The Wear and Tear of Bafanji-Balikumbat Wars, 1990-2000

Hongie Godlove

Department of History

University of Douala, Cameroon  

E-mail: nhongiegodlove@yahoo.com

Abstract

Boundary conflicts between communities have made headline news in Cameroon since the dawn of multipartysm. Balikumbat and Bafanji villages in the Ndop plain, which are neighbours, have been the epicenter of such crises. While Balikumbat shares borders with Bamali in the north, Bamunkumbit in the west, Bambalang in the east and Bafanji in the south, Bafanji is bordered in the north by Bagam, south by Balikumbat, west by Bamunkumbit and east by Bambalang.  Prior to colonialisation, these villages hunted, fished, tapped and farmed across land limits that were mostly determined by natural features such as rivers, deep valleys, forests and swamps. Claim of sovereignty over a territorial piece was absent and occupation of a parcel of land was more temporary due to the practice of shifting cultivation. However, with colonialism, the Germans established formal boundary between Bafanji and Balikumbat in 1910, later traced and demarcated by the British in 1933, and confirmed with slight modifications by the post-colonial administration in 1969. Obviously, demographic explosion rendered land an issue of contention between these communities hence land usage changed from need to greed. This new paradigm in land custom resulted in border crises whose politicization with the advent of multipartysm produced two cataclysms between both villages in the 1990s. This paper intends to argue that these wars between Balikumbat and Bafanji brought perils and ruins to the area and peoples. Primary, secondary and oral sources were used to get the data while chronological and analytic methods were used to weave the findings.

Transcending Moral Boundaries in Contemporary African Women’s Writings: Feminism and the Disillusionment of the Sexually Autonomous

Maureen Amaka Azuike

Department of English

Faculty of Arts, University of Jos, Plateau State.

Email: amakaazuike@gmail.com

Abstract

This paper articulates women’s unwise resolve to exceed the limits of acceptable moral and sexual behaviour in our society, as reflected in contemporary African fiction. The purpose of this paper is, thus, to re-examine feminist ideologies of old and to give fresh insights on issues of immorality, gender and sexuality in African women’s writings in a world so promiscuous that it has created a disillusioned generation. The paper also focuses on the disillusionment experienced by the sexually autonomous female in African women’s creative narratives, whose radical decisions and immoral choices made in desperate attempts to overcome patriarchal oppression and sexual objectification have led her into a quagmire and into absolute ridicule.  It is on feminist theory that this paper is underpinned. This paper concludes, therefore, that ancient and modern feminist ideologies are threatening to derail the feminist train on a global scale, unless urgent steps are taken to avert the cataclysmic end towards which feminism is headed.

Keywords:  Feminism, Immorality, Gender and Sexual Autonomy, Disillusionment, Contemporary Women’s Writings.

Christianity and African Culture (15th-21st Centuries): An Appraisal of the Nigerian Milieu

 Emmanuel Orihentare Eregare and Oluwatosin Blessing Ayanlowo

Department of History & International Studies

Babcock University, Ilishan-Remo, Ogun State, Nigeria

E-mail: dr.eregare@gmail.com; Tinu4all2002@yahoo.co.uk

Abstract

Before the coming of the Christian missionaries in the mid fifteenth century to Nigeria, every ethnic group advocated her own separate indigenous religion, which ranged in conventional beliefs and practices as relative to each community. Simply put, the indigenous people of Nigeria believed in divine beings which they feared, popularly labelling them as ‘gods of instant retribution’. This belief maintained peace and orderliness in varied communities. However, the introduction of Christianity and the concept of “supreme being” – “Christ” changed the traditional worldview of Nigerians towards the deities. Most importantly, the concept of the divine and forgiveness towards sinners converted them in their numbers. This Christianity later world view appears thus to have given way to clandestine activities in Nigerian society. Christianity appears to be obnoxious to the tedious and inhumane sacrifices which were commonly practiced in traditional religious worship.

Keywords:  Christianity, African Culture (15th-21^st Centuries), Appraisal, Nigerian Milieu

Liberal Democracy as the End of the World History: A Critique of Fukuyama’s the End of History and the Last Man

Stephen Chijioke Nwinya

Department of Philosophy and Religion

Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki

E-mail drsteveinya@gmail.com 

Abstract

The beauty of liberal democracy is highly appreciated especially in comparison with other political systems that stood as rivals before the evolution of liberal democracy to its current state. Arguably, democracy has displaced most of its rivals. Hence, Francis Fukuyama was moved to conclude that evolution of liberal democracy and its displacement of rival political systems are enough indication that liberal democracy has sated the desire of the human nature and therefore brought the world history to abrupt termination. This text is a critical review of Fukuyama’s The End of History and the Last Man to ascertain the veracity of his claim. To achieve this, an exposition of the views of the precursors of speculative world history was necessary. The investigation revealed that inasmuch as the beauty of liberal democracy is not in doubt, its current status cannot be said to have satisfied the yearning of the human nature and called for caution in the propagation of the system as championed by the West. Thus evolution of ideology which speculative world history represents is still open-ended.

Rebranding Inter-Religious Dialogues Between Muslims and Christians in Nigeria

Joshua Akintunde Owolabi

Department of Religious Studies,

University of Ibadan, Oyo State Nigeria

Abstract

Nigeria needs rebranding dialogues in all areas of life, especially in the religious atmosphere. The religious crises that many States experienced in the country have spoiled good things, notable among them are loss of lives and property. The inter-religious dialogue between Muslims and Christians needs rebranding. This will bring back peace, unity, love, cordial social relation, truthful interaction, mutual trust, harmony and tranquility. The study adopts descriptive survey research design. Both questionnaire and unstructured interviews were used as instruments for data collection. Recommendations were made at the end of the analysis.

The Implications of Vocationalizing the French Language for a Secured and More Profitable Nation

Yekini Tokunbo M.

Department of French, School of Languages

Federal College of Education, Kontagora, Niger State

E-mail: yetba@yahoo.com 

Abstract

Vocationalizing Languages in general would refer to the practical application of Languages to day-to-day affairs of the society. Its implication would go far beyond the theoretical nature and curriculum of language, well into the professionalizing of its basic essence; communication. Many today talk of profiting from Language as a vocation. Not just as “word mongers” like media broadcasters and journalists, but also as interpreters, translators, bilingual authors and secretaries of United Nations’ standard. People can actually eat-off the mastery of a foreign language such as the French language. This paper “The implications of vocationalizing the French language for a secured and more profitable nation”, emphasizes the world of good the proficiency in the language would do the nation and highlights also the rudiments of its acquisition.

Keywords:  Implications, Vocationalizing, French Language, Secured, Profitable Nation

Nigerian Federalism and the Challenges of Ethnic Identity since the 1999 Democratic Era 

Maiyaki M. Mejida

Department of History

Nasarawa State University, Keffi, Nigeria

Email: maiyaki2006nsuk@gmail.com

Abstract

The intellectual debate about modern federalism – its meaning and significance- tracks back to the late eighteenth century. The peculiar circumstances that surrounded the shift from confederation to federation in the United States of America in the years between 1781 and 1789 shaped and moulded the nature of the subsequent intellectual debate in a way which had far-reaching consequences for understanding one of the most important historical innovations in modern government and politics. The American federal model established in 1789 was based upon a set of core principles that were consciously imitated by others, and in consequence it helped to spark an enduring analytical debate about what it meant to be ‘federal’. Federalism is the darling of various developing and even developed nations. Many nations opted for this marriage of convenience due to the multi-ethnic nature of their cultural groups. Thus, the adoption of federal structure became popular as a way of managing the diversity of culturally heterogeneous societies. Nigeria opted for it as it is a nation of over four hundred diverse cultural groups in 1963 when it became a republic. The Nigerian federalism, modeled along the American Federalism, was hoped that the system will ensure inclusion rather than exclusion of all the cultural groups in representative governance. The aim of this study, using the principle of inclusive governance, is to give an assessment of this compromise arrangement in Nigeria, its feasibility in the face of the current ethnic nationalities challenges that besiege it since the commencement of this presently uninterrupted democratic governance which came on board in 1999. The findings of the study showed that Federalism will only work effectively in Nigeria if less premium is placed on political power calculation of extreme measures to win and to maintain political power.