ABSTRACT

Every nation has its own peculiar problems. Nigeria is not an exception. As headache or stomach-ache is associated with living and moving human beings, so also are socio-political problems associated with living and growing human societies. As a developing nation, Nigeria is plagued with social and political maladies of various dimensions. This work will x-ray Nigeria’s socio-political issues that have hindered the development of the nation and show how the nation’s leadership has contributed to these problems. We will conclude by making proposals for eradicating bad leadership and for enhancing socio-political development.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.0    GENERAL INTRODUCTION

Every informed person will agree that among factors affecting political stability as well as national- development in Nigeria, corruption has been at the forefront. This came by leaders and public servants in Nigeria to amass wealth while in public service has not only affected national development but also accentuated political instability. This is often manifested in youths restiveness, social insecurity, conflicts, social uprising, civil wars and even coup die tats.  Consequently, corruption has become one of the major socio-political ills plaguing the stability of Nigeria and even most African states.  

Politics according to the traditional philosophers is to create an enabling environment for social cooperation, social order, justice, progress and development. It is meant to prevail on the naturally egoistic of human kind that is capable of causing anarchy in a nation. Since a nation consists of different ethnic groups, culture, language and region, its political administration must be properly construed.  Thus, politics, which has been described as the science of the art of administration, is very vital to any nation. If we grant the above as the true purpose of politics, then, the question that agitates the mind is “has politics been played as to perform these functions in the Nigerian nation?”

As rightly observed, violence, instability, social disorder, injustice and under-development characterized the contemporary Nigerian society.  The objectives of politics in enhancing social cooperation and public good have not been achieved.  What then is responsible for the realization of the traditional function of politics in Nigeria? The Nigerian society does exist only it protect the interest of only a fewer strong and powerful members and it guarantee their freedom to amass to themselves the country’s wealth as they can at the expense of the vast majority of the citizens.  It exists to cater or provide the basic needs for every citizen. It promotes brotherliness, exacts, justice and truth, unity and peace.  In order words, it exists to encourage moral virtue in both the leadership of the nation and the citizens in order that social order, unity, growth and development are attainable. Thus, strict adherence to the virtue of justice, honesty, truth, peace dedication, love, could be argued to be the determination of social, political and economic development of a nation, as we observed from the adopted anthem and national pledge that can be taken as the ideology for the nation.

It is the duty of the Nigerian political society to prevent the strong, greedy and unscrupulous individuals from exploiting and over enriching themselves at the expense of the weak ones. Also, it is to ensure that every Nigerian gets a fair share of the resources that belongs to the nation.  For this reason, we can argue that the political obligation for the existence of the Nigerian state is to ensure the promotion of public interest as against private interest.  But how is the Nigerian nation fairing in relation to necessary condition of social morality that is the underlining factor in politics?

1.1    STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

It is quite clear that the development of a nation is determined by the socio-political atmosphere of the time and place. Our nation will remain under-developed if the socio-political situations/issues are not handled properly and well-resolved.

In relation to the above facts, this study examines the socio-political issues and national development.

i)             Nwabueze’s Parliament of Vultures

ii)            Nda’s House of Intrigues

iii)          Johnson’s The Fight Has Just Begun

The key questions tackled include:

i)             What are the socio-political issues in the three plays?

ii)            How effective are the approaches and suggestion in confronting the problems which affect our society?

iii)          What are the causes of politics of national development and disintegration of Nigerian society?

1.2    JUSTIFICATION OF THE STUDY

I)       To identify and explain reasons why Nigeria is still under-developed.

ii)       To examine politics and the Nigerian situation.

iii)      To attempt an explanation of options available in solving the socio-political problems in Nigeria.

1.3    SCOPE OF THE STUDY

Although Nwabueze, Nda and Johnson treat the problems of contemporary Nigerian society in most of their works, this work focuses on the works of the above mentioned playwrights, which are: the Parliament of Vulture, House of Intrigues and The Fight Has Just Begun.

This work will examined and identify the socio-political issues in Nigeria and how they have hindered and affected the development of the nation.

1.4    LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

This research work is restricted to Nigeria.  The researcher in the course of the study encountered a lot of constraints; topmost on the list of the constraints are such factors as time and funds to comprehensively and comfortably execute this project. The cash limitation exposed to the researcher that academic projects consume a lot of money even when sponsors’ finances are stretched to their limit.  The time limit is mostly caused by the fact that the time available has to be by shared between both lectures and pursuing the search of materials for the research.

Therefore, this study will be limited in the socio-political issues and national development in Nigeria.

1.5    SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The purpose of my scholarly research work consists in the accumulation and codification of facts.  It is therefore, the aim of this work to accumulate such facts to unravel the politics and national development of Nigeria which has caused disintegration of society, political partied, violence, demonstrations and international warnings.

It is the writer’s expectation that this work will go a long way in suggesting ways of solving Nigerian socio-political issues which has resulted in economic retrogression, that is, the bane of development in Nigeria.

Also, this work will open the way for an objective and an biased view of corrupt politics in the society and its practitioners who are pursuing the realization of stomach agenda, how it has continued to impede the quest for development and recommending policy measures that will curb it.

Finally, this work will also open ways for future researches disclosing to the public dangers posed by the sit-tight-syndrome. It would also give inspiration and good faith to stand firm on the constitutional requirements for peace and success of democracy in Nigeria with the aim of discouraging sit-tightism, corrupt practises in our society. It will also call the attention of the Nigerian politicians/leaders to order.  This is because, the sum total of a nation’s civilization is a function of its socio-political development and stability.

.1.6   METHOD OF THE WORK

The research method adopted in the course of this work is analytical as a result of its informative nature. Most of the information would be based on secondary data derived from related textbooks, thesis, newspaper and internet.  This is to ensure a comprehensive information and an up-to-date collection. Other materials and pieces of information would be extracted from textual analysis.

1.7    ORGANISATION OF THE WORK

This work is organized or built in chapters and sub-headings. It is sequentially and chronologically arranged from chapter one to five and its sub-headings which addresses the entire work.  This, therefore, made the entire work to be carried out successfully to obtain genuine results.

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