Suchergebnisse

This paper examines oil-dependence and civil conflict in Nigeria focusing on the economic dynamics of resource-induced conflicts. It identifies two dimensions to oil-related civil conflict in the country. The first is the violent rent-seeking political violence that oil-availability generates between the various ethno-regional groups; the second is the Niger Delta crisis. The former is linked to excessive government dependence on oil revenues, an institutionally unstable revenue allocation system, weak political institutional arrangements, lack of effective agencies of restraints to demand transparency and accountability on the part of political office holders, failure to translate oil wealth to sustainable growth and increased standard of living for a larger majority of Nigerians, and a defective property right structure in relation to mineral resource endowment. Violence in the Niger Delta area is attributed, in the main, to weak institutional arrangements manifesting in poorly-conceived laws, lack of enforcement, "regulatory capture", and a marriage of interest between the State and oil companies which often encourage the State to use repressive measures against host communities in cases of disputes. There are also the looting and secession incentives as well as the rentseeking contests that oil-availability and the allure of ownership creates among local participants. Three factors (educational attainment, income level and asset possession) consistently explain the propensity to general violence among individuals in the region in the Ordered and Multinomial regressions on civil disobedience. The paper concludes with a discussion of some measures that may be used to break the "conflict trap" and overcome the corrupting influence of oil-dependence in Nigeria.

This paper examines oil-dependence and civil conflict in Nigeria focusing on the economic dynamics of resource-induced conflicts. It identifies two dimensions to oil-related civil conflict in the country. The first is the violent rent-seeking political violence that oil-availability generates between the various ethno-regional groups; the second is the Niger Delta crisis. The former is linked to excessive government dependence on oil revenues, an institutionally unstable revenue allocation system, weak political institutional arrangements, lack of effective agencies of restraints to demand transparency and accountability on the part of political office holders, failure to translate oil wealth to sustainable growth and increased standard of living for a larger majority of Nigerians, and a defective property right structure in relation to mineral resource endowment. Violence in the Niger Delta area is attributed, in the main, to weak institutional arrangements manifesting in poorly-conceived laws, lack of enforcement, "regulatory capture", and a marriage of interest between the State and oil companies which often encourage the State to use repressive measures against host communities in cases of disputes. There are also the looting and secession incentives as well as the rentseeking contests that oil-availability and the allure of ownership creates among local participants. Three factors (educational attainment, income level and asset possession) consistently explain the propensity to general violence among individuals in the region in the Ordered and Multinomial regressions on civil disobedience. The paper concludes with a discussion of some measures that may be used to break the "conflict trap" and overcome the corrupting influence of oil-dependence in Nigeria.

This article examines youths' willingness to participate in three different forms of unrest (peaceful protests, low-level violence and oil-related crime, and militarized struggle) in the oil-rich Delta region of Nigeria, focusing among other factors on the role of schooling, educational attainments, earnings, and unemployment, and using data from over 1,300 respondents. It discusses what level of education matters the most for each outcome, the influence of higher formal education on willingness to participate by the unemployed, and the effect of marginal increases in income on the disposition of the employed towards participation. The results are compared across various sample specifications.

This article attempts to explain the determinants of the probability of willingness to join rebel groups by youths in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria, using primary data from a sample of 1,337 individuals drawn from 18 communities. A cardinal objective is to test the theoretical explanations of the motivation for rebellion in resource-based societies and to examine the kind of factors that present rebel opportunity. Fifteen variables are used to reflect motives and opportunity for rebellion, and a logit regression model is employed to estimate the probability of willingness to participate. While grievance appears to be pervasive among individuals- and is systemically explained by the data, it is not seen to have high statistical effect on the probability of having a disposition to rebel participation. Rather, individual-and community-level factors that reduce the opportunity cost and risk of participation, or increase the perceived benefits, appear to be more important. The findings suggest that strategies to achieve long-lasting civil peace in Nigeria's Delta must go beyond grievance to address individual-level factors that determine the opportunity cost of participation in violence, such as low income level and low educational attainment, and community-level factors that create an opportunity to profit from extreme forms of civil disobedience, such as low infrastructure. Some of these strategies choices are found also to have the potential to address grievance.

Gormley-Heenan, C.; MacGinty, R.: Building and breaking trust. - S. 423-425 Brown, K.: "Recipe for Disaster?" Trust, memory and space in a post-conflict city : A case study of the Tri-Service homecoming parade in Belfast 2008. - S. 427-438 Steenkamp, C.: Xenophobia in South Africa : What does ist say about trust? - S. 403-447 Knox, C.: Building trust amidst corruption in Bangladesh. - S. 449-459 Mitton, K.: Reconstructing trust in Sierra Leone. - S. 461-471 Pavri, T.: Shall we talk? Communications during crises in the India-Pakistan conflict. - S. 473-481 Oyefusi, A.: Trust and the breakdown of civil order in Nigeria's delta region : Evidence from historical conflict episodes. - S. 483-492

On site and off site are the main construction methods used in the construction industry with the former being majorly adopted. Off-site construction offers significant opportunity to improve project performance. However, there is little awareness of its benefits in the Nigerian construction industry. This study aims to assess the benefits of adopting modular integrated construction in Nigeria to improve the level of understanding, usage for stakeholders and enhance productivity. Purposive and snowballing technique were used to select the prefab construction experts. Professionals that were involved in the study are engineers, architects and quantity surveyors in the study area. The most rated benefits are enhanced teamwork and collaboration, improved productivity, simplicity and ease in the construction, enhances sustainable building and improved quality of work. Five variables have significant difference between the respondents while the others do not. The study concludes that modular construction is at its nascent stage and could be developed and be more implemented if the government takes the lead. It is therefore recommended that stakeholders must be ready and willing to use modern method for better collaboration and teamwork. Also, more awareness and training programmes should be conducted to the stakeholders who could implement its usage in the Nigerian construction industry. The government should also provide financial support to encourage private clients and other people who are keen to execute the construction projects with prefabs.