Udogu, E. Ike

Nigeria and the Politics of Survival as a Nation State

1997 0-7734-8785-9
This work addresses the struggles and strategies applied by the civilian and military administrations to resolve the issue of political instability in Africa's most populous nation. It examines its political history as an entity before Britain colonized the area, and the constitutional developments since 1914 when Britain amalgamated the northern and southern regions to form modern Nigeria. In over three decades of sovereignty, the government has changed from civilian to military two times. It has experimented with the Westminster model and the American presidential system. They have not worked, and the military has been in power for over twenty-five years as a result of the failure of the political class to govern effectively. This book not only chronicles Nigeria's political saga since independence in 1960, but also provides possible solutions for the attainment of political stability.