Chike Osegbue

The paper primarily on thematic analyses of extant relevant literatures, examined the political economy of Nigeria’s’ trade performance under Cotonou agreement. The growth and dominance of regional integration blocs within the global community encouraged the establishment of Cotonou Partnership Agreement especially the provisions on trade. Indeed, the expansion of the EC from its original six members to Twelve and then Twenty-eight members, the formation of the North American Free Trade Area, championed by the United States and including Canada and Mexico and the Asia Pacific Economic Forum exemplify the global consciousness around the idea of bringing about a community of free trade areas in the world. The aim is to establish a form of free trade area between these blocs and Africa. Africa’s products will be allowed to enter these markets free of duty provided African countries are able and willing to reciprocate. In other words, under this initiative, the principle of reciprocity ...

There is an overwhelming fear among the ECOWAS countries about the effects of unrestricted access into their markets for EU products. The fear is no doubt a genuine one and it could be a threat to West African integration. The point needs to be made that trade liberalization components of the EPA are not the same as those of ECOWAS in terms of goals, orientation and focus.  For example, while trade liberalization is an important aspect of both, its aim differs under the two. Under the EPA trade, liberalization is expected to move ECOWAS towards a WTO-compatible trade regime in its relationship with the EU. This has implications for the objectives of the ECOWAS trade liberalization programme especially the rules of origin which form the basis of the free movements of community originating products. The establishment of a CET, which is a key integration instrument, is antithetical to WTO-compatible trade regime with emphasis on reciprocity. This paper is essentially an opinion paper a...

<em>This study examined the current challenges facing federalism in Nigeria and how it had hampered unity and development. The origin of federalism in Nigeria was traced to Littleton constitution of 1954, which bestowed on regional governments powers to generate and utilize funds at their own discretion and then pay royalties to the central government. During this period (1954-1969), each region was economically viable and was able to develop at their own pace. However, the problem with Nigerian federalism started when the military intercepted the first republic and introduced centralized federalism characterized with greater allocation of source of generating revenue to the central government, ethnic rivalries, secession threat, minority agitations, corruption and demand for state creation. All these problems had their roots on wrong application of the principles of true federalism. Based on these problems, this paper proffered redistribution of powers to enable each federating unit operates and develop independent of central government. Also, to redress structural imbalance that has encouraged sectional dominance and over dependence on the federal authority for revenue. To achieve that, the paper used thematic analyses as information were generated through the secondary sources. The paper found amongst others that, federalism in Nigeria exists only in paper and not in reality. We therefore, recommend for a total restructure of the entire geographical locations so as to accommodate the dissent tribes that is today, clamoring for independence</em>

The impact of the global economic crisis on sub-Saharan Africa has been overwhelming. Average economic growth declined from about 6% per year from 2006-2008 to 2.5% in 2009 with per capita Gross domestic product (GDP) growth coming to a halt. Many African economies remain reliant on primary commodity exports which have rendered it vulnerable to external shocks. This paper analyzes the mechanism through which the crisis is affecting Africa and provides information on international and intra-African responses to the crisis. A qualitative mechanism of data collection and analysis has been adopted. The paper contends that the wider global political economy is exercising a modulating and a potentially restraining influence on the capacity of trade to act as an “engine of growth” in Africa. Hence, there is an urgent need for the state in Africa to articulate macroeconomic policies that will build its capacity to key into the global value chain.

What is popularly known about Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe (Zik) is his genuine commitment to, and passion, for achieving decolonization and freedom in Africa. This is depicted by the nationalist cross which he painstakingly bore for Africans. With greater freedom, Zik believes, economic wealth could become fairly guaranteed for the people. Stricto sensus, his political ideas are the product of the authoritarian social and material contexts, which inspired, motivated and quickened his imagination, to which he responded with keen nationalist sensitivity and fully expressed in political erudition and sagacity. What this simply means is that the context of Azikiwe’s political ideas was woven around the prevailing and pervasive contradictions of the colonial state in Africa and Nigeria, characterized by servitude, economic dependency, political domination and colonial exploitation, mass illiteracy, mass poverty, ignorance, fear and superstition, culminating in inferiority complex, which character...

Communal conflict has manifested itself as the most pandemic issue next to ethno-religious conflict in Nigeria with ownership, access to and use of land as the driver of the conflict. Communal conflict exists in all the geopolitical zones of the country though the character of the conflicts may differ between these zones.  In Northern Nigeria for instance, while the character of the conflict revolves around farmers and herders, indigene-settler issues which occurs either in pure form and sometimes colored with ethnicity, in Southern Nigeria it is a combination of indigene-settler issues; farmer-Fulani herdsmen and political resource allocation. It is observed that most communal conflicts display clearly the paralysis of dialogue between political elites as well as the presence of fundamental socioeconomic and political grievances which divide societal groups. To this end the long term objective of this paper is to take the study of communal conflicts beyond the intractability and fr...