KWAME NKRUMAH’S NEO-COLONIALISM AND POVERTY IN AFRICA: A STUDY OF NIGERIA
CHINEDU P. BOSAH, Ph.D
ABSTRACT
Some African states including Nigeria are today independent of colonialism, but they remain heavily dependent and exploited under the effects of internal political failures, neo-colonialism and neo-liberalism. This dependency and exploitation particularly through the activities of Trans National Corporations, adversely affect the living conditions of millions of people in Africa, creating economic hardship and in some cases encouraging political repression. This study therefore investigated Nkrumah’s thought on neo-colonialism and Poverty in Nigeria. The two following research questions guided the study; how has neo-colonialism orchestrated poverty in Nigeria? How has Kwame Nkrumah addressed the issue of neo-colonization and poverty in Africa? This study is qualitative in nature and adopted explanatory research design. The data generated in the course of this study were analyzed using descriptive analysis while dependency Theory served as the theoretical framework of analysis. The study found out that neo-colonialism has made Nigeria to be in theory independent and has all the outward trappings of international sovereignty but in reality, its economic system and political policy is directed from outside. During the course of this study, it was discovered that neo-colonialism as a system of economic, political, military and other relations imposed by the imperialist states on the developing countries has kept Nigeria down within the framework of the capitalist economic system. It is based on the economic backwardness, unequal and dependent states of the neo-colonial countries within the scheme of the world capitalist economic and political systems. Transnational corporations have created unemployment and poverty in Nigeria by usurping the employment opportunities of Nigerians. The study recommends that all the ideas, belief, norms, values, practices, structures and institutions introduced by the respective colonial imperialist powers in Africa before independence, should be dismantled since the colonial days is over in Nigeria. Nigeria should guarantee internal measures to direct their economic systems and political policies internally in order to be free from the shackles of neo-colonialism. The contributions of the indigenous companies should also not be neglected.
Key words: Neo-colonialism, Colonialism, Imperialism, Dependency and Poverty
Abstract: Nigeria has a history of human cum child trafficking. The prevalent sexual trade/ exploitations, child labour, street hawking of Nigerians home and abroad among others; are consequences of this menace. Thus, the paper sought to ascertain the role of the National Agency for the Protection of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) as a tool and the role of education in curbing the increased rate of child trafficking in Nigeria. The paper is exploratory; relied on secondary materials and built around Structural Functionalism theory. It examined the existing practices employed by the agency in order to ascertain its effectiveness in combating the said phenomenon. In doing so, it revealed that Nigeria has undertaken several mechanisms to address human/child trafficking problem within her borders. Nevertheless, it is unlikely that NAPTIP and other mechanisms against human trafficking will be effective without the emphasis on the roles of education. For this reason, the paper recommended, the need for the Nigerian government to ensure that NAPTIP receives sufficient funding for its fights against human trafficking and as well, educational awareness and national campaigns against the menace. More so, there is need to strengthen the borders between Nigeria and her neighbours. In addition, there is need to address the root causes of human trafficking such as the issues of poverty, inequality and conflicts.
Keywords: Child trafficking; Education; Forced Labour; Human Trafficking; NAPTIP
[1]Dr. Anaukwu is a Lecturer II of the Department of Political Science, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria.
[2] Dr. Orji is a Lecturer II of the Department of Political Science, Enugu State University of Science and Technology, Enugu, Nigeria.
CAUSES, EFFECTS AND RESOLUTIONS OF LAND USE CONFLICTS AMONG HERDERS AND FARMERS IN SOUTHWESTERN NIGERIA
aADEYEMI AYOTUNDE ADEWALE (Ph.D), aADEDAYO F. A., bODEDOYIN O., a ADEYEYE M. O. AND CAJAYI O. O.
a Department of Agricultural Education, Osun State College of Education Ila-Orangun
b Internal Audit Unit, Osun State College of Education Ila-Orangun
c Department of Christian and religious studies, Osun State College of Education Ila-Orangun
ACKNOWLEDGMENT: We gratefully acknowledge Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND), NIGERIA for funding this research.
ABSTRACT
The study assessed the frequency and levels of land use conflicts, analysed the causes of land use conflicts, measured the effect of land use conflict on food production, and identified land use conflicts resolution techniques in Osun, Oyo, and Ondo States with a view to examining the effects of land use conflict on food production in Southwestern Nigeria where agricultural land use conflicts have been reported in the past. A multi-stage sampling technique was used. In the first stage, three states were purposely selected based on the reported cases of land use conflicts among herders and farmers and prominence in food crop production. In the second stage, Local Government Areas with the reported cases of agricultural land use conflicts were identified and four LGAs were selected purposely based on their prominence in food crop production and reported cases of land use conflicts. a total of 720 respondents were interviewed using an interview guide with open-ended questions to obtain information about agricultural land use conflicts as well as the means of resolution, and management/mitigation techniques among the people. Data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics, the Multinomial Logit and the Tobit Models. Results showed that households experienced conflicts on 80.6% of the plots at one time or the other. The farmers had conflicts over their plots with family members (11.3% of plots), pastoralists (40.4%) or other farmers (48.3%). There were more conflicts on plots during the period of years 2000-2010 (72.9%) than 1990 – 1999 (27.1%) showing an increase in the frequency of conflicts in recent years. The higher incidence of conflicts during the year 2000 – 2010 was attributed to the emergence of democratic governance that encouraged farmers to openly express their grievances. The most common cause of conflict on plots among farmers was found to be related to the type of access that farmers had to plots (62.0% of the plots) as some access types were more secure than others. Most of the conflicts were resolved through informal means (such as village heads, farmers’ meetings and family heads on 65.6% of the plots). There was lasting peace in only 58.7% of the cases reported though it was claimed that all the land use conflicts had been resolved. The land use conflicts led to disruption of income opportunities, reduced access to land resources, escalation and displacement of households, and lack of tenure security. All these had negative effects on food production abilities of the households in the study area. The study concluded that land use conflicts negatively affected food crop production within the study area. Also, majority of the conflicts were resolved by family heads and village heads and at farmers’ meeting.
KEYWORDS: Land use conflicts, causes, effects, resolutions, herders and farmers
