively related to unemployment rate and frequency of

industrial action/strikes.

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK/ISSUESTo underscore the concept of leadership, it is necessary to identify or locate the leader. This is the framework adopted by Nwolise and Ohaemesi (2001). According to Nwolise and Ohaemesi, a leader is the person who persuades, influences, guides, directs, stimulates, inspires and elicits followership for the achievement of set objectives and goals. The Encyclopaedic world Dictionary puts it this way: “to lead means to take charge or conduct on the way; go before or with (subordinates), to show the way … to guide in direction, course, action, opinion ….” It is on this note that Akio Morita, the late former Chairman of Sony Corporation in Tokyo, Japan told his managers:

What you should show to your followers is not the great artist you are, balancing on a tight rope, but the part of you that is capable of attracting the greatest number of people and instilling in them the desire to follow you with enthusiasm and contribute to the success of the undertaking. When you lead like that, the last in the line follows the lead of those in front. (cited in Amana, 1992 p.16).

In collaboration with the above concept, Nwolise and Ohaemesi (2001) believe a leader is “someone who shows the way, directs and guides the followers along the path of progressive locomotion for the pursuit and achievement of group goals” (p.62). From the foregoing we can conclude that any person who is in a position to guide, influence and shape the thoughts, works and deeds of others so that they will follow willingly towards the achievement of a particular goal or objective is a leader. Leadership, therefore, is the act of leading; the act of setting the pace for

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others to follow willingly. It is on this note that Gould and Kolls (1964) define leadership to connote the occupancy of a status and performance of a role that mobilizes organized collective and voluntary efforts. From this definition we gather that leadership is both a position and a role performance. In other words it is not just the occupation of the position or the social status that makes one a leader. He must be performing a role actively to foster the achievement of the shared goals and objectives. This two foci conceptualization of leadership finds elaboration in Katz and Kahn (1978). According to Katz and Khan (1978) leadership implies the following: (1) An attribute of an office or position, for example the office of a President; (2) A characteristic such as ambition for power; (3) A behaviour pattern. With this elaboration one can subsume all the conceptualizations found in literature into one of the moulds. For example, Arnold and Feldmans concept of leadership as an influence process (cited in Ukeje & Okorie 1990) can be subsumed into leadership behaviour or into role performance. Finally in performing his role the leader should motivate his subordinates to collectively volunteer their own efforts willingly and follow the leader. The leader does not command, boss or bully his subordinates.

From Keating (1982) leadership is also associated with the element of service. It is service in the sense that it seeks to meet the needs of other people or a group. In actual fact effective leadership is that performed by the Servant Leader which the late President Umar Yar'Adua said he was. The word 'Minister' in Latin means “Servant”. Therefore a “Prime Minister” or a President for that matter means the highest servant. This leads us to the concept of political leadership which is the leadership of the Prime Minister, President, Governor or the Head of State of a political entity. Unfortunately many decades of military dictatorship in Nigeria have removed the “service” aspect of political leadership as conceptualized by Keatings (1982) from Nigeria. In its place we have had corrupt leaders and treasury looters who have made sustainable development a mirage. Power is associated with leadership, however, the use of power to coerce the subordinates has never been advocated. It is the use of charisma which invokes voluntary followership that is advocated for effective political leadership. This charismatic or transformational leadership has eluded Nigeria. It is the leadership associated with Nkrumah's Ghana, Nyerere's Tanzania and Mandela's South Africa that Nigeria hungers for.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKThere is no single theory of leadership; what we have are approaches to the study of leadership. The four main approaches are as follows:1. The leader trait approach2. The leader behaviour approach3. The contingency approach4. The transformation/charismatic approach

The approaches together examine the antecedents and correlates of effective and transformational leadership.

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THE TRAIT APPROACHThe trait approach was the earliest in history. It holds that there are certain traits or characteristics common to all leaders. To this effect personality trait, social traits, political traits and so on were investigated. However, there were conflicting results and the trait approach failed to prescribe one single trait common to all successful leaders.

As noted by Eugene, E. Jennings in Kontz, O' Donnell and Weih rich (1980 p. 665) “Research has produced such a variegated list of traits presumably to describe leadership that, for all practical purposes, it describes nothing. Fifty years of study have failed to produce one personality trait or set of qualities that can be used to discriminate between leaders and non leaders”. This view finds colloboration in Stogdill (1948 pp 35-71). To Stogdill it has been found that not all leaders possessed all the selected traits and many non leaders have even possessed more of the traits. Also the approach does not indicate how much of any trait a person should have to become a born leader. Other prominent contributors to the trait theory include Ghiselli (1963, pp 631-641) and Mann (1965). The reason adduced by Mann (1965) for the failure of the trait theory was that it ignored situational variables, namely; the nature of subordinates the task structure, the size of the group, technology, objective of organization and extent of goal congruency. The dominant thinking about the trait approach is that certain traits are necessary under certain conditions but such traits are not in themselves sufficient conditions. The trait theory was essentially a Classical Management Approach which is still useful as it gives an insight into what makes one a leader.

THE LEADER BEHAVIOUR THEORYThe leader behaviour approach coincides with the current thinking of the Behaviourist who took the centre stage from the classicals in the 1950s. In literature, the following schools of thought have been identified:1. The Lewinian/Iowa Studies Approach2. The Ohio Studies Approach3. The Michigan Studies Approach

THE IOWA STUDIES APPROACHThe Lewinian or Iowa studies approach was the earliest behavioural formulation that was distilled out of the works of Lewin, Lippit and White (1939 pp 271-991). The authors were driven by the trait approach (Personality trait) but ended up in isolating three leadership styles or behaviours namely the authoritarian; the democratic and the Laissez-faire styles.

The findings of the Lewinian experiments were as follows: Productivity was greatest under authoritarian leadership only when the leader was present to use coercive power. Groups under democratic style maintained the highest level of productivity in the absence of the leader. This was because the democratic style offered the best environment for group interaction, co-operation and integration.

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At anytime productivity was lowest with the Laissez-fair style that allowed groups to make all decisions by themselves and choose how to work. Laissez-fair connotes lack of control.

THE OHIO STUDIES APPROACHThe Ohio Studies Approach is associated with the Ohio State University. Using 150 items questionnaire called the Leader Behaviour Description Questionnaire (LBDQ) the reseachers isolated two dimensions of leadership styles-initiating structures behaviour and consideration behaviour. These more or less collaborated with the Authoritarian and Democratic Styles of Iowa studies. However, the styles were presented in a two-dimentional model using a 2x2 contingency table such that four basic styles emerged.1. High initiating structures and high consideration2. High initiating studies and low consideration3. Low initiating studies and low consideration 4. Low initiating structures and high consideration

Table 1.A Contingency Table of the Two-Dimensional Model of Leadership Theory: the Ohio Studies Approach

Consideration

Adapted from: Stogdill RMS & Coons A.E (1957) Leader Behaviour: It's Description and Measurement Columbus Ohio: Ohio state University Bureau of Business Research

It was noted by Stogdill & Coons (1957) that effective leaders behaviours tend most often to be associated with high performance on both dimensions. ie cell number 3.

THE MICHIGAN STUDIES APPROACHA similar approach came from the Michigan school about the same period as the Ohio group. They used employee centered and job centered in place of consideration and initiating structures respectively. Theirs was a uni-dimentional rather than two dimentional model. To them a leader can be either task oriented (job centered) or personnel oriented (employee centered). On the one continuum a leader could be more or less task oriented while on the other continuum another leader could be more or less personnel oriented.

Initiating structures

2 Low + high

3 High+ high

Low + Low 1

High+ Low 4

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THE CONTINGENCY OR SITUATIONAL THEORYFollowing the publication of the Ohio Studies Approach and the Michigan Studies Approach various postulations either leaning towards the Ohio school or the Michigan school emerged. The central team of these postulations is that leadership style is a function of situational variables. What makes a leader successful or effective is the ability to appraise the situation and adopt the appropriate leadership style. However it was not until Fiedlers contingency theory of leadership was espoused that the situational theory was given rigorous formulation and removed from the realm of opinion. (See Fiedler 1964, 1965, 1967; 1971; 1976).

The Vroom and Yetton model (1973) integrates earlier theories. Basically, the model states that the condition under which leaders should encourage participation in decision making should be a function of the situational variables and the leader's own behaviour ie a 2 x 2 contingency model.

TRANSFORMATIONAL/CHARISMATIC LEADERSHIP THEORYThis approach took center stage in the late 1980s and early 1990s. (Bass, 1990). The postulation is that charismatic leaders motivate their surbordinates with Maslows higher order needs of esteem and self-actualization or psychological needs. They contrast with other leaders called transactional leaders who motivate with lower order needs or Physiological and security needs. (Bassi & McMurrer 2007, Kotler, 2007). Transformational leaders bring changes. They transform the fortunes of their social systems through their own personal vision, strength of character, zero tolerance for corruption or personal wealth acquisition. They inspire their followers to support the change they want to lead. From this theoretical framework we formulate our model for this study.

SPECIFICATION OF THE MODEL FOR THE STUDYOur theoretical model for this study makes G.D.P rate the proxy for development rate. We hold G.D.P as the dependent variable while the independent or explanatory variables associated with leadership are as follows:

1. Capacity utilization in industry2. Electric energy generation3. Unemployment rate4 Frequency of industrial actions or strikes. Symbolically, G.D.P= f(Cu, Eg, Unemp, Indact)Where G.D.P= Gross Domestic Product

Cu = Capacity utilizationEg. Electric energyUnemp= UnemploymentIndact= Industrial actions/strikes (Trade Dispute)

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This model is shown in figure 1.

stFigure 1. A Model of the Challenges of Sustainable Development in the 21 Century Nigeria.

Source: From Data Analysis for the Study

The a priori theoretical expectation is that G.D.P is positively related to Cu. and Eg. and negatively related to Unemp. and Indact. The explanatory variables originate from the Nigerian socio-economic environment, political-legal environment and the technological environment created by political leadership. They are the indices of effective or ineffective political leadership. The literature on them is reviewed as follows:

SOCIO ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENTEvidences is the socio-economic environment, the macro-economic indices point to the fact that ineffective leadership has not fostered sustainable increases in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). It rises and falls. Nigeria is not deficient in the quantum of financial resources needed for growth (Nwankwo, 1988). The problem is with the allocation. In Singapore, Malaysia and other S.E Asian countries the banks finance the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) which drive the economy, create employment and maintain industrial harmony.

In Nigeria the banks' exposure to SMEs have been on steady decline. In 1999 it was 13%, by 2006 it was only 1%. (Mbaegbu, 2009 p. 26). The cost correlates have on the other hand been very high. Available statistics from the National Bureau of statistics show that the rate of inflation has been in double digit since 1970 when the civil war ended. In 1970, it was 13.9%. In 1999, when democracy was restored it came down to 6.6%. With the Boko Haram insurgency which in itself is evidence of leadership failure food production in the Northern parts of the country has decreased and double digit inflation rate has returned. Currently it is

Electric Energy

Capacity Utilization

Political

Leadership

Gross

Domestic

Product

(G.D.P) Unemployment

Industrial Action

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about 12%. The exchange rate by 1970 was N0.71= U$1.00. By 1986 following the structural adjustment programme it rose to N4.02= U$1.00. In 1999 it was N92.70= U$1.00, currently it hovers around N165.00= U$1.00. The rate of interest on borrowed fund is high at about 25% average. The net effect of these cost correlates is that the average capacity utilization in industry is low and unemployment increases year after year. In 1986, capacity utilization was 38.6%. In 1999, it was 34.6%, by 2004 it shot to 45%. Because of high cost of production and unemployment the purchasing power of the people has been low. Available statistics from the NBS has it that in 2010, 60.95% or 100million people lived at less than N160.00 (less than $1.00) a day. These were people living in absolute poverty. In 2004, it was 54.7%. Many manufactured goods are still import based with little local content. To compound matters there is a dearth of social infrastructure such as electric energy supply and good motorable roads.

As reported by Ayodele (1988) the energy sector has been in perpetual crisis. The per capita consumption of electricity in Nigeria is estimated at 100 kilo watts per hour (Kwhr). This compares unfavourably with 4,500 kwhr in South Africa and 1,379 Kwhr in China. Nigeria generates only about 4000 mega watts of electricity. South Africa generates 40.000 mw. Power is estimated to make 5% of the cost of starting a new business (NEEDS 2004 p.36). Many manufacturing industries, therefore have relocated to Ghana thereby creating employment for them while marketing their products in Nigeria. The low level of electric energy supply is in spite of a whooping sum of $16bn allegedly pumped into the sector in 2006. (Mbaegbu, 2009).

Apart from power manufacturing industries also need water. There is also a crisis of portable water in Nigeria. As much as 43% of the Nigerian population lacks access to safe water (Tell Magazine, May 21, 2007 p. 33). By UNESCO standards the minimum amount of water per person per day for basic human needs is between 30 and 50 litres of water. Nigerians can not afford up to 20 litres. The average Nigerian has to produce his own municipal services. He builds his house without mortgage facilities. He provides his own security, water supply (borehole), electricity (from Japanese electric generators) and refuse disposal services yet he pays multiple taxes to Federal Government, state government, Local Government/Municipal councils.

Transport facilities are nothing to write home about in Nigeria. In many places transporters carry six passengers in vehicles made for four passengers. Nigerian roads are a nightmare. They are riddled with port holes, part of the problem with Nigerian roads in the ubiquities use of trailers. Goods that in other countries are carried by trains are carried by trailers in Nigeria thereby putting pressures on the roads initially constructed for lighter vehicles. In sister countries such as Ghana bulk haulage in still by trains. The Nigeria railway system is in comatose. In land water ways are virtually non existent. These dysfunctions of political leadership adversely affect G.D.P. According to Okonjo-Iweala (Daily Sun June, 5 2012 P.

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51) G.D.P rate was 7% in 2010. it plunged to 6% in 2011 because of drop in agriculture due to Boko Haram insurgency.

POLITICAL-LEGAL ENVIRONMENTCoups are no more fashionable. Much of the leadership crises were caused by the military regimes. However, quick changes in public policies have continued. We can cite the Indigenization Act (Nigerian Enterprises Promotion Act) 1972, 1977, the Structural Adjustment Programes (SAP) of 1986, the Nigeria Empowerment and Development strategies (NEEDS). The Seven Point Agenda and the currently much touted Transformation Agenda. Every new government starts sloganeering on policies without achieving much. Reports also show that the economy is over regulated. The Heritage foundation 2006 index of economic freedom classified Nigeria as a repressed economy because of over regulation. Apart from customs and immigration services there are other paramilitary organizations with distinctive uniforms all performing regulatory function and profiting from corruption and cross broader smuggling. Nigeria as stated by Mbaegbu (2009) also scores very low in protecting property rights. The judicial system is grossly weakened by inadequate facilities and corruption. Decay in social infrastructure includes dilapidated school building; unequipped hospitals. Nigeria spends less than 10% budgetary allocation in education UNESCO standard for sustainable development is 26%. (Mbaegbu, 2011).

TECHNOLOGICAL ENVIRONMENTIt is in the field of technology that the evidences of leadership failure manifest more. With the energy crisis electronic businesses can not be sustained. Nigeria launched a satellite communication system but when it packed no body knew. Another one has been launched into the orbit with billions of naira yet its impact cannot be felt in our broadcasting system. Information Communication Technology (ICT) systems are yet to take root.

The summary of the review of related literature in this work is that political leadership has not produced effective results in terms of sustainable development.

MATERIALS AND METHODSThe data collected to test the hypotheses formulated for this study are basically secondary data released in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) statistical Bulletin and the National Bureau of Statistics (Table 2). The method of analysis is basically descriptive. Time series analysis and correlational analysis are also made with the use of the computer software: SPSS (Statistical Programme for Social Sciences).

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NB: Period used are those for which there are comparable data. i.e, 1982 to 1999 and from 1982 to 2005 respectively

Data Analysis and Findings

The statistical analysis of data is shown in tables 3 and 4.

Table 3. Analysis of GDP as a function of Electricity Generation and Capacity Utilization

Table 2. Distribution of GDP, Electricity Generation, Capacity Utilization, Unemployment and Industrial Action (Trade Dispute)

Year GDP GDP rate

Electricity Generation

ElecGen Rate

Capacity Utilization

Rate of capacity utilization

Total Unemployment growth

Rate ofUnemployment %

Industrial Action (Trade Dispute)

Rate of Industrial Action

1982 199685.30 973.9.0 63.60 106496.00 342.00 1983 185598.10 -7.05 994.60 2.13 49.70 -21.86 112588.00 5.72 184.00 -46.19 1984 183563.00 -1.1 1025.50 3.11 43.00 -13.48 123459.00 9.66 100.00 -45.65 1985 201036.30 9.52 1166.80 13.78 38.30 -9.77 100745.00 -18.39 77.00 -23.00 1986 205971.40 2.45 1228.90 5.32 38.80 1.31 91281.00 -9.39 87.00 12.98 1987 204806.50 -0.57 1286.00 4.65 40.40 4.12 160184.00 75.46 65.00 -25.29 1988 219875.60 7.36 1330.40 3.45 42.40 4.95 132455.00 -31.11 156.00 140.00 1989 236729.60 7.67 1462.70 9.95 43.80 3.30 110336.00 -9.43 144.00 -7.69 1990 267550.00 13.02 1536.90 5.07 40.30 -7.99 99934.00 22.8 174.00 20.83 1991 265371.10 -0.81 1617.20 5.22 42.00 4.22 123137.00 -20.67 204.00 17.24 1992 271365.50 2.25 1693.40 4.71 38.10 -9.29 97349.00 88.54 221.00 8.33 1993 274833.30 1.29 1655.80 -2.22 37.20 -2.36 183540.00 45.30 160.00 -27.60 1994 275450.60 0.22 1772.90 7.07 30.40 -18.28 100400.00 -14.22 199.00 24.38 1995 281407.40 2.16 1810.10 2.10 29.30 -3.62 114672.00 33.16 46.00 -76.88 1996 293745.50 4.38 1854.20 2.44 32.50 10.92 152693.00 0.59 29.00 -36.96 1997 302022.50 2.81 1839.80 -0.77 30.40 -6.46 152293.00 -21.30 31.00 6.89 1998 310890.10 2.93 1724.90 -6.24 32.40 6.58 184103.00 18.69 16.00 -48.39 1999 312185.50 0.41 1859.80 7.82 34.60 6.79 149693.00 -27.14 52.00 225.00 2000 329178.70 5.44 1738.30 -6.53 36.10 4.34 190328.00 27.15 49.00 -5.77 2001 356994.30 8.43 1689.90 2.78 42.70 18.20 169727.00 -10.82 51.00 4.08 2002 433202.50 21.34 2237.30 32.39 54.90 28.57 180311.00 6.24 50.00 -1.96 2003 477533.00 10.34 6180.00 176.22 56.50 2.91 189433.00 5.06 149.00 198 2004 527576.00 10.47 2763.50 -55.28 55.70 -1.42 402382.00 112.41 152.00 2.01 2005 561931.4.0 6.51 2779.30 0.57 54.80 -1.62 - - 155.00 1.97

Source: CBN statistical Bulletin 2010 & National Bureau of Statistics 2010

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Descriptive Statistics Mean Std.

Deviation N

GDPr Electricity GenR CapacityUTR

4.7596 9.2252 -4696

5.82476 38.22997 11.18974

23 23 23

Correlations GDPr ElectricityG

enR capacotyUtR

Pearson CorrelationGDPr ElectricityGenR CapacityUtR Sign. (1-tailed) GDPr ElectricityGenR CapacityUtR N GDPr ElectricityGenR CapacityUtR

1,000 .227 .609 . .148 .001 23 23 23

.227 1.000 .123 .148 . 288 23 23 23

.609

.123 1.000 .001 .288 . 23 23 23

Model Summary Model

R R Square

Adjusted R Square

Std Error of the Estimate

Change Statistics

R Square Change

F Change

df1 df2 Sig. F Change

R Square Change

F Change

dft1 dft2

1 .628( .394 .334 4.835 .394 6.54 2 20 007

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Table 4 Analysis of GDP as a function of Industrial Action and Unemployment rate

Variables Entered/Removed(b) Model

Variables Entered

Variables Removed

Method

1 lndustrActn, Unemploym tr(a)

Enter

a All requested variables entered. b Dependent Variable: GDP Model Summary Model

R R Square

Adjusted RSquare

Std. Error of the Estimate

Change Statistics

R Square Change

F Change

df1 df2 Sig. F Change

R Square Change

F Change

df1

df2

1 .583(a)

.340 .251 38690.80825

.340 3.855 2 15 .045

a. Predictors: (Constant), IndusrActn,Unemploymtr ANOVA (b) Model Sum of

Squares df Mean square F Sig.

1. Regression Residual Total

115431460 47.228 224546796 46. 161 339978256 93.389

2 15 17

5771573023.6 14 1496978643.0 77

3.855 .045(a)

a. Predicators: (Constant), IndustrActn, Unemploymtr b. Dependent Variable GDP Correlations GDP Unemploymtr IndustrActn

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FINDINGSThe findings are as follows:i. GDP at constant factor cost is positively related to electricity generation

and capacity utilization in industry. The test was significant at 0.05 level of significance. The value, .007 was less than 95% confidence level. We reject the null hypothesis: As the independent variables increase GDP also increases.

ii. G.D.P at constant factor cost is negatively related to unemployment and Trade Dispute or Industrial Actions. The test was also significant at 0.05 level of significance. The value, .045 was less than 95% confidence level. We reject the null hypothesis: As the independent variables increase G.D.P decreases.

DISCUSSION OF FINDINGSThe review of literature shows that Nigerian leaders have invariably and consistently deviated from the acceptable theories of effective leadership. Ineffective Leadership is often associated with indecision and Laissez-faire approach. This is evident in the Nigerian civil service which supports the political leadership and it is consistent with Lewin et,al (1939). Every body is aware of the “Not on sit syndrome prevalent among officers who are unproductive. Inconsistency in policy initiative is evidence of inability to appraise situations and adopt transformational leadership approach. Transformational leaders deliver when they promise. Nigerian leaders make promises during elections but they never deliver: Regular power supply has always been promised since 1999 yet power supply has been eratic, not even when $16bn was pumped into power sector in 2006. Transformational leaders have zero tolerance for corruption: The furor the oil subsidy scam of 2012 involving a bribe of $620,000.00 (N4.5bn) associated with members of the National Assembly has not died down. Nigerian leaders jet out for medical treatment abroad in hospitals established by effective leaders instead of building such hospitals in Nigeria.

In the same way the political leadership during the military era could not initiate good work structures and were never people oriented. (Ohio studies/Michigan studies). This is consistent with Stoddill and Coons (1957). Consequently the worst impact on G.D.P occurred during the military era up to 1998 with low power supply, low capacity utilization, high unemployment and high rate of industrial actions. (See table 2).

CONCLUSIONWe conclude that ineffective political leadership has impacted adversely on G.D.P used as proxy for economic development through the effect of the following explanatory variables: Rate of capacity utilization in industry, electric energy generation, rate of unemployment and frequency of industrial action/strikes.

The net effect is that investments in social infrastructure and political institutions which are also measures of sustainable development could not be sustained. Nigeria has remained underdeveloped.

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POLICY IMPLICATION/RECOMMENDATIONSFor political leadership to drive sustainable development in Nigeria we recommend transformational/charismatic leadership in real terms. The current administration has been sloganeering as transformational leadership without the substance of a real transformational leader. A transformational leader has zero-tolerance for corruption. He has vision, he leads by examples. He motivates his followers psychologically. He delivers on promises. He is not a transactional leader. He has the referent power of the orator. The transformational/charismatic leader will focus on the following strategic option:1. Increase electric power generation and capacity utilization in industry2. Reduce unemployment and frequency of industrial actionWith these strategies GDP will increase and with the increase the GDP will drive investment in social infrastructure - roads, hospitals, schools etc. It will also drive investment in political institution - credible elections, transparency and credible judiciary.

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REFERENCESAchebe C. (1983) The trouble with Nigeria Enugu: Fourth Dimension Publishers.

