Identity and Identity Politics in Nigeria: A Reflection on the Indicators

Nigeria is a nation with plural ethnic, religious, lingual and cultural identities that are constantly exploited by the political class to promote their selfish interest. Although not a determinant forconflict, diversity in Nigeria has unjustifiably sparked identity-based conflicts which necessitateseparatism, insurgency and ethnic restiveness – among others, which threatens to drive the country to a perpetual state of fragility. This paper thence sought to assess Nigeria’s tortuous experience with identity and identity politics with particular reference to ethnic, religious, and lingual challenges. The paper furthers the discussion on identity politics in Nigeria to proffer practicable solutions. It argues that identity consciousness has overtaken national consciousness and engendered a relationship characterized by domination, superiority and hegemony by the various groups. It reveals that the currency of politics is an ethnic-hegemony-rivalry sentiment that threatens national integration. The paper reviews available literature on the subject matter from peer-reviewed journal articles, reports of reputable international organizations, working papers and newspaper articles. It concluded that identities have become powerful manipulative instruments in the hands of the political elites used to divide the Nigerian populace. It recommended the promotion of justice, equity and fairness in governance to ameliorate the chances of identity dissension and identity-based conflicts.

History training: a time of lost opportunities

The article analyzes the problem of Ukraine's independence. Independence is viewed in two ways: as a formal legal act and as the real sovereignty of the people. The acquisition of real sovereignty is seen as a process of achieving social maturity (education) of the people in the course of its history. Shows the genealogy of the idea of an independent state and its connection with the era of modernity. The idea of state independence is not inherent in either the political consciousness or the practice of most of the era of civilization until the beginning of modernity. The thesis is substantiated that independence is an important social task of modern Ukrainian society, and not a fact of its life. The political and legal basis of independence is the sovereignty of the people. It is declared by the constitution, but did not take place de facto. The limited sovereignty of the people is associated with the usurpation of power and property in Ukraine by a closed ruling corporation. The article analyzes three main social forces that determined the development of the country during the period of independence. They are: the selfish interest of the new ruling class, the state aspiration of the protest movement (it is usually called national democratic) and the inertia of Soviet life of the bulk of the population. There is a meaningful connection between the way of governing in the Soviet system and the regime of the dominant corporation in contemporary Ukrainian history. The key feature of the ruling corporation is the implicit, hidden nature of its dominance. This destroys productive social dynamics, creates the preconditions for social collapse. Recently, after the second Maidan, there has been a lawsuit between the people – civil society – and the corporation of rulers and its social satellites for the organization of public life. It is concluded that only the elimination of the privileged position of the ruling corporation opens up the prospect of real democracy and the productive development of Ukraine in a globalized world.

Manipulating the digital asset market: challenges in establishing a criminal legal defense regime

The growth of the digital asset ecosystem has led to the emergence of hundreds of crypto exchanges that facilitate the trade of digital assets. This phenomenon did not remain without the attention of malefactors. Today, we can talk about an independent type of “cryptocurrency exchange crime”. The article analyzes the key criminal trends and formulates the main recommendations for the prevention of criminal encroachments in the cryptocurrency market. At the moment, one of the most common manipulative schemes is “pump and dump”, which became notorious at the turn of the 90s and 2000s. To date, no jurisdiction has created an effective protection regime against such fraud. The authors highlight the main reasons for the low efficiency of the measures taken: the presence of digital assets on the Internet led to the online nature of all stages of manipulations coordinated by anonymous groups in social networks; wide availability and lack of restrictions on the placement of tokens predetermined their regular and widespread placement (as opposed to an IPO); selfish interest of crypto-exchange sites that receive a commission from a transaction. It is emphasized that regulators’ search for a balance between innovation and investor protection is driving the reluctance of many jurisdictions to introduce proper criminal law protection regimes.

