Corporate Governance, the New Poverty, and Socio-Political Conflicts in Nigeria (1986 – 2011)

Abstract

Drawing on the political-economy framework, this paper demonstrated the link between corporate governance mechanisms, increasing new poverty, and socio-political conflicts in Nigeria. An extensive literature search and critical analysis of the mix of secondary quantitative and qualitative data led to the findings of the study. In particular, it was found that corporate governance is a hegemonic neoliberal doctrine of the World Bank which was surreptitiously imposed on Nigeria through an orchestrated IMF loan. It was also found that its adoption in Nigeria led to individual greed, state frugality, and the political unwillingness of the state to respond to the needs of its subjects. It also led to the de-socialization of economic management, increasing new poverty, and socio-political conflicts as exemplified in the imbroglio over recurrent expenditures of the NASS; conflict over the new national minimum wage, and conflict over the withdrawal of fuel subsidy. Among others, it was recommended that government reverts to the socialization of economic management; suspend the withdrawal of fuel subsidy until local refining capacity is restored and utilized. Future researchers are urged to validate the variables selected for attention, collect empirical data on them, and test the structural equation model developed in this paper.