LIST OF REASONS

INTRO:  The British colonial administrative policy in Nigeria known as the indirect rule was devised and adopted by the renowned British colonial officer, Lord Lugard, (although, there were semblances of the policy before Lugard). Lord Lugard was appointed the High Commissioner of the Northern Protectorate in 1900 following the revocation of the royal charter in the same year. The royal charter was given to the Royal Niger Company (RNC) in 1888 by the British government, to act on behalf of the government, chiefly towards instituting effective occupation in the colonies, as resolved in the Berlin Conference of 1884/85. Simply put, indirect rule is an administrative system in which the British colonial officials administered Nigeria through the intermediaries, the native authorities. According to Murray (1973, p. 1), indirect rule was an administrative policy that utilized native customs, traditions, institutions and people by fitting them into the British framework of colonial ad...

INTRO:  One of the features of the Nigerian democracy is periodic elections which come at the intervals of four years. Hence, there were general elections in Nigeria in 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015, 2019, and 2023 as at the time of this article. There are many component elections in a general election viz.: Presidential election, gubernatorial elections (i.e. governorship elections), National Assembly elections (i.e. the elections of the members of the Houses of Representatives and Senate), and State Assembly elections (i.e. the elections of the members of Houses of Assembly of the States of the Federation). Since 1999, electoral malpractices have tainted these variegated elections in Nigeria. Electoral malpractices simply mean “illegalities committed by government, officials responsible for the conduct of elections, political parties, groups or individuals with sinister intention to influence an election in favour of a candidate(s).” (Ezeani, 2005, p. 415). These illegalities incl...

INTRO:   Nationalism has semantic nuances which range from patriotism to struggle for independence. As a matter of fact, all attitudes and actions for preservation of national identity and/or achievement of political independence are nationalism. Thus, xenophobia, ethnicity, terrorism, irredentism, separatism, and similar issues, all things being equal, are nationalist in nature. The term “nationalism” therefore is generally used to describe two phenomena : (i)          the attitude that the members of a nation have when they care about their national identity, and (ii)        the actions that the members of a nation take when seeking to achieve (or sustain) self-determination. Nationalism in Nigeria was directed against the colonial masters, first by the notable Nigerian chiefs who resisted, although unsuccessful, the loss of the sovereignty of their kingdoms, chiefdoms, and societies. Worthy of mention was ...

INTRO:  Simply put, political apathy means lack of interest in politics, i.e. the activities of the state. More often than not, voter apathy is used interchangeably with political apathy. The interchangeable usage is understandable because voting is the hallmark of political participation, but then, it is careless to do so. As a matter of fact, every voter apathy is political apathy, but not every political apathy is voter apathy. Voter apathy is a subset of political apathy, together with other subsets of political apathy such interest apathy, and information apathy. A voter apathetic person does not go to cast vote in an election, interest apathetic person does not show interest in political activities such as referendum, demonstration, or rally, etc., and information apathetic person does not go for political news, or engage in political discussion. From the foregoing, it is observable that political apathy is the opposite of political participation. Democracies all over the wor...

INTRO :  The nature and character of l ocal government in Nigeria today (except for few infractions) is largely the product of the 1976 Local Government Reform by the Murtala/Obasanjo regime. The Reform is marked with bringing uniformity to the cacophony and disharmony that once reigned on local government system in Nigeria. In the 1976 Local Government Reform Guidelines, the Federal Government of Nigeria defined local government as “Government at local levels exercised through representative councils established by law to exercise specific powers within defined areas.” The powers which the local representative councils can exercise within their jurisdiction are local affairs “(including staffing) and institutional and financial powers to initiate and to determine and implement projects so as to compliment the activities of the state and federal government in their areas, and ensure through devolution of functions to those councils and through the active participation of the people...