Amana, E.J. (1992) Leading and Motivating People. Management in Nigeria, Journal of the Nigerian Institute of Management.

Ayodele A (1998) Energy crisis in Nigeria: The Case of electric energy market. The Bullion, A Publication of CBN 22(4).

Bass B.M, (1990) From transactional to transformational; leadership: Learning to share the vision Organizational Dynamics 18 (3) 19-31.

Bassi, L & Mc Murrer, D (2007) Maximizing your return on people. Havard Business Review 85 (3) pp 115-123.

Eghosa, O. (1999) The crippled giant, Nigeria. Ibadan: Longman.

Fiedler F.E (1964) A Contigency model of leadership effectiveness. In L. Berkowitz (Ed) Advances in Experimental social Psychology; N.Y: Academic Press.

Fiedler F.E (1965) Engineer the job to fit the manager. Havard Business Review 43

pp 115-122.

Giselli, E.E (1963) Managerial talents. American Psychologist October 631-41

Gould, J. & Kolls, W (1964) A dictionary of the social sciences. New York: Free Press p. 380.

Katz, D & Kahn, R (1978) The social psychology of organizations. New York: John Wiley.

Keating, C (1982) The leadership book, New York: Paulist Press p. 13

Koontz, O' Donnel C, (1980) Management Kogakusha: McGraw-Hill.

Kotter, J.P (2007) Leading Change: Why transformational efforts fail. Havard Business Review 85 (1) 96-103.

Lewin, K, Lippitt, R & White R.K. (1939) Patterns of aggressive behaviour in experimentally created social climates. Journal of Social Psychology 10 (2) 271-299.

Mann, F.C (1965) Towards an understanding of the leadership role in formal organizations in R. Dubin et al (eds) Leadership and Productivity San Francisco: Chandler.

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Mbaegbu, D. (2009) Environmental factors of business in Nigeria. Advances in Management. Journal of the Department of Business Administration. University of Illorin 8(II) pp 16-29.

National Planning Commission (2004) Nigeria Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS) Abuja: Publisher.

Nwolise, O.B.E & Ohamesi, O.R.A. (2001) The essence of political leadership: Ibadan: Codat Publications p. 1.

Rostow, W.W (1960) The Stages of Economic Growth Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Stogdill, RA (1948) Perosnal factors associated with leadership: A survey of the literature Journal of Applied Psychology 25, 35-71.

Stogdill, RMS & Coons, A.E (1957) Leader behabiour: its description and measurement: Columbus, Ohio: Ohio State University Bureau of Business Research.

Ukeje, B.O. & Okorie N.C (1990) Leadership in educational organizations. Port Harcourt: Pan unique pub.coy.Ltd.

Vroom V.H. Yetton P.W (1973) Leadership and decision making Pittsburg: University Pittsburgh press.

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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF

ADVANCED STUDIES IN ECONOMIES AND PUBLIC SECTOR MANAGEMENT

Vol. 1 No. 1 November, 2013

NIGERIAN ECONOMIC REFORMS IN THE ERA OF GLOBALIZATION: EXPORTING WEALTH AND IMPORTING POVERTY

MAHMOUD M. LAWAN, PhD & SA'IDU ABDULLAHIDEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

BAYERO UNIVERSITY, KANO

ABSTRACTIn the last fourteen years of the return to civilian democracy, the Nigerian state has embarked on various forms of reform programmes aimed towards revamping the Nigerian economy. The reform packages have affected all sectors of the economy without major benefit to the average citizen. Under the current phase of globalization, the reform programme has succeeded in subordinating the Nigerian state to the vagaries of western control and machinations, spearheaded by the western controlled-financial hawks, IMF and the WORLD BANK. This paper examines the nature, dimensions and consequences of economic reforms programme adopted by the Nigerian state under the ongoing globalization of the world economy. Rather than promote economic growth and prosperity, the reforms have entrenched the surplus extraction of resources through fuel subsidy removal; privatization of state- owned enterprises; pension and civil service reforms to mention a few. The reform process has perpetrated brazen corruption, primitive accumulation among the ruling elites, thereby promoting poverty and hunger and the retrenchment of workers in both the private and public sectors of the economy. The paper thus argues that in order to redress the inequities in the reform programmes under globalization, there is the apparent need to diversify the economy by giving priority to agriculture, mining etc; reducing the high cost of governance in the state; declaring a total war on corruption and reducing the over dependence of the economy on external forces through internal self-regeneration and self-sufficiency.

Keywords: Economic Reform, Globalisation, Corruption, Poverty and Privatization

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INTRODUCTION The Nigerian State from 1980s onwards had witnessed acute economic crisis despite its abundant human and material resource. The tightening of the world into a global village and the resultant widespread stagnation in the country's economic growth have widened the income gap, creating inequalities, increasing the closure of manufacturing industries and compounding the problems of under and unemployment, with deepening rate of miserable poverty in the country.

The crisis ridden economy within which Nigeria found itself has called for the designing and implementation of various economic reforms policies/programmes by many successive governments. The Austerity and Stabilization Act 1982 and Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) (1986-1990's) are examples of economic reform policies /programmes adopted and implemented by Shagari and Babangida Administrations respectively. They were aimed at tightening government budget, cut down expenditure in public sector and diversifying the Nigerian economic status with the view to revitalizing the economy, solving problems of unemployment and poverty.

Despite these economic reforms, the Nigerian economy has deepened into further crisis with crushing internal and external debts, absence of and dilapidated socio-economic infrastructure, decline in the growth rate of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and per capital income, as well as increased level of corrupt practices. The widespread magnitude of this crisis has continued to unleash negative consequences on Nigerians with increasing level of unemployment, retrenchment of workers in both the public and private sectors of the economy, widespread poverty, hunger and widening inequality.

This paper is aimed at assessing the economic reforms policies/programmes embarked upon by the Nigerian state and their consequences on Nigerians in the era of globalization. The paper is structured into six sections. Section one provides an introduction, section two conceptual and theoretical review. Section three discusses the nature, dimensions and benefits of economic reforms under globalization. Section four provides the historical background of Nigeria's economic reforms. Consequences of the economic reforms are also provided in section five, while section six provides conclusion and recommendations.

CONCEPTUAL AND THEORETICAL REVIEW Indeed, globalization is not a new phenomenon; globalization predates colonialism. In fact some scholars are of the view that globalization is only a continuation of imperialism in another guise, but it became more pronounced in the twentieth century. Similarly, some other scholars have viewed globalization as the Americanization of global political, economic and socio-cultural life of the people of the world. Therefore, Globalization is one of the widely used terms; as such it is subject to varied definitions. For Palmer (n.d) globalization is nothing more than “the diminution or elimination of state enforced restriction on exchanges across

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borders and increasingly integrated and complex global system of production and exchange that has emerged as a result” [Wikipedia (n.d)]. Thus, globalization gives emphasis on linking or interconnecting of nations to become a global village, facilitating the linkages through advancement in science and technology, particularly Information and communication technology.

Though economic interrelation among nations is central to globalization, however, globalization goes beyond just economic interrelation, it is a multifaceted phenomenon that involves political, socio-cultural and economic integration across the borders. Thus globalization according to Manfred B. Steger (1961) is: …multidimensional set of social processes that create multiple stretch and worldwide social interdependencies and exchanges, while at the same time fostering in people a growing awareness of the opening connections between the local and the distant (Cited in Sergeant; 2009:49). Asobie on the other hand argued that Globalization in its current phase is essentially the universalization of capitalism, in its speculative variety (2002; 9). He further asserted that, contemporary globalization is synonymous with the emergence and dominance of “virtual” money- i.e. highly mobile, speculative capital or “money-dealing capital” – that is global in its reach and operations, this dominance has resulted in the transfer of economic policy decisions from national governments to global, transnational actors (Asobie;2002, 9).

Specifically, globalization manifest in openness to trade, financial flows, factor flows, ideas and information and human capital (Asobie;2002,12). Since globalization is dealing with interdependence between nations-developed and less developed in the era of advanced technology, the position of less developed nations has become a matter of serious concern. This lies simply because of their relatively less advantageous position in terms of technological and industrial development

It is in this view that UNCTAD (1996) contended that, for the less developed nations to develop their economies and expand their exports in a highly competitive globalizing world, they must diversify their economies into production of export commodities especially manufacturing goods, intensify industrialization and tackling structural and institutional impediments, otherwise, globalization will continue be in favour of international firms owned and controlled by the developed world (cited in Offiong; 2001:5).It is imperative at this juncture to conceptualize the concept of economic reforms. Ariyo defines economic reform as any form of policy and/or institutional intervention that changes or seeks to change the process of economic policy design and implementation, with a view to ensuring a better and more purposeful

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management of the economy. It generally refers to any attempt to truncate the dwindling fortunes of the economy, and thereby enhance sustained improvement in the welfare of the citizenry( 2006;166). We posit here that Economic reform is an initiative directed towards removing abuses and distortions in an existing system or economy. In the context of Nigeria, the reform process was actually directed towards restructuring and revamping the Nigerian economy and making it more stable and amenable to growth and development. Most of the Nigerian reform programmes were hoisted on the country by the West and Western – Controlled International Financial Institutions such as the World Bank and the IMF. Consequently, these reforms have largely been volatile and contradictory because they respond to the principles of free market economy and liberalization as expounded by these international financial hawks. As such, the reforms have been largely externally – driven, without consideration for the political and socio-economic effects on the people concerned.

Given this conception, we argue that the shift and transfer in policy decisions from the national to transnational and multilateral actors have led to the design and imposition of foreign imposed policies and programmes on the developing countries, which in the long run places heavy burden on these countries to export their resources to the developed world in the name of privatization and fuel subsidy removal while importing hunger, poverty and inequality on the vulnerable groups in the Third World countries like Nigeria. Apparently, most of these structural and institutional reforms in the Third World countries are inspired by IMF or World Bank. As such Sunusi (2005:77-78) contends that most of the economic reforms in the Third World countries, especially IMF-inspired Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) of the late twentieth century was an extension of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, ninetieth century colonialism and neo-colonialism. He further noted that, SAP is aimed at cheapening into a domestic assets of the less developed nations, removing the administrative constraints that hindered free movement of goods and capital, as well as capital exploitation and repatriation for the benefits of the developed world. Thus, while SAP is directed towards de-industrialization of the Third World Nations and impoverishment of their people, it also aimed at providing ready market and sources of raw materials for creditor nations, and repatriation of capital for the benefit of industrialized nations. Kwanashie (2005:69) notes that, no country's economic reform will be more successful by neglecting and deepening its majority populace into miserable poverty. The design of economic reform policies in the third world countries like Nigeria, must therefore take into cognisance the interests and needs of the supposed beneficiaries, particularly, those at grass root level. His reasons are twofold:

In the first place, the ideology behind such a reform would be derived from a neo-liberal paradigm consistent with globalization. It would be consistent with the dominant formation, which is only relevant to the limited segment of

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the population. Capital is still weak. The indigenous capitalist class is not yet able to drive growth and development. Indigenous domestic investment is still weak. With few exceptions, wealthy Nigerians do not invest in the Nigerian economy…. The second reason stems from the fact that a large segment of the Nigerian Population still lives in rural areas and belongs to a lower social formation in which capital is scarce, the development of production forces is at a low level, technology is still rudimentary, and the indigenous ideology is different from that at the national level (Kwanashie, 2003:69).

Offiong (2001: 167) argues that central to liberalization programme packaged under neo-liberal economic reform policies like SAP is the privatization of public enterprises, such as Nigerian Telecommunication (NITEL), National Fertilizer Company, Hotels, Steel rolling Mills, Paper Companies, sugar plants and vehicle assembly firms, aims at enhancing efficiency and encouraging foreign investors. The major consequences of this, as noted by offiong (2001) is the rising level of unemployment and increasing the rate of payment of services rendered by these firms to the general public, as profit maximization remained an essential pillar for private enterprises. No wonder that the international financial institutions like World Bank and IMF emphasized on economic liberalization as condition necessary for Nigeria to seek for possible negotiation for debt relief.

The economic reform policies of most developing nations revolve around privatization. Privatization programme is concerned with transfer of public owned firms to private hands; it discouraged spread of even development among the given population. Indeed, where privatization takes place, for example, rural areas are mostly affected, as the bulk of infrastructural facilities needed for their development are virtually not being provided or are in a state of dilapidation, in spite of the fact that, the vast majority of the populace reside and find their livelihood in the rural areas(Offiong; 2001:168). In essence, this paper examines two key areas in the process of economic reform in Nigeria. These are the privatization of state – owned enterprises particularly the power sector; the removal of fuel subsidy orchestrated by the federal government in January 2012 which also led to mass revolt by Nigerians. The choice of these two key sectors of the economy are central to understanding the working or otherwise of the Nigerian economy. In fact, the massive uprising witnessed in January 2012 as a result of the increase in the pump price of petroleum clearly indicated that petroleum drives the Nigerian economy and any attempt to tamper with it could destabilize the country and probably lead to revolt as witnessed in 2012. Privatization and commercialization have been major instruments of public sector reforms in Nigeria since the late 1980s, following the adoption of structural adjustment programme.

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NATURE AND DIMENSIONS OF ECONOMIC REFORMS UNDER GLOBALIZATION

The Economic reform policy in Nigeria started in 1980's when the amount of government revenue declined due to falling of oil price in the global market, decreasing trade balances and external reverse, with the interest in agency costs and corrupt practices in the country, as well as continues shrinking in government direct investment aimed at increasing the private sector participation in the economy, and improving the economic performance (Akpan, 2006: 168).

Most of the economic reform policies, if not all, were designed and implemented in line with market oriented policies, mostly supported by the international financial institutions such as IMF and World Bank. The attributes of such reforms designed under neo-liberal paradigm are congregated around deregulation of major economic sectors and trade liberalization. These policies:

…were made a basic part of the World Bank-IMF loan conditionalities. In the face of the widespread balance-of-payments driven crises in the economies of the south, there was equally a wide acceptance of these loans along with their structural adjustment conditions (Akpan; 2006: 151).

Apart from these conditionalities attached to economic reforms. Debt service repayment, financial aid and investment have combined, and perhaps, stand as constrains for economic development in Nigeria. Thus, the economic reforms were designed purposely for continuing exploitation and repatriation of capital from Nigeria for the benefit of the western capitalist nations. This is true, for example, the mid-year report released by the Central Bank of Nigeria in 1994 had shown that, Nigerian economy was declining and the greatest problem was the inability of government to secure debt relief from foreign creditors, resulted to the abandoning of economic reform programme under SAP, in place of it “genuine regulation” was introduced. This had forced, as Ukim (1994) noted, the World Bank and IMF to quickly veto any future request by Nigeria for debt relief until the economic reform was restored (Cited in Offiong; 2001: 110).Though the general objectives of the economic reform are to improve the economy and decrease poverty, as well as:

a) Improve efficiency in the production system by injecting new innovation and skills due to advancement in science and technology.

b) Reduce drastically government involvement in the running of public enterprises by encouraging private sector to take over public firms.

c) Creating more jobs for the teaming populace.d) Encourage inflow of capital and foreign investment. e) Diversify the economy to non-oil sector most especially manufacturing

industries.f) Reduce corruption for economic advancement

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Despite all these, the expected goals have become unrealistic to attain instead the reverse is the case in terms of rising level of corruption in the country, heightening poverty, inefficiency in terms of providing social service. The current Nigerian reform programme adopted by the Obasanjo administration after assuming power in 1999 was a holistic programme of economic revival aimed at transforming the Nigerian economy into a world class and developed economy within a short period of time. Consequently, the reform programme covers virtually all sectors of the economy including public sector reform, educational reform, pension reform, security reform, poverty reform, banking sector reform etc. Privatization and commercialization have been major instruments of public sector reforms in Nigeria since the late 1980s, following the adoption of structural adjustment programme. The privatization programme of the Nigerian state has been embroiled in series of crises and controversies particularly the privatization of NITEL, NEPA etc, and this is largely because of the elite contestations for economic advantage, and the nature, composition and character of the state. Under globalization, the powers of the state to provide economic and financial stability, to protect the vulnerable in the society and to preserve the environment has been undermined and compromised, because the state is servicing the interests of capital for the multinational corporations and finance institutions, which are the main forces of globalization. Part of the reasons often advanced for the privatization of public enterprises in Nigeria has been inefficiency and ineffectiveness in the governance of these public corporations in the country. Another notable problem has to do with rampant corruption in the public sector and limited accountability of public officials in the management of public parastatals. There are also declining values of governance owing to political instability and finally the apparent pressures from foreign creditor agencies on the Nigerian governments to downsize and reduce the role of the public sector (Umezurike, 2011:319). Despite the efforts of the Babangida and Obasanjo regimes to religiously implement the privatization programme first under the TCPC and then BPE, the story has remained the same. The country has not been able to create the enabling environment to attract foreign investment and capital. Nigeria as a nation has neither improved the technology nor acquired managerial competence to turn around its dismal and epileptic transport, telecommunications as well as energy sectors. This has invariably impacted on the growth and development of the economy, for instance capacity utilization is declining by the day; crude oil exports which the country heavily depend on is also falling because of theft and vandalisation and unemployment is taking its toll on the economy.

A fundamental plank of the economic reform of the Nigerian state is the issue of removal of fuel subsidy on petroleum products. Although a pre 1980 phenomenon, subsidy removal on petroleum has remained number one agenda of several administrations in Nigeria particularly under the SAP regime when General Ibrahim Babangida introduced and repressively implemented it in 1986. As part of the conditionalities of SAP, the government embarked on the policy of removal of subsidy on petroleum and agricultural products, which form a corner

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stone of the programme. In fact, the removal of subsidy on petroleum products according to proponents of SAP would help accelerate production and growth in the economy; ensure appropriate pricing for the major foreign exchange earner in the economy- petroleum; as well as remove wasteful consumption because their argument is that low prices encourage waste( Lawan, 2002;130). Since then various regimes have implemented increase in the prices of petroleum products in order to satisfy the requirements of deregulation and reform of the petroleum sector of the economy. For instance, after the introduction of SAP in 1986, the pump price of petroleum (PMS) shot up from 30 kobo per litre to 39.5 kobo per litre. Barely two years later, had the price rose again to 42 kobo per litre, by 1989, the government decided to introduce a two-tier pricing system where private vehicles buy fuel at 60 kobo while commercial vehicles buy at 42 kobo per litre. In 1991 government decided to harmonize the pricing regime and increase the price to 70 kobo per litre. In 1992, there was a price increase of N3.25kobo, however by 1993 the price of petroleum rose again to N11 per litre which remained so for six years until 1999, when the Obasanjo administration increase the price to N20 per litre. Such increases continued until 2006 when the price reverted to N65 and N70 in 2007 but the mass protests by the NLC forced the government to revert to N65 per litre in 2008. In 2012 the Jonathan administration handed over to Nigerians a New Year gift with an increase of over 100% to N141 per litre. The 2012 increase led to massive protests by the labour and civil society movement in Nigeria, as a result of which the government reduce the price to N97 per litre. Most often governments in Nigeria always argue in favour of price increases and in most cases the reasons advanced are that increase in the price of petroleum are informed by the need to remove subsidy on petroleum products in order to conserve funds for the development of socio-economic infrastructure in the economy. In addition to this, is the need to ensure efficient use of resources; to discourage smuggling of petroleum products into neighbouring West African countries; tackle the problem of persistent fuel shortages; products prices are the cheapest in the world and that subsidy would benefit the masses. But, the arguments put forward by the government are not real. If anything, such arguments are, for the most part fallacious.

HISTORY OF ECONOMIC REFORMS IN NIGERIA. Before the discovery of oil, the Nigerian economy depends on primary production, mainly agriculture with little emphasis on solid mineral exploration. With the discovery of crude oil, almost all emphasis on generating and increasing government revenue now shifted to the production and exportation of crude oil to international market. This has made it possible for government revenue and expenditure, to rise thereby enable government to finance imports of goods, such as spare parts and machines for the expansion of manufacturing sector under indigenization policy.

The collapse of oil price at international market in the 1980s had resulted in the decrease in the petro-dollars earnings of the Federal Government: from N10.1

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billion in 1979 to about N5.161 billion in 1982 (Olukoshi, 1993:3). The adverse consequences on the Nigerian economy were the decline in the production of the manufacturing sector, thus raising unemployment rate and widespread poverty which resulted mainly from the massive retrenchment of workers. Government's budgets were also implemented with the huge deficits, increasing the pace for external borrowing particularly to meet the yearnings of Nigerians in the provision of basic socio-economic infrastructure. This combined with pervasive corruption compounded the situation further by increasing the Nigerian debt crisis with such adverse consequences. Olukoshi (1993) succinctly noted that Nigeria is:

Unable to sustain its expenditure at its pre crisis levels, the state … started to run huge deficits in its budget whilst at the same time embarking in foreign borrowing from private and official international sources to sustain some of its spending programmes. This borrowing spree was to lay the basis for the country's debt crisis which has served to compound the problem afflicting the wider economy… As part of measures adopted in the public sector to cope with crisis, many workers employed in the civil and public service and in parastatal organizations were laid off. Internal public debts…rose astronomically from N4.6 billion in 1979 to 22.2 billion in 1983. National Output fell by 8 percent in 1983 and further by 5.5 percent in 1984. Inflation, put officially at 32.2 percent in 1983, rose to 39.6 percent in 1984 (1993:3-4).

In terms of unemployment, the situation was very precarious. For instance, in 1976 the unemployment rate was 4.3% and it rose to 6.4% in 1980 (Lawan, 2001, 110). Capacity utilization in the various sectors of the economy was very low and the country's debt burden continues to mount thus compounding the country's economic crisis. As a result, the Shagari administration enacted the Economic Stabilization (Temporary Provisions) Act of April 1982, otherwise referred to as the Austerity Measures. The main thrust of the Act was unmistakably monetarist, which called for massive imposition of import restrictions, monetary controls and cuts in public expenditure.

Despite effort by Shagari Administration to revamp the economy by cutting down government expenditure and introducing the austerity measures under the Economic Stabilization (Austerity Measure) Act of 1982, the economic crisis has continued to deepen which rose the country's external debt from N2 billion in 1979 to 12.8 in 1981 and to N21.2 billion in 1985 with the debt services put around N77.8 million in 1978 and N3.6 billion in 1985 (Fadahunsi, 1993:33-34).

These dwindling economic crises continue to have adverse consequences on Nigerians. As a consequence, the Babangida administration attempted to address the crisis by declaring a State of National Economic Emergency that lasted for

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stfifteen months, from 1 October, 1985. Under this State of National Economic Emergency about 2 to 20 per cent wages of both civilian and military personnel was cut off to support the National Economy. It is within this context that the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) supported by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) was introduced, which allowed naira to depreciate in relation to United States dollar; removal of subsidy; privatization and commercialization of the public enterprises; trade liberation; deregulation of prices and interests, removal of administrative control, particularly in the area of foreign transactions, profit repatriation and foreign investment inflow; reduction of public expenditure, etc (Olukoshi; 1993:7-8). The main objectives of SAP included the need to restructure and diversify the productive base of the economy in order to reduce overdependence on the oil sector; the need to achieve in the short and medium term fiscal and balance of payments viability; to lay the basis for a sustainable non-inflationary growth and to reduce the dominance of unproductive investments in the public sector, improving the sectors efficiency and enhancing the potential for private sector participation. At the end of the day, SAP only succeeded in undermining and destroying the Nigerian economy by creating unmitigated political and social upheavals such as the incessant workers strikes and protests like the anti-SAP riots of 1989 and numerous strikes by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), which were due to the collapse and neglect of the universities in particular and the education sector in general. In fact, in a study conducted in 2001 on the impact of SAP on the living and working conditions of academics in the universities, it was discovered that prolonged military rule under the period of economic crisis and structural adjustment programme have heightened and aggravated the crisis of underfunding in Nigerian universities and further worsened the standard of living and working conditions of academics in the universities (Lawan, 2001; 234). The chronic neglect of the universities because of poor funding and poor remuneration under SAP has led many academics to indulge in multiple means of livelihood largely due to the harsh realities of the SAP measures, such as devaluation of the currency and removal of subsidy on petroleum products.

