Urban Development and Renewal in Nigeria: The Potency of Public Private Partnership

Urban growth and renewal, which is an essential element of sustainable urban development, is inevitably influenced by general conditions including globalization and demographic change. Urban development initiatives also face changing demands on infrastructure generally and towns and cities expectedly undergo phases of growth, stagnation, decline and revitalization. As a consequence, the tasks of urban renewal, urban expansion is an uphill and a daunting one. This study therefore examines the potency of public/private partnership as a strategy/for accelerating the implementation of high quality urban development and renewal projects. This is expedient because the public/private partnership option is expected to play a complimentary role in meeting the challenges posed by urban development and renewal, especially given the peculiarity of the Nigerian climate that is typified by lack of commitment by government to infrastructural development and maintenance and the accompanying urban decay that has become common place. This study which utilized relevant secondary sources of data argues that the low level of public/private partnership in Nigeria is largely a product of the existing climate of poor collaboration. This study subsequently posits that the efficacy of public/private partnership initiatives in Nigeria is constrained by the existing climate of poor commitment by government to urban development and renewal issues that has engineered an unfavourable predisposition by the private sector in this regard. The study resultantly hinged the workability of the public/private partnership option vis-à-vis the urban development and renewal dilemma in Nigeria on the dismantling of the permeating climate. The paper concluded with some useful remarks. Keywords: urban development, renewal, public/private partnership, Nigeria

Sustainable Development in Nigeria: The Policy Gap and Action Dilemma

Central to sustainable development, is efficient and effective natural resource management which encapsulates economic, social and environmental components and requires societies to pursue growth paths that generate optimal flow of income built on the twin principles of justice and equity. In Nigeria, sustainable development requires an integrated and inter-disciplinary policy planning and management which transcend the parochial legal, political, environmental, economic and ethical boundaries. This policy approach has become a desideratum, given the growing global concern that human activities increasingly threaten the health of natural systems that is at the heart of sustainable development. This study  which utilized valuable secondary sources of data examines the sustainable development question in Nigeria and contends that policy gaps and disconnect and the ensuing action dilemma have the potency of constraining the actualization of sustainable development efforts with the possibility of environmental crisis. The study therefore recommended among others an inter-disciplinary policy approach, action programme and governmental/private sector collaboration. Keywords: Sustainable Development, Policy Gap and Action Dilemma

Pay Reward System Management and Staff Performance in Nigeria: A Study of the Delta State Civil Service

This study examines pay reward system management and staff performance in Nigeria: using the Delta sate civil service as a focus. The data utilized in this study were obtained from both primary and secondary sources. While the primary data were derived from focus group discussions, the secondary data were obtained from relevant textbooks, journals and government documents. The findings of the study indicate that the incongruence of the pay reward system of the Delta state civil service and the central guiding principles of fairness, costs of living and moderation, the in-grained culture of poor performance and the dysfunctional employee mode of entry have negatively impacted on the performance of staff. The study made some useful recommendations including the exigency of a fair, moderate, dynamic pay reward system that should be reflective of the prevailing societal costs of living, the dismantling of the culture of poor performance and a merit-based employee entry practice. Key words: Pay Reward System, Management, Staff Performance, Nigeri

Institutional Decay and Religious Proliferation in Nigeria: A Critical Examination

Institutions are inevitably critical to the functioning of societies. In the face of religious proliferation in Nigeria, institutional decay is common place. The level of decay is not only frightening, worrisome, endemic and ingrained; it is gradually threatening the legitimacy, rationality and functionality of religion as the threshold of moral formation, attitudinal change and behavioural transformation in Nigeria. This paper therefore examined the relationship between institutional decay and religious proliferation and the role that religious proliferation has played in the erosion of morality in the Nigerian society. This paper, which utilized relevant secondary sources of data, contended that religious  proliferation has culminated in mere formalism, sterility, powerlessness such that; rather than strengthening the moral fabric of the Nigerian society, it has become incapacitated and, as a consequence, it is itself a channel and a facilitator of decay. The paper concluded with some useful recommendations including the exigency of a sense of cohesion and collaboration among religious groups so as to forge a united front for the creation and sustenance of a genial climate that will facilitate individual and institutional transformation through societal value re-orientation, attitudinal change and behavioral re-predisposition. Keywords: institution, decay, religious proliferation, Nigeri

Political Gender Equality in Nigeria: The Other Side of the Coin

Promoting gender equality has become a recognized and an acceptable reality and trend globally. In Nigeria, gender issues have been identified as central to the accomplishment of national development goals and objectives. Although, the policy is designed to bring a gender perspective into all facets of planning, including developing legislation that will address the inequalities between women and men in Nigeria, the dysfunctional role of the political sphere of the gender policy question that seeks to balance the power relations between men and women has been largely ignored and relatively unstudied. This paper therefore attempts an examination of the dysfunctional role of political gender equality both at the micro (family) and macro (society) levels in Nigeria. The paper, which utilized valuable secondary sources of data, contends that the political equality drive in Nigeria will accentuate the family and social dislocation that industrialization and its concomitant family pressures have created. The paper further argues that, the existing gaps in the Nigerian family setting occasioned by the abdication of the God-given, natural, home-keeping responsibilities of the women will be further complicated by the full-blown women empowerment typified by complete access to the political space in Nigeria. This paper equally asserts that the myriad of social problems manifesting in armed robbery, prostitution and youth restiveness will become hydra-headed. This assertion derives from the thinking that the core values that promote the sound functioning of the family and strengthen the fabric of society are gradually and steadily decaying and eroding. The paper concluded with some useful remarks. Keywords: political gender equality, Nigeria, the other side