Youth Unemployment and Terrorism in Nigeria: The Case of “Boko Haram”

The increasing social vices in Nigeria such as kidnapping, armed robbery, political thuggery and terrorism are indicators of a national doom. Kidnappings are done for ransom from the victims, while armed robbery, political thuggery, and terrorism are engaged for financial gains and selfish interest. These criminal activities negatively affect the peace, security, and development of the nation. This study examines the relationship between youth unemployment and Boko Haram terrorism in Nigeria. This study relies on secondary data and adopted the frustration-aggression theory as its theoretical framework. The study revealed that high rate of youth unemployment in northeast Nigeria has provided foot soldiers for the Boko Haram elites. More so, available data show youth unemployment rate in Nigeria is so high, and these criminal engagements are attributed to it. As a way forward, the study recommends amongst others that, the Nigerian government should identify the causes of youth unemployment and intensify efforts at youth unemployment reduction as such efforts will reduce poverty and take care of other needs of the youths.

Trust and Social Dilemmas

A social dilemma is a situation of interdependence between people in which there is conflict between doing what is best for oneself, and doing what is best for the group: Trying to produce the best personal outcome (selfishness) hurts the group effort, and contributing to the group effort (cooperation) leads to a less-than-optimal personal outcome. The best personal outcome is realized by acting for oneself when everyone else acts for the group. Because of this, if each group member does what is best for him or herself, the group will fail, and each person will end up with a poor outcome. Solution of a social dilemma thus requires that at least some people forgo selfish interest in favor of the collective. Research into social dilemmas is primarily oriented around identifying the influences on a person’s willingness to cooperate and designing interventions that will encourage more frequent cooperation. There are many real examples of social dilemmas: clean air, charities, public broadcasting, and groundwater, to name a few.

The Price of Truth: Reciprocity, Giving, and Generosity in the Philosophy of René Descartes

The article provides a comparison of the concept of homo œconomicus with the core theses of René Descartes’ moral philosophy. The first section draws on the work of the contemporary Western philosopher Anselm Jappe in which Descartes’ philosophy is held to be the cornerstone of the established view and current scientific definitions of homo œconomicus as the fundamental and indispensable agent of capitalistic relations. As opposed to this “common sense” position in the modern social sciences, the second section of the article builds upon Pierre Bourdieu’s Anthropologie économique (2017) to demystify the notion of homo œconomicus. The article then examines some aspects of modern philosophical anthropology that show odd traces of Descartes’ thinking and that are regularly applied in economic science as well as in the critique of economic thinking as such. These are the concepts of mutuality, giving, exchange and generosity, and they are regarded as central to the philosopher’s moral doctrine.The author concludes that the philosophical doctrine of generosity has very little in common with the bourgeois ideology of utility which implies an instrumental relationship between subjects: in Caretesian moral philosophy the Other is neither an object of influence nor a means to achieve someone’s personal goals nor a windowless monad. Generosity certainly has its economic aspects, but these do not include accumulating wealth in the bourgeois sense. It is more in the realm of the aristocratic practice of making dispensations. All throughout his life Decartes may be viewed as exhibiting a peculiar kind of nobility in which the desire to give, endow and sacrifice outweighs any selfish interest. The vigorous pursuit of well-being gives way to a quest for the leisure required to pursue intellectual activity, and care for oneself does not preclude attending to and loving the Other, whatever form it may take.

Party Cross-carpeting in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic: Cases and Causes

The study examines party cross-carpeting in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic. These were with the view to investigating the effects of cross-carpeting on the country’s democratic engagement. From historical antecedence standpoint, the study reveals that cross-carpeting was patterned towards ethnic/religion inclination, intra-party feud and selfish interest of the political class. Coupled with these anti-democratic tendencies, the study also found that indiscipline in political parties and lack of ideology were the major factors that determined cross-carpeting in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic. Finally, the study affirms that party discipline and ideology must be strictly adhered to by political parties to check the menace of incessant cross-carpeting among political office holders.

The poor in the Psalms: A variety of views

Since the psalms are religious, poetic, existential expressions of life, entailing both extreme joy and intense suffering, it stands to reason that poverty (in its literal sense and otherwise) would receive considerable attention. Focussing on material poverty and challenging the idea of a homogeneous view on poverty (e.g. Armenfr�mmigkeit) in the psalms, the diversity of views on poverty in the psalms is explored. Attention is paid to YHWH or God caring for the poor, the (Israelite) king as champion for the poor, the gods (heavenly assembly) (non)caring for the poor, caring for the poor in Zion theology, God as crusher of the poor and mutual human charity. The article concludes with some remarks regarding the possible present-day appropriation of the views in the psalms.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: The article challenges the traditional notion on Armenfr�mmigkeit in the psalms. This is important for contexts where identifying with the poor are fed by selfish interest and actually feeds exploitation. It also propounds that various views on poverty exist, demanding creative and contextual applicable measures to combat poverty in the present-day world.