Since the return of civil rule in Nigeria in 1999, series of economic reform policies and programmes were initiated, which include: National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS). The aims of this strategy are: Reorientation of our value system, wealth creation, poverty reduction and employment generation (NEEDS, 2005:3). Other economic reform policies adopted and implemented in Nigeria include: The Monetization Policy of Obasanjo's regime, the Vision 20, 20:20 of the Yar'adua administration and Transformation agenda of the present Jonathan administration. Central to these economics reform policies is development of Nigeria's economy and improving the living standards of the Nigerian populace in terms of provision of socio-economic needs, reducing inefficiency in public sector and corruption, encouraging foreign investment and export of goods and above all reduction in poverty.

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BEYOND ECONOMIC REFORMS: CONSEQUENCES FOR THE ECONOMY AND THE PEOPLEDespite the fact that various economic reforms have been carried out in Nigerian in order to transform the state economy for the better with the aim of addressing the problem of unemployment, miserable poverty, food insufficiency, malnutrition and under nutrition, inequalities and raising the growth rate of GDP. The reforms have failed in this direction, the conditions of Nigerians and Nigerian economy have continued to worsen with heightening incidence of poverty, collapse of social services, increased rate of under and unemployment, particularly among the youth, which have resulted in the soaring of several crises, tensions and violent conflicts that are associated with socio-economic problems.

The series of economic reforms that took place in Nigeria from 1980's to date have paid little, if any, attention in reducing the lingering economic crisis, for example, in 1993, the economic growth rate failed to 1.5% and the GDP almost remained stagnated. External debt rose dramatically from US 19.5 billion in 1985 to US 30 billion in 1994 (Jega: 2003: 32-33). It also increased from US 30.992 billion in 2002 to US 32.917 billion in 2003 (Sunusi; 2005: 88-89). One of the consequences of this increasing external debt is the continued exploitation of the little income Nigeria earned from the export of crude oil at international market (through debt services), which the price is always determined by the expansion of western capitalist economy. Thus, the needed capital for development and enhancing infrastructure has remained inadequate, as a larger part of it went for servicing interests on foreign debt.

Furthermore, conditionalities attached to the debt accumulated as a result of budget deficit, devaluation of currency and increasing corruption has continued distorting and disarticulating the internal economic structure, Liberalization of trade relation further compounded this situation by increasing importation of manufactured goods from the industrialized nations, while on the other hand discouraging export of goods from Nigeria.

The devaluation of the naira since the introduction of SAP in 1986 has direct consequences on the manufacturing industry in Nigeria, as the cost of production has sky-rocketed due to increasing cost of importing spare parts and raw materials, leading to the closure of many industries. Those who managed to survive were forced to produce below capacity utilization, thereby resulting in massive retrenchment of workers and increase in the rate of poverty. The epileptic power supply in the country has worsened, despite the ongoing reforms of the sector and this has further compounded the situation as these industries have to rely on the purchase of diesel to run their generating sets for production. It was reported that about 224 manufacturing industries were closed down in Kano from June 1999 to August 2003 alone, among the reasons given were epileptic power supply and the cost of running the industries (Analysis vol.3, No 3, September; 2003:9). The famous industrial areas of Kano such as Challawa, Bompai and

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Sharada have become ghost estates because of the closure of these manufacturing industries. Thus, as government embarked upon neo-liberal economic reforms by deregulating and removal of subsidies on the oil sector and its allied products, including diesel the untold hardship on manufacturing industries in Nigeria persisted.

Similarly, one of the consequences of Nigerian economic reforms programmes is that, it has failed woefully to address the problem of poverty, instead aggravating it in both rural and urban sectors. From 1980 to 2004, for example, the rate of poverty has kept on increasing both at the rural and urban areas. The rate has drastically increased from 27.2% of over 17.7 million Nigerians in an estimated population of 65 million in 1980 to 42.8% of about 39.2 million Nigerians of estimated population of 91.5 million in 1992. This also rose to 65.6% of 67.1 million Nigerians out of total of 102.3 million estimated population in 1996 to 54.4% estimated 70.3 million Nigerians out of 129.175 country total population in 2004 (Ozughalu,.2006:354).

Privatization of public owned enterprises since 1999 has led to several problems and controversies, largely because of corruption and executive interference from political office holders. Billions of naira has gone down the drain in the reform of the electric power sector without commensurate supply of electricity in the country. For instance, from 1999 to 2007, the sum of N16 billion was spent by the Obasanjo administration in the execution of the reform programme to revamp the electric power sector in Nigeria. The scandals that rocked the process is still fresh in the memory of Nigerians, in fact, it led to removal of Ndudi Elumelu and his team as members of the probe panel set up by the House of Representatives on the electric power sector reform probe. Similarly, privatization has created problems for the society and the labour movement because of the mass retrenchment of workers in the manufacturing, banking and finance, power and the petroleum industry. In particular, the unemployment situation has worsened seriously to the extent that Official statistics put the national unemployment rate at 24% and youth unemployment is hovering around 37.7%, while some estimates actually suggest that the figure is 50% ( Daily Trust, May 2,2013: 3). This is frighteningly disturbing and a time bomb waiting to explode, if something is not done fast enough to curtail it.

The increase in the prices of fuel or removal of subsidy by the government generally led to reduction in government spending especially on the public social services like education, health, transportation etc. In fact, the 2012 Mo Ibrahim

thgovernance index has graded Nigeria as the 10 worst governed nation in Africa, largely because of the absence and collapse of these basic social infrastructure of development. In addition, Fuel subsidy removal also affects and leads to the collapse of the wage income of the workers, which often heightens protests and workers' strikes. There is also the obvious rise in the level of unemployment as

32

indicated above. Above all, the fuel price increase often undermines sovereignty and national independence because of foreign interventions by western countries and financial institutions. For example, in 1993 both British Secretary for Overseas Development, Mrs. Linda Chalker and Foreign Affairs Secretary, Mr. Douglas Hurd openly and undiplomatically campaigned for “appropriate pricing of petroleum products” even to the embarrassment of the transitional council. In 2000, the IMF officials met with the NLC soliciting that the labour movement accept price deregulation in the sector (Aremu, 2001; 72). Christen Lagarde, the Managing Director of the IMF was in Nigeria in late 2012 to mobilize support and convince the Jonathan administration on the removal of petroleum subsidy in Nigeria. This only confirms the argument that economic reforms programmes are the handiwork of western nations in collaboration with multilateral finance institutions in the west. Therefore, these so-called foreign partners, foreign investors, core investors in the sale and privatization of public enterprises as well as the removal of fuel subsidy is nothing but a re-invigorated neo-colonization and recolonisation (Toyo, 2004; 5)

Corruption is on the increase in public sector, despite monetization policy embarked by the federal government, as capital set aside for the provision of basic socio-economic infrastructure are being diverted for personnel interests and narrowly defined end, for example, in 1999 only about 50% of the Nigerian population had access to safe drinking water and only 10% had access to essential drugs (Chete; 2006:610)

RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION: It is clear from the presentation above that the Nigerian economy has suffered from debilitating and excruciating pains of crushing economic crisis that has engulfed the country since the 1980s. This crisis doesn't seem to abate under a neo-liberal globalization which has ravaged further the economy to almost standstill. In spite of over fifty years of political independence, the country is yet to enthrone a satisfying and sustainable economy arrangement that will address the needs and aspirations of the vast majority of Nigerians. It is in this context that we hereby propose the following recommendations to fix the Nigerian economy and salvage it from the current doldrums.

First and foremost, there is the apparent need to diversify the Nigerian economy in order to reduce the over dependence on crude oil because this has only succeeded in entrenching primitive accumulation, corruption, laziness and fraud in the economy. The diversification would really involve tapping into other viable sectors particularly agriculture, mining, where a lot of potential wealth is wasting and can be easily explored to develop the economy. In fact, agriculture remain the backbone of the economy, because even advanced economies like the USA, Japan, China, Britain, France etc still rely on agriculture for the bulk of income coming into their economies and provide the industry for employment. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) 2011 statistics, Nigeria has a

33

total land area of 91, 077,000 Hectares with an agricultural area of 76,200,000 Hectares. In other words, about 83.7% of the land in Nigeria is arable, however less than half of it is currently under cultivation (Peoples Daily, April 12, 2013). This is scandalous, because the vast agricultural land can be cultivated to tackle hunger, unemployment and poverty. Only 20% of the land in Israel is arable yet it produces 95% of its nutritional requirements (People's Daily, April 12, 2013). In addition, only 1.7% of the 2013 Federal Budget is earmarked for agriculture which is a far cry for a nation desirous to develop. Therefore, concerted and serious commitment and policy action from governments must be put in place to develop and fast track agricultural development in Nigeria.

One of the key challenges affecting the Nigerian economy is the high cost of governance and corruption that pervade the economy. It is necessary for government to seriously address the challenge of corruption, fraud, and economic sabotage by sanctioning culprits and criminals who destroy the Nigerian economy through these forms of leakages. The current war on corruption is not yielding the desired results as such government must declare total war on corruption and stop paying lip service to the cancer of corruption which is undermining the survival of the country as a nation. The pardon granted to the former Governor of Bayelsa state, is indicative of lack of commitment and seriousness to fight corruption to standstill.

It is clear that under economic reforms and globalization, private interests drive the economy and Nigeria is no exception. As such, representative institutions under the current democracy must have the capacity to exercise crucial oversight functions not just on the policy making process but also on the collaboration between private interest and the state in the management of the economy (Kwanashie,2005; 11)

Again, it is observed that, most economic reforms or policy initiatives normally have some short- term negative effects, especially on vulnerable segments of the society. However, historically, government usually underplays the import of social safety nets. This is another form of free- ride, whereby people are left to face the consequences of any economic policy, in whose process they were not involved. This amounts to a lack of effective check on policy errors committed by government. This is an issue that government must tackle once and for all (Ariyo, 2006; 183), in its drive to successfully achieve the objectives of economic reform policies. Obviously, economic reforms succeed when they are understood and supported by the people most affected by them (Cabanero and Mitchel, 2002; cited in Alo, 2006; 51).

It is suggested that the Nigerian state should reduce it overdependence on anti-people policies imposed by the western countries and their agencies which in most cases lead to mass protests with dangerous consequences like what obtained during the anti-fuel subsidy protests in January, 2012. Government should listen to

34

the voice of reason by responding to peoples wish rather than outside wish and interests. By responding to western interests they have mortgaged the future of the country to the whims and caprice of international capital which is the greatest enemy of the people. The privatization of public owned enterprises and the removal of fuel subsidy would only succeed in generating wealth for export to western capitals and their agencies while entrenching and deepening poverty in the land

Finally, it is imperative to suggest that democracy also provides an added advantage for the country's leadership to invest heavily in transforming the Nigerian economy through sustained programmes of national self-sufficiency and internal regeneration so as to insure a secured future for the generations yet unborn. This must be done if we really care for the future of the country and this must be seen as a collective responsibility.

35

REFERENCES

Asobie, H. Assisi (2002), “International Relations, Foreign Policy andProspects and Problems of Globalization” being a paper presented at the ASUU State of the Nation Conference on the theme: “The Crisis of the Nigerian State: Perspectives and Challenges” held at National Universities Commission Auditorium, Abuja, on October, 14-17, 2002

Ariyo, A. ( 2006), “ Economic Reforms in Nigeria: Lessons For NEEDS” in Ademola Ariyo et al eds NEEDS and Nigeria's Sustainable Development, Ibadan: New World Press.

Aremu, I. ( 2001), The Crises of Pricing Petroleum Products in Nigeria, Lagos: Malthouse Press Limited.

Akpan, E.G., (2006), “Structural Obstacles to Gains from Economic Reforms in Nigeria” in Costs and Benefits of Economic Reforms in Nigeria, Ibadan: Nigerian Economic Society.

Alo, O.(2006), “ The Dynamics of Economic Reforms in Nigeria: Another Look at the thPeople Issues” being a paper delivered at the 10 Public Lecture of the

Chartered Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria, published in the Guardian, December 5, 2006.

Chete, N.L., (2006), “Economic Reforms and Prospects of Meeting the Human Development Dimensions of the Millennium Development Goals”, in Costs and Benefits of Economic Reforms in Nigeria, Ibadan: Nigerian Economic Society.

Fadahunsi, A., (1993), “Devaluation: Implications for Employment Inflation, Growth and Development” in Adebayo O. Olukoshi (ed), The Politics of Structural Adjustment in Nigeria, Ibadan: Heinemann Educational Books.

Jega, A., (2003), “The State and Identity Transformation under Structural Adjustment in Nigeria”, in Attahiru Jega (ed), Identity Transformation Under Structural Adjustment in Nigeria. Nordiskas, African Institute Uppsala in collaboration with the Centre for Research and Documentation, Kano.

Korner et al (1984), The IMF and the Debt Crisis: A Guide to the Third World's Dilemma, London: Zed Books.

Kwanashie, M., (2005), “Reforming Nigerians: Which Model” in Abdulkareem ndK.W. Aniche (ed), Discharging the Burden, Voices from the 2 Trust Annual

Dialogue, Media Trust Limited.

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Kwanashie, M. (2005), “Whither Nigeria? Political Economy of Reforms” in The Nigerian Social Scientist, Vol.8, No.2, a publication of the Social Science Academy of Nigeria, Abuja.

Lawan, M.M. (2001), “The Impact of Structural Adjustment Programme in the Nigerian University System: A Case Study of the Living and Working Conditions of Academic Staff, 1986- 1996” being an M.Sc. Dissertation submitted to the Department of Political Science, Bayero University, Kano.

NEEDS, (2005), National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy. A publication of National Planning Commission, Abuja.

Offiong, D., (2001), Globalization: Post-Neodependency and Poverty in Africa. Enugu: Fourth Dimension Publishing Limited.

Olukoshi, O.A.,(1993), “General Introduction” in Adebayo O. Olukoshi (ed), The Politics of Structural Adjustment in Nigeria, Ibadan: Heinemann Educational Books.

Ozughalu, M.U, (2006), “The Glories and Woes of Public Enterprises Reforms in Nigeria'' in Costs and Benefits of Economic Reforms in Nigeria. Ibadan: Nigerian Economic Society, PP 331-36

Sergeant, T.L., (2009), Contemporary Political Ideologies, USA: Wadsworth Cengage.

Sanusi, L.S., (2005), “Reforming the Nigerian Economy: Which Model? A Theoretical Critique of Nigerian Economic Policy (1986 to 2004)'', in

ndAbdulkareem K.W. Aniche (ed), Discharging a Burden, Voices from the 2 Trust Annual Dialogue. Reforming Nigeria: Which model? Abuja: Media Trust Limited.

Toyo, E. (2004), “The Imperative of Anti-Recolonisation Struggle” being a Keynote Address to the National Delegates Conference of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) held at the University of Calabar on April 16-17, 2004.

Umezurike, C. (2011), “ Globalization, Economic Reforms and Democracy: Analysis of Economic Reforms in Nigeria” in the Journal of Good Governance, Vol. 2, No. 1, June 2011, Institute of African Studies, University of Nigeria, Nsukka

W i k i p e d i a ( n . d ) “ G l o b a l i z a t i o n ” a t h t t p / / : w w w. w i k i p e d i a . Oga/wiki/Globalization, accessed 16/01/2010

Newspapers: Analysis, September 2003, Vol. 3, No.3, Daily Trust, May 2, 2013, Peoples Daily, April 12, 2013

37

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF

ADVANCED STUDIES IN ECONOMIES AND PUBLIC SECTOR MANAGEMENT

Vol. 1 No. 1 November, 2013

TYPE OF MARRIAGE AMONG THE ATYAP IN NIGERIA: EFFECT OF RELIGIOUS DENOMINATION AND RELIGIOSITY

AVONG, HELEN N.PART-TIME LECTURER, ECWA THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY KAGORO,

KADUNA STATE - NIGERIA

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the relationship between the Christian religion

(denomination and religiosity) and type of marriage (monogamous of

polygynous) among the Atyap (Kataf) in Kaduna State The purpose of this

study is to establish the type of marriage and to explore its relationship with the

Christian religion based on Modernisation theory. The methodology includes a

random selection of 600 eligible Atyap women, aged 15-49, including the

386 ever-married women whose data is analysed using logistic multiple

regression models. Proportions in polygynous unions among the currently

married Atyap women are low (26-28 per cent) compared to those of other

groups in the country (40-50 per cent). The multivariate regression model

reveals religiosity has an inverse relationship with polygyny while religious

denomination has no significant effect. The paper concludes that by curbing

polygyny, religion possibly serves to enhance the health status of women and

children and contributes to peaceful coexistence and development in Atyap

land. It also emphasises the need for intrafaith analysis in the study of type of

marriage especially among the numerous predominantly Christian ethnic

groups in Nigeria, for the purpose of formulating appropriate demographic

and health policies needed for both regional and national development.

Keywords: Religious denomination, Religiosity, Monogamy, Polygyny,

Atyap

38

INTRODUCTIONType of marriage (polygynous or monogamous) is of interest to social science researchers because, beside its association with socioeconomic and cultural factors, it has grave health consequences (see Hadley, 2005; Reniers & Watkins, 2010; Wagner & Rieger, 2011) and subsequently, development. Moreover, changing marriage patterns provide clues that other social changes are afoot and could further enhance the understanding of changes in other social spheres (van de Walle, 1993).

Researchers have employed economic ('female choice”, “male choice”, and “male compromise”) politico-economic, or generally, evolutionary and/or modernisation theories to explain the incidence of polygamy and/or monogamy in society. These theories generally tend to see society being traditionally polygamous but become more monogamous. They argue that the incidence of polygamy and monogamy in society is determined by the existence or level of demographic factors such as fecundity, post-partum sex taboos, barrenness, levirate, sex ratios and age, socioeconomic conditions including income, sickness, family laws and religion or the Church, and other modernising factors such as education and democracy (Grossbard, 1980; Lesthaeghe Kaufmann & Meekers, 1989; Minguela, 2011; Gould, Moav & Simhon, 2008; MacDonald, 1995 (see de la Croix & Mariani 2011; Bailey, Baines & Amani, 2010). This study only seeks to establish the incidence of polygyny and monogamy and the role education and religion or the Church plays in determining them based on the claims by some modernisation theorists

Modernisation theory would lead us to expect that economic development and social change (such as the introduction of universal schooling) would usher in changes in Africa's cultures and societal institutions that subsequently generate changes in the internalised values concerning the cultural and social supports, and thereby reshaping, among other things, the marriage system. Caldwell and Caldwell (1987) considered provision of interpretive apparatus by Western education a major factor undermining ancient beliefs and thereby ushering in social and demographic change, and particularly, eroding the traditional importance of marriage for achieving status. The shift from kinship-based family organisation to individualistic courtship and family life, through the effect of Western type education, is seen as especially important in this line of reasoning. Both entry into marriage and type of marriage are reshaped in this process. Thus, in this classic 'modernisation' perspective, with education being a major secularising and individualising force, monogamy should be more prevalent among the educated.

However, although Caldwell, Orubuloye and Caldwell (1992) reported that Western education and foreign religions (Christianity and Islam) have introduced some changes in the traditional family structures and relations in some parts of Africa, they argued that the institutions, such as descent lineage system and

39

polygyny show little sign of change in West Africa. Adegbola (1988) favours this assertion by pointing out that the survival of tradition in spite the eroding effect of socio-economic modernisation is best seen in the continued practice of polygyny. In this cultural-persistence perspective, education should have little effect on marriage.

A variant of modernisation theory posits that modernisation severs the links between social institutions and that the allegiance to the traditional religion by Africans steadily erodes after conversion to another religion (see King, 1970; Southwold, 1973). Secularization effect of modernisation factors also weakens the religious beliefs and practices of non-secular religions. However, although the decline of belief and religious practice undermines the influence of religion on the family, religion and the family remain closely linked institutions (Thomas & Sommerfeldt, 1984; Thomas & Henry, 1985; Thornton, 1985). Thus, the influence of religion on the family institution could remain strong under modernisation although its influence on other spheres of life weakens, coming to be felt as inappropriate or even intrusive. This suggests that religious people before the influence of modernisation would probably behave very differently from religious people after modernisation. Unfortunately, the data does not allow the direct evaluation of this idea.

There is evidence of changes in type of marriage- from being generally polygamous to being more monogamous- in some societies of Sub-Saharan Africa (Lesthaeghe et al., 1989; United Nations, 1990; Isiugo-Abanihe Ebigbola & Adewuyi, 1993; Isiugo-Abanihe, 1994a, 1994b; van de Walle, 1993) and religion, among other factors, has been found to determine it (see Hayase & Liaw, 1997). Islam and African Traditional religions allow polygyny while most Christian denominations strongly encourage monogamy therefore Christianity is said to have monogamy as its norm (Bygrunhanga-Akiiki, 1977; Lesthaeghe et al., 1994). In particular, MacDonald (1990, 1995) is cited as asserting in his evolutionary “male compromise” theory that the Church, acting as a powerful institution for imposing monogamy, is one of three main factors responsible for emergence of monogamy in medieval Europe (de la Croix & Mariani, 2011). However, the Catholic Church in Africa has been found to condone polygyny more than the orthodox Protestant denominations (Gatara, 1982) although the Catholic doctrines mainly support monogamy. Therefore more Catholics can be expected to be or have been in polygynous unions than their protestant counterpart although the difference may be blocked or cancelled by the fact that the Baptist and Anglican Protestant denominations in Atyap land are also known, to a lesser extent, condone polygyny (Avong, 1999). Nevertheless, the predominantly Christian and Protestant Atyap can be expected to be largely monogamous. Regarding religiosity, since both Catholic and orthodox Protestant denominations officially reject polygamy, more religious women, regardless of denomination, are more likely to be or have been in monogamous unions.

40

Most studies and theories have largely built on data from peoples other than the Atyap Although there is evidence that at least some parts of Africa have been experiencing a shift towards a modern nuptiality pattern, particularly monogamy, much work remains to be done in assessing the universality of these changes, their magnitudes among different African peoples, and, crucially, the connection between these changes and modernisation of other spheres. It is also noteworthy that the Christianity, which swept the Atyap and to which they have enduringly adhered, did not engender secularisation from all aspects of their Traditional religion (Avong, 1999). Furthermore, although modern education is pursued equally by both sexes in the study area (Avong, 1999) its impact as a secularisation factor might not be much as observed for the entire West African region (Caldwell et al., 1992; Adegbola, 1998). Thus, polygyny, traditionally more prevalent form of marriage among the Atyap (Avong, 1999), as found among other African groups (Mair, 1969), can be expected to persist, but at a much lower level than existed before the arrival of Christianity and Western education in the early twentieth century (Avong, 1999).

PURPOSE OF STUDYThis study aims at examining the incidence of polygyny and monogamy among the Atyap and exploring social differences in the marriage unions within the Atyap. In particular, the role of religious denomination and religiosity is assessed in the light of the modernisation theory.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS1. What is the incidence of polygyny and monogamy among the Atyap?2. Are there differentials in polygyny or monogamy based on religious

denomination and religiosity?

HYPOTHESES

1. Catholic women are more likely to enter polygynous unions than

Protestants.

2. Less religious women are more likely to enter polygynous unions than more

religious women.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY: PROCEDURE, INSTRUMENTS AND ANALYSISThe survey, the first of its kind in the area, covered 10 villages of varying sizes in Zonzon District of Atyap (Kataf) Chiefdom. The target population was all women aged 15-49 and from the randomly selected 657 eligible women, 600 women were successfully reached and interviewed using a comprehensive structured questionnaire lifted from the World Fertility Surveys. The sample comprised of 599 Christians and one Muslim because the Chiefdom is predominantly Christian and the District of the study is almost 100 per cent Christian.

