THE EXISTENTIAL CONDITION OF THE IJAWS IN THE EMERGING SOCIO-ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL MILIEU OF NIGERIA. By Ebo Socrates, PhD. -/- Nigeria is a hybrid nation of over two hundred and fifty ethnic nationalities. The Ijaws as a people among the multitude of peoples that have come to constitute the geographic expression and sovereign entity known as Nigeria, find themselves enmeshed in the fluctuating socio-economic milieu of Nigeria. They as well as other ethnic nationalities that constitute Nigeria, found themselves bound to (...) the contingencies and exigencies of the nation-state called Nigeria not by act of will or treaty but by the Lugardian fiat which in itself was a full expression of the British imperialist will to power. By fiat and history, a country was made; the country is Nigeria, its people simply are; a fact of history. Their mode of being however, is a confluence of contraction and progress. So many models of nationhood explicates Nigeria. But Nigeria, is undeniably a “torn” nation. In the words of Samuel Huntington, a nation of conflicting civilizations: the Islamic civilization and the Judeo-Christian civilization. The Ijaws, an oil rich minority tribe found themselves entwined and involved in the destiny of this phenomenal nation called Nigeria. Has such an entwinement been a curse or blessing? Have the Ijaws significant power in the organogram of the Nigerian nationhood? Are they tossed about by the tide and flow of events or are they active movers in the making of the Nigerian history? This paper critically looks at these existential realities and elucidates the existential condition of the Ijaws in the contemporary Nigeria . (shrink)

THE WORD IN AFRICAN ONTOLOGY Socrates Ebo, PhD ABSTRACT The word in African ontology is more than mere expression of sounds. It is a being which is intra-mental and extra-mental. It is a creation of human mind and the human lips. But it is also an independent entity with enormous causal powers in the African universe of forces. It is an art as well as a means of communication. It is the embodiment of the history of the African community. Embedded (...) in the word, is the community’s ethics. Yet, the word is also a series of sounds which can be learnt and repeated. It can be uttered by anyone yet not everyone can put it to every use. The word can be profound in a context and meaningless in another context. The same word that is commonplace in common speech can be a causal force in a coded ritual. Yet, it is the word: ubiquitous and cryptic, mystic and plebeian; sacred and profane, artistic, yet plain bland on the lips of many. -/- . (shrink)

GLOBALIZATION, ARAB SPRING AND THE CHANGING SOCIAL VALUES By Socrates Ebo, PhD -/- ABSTRACT -/- The tumultuous and eponymous events that set-off socio-political changes in the Maghreb from November 2010 were a confirmation or, better still, manifestation of a lager process which had gradually but steadily emerged a major factor in the socio-economic formation of the globe. This factor is no other than the process of globalization; a process that was heightened by the revolutions in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) (...) and the emergence of the New Media. Until the days of the social media, strong men who held authoritarian sway in the Maghreb carried on without any qualms as to the security of their political formation. But the New Media revolution changed all that. This work captures the role of globalization in the revolutions that swept through the Maghreb which have come to be known as the Arab Spring. -/- . (shrink)