Ayokunle Olumuyiwa Omobowale

Chief Lamidi Adedibu and patronage politics in Nigeria

Since the acceptance of multi-party democracy as the most viable alternative to autocracy and military rule in Africa, democratic rule has become the vogue. Nigerias attempt at democracy was (and is) accompanied by patronage politics, whereby certain personalities exact great influence on the political process. This study spotlights Chief Lamidi Adedibu and his patronage style in Nigerian politics, and shows that Adedibu gained political ‘patronic’ prominence during Nigerias Third Republic in the 1990s, through the provision of the survival needs of the poor majority who are, mostly, used as thugs for protection against challenges from opponents and for political leverage. Since then, he has remained a ‘valuable tool’ of ‘any government in power’ and politicians ready to provide the necessary goods for onward transmission to clients.

Peripheral scholarship and the context of foreign paid publishing in Nigeria

Lately, a phenomenal dimension of peripheral scholarship, compulsorily demanding the ‘foreign’, has evolved into the practice of paid publishing in ‘foreign’ journals among Nigerian academics. These ‘foreign’ journals afford speedy publishing at a fee with little or no peer review. This study is a descriptive research which collected qualitative data through 30 in-depth interviews conducted with academics in two federal universities in Nigeria. The findings established that though some universities are beginning to question their intellectual validity and propriety, predatory paid-for foreign journals remain popular among academics desirous to satisfy the ‘international publishing rule’ for promotion at all costs. Lacking international scholarly credibility, predatory journals will not advance Nigerian scholarship into the global scholarly mainstream which the ‘international rule’ ultimately seeks.

Tokunbo ICT: Symbolic‐rationality of second‐hand ICT utilization in Nigeria

Purpose – Information and communication technology (ICT) stands out as a major indicator and driver of the modern age. It catalytically advances globalization processes across professions, disciplines and agencies across international boundaries. In spite of the widespread utilization of ICT, Nigeria in particular and Africa in general lag behind in the ICT revolution. Striving to modernise and develop, though, Nigeria is rather dependent on the developed world for ICT access and utilization. Nigeria accesses ICT, indeed a great volume of the access rather comes through the second‐hand market. The study aims to integrate theoretical orientations of symbolism and rationalism to empirically explain second‐hand ICT utilization in Nigeria. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected through 30 in‐depth interviews (IDIs) and six focus group discussions (FGDs) among sellers and consumers of imported second‐hand ICT at Abeokuta, Ibadan and Lagos cities in Nigeria. The data was collected between July and November 2010. The research is an extract from a larger study on “The dynamics of the Tokunbo phenomenon and second‐hand economy in South‐Western Nigeria”. Findings – The paper concludes that as much as imported second‐hand ICT satisfies consumer modernity and development needs, it swells up Nigerias e‐waste. The bulk of the used ICT exported into Nigeria are non‐usable scrap, while those that are functional or usable are at the tail end of their life cycles. By symbolically rationalizing imported second‐hand ICT utilization, the Nigerian population simply pays for the evacuation of e‐waste from producing countries of the developed world to Nigeria. Nigeria is yet to develop a wholesome policy to address second‐hand ICT import and grapple with e‐waste challenge. The economic and health costs of imported e‐waste are on Nigeria and Nigerians. Originality/value – The primary focus of the paper is on second‐hand ICT utilization in Nigeria. The paper empirically discusses the utilization of second‐hand ICT from the perspective of symbolic‐rationality of modernity and development practice.

Sports and European Soccer Fans in Nigeria

Sports seem to be an aspect of culture which cuts across all societies. Though it may be principally directed at entertainment and/or leisure, it is embedded with meanings in cultures where it is practised. Soccer, as a sporting event has transcended numerous cultures over the years. Prior to the 1990s in Nigeria, soccer fans were aligned with local clubs. With increasing globalization, fans are exposed more than ever before to the performances of foreign clubs and these have inevitably resulted in a redirection of fans’ alignment with European clubs. Data for the study were collected through in-depth interviews with soccer fans in Nigeria.

Stories of the ‘dark’ continent: Crude constructions, diasporic identity, and international aid to Africa

Africa’s emergence into the geography of the known world has not been without controversies and the contradictions of crudity and underdevelopment in spite of the continent’s rich history as well as its natural and human resources. The crude conceptions of black Africa (as opposed to North Africa) are appositely captured in the literature and records of early Greek and Roman superpowers, European medieval explorers and Crusaders, Arab travelers and conquerors, and colonial anthropologists, archeologists, and historians. The ‘stories’ of Africa in modern times have remained that of despair and underdevelopment leading to emigration and the deployment of international aid. This review essay captures the reality and context of crude constructions of Africa by non-Africans and Africans; migrants’ appeal to religious identity in an attempt to relive and reconstruct their ‘Africanness’ for the purpose of survival; and Japanese aid to Africa.

Social capital and human development in Nigeria: the case of Lalupon Community, Ibadan, Oyo State

In recent times, more often than not, social capital has been presented as the virtue through which third world communities may develop. Indeed, the bonds of love, trust, friendship and kinship as social ingredients of social capital have become the salvaging grace for the third world in the face of strangulating economic decline and crisis. Through qualitative methodology, this study utilized key informant interview, in‐depth interview and focus group discussion to generate data at Lalupon – a community noted for preponderance of social capital induced groups. The study discovered that Lalupon social capital is sustained not only because of economic hardship, but also the ethnogenesic notions of distinct social identity, which attaches interpretive identity meanings, distinct from Ibadan to the residents. As this seemingly alienates the community from state resources, Lalupon thus utilizes its identity‐based social capital/groups to provide human/community development.

Asuwada Epistemology and Globalised Sociology: Challenges of the South

Professor Akiwowo propounded the Asuwada Theory of Sociation in the 1980s as a contextual episteme to explain African social experience. The theory particularly attempts an indigenous postulation to social interactions among Africans in general and the Yoruba in particular. Its concepts attempt to emphasise contextual values of social beings who would contribute to social survival and community integration and development. This theory postulates that among Africans in general and the Yoruba in particular, the need to associate or co-exist by internalising and rightly exhibiting socially approved values of community survival and development, is integral to local social structure, as failure to co-exist potentially endangers the community. A deviant who defaults in sociating values is deemed a bad person (omoburuku), while the one who sociates is the good person (omoluabi). This theoretical postulation contrasts western social science theories (especially sociological Structuralist (macro) and Social Action (micro) theories), which rather emphasise rationality and individualism (at varied levels depending on the theory). Western social science ethnocentrically depicts African communal and kin ways of life as primitive and antithetical to development. Western social science theories have remained dominant and hegemonic over the years while Akiwowo’s theory is largely unpopular even in Nigerian social science curricula in spite of its potential for providing contextual interpretations for indigenous ways of life that are still very much extant despite dominant western modernity. This article examines the Asuwada Theory within the context of globalised social sciences and the complicated and multifaceted glocal challenges confronting the adoption of the Akiwowo’s epistemic intervention.

Conceptualizing and Framing Realities of Africa’s Development

While development is one of the most popular concepts in Africa and across the world, what development really means may not be as well known as is thought. This is why one of the most abused concepts and issues in scholarship, policy and practice is development; partly because everyone thinks they are a development expert. This challenge becomes even more apparent when the defining and framing of realities of Africa’s development are involved. Until the right conceptualizations and framings are achieved, however, the development of Africa may remain a mirage. It is against this background that this chapter will engage relevant conceptual issues affecting the development of Africa. Popular issues of development will be explored just as the overarching concept of development will be interrogated together with its flipside—sustainable development. Other concepts that will be examined include ‘developed’, ‘underdeveloped’, ‘developing’, and ‘Africa as an underdeveloped continent’ among others. This chapter will be pragmatic, comparative, analytical and discursive in a way that renders it useful as academic, scholarly, policy and practice material.

The roots of division, activism, and civil society in NigeriaAgozinoBiko, Critical, Creative and Centred Scholar-Activism: The Fourth Dimensionalism of Agwuncha Arthur Nwankwo, Fourth Dimension: Enugu, Nigeria, 2016; 248 pp.: ISBN 9782904538KewDarrenCivil Society, Conflict Resolution, and Democracy in Nigeria, Syracuse University Press: Syracuse, NY, 2016; 422 pp.: ISBN 9780815634447, US

Throughout its more than a century history, Nigeria has had a checkered story of ethnicity, divisions, violence, and mutual suspicions. Nigeria’s experience with colonialism engendered a Western-oriented activism and metamorphosis of civil society, which have affected governance in diverse ways. Existing civil society is nonetheless affected by contextual factors such as patronage, corruption, and ethnicism, with internal democratization of civil society groups a major factor that could advance their contribution to governance and local development. Nigeria, however, remains at a crossroads, due to deep-seated ethnic animosity as well as the failure of contemporary activism and civil society to redeem the nation from schismatic ills rooted in its colonial foundations.

49.95BourneRichard, Nigeria: A New History of a Turbulent Century, Zed Books: London, 2015; 320 pp.: ISBN 9781780329079, £24.10

Vulgar lyrics represent a dimension of popular music that has attracted little scholarly attention, especially in Africa. Often described as part of decadent subcultures, vulgar music represents the realm of the socially unwanted and suppressed. In Nigeria in particular, the vulgar music of St. Janet and Olamide contains aspects of what many morally normative consider to be in the realm of explicit and often immorally offensive; its lyrics emphasize penile penetration, the compulsive attraction to and exoticness of women’s breasts and vaginas, as well as forbidden intimacies and justification for spousal infidelity. Even though the vulgar songs of St. Janet and Olamide (Badoo) are censored, they are widely played, are featured in shows both in Nigeria and internationally, and their lyrics enjoy overwhelming support from their fans precisely because of their vulgar language. It is against this background that the study examines St. Janet’s and Olamide’s vulgar music as a dimension of popular culture with overwhelming fan support despite official censorship. This chapter problematizes St. Janet’s and Olamide’s reconstruction of male dominance in heterosexual relations.