41

The module on religious beliefs, drawn from the International Social Survey Program (ISSP) religion module, was used to obtain the religion data. Items on religious beliefs such as the belief in God, heaven, life after death, the Devil and hell, creation and miracles as described in the Bible and participation in various religious activities such frequency of prayers, partaking in Holy Communion, Bible reading or study, attendance at church services were used to derive the religiosity indices.The two religiosity indices (religious belief and participation in religious activities) were based on a 100-point, 0 to 100, rating scale ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree, with higher numbers indicating greater level of agreement. The scores on all the items, for each respondent, were averaged to form the index score which ranged from 25 to 100. The higher the score, the more religious a respondent is considered to be. In addition, both focus group and in-depth interview substantive guides were used for collecting the qualitative data for this study.

Various analytical approaches including bivariate and multivariate analyses

have been employed in this study. To assess the separate impact of religious

denomination, beliefs and participation on marriage pattern, logistic multiple

regression analysis was employed. The logistic regression model that was used is:

where P is the probability of the outcome given the array of independent

variables, X .. X ; b is a constant, b … b represent a series of unknown 1 k o I k

coefficients to be estimated using the maximum likelihood method, and e is an

error or residual term.

OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF KEY VARIABLESReligious denomination is the group of local Christian Churches with the same beliefs, practices and church government. Those denominations found in the study area and presented in this study include Catholic, Anglican, Baptist and ECWA while religiosity is measured by religious participation and beliefs. Monogamy is the marriage of a man and one woman while polygyny is the marriage of a man to two or more women. Thus, woman or respondents who reported having no co-wives are in a monogamous union while those who reported having co-wives are in a polygynous union.

Results and discussion

Type of marriage

Question 1: What is the incidence of polygyny and monogamy among the

Atyap?

eXbXbb

P

PIn kko ++++=

−L11)(

1

42

About 28 per cent of ever-married Atyap women and 26 per cent of currently

married women had been or were in a polygynous union in 1995, making

monogamy rather than polygyny the norm (Tables 1 & 2). These proportions are

lower than the 37 per cent observed among married Yoruba women (Kritz and

Makinwa-Adebusoye, 1994:6), and 50 per cent in 1990 (FOS and IRD/MI

1992:58-9) and 42 per cent in 2008 (NPC & ICF Macro, 2009:92) of currently

married women in the Northwest.

Education seems to have a negative impact on polygyny. Polygyny among the educated is lower than observed for those with no education and the proportions in polygynous unions decrease as the level of education rises or years of schooling increase (Table 1). The proportion of those in polygynous union decreased from 49 per cent for women with no education to 14 per cent for women with secondary or higher education. Education can be assumed to be contributing to the low level of polygyny among the Atyap. However, as it shall be seen in the regression model, controlling for the religion variables, age at first marriage and age, education does not have a significant effect on the probability of entering a polygynous union.

Source: Zonzon Atyap Women Survey, 1995

T a b le 1 : P e r c e n ta g e o f e v e r -m a r r ie d a n d c u r re n t ly m a r r ie d w o m e n in p o ly g y n o u s u n io n s b y s o m e b a c k g ro u n d c h a ra c te r i s t ic s , Z o n z o n A ty a p , 1 9 9 5

E v e r -m a r r ie d

n C u r re n t ly m a r r ie d

n

1 5 -2 4

2 5 -3 4

3 5 -4 9

9 .0

1 9 .2

4 2 .7

8 9

1 2 0

1 7 8

7 .4

1 8 .6

4 0 .5

8 1

1 1 3

1 5 3

E d u c a t io n a l

N o n e

P r im a ry

S e c o n d a ry / H ig h e r

4 9 .0

2 9 .0

1 4 .2

1 9 4

1 0 7

1 7 6

4 6 .2

2 7 .5

1 2 .9

9 3

9 1

1 6 3

Y e a r s o f s c h o o l in g

N o n e

1 -6

7 .+

4 9 .0

2 7 .8

1 5 .6

1 0 4

9 7

1 8 6

4 6 .2

2 5 .0

1 4 .7

9 3

8 4

1 7 0

S o c io e c o n o m ic s ta tu s

L o w

M e d iu m

H ig h

2 7 .3

2 6 .1

3 2 .8

1 2 1

1 9 9

6 7

2 7 .4

2 3 .0

3 1 .0

1 0 6

1 8 3

5 8

A l l 2 7 .7 3 8 7 2 5 .6 3 4 7

C a th o l ic

O th e r P ro te s ta n t

E C W A

3 0 .5

3 0 .0

2 5 .1

1 0 5

9 0

1 9 1

2 9 .7

2 6 .3

2 3 .4

9 1

8 0

1 7 5

A l l 2 7 .6 3 8 6 2 5 .6 3 4 6

43

The likelihood of entering into a polygynous union does not decrease with increase in years of schooling. Fenske (2012) found missionary education or colonial schooling, rather than modern female education, reduce polygamy. The missionary education stressed the value of monogamy as a religious and social value.

Sources: Zonzon Atyap Women Survey, 1995; FOS and IRD/MI, 1992:58-9, NPC, 2000:74

Sources: Table 2

Table 2: Percentage of currently married in polygynous union, Zonzon 1995, Nigeria 1990 and 1999

Zonzon Northwest Rural Nigeria 1995 1990 1999 1990 1999

15-19 0.0 31.0 31.1 27.8 28.2 20-24 8.7 44.1 33.3 35.8 30.0 25-29 11.9 43.8 40.9 38.2 33.8 30-34 25.9 62.3 45.6 51.1 40.6 35-39 21.1 57.0 49.1 49.6 48.7 40-44 40.4 50.4 53.5 45.5 47.9 45-49 53.4 65.8 34.6 55.1 43.6

All 25.6 50.0 40.3 - 37.7

44

Year of birth better reveals decline in polygamy and is more intuitive than current age. However, analysis by age has also been commonly used and for comparison purposes, it is used for the analysis of the Atyap data. At all age groups, except age group 45-49 in 1999, incidence of polygyny is lower among the Atyap in 1995 than in the Northwest and Rural Nigeria in 1990 and 1999 (Table 2 & Figure 1). Moreover, the proportion with experience of polygynous unions has declined from the 36 per cent found among currently married Atyap women in 1986 (1988:41) to the 26 per cent in 1995. National studies have also revealed that polygyny is widespread in Nigeria but it seems to be on the decline. It has declined from 36 per cent in 1999 (NPC, 2000:74) and 2003 (NPC & ORC Macro, 2004:84) to 33 per cent in 2008 (NPC & ICF Macro, 2009:93). The low and declining level of polygyny among the Atyap may partly explain why the survey respondents consider it to be a dying institution in their community, contrary to the assertion that it is a flourishing institution in Sub-Saharan Africa (Ware, 1983; Oppong, 1992).

Very low levels of polygyny have been attributed to Christianity in Ghana (Aryee 1978) and to long and intense Christianisation in South Africa (Orubuloye, Caldwell & Caldwell,. 1993). Furthermore, Caldwell and Caldwell (1981) observed lower levels of polygyny in urban than rural areas of Western Nigeria, and maintained that polygynous unions are rare where the wife has been to school, consistent with modernisation hypotheses. Thus, the practice of polygyny among the Atyap was expected to be very low or extinct as a result of the influence of Christianity and Western education. This expectation is proved wrong since polygyny is still being practiced and still relatively high. However, another study may reveal a decline from the level observed in 1995.

The lower level of polygyny among the Atyap than the Northwest and rural regions of the country may have been partly achieved through the practices of some Christian denominations, especially the ECWA, who consider polygyny to be a sin (see Okorie 2002). These denominations exclude those in polygynous unions (except the first wives) from church membership or activities such as holding any post in the church, partaking in Holy Communion and preaching during church services. The Catholic Church, though it condones polygyny, only weds a man with one woman even when he has many women as wives. Similarly, most Christian religious leaders among the Yoruba were also reported to oppose and preach against polygyny (Orubuloye et al., 1993), explaining that Christianity has monogamous indissoluble marital union as its ideal and cited the creation of one man and one wife teachings in the New Testament to support this view (see also Wilson, 1971).. Thus, in contrast to the assertions by Caldwell et al. (1992) earlier mentioned, the Christian religion discourages the traditional practice of polygyny.

Another contributory factor is the decline in the practice of levirate marriage which has since been reported to be waning in Nigeria, especially among the younger generations (Isiugo-Abanihe, 1994a). Although levirate was still

45

practised in 1995, the elders reported that it was currently held in so much contempt that the younger generations do not practise it. The Christian churches, particularly the ECWA, also teach that levirate is a sin when it results in polygyny. The persistence of polygyny among the Atyap, in spite of the strong stance taken by some of their Christian denominations against it, may be a result of the influence of some Christian churches in Africa who perceive polygyny as not being in conflict with Christianity (Burnham, 1987; Okorie, 2012). It could also be a result of secularisation effect of modern Western education which weakens religious beliefs and practices (see Fenske, 2012) thereby making polygyny tolerable and acceptable by those who no longer hold dear the tenets of their Christian faith.

Religious denomination and type of marriage (Polygyny and Monogamy)Question 2: Are there differentials in the incidence of polygyny and monogamy

based on religious denomination and religiosity?The proportion of Atyap Catholics in polygynous unions does not differ much from the proportion of Protestants in such unions although, as already pointed out, the Catholic Church in Nigeria, as also observed in Kenya (Gatara, 1982), accommodates polygyny. About 27 per cent of Protestant women and 31 per cent of Catholic women had been in polygynous unions (Table 3). The Baptist and Anglican denominations in Atyap land, as already pointed out, are also known to condone polygyny (Avong, 1999) possibly resulting in the similarity in the incidence of polygyny in the Catholic and Protestant denominations. The firm stance against polygyny by the ECWA denomination warranted a check on the behaviour of the ECWA women. About 25 per cent of ECWA women had been in polygynous unions compared to 30 and 31 per cent for Other Protestants and Catholic women respectively. A similar pattern is observed among the currently married women. Controlling for age, the proportion of ECWA women who ever entered polygynous unions is similar to the figures for other denominations at the earlier ages. But, by the end of their reproductive life, the proportion of ECWA women ever entering a polygynous union is lower than that of the Catholics, while the Catholics and Other Protestants had similar proportions (Table 3).

46

Source: Zonzon Atyap Women Survey, 1995

The multivariate analysis measuring the likelihood of ever being in a polygynous union among women 15-49 years old show that there is no difference between Protestant and Catholic women in the proportion in polygynous union (Table 4). Therefore, the research hypothesis that religious affiliation has significant effect on polygyny is rejected.

Table 3: Percentage of ever-married women aged 15-49, ever in a polygynous union, according to religious denomination by age, Zonzon Atyap, 1995

Religious denomination

Ever-married women

All women

Catholic

Protestant

ECWA

Other Protestants

Total

15-19

20-24

25-29

30-34

35-59

40-44

45-49

0.0

10.5

11.3

27.6

23.9

41.8

56.9

0.0

17.4

12.5

21.4

27.8

47.1

76.9

0.0

8.1

10.7

33.3

18.2

36.1

44.1

0.0

6.3

11.1

21.4

33.3

50.0

66.7

0.0

7.5

10.9

29.5

21.4

40.0

51.9

All 27.7 30.5 25.1 30.0 26.7

Number of women 386 105 191 90 281

Currently married women

15-19

20-24

25-29

30-34

35-59

40-44

45-49

0.0

8.7

11.9

25.9

21.1

40.4

53.4

0.0

10.5

13.3

23.1

28.6

50.0

75.0

0.0

8.6

11.1

28.6

11.1

35.5

43.8

0.0

6.7

11.8

23.1

33.3

41.7

57.1

0.0

8.9

11.4

26.8

16.7

37.2

47.8

All 25.6 29.7 23.4 26.3 26.7

Number of women 347 91 175 80 255

47

Source: Zonzon Atyap Women Survey, 1995* **Notes:RC= Reference category; p<.05; p<01 or p<001

Non-ECWA women are significantly more likely to be in polygynous unions than

ECWA women only at the 10 per cent level (not shown). The significance of the

effect of the ECWA denomination's strict stand against polygyny may be better

reflected when higher order wives in polygynous unions or men are the subjects of

the study.

Religiosity and type of marriage (Polygyny and Monogamy)

Participation in religious activities has a highly statistically significant effect on

type of marriage. Women who are more active participants in religious activities

are less likely ever to be in a polygynous union (Table 4). Thus, the research

Table 4: Logistic regression estimates of the likelihood of being in a polygynous union, ever-married women aged 15-49, Zonzon Atyap, 1995

Variable

B

S.E

Odds ratio

n

Religious denomination Catholic Protestant (RC)

0.457

0.292

1.58 1.00

103 279

Religious participation -

0.046*

*

0.014 0.95 382

Religious belief -0.005 0.013 0.995 382 Age at first marriage -

0.151*

*

0.053 0.86 382

Years of schooling 0.032 0.037 1.03 382 Age 0.114*

* 0.021 1.12 382

Constant Reduction of X2 d.f.

1.030 86.15*

* 6

1.677

48

hypothesis that less religious women are more likely to enter polygynous unions

than more religious women is confirmed. One interpretation could be that active

participation in religious activities exposes the participants more often and more

deeply to the teachings of the Church regarding marriage. But another effect

may also be at work here. It is also possible that women in monogamous unions

experience better relations within marriage thereby having greater inclination to

participate in religious activities, especially those outside the home. The 1995

Zonzon Atyap qualitative research suggests that both of these effects occur (see

Avong, 1999).

In contrast, religiosity based on religious belief has no statistically significant

relationship to the likelihood of being in a polygynous union. Men may marry

more than one wife without the consent of the first wife therefore the religious

belief or religiosity of the men may determine the pattern of marriage in which a

woman, particularly a first wife, finds herself. This indicates the need to control for

religiosity of husbands when that of wives is examined in relation to the likelihood

of women being in a polygynous union. Data on the religiosity of husbands were

not collected during the 1995 Zonzon Atyap Survey. It is also worth noting that the

influence of adherence to the more practical teaching of the Church may be

captured by the religious participation effect. The finding of no effect of belief

suggests that once adherence to practical teachings is taken into account, there is

no extra effect of believing in an active God.

CONCLUSION

The analyses have revealed that the incidence of polygyny is lower for the

Atyap than ethnic groups in other regions of the country, where it ranged between

30 per cent in the predominantly Christian Southeast and 50 per cent in the

predominantly Muslim Northwest in 1990 (FOS & IRD/MI, 1992:58). Western

education, often seen as an important secularising or modernising factor, was

expected to have a significant adverse effect on the practice of polygyny as

speculated by modernisation theorists. However, it had no significant inverse

relationship on polygyny after the control of the confounding effect of other

variables suggesting the need for studies to go beyond bivariate analysis in

examining the education-marriage type relationship.

There is no variation in polygyny by religious denomination net of the effect

of other confounding factors. However, the more frequent the participation in

religious activities, the less likely an Atyap woman is to have ever been in a

polygynous union. This suggests that regardless of the strength or weakness of the

Churches' position on polygyny, they still have some effect on preference for a

49

specific type of marriage (monogamy). Religious belief showed no significant

association with polygyny suggesting the need to take into consideration the

religiosity of husbands when that of wives is examined since the marriage pattern

is most likely to be determined by the religiosity of the men rather than that of the

wives in polygynous unions.

Religion might make a greater difference for earlier or older cohorts of women

than younger of women of today. Therefore, a future similar study of type of

marriage (polygamy and monogamy) in this community should pay attention to the

differences in political, social and religious contexts of the time of the cohorts of

women. An important cohort story that could have been brought out in this study

was not possible due to the nature of the data which were not meant for a

thorough study of polygyny but fertility.

Polygyny is of interest to researchers for its effect on fertility and the health and

general wellbeing of both women and children in polygynous family units (Tabi,

Doster. & Cheney, 2010). It is reported that polygyny increases spread of STIs

including HIV (Bove & Valeggia, 2008; Reniers & Watkins, 2010), affects

children's growth, educational performance and health (Hadley, 2005; Al-

Krenawi & Slonim-Nevo, 2008; Wagner and Rieger, 2011), increases childhood

mortality (Oni 1996; Gyimah, 2005; Ukwuni, 2012), affects mental and

emotional health by increasing psychological problems (Al-Krenawi & Graham,

2006; Adewuyi, Ola, Aloba, Dada & Fasoto, 2007), affects children's school

performance (Al-Krenawi, 2001), and invigorates the cycle of poverty (Tertilt,

2005) especially in Africa. The Christian religion among the Atyap curbs the

practice of polygyny and consequently indirectly contributes to the health status

of women and children. Thus intrafaith studies to establish the role of religion in

determining polygyny and monogamy should be encouraged especially among

minority ethnic groups. Furthermore, a healthy population is necessary for

development therefore policies which also encourage religious practices that

enhance the health of especially women and children are necessary in the

numerous Nigerian communities similar to the Atyap.

50

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56

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF

ADVANCED STUDIES IN ECONOMIES AND PUBLIC SECTOR MANAGEMENT

Vol. 1 No. 1 November, 2013

ESCAPING THE POVERTY TRAP IN THE NIGER DELTA: EXPLORING THE ROLE OF EDUCATION.

DR. LOVE O. ARUGUPolitical Science Department

Federal University, Otuoke, Bayelsa State - Nigeria

ABSTRACT

The pervasive poverty in the Niger Delta region constitutes one of the worst paradox

in human misery and deprivation in Nigeria. We state that the poverty concerns in

Niger Delta are not because of lack of resources to lift it out of poverty, but because

the resources are not utilized for the benefit of the people of area. The irony is that

instead of the natural resources sourced from the area being instrumental in abating

abject poverty, it poses a constraint in the lines of a “Dutch disease,” deepening

poverty levels and hence occasioning poverty trap that has engulfed the region. The

objective of this paper is to examine poverty trend in Niger Delta region of Nigeria

and the role of education in improving the situation. Secondary source of data will be

used in the study.

Key Words: Poverty, Education, Development, Niger Delta.

57

INTRODUCTIONThe endemic poverty and the general state of underdevelopments being witnessed in the Niger Delta region have attracted both local and international attention. The pervasive poverty index in the region is perplexing and intriguing given that the region is the cash cow of the country, where the bulk of the crude oil and gas resources are sourced from. It generates over 90% of the foreign exchange and 85% of government revenue and the main stay of the national economy. (Ibaba 2005, 27). It presents a paradox that the region is rich but the people are indeed poor. The region is richly endowed with crude oil and gas, and with this condition, the region should rank among the richest in the world that should have no business with extreme poverty.

The rising poverty profile in the Niger Delta region is assuming a worrisome dimension as several empirical studies have revealed. Corroborating the generally held view of the widespread poverty in the region, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) (2010) reveals that poverty has been massive, pervasive, and endemic and engulfs a large segment of the Niger Delta region. Consequently, over the years a wide chasm has developed between the Niger Delta region and the rest of the country.

Collaborating further, Abiola and Olaopa (2008) averred that the scourge of poverty in Niger delta is an incontrovertible fact, which results in hunger, ignorance, malnutrition, disease, unemployment, poor access to credit facilities, low life expectancy as well as a general level of human hopelessness. Opinion leaders and stakeholders opined that environmental degradation thrown up by the activities of Oil Transnational Corporations has crushed the livelihood of the people, resulting in drastic decline in agricultural output, which has exacerbated poverty in the Niger Delta region.

However, the Federal Government has intervened through several interventionist agencies to tackle poverty in the Niger Delta by the establishment of OMPADEC, NDDC, Niger Delta Affairs ministry, etc. These agencies are rather one-sided, focusing only on the infrastructural development of the region. Okorosaya-Orubite (2008,1002) also shared similar view that too much emphasis has been placed on infrastructural development to the utter neglect of human resources development in the region such that talents, energies and time of the youths have not been properly tapped, harnessed and channeled to reduce poverty in the region. Educating the youths is gateway to reducing abject poverty and consequently engendering the much needed development in the region. Apparently, among the four core Niger Delta states, three of them are officially classified as educational disadvantaged states.

Therefore combating the scourge of poverty and underdevelopment in the region must be human centered, that is developing the human capital (education), because no country has succeeded in reducing poverty without educating its

58

people. Obviously, no government has made a frontal effort on the educational development of the area with a view to reducing poverty.

METHODOLOGY Our choice of Bayelsa State is informed by the fact that it is considered as one of the core Niger Delta States. Also, it is where the issue of abject poverty is abysmally high.

Out of the eight Local Government Areas in the state the study focused on two Local Government Areas, namely Southern Ijaw and Yenagoa. We decided to select Bomo and Gbaran from these areas clans for the study.

The key instruments for data collection were focus Group Discussion (FGD), interviews and observations. The study focused on five communities each from the two clans, making a total of 10 communities. We conducted one FGD, six persons in each of the ten selected communities. This was further supplemented by three unstructured key personality interviews in each of the communities. Our survey embraced 8 persons in each community, thus bringing the total to 80 participants for the study. In order to achieve the objectives of the study, purposive and simple random techniques were used.

We selected peremabiri, Ikewei, Opuama, Igbomotoru 1 and Diebu in Bomo clan. In Gbaran clan, Okolobiri, Polaku, Oghia, Obunagha and Koroama were chosen.

Furthermore, the key personality interviews were conducted with principals, teachers, students, chiefs, etc. This is informed by their possession of necessary information for the generation of accurate data. Our secondary sources of data are published works relevant to the subject.

THEORETICAL FRAME WORK: THE POVERTY TRAP IN NIGER DELTAPoverty is an age long phenomenon that has ravaged all societies before the beginning of recorded history. Societies have been sharply divided between the rich and the poor and it was a defining characteristic of the earliest civilizations such as the ancient Egypt, summer in the Middle East, the Indus valley of the present day India.

Consequently, the 17th century British legal Act, the Poor Law Act was promulgated to mitigate the menace of poverty (Corbett, 2009) is a precursor of the current welfare system being practised in the Western World.

Poverty encompasses inadequate income and denial of the basic necessities of life, such as education, health services, clean water and sanitation (World Bank, 2007) which are essential for human survival and dignity.

Besides, Gass and Adetumbi (2000) asserted that poverty denies its victims the

59

most basic needs for survival, such as food, water, clothing, shelter, etc. Poverty manifests itself not only in economic deprivation but also in terms of an individual's inability to access basic social amenities (World Bank, 1999) and constraints individual's ability to actualize his/her potentials. But others see poverty as a consequence of the uneven distribution of resources around the world on an international, national and even on regional scale as the case in the Niger Delta region which aptly typifies the plight of the people of the area.

The issue of the pervasive poverty and the largely underdeveloped state of the Niger Delta region has been well documented in several literatures. Copious of research literatures have been written by scholars, opinion leaders and stakeholders to underscore the increasing level of poverty that has become a recurring decimal in the Niger Delta.

There appears to be a consensus that in spite of the evident and abundant resources (including crude oil and gas, which generate over 90% of foreign exchange and 85% of government earnings), the region paradoxically represents one of the extreme situations of poverty and underdevelopment, lacking virtually all the indices of development (Ibaba, 2005). The prevailing perception in the region is that the people are being deprived of the benefits of oil and gas exploitation and this has consequently generated the widespread poverty in the area (Ikporukpo, 2001).

It is an indisputable fact that the Niger Delta area has been enmeshed in a vicious poverty traps which have been supported by empirical studies (MBS, 2010) and have been described as a “bewildering paradox” in view of the enormous resources generated from the area.

The Report of the Political Bureau set up by the Federal Military Government of Gen. Babagida gave credence to this fact:Attention has been drawn to the very deplorable conditions of all the oil producing communities throughout the country. In the Cross River, for example, whole communities have been reduced to Penury following the combined activities of oil prospecting and extracting companies, (F.G.M, 1987, 171).

A school of thought which seemly reflects the trends of opinion in the Niger Delta argues that the pervasive poverty in the region is a logical outcome of the peculiar nature of Nigerian Federalism which has been shaped by ethnic based political domination. Thus for instance, Naanen (1995,78) attributed the abysmal high rate of abject poverty in the oil producing communities to a myriad of factors which include:

Ethnic based political domination which is used to expropriate the resources of oil communities for the dominant groups, and the alliance between the dominant oil

60

companies and the state enterprises, which restricts the minorities access to the modern and more rewarding sectors of the economy.

