Plan
1) Introduction
General overview of the Federal Republic of Nigeria with regard to its political history and the concept of its geopolitics.
Max Webber’s concepts on the state and how they apply in Nigeria
How John Stuart Mill’s Concepts on nationality are reflected in Nigeria
2) Geopolitical characteristics of Nigeria
The main geopolitical zones and their historical origin
The basis for the division of these geopolitical zones based on John Stuart Mill’s concepts on nationality
How Max Webber’s concepts on the state apply in Nigeria
How the country’s political, economic, and educational resources are shared effectively within these zones
How different the geopolitical zones are compared to the zones that defined these regions in the past.
3) The source of economic power in Nigeria
The importance of oil to Nigeria’s economy
The importance of the United States as the greatest consumer of Nigeria’s oil and how this business relationship is a potential source of sanctions
How the business relation between Nigeria and the U.S has stagnated growth in other sectors of the economy.
How investments in oil have facilitated military and police dictatorship
How the key participants in the oil business have used their power in disregarding human rights and in degrading the environment
4) The source of the military power
How senior officers influence the military
How the military rule puts democracy in danger by using threat of force
5) The source of political power in the region
The liberal model of democracy
How democracy is threatened by dictatorship and military interference
6) The source of ideological power in the region
Use of transformational agendas to influence people’s preferences
Nigerian political parties
Ratzel organic theory
7) The main challenges facing the sources of social power. That is, the political, military, economic and ideological sources.
Neglect of other sectors of the economy by focusing on oil
Decline in other sectors of the economy mainly agriculture
Reduction in unemployment numbers and donor funds to other sectors of the economy
8) Conclusion
Globalization and Politics in Nigeria
Geopolitics refers to the study of international relations from a geographical or spatial perspective with the main focus being on power and political strategy of a given state. Initially, the country was colonized by the British people in 1960 and thus, it celebrates its national day every year on the 1st of October. Nigeria has survived a wide array of events including political ones over the last decades. Just after it gained independence, the country experienced powerful military and political coups. The country also experienced violence fights and disputes for three years which was worsened by the tribal differences among its people. The war was the basis of the great changes in the whole governmental foundations. The people that make up Nigeria’s nationality have been brought together by common sympathies which do not exist between them and any other people. Their fight for independence is in line with John Stuart Mill’s concepts of nationality where people’s cooperation is fuelled by the desire to be under one government. That government should be made up of themselves or a portion of themselves exclusively. All these were realized when they gained independence. The “second republic” came to an end in 1993 when a native of the Yoruba tribe won the elections (Kifordu, 2011). The country is a multi-party republic with a formal government system of government. According to the German sociologist Max Webber (1864 – 1920), a state should have institutions like parliament, government department, the police and many more. It should also exercise sovereign power and superiority over its inhabitants. This is also the case in Nigeria’s 36 states since they all have government departments and the police which help to run the affairs of the state. The country also has one sovereign president who exercises superiority over its inhabitants. This paper seeks to apply a geopolitical approach in analyzing the globalization and politics of Nigeria.
Nigeria is divided into six geopolitical zones which were established during the reign of President Ibrahim Badamasi Babaginda. The country’s political, economic and education resources are shared across these zones. The zones were established based on the state similarities of ethnic groups, cultures, and a common history. Thus, regions that have these common characteristics were grouped together into one zone. Also, the feeling of nationality for the members in these zones has been generated by the effect of descent or race, language and geographical limitations. All these are in line with John Stuart Mill’s concepts on nationality. The country is diverse since it has 450 languages from about 400 ethnic groups. Hence, it was important that a government be put in place so as to combine similar groups which would make it easier to allocate resources effectively (Kifordu, 2011). Many individuals and groups including the National Congress and the Renewal Movement have campaigned for the recognition of these zones in the country’s constitution. These individuals and groups have also voiced their opinions regarding the strengthening of these zones so that they can function as federating entities in Nigeria’s new structure. Some of the activists are of the opinion that the country will only become one entity if these geopolitical zones are recognized in the constitution. Thus, they keep pushing for the devolution of powers which will enable the geopolitical zones to become independent and to manage their resources within their zones in a Federal Nigeria (Okolo and Etekpe, 2015).
