This article, using documentary analysis, adopts a fresh perspective to understanding why Nigeria, in spite of its exceptional potentials, has not attained hegemonic pre-eminence in Africa. Specifically, it seeks to decipher the central driver of the country’s hegemonic conundrum. It notes and argues that although many endogenous factors, alone or in combination, could have worked and are still at work to undercut Nigeria’s quest for regional hegemony, the central factor is the oil-induced rentier political economy which has not only marginalized the indigenous productive sector, but has also institutionalized rentier culture that had tended to feed into the country’s foreign policy processes and, by extension, diminished its stature in the comity of nations. It concludes that in as much as oil remains the central locus and vertebra of the country’s economy, and the country continues to be presided over by leaders who lack the willpower to strategically diversify the economy and institute effective framework for governing the oil sector, the country’s quest for hegemonic pre-eminence in West Africa is more likely to remain a cherished dream.
While the Judiciary has continued to play a major role in Nigeria’s democratic journey, yet critical studies on the terrains of judicial independence remains scanty. It is against this background that this article, based on desk analysis, critically examines the health of the Judiciary in a democratizing Nigeria, through the prism of judicial independence. It notes that despite the institutional frameworks, embedded in the 1999 Constitution (as amended) to provide a well-ventilated environment for its existence, the Judiciary, even though still breathing, is still gasping for breath. It argues that this is unconnected to the internal contradictions within the Judiciary and pervasive prebendal culture, which have all interacted to shape the content and terrains of judicial independence in a democratizing Nigeria. The article concludes that as long as the Judiciary in Nigeria continues to be mired in internal contradictions from within, its journey towards achieving institutional independence would remain tortuous.
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