Reinventing Africa for the Challenges of the Twenty-First Century By Professor Julius O. Ihonvbere, OON, OGI Being Text of the 2010 Annual Public Lecture of the Centre for Black and African Arts and Civilisation (CBAAC), Lagos, 22nd July, 2010 It is a great pleasure to be here with you all today and I thank CBAAC […]
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Democracy is also about human, especially socio-economic and cultural rights, due process, accountability, fiscal discipline, transparency and the careful but targeted deployment of scarce resources to meeting the basic needs of the majority of the people. Let me add that democracy is about ensuring a steady and qualitative improvement in the lives of the people, in their socio-economic, political, cultural and spiritual development, the protection of their environment, the decolonisation of their minds, and putting the people in the middle of holistic and sustainable growth and development.
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The issue before us is economic bliss and good governance. I have changed it to good governance and economic bliss because it is good governance that makes economic bliss possible. Contrary to the thinking of many intellectuals and policy makers, just as we all know the difference between good health and illness, ordinary people know the difference between development and underdevelopment. Today, some nations like to make themselves feel good by saying they are developing nations: we shall not argue with that.
In an attempt to tackle the crisis in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria, the government set up a technical committee with the following terms of reference: To collate, review and distill the various reports, suggestions and recommendations on the Niger Delta from the Willinks Commission Report (1958) to the present, and give a summary
Report of the Technical Committee on the Niger Delta Read More »
…the nature of society, existing contradictions and opportunities, power balances and societal values can determine whether the imbued leadership qualities can be nurtured, subverted or simply negated or ignored. Leadership can be individual or collective. Either way, the purpose of leadership at home, work or anywhere for that matter is to exercise power, provide direction, encourage and inspire others, show the right direction, build appropriate legacies for the future generation, and work for the common or public good.
POLITICAL OBLIGATION AND DEMOCRATIZATION Professor Julius O. Ihonvbere, OON Text of Lecture Delivered at the Workshop on Political Obligations/Social Contract for Local Government Political Officers in Cross River State, Calabar, April 21st, 2008 It is indeed a pleasure to be amongst you here today. Let me congratulate you all on your election as chairmen of
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Ethnic Reconciliation by Professor Julius O. Ihonvbere, OON Paper delivered at the Policy and Programme Retreat 2007, Organised by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Delta State Chapter, Grand Hotel, Asaba, Delta State, February 2007. I thank the Delta State Chapter of our great Party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for inviting me to deliver this
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Constitutionalism and the National Question in Nigeria Julius O. Ihonvbere The number one political contradiction or challenge in Africa today is how to deal with the national question. The continent’s history and the contradictions and engagements of the post-colonial era have precipitated deep political fault lines and congealed interests on both side of the political
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The Nigerian State as Obstacle to Federalism: Towards a New Constitutional Compact for Democratic Politics “Under a true federal constitution, each group, however small, is entitled to the same treatment as any other group, however large. Opportunity must be afforded to each to evolve its own peculiar political institution. The present structure reinforces indigenous colonialism-
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Imperialism and the Encapsulation of the Democratization Process in Africa It is rather interesting to note the way in which debates on the current democratization projects in Africa have been domesticated, encapsulated, and redirected by Western scholarship, media, and institutions. It is no wonder that the initial enthusiasm which accompanied the so-called “opening up” processes
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