Similarly, this view is also shared by Okoko and Nna (1997, 46) who contended that “the plight of the oil producing area is a reflection of political domination and economic marginalization by the major ethnic groups” which have inexorably led to the current high spate of poverty in the region.

A corollary of the above assertion is that the oil TNCs have in collusion with the Federal Government through sub-standard environmental protection laws, undermined local economies of the communities through oil based environmental degradation without the provision of viable alternative (Naanan, 1995) and this has invariably led to the present state of abject poverty in the region.

The abrasive high rate of poverty has also been substantiated by research carried out by NBS in 2010. The Nigerian poverty profile Report 2010 released

thby National Bureau of statistics, Abuja on Monday 13 February 2012 () gave a frightening insight of the endemic rate of poverty in the region. Below is the table for 6 geopolitical zones and the 36 states of Nigeria, including the FCT.

Table 1, 2010 Nigeria Poverty Profile

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The above table rightly captures the high level of poverty prevalent in the Niger Delta area. A further breakdown of the table indicates that on zonal level, the South-South has Absolute poverty rate of 55.9, Relative poverty rate of 63.8% and general poverty rate of 56.1%.

A further analysis of the table on individual states basis also reveals a similar harrowing state of poverty in the Niger Delta States.On per state, Akwa Ibom has absolute poverty rate of 53.7%, relative poverty rate of 62.8% and general poverty rate of 53.8.%.Bayelsa State has absolute poverty rate of 47.0%, relative poverty rate of 55.9 % and general poverty rate of 47.0%.Cross River has absolute poverty rate of 52.9%, relative poverty rate of 59.7% and general poverty rate of 52.9%.Delta State has absolute poverty rate of 63.3%, relative poverty rate of 70.1% and general poverty rate of 63.6%.Edo state has absolute poverty rate of 65.6%, relative poverty rate of 72.5%

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and general poverty rate of 66.0%.Rivers state has absolute poverty rate of 50.4% relative poverty rate of 58.6% and general poverty rate of 50.6%.

The above analysis confirmed that the poverty trap in the Niger Delta is real and is choking the region. It is a true reflection of the alarming rate of abject poverty in the region. It is unacceptable, incomprehensive and paradoxical that the region that produces the wealth of the nation would at the same time be at the receiving end; enmeshed in vicious poverty trap, which has consigned its people to frustration, despair, despondency, etc. The above cannot be allowed to continue, that more than half of its population is living in abject poverty is human right abuse. With the resources produced from the six states, they have no business whatsoever to belong to that category.This apparently calls for proactive measures from the three tiers of governments with a view to extricating the region from the poverty trap.

EDUCATION AND POVERTY REDUCTIONVarious models have been suggested by experts, stakeholders, opinion leaders etc. as the panacea to reduce the high rate of poverty in the region, such as infrastructural development, community assistance programme, aids, venture capital etc. However, all these models have been tried previously and have failed to reduce the scourge of poverty in the region.

The contention of this paper is that the best model at the disposal of authorities is to tackle the alarming rate of poverty in the region lies in education of the youths. A lot have been written to highlight the correlation between poverty reduction and education world wide. That good quality education will play a major role in sustainable and enduring development of the region through the well-rounded development of the human being.

Contributing further on the essential of education for harnessing human potential as a recipe for poverty reduction, Fagerlind and Saha (1989, 6) explained:It is based on the assumption that both societies and individuals have innate biological, psychological and sociological capacities which can be evaluated in terms of their level of actualization…. Societies can be judged as efficient or inefficient in making possible the actualization of their human potential.

Furthermore, Nduka (2006,4) stressed the imperative of education in mitigating poverty: The totality of the concerned efforts made by individual societies (nations) to overcome weaknesses by acquiring increasing control over the forces of nature thereby progressively eliminating the centuries old scourge of poverty, ignorance and disease and making life on earth more worth living.

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Therefore, man is the centre of all forms of development and the purpose of education is to develop man so that he “can create or recreate” himself and the society according to his desires in the attempt to break the yoke of the poverty trap that has engulfed him. In addition, the national policy on education (2004:8) emphasized that:Education shall continue to be highly rated in the national development plans because education is the most important instrument of change, any fundamental outlook of any society have to be preceded by an education revolution.

According to Okorosaye-Orubite (2008.1006), education is believed to exercise some modern influence on the values, belief and behavior patterns of people, which are necessary to break the cycle of poverty. Therefore, sociologists have asserted that “in order for a society to become modern (to develop economically and socially with a view to mitigating poverty), it must be composed of a modern population meaning modern values, belief and behavior” (Fagerlind and Saha. 1989, 510).And it is only good education that can engender these values, beliefs and behavior in the society.

Okorosaye-Orubite (2008, 1007) added that modern societies accord social, political and economic statuses to the individual in commensurate with their level of modern educational attainment and competence in the performance of certain technical tasks. We can therefore infer that education does not only lead to the socio-economic development of the society, but also the economic development of the society is dependent on the productive capacities of the people, which in turn is dependent on the quantity, quality and relevance of education at the disposal of the people.

In addition, during the World Education Forum heid in Dakar in April 2000, the international community underscored the urgent need to eradicate extreme poverty and expressed its collective commitment to work towards this through education. (International Workshop on Education and Poverty eradication.2). A commitment to reduce abject poverty was also one of the major outcomes of the World Summit for Social Development held in Copenhagen in 1985, where abject poverty was considered a severe injustice and an abuse of human rights as the case in the Niger Delta region.

Therefore, it proposed action programmes to support livelihood systems and acquiring survival skills to help poor people to combat the scourge of poverty through education. Subsequently, the United Nations General Assembly (UNO) declared the period 1997-2006 as the First United Nations Decade for the eradication of poverty through access to universal primary education (international workshop on education and poverty eradication,3).

Thus, the role of education in poverty reduction in close co-operation with other social sectors is crucial in the battle to break the poverty trap. Because no country

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has succeeded in reducing abject poverty without giving priority attention to education of its youths. We note that education is not only important in reducing poverty, it is also a key to wealth creation through acquiring marketable skills. This was the focus of Dakar Framework for Action – Education for all: meeting our collective commitment was “to promote EFA policies within a sustainable and well –integrated sector framework, clearly linked to poverty elimination and development strategies” ( International Workshop on Education and Poverty Eradication).

The role of education within this context is fused on achieving universal primary education and adult literacy. Besides, the Secretary – General of United Nations within the context of the Decade for the Eradiation of poverty confirmed that universal primary education is central to the fight against abject poverty. ( international workshop on education and poverty eradication,6) because according to him, this is the level of education through which most poor children can break the cycle of poverty.

In addition, special attention must be paid to breaking the poverty trap for children from poor backgrounds. In this regard, the adaption of systemic changes should be encouraged to ensure good quality education for all children. Some countries, for instance Indonesia, is attempting to design their educational systems to cater for children's diverse needs and even to provide additional support outside academic programmes (International workshop). Such countries have combined school programme with health care, guidance and counseling services, and income generating activities (wealth creation).

It would be pertinent to highlight the relationship between education and wealth creation. Wealth creation is a significant aspect in education programmes intended to contribute to poverty reduction in the developing world. The question that comes to mind, is,” how can education assist children to create wealth?” This can be achieved through the integration of school curriculum within the economic activities of a community. For instance in a predominately fishing and farming communities in the Niger Delta Area, children can be taught on the practical aspect of fishing and farming or in the Urban setting, children can be taught carpentry and carpet-weaving. In this way, school education would help children to improve traditional skills of the village along side other curricular contents. This would ensure their future employment possibilities, which could be self employment, and contributes immensely to the (economic) well-being of the people, thus contributing to poverty reduction.

Therefore, for the educational system to truly respond to the needs of children from poor backgrounds and to contribute to wealth creation in communities, it needs to take the issue of poverty reduction into special consideration in the planning of educational programmes.

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The above discourse has highlighted the view that education is the most potent instrument to reduce object poverty in the Niger Delta area and the world at large.

DISCUSSION OF FINDINGSThe study is carried out against the backdrop of the rising poverty profile in Bayelsa State and attempts to reduce the menace of abject poverty in the state through the instrumentality of education. Therefore the study examined educational facilities, teachers' motivation and commitment, girl-child education, dropout rate, students' perception, backgrounds of parents, etc.

Education Infrastructure: We witnessed a sorry state of infrastructural decay in both primary and Secondary schools visited. The state of decay is in an affront to civilization that in the 21st century, children in an Oil producing state could be subjected to. All the school buildings were old . Most of the school buildings do not have roofs and children sit on bare floor to receive lessons. At G.S.S Opuama, which was established in 1973, 40 years after, no renovation has been carried out. Therefore when it rains, the students are sent home. The schools neither have libraries nor Laboratory; which are main instruments for academic l success.

Teachers' motivation and commitment: Teachers motivation and commitment is paramount to success of the education system if it must achieve its objective of poverty reduction. However, from our investigation and interaction with teachers, it was noted that teachers' motivation and commitment is very low. In the first instance, the attitude of government does not motivate them, the working environment is poor, no material incentive to encourage them, considering their pivotal role. As a result, they are not committed to their work; most of the teachers spend more time in Yenagoa, the State capital. Also, we noticed the issue of lack of qualified teachers. Most schools do not have science teachers or English teachers.

Girl-Child Education: The education of the girl-child is so paramount and central to poverty reduction in communities that it is considered as the beginning of any meaningful attempt to fight poverty. Therefore the saying that,” if you educate a girl, you have developed a whole nation”. It is the single most important variable to fight poverty. But the reverse is what we noticed in our study, where the girl-child education is relegated to the background. Our investigation also revealed that some parents still have lukewarm attitude towards the education of their girl child. Consequently, the ratio of enrollment for girls and boys in the secondary school is about 7:3 in most of the schools visited. Also, of common impediment to girl child education is the high rate of drop out due to early pregnancy and marriage. When a girl drop out of school, the next recourse is to get married. In most cases, the children from such union are consigned to the poverty trap. The children cannot attend good school because the parents cannot afford it. Furthermore, uneducated girls are more likely to have a bigger family size with limited resource. We noticed that the bigger the family, the more they are

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exposed to the poverty trap. On the other hand, educated girls are more likely to have small family, thereby breaking the poverty yoke.

Drop out rate: The issue of drop out is not confined to the girl child only. The rate of drop out is also high among the boys. Generally, drop out rate is higher among uneducated poverty stricken families from our study which be can attributed this to myriad of factors: poverty and uneducated parents. Some parents are so poor that they cannot afford to send their children to school, thereby deepening the poverty trap. The above factors have continued to deepen the poverty trap in Bayelsa State.

CONCLUSION: The basic thrust of this paper was to examine poverty trap in the Bayelsa State and how education can be used as a vehicle to reduce poverty in the state. However, from our field work, we discovered that due to numerous factors that have posed as impediments, the educational system cannot rescue the people from the scourge of poverty in the state. Therefore the state is entrenched in poverty trap.

RECOMMENDATIONS:Based on our findings, we are impelled to recommend the followings.Promoting girl-child education: this should be the first step by any government to reduce poverty in the state. The education of the girl-child should be given a priority attention by the government and parents. Therefore, government should consider incentives for girls.

Improving quality of education: Improving the quality of education is essential if we must meet the overall objectives of using education as an instrument to reduce poverty in Bayelsa State. Because it is on record that the quality of education is very poor and as a result, its products are not marketable, therefore they are trapped in abject poverty. Government should make conscious efforts to improve the quality of education, through massive infrastructural development at the primary and secondary school levels.

Changing the Educational curriculum: This is one area government should focus attention. Because the curriculum is outdated and does not fit into the objective of education as a vehicle to reduce poverty. Therefore, the school curriculum should be tied to wealth creation, which should imbibe in children the virtue of working. This will go a long way to reduce poverty in our clime.

Teachers Motivation: Teachers' motivation should be at the front burner of the government to achieve the objective of poverty reduction via the medium of education, because they are the drivers of the system, therefore they should be well motivated in terms of good salary package, incentive, etc.

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REFERENCESAbioba,A.G and Olaopa,O.R (2008): Economic Development and Democratic

Substance in Nigeria ,in Oshwolo,S Galloping Poverty in Nigeria :An Appraisal of the Government's Intervention Policies, Journal o f Sustainable Development in Africa (vol. 12 No.6 2010).Corbett,T.J (2009): Poverty. Microsoft@ 2009 (DVD),Redmond,W.A. Microsoft

Corporation,Fagerlind,L and Saha,L.J (1989): Education and National Development. A

nd Comparative Perspective,2 Edition, Persgamon press Australia Pty Ltd, Potts Pont.

thFederal Republic of Nigeria(2004) National Policy on Education. 4 edition, NERDC, Lagos.

Gass, G. and Adetunmbi,O (2000):Summary Report: DFID's Civil Society Consultation.

Ibaba, S.L (2005): Understanding the Niger Delta Crisis, Amethyst & Colleagues Publishers, Revised Edition, Port- Harcourt.International workshop on education and poverty eradication, kampala,

Uganda, 30 july to 3 august 2001.

Ikporukpo,C (2001):” The Myths and Realities of Majority Groups in Nigeria” in Osaghae and Onwudiwe (ed).The Management of the National

Question in Nigeria,FET. Ibadan.Naaneen,B (1995):OIL Producing and Restructuring of the Nigerian

Federalism, the Use of the Ogoni People in the Journal of Commonwealth and Comparative Politics, Vol.No.1 March.

National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) 2010 Poverty Profile for Nigeria, Nigerian Bureau of Statistics, Abuja ,Nigeria.

Nduka,O.(2006):The Roots of African Underdevelopment and Other Essays, Spectrum Books Ltd, Ibadan.

Okoko and Nna (1997):”Federalism and Resources Allocation in Nigeria” in Journal of Oil and Politics, Vol.1.No.1 September.

Okorosaye-Orubite,A.K (2008):Education and Sustainable Development in the Niger Delta:the Role of the Youth . In International Conference on

the Nigerian State, Oil Industry and the Niger Delta. Conference

Proceedings. Harey Publications Company. Port-Harcourt.The Report of Political Bureau (March 1987), MAMSER,Abuja.World Bank,2007, Poverty at a Glance,Work Bank Issue Brief Poverty,World Bank 1999 Report.

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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF

ADVANCED STUDIES IN ECONOMIES AND PUBLIC SECTOR MANAGEMENT

Vol. 1 No. 1 November, 2013

THE ROLE OF NON GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS (NGOS)IN AGRICULTURAL AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA:

A CASE STUDY OF WOMEN FARMERS ADVANCEMENT NETWORK (WOFAN).

AMINU MOHAMMED LAWANDepartment Of Political Science,

Yobe State University Damaturu. Nigeria

ABSTRACTThis Paper examines how Women Farmers Advancement Network (WOFAN) contributes to the agricultural and rural development in Nigeria by mobilizing women and youth to engage in agriculture and related activities. The paper contends that the local Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) can play a pivotal role in agricultural and rural development as supplement to the efforts of the government. The success of WOFAN offers several lessons in agricultural and rural development that can serve as a role model for all states in Nigeria. The purpose of the research is to evaluate the contribution of Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) to agricultural and rural development in Nigeria. The methodology involves the use of primary and secondary data sources, which entails questionnaire administration and documentary analysis on related matters. The paper concludes that for Nigeria's rural societies to benefit maximally from the role of Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs), government will increase funding to their activities to ensure sustainable agricultural and rural development. This paper recommended that the government should involve the rural populace especially rural women in formulation and implementation of its policies in order to achieve sustainable development goals.

Keywords: Non Governmental Organizations, Women Farmers Advancement Network, Rural Development, Agricultural Development, Sustainable Development, Development Strategy.

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INTRODUCTIONRural development is the bedrock of agricultural development in developing countries, without it all efforts of agricultural development will be futile. A large majority of the farmers operate at the subsistence, smallholder level, without intensive method of agriculture. A characteristic of the agricultural production system in developing countries including Nigeria is that a disproportionately large fraction of the agricultural output is in the hands of smallholder farmers whose average holding is about 1.0 - 3.0 hectares (C.T.A, 2000:49).

In Nigeria most agricultural and rural transformation policies and programmes that have been initiated were in line with the capitalist ideology, as most of them determined and designed by the world capitalist countries and international financial institutions, specifically World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF). For example the state-wide Agricultural Development projects (ADPs) that was implemented from the late 1970s to the early 1990s. They were executed under the tripartite agreement between the World Bank, Federal government of Nigeria (FGN) and state governments. Under the agreement, the World Bank was to provide 50% of the total cost as a ''soft loan'', technical and expert support, while the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) and the state governments were to provide 25% each of the total cost (Nwulia,1986:16).

However, the Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) have become an important ally in the development process of the developing countries. Activities of Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) serve to mitigate the cost of developing countries' institutional weakness, which often include administrative shortcomings and inability to efficiently carry out essential development tasks, such as providing social services or protecting the environment. In late 1980s Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) have grown rapidly both in numbers and in the volume of resources they mobilize. In 1987, International Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) transferred about US$5.5 billion from the industrial to the developing countries – nearly US$1 billion more than the International Development Association (UNDP, 1990:136).

Although the activities of foreign Non Governmental organizations (NGOs) in the developing countries have receive extensive treatment in the literature, the contributions of the indigenous or local Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in economic development have gone largely unnoticed. The fact is that there are hundreds of such Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) making positive contributions within their respective countries, but are not known beyond their borders. One unique aspect of these local Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) is their capacity to tap local human and physical resources to respond to problems rapidly and creatively. These Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) are able to maintain the flexibility needed under changing circumstances (Durning, 1989:82).

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STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEMMany efforts and contributions have been made by different regimes in Nigeria to develop agricultural sector and rural areas, the result have not yielded any substantial improvement in uplifting of lives of the rural populace. The federal Government of Nigeria allocates adequate funds to the states and local government areas throughout the federation as statutory grants. The staff development and mass mobilization mechanism have been put in place in the local Government areas in the country in order to boost the morale of the local citizens and hence provide all necessary needs for the betterment of the rural areas. But unfortunately the funds are been diverted for personal use by the state and local government officials (Mohammed, 2011:19).

Furthermore, in Nigeria the agricultural sector has suffered from institutional neglect. The neglect began with the discovery of crude oil in the 1970s and its dominance as a major contributor to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the nation's economy. Attempts to revive agriculture have been largely unsuccessful. Although Nigeria previously had a strong export sector, the range and quantity of products has decline sharply in the early 1990s only cocoa, rubber and palm product were been exported.

First, the problem of this study lies with the fact that adequate attention has not been given to the transformation of agricultural sector in line with the need of rural peoples. Second, is the problem of inadequate funding of Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs); they lack adequate fund to execute their developmental projects. Third, is the problem of lack of active participation of women in agricultural and community development projects.

Moreover, this research aim to provide means for efficient operation of development projects by Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) with emphasis on laying solid foundation for researchers in drawing up a good government policy framework in the area of agriculture and rural development. This study also aimed to answer the following questions:ØTo what extent does Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) contribute

to agricultural and rural development in Nigeria?ØDid Women Farmers Advancement Network (WOFAN) impact positively on

the lives of rural people? ØWhich strategies Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) adopt in

addressing the problem of agricultural and rural development in Nigeria?

CONCEPTUAL UNDERPINNINGAgriculture is of the core economic activities in rural areas. Its significance in the development of rural economy cannot be overstressed. The vast majority of these immensely large groups of poor people depend primarily on agriculture to provide most of their own food supplies and any cash income needed to purchase

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goods and services. Even with dramatic increases in non - farm economic activity, agriculture will remain central to secure livelihoods (Peter, 2004).

However, development may conceptualize as the process of change consciously undertaken by a people in accordance with their traditions and culture aimed at improving their conditions. This change takes into account human factors and the sociological characteristic of the local milieu. Hence, any development project initiated, designed and implemented for rural people by outsiders which does not take into account the aforementioned factor may be fundamentally flawed.

Agriculture and rural development policies and programmes are designed and implemented with the primary aim of transforming rural areas. To achieve sustainability in rural development, therefore, an effective organization needed to be set up, constructed for proper designing and the implementation of strategies and policies meant to achieve the desire identifiable objectives. Of course this lays with fact that implementation process generally and particularly that having to do with the rural development involves series of activities that require capable institutional or organizational arrangement that would work within a given framework (Aziz, 1978).

Contrary to the general believe on the timing of the crisis in the agricultural sector, studies have confirmed that the crisis in the agricultural sector started in the 1960s and got pronounced in the 1970s. The crisis started before the oil boom. Fundamentally, agricultural problems erupted as a result of the collapse of the export commodity production around the middle of 1960s, following dissatisfaction by peasant farmers with commodity board system due to falling prices. To understand the level of dependency on foreign ideas, the Michigan State University in USA, was commissioned in the 1960s to study the problem of rural development in Nigeria. Similarly, the UN Food and Agricultural Organization also conducted a study on Nigeria's rural problems. This was followed with a national seminar in Ibadan in 1971. This seminar produced a document titled, agricultural Development in Nigeria 1973-1983. The studies pointed out that the major problem of Nigerian agriculture is its traditional and subsistent character. It recommended modernization through the dissemination of modern technologies, which was to be transfer from the developed countries. This assertion were informed primarily by the theoretical argument that emerged in western circles and which conceives agricultural development largely as a product of the technological and institutional changes. The changes were to be achieved through investment in irrigation, crops and livestock production technologies as well as infrastructure and creation of public institutional system such as the NAFPP, ADPs, REDAs etc.(Atim, 2010:92).

Government in realizing the problems associated with the declining agricultural production invested over N15,658,056 million on the sector between 1970-1985.

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Table below show the magnitude of the financial commitments that have been made to increase agricultural production.

Source: Federal Government of Nigeria, second, third and fourth national development plans.

The table indicates that in those years, more capital allocations were made for agriculture and rural development.

Sources: 1986 and 1987 figures: Union Bank of Nigeria Mic. Newsletter No.25 jan.1987,1988 and 1989 statement of breakdown of 1989 budget.

The above table clearly shows that up to N4.4 billion was committed to the agricultural sector in four years alone. This does not include state and local government allocations for the agricultural and rural development sub sector. Unfortunately, the level of import bills increased, thereby increasing the level of dependency on foreign products.Coordination, mobilization and proper utilization of both human and material resources are some of the basic element necessary for sustainable rural transformation, which could not be effective without adequate organizational procedure, that in as much some level of success need to be attained in the area of

Table 1: Estimate Capital Expenditure on Agriculture 1970-1985. Federal

Government State Government Total

1970-1974 68,046 186,526 254,572 1975-1980 1,112,598 1,188,586 2,301,184 1980-1985 7,775,910 5,326,390 13,102,300

Total 9,56554 6,701,498 15,658,056

Table 2: Capital Allocation for Agricultural and Rural Development 1986-1989.

Sub-sector 1986 1987 1988 1989 Rural

Development 491,540,924 70,499,930 98,288,000 107,125,000

Agric (Crops) 215,070,350 170,680,000 213,192,000 573,125,000 Livestock 31,070,358 12,566,000 35,574,192 20,474,000 Forestry 8,000,000 41,919,000 15,785,485 17,000,000 Fisheries 5,000,000 4,419,000 13,944,000 6,375,000

Agric (Crops) 1,800,000 2,595,000 6,000,000 2,540,000 Water

Resources 141,052,157 99,913,000 213,032,400 254,000,000

DFRRI 300,591,533 500,000,000 500,000,000 300,000,000 Total 1,194,916,126 865,112,930 1,095,756,079 1,280,639,000

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rural and agricultural sector, the strategy for the implementation of the policies designed must be effective, simply by way of an organizational adequacy. Organizational inadequacy therefore, plays a vital role in retarding the pace of sustainable rural development. Well designed organizational and administrative procedure are indeed, necessary prerequisite for an effective strategy and which is capable of bringing about speedy and sustainable socioeconomic development (Shehu, 1989:20).In view of important agric-structural deficits resulting from modified framework conditions, considerable efforts must be made to improve production and working conditions of agricultural and forestry holdings. This task cannot be considered done, nor is it disposable. Agriculture and forestry are still the important sectors of the economy in rural areas. As they fulfill manifold area related tasks. They are fundamental importance for the whole of society. Agriculture and forestry are the only economic sectors securing the management, preservation and development of the cultural landscape as a whole. Aiming at promoting competitiveness of agriculture and forestry enterprises and advancing their active and smooth integration into a sustainable regional and community development, rural development instruments are to be used as follows:vA foresighted land and soil management must prevent conflicts in land use,

which increasingly interfere with the use of land for agricultural and forestry purposes. Existing land use conflicts must be settled.

vThe development of holdings in the new “Lander” must be effectively accompanied by the determination and reorganization of the location of property areas

vCultivated areas must be adapted to the economic requirements resulting from the continuing structural change in agriculture, according to their location, form and size and must be developed by a suitable network of roads and water bodies. The participation of farmers and foresters in the area-related promotion programs must be supported in the restructuring process.

vGains in productivity and time can free resource for non-agricultural activities and income alternatives. In addition to direct marketing, tourism and management measures in the framework of nature and landscape conservation and the provision of new services in the framework of village renewals must be facilitated. This can be done by converting use of agricultural buildings, in particular for purposes of living, commerce, trade, cultural activities or public and community life.

