College of Leadership and Development Studies

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2

Portraits of the Nigerian Soldier in Isidore Okpewho’s The Last Duty and Festus Iyayi’s Heroes
(SAGE, 2021-09) Onwuka, Edwin
An essential feature of Nigerian literatures is their capacity to exploit history and social experience to bring to light the human condition in society without compromising literary aesthetics. Thus, Nigerian novels often appear to be more educative than entertaining by their ability to illuminate social realities far more effectively than historical or sociological texts. This is evident in the representations of soldiers in Nigerian novels which are highly influenced by historical and social circumstances. This paper carries out a comparative and descriptive analysis of portrayals of Nigerian soldiers in Isidore Okpewho’s The Last Duty and Festus Iyayi’s Heroes from a new historical perspective. Most studies on the military in Nigerian novels often focus on their actions in war situations and their disruptive and undemocratic activities in politics. However, these studies frequently explore the military as a group with little attention to the texts as expositions on character types in the Nigerian military. This study therefore contributes to criticism on the nexus between literary representation, history, and society. It further highlights historical and social contexts of military explorations in Nigerian novels and their impacts on the perception of the Nigerian soldier in society. These are aimed at showing that depictions of the military in Nigerian novels go beyond their capacities for disruptions an
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Resurgence of Military Coups in West Africa
(Journal of African Union Studies Volume 13, (Number 2, 2024-08) Akinyemi Omolara; Apeloko O. D.; Osimen Goddy U.; Chukwudi Ekene Celestina
The military is designed to protect the polity, but national occurrences have motivated the same to take over political power via a coup to change the government. This study is set to explore the causes of military incursions in West Africa. The study is also to unravel the challenges that the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has faced in the wake of military incursion into politics. Hence, many international organisations and individuals have resolved that the military must accept the authority of civilian rule. In other words, they may be responsible for carrying out a policy decision they disagree with. The rightness or wrongness of a policy or decision can be ambiguous. Civilian decision-makers may be impervious to corrective information. In practice, the relationship between civilian authorities and military leaders must be worked out. The qualitative method of data collection was adopted for this study. Content analysis is adopted in the analysis of this work. The theory of civil-military relations is chosen for the underpinnings of this study. The findings revealed that different countries in ECOWAS states have experienced military incursions whose causes are multifaceted. The causes range from historical government handling of conflicts to acts of impunity, among others. This situation has strained the relationships between member states in their political and socioeconomic engagements. The study therefore concludes that military incursion in politics in West Africa have caused setbacks for ECOWAS in their bid to achieve democracy, integration, and socioeconomic and sustainable development. It is then recommended that democratic institutions should be strengthened, which will help to address the root causes of instability. The leaders of member states should also be held accountable for upholding democratic principles. This study will help policymakers in the West African region foster democratic principles

College of Leadership and Development Studies

Browse

Filters

Settings

Sort By

Results per page

Search Results