The Federal Republic of Nigeria has 36 states which is notably higher than the three regions that defined it in 1996. The six geopolitical zones are not constitutional or official but they still define the country’s federalism. These regions provide the foundation on which the national politics is based. The zones include the south-west (six states), the south-south (six states), the south-east (five states), the north-central ( six states including Abuja which is the capital city), the north-east ( six states), and the north-west ( seven states). The zones have common historical, religious, and ethnic harmony. However, all these zones including the most religiously and ethnically homogenous ones have still gone through a phase of communal violence. Thus, the zones are much similar to the three and four-region structure that failed in the past. Each zone has its own specific common agonies that habitually culminate in the destruction of life and property (Okolo and Etekpe, 2015). This is a saturnine actualization of the federal character dogma.
Nigeria is credited for being the largest oil exporting country in Africa and this is its greatest source of economic power. The economic growth is resource based and is driven by the production and exploration of oil. The country draws most of its revenue from the large crude oil resources and this has been the greatest driver for its monolithic economy for years. The country has for more than a decade now enjoyed high levels of relative political stability, human development, and economic growth and these have impacted positively on the economy. This owes to the fact that Africa’s economic nerve center shifted to the north in 2015 when Nigeria surpassed South Africa as the country with the largest Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This is a great indicator of the regions emerging economic power that has nothing to do with the size of the population or the distribution of wealth (Anugwom, 2006). This positive growth can be credited to the country’s business in oil.
Oil has been a great booster of the Nigerian economy. However, the revenues from oil have also played a great role in facilitating military dictatorship. The United States is the largest market for the country’s oil and it buys between 35 and 45 percent of the total oil produced each year. The country’s human rights report by the State Department in 1996 revealed that all security forces in the region widespread and systematic abuses of human rights. The Shell Police stood out as the most brutal. In one incident, the Shell Police are aid to have paid a taskforce to disrupt peaceful Ogoni demonstrators who were protesting against the Shell pipeline opened fire (Adewumi, 2012). Consequently, one person was killed and several others injured. Shell has also caused a lot of damage to the Niger River Delta due to the constant gas flaring and the numerous oil spills which expose thousands of people to serious health hazards. The economic superiority enjoyed by Shell brings out a clear picture of vicious military occupation and environmental devastation brought about by economic superiority (Anugwom, 2006).
The human rights and democratic movements in Nigeria have constantly campaigned for oil sanctions with the hope of releasing political prisoners and to return the military back to the barracks. The private sector has dismissed these calls by terming them as functionally ineffective, politically impractical, and unwise. Most people believe that the private sector is only focused on their self-interests and that these sanctions could actually help the country. For instance, Nigeria can find new markets in Asia after sometime and hopefully recover the lost sales in Europe and the U.S. Nigeria’s regime absolutely depends on oil exports and the U.S is the dominant consumer of this export (Kifordu, 2011). Thus, if the U.S can seriously hurt the Nigerian economy if they choose to impose sanctions on them due to their high dominance in the Nigerian economy.
The military is an important component of any given society that aids in stabilizing societies by protecting the territorial integrity of the given region. In some instances, the military does the unusual when they abandon their main responsibilities and take over the given state that they are supposed to protect. The country first experienced military power in 1966 when military officers overthrew Abubakar Tafawa Balewa who was the then elected Prime Minister. The source of the military power at the time was the senior officers. The military has for a long time treated civilians as their enemies and thus, their reign is always ruthless. Also, when they ascend to power, they are often confronted with the issue on how long they have to remain in power (Babatunde, 2015). Thus, they have on most instances failed to keep the timeframe for transition from military to civilian rule.
The military and the world view of democratic values and culture have always conflicted and this is evident in the kind of power expressed in the military rule. Military power is based on their organization and the importance of being loyal to the group. Their power also comes from their emphasis on hierarchy, obedience, discipline and order. This is very different from democracy which allows people to think and to express themselves freely. Thus, when the military ascend to power mostly during war, they mostly go against the liberal democratic values (Babatunde, 2015). At such times, the military puts democracy on danger by acting contrary to the structure, purposes, values, and norms of democracy.
The political power in Nigeria is based on a liberal model of democracy that emphasizes on electoral competition with high levels of inequalities between individuals and groups. The power is also fuelled by the authoritarian kind of state where people vote from among the contending oppressors. Democracy and good governance is always threatened by the poor social conditions coupled with the problematic civil society. Liberal democracy goes beyond free and fair elections. Rather, it requires some form of power that is not directly or indirectly answerable for the electorate and high levels of integrity and responsibility from the office holders. When politicians allow a fraction of the military people to get involved in politics through the juicy appointments, then they cause social tensions and divisions.
