Politics, Political Culture and Socialization: Re-inventing the Nigerian Polity

Abstract

A general point of consensus among many Nigerians is that the nation's development as a political entity has been hampered by the way and manner politics is practised in the country. There have, therefore, been calls, often clamorous and confused, even tongue-in-cheek, by and for Nigerians to be socialized in an atmosphere that will engender a new political culture. All told, in the more than four decades of the country's freedom from direct British suzerainty, many programmes of mobilization and orientation have been enacted. These programmes have floundered because they were poorly or half-heartedly executed. They have also been characterized by a marked lack of focus, as they have not been directed at the `appropriate' section deserving of genuine mobilization in society. This paper, therefore, examines the issues involved in the crisis of political culture in the nation, and the calls for a new social order embedded in a new value system as can be assured by a consciously executed programme of cultural and political re-orientation and re-mobilization of the entire population, and the youths especially.


(J Cultural Studies: 2002 4(1): 156-184)