What is it about?
The causes of the Nigerian governance crisis had been traced by many authors to factors like monolithic oil economy, political and public policy instability, pervasive patrimony and corrupt practices. This article uniquely locates the root of Nigeria’s governance crisis in the queer pattern of the emergence, reinvention, and manipulation of proto-nationalisms characterised not by any nationalistic quest for independence and spatial liberation but one pursued to gain foothold in governance and to partake in its perquisites.
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Why is it important?
We show in this article that the post-colonial nation-states that emerged at independence in many African countries, for the most part, neither followed through with any logical expression of genuine nationalism nor mobilised toward a shared vision of nationhood. This inevitably led to situations in which individuals and groups within the polity soon became locked in contested and irreconcilable positions that further made the construction of a truly nationalistic identity out of range.
Perspectives
The article puts in proper perspective the elitist nature of the decolonisation process in Africa, the uncritical acceptance of the state formation and configurations as dictated by the colonial masters, and the continuance of objectionable ruling patterns of the erstwhile European colonisers after independences. This, among others, set the pace for the present governance crisis in Nigeria and elsewhere.
Dr. Taiwo A. Olaiya
Obafemi Awolowo University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Proto-Nationalisms as Sub-Text for the Crisis of Governance in Nigeria, SAGE Open, April 2016, SAGE Publications,
DOI: 10.1177/2158244016643139.
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