The Retired Military as Emergent Power Factor in Nigeria

Description

The Retired Military as Emergent Power Factor in Nigeria is a scholarly and systematic analysis of the growing power and influence of retired military officers in contemporary Nigeria. The book shows that the traditional concept of civil military relations in Nigeria separating the civil society from the military is now out moded, and must be replaced by a new one which views the lines between the two spheres as increasingly blurred.

Military officers have held cabinet positions and many have served on boards of government parastatals. In retirement these military, officers have put to good effect, their experiences and connections with government and industry as well as their on- going influence with those officers in government, to set up businesses and to organise effective participation in party politics.

Today retired military officers own or sit on the boards of banks, companies, large-scale fanns, etc. Their participation in these diverse fields has created for them new roles and influence. It is these roles and influence which Professor J. Bayo Adekanye examines and analyses in this incisive and well-written book, using empirical data as basis for his analysis and conclusions. It is an interesting book which every literate Nigerian ought to read. But its appeal reaches beyond Nigeria, for this is a very significant addition to the growing number of books on the military in Africa.

A well established and respected Scholar, Professor Adekanye has held teaching and research positions in a number of universities including Obafemi Awolowo University,
Nigeria; Harvard University, U.S.A.; University of Lancaster, England; Dalhouise University, Canada and was until September 1997 a Research Fellow and Programme Leader, Ethnic and Nationalist Conflicts Programme at the International Peace Research Institute, Oslo (PRIO),

Professor Adekanye, a Professor of Political Science, is currently Director of Strategic Studies programme, University of Ibadan. His two other books Nigeria in Search of Stable Civic-Military System (Gower and Westview,1981) and Military Occupation and Social Stratification (Vantage Publishers for University of Ibadan, 1993) reveal his interest in the study of the military.