The Democracy/Environmental Justice Challenge in Nigeria’s Niger Delta and the Developmental Leadership and Governance Culture Imperative

Managing the democracy/environmental challenge in Nigeria’s Niger Delta is a daunting and herculean task. This is because the country’s failed democratic enterprise and its weak, poor and shallow democratic institutions have largely denied the region the access to the developmental opportunities and benefits (food and human security, socio-economic assistance and empowerment, development-oriented programmes including educational scholarships, skills acquisition, small and medium scale businesses and massive infrastructural development ) that are derivable from the large scale oil exploration, exploitation and production activities, despite the multi-dimensional socio-economic threats faced and costs (environmental pollution and degradation, unemployment, social and economic dislocation and crime) borne by the region. This study which examines the democracy/environmental justice challenge in the Niger Delta derived its data from valuable secondary sources. The study contends that managing the democracy/environmental justice challenge in Nigeria’s oil region that is faced with crisis prone under-development predicaments requires, as a matter of exigency, a true and genuine developmental leadership and governance culture and agenda. The study concluded with some useful remarks Keywords: Democracy, environmental injustice, leadership and governance cultur

Gender Equality and Women Empowerment in Nigeria: The Desirability and Inevitability of a Pragmatic Approach

Promoting gender equality has become a globally recognized and an acceptable reality. Gender issues have also been identified as critical to the achievement of national development goals. In fact, the attainment of gender equality is not only seen as an end in itself it is equally a catalyst to, and a sine-qua-non for the achievement of sustainable development. This paper which attempted an assessment of the level of attainment of gender parity and women empowerment using three critical indicators namely: enrolment in education at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels, employment and political decision-making, utilized valuable secondary sources of data. The paper which argues that, at the heart of the problematic of gender disparity in Nigeria, is the action dilemma by the Nigerian government which has compounded the problem of expanding the capacity level that is required to enhance the opportunity of accommodating the varying needs of both male and female gender also contends that the attainment of gender equality in Nigeria which is already time-barred, will be a mirage due to multi-dimensional constraining factors. This paper which subsequently hinged the actualization of gender equality and women empowerment on tile desirability and inevitability of a pragmatic approach, concluded with some useful remarks. Keywords: Gender equality, women empowerment, Nigeria, pragmatic approach.

The Operations of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria and Discriminatory Monopoly

Efficient and effective electricity generation, transmission and distribution are critical to national development in both developed and developing societies. This study examines the constraining role of the prevailing discriminatory monopolistic environment in the actualization of adequate and sustained power supply in Nigeria. The data utilized in this study were derived from both primary and secondary sources. While the primary data were obtained from focused group discussions, the secondary data were sourced from relevant text books, journals and available statistics on electricity generation and supply in Nigeria. The findings of the study reveals that the discriminatory monopolistic environment typified by near absence of competition and poor service culture have severely constrained the much-desired adequate electricity generation capacity and effective service delivery in Nigeria. Finally, the study recommends among others that the Power Holding Company of Nigeria should operate in a competitive industrial environment where there exists a service culture. Key words: Operations, discriminatory monopoly, Power Holding Company, Nigeria

The Political Economy of Poverty Eradication in Nigeria: The Perilous and Tortuous Journey for Mdgs

Poverty remains an onerous task and a tremendous challenge that has proved somewhat insurmountable globally. Poverty is also an excruciating and agonizing reality in sub-Saharan Africa and in Nigeria, poverty has become a vicious cycle and in the face of the multiplicity of policies, strategies and programmes, there is yet no answer to the pervasive plague, nor is there any marked progress towards reducing poverty, let alone eradicating it. This study examines the problems of the political economy nature and character of the manipulation of the perceived or assumed real efforts at eradicating poverty in pursuance of the landmark Millennium Development Goals in Nigeria. The study derived its data from valuable secondary sources and adopted apolitical economy conceptual framework. The study equally posits that the failure, dysfunctionality and inefficacy of poverty reduction and eradication efforts in Nigeria are largely a deliberate design by the leadership and governing class. Furthermore, the paper opined that the journey towards the actualization of the Millennium Development Goal of poverty eradication in Nigeria is perilous, tortuous and foggy. The study concluded with some useful recommendations including structural and institutional reforms that will create a genial climate in order to engineer a strategically systematic, pragmatic, coherent and integrated approach to poverty reduction and elimination policies and action programmes with effective and coordinated public/private sector partnership in Nigeria. Keywords: political economy, poverty eradication, Nigeria, MDGs

Globalization and Corruption in Nigeria

Globalization has become a recognized reality despite the polemics on the usefulness and essence of the multi-dimensional phenomenon. This study which examines the nexus between globalization and corruption in Nigeria contends that while globalization has the potency and capacity of accentuating and exacerbating the occurrence and effect of corruption, the real problem of corruption in Nigeria is the structural and institutional failure of the Nigerian state manifesting at two levels: the inability to provide a responsible and accountable leadership accompanied by true citizenship participation and empowerment and the poor capacity to confront and tackle the increasing menace of corruption. This study relies on valuable secondary sources of data and adopts a qualitative method. The study concludes with some useful recommendations including institutional and trans-boundary frameworks and mechanisms as well as attitudinal re-orientation. Keywords: Globalization, corruption, multi-dimensional dimension, Nigeria