The source of the ideological power is the empty slogans that politicians use when they seek to be elected into office. The most famous of this are the transformation agendas where people are given unrealistic expectations that are influenced by the desperate situations at the moment. Thus, they get to believe in the impossible and shift their preference to the person who sounds most convincing based on their agendas. For instance, a presidential aspirant may talk of creating numerous jobs to accommodate jobless graduates and school dropouts. However, most of these graduates may be unemployable due to the poor quality of the institutions that they were affiliated to. Also, the aspirant may not even have a concrete plan for creating these jobs with regard to the amount of money needed and the source or resources that will be required (Kifordu, 2011). Thus, when these people are elected, they quickly shift their focus to their own gains and forget about the people that voted for them.
Political parties in Nigeria are driven by ideologies. Contrary to perception, most political parties in the country have ideologies. In the past, there was little commitment to ideologies as politicians sought elective positions on the basis of ethnicity. Today, ideologies have shaped people’s loyalty to certain political parties. For example, the All Progressive Congress (APC) is recognized as Federalist Party. The focal point of this party has been sharing of resources between the federal and state governments. On the other hand, the PDP is regarded as a centralist party. The party pushes for the concentration of power with the national government. Devolution is entrenched in APC’s constitution. The party hopes to give power to state governments so that they can reform the bankrupt and centralized police and defense system.
The country’s focus on oil as the main economic driver has resulted in neglect of other important economic sectors like agriculture. This sector of the economy has suffered from lack of basic infrastructure, neglect, government policies that are poorly conceived, and years of mismanagement. This is an important part of the economy since it accounts for two-thirds of employment and over 26 percent of GDP. The country is no longer the largest exporter of palm oil, rubber, groundnuts, and cocoa. Also, it is no longer regarded as Africa’s targets corporate poultry output. The country is thus exposed to import constraints which limit the availability of food and agricultural processing inputs for many sectors including poultry. This high dependency on oil has thus influenced farmers to shift their attention to what investments in the oil business can do (Suberu, 2015). Consequently, other sectors of the economy suffer as a result.
Over the years, the economic decline of agriculture and other notable players in the economy have become increasingly insignificant. This is evident in inflation and rising food prices, worsening living conditions in the rural regions, decline in earnings from agricultural exports, increased imports of agricultural raw materials for the local industries, and increased food imports. The numbers of people that have been employed in these economic sectors have also reduced over the years. Research and development in to help improve this sector has not been adequate and has suffered from lack of motivation, facilities and trained personnel. In Nigeria, just like in any African country, donor funded research still reigns. Thus, the country has not successfully built local expertise and research traditions (Suberu, 2015). The benefits from have in most cases been limited to individual project mostly those that deal in oil exploration and the associated technologies.
According to Ratzel’s organic theory, the state is an organism attached to the earth. Because of this attachment, it must compete with other states to survive. In this regard, Nigeria is an organism that competes with other organisms (neighboring countries) on matters such as such economy, health and education for the betterment of her people. Countries (organisms) that reform their systems do well compared to countries that fail to strengthen institutions and the rule of law. Comparatively, Nigeria is the leading economy in Africa. However, the country’s economic lead is only felt by a small section of the population since millions of Nigerians wallow in poverty and neglect. Nigeria’s failure to harness her potential has been attributed to country’s collapsed institutions and absence of the rule of law.
Generally, geopolitics focuses on the political strategies and powers of a given state. Nigeria, just like most African countries has gone through various phases of leadership which has mostly oscillated between military rule and civilian rule. Nigeria is a federal republic that fairly combines the instruments of hard power through military and economic power and soft power by influencing the preferences of others. Thus, the country exercises smart power. The military rule has often been that of dictatorship where people have been viewed as enemies and thus their rights have been violated on most occasions. The economic power and dominance is mostly attributed to oil which is credited for a great proportion of the economic growth in the region. However, the main dealers in the oil business have violated the rights of human beings on most occasions and degraded the environment at will. The U.S has also gained ultimate dominance over Nigeria’s economy to the point where the relationship can be viewed as a dictatorship. Most of the oil is exported to the U.S and this implies that a great proportion of the profits come from the selling of oil to the U.S. The main source of ideological power in this region is the transformative agenda that has always been an integral part of the campaign agenda. People have always been swayed to prefer a given candidate over another based on unrealistic and unattainable beliefs.
References
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