Agmag Igbo dka Ngwar n’kwalite Ezi Nchekwa na Nkwsiike haobodo

Ka Najira nwerechara onwe ya n’af 1960, olileanya tt mamala ya b na ihe ga-adz mma. Mana ka oge na-aga, a chptara na ihe na-akawanye nj. Usoro chch d iche iche daptara. Nd am na nd nkt achala mana nd gara n’ihu na-akawanye nj. O bu ihe doro anya na chch ha b nke nchgbu na fnfju akpa. N’agbanyegh na Chineke ji aknaba na ngozi d iche wee ch Najira mma, ag ka na-af m ya n; iheegwu na oke j na-eme oge niile; tt nne na nna anagh akwnwuziri m ha gw akwkw; nd ntoroba gara mahadum enweghkwa r. Aj nd d etu a na-ebute gbaaghara n’obodo ma na-etinyekwa tt m Najira na mp d iche iche dka izu ohi, tr mmad, igbufu mmad, kwafu bara mmad dka mmiri, dgz. b ihe nd a kpalitere mm omenchcha chpta z d iche iche agmag Igbo, kachas ab ederede Igbo ga-esi nye aka n’ibelata aj nd a ma weta udo na ezi nchekwa ma kwalitekwa nkwusiike nke ohaobodo. N’ime nke a, a tlere ab ederede Igbo d iche iche iji chpta echiche nd odeeab Igbo gbasara nd chch obodo Najira nakwa aro na z d iche iche ha tptara a ga-esi wee belata aj nd a, ka e wee nwee ike kwalite ezi nchekwa na ganiihu obodo Najira.After the Nigerian independence in 1960, the expectation of many of her citizens was that things would be better. But as time went on, it was observed that things were becoming worse. Different systems of government emerged. The military and civilians ruled but situation went forth to be bad. It was obvious that their governance was bad and characterized with selfish interest. Notwithstanding that God blessed Nigeria with many resources; her citizens are still suffering from hunger; terrible things always happen; many parents could no longer afford their childrens’ school fees; youths that graduated from the university are unemployed. This kind of unhealthy situation brings about social instability and encourages some Nigerian to engage in different crimes like robbery, kidnapping, extra judicial killings, and murder of different kinds, etc. it is against this background that the researcher hopes to examine different ways the Igbo literature, especially the Igbo written poetry could help to control this ugly situation and bring about good security and also promote social stability. The study analyzed some written Igbo poems in order to observe the position of some Igbo poets concerning the situation of governance in Nigeria and their contributions on how to improve it, so as to promote good security and progress in Nigeria.

Moral Perspective and the Cycles of Jacksonian History

It is not surprising that an era that saw the creation of much of the America that we know—its mass political parties, sustained capitalist growth, individualistic creed, modern labor, feminist and moral reform movements, and formalized racism—witnessed intense moral controversy. The Jacksonian period posed in its starkest form what Edmund S. Morgan has called the central “paradox” of American history—the “marriage” of slavery and freedom, each of them expanding by leaps and bounds, each doing so increasingly within its own sphere. This was a time when many Americans were seized, as never before, with an intensely self-seeking and accumulating spirit. It was also a period when Americans' collective national mission, suffused with benevolent dreams of “righteous liberty and opportunity that would surpass all worldly limits,” was frequently invoked, sometimes in support of the claims of interest and law, and other times in ways that challenged authority justified purely in terms of selfish interest, positivistic application of the law, or coercive force. All this is to say that in the epoch from the end of the War of 1812 to the eve of the Civil War, moral dispute among different groups of Americans—parties and factions, classes, races and the national minorities, vested and emerging interests, masters and slaves, men and women—was often ferocious.