Research Publications (Management Sciences)
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Item Question on reality : rethinking the practice of decolonisation in African studies(Adonis-Abbey Publihers, 2023-09-05) Paimo, Oluwatunmise Taiwo; Fagbadebo, OmololuDecolonisation, an occurrence that processes an idea, instills a new sense of belonging in people. In Africa, such occurrence is identified as a tool that sets the pace of marginalisation from the rest of the world. Knowledge colonisation still exists, with a gap between a few minorities (White/West) and the majority (Black/Rest). With a deeply rooted dichotomy at different societal levels, recognition is drawn to scholars in research and development. African scholars with the “West” have more hurdles to surmount, primarily to achieve acceptance with their fellow counterparts. As the debate on decolonisation gains prominence, African studies and scholars become important. This study addressed the gap of inconsistencies in relationships, discussions, and the research base of African studies and scholars. It investigates the significance of African studies, examines the practice of African theory, and examines the extent of decolonisation as a reality in African studies. With educational and innovative strategies, structures for the practice of African studies were explored. A descriptive design is adopted for the study; with data gathered using primary and secondary sources.Item Decolonising public administration content curriculum in a post-colonial South African university: policy monitoring and evaluation perspective(University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2022) Makiva, Msuthukazi; Ile, Isioma; Fagbadebo, OmololuOne of the major areas of focus in public administration discipline is policy monitoring and evaluation. This paper focuses on how this is understood in selected indigenous communities in South Africa. The current public administration curriculum content taught in Universities hardly recognises and reflects bits of practices and realities of indigenous communities, especially in conducting policy monitoring and evaluation. The paper unearths the origins and current state of public administration content curriculum updates taught in selected higher institutions of learning, with specific reference to policy monitoring and evaluation. The article further sought to understand public administration discipline content curriculum alignment with South Africa’s contextual realities in selected indigenous communities of the Eastern Cape. Using explorative research, the study discovered that the teachings of public administration hardly reflect the realities among the indigenous communities. This presents public administration discipline to be epistemic universal instead of being epistemic diverse. The conclusion is that as much as African scholars learn from their European counterparts, all forms of knowledge ought to be documented and amalgamated into curriculum content. It is critical, therefore, that a hybrid will be suitable for policy monitoring and evaluation. In addition, indigenous policy monitoring and evaluation knowledge should be accredited and included in the curriculum content of public administration discipline.Item South Africa in BRICS : a review of asymmetric power relations in an intercontinental group(Adonis & Abbey Publishers Ltd, 2022-08-31) Fagbadebo, Omololu; Netswera, Fulufhelo GodfreyThe need for an even geographical spread and location were the underlying factors that informed the inclusion of South Africa in the BRIC states to become BRICS in 2011. With Brazil (Latin America, Russia (Eastern Europe and Asia), India and China (Asia), the inclusion of South Africa (Africa) completed the intercontinental status of the bloc of emerging economies as a formidable player in the global system. Rather than its economic and military strengths, South Africa‘s admission into BRICS is to fill the gap role as a continental representation in a group of states characterised by asymmetric power relations. This paper argues that while South Africa‘s membership in BRICS is a continuation of Pretoria‘s foreign policy objectives, its role as a fillthe-gap actor seems to reinforce the position of Africa as a weak continental actor in global politics. Central to relationships among nations in the international system is power, defined in military, economic, and socio-cultural capabilities to advance national interests in a larger community. In the absence of a central authority to regulate the behaviours of actors, each member of the global community strives to establish functional linkages of mutual interests and benefits. South Africa in BRICS does not accord it sufficient power to pull the strings among the group and in the continental politics.Item Political leadership, corruption, and the crisis of governance in Africa : a discourse(Adonis and Abbey Publishers, 2021-03-15) Fagbadebo, Omololu; Dorasamy, NirmalaCorruption is a common word often identified by scholars as a major barrier to growth and development. Every society condemns corrupt practices and often holds the leadership responsible. Across the globe, there are anti-corruption advocacy mechanisms aimed at promoting ethical leadership in government. The African Union, for instance, has adopted a series of continental anti-corruption protocols to assist member states curb the rising tide of corruption and its consequences on human security. Using a qualitative method of data collection and analysis, this paper interrogates the leadership-corruption nexus in relation to the prevailing crisis of governance in Africa. It argues that the nature of political leadership in Africa engenders the proclivity towards abuse of power. We find that entrenched vested interests of the political elite have promoted corruption and abuse of power as the instruments of governance, and has reduced requisite statutory institutional