Moreover, the following are model for rural development base on Chinese approach:First element of the model is an equitable distribution of land and other resources. The second element of the model is the organization of rural population for collective and cooperative activities appropriate to the stage of development and to the level of technology that has been reach. The third element is the capacity of the rural population for diversifying its activities to ensure increasing

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social productivity in a growing population, more employment opportunities and rising incomes. Lastly, any viable framework for rural development must provide for political and administrative capacity to link the particular rural community with the rest of the economy and to resolve the conflicts which will inevitably arise between different interest groups within the community and often outside interest.However, the Non Governmental organizations (NGOs), Community Base Associations (CBAs) syndicates and various other groups have historically been active towards protecting and strengthening freedoms and right to participation and toward complementing, in some cases taking up role by the government agencies in delivering basic social services and undertaking local development activities. Success could be achieved only by creating favourable development conditions for the multifaceted rural areas where the individual projects are pooled to form a development approach combining all disciplines. This is why structural policy measures in the field of agriculture shall, for instance, be closely linked to regional industrial and transport policies and to environmental and employment policies to form a regional strategic concept. It is only with the help of such an independent, integrated and sound policy that success in rural development can be achieved (Mohammed, 2012).

RESARCH METHODOLOGYThis paper relies on utilization of a broad range of primary and secondary data sources. The primary data entail the use of questionnaire. A total of 150 questionnaires were administered, in which 100 were administered on smallholder farmers in rural areas, and 50 questionnaires were distributed to the Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) under the auspice of Women Farmers Advancement Network (WOFAN) in 12 selected local government areas of Kano, Jigawa, Katsina and Sokoto States. The data collected were presented and analyzed. However, the secondary data source entails documentary analysis of related matters. This includes the use of Books, journals, Newspapers and magazines, internet materials etc to extract basic facts related to the subject matter.

WOMEN FARMERS ADVANCEMENT NETWORK (WOFAN)In an attempt to bridge the gap between men and women farmers in Nigeria, various women groups and organizations have emerged. Such groups and organizations have contributed substantially to the gains women farmers have recorded and the voice that they now have in overall national policy on agricultural development. One of such groups is the Women Farmers Advancement Network (WOFAN), a private initiative founded in the early 1990s whose headquarters situated at Yahaya Gusau road Kano, Nigeria. Women Farmers Advancement Network (WOFAN) work with 250 women groups in five different states in northern Nigeria in an effort to mobilize and train rural women in the management of information and communication. Community participation is their key strategy. A network also organizes a weekly radio broadcast that feature the effort of the rural women. The main thrusts of Women Farmers

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Advancement Network (WOFAN) include:•Providing a forum through which members of rural Nigerian communities can express themselves•Encouraging the formation of commodity groups to garner access to agricultural credit and insurance facilities•Introducing labour-saving technologies, including modern farm implements and the use of solar energy.Initially, Women Farmers Advancement Network (WOFAN) helped women farmers in rural areas with issues of health and agricultural technology. It has since inevitably expanded to address other needs. However, in bid to improve income and to better the livelihoods of rural women peasant farmers in northern Nigeria, Women Farmers Advancement Network (WOFAN) have sensitized and encourage rural community members to form community group / cooperatives in order to address issues that affect their well being and scaling from subsistence farming to a more sustainable income generating activity (Ogunlela and Mukhtar, 2009). Women Farmers Advancement Network (WOFAN) in collaboration of International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) Kano office, have trained 120 members of the women farmers groups on groundnut and cowpea production under strip cropping in its demonstration farm located at Dawakin kudu Local Government Area of Kano state. During the training women were enlightened on the various advantages of production under strip cropping over that of traditional inter cropping system. Strip cropping has some advantages such as sole crop practices (fertilizer application, pest and diseases management) and adequate sunlight which are factors for yield improvement. At the end of the training Women Farmers Advancement Network (WOFAN) made provision of improved varieties which includes IT93K-452-I, IT277 and SAMNUT-22, SAMNUT-10 which are high yielding and drought tolerant to the women farmers that is currently adopted within the farmers community in 4 Local Government Areas of Kano state. In collaboration with International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Women Farmers Advancement Network (WOFAN) also trained 12 women groups in Kano and Katsina States on processing of cowpea and soybeans into nutritious household foods such as soybeans milk, soybean pap, soybeans scramble, soybeans cake, soybeans soup, baby food, and a variety of cowpea foods. Women and youth groups have adopted most of the projects, thereby generating daily income, opened up market outlets and developed strategies of monitoring market prices such as to maximize soybeans products as well as package cowpea seed multiplication.

THE ROLE OF NON GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS (NGOs) IN AGRICULTURAL AND RURAL DEVELOPMENTThe role of national and international Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in reaching the rural population in Africa is being increasingly documented. The important of Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) to rural peoples varies from country to country, and does their focus on rural issues. The position and

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capability of women group meeting the challenges of agricultural development cannot be overemphasized. Women make significant contribution to food production and processing, but men seem to take more of the farm decisions and control productive resources. In Nigeria, women play dominant role in agricultural production, their active participation in African agriculture is also not new. This was confirmed by a study financed by the United Nation Development Project (UNDP), which reveal that women make-up 60-90% of the agricultural labour, depending on the region and that they produce two- third of food crops. Women in Africa have generally been known to play an important role in small-scale traditional agricultural production. However, the role of Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in agricultural and rural development includes the following:üBoosting the income- earning capability of women farmers, empowering

them to be part of the decision- making process.üIt contributes substantially to poverty alleviation, notably in rural areas.üImprove food supply and supplement the staple food need of the farm

family while also reducing malnutrition among children.üContributes to economic development of the nation, bringing about

improved household food security.üIt promotes the political and economic empowerment of rural people.üPromote equitable access to land and secured right to land are essential

prerequisites to enable small scale farmers to benefit agricultural development.

However, this paper discovered the active role play by Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in agricultural and rural development in Nigeria in a large measure. Base on the data collected and analyzed, Women Farmers Advancement Network (WOFAN) contributes to the development of agriculture in rural areas in Nigeria. With regard to the formation of cooperatives societies in rural area, 70% of the respondents agreed that they benefited from the grant and soft loan provided by Women Farmers Advancement Network (WOFAN). In relation to the improved varieties of seedlings, 75% of the respondents agreed that they received a new seedling from Women Farmers Advancement Network (WOFAN) free of charge. With regard to the production under strip cropping system, 90% of the respondents from rural community agreed that they received training on strip cropping from Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs). In its effort to improve income and better livelihood of the rural populace, 75% of the respondents agreed that they benefited from Women Farmers Advancement Network (WOFAN) economic empowerment program enable them to set small scale businesses.

Moreover, the paper discovered that over 30 formal and non formal primary schools and learning centers in Sokoto state now have access to safe drinking water, courtesy of the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) project co-funded by Women Farmers Advancement Network (WOFAN) and United States Agency

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for International Development (USAID). One of the main aim of WASH project, is to improve livelihoods by providing access to safe drinking water through the provision of boreholes equipped with hand pumps and specially designed concrete slabs. As has become widely known and accepted, improving access to safe drinking water and better sanitation can halve diseases. This is why the provision of safe drinking water is a major aspect of the WASH project. And it is why boreholes equipped with hand pumps have now been provided in close to 20 primary schools and non formal learning centers in 5 selected Local Government Areas of Sokoto state. The 5 Local Government Areas are; Bodinga, Kware, Shagari, Silame and Wamakko Local Government Areas. Moreover, access to safe drinking water will reduce incidence of water borne diseases in benefiting communities thereby reducing the occurrence of absence from school due to illness. It will also increase school attendance as children would spent less time looking for water. The 24 communities identified in the project plan for the first phase of the WASH project were covered within the first six month of the project year. However, in order to expand access beyond the 24 communities identified in the PMP, Women Farmers Advancement Network (WOFAN) started providing boreholes in other communities of Katsina and Jigawa states with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) project family. By the end of the year, the number of boreholes provided in schools had increase to 31. In addition to the 31 schools, the WASH project also provides boreholes in about 15 clinics and health posts across the benefiting communities.

CONCLUSIONThe contribution made by the Women Farmers Advancement Network (WOFAN) to agricultural production and rural development in Nigeria has impacted positively on the lives of rural dwellers. It should be noted that the Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) are the instrument through which the rural communities can develop and bring about general development of the country. Against this backdrop, agricultural and rural development faces the greatest challenges, these include: Supporting agriculture and forestry, Regional and community development, Securing durable conservation of natural life support systems. Buttressing the economic strength of the rural areas and creating jobs are decisive factors for the development of rural areas. This requires; efficient and competitive market oriented and environmentally sound agricultural sector, job alternatives, efficient and demand driven infrastructure, attractive living and healthy environment. The survival and sustenance of agriculture in Nigeria, as well as in Africa, rest squarely on the rural people. Therefore, they deserve to be given due recognition as far as decision making process in agricultural sector is concerned. However, this paper recommended that it is necessary for the Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) to cooperate with and complement the efforts of the government, they must not subject their operations, finance and activities to governmental control and manipulation. For Nigeria's rural societies to benefit maximally from the role of Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs),

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government and donor agencies should increase funding their activities to ensure sustainable development at grassroot level. The view and opinions of Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and rural people need to be appropriately used in the course of implementing agricultural and rural development programme by the government.

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REFERENCESAbdullahi, S. (2010), An Evaluation of the Implementation of Special Mass Food

Production Programme (SMFPP)in Kano State: 2004-2006. Msc in Political Science Dissertation, Bayero University Kano.

Abdullahi, S. (2012), Institutional Transformation and Peoples Participation as alternative Strategies for Sustainable Agricultural and Rural Development: An Assessment of Special Mass Food Production Programme (SMFPP) in Kano State. Social Engineering and Development Strategies Journal. 1 (1):37-45

Anam, B. (2011), Understanding Rural Development: Concepts, Theories and Strategies. Calabar: Kingsview Publishing House.

Atim, T. (2010), Foreign Aid and the Paradox of Development. Makurdi: AT-Mishad Publishers.

Badu, Y.A and Parker, A. (1994), The Role of Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in Rural Development: The Case of Voluntary Work camps Association of Ghana. Journal of Social Development in Africa. 9(1): 27-39.

C.T.A (2000), The Role of Smallholder Farmers in Seed Production Systems. Report and Recommendation of a Study visit to Zimbabwe, 12-15 Feb. p49.

Durning, A.B. (1989), “Peoples Power In Development”, Foreign Policy, Fall Issue, 76. pp.66-82.

Hirschman, A.O. (1958), The Strategy of Economic Development. New Heaven: Yale University Press.

KNARDA (2005), Annual Progress Report. A publication of Kano State Agricultural and Rural Development Authority.

Lardy, N.R. (1976), Regional Growth and Income Distribution: The Chinese experience. New Heaven: Yale University Press.

Minhas, B.S. (1974), Rural Poverty, Land Distribution and Development Strategy Policy. The Indian Journal of Statistics. Vol.6:399

Mohammed, A.L. (2011), The Civil Society and Rural Development in Yobe State. Masters in Public Administration Dissertation. Bayero University Kano.

Mohammed, A.L. (2012), The Role of Civil Society in Rural Development in Nigeria. Social Engineering and Development Strategy Journal. 1(1): 54-59.

Ngur, N. (1987), Women and Development in Crop and Livestock Production in Nigeria. Paper Presented at the Seminar on Women Studies, University of Ibadan, Nigeria.

Nwulia, D.E.M. (1986), Studies in Food Production. National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru, Jos.

Ogunlela, Y.I. and Mukhtar, A.A. (2009), Gender Issues in agriculture and Rural Development: The Role of Women. Humanity and Social Science Journal. 4(1): 19-30.

Shehu, D. (1989), Implementation of Rural Development Programme in Kaduna state: 1975-1985, Masters in Public Administration Dissertation, Ahmadu Bello University Zaria.

UNDP (1990), Human Development Report. New York: Oxford University Press.WOFAN (2012), Women Farmers Advancement Network-Nigeria. Last updated on

Tuesday, 31 July, 2012,16:28. www.wofan-ng.org

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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF

ADVANCED STUDIES IN ECONOMIES AND PUBLIC SECTOR MANAGEMENT

Vol. 1 No. 1 November, 2013

GOVERNANCE, CIVIL SOCIETY AND PUBLIC POLICY MAKING IN NIGERIA:

A STUDY OF THE 2010 ELECTORAL ACT

EZEIGWE, FRANCISCA OGOEGBUNAMDept Of Public Admin,federal Polytechnic, Oko

Anambra State

AbstractThe Civil Society Index diamond reveals that civil society in Nigeria is operating in a relatively disabling environment. However, the structure, values and impact dimensions have been identified as its strengths. The important role that civil society plays in creating and implementing public policies has been widely recognized. The development of any nation does not wholly depend on the government alone but the combination of socio-political environment (Society) and the government. This informed the analytical view of the role of the society in general and its contribution to public policy in Nigeria. The society is a reinforcing mechanism for effective governance in the overall interest of the people that made it up. Policy making is an integral part of Government which identifies good governance in any nation. Civil society has been assumed to play an important role in the policy making process in Nigeria. This paper is anchored on the system theory in analyzing the role and contribution of civil society in Nigeria with reference to the 2010 Electoral. We examined the workings of the civil society's role as it affects policy making and governance in Nigeria. In doing so, we employed the descriptive approach. The paper has been able to establish the nature of civil society, its aims and objectives and how the civil society is trying to positively influence governance by its contributions in the administration of Government through the roles it plays in the policy making process. Keywords: Governance, Civil Society, Public Policy Making, Electoral Act & Development

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INTRODUCTIONThe development of any nation does not wholly depend on the government alone but the combination of socio-political environment (the society) and the government. This informed the analytical view of the role of the society in general and its contribution to public policy making in Nigeria. The society is a reinforcing mechanism for effective governance in the overall interest of the people that made it up. As democratic governance has been enthroned in Nigeria since May 29, 1999, the society has been persistent in its agitation for good public policy making, which concurrently make for good governance and substance. We shall focus on Governance, Civil Society and Public Policy Making in Nigeria citing the 2010 Electoral Act as our case. We shall also examine the extent to which the civil society has influenced policy formulation in Nigeria and the role it has played to sustain democracy especially in the process of electoral reform.

CONCEPTUALIZING GOVERNANCE

The Worldwide Governance Indicators project defines governance as the set of traditions and institutions by which authority in a country is exercised (IBRD, 2006). This considers the process by which governments are selected, monitored and replaced; the capacity of the government to effectively formulate and implement sound policies and the respect of citizens and the state of the institutions that govern economic and social interactions among them.

However, to distinguish the term governance from government: "governance" is what a "governing body" does. It might be a geo-political entity (nation-state), a corporate entity (business entity), a socio-political entity (chiefdom, tribe, family, etc.), or any number of different kinds of governing bodies, but governance is the way rules are set and implemented. The defines governance as the manner in which power is exercised in the management of a country's economic and social resources for development (IBRD, 2006). An alternate definition sees governance as the use of institutions, structures of authority and even

to allocate and coordinate or control activity in society or the economy (Applebaugh, 2010). According to the

's Regional Project on Local Governance for Latin America, Governance has been defined as the rules of the political system to solve conflicts between actors and adopt decision (legality). It has also been used to describe the "proper functioning of institutions and their acceptance by the public" (legitimacy). And it has been used to invoke the efficacy of government and the achievement of consensus by democratic means (participation) (http://www.north-south.unibe.ch). According to the Governance Analytical Framework (GAF) (http://www.north-south.unibe.ch), governance can be defined in broader terms. It refers to the "processes of interactions and decision-making among the actors involved in a collective problem, that lead to the creation, reinforcement or reproduction of social norms and institutions". Governance processes are found in any society, and they can be analyzed from a non-normative perspective, the GAF. The proposed

World Bank

collaboration resourcesUnited Nations Development

Programme

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method is based on five analytical tools: problems, actors, social norms, processes and nodal points.

Governance therefore could be seen as the act of governing. It relates to decisions that define expectations, grant , or verify . It consists of either a separate process or part of or processes. In modern nation-states, these processes and systems are typically administered by a . When discussing governance in particular organizations, the quality of governance within the organization is often compared to a standard of

. In the case of a or of a , governance relates to consistent management, cohesive policies, guidance, processes and decision-rights for a given area of responsibility. For example, managing at a corporate level might involve evolving policies on , on internal investment, and on the use of data.

CONCEPTUALIZING CIVIL SOCIETY

Civil society has been defined variously by different scholars but it is important to state that the concept of civil society has evolved over the years. From a historical perspective, the actual meaning of the concept of civil society has changed twice from its original classical form. The Wikipedia elucidates that the first change occurred after the French Revolution, the second during the fall of communism in Europe. In the classical era, the concept of civil society was seen as synonymous with good society. Generally, civil society was referred to as a political association governing social conflict through the imposition of rules that restrain citizens from harming one another (Edward 2004:6). In the modern era, G.W.F Hegel completely changed the meaning of civil society, giving rite to a modern liberal understanding of it as a form of market society as opposed to institutions of modern nation state. Hegel held that civil society had emerged at the particular period of capitalism and served its interest: Individual rights and private property (Dhanagare, 2001). Hence, he used the German term “burgerliche Gesellschaft” to denote civil society as “Civilian Society” – a sphere regulated by the civil code (Zaleski, 2008). The second change in civil society conceptualization in what is referred to as the post-modern era. The post modern way of understanding civil society was first developed by the political opposition in the former Soviet bloc East European countries in the 1980s. From then, the term civil society replaced that of political society.

However, in the 1990s with the emergence of the nongovernmental organization and the new social movements (NSMs) on a global scale, civil society as a third sector became a key terrain of strategic action to construct an alternative social and world order. Henceforth, postmodern usage of the idea of civil society became divided into two main as political society and as the third sector (www.wikipedia.org). On this basis, the Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia puts

power performancedecision-making leadership

government

good governance business non-profit organization

privacy

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that civil society is composed of the totality of voluntary social relationships, civic and social organizations and institutions that form the basis of a functioning society as distinct from the force backed structures of a state (regardless of that state's political system) and the commercial institutions of the market. Together, state, market and civil society constitute the entirety of a society and the relations between these components determine the character of a society and its structure. The London School of Economics, Centre for Civil Society postulates that civil society refers to the arena of un-coerced collective action around shared interests purposes and values. In theory, its institutional form is distinct from those of the state and market, though in practice, the boundaries between state, civil society and market are often complex, blurred and negotiated. Civil society commonly embrace, a diversity of spaces, actors and institutional forms, varying in their degree of formality, autonomy and power. Civil societies are often populated by organizations such as registered charities, development non-governmental organizations, community groups, women's organization, faith based organizations, professional associations, trade unions, self-help groups, social movements, business associations, coalitions and advocacy groups (www.wikipedia. org).

The civil society is more than just a formation. It is a site, a realm, a theatre and an instrument (Ikelegbe, 2003). It possesses the capability to corporate with, engage, antagonize, contend and influence the state on behalf of the citizenry. The civil society is a realm of discourse, of interest articulation and aggregation, of deliberation of common affairs and of exchange between the civil society formation and other forces. It is also a context where citizen organizations relate and interact with the state, to influence moderate and cooperate or to oppose, resist, challenge and struggle against it. It can be regarded as an arena where self organized and autonomous groups engage the stage in hegemonic and counter-hegemonic struggles for domination, accommodation and opposition (Ikelegbe, 2005; Abutudu, 1997; Adejumobi, 2001; Chazan, 1994 and Shaw 1994). The civil society in its engagement of the state, attempts to articulate and influence public policies in favour of the popular classes. It is also important in the assessment; measurement and evaluation of the impact of public policies on the masses as it acts as an organized instrument through which the citizenry interacts with the State.

CONCEPTUALIZING PUBLIC POLICY

Public Policy has been defined by various scholars in different ways. Carl Friedrich in Ikelegbe (2006) defined Public Policy as the proposed course of action of the government or one of its divisions. Egonmwan (2000) defined Public Policy as important action of government. Olamiyi (1998:17) defined Public Policy as the management of human and material resources by policy actors to address a policy problem identified at any point in time while Ikelegbe (2006:3) defined Public Policy as governmental actions or course of actions, or proposed actions or course of proposed actions that are directed at achieving certain goals. From the foregoing it is evident that Public Policy is governmental action to remedy

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perceived societal problems.

Public Policycould also be seen as an attempt by a government to address a public issue by instituting laws, regulations, decisions, or actions pertinent to the problem at hand. Numerous issues can be addressed by Public Policy including crime, education, foreign policy, health, and social . While public policies are most common in the United States, several other countries, such as those in the United Kingdom, implement them as well. The process to create a new public policy typically follows three steps: agenda-setting, option-formulation, and implementation; the time-line for a new policy to be put in place can range from weeks to several years, depending on the situation.

THE PROCESS OF PUBLIC POLICY

When new public policies are created, there are generally three key things involved in the process: the problem, the player, and the policy. The problem is the issue that needs to be addressed, the player is the individual or group that is influential in forming a plan to address the problem in question, and the policy is the finalized course of action decided upon by the government. Typically the general public will make the government aware of an issue through writing letters and emails, or making phone calls, to local government leaders; the issue is then brought forward during government meetings and the process for creating new public policies begins.

The rational model for the public policy-making process can typically be divided into three steps: agenda-setting, option-formulation, and implementation. Within the agenda-setting stage, the agencies and government officials meet to discuss the problem at hand. In the second stage, option-formulation, alternative solutions are considered and final decisions are made regarding the best policy. Consequently, the decided policy is implemented during the final stage; in most cases, once public policies are in place, they are widely open to interpretation by non-governmental players, including those in the private sector. Implied within this model is the fact that the needs of the society are a priority for the players involved in the policy-making process; also, it is believed that the government will follow through on all decisions made by the final policy.

CIVIL SOCIETY IN NIGERIAThe evolution of civil society in Nigeria could be traced back to the colonial era when nationalists resisted and strived to put an end to the colonial domination and subjugation of the country. The nationalists struggle and opposition to colonial rule was strengthened by the formation of civil society organizations like the Egbe Omo Oduduwa, the Jamiyar Mutanin Arewa etc. These organizations were used as spring boards to express the wishes and aspirations of the citizens. It is worthy of note that some of these organizations later metamorphosed into political parties in attempts to seek power. Taking a cue from the foregoing, we can ascertain that civil society formations in Nigeria have a very long history of existence, so the present status of Nigerian civil society could be said to be an

welfare

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appendage of historical evolution of a vibrant social structure in the polity in order to guide against the subversion of the will of the people (Omodia and Erunke, 2007).

Under the military regimes in Nigeria, there were attempts to stop, reduce or manipulate the activities of the civil society. This is not unexpected as we may attest to the fact that civil society organizations thrive better in free democratic and liberal society. The civil society under the military, struggled to survive and credit could be ascribed to it as a major part of the final ouster of military rule in Nigeria. Organization like NADECO, Civil Liberty Organization, Campaign for Democracy etc were part of the civil society that fought against the subversion of the will of Nigerians and enthronement of democracy.

