Availability of adequate financial resources are desirous for any organization to achieve the purposes for which it is established. Local government councils in Nigeria are created statutorily to perform clearly assigned functions. Experience has however demonstrated that these councils have fallen short of achieving the objectives for which they were indorsed. Some reasons have been espoused by scholars for the failing performances of most local government councils in Nigeria. Against this backdrop, this study seeks to posit that local government councils are likely to achieve their set objectives to a large extent if their internally generated revenue (IGR) are expanded. Also, the study seeks to postulate the capacity of local government councils in Nigeria to sustainably expand their internally generated revenue (IGR) is inhibited by the kind of strategies adopted and by some critical challenges facing them. To enable the explication of the assumption, the study adopts a conscious survey of relevant literature on our subject matter. The data generated are systematically analyzed to verify the validity of the above assumptions. The study maintains that apart from the fact that the fiscal federalism apparently seem unfavourable to the local government functional responsivities, it has nevertheless the provided for adequate source for their internally generated revenue to augment the federally allocated funds. Again, sundry factors hinders the expansion internally generate revenue have been identified and recommendations for boosting IGR in local government councils in Nigeria have also been articulated.

This paper examines women participation in party politics in Nigeria. Party politics in a large number of cases, is the launching pad into political positions in most Democracies. Observations from past and present practices reveal that women participation in party politics in Nigeria has been marginal, especially when marched against their numerical strength. Historically, women have held powerful political positions as exemplified by the lives of Madam Tinubu of Lagos, Queen Amina of Zaria, Margaret Ekpo of Calabar and Funmilayo Kuti. However, there is need to move from history and improve as well as increase women participation so as to ensure equitable power sharing among the genders in the Nigerian polity. The events leading to the total rejection of an only female presidential candidate, Sarah Jubril, in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) calls for positive actions to avoid similar challenges in the future. Systematic and integrated campaigns in both rural and urban centres need to be intensified to play down gender stereotypes of public roles for women.

Abstract

This essay specifically focuses attention on one of the policies of the government of Muhammadu Buhari, that is, the policy of removal of fuel subsidy and the increase of pump price of petrol in Nigeria, and the dire consequences it has had for the wellbeing of the people. It is argued that given the size of the pump price increase, the way it was enforced, and the enormous increases in the costs of goods and services which it has engendered, President Buhari appears to be in the same league with the Biblical King Rehoboam who presided over an era of unprecedented cruelty in Israel. It is also reasoned that if well-articulated, managed and targeted, subsidy can serve as a policy instrument for the promotion of the public good. This paper also stresses the need for Nigeria to urgently stop the importation of refined petroleum products and begin to refine its products domestically.

Article HistoryNigeria, since independence in 1960, has been contending with various forms of ethnoreligious, political and communal crises and conflicts that have implications for human and national security. The case of the current Boko Haram insurgency in the North-east geo-political zone of the country has demonstrated definite fundamental flaws in the country"s national security architecture. Consequently, this study attempts to crossexamine the dynamic forces of the human security, and national security in Nigeria by drawing from the lessons of the Boko Haram insurgency. Generated data from secondary data were subjected to qualitative descriptive analysis within the purview of the Boko Haram insurgency as a product of protracted political exclusion; economic marginalization; lack of basic educational and health facilities and a high rate of unemployment (all of which threatens the national security). The study reveals among others, that the present national security strategy which emphasizes the use of military force is grossly inadequate for addressing the security challenge; that such extremists" agitations and other violent threats to national security in developing countries are likely to emanate from policy discontentment of citizens within country, rather than from external threats. Therefore, the study suggests a national human security strategy anchored on the welfare needs of the citizens (as articulated in the seven key elements of human security) as the best way of guaranteeing national security. It concludes that, since the Boko Haram insurgency is caused by the abandonments of the key elements of human security (such as the socio-economic and political deprivations) as the current repressive military approach alone is not sufficient, or likely to overwhelm the insurgency in the north east. Contribution/ Originality:The study seeks to probe the dynamics of the forces of the human and national security of the Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria; with a view to ascertaining the implications of the strategy adopted by the Nigerian state to control, contain, and resolve the crisis. The study argues that adopting an overly military option has tended to be partially successful. It posits that addressing the question of human security which encompasses the necessites to provide the welfare needs, socioeconomic and political inclusiveness of the aggrieved militants is more likely to achieve the desired peace and stability in the Northeast geopolitical zone in particular, ISSN(e): 2224-4441 ISSN(p): 2226-5139 DOI: 10.18488/journal.1.2017.76.505.520 Vol. 7, No. 6, 505-520 © 2017 and the country in general. In a nutshell, the study has contributed to confirming the theoretical basis that military option on its own is not likely to ensure national security without the complementarities of evoking the human elements. This is vividly demonstrated from the lessons drawn from lessons of the Boko Haram insurgency and the military campaign in the north east of Nigeria. International Journal of Asian S...