Socialscientia: Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities

African Continental Free Trade Area and the Nigerian Economy

2026-04-26T12:28:48+00:00

African Continental Free Trade Area was lauded by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa that the agreement will boost intra-African trade by 52 percent by 2022. This notwithstanding, Nigeria dragged foot with signing the Agreement expressing worries over the fate of the local manufacturers and entrepreneurs, but later signed it anyway. Based on the foregoing, this study investigated the implications of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) on Nigeria’s economy. The study was qualitative in nature as data was gotten from secondary sources of textbooks, the Internet, library, magazine, newspaper, while the theory of functionalism which is important component part of the broad theory of integration was adopted as the framework of analysis. The study revealed that the Nigeria’s low industrial base and the practice of mono-economic system represents a serious challenge to its Nigeria’s capacity to benefit adequately from the AfCFTA. The study recommends among other things that: there is need for Nigeria to incorporate the collaboration and initiatives of both the private and public sectors to invest in cross-border infrastructure of the country which will help in closing up Nigeria’s physical infrastructure gap which already requires a huge capital investment as well as the revenue losses in smuggling, dumping and illicit trade flows.

Assessment of Globalization on Boko Haram Terrorism in Nigeria and Cameroon.

2026-04-26T12:22:53+00:00

The study examines how, inadvertently, globalization processes have assisted Boko Haram’s terrorist activities in exploiting institutional vulnerabilities and porous national borders in Nigeria and Cameroon. The study is founded on Globalization Theory, particularly the Network Society approach to Globalization Theory. The study uses a qualitative study method, which is based on secondary data and literature. The study argues that the interdependence of states in the contemporary world has inadvertently provided Boko Haram with modern and sophisticated tools to transcend local terrorist boundaries. The spread of digital technologies such as the internet and social media has enabled Boko Haram to successfully radicalize its members across national boundaries, to orchestrate highly sophisticated terrorist attacks, and to disseminate propaganda materials effectively. The relaxation of restrictions on the movement of people and goods in the West African sub-region has resulted in porous national borders that have enabled the free transnational movement of terrorists from Northeastern Nigeria into the Far North Region of Cameroon for purposes of acquiring small arms and other terrorist gear. The study argues that the asymmetry between a transnationally connected terrorist group and state actors has resulted in a high level of risk to local and regional actors. The study concludes by arguing that for Boko Haram’s terrorist threat to be successfully contained, a holistic and multilateral approach to addressing the global processes driving the terrorist group’s violent ideology is necessary.

An Expository Analysis of the Nature and Essence of Constituencies in Contemporary Democratic Practices

2026-04-26T12:12:50+00:00

Legislative governance in process illuminates symbolic relevance of constituency. This discourse in ontological sense reexamined concept and essence of constituency as observed across democracies. In a qualitative methodological perspective, the data of this discourse were collected through secondary sources (text, articles, documentary reports) and content-analyzed to reveal that constituencies reflect in electoral and representative significance showing models in mainstreaming public interests in legislative processes. In addition, the discourse acknowledged the import of grassroots constituencies to further reveal that there are currently 8,809 electoral wards represented by 419 and 355 local legislative councils respectively in North and South regions of Nigerian federation. The discourse concluded that constituency in its classifications convey a sense of ‘‘identity and voice’’ to assess primacy, scale and impact of legislative governance to popular and minority expectations.

Exploring the Progress of Industrialization in Nigeria, 1960-2014

2026-04-26T12:07:26+00:00

This article reviews the industrialization dynamics in Nigeria, from 1960 to 2014. It describes the different industrialization models with their associated policy priorities, while examining the policy choices and the implementation processes since the 60s. From the literature reviewed, it is observed the adaptation and application of multidimensional policy frameworks that were haphazardly implemented and characterized with intermittent disruptions due to change in government or external factors. It is therefore concluded in this paper, that despite the huge investment and incentives, Nigeria failed to attain industrialization largely due to some inherent systemic gaps, that included lacking consistently, coherency, coordination and institutional weakness in policy formulation and implementation.

Political Parties and Governance Outcomes in Orlu Political Zone, Imo State (1999-2019)

2026-04-26T12:25:23+00:00

This paper examined how well the political parties that have governed or ruled Imo State have done in the area of road infrastructure, education and employment, using Orlu political zone as our study area. The objective is to assess the capacity or ability of political parties in Nigeria to occasion good governance through the provision of the dividends of democracy. Four hundred (400) respondents were randomly selected out of one million, eight hundred and ninety-two thousand, five hundred and twenty (1,892,520) eligible registered voters in Orlu political zone. A questionnaire titled Political Parties and Governance Survey Questionnaire (PPGSQ), structured in a likely format was administered for data collection and was complemented with interviews. The data collected was analyzed using frequency counts, percentages and mean. The study was anchored on the Structural Functional Theory. It was revealed that poor road infrastructure, education sector, as well as the rising unemployment was due to poor governance. It was therefore, recommended that parties in power should adopt well thought out policy strategies that will be effectively implemented to guarantee good governance.

Fulani Herdsmen- Farmers Conflict in Benue State and National Security in Nigeria

2026-04-26T12:18:40+00:00

The conflict between Fulani herders and farmers is one of the recent national intractable issues in Nigeria. Acknowledging this fact, this paper examined severity of this conflict in Benue state and, its adverse effect on national security. The paper adopted descriptive-qualitative design explored the importance of secondary sources of data collection (articles, textbooks, documentaries) as data elicited were content-analyzed in Conflict and Eco-violence theoretical frameworks. The study revealed upsurge and sustained carnage by the Fulani militia against farmers in communities in Benue state. The unpleasant situation stemmed from unresolved issues between Fulani herders and farmers which consequently constitute serious national security threats in widespread terror to neighboring states, shortage supply of food commodities to neighboring regions and national food inflation occasioned with proliferation of militia across communities in neighboring states. From these findings, the paper recommends for expedited government roles complemented by traditional institutions and community stakeholders among other measures to address the scourge of Fulani herders-farmers’ conflicts in Benue state.

The 2021 Federal Appropriation Act and Nigeria’s National Development

2026-04-26T12:10:35+00:00

This article reviews the Nigeria budgetary process with focus on the 2021 FGN Appropriation, to determine the allocation to the key sectors of Education, Health, Agriculture, Women Affairs, and the Social Investment Programme (SIP). It describes the budgetary process while examining the trend allocation to these sectors as compared to the overall budget size and the recommended international benchmark for these sectors. From the literature reviewed, it is observed that the budgetary process in the country is not inclusive and the allocations to these sectors fell below international benchmark and are incapable of driving the country development priorities. It is therefore concluded in this article, despite the increasing size of the budget annually over the last ten years, (10), allocations to the key sectors remain abysmally low, owing to the misplacement of government priorities, and the inability of the public institutions to effectively deliver public goods and services.