Since the return to democratic rule in 1999, the state has become relatively open to criticism and allows inputs from the public space. By implication, therefore, the various interests are largely articulated in the scheme of the nation's policy making processes for an enhanced socio-economic and political development in Nigeria (Omodia and Erunke, 2007). There has been proliferation and strengthening of civil society organizations (CSOs) influence public policies in different spheres of the social political life of Nigerians. These civil society organizations cut across the academia, activist groups, charities, clubs, community organizations, cooperatives, churches, cultural groups, environmental groups, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), professional associations, trade unions, women's groups etc. Some of the prominent civil society organizations are the Save Nigeria Group, OPC, Ijaw Youth Movement, Campaign for Democracy (CD); Women in Nigeria (WIN), Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO), Committee for the Defense of Human Rights (CDHR), Constitutional Rights Projects (CRP), United Action for Democracy (UAD); National Democratic Coalition (NADECO); Joint Action Committee of Nigeria (JACON); Democratic Alternatives (DA); National Association of Seadogs (NAS); etc.

THE ROLE OF CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS(CSOS) IN PUBLIC POLICY MAKING Civil society organizations are very important to the policy makers or the state as they are better placed to know population needs in terms of development and good governance. In recent years, CSOs have become more prominent, more visible and more diverse all over the world. One of the factors influencing the growth of CSOs has been the increased challenge to imbalances of power between state and its structures on the one hand and civil society on the other. This has being driven by many forces such as reactions to centralized authority in state structures, dissatisfaction with state performance on public services and dissatisfaction with policy positions taken by the state in international arenas. CSO networks have been formed within and across countries to promote a wider support to public interests on global policy issues such as human rights environment, debt recovery development and health etc ( ).www.who.int

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The CSOs have the responsibility to influencing public policy processes including counter balancing of commercial interest and consensus building on societal priorities. The CSO also provide a legal authority for public participation and the enhancement of civic education and expanding opportunities for greater involvement in governmental programs. Attahiru Jaga enumerated roles of civil societies in Nigeria when he listed three roles thus: The promotion and defense of the constitution and rule of law The enhancement of the integrity and efficacy of the democratic institutions and processes as well as

The development of a viable democratic political culture in the polity. In other words, civil society can positively contribute to sustainability of democracy by legitimizing and entrenching institutions, processes and the culture of democracy, as well as by contesting, de-legitimizing and opposing authoritarian, undemocratic and uncivil practices and dispositions (Jega, 2007).

THE ROLE OF THE CIVIL SOCIETY IN THE FORMULATION OF THE 2010 NIGERIAN ELECTORAL ACTThere had been an overwhelming consensus among Nigerians that the electoral system was in dire need of reform. Since the return to civil rule in 1999, all the elections conducted and even the 2007 election that brought the President Yar'Adua government to power had been flawed by both local and international observers. Different reasons for this electoral aberration have been put forward from the people to the government and even the international community but that is not the focus of this paper. On August 28, 2007, late President Musa Yar'Adua fulfilling promises made during his inauguration speech which was a consequence of the continuous clamour of the civil society to reform Nigeria's electoral system, appointed a 22-member Electoral Reform Committee (ERC) headed by Hon. Justice Muhammadu Lawal Uwais, former Chief Justice of Nigeria. The Committee was composed of prominent individuals from both public and private sector. The committee's mandate was to examine the entire electoral process with a view of ensuring that we raise the quality and a standard of our general elections and thereby deepen our democracy. During its proceedings, the committee received 1,466 memoranda from both Nigerian and the international community and held public hearings in 12 states and Abuja, the Nigerian capital during which 907 presentations were made (www.electoralreformnetwork.org).

The submission of memoranda, public hearings and presentations marked a concrete step towards the 2010 Electoral Act and the contributions of the civil society in the amendment and re-amendment of the act. The committee was as it were expected to interact with the citizens and seek their wishes concerning the electoral system. It was practically impossible to hear the views of every Nigerian. So the most practicable was to engage the civil society organizations as their views are perceived to be the views of the mass population.

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Civil society in Nigeria has been critical of the manner in which the electoral process has been managed; in particular, in respect of the voters register, voter education, and election observation. The large numbers, expertise, and geographical reach of civil society organizations give them great potentials to play a strong role in the electoral process, and in conflict prevention and resolution. The main issues raised by civil society representatives regarding electoral administration include: INEC's lack of independence and impartiality, limited civil society access to INEC, inaccuracy of the voters register, lack of transparency and credibility in the determination of results, and late granting or refusal of domestic observers accreditation. Civil groups were also critical of political parties' lack of ideological differentiation, lack of intra-party democracy, the use of thugs and intimidation, and abuse of state resources by incumbent powers at both federal and state levels. The pervasiveness of corruption was also identified as a fundamental obstacle in the electoral process ( ).

CIVIL SOCIETY AND ITS ROLE IN POLICY AGENDA PROCESS: THE ELECTORAL REFORM PROCESSThe persisting clamour/demand for electoral reform started yielding results when the late President Yar'adua in his inauguration speech acknowledged the flaws in the electoral process that brought him to power and promised a reform of the process. This promise culminated in the set-up of the Electoral Reform Committee (ERC) in 2008. The ERCs attempt at generating a policy document had to return them to the civil society through whom the people's aspirations are articulated. The ERC requested for memoranda and presentations at public hearings from mainly the Civil Society Organizations. The role of the civil society became evident again as they articulated the desires of the environment in an effort to influence and place demand on the political system.

Recommendations were made on civil society, media and media regulatory agencies, women, persons living with disabilities, youth, international community, political parties, security agencies, electoral justice system, prosecution of Electoral Offences, election Petitions, and other legislations that have bearing on the electoral process (CSCC, 2008). The Nigerian Labour Congress made presentation at the public hearing on electoral reforms on Thursday, 26 June, 2008, at the ECOWAS secretariat, Abuja were it clearly stated positions in line with the CSCC (www.nlcng.org). These memoranda and presentations were made to the ERC whom in this case is a governmental actor acting on behalf of the executive in the policy process. This was designed to influence the governmental actors to incorporate these demands and choices into the Electoral Act which is the policy action in this case.

www.nigeria.usembassy.gov

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THE ROLE OF THE CIVIL SOCIETY IN THE NIGERIA ELECTORAL POLICY CHOICEThe ERC submitted its final report to the President on December 12, 2008. The report concluded that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the State Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) lacked the necessary independence to perform their duties (www.electoralreformnetwork.org). The ERC made critical recommendations in its report and in response to this report; the government released a white paper on March 11, 2009 indicating its readiness to implement some, not all of the recommendations. On April 30, 2009, the President submitted 7 bills in this regard to the National Assembly (Owodiong-Idemeko, 2009). There was great delay in the passage of the bill which prompted further role by the civil society organization. The Electoral Reform Network, a network of over 100 civil society organization dedicated to the reform of Nigeria's electoral system on 15th September 2009 organized a Civil Society -Legislative consultative Forum at the National Assembly Complex Abuja. The consultative forum attracted members of the Senate Committee on Constitutional Reform, Civil S o c i e t y O r g a n i z a t i o n s a n d m e m b e r s o f t h e m e d i a (www.electoralreformnetwork.org). The consultative forum had as its purpose the creation of an avenue for dialogue on the review of the 1999 constitution of Nigeria. This was just one of the many efforts of the civil society to influence the passage of the electoral act. The Electoral Act was finally passed in 2010 after some amendments by the National Assembly and assented to by the President. This is now a policy which is the output of the demand placed on the political system by the environment represented by the civil society.

THE CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS AND THE IMPLEMENTATION PROCESS OF THE ELECTORAL ACTThe policy document does not end the role of the civil society as they are also involved in the development of a viable democratic political culture in the polity (Jega 2007). The CSOs continue in the education of the populace on the democratic process, electoral procedures and the importance of political participation. This was elaborated by Ikelegbe (2006) when he elucidates that groups influence the implementation of policies too. They enhance implementation of policy programmes through their support, cooperation and participation. In this case, they are participating actively to ensure that the electoral process is properly implemented.

Domestic Civil Society Organizations were engaged in a positive dialogue with INEC, playing an important role in promoting the rule of law, the adherence to election regulations, and encouraging an overall orderly electoral process. CSO's dialogue platforms brought to public attention among other issues, logistical and operational challenges during the registration and voting processes, voters' lists shortcomings, instances of electoral malpractices, the need for enhanced civic education on voting procedures, concerns about the security of the ballot and voters, and called for the establishment of INEC Election Day hotlines (EU,

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2011:37).

The European Union Election Observation Mission to Nigeria Final Report on the 2011 General Election captured explicitly the different roles of the CSOs in the implementation of the electoral act and in the 2011 electoral process in Nigeria. Worth mentioning is the Election Situation Room, a joint platform of 28 CSO's actively engaged in cooperation with the electoral authorities. Its main concerns were the performance of the law enforcement agencies and political parties, and the role of the judiciary in the political process. The Election Situation Room identified security hotspots ahead of the polls and widely called on political parties to condemn and refrain from violence. The 2011 Project Swift Count, a partnership of four well-established CSO's observed the general election in all 774 LGA's and provided stakeholders with real-time information on the conduct of the polls. Swift Count also conducted parallel vote counting for the Presidential election, presenting their findings in a timely and professional manner. The National Elections incident Centre (NEIC) managed an internet based map on incidents with popular participation. The Independent Republic Institute (IRI) in partnership with INEC and political stakeholders, contributing to the signing of the Code of Conduct for political parties, while the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) in collaboration with the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) produced information on the voters mandate protection. Also the CLEEN Foundation published guidelines for the conduct of Police Officers on Electoral Duty. The CSO “Enough is enough” established a platform to track information on social media that allowed to monitor the conduct of elections and violence, and to interact constructively with INEC and security agencies.

However, a number of State-based and regional CSO's were also noted to observe the electoral process throughout the country. The electoral commission received technical assistance from the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) in the areas of voters' registration, voter and civic education, training of staff, election dispute resolution systems, and in the capacity building of judges and lawyers to administer and facilitate the election dispute resolution (European Union, 2011). The contribution of the civil society organization is evident in the positive comments made on the 2011 elections by both local and international observers.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKThis paper was anchored on the systems theory as propounded by David Easton which describes public policy as an output of the political system. The theory conceives of political activity as essentially involving the environment, the political system and output (Ikelegbe, 2006). The environment is where demands arises and are placed on the political system. Demands of different kinds emanate in a society and are expressed through various methods upon the political system. The political system is made up of institutions, processes and government personnel, (Ikelegbe, 2006) and the political system is the processor of the demands (inputs)

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from different societal groups into outputs which are the public policy. The authoritative allocations or outputs are the public policies. Public policies are the reaction of the political system to environmental demands and pressure (Ikelegbe, 2006).

The kind of society determines the type of policy demands. In an autocratic society the policy demand will essentially be that of political reforms or demand for democratization. The nature of the political system whether developed or developing determines its ability to process accurately the demands from the environment. The outputs which are public policies are continually responded to by the citizenry and this is feedback to the system that brings about new policies or the modification of existing policies (Ikelegbe, 2006). All theoretical frameworks have its limitations and the system theory is not an exception. Ikelegbe (2006) observes that the theory assumes that policies are environmental input converted by the political system. It fails to recognize that the characteristics of the political system itself may have considerable independent effect on the content of policies. Despite this, the system theory has the advantage of insights into the totality of the policy process and the interactions between the component parts.

The systems theory discussed conceives of political activity as essentially involving the environment, the political system and output. The environment consists of the objective conditions and forces that generate demand and support input. Demand, are the articulated needs, problems and aspirations which are brought to bear upon the political system (Ikelegbe 2006). The civil society being populated by social-political groups that relate with the State in the interest of the masses is a part of the environment. It is the civil society which is a component of the environment that articulates the needs, problems and aspiration of the environment and therefore places the demand on the political system or state for onward processing and subsequent output in the form of public policies.

The scenario painted above was the case in the formulation of the 2010 Electoral Act in Nigeria. There was the problem of bad leadership that was traceable to the manipulated electoral system. The environment or the mass population had clamoured for the amendment of the Electoral Act as a panacea to the electoral fraud being perpetuated by the political class. This wishes and aspirations were channeled through the civil society to the political system. The civil society organizations influence on the policy process occurs at every stage. They are active in the initiation, generation and formulation of public policies and in the determination of their content and direction (Ikelegbe 2006:116). The civil society groups were active in the initiation of the Electoral Reform. This role was performed through criticisms of the electoral system and the Independent National Electoral Commission that facilitated the elections that returned civilian governments to power. These criticisms were put forward through the mass media, public debates, seminars etc.

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CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONSThe civil society which is made up various groups, the professional groups, religious groups, market guilds, road transport workers union, development associations, environmental protection organizations and even secret cults seek to influence public policy with specific proposals to suit not only or necessarily their interest but that of the masses. The articulation of the people's interest is carried out by the civil society organizations through submission of specific proposals for legislation or working through legislative or executive officials to ensure the enactment of policy proposals favourable to the entire society (Egonmwan 2000).

This paper has reviewed how the civil society has been able to influence the policy making process of the state in the enactment of the 2010 Electoral Act in Nigeria. In its review which has been basically descriptive in approach, it applied the system theory as a basis of analysis. We have observed and analyzed that the demand or support from the environment to the political process is mainly articulated by the civil society organizations. These articulated issues determine, guide and influence the state or government or better still, governmental policy actors, policy agenda and subsequent policy choice and even the implementation. The output of the political process is the public policy which is meant to impact directly on the people. The impact or non-impact of these public policies will generate feedback which is again fed back to the political system either as demand or support as articulated by the civil society on behalf of the environment for a continued process.

In Nigeria, CSOs face numerous challenges. The most pronounced among such problems is the allegation that civil society organizations often lack competent administrators and technicians, or financial and material resources. In intermediary NGOs, with often unclear structures of accountability, their anchorage in local society and their legitimacy can vary greatly hence they are subject to abuses. Many CSOs and NGOs are highly dependent on foreign aid, which often reinforces their already weak systems of accountability to those for whose benefit they ostensibly exist. From the modus operandi of most CSOs in Nigeria, it is obvious that a great many of them are small, localized, and uncoordinated hence they can hardly key into State and national development policies. With a very weak organizational structure and porous financial base, most CSOs find it difficult to engage in effective advocacy work.

However, because of our languid road to democracy and most civil society organizations are distrustful of their governments and their policies. This tendency has been exacerbated by the history of grassroots interaction with governments, which is filled with broken promises, indifference, corruption, and clientelism. It is not surprising therefore that some CSOs are cynical and even reluctant to deal with governments. Again, when such NGOs tend to go it alone, they lack the

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capacity to achieve their goals. This is due largely to the fact that they can hardly create an environment. However a critical advantage that CSOs usually have over state-sponsored organizations concerns their ability to tap, effectively and legitimately, into societies' reservoirs of social capital.

Another challenge is that Clear lines of relationship between civil society and the state is yet to be established in many developing countries; the pattern of relationship is constantly in a flux (cooperative, conflictual, integrative or even nonexistent), depending on the context and issues involved. Many governments in the developing world are yet to come to terms with the role CSOs should play. Equally CSOs still need to learn how well to apply themselves to government issues. Both sides need more education on the art and practice of participatory governance.

Good politics is not necessarily good economics; legislators and civil society advance interests of their constituents, which may be too narrowly focused and short-sighted to reflect the overall national interest. Thus their participation in the budget debate skews choices away from what is best for the country. It is the executive's mandate to produce the budgets; active participation by CSOs and the legislature may cause unnecessary delay without necessarily improving the budget process.

In the realm of good governance, Nigeria has a lot to do to re-engineer her electoral system. Our politics is bereft of sound value-orientation and ideological underpinning. That is why some civil society organizations engage in criminal silence in spite of the large scale corruption pervading the land. Akinkugbe (2003 rightly observed that: “In the four decades of Nigeria's political independence, we have witnessed a steady decline in values, quality of governance, commitment and the integrity of our environment. Our society has become negatively permissive and much passes for norm today that would have caused a raising of eyebrows in yonder years”.

CSOs should not be exempted from monitoring and traditional oversight. The registration requirements of CSOs should have renewal provisions that demand evidence of positive results produced and audited statements of accounts. As a veritable step towards building sustainable cooperation and partnership between government and civil society groups in the country is a key requirement in this regard. To promote government/CSOs partnership, access to information on both sides should be guaranteed by law. For now, this will be facilitated by the Freedom of Information Act in existence. It is not enough to demand that government be open to citizens based groups, non-governmental organizations should also be ready to account for funds received from donors. This will promote mutual trust and reciprocity.

It is therefore recommended that given the need for a local funding base for civil

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society activities in Nigeria, the right to access to public funding for charitable purposes should be guaranteed by law. Such public funding should however be established within a politically neutral administrative framework, with well-defined criteria and procedures for accessing it. There is also the need for a well-structured institutional arrangement for partnership between civil society organizations, government and MDAs. Such arrangements should make it easy for CSOs and other citizens-based groups to partner with government in policy formulation, implementation and monitoring with the ultimate goal of promoting transparency and accountability.

In Nigeria, there are very visible areas of contention in the polity. There is the knotty challenge of revenue allocation among the three tiers of government verging on the operation of an equitable fiscal federalism Issues of Federal Character concerning federal character in key government appointments and distribution of federal projects. Year back, our leadership promised to entrench a just, egalitarian and equitable society. Now, good governance as expressed in popular participation, in decision-making, transparency and accountability in the management of fiscal resources is at its embryonic stage. We need committed, vehement and well structured advocacy on these areas. One of such urgent areas is the achievement of the MDGs and specifically poverty alleviation.

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Adejumobi, S. (2001). The Civil society in conflict management and peace building in Africa: Development Policy Management Bulletin 7, 1, 19-21 cited in A.O. Ikelegbe Engendering Civil Society: oil, women groups and resource conflict in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria in Journal of Modern African Studies 43, 2, 241-70. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.

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Conflict Management in Nigeria in T.A. Imobighe ed. Civil society and ethnic conflict management in Nigeria. Ibadan: Spectrum Books.

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Publishers.Omodia S.M. & Erunke C.E. (2007). Civil Society and Democratic Consolidation in

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Owodiong-Idemeko, Ide (2009). Ten Years Of Nigerian Democracy: A Review Of The Electoral Process, Paper presented at The Feast of Barracuda Event hosted by the National Association of Seadogs, Netherlands Chapter, Saturday July 4, 2009, Gaasperplas Public Park, Amsterdam Zuidoost.

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Shaw M. (1994). Civil Society and Global Politics: Beyond a social movement approach: Millennium 23, 3, 647-67 cited in A.O. Ikelegbe Engendering Civil Society: oil, women groups and resource conflict in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria in Journal of Modern African Studies 43, 2, 241-270. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.

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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF

ADVANCED STUDIES IN ECONOMIES AND PUBLIC SECTOR MANAGEMENT

Vol. 1 No. 1 November, 2013

THE DEVELOPMENTAL STATE, INFRASTRUCTURE COLLAPSE AND PUBLIC PROCUREMENT PRACTICE IN NIGERIA

Matthew D. Ogali (PhD)Department of Political & Administrative Studies,

University of Port Harcourt,Port Harcourt.

AbstractThe research problem that engages the attention of this paper is the persistent collapse of public as well as private structures across Nigeria, which collectively constitutes the nation's infrastructure. It has assumed the proportion of a national embarrassment, calling for serious intellectual scrutiny. Many public structures are constructed, delivered and payment effected only for such edifices to collapse within a very short period. Such structures include buildings, roads, bridges, flyovers, etc. The paper presents the thesis that the collapse of public infrastructure is the result of poorly articulated and ineffectively implemented procurement laws/policies of the state as a facilitator of development. It argues that the current nonchalant, prejudiced and self-serving disposition of the state towards the enactment and implementation of public procurement laws/policies constitutes the major hindrance to the achievement of sustainable infrastructural development in Nigeria. The objective of the paper is to critically evaluate the procurement laws/policies of the state, articulate the implications of the politicization and manipulation of the public procurement process and recommend measures for proper procurement policy formulation and implementation for the development of public infrastructure in Nigeria. The Marxist political economy approach is adopted as the theoretical framework. The paper is significant for its exposure of the political intrigues associated with the process of the enactment of public procurement laws and execution of public projects. The method of data collection relies mainly on secondary sources. The scope of the paper is Nigeria-wide but would focus mainly on Rivers and Bayelsa States. The findings would indicate a clear case of political maneuvering, executive/legislative collusion, compromise in project monitoring and execution, etc. all leading to the collapse of public infrastructure in Nigeria. Inevitably the paper draws the conclusion that there is indeed a positive correlation between the poor articulation and implementation of public procurement laws/policies and the incessant collapse of public structures in Nigeria and recommends an attitudinal change on the part of the managers of the Nigerian state.

Key words: The State, Development, Procurement, Infrastructure, Industrialization, Construction.

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INTRODUCTION“Even that which they build, if a fox go up, he shall even break down their stone wall” (Nehemiah, 4: 3). Tobiah's mockery of the Jerusalem wall aptly depicts the modern trend in unsustainable infrastructure development in Nigeria, a nation that is decidedly consumptive and opens up as a dumping ground for all kinds of substandard goods from various parts of the world. Apart from the familiar platitudes no serious effort has been made to strengthen her industrial or productive base. High taste for foreign goods and services, both standard and substandard, is part of Nigerian economic culture, including fairly-used foreign goods. Nigerian businessmen/women have a reputation for traveling abroad, particularly Asia, to give substandard specifications of goods to the manufacturers before importing them into the country. This culture of substandard production has permeated the Nigerian productive sector where the weak regulatory institutional framework is taken advantage of to produce low quality goods that are then utilised in the process of development of infrastructure.

The result has been the incessant collapse of various structures within a very short period after construction. These include roads, bridges, culverts, flyovers, airplanes, houses, concrete electric poles, stadia, office furniture, etc. The inability of such public and private structures to exhaust their stipulated life-spans means a reconstruction of collapsed structures to meet the daily needs of the citizens with resources that would have been deployed for new public infrastructure. Considering the common practice of over-pricing or over-valuation of contracts in Nigeria the financial implications do constitute a huge loss on the nation's resources and an additional financial burden on the cost of development. One other ignominious dimension of this problem is the ready availability of regulatory legislation and institutions designed to standardize and control the operations of personnel and corporate bodies in the procurement and construction processes but, which are either neglected or flouted for several reasons. The Public procurement Act is one of the “sunshine laws”:

Specifically, the “sunshine laws” included Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA), Public Procurement Act enacted to streamline the way governments award contracts and reduce corruption in the contracting system, Nigeria Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative, to promote transparency and accountability in the management of the nation's extractive sector and achieve value for money; and recently, the Freedom of Information Act, passed into law under President Jonathan to revolutionize access to information (Nelson, Guardian Newspaper. 20 March, 2013).

However, corruption thrives despite these regulatory “sunshine laws”. The abhorrence of government personnel for being controlled and regulated, or what has been termed a culture of impunity, has permeated executive authorities, in reverence of whom some laws have been deliberately adjusted. In another

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dimension procurement and supply-line legislations have been rendered completely impotent due to the pervasive culture of corruption in Nigeria. In most cases these legislative instruments only serve as legitimizing cloaks under which government officials conceal their illicit operations in the award of contracts and project execution. These and many other related issues will be discussed below in this paper.

CONCEPTUAL CLARIFICATIONThe developmental state has been subjected to various conceptualizations revolving around the centralization of a nation's resources in order to generate and facilitate development. To Castells (1992: 56) a state is developmental when it establishes as its principle of legitimacy its ability to promote and sustain development, understood as the combination of steady and high rates of economic growth and structural change in the productive system. In Pronk's (1997: 5) view a developmental state is one which is able and willing to create and sustain a policy climate that promotes development by fostering productive investment, exports, growth and human welfare. Chibber (2005: 237) associates the developmental state with the period of national development planning to achieve conscious and self-reliant development in Third World countries, a period that preceded the current wave of western-inspired and imposed neoliberal Washington Consensus, globalization and multilateralism (Stiglitz, 2002). It was the period government controlled the commanding heights of the economy aimed to accelerate development using planned reconstruction, rehabilitation and renovation (Nwokocha, 2007:167). However, even in the modern era the “ideology of development” (Ake, 2001: 8) still rules and inspires the Third World states. Taken this way, a developmental state could be defined as one whose ideological underpinnings are developmental and systematically endeavours to achieve rapid economic development either as the real actor in development engineering or as an umpiring agent whose primary responsibility is to provide the conducive or enabling environment for state or private agencies or actors to generate economic development. The developmental state is therefore not functionally minimalist but rather decidedly interventionist as a developmental catalyst. It emerges in societies with a manifest weakness of the productive sector, a vacuum the state steps in to fill.

Public procurement connotes “acquisition by any means of goods, works or services by the government” (Rivers State Public Procurement Law No. 4 of 2008) as project execution is usually preceded by procurement of materials. It is the quality of these materials or components that determine the durability or sustainability of the project. Public policy has variously been defined as “governmental actions or course of actions, or proposed actions or course of proposed actions that are directed at achieving certain goals” or “official statements determining the plan of action or what the government wants to do” or “whatever government chooses to do or not to do” (Ikelegbe, 2006:3). Public policy is therefore an indispensable element of governance.

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The most frequently referenced conceptualisation of sustainable development is that provided by the 1987 Report of the Brundtland Commission or World Conservation Commission as “development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” ( ). Infrastructure refers to the economic and social underpinnings of a community or nation.

RESEARCH PROBLEMOne of the most conspicuous and attractive aspects of societal development is the persistent and consistent physical transformation of a natural and traditional environment through the planning and construction of modern infrastructure. The most recent example in Nigeria is the city of Abuja, a completely barren and rocky rural landscape occupied by indigenous peoples living in muddy rustic huts with grass roofing strewn all over. The building of a new city or modernization of an old one involves massive public procurement. Mabogunje (1980:38-39) has identified modernization, in form of “building of schools, and colleges . . . growth in the number of health centres and medical establishments, provision of better housing and recreation facilities”, as one of the paradigms of development. This process is being consistently undermined or compromised in Nigeria leading to the collapse of public infrastructure. Several causes have been advanced for this embarrassing state of affairs but this paper interrogates the processes involved in the procurement of materials for the construction of public works.

BACKGROUND TO THE STUDYThe colonial pattern of urban bias and export orientation in the determination of infrastructure development forms the background to this study. Infrastructure injection into the development process was patterned to satisfy the exploitative needs of the colonialist. The result was that “the benefits of government expenditures on education, health, water supply, industries and roads in Nigeria are concentrated almost exclusively in urban areas” (Nwosu, in Amucheazi, 1980: 105). Even in the urban areas facility distribution was skewed in favour of the Government Reserved Areas (GRAs).

The colonial administration focused on infrastructure designed to exploit Nigeria's resources, a vacuum the post-colonial state had to fill. Development planning from the 1960s to the 80s was the strategy for massive infrastructure development in the country (Ohale, in Alapiki ed, 2004: 142-164). This has been a sustained trend but of recent Nigeria has been experiencing a pervasive decay and collapse of infrastructure across the country, sometimes with heavy casualties and more worrisome, not long after completion.

Between the neglected countryside and energetic modern city the social pressure for the erection of new structures instituted a dual configuration which colonialism

http://www.answers.com/topic/sustainable-developpment

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bequeathed to the contemporary era. One salient point that needs to be made is that physical structures erected in the past have shown greater sustainability and resilience than the modern edifices that appear to have been ravaged by corruption and therefore susceptible to premature collapse.

OBJECTIVES OF STUDYThe objectives of the paper are:-

1. To critically evaluate the extant legislative and regulatory instruments of the Federal and State Governments for guiding public procurement for infrastructural development in Nigeria.

2. Provide an overview of the processes involved in the management and administration of public procurement to facilitate sustainable infrastructural development in Nigeria.

3. Articulate the economic implications of the politicization and mismanagement of the public procurement process resulting in the frequent collapse of public structures in Nigeria.

4. Recommend possible reorganization of the institutional framework for managing public procurement for better performance in the execution of public contracts and avoidance of the associated financial losses.

RESEARCH HYPOTHESESThis paper shall be guided by the following two hypotheses:-

1. The collapse of public infrastructure is caused by the poorly articulated and ineffectively implemented procurement laws/policies of the various levels of government.

2. The weak and ineffective monitoring mechanisms for the execution of public procurement contracts constitute a major hindrance to the achievement of sustainable infrastructural development.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

Marxist political economy begins from a premise on the interrelatedness of the different elements or structures of a society such as the economic, political, social and ideological (Ake, 1981: 4). Political economy is not about the relations between commodities, prices, supply and demand but rather first and foremost about people and the social relations between them – about the owners of wealth and how they use it to exploit others; about what is produced and how. In this sense physical infrastructure are political, social and historical. There is a necessary and organic nexus between infrastructure, their components and the individuals that operate and utilize them. Poor infrastructure management is also class related as tax is paid by all segments of the society whereas it is ruling class elements that get the contracts the poor execution of which denies others beneficial access to these facilities. The failure of the state to prosecute such procurement abusers also has class correlation as state managers are their collaborators seeking to consolidate political power by the acquisition of economic power and vice versa (Ake, 1981: 5) through “bribery, kick-backs and the ten percent syndrome” (Ekekwe, 2009: 104).

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DATA PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSIONHere we proceed to present and discuss the data on the functionality of public procurement as well as its challenges, failures and the need for proper management. During the colonial period railways lines, seaports and roads were constructed for the purpose of evacuating primary agricultural export products to Europe. To correct this anomaly the post-colonial state in Nigeria was confronted with the challenge of massive and rapid development of infrastructure which involved public procurement. Elements of infrastructure include systems of transportation, power generation, communications, banking, education, and health. It also includes the whole gamut of physical structures that facilitate human activities and satisfy human needs in society such as bridges, roads, sewage disposal, telephone, telegraph, postal services, radio, library, public utilities, electric power lines, water transmission system, transportation vehicles, seaports, railways, airports, prisons, hospitals, schools, refineries, parks and gardens, public and private buildings, stadia, flyovers, etc.

The products involved included cement, iron rods of various sizes, steel structures, asphalt, coal-tar, sand, chippings, wood, pipes, fittings, paint, lighting materials, electrical cables, reinforcing rods, re-bars, valves, bolts and nuts, gaskets, insulation materials, adhesives, screws, flanges, welding materials/electrodes, filters, pumps, aggregates, wire mesh, alloys, fire proofing materials, anti-rust, etc. These are very critical construction materials that are all readily available in the market and could easily be obtained and supplied for construction work, but what really matters is the quality or standard of the materials being supplied.

To ensure high quality and standards product specifications are usually contained in the material purchase orders as part of the contract package. In some instances specific brands and material codes are required, which have been tested and are therefore trusted. This means that any other brand or product utilized in the execution of a contract compromises the specified quality and thereby reduces the lifespan of the project or edifice under construction. Some specific examples would suffice. In September 2012 a fly-over bridge built by the Odili Administration in Rivers State less than eight years ago along Aba Road in Port Harcourt suddenly collapsed (Picture 1). Fortunately no casualties were recorded. About sixty flats at the Jakande Low Cost Housing Estate, Isolo, Lagos have been marked for demolition on account of their low quality and possibility of sudden collapse after one of them came crashing killing several people on November 21, 2012 (Picture 2). All occupants of the structures were given 48 hours ultimatum to vacate. A writer sarcastically wonders:

Have we been building the right quality of roads for our soil texture? Why do our roads collapse before they are five years old? On 28 November, on my way to Odi in Bayelsa, as soon as I hit a portion of what is called the East-West Highway, I realised how insincere we are to ourselves as a nation! Beneath a thin film of asphalt is sand, beach sand! In the same way if you scratched the

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surface of the Shagamu-Ore-Benin expressway with a spoon, you would immediately get red earth! These are expressways plied by trailers and heavy tankers! (Jason, Vanguard Newspaper, December 18, 2012)

Picture 1: Collapse of 10-year old bridge in Port Harcourt, September 2012

Picture 2: Collapse of a building in Jakande Estate, Lagos, November 2012.

Picture 3: Collapsed and treacherous Lagos- Benin Expressway

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Furthermore, just a month after commissioning the refurbished General Aviation Terminal or domestic terminal of the Lagos Airport on 22 October 2012 it was discovered that its cooling system and two baggage conveyor belts at both the departure and arrival halls were faulty. Standard was compromised when the central cooling system called “Chillers” was hurriedly replaced with split units of air conditioners which failed to work.

Perhaps the most embarrassing experience associated with public infrastructural failure is that of regular Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) of Nigeria's four refineries. Nigeria has an installed refining capacity of 445,000 barrels per day but had 18% capacity utilization. Refining capacity utilization in 2010 was 21.53% as against 10.90% in 2009 and 24.11% in 2008. In 1997 a $215 million was awarded by the Abacha Administration for TAM on the Kaduna Refinery alone. During President Olusegun Obasanjo's first term (1999 – 2003) between $254million and $400.4million was spent on the rehabilitation of the refineries and pipelines. In 2007, the TAM contract for Kaduna alone cost about $24 million in cash and materials worth $30 million, bringing the total to about $54 million (Editorial, Punch Newspaper, November 26, 2012). Despite these huge sums spent on TAM the refineries have remained comatose, unable to satisfy domestic demand.

The sum of $1.6 billion has been set aside for TAM on all the refineries, a project scheduled to begin in January 2013 and completed in October 2014. It is generally known that these cash injections will go down the drain. The condition of the refineries only adds to the culture of infrastructural failure sustained by unethical procurement practices. On November 10, 2008 Nigeria's Telecommunications Satellite (NigComSat-1), planned for the restoration of NITEL scandalously disappeared into space. The N40 billion satellite began to malfunction barely 18 months after being launched with fanfare. The Minister of State for Science and Technology, Dr. Alhassan Zaku had admitted that NigComSat 1, as the satellite is known, actually developed technical problems that "resulted in the inability of the operational batteries to be charged by the solar panels" (Thisday Newspaper, 28 November 2008).

There are reports that inferior materials were used in building the satellite and that the satellite was built to fail from the very beginning. A few months after its launch, the International Communications Union allegedly informed the Nigerian government that the satellite was wrongly positioned. Nothing was done about this. Besides, there were indications that the satellite was using a technological standard that was not meant for Africa but Asia. We demand full explanation on all of these. Except this is done, NigComSat would have turned out to be a white elephant project, and a pure gamble . . . Ironically, there has been much talk about the likely launch of an alternative satellite, with NigComSat seeking approval for a concessionary loan of N59 billion for the

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construction of NigComSat 2. While we appreciate the need for government to be optimistic and venture into new areas that would enhance the country's developmental goals, we do not subscribe to the idea of wasting scarce national resources on spurious projects (Editorial, Thisday Newspaper, 28 November 2008).

An estimated $16 billion spent by the Obasanjo Administration on the National Integrated Power Projects (NIPSS) could not be properly accounted for as Nigeria continued to experience epileptic power supply. At several project sites, as revealed by the Ndudi Elumelu Power and Steel Committee of the House of Representatives probe, nothing was done. Where the projects were executed the plants malfunctioned and therefore could produce no electricity. All the power generation and supply targets only turned out to be a mirage.

In October 2008 it was reported that the radar system at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos had broken down putting aircraft and passengers using the airport at risk. The radar system was installed in 1978 when the airport was built. It had become obsolete and packed up forcing Air Traffic Controllers to rely on ground-based equipment, which would not afford the ATCs a perfect picture of approaching aircraft in terms of its size, sound and light. This situation was revealed by the Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Aviation, Mr. Bethel Amadi (Abioye & Amuwa, Punch Newspaper October 27, 2008). This has been the experience with several types of equipment in the public sector, which are never maintained or replaced at the appropriate time until they collapse. Even minor cracks on the roads are allowed to expand and deepen until they form craters and render the road impassable. The Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA) created by Obasanjo to carry out regular maintenance on federal roads all over the country can hardly justify its creation.

Only recently, on November 22, 2012 the Federal Executive Council approved the award of various road contracts worth N176 billion covering the dualisation of the Lokoja-Okene-Auchi-Benin Road; the Gasua-Bayamari Road linking Yobe and Borno states; and the Suleija-Abuja Road. The Kano-Maiduguri Road contract, awarded six years ago but not executed, was reviewed and augmented from N172 billion to N285 billion. The Calabar-Ugep, Ogoja-Katsina Ala Road contract was also augmented and approved, among others. Another contract was for the dualisation of the East-West Road, first awarded in 2006 for N204 billion, it was augmented to N349.8 billion, with the completion date fixed for December 2014 (Editorial, Punch, November 30, 2012). This is one road contract that has been awarded and re-awarded several times but the road remains a death-trap. It has been reported that between August 2011 and June 2012, the Jonathan Government awarded N927 billion worth of contracts but most of them non-performing and the roads remain in a deplorable condition, having been abandoned and therefore degenerated into extreme state of disrepair

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(Editorial, Punch, November 30, 2012). Currently the River Niger Bridge at Onitsha and the Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos are in a serious state of deterioration.

Other roads in serious need of rehabilitation are the Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway and Onitsha-Enugu Road that have been eaten up by erosion. The Shagamu-Ore-Benin Road has been in a very bad shape and caused so much hardship for motorists for more than a decade. It has created an avenue for robbers and rapists to attack travelers. Recently some schoolchildren returning to Lagos on holidays were raped when their vehicle broke down along that road as a result of the poor state of the road. The Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, one of the economically most important roads in the country, was recently re-awarded to Julius Berger Plc and RCC Nigeria Limited after Bi-Courtney Highway Services failed to execute a contract to rebuild it. Nobody knows how much of the contract sum was recovered.

The road, for close to two decades now, has been responsible for scenes of ghastly accidents, resulting in avoidable deaths. In July, a retired Brigadier General in the Nigerian Army, Sylvester Iruh, was murdered by marauding Fulani herdsmen as he was trying to change his tyre damaged due to the poor state of the road. There is no doubt that, given the number of road contracts awarded by the government, Nigerian commuters should be enjoying very smooth rides wherever they may be going. That this has not been so means there is a lot that is wrong with the way contract awards are monitored and executed in these parts of the world. The House of Representatives is investigating a N2.3 billion road contract awarded since 2001 but abandoned. Another set of road contracts valued at N6.8 billion was revoked by the Federal Government in November. Altogether, the Federal Government is grappling with 12, 000 abandoned projects worth N7.8 trillion (Editorial, Punch, November 30, 2012).

On this Lagos-Ibadan expressway in September 2010 a most horrendous accident occurred at the Berger section which claimed about sixty (60) lives with 23 vehicles burnt. There was a similar accident at Ibafo on the same expressway on September 5, 2010 resulting in the death of six persons, including children as well as 13 vehicles in an inferno, while scores of people sustained injuries. It has been the experience in Nigeria that majority of the road contracts are given to companies with no demonstrable capacity for the execution of such jobs. Contracts are awarded to acolytes of politicians, who have no equipment whatsoever for road construction. In most cases the contract is sold to more competent companies who would either abandon it or do a shoddy job, using inferior and cheap materials, on account of the low profit after paying the original awardee. In the name of empowering indigenous companies, contracts have been awarded to companies that just collect the money and walk away and nothing happens

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because of their affinity with government personnel. Others boldly get away with poorly executed jobs because government engineers monitoring them have been compromised.

One could go on and on to discuss the sports stadia, including the National Stadium in Abuja, schools, hospitals, etc. Lekan Salami Stadium in Lagos has been abandoned and converted into a crusade ground, inhabited by hoodlums, criminals, the infirm and the destitute. The class dimension to infrastructure development is the fact that most “projects still bristle with elitist urban-based super-expressways, specialist hospitals, glamorous hotels and festival houses, etc. for the ostentatious luxury of the urbanized petty-bourgeoisie” (Onomode, 1983: 164).

ANALYSIS OF PUBLIC PROCUREMENT LAWS/POLICIESThe predilection of the developmental state is the facilitation of the development process which involves rapid structural transformation of the post-colonial society to measure with the standards of western-oriented modernity. However the post-colonial society is viewed as an alien arena of struggle for capturing the state for the purpose of extending patronage. Such paternalistic social structure cannot but compromise public values and virtues for personal advantage. Hence, the official paradox of procurement practice in Nigeria, at both state and federal levels, is predicated on the predisposition to manipulate the provisions of procurement laws to extend gratification to political and business associates thronging the corridors of power.

It is general knowledge that the award of contracts for the purpose of project execution constitutes a very critical element of political affinity with the business class in Nigeria. The critical alignment of political and economic dynamics in the governance process has permeated procurement practice. At both state and federal levels there are extant laws beautifully designed to regulate procurement practice in Nigeria, such as the Public Procurement Act of 2007 (Federal Republic of Nigeria Official Gazette No. 65, Vol. 94), the Rivers State Public Procurement Law No. 4 of 2008, Bayelsa State Public Procurement Law, 2009, etc. In these legislative instruments could be found all the regulatory provisions, often backed by threats of sanctions, for procurement and infrastructure development in Nigeria.

The federal principle demands the consistency of state laws with those of the Federal Government, which fairly applies to the procurement laws. Consequently, apart from some minor sub-national variations, procurement laws and the methods of their implementation at state and federal levels remain largely consistent. The institutions include the National Council on Public Procurement with the Minister of Finance as Chairman, the Bureau of Public Procurement (Bayelsa State has Due Process Bureau) with a Director-General who is the Chief Executive and accounting officer to be appointed by the President on the recommendation of the Council “after competitive selections.” For obvious reasons of political patronage such

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selection processes leading to appointments are never competitive. Rather political stooges are strategically placed in such positions to financially lubricate the political machineries in readiness for elections. Just as competitiveness in appointments is compromised so also is the process of selection of contractors for public procurement. Once set in motion compromise continues down the line, including the integrity of construction materials. All the bold, patriotic and ethical concepts such as “fairness, openness, competitiveness, transparency, value-for-money, standardization, quality control, price monitoring, undertaking procurement research and surveys, prevention of fraudulent and unfair practices, application of administrative sanctions, performance of procurement and quality audits, etc. are effectively captured in the procurement laws.

Also constituted and clearly defined, on paper, are the regulatory agencies, personnel, standards, quality prescriptions for materials procurement, timelines, certification, etc. Workshops are also organized for annual previews and reviews of procurement plans to ensure implementablility and compliance, like the following newspaper advert:

The Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) hereby invites permanent secretaries, directors of procurement and four procurement officers in the Ministries and two officers from Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government to the year 2013 Procurement Planning Workshop . . . designed to review the year's procurement plans to ensure compliance with the BPP approved template . . . to ensure the effective implementation of 2013 budget. The workshop will also enable participants address deficiencies in 2012 Procurement Plans to make for improvements in the New Year (Bureau of Public Procurement, Punch, 13 February 2013).

However the nexus between legislation and practicalization is what seems to have disappeared. Mendacious as these laws are, even the proposers, sponsors and legislators usually take the first steps to desecrate and render them dead on arrival. Such pieces of legislation only serve to blindfold the public rather than maintain standards. This appears to be the view of Biebele Arimie of the Rivers/Bayelsa Chapter of the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply Management of Nigeria:

The Rivers State Bureau for Public Procurement as presently headed and staffed is more of a political procurement Bureau and not a professional procurement Bureau that can give Rivers people the desired value for money at the right price and quality. We strongly advise Rivers people to ask anybody who comes to enlighten them about public procurement, to please confirm that the speakers/campaigners are certified procurement professionals, qualified to practise the profession here in Nigeria before they teach others, this is to avoid being mis-educated, misinformed and confused.

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In Nigeria it is standard practice to use newspaper adverts to hoodwink the public and create the impression that due process is being followed, like Picture 4, used by UBEC, a parastatal of the Federal Ministry of Education, which received financial support from the Education Tax Fund (ETF) for the procurement of high-grade impact resistant copolymer resin desks and chairs for the basic education sub sector at the states and FCT level in Nigeria. The result was the arrest and prosecution of the Executive Secretary, Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), Dr. Ahmed Modibbo Mohammed and Prof. Mahmood Yakubu of the Education Tax Fund (ETF), now TETFUND over an N850 million scam.

Picture 4: Fraudulent Procurement advert to cover up N850 million UBEC/ETF scam

POLITICS AND PUBLIC PROCUREMENTNext is the issue of politicization of the procurement process. Politics in Nigeria and indeed Africa has been reduced to an adventure for wealth acquisition (Ake, 2001: 5) rather than service delivery and the procurement process provides the interface or partnership between politicians or political businessmen and economic businessmen. The purpose of political leadership is to seek the opportunity to capture the state and use the vantage position to extend patronage to political allies, sponsors and supporters. In Africa political power is everything (Ake, 2001: 7; Williams, 1980: 69). Some have Nigerianised the Biblical injunction: “seek ye first political power and all other things shall be added unto thee”. Most commonly contracts are awarded for the supply of a whole variety of items ranging from toiletries to rods, vehicles and all manner of equipment. Indeed that is the only way to survive in business. Depending exclusively on entrepreneurial activity outside state contracts is like the proverbial camel trying to pass through the eye of a needle. Contract execution cannot be effectively monitored because of the close affinity between the awarder, who more often than not is the real owner of the contract or business and the awardee,

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who might just provide the front. Any attempt to enforce the rules is viewed as an affront on the political power holder interested in the contract. It is easy to see why standards are compromised resulting in infrastructure collapse or malfunction.

IMPLICATIONS OF POOR PUBLIC PROJECT EXECUTIONCompromise in contract execution is only a national self-deceit that sets off a chain of reactions or results which make criminal wealth acquisition an albatross that haunts the entire society when the reality eventually manifests in form of rapid infrastructure decay and collapse. The illusion of comfort from amassing criminal wealth comes around when the perpetrators are confronted with the pot-holed roads, flying coffins and wobbly bridges they inadvertently created. Compromising standards and circumvention of rules in contract execution, a regular ruling class indulgence, is always a costly enterprise for the entire society in the long run. When structures fail to complete their life-span they call for early renovation or complete replacement at great financial loss to the nation. When projects are reconstructed repeatedly within a short period at great cost the entire society is portrayed as an object of mockery and global derision. In the event of accidental collapse lives are usually also involved.

CONCLUSIONIt has been sufficiently demonstrated in this paper that the developmental state which claims to be facilitating the process of development by centralizing and deploying the resources of a nation from the top actually ends up facilitating the process of underdevelopment by incurring huge losses through corruption and compromise in procurement practice and contract execution. Consequently an underdeveloped state like Nigeria is only progressing in self-delusion when perpetrators of the unorthodox utilization of substandard materials in project execution are pampered for political, ethnic or personal reasons rather than being prosecuted and given appropriate sanctions. Nigeria is only roving in cycles rather than progress or develop as public structures across the nation fail to provide the services for which they were constructed. This is precisely where to locate the root of the failure of virtually all development strategies that have been adopted in Nigeria.

RECOMMENDATIONS Based on the foregoing it is recommended that:

1. The process of awarding contracts should be more transparent and the awarding and monitoring institutions legally strengthened rather than leave such activities at the mercy of the men/women at the top.

2. Contractors who fail to execute their contracts satisfactorily should be persuaded to return to site and, if they fail to do so, should be arrested and prosecuted.

3. At all times, contracts for important roads should always go to proven and competent hands; not necessarily to the lowest bidder but to those who will deliver the goods.

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4. In monitoring project execution greater emphasis should be placed on ensuring the integrity of the materials procured for the project.

5. Contractors, building owners and monitoring engineers should be held responsible and prosecuted in the even of the collapse of a public or private structure.

6. Contract awarding personnel should also be prosecuted for compromising due process in the event of the collapse of public infrastructure.

7. Generally until the monster of corruption is tackled with an attitude of zero-tolerance the problem of infrastructure collapse is likely to remain with Nigeria.

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