Book Title: Governance and Security in Nigeria's Fourth Republic
Editors: V. Adefemi Isumonah and Nathaniel Umukoro
Publisher: Routledge/Taylor and Francis
Synopsis:
Good governance helps to ensure the actualization of goals such as maintenance of peace and security. Good governance is, then, the active and productive cooperation between the state and citizens in which participatory political administration is key (Keping, 2017). As Kaufmann, Kray & Zoido-Lobaton, (1999:1–2) have argued, good governance depends on (1) the process of constituting a government, monitoring and replacement based on democratic principles; (2) the capacity of the government to effectively formulate and implement sound policies, and (3) the respect of the citizens and the state for the institutions that govern economic and social interactions among them. Six elements of good governance that can be derived from these fundamental principles essential to securing peace and security are legitimacy, transparency, accountability, rule of law, responsiveness and effectiveness. To illustrate, adherence to the rule of law protects personal and civil liberties as well as gender equity and ensures public safety and security with equal access to justice for all.
When a state lacks the conditions for good governance, the outcome is invariably insecurity. This is implied in the view of conflict studies that formal democratic institutions are the state’s most important vehicle for reducing deprivation-motivated armed conflict against their governments. Hence, improvement in governance is expected to reduce the incidence of violent conflict (Håvard Hegre, Håvard Mokleiv Nygård, 2014). It is against this background that the restoration of democratic rule in Nigeria in 1999 beamed the hope for positive changes that would make a difference in predisposing social or economic engagement to tension and conflict under military rule especially of the General Abacha type (1993-1998).
But how has Nigeria measured up to good governance index? A number of studies have shown that Nigeria has poor governance indicators. For example, the 2020 Ibrahim Index of African Governance (IIAG) of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, ranked Nigeria 34 out of 54 countries. The ranking was based on Security and Rule of Law, Participation, Human Rights and Inclusion. To be precise, Nigeria scored 45.5 points out of 100 and declined by -1.6 in overall governance behind the previous year. The report also shows that the country declined over the last 10 years, with the rate of decline increasing over the last five years. It classified Nigeria amongst 13 other countries that the IIAG classified as ‘increasing deterioration,’ which was the lowest classification.
How may we account for the worsening security situation in Nigeria? How much responsibility can we place at the doorstep of governance for the diverse security challenges in Nigeria since 1999? Answers to such questions may be approached by juxtaposing different governance indicators and various dimensions of security, that is, physical security, economic security, food security, energy security, etc. If there is a correlation between good governance and security or insecurity, the proposed book explores the contributions of the quality of governance to Nigeria’s mounting insecurity since 1999. The contribution this book will make is different from other books on security in Nigeria because it attempts to connect governance indicators with security (or insecurity) using current security situations and responses of the Nigerian state.
Consequently, the editors request chapter contributions related to any of the following sub-themes:
- Theoretical perspectives on governance and security
- Critical analysis of Nigeria’s governance indicators
- Public policy measures for managing security challenges in Nigeria
- Security Agencies and implementation of security policies
- Governance and political security
- Governance and economic security
- Governance and health security
- Governance and environmental security
- Governance and personal security
- Governance and community security
- Governance and Food Security
- Governance and energy security
- Governance and gender-based violence
- Governance and cyber security
- Governance and maritime security
- Governance and security challenges in educational institutions
- Governance and the safety of health workers during pandemics
- Governance and security of Nigerians in Diaspora
- Governance and Insecurity in Northern Nigeria
- Governance and Insecurity in the Niger Delta of Nigeria
- Assessment of responses of international institutions to security challenges in Nigeria
- Strategies for improving the security situation in Nigeria
NB: Contributors are free to develop their papers on issues related to any of the above sub-themes. There will be no publication fee.
Timelines:
February 25, 2023: Submission of abstract of proposed papers to the editors
February 28, 2023: Notification of Acceptance or rejection of abstract
June 15, 2023: Submission of draft chapters to the editors
July 15, 2023: Peer review decision sent to authors
August 15, 2023: Final Chapters Submitted to the editors
September 30, 2023: Book manuscript submitted to publisher.
Please send your proposal to: governance2020ng@gmail.com
References
Håvard H. and Håvard, M.N. (2014), Governance and Conflict Relapse. (59):984-1016
Kaufmann, D. Kraay, A, and Mastruzzi, M. (2006), Governance Matters V: Aggregate and individual governance indicators for 1996–2005. Washington DC: The World Bank. (Policy Research Working Paper Series No. 4012).
Keping, Y. (2017) Governance and Good Governance: A New Framework
for Political Analysis. Fudan Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences, 11: 1–8(2018). -
Biography of the Authors
V. Adefemi Isumonah is a professor of political science at the University of Ibadan. He is a recipient of several academic awards and fellowships, He is the author of numerous scholarly articles and book chapters on governance and political economy of Africa and co-author of Confronting Islamist Terrorism in Africa: The Cases of Nigeria and Kenya and Federal Presence in Nigeria: The Sung and Unsung Basis of Ethnic Grievance. His recent article in the Journal of Territorial and Maritime Studies (JTMS), Winter/Spring 2023, Vol. 10, No. 1, pp. 59-77 is “Political Development Narrative of Africa’s Physical Space: The Case of Nigeria.”
Nathaniel Umukoro is a Professor of Security Studies, Conflict Transformation, and International Relations. He is the Director of the Institute of Delta and Development Studies at Western Delta University, Nigeria. He was a 2022 Humboldt fellow at the University of Bayreuth, Germany and 2013-2015 fellow of the Social Science Research Council, New York.