The Struggles Of Post Independence Nigeria PDF Download

This book draws attention to the need to improve governance in Nigeria so that the country will not be a failed state. That the country is not doing well in governance is documented in Chapter 1 of the book by reference to 2020 Ibrahim Index of African Governance (IIAG). What has emerged from IIAG is that governance in our country has not only deteriorated in the last ten years but has been worse in the past five years. Within the West African region, IIAG rated us the worst in security and peace, second to the last in accessibility to health, third to the last in business environment and overall governance. The book documents some of the post-independence issues that have created problems in Nigeria from the perspective of public financial management. The book is of the view that the prerequisite for solving Nigerian problems irrespective of any professional angle is solving the problems in our political system which in turn cannot be solved without addressing the challenges of the 1999 Constitution. The book of six chapters shows in Chapter 1 how the country has lagged behind its West African neighbors in some specific areas of governance. The chapter believes that part of the reasons why Nigeria is not functioning well is the existence of extractive political and economic institutions, which ensure that our refineries are not working so that petrol can be imported to their advantage. The chapter calls for more involvement of our youths in governance because the average age of Nigerian Ministers was about 60 years at the time of their inauguration in 2019 while that of British Ministers was less than 48 years. Chapter 2 reveals some political developments that have affected the destiny of the country since independence. They include a 30-month civil war and 29 years of military rule. During this period of 60 years, the leaders from Northern Nigeria headed the Federal Government for a total of 43 years and 3 months. This is the primary reason for the agitation for the country's Presidency to rotate between the North and the South of the country. Chapter 3 looks at some aspects of the 1999 Constitution for the purpose of drawing attention to how they have caused problems in our march to greatness. Chapter 4 documents how military rule undermined public accountability in the country. Chapter 5 is a review of some specific instances of what went wrong with public financial management in Nigeria since independence. The issues discussed in the two chapters on public financial management are opposite of what good governance is all about which include transparency, accountability, effectiveness, efficiency, equity and minimization of corruption. This is why we should all be interested in producing political leadership that will not hide material financial facts from the public. If this is not done, public reporting will be infrequent, unreliable and less comprehensive. This will pave way for leadership that is unwilling to submit themselves to public scrutiny. The more successful the leadership can be in resisting public scrutiny, the more likely that the roles of Accountants and Auditors as guardians of public purse will be rendered nugatory since the leadership will have no incentive to take corrective actions to safeguard public funds.This is where the problem lies because without proper accounting, there can be no accountability and without accountability we cannot stop the tide of corruption and without the tide of corruption being stopped, our country stands the risk of being a failed state. This we must not allow to happen. This is why in Chapter 6, suggestions are made to improve governance in the country. Among these are the need to have Accountant-General for Federal Government as different from that of the federation and a six-man Presidency for the country to ensure equity in resource allocation. EDDY OMOLEHINWA - University of Lagos 28th January 2021