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| Title: | Conflict and Divergence: Government and Society in Nigeria |
| Author: | Awe, Bolanle |
| Year: | 1999 |
| Periodical: | African Studies Review |
| Volume: | 42 |
| Issue: | 3 |
| Period: | December |
| Pages: | 1-20 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic term: | Nigeria |
| Subjects: | political systems political stability Politics and Government History and Exploration Ethnic and Race Relations colonialism Military, Defense and Arms |
| External link: | https://www.jstor.org/stable/525200 |
| Abstract: | In this sixth Basorun M.K.O. Abiola distinguished lecture, delivered on 31 October 1998 at the annual meeting of the African Studies Association in Chicago, the author focuses on the factors of conflict and divergence that have characterized the relationship between Nigerians and their rulers, as reflected in Nigeria's history from the precolonial through the colonial to the present independent period. While governance in the precolonial period largely ensured the participation and the accommodation of the interests of all, including women and youth, the later periods witnessed the alienation of the ruled from the rulers: an elite group, the British, and their Nigerian successors, made the interests of the majority subservient to their own. The long period of military rule only increased this alienation. Other potential factors of conflict, such as ethnicism and religion, intensified the subsequent crisis, which was further exacerbated by the oil boom and the corruption it encouraged. Despite many constraints, civil society is making valiant efforts to challenge the government's increasing arbitrariness. However, only democratic governance and a sovereign national conference to establish the basis of accommodation can provide a lasting solution to Nigeria's current predicament. Bibliogr., sum. in English and French. |
