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Good Governance And Conflict Management
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Onifade (2011) has posed a critical question as
to whether it’s possible to have good governance without good
leadership. Our understanding of reality points to the fact that the
former is logically derived from the latter because where there is
effective and efficient leadership, there is bound to be good
governance. Achebe (1983) had argued convincingly in his seminal book,
‘The Trouble with Nigeria’, that the failure of leadership to rise to
its responsibility, to the challenges of personal exemplary life clearly
shows why the nation has the problem of true leadership. It is
exemplary leadership that can uplift the people, better the lives of the
citizenry and see that the people as much as possible enjoy the public
resources without ado as is the case in most advanced democracies such
as the United States, Canada, Switzerland and some upcoming developing
nations such as Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan and Korea, theoretical
explanations have been advanced by such scholars Migdal (1988), Zartman
(1995) about the fact that in the absence of governance, a nation may
experience state collapse or failure. This has been the lot of most
African countries including Nigeria where lead governance has held sway.
A state ideally is meant to be an organization, composed of several
agencies led and coordinated by the state leadership (executive
authority) which has capacity and authority to make and implement the
finding rules for all the people and applying force if necessary to have
its way.
Zartman (1995) specifically notes that the status of a
state is reviewed as failed or collapsed when it exhibits inability to
fulfill the functions of a state such as the sovereign authority,
decision-making institution and security guarantor for its population.
This can lead to structure, authority (legitimate power), law and
political order falling apart.
On the other hand, conflict has become
an evitable phenomenon in human existence. As long as there are social
relationships between individuals and groups in the society, conflict
will persist. Although, conflict often initiates change in society, its
violent form is negative and reverses societal progress, promoting
poverty and anarchy. There is n o doubt that violent conflict has
wreaked havoc on our communal and national social fabrics since 1999, in
particular, when electoral democracy was enthroned in Nigeria.
Compounding the problem of underdevelopment in Nigeria is micro
nationalism, ethnic, religious and communal conflicts which pose great
threat to peace, security and progress. The crises had closed the doors
of friendship, interaction and rapport among the various ethnic groups
in the nation. Therefore, attempts at promoting peaceful co-existence
among the various identities that exists in the nation becomes
contradictory if not elusive as various ethnic, religious, political,
economic and social catastrophe keep one reoccurring in the polity. This
has compounded the situation of insecurity in Nigeria’s fragile federal
system which, over the years, has experienced ethnic, religious and
political crises of monumental proportions. The most devastating amongst
these have been communal conflicts in all parts of the country. The
frequent occurrence of conflict in Nigeria in recent times is a threat
not only to democracy but also to the corporate existence of the country
as a political entity. Since good governance is an essential ingredient
in the promotion of peaceful coexistence in the society given its
indispensable elements of rule of law, human right protection, free and
fair election, accountability, independent court of law as well as
creating the right environment for socio-economic development
(AbdulMaleek 2011).
Therefore, this work seeks to evaluate the
relation between good governance and conflict occurrence with special
reference to Aguleri and Umuleri conflict.
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ABSRACT - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]This research studies Good Governance and conflict resolution in Anambra state with focus on the Umuleri and Aguleri communities’ experience. Both communities were engulfed in intractable conflicts over the ownership of Otuocha land. Aside the contest over land, both communities have been engaged in the reconstruction of their history with each claiming to be the direct descendant of Eri. The research adopts qualitative evaluation method. The research basically draws from primary and seco ... Continue reading---
