Lucky Asuelime

Boko Haram Insurgency and the Widening of Cleavages in Nigeria

ABSTRACT The Boko Haram terrorist group’s philosophy and activities have been subjected to different interpretations among the Nigerian populace. Such interpretations follow traditional lines of ethnic, regional, cultural, and religious cleavages in Nigeria. Some perceive it as war by Muslims against Christians, some as a sponsored conspiracy against the Muslim North, and others interpret it as the Northern war against the emergence of President Jonathan from the south-south geopolitical zone. A few regard it as a generic name for criminal gangs in Northern Nigeria. While overwhelming opinions in the south tilt toward a scorched-earth policy to counter Boko Haram, much of the north favors dialogue. One of the implications of these responses is the widening of already existing cleavages in Nigerian society, thereby further undermining efforts at building unity and coexistence among Nigeria’s varying nationalities.

Expanding the Frontiers of Africa’s Political Environment

Africa has a long, and contemporary, record of political instability. Any political history of the continent of Africa is incomplete without contextual accounts of these exchanges; that is, processes in which governments are overthrown, borders are shifted, countless human lives lost, property and infrastructure worth millions irreplaceably damaged, the displacement of untold numbers of innocent people, and economic meltdown. These issues beckon questions about the political development of African states. In this volume, authors explore a range of political and conflict situations, discuss efforts to develop indigenous conflict resolution mechanisms and consider some of the key political and economic issues facing the continent. Despite the challenges Africa faces, global economic indicators have indicated that Africa is on the rise in terms of economic growth and political development. In this edited collection we present a multi-disciplinary approach to selected issues in African studies on the key themes covering conflict resolution, indigenous peer review mechanism and functional developments, capitalism, and political foundations of educational development in Africa.

Expanding the Frontiers of African Development Studies

A growing number of scholars acknowledge the interconnectedness of the myriad of problems and prospects across Africa as a relevant part of global development discourse. Given the ever-increasing importance of knowledge for the scholarly agenda and practice of African Studies, we present a picture of contemporary issues in African development. Although, this volume is focused on development issues, it presents in one volume a multi-disciplinary deeply contextual text on the important themes in development studies covering land questions, housing, water, health, economic liberalization, climate, environment, and gender. Though Africa’s problems transcend these basic sector issues, they still remain at the core of development given the fact that many in Africa are food insecure, have poor access to health, water, housing, and are increasingly affected by global environmental change and global neoliberal economic policies. These themes are a microcosm in the general understanding and study of global development issues that confront humanity. This is hoped will lead to novel analytical frameworks, the emergence of new conceptual approaches, and empirical accounts of relevance to scholars studying Africa as well as practitioners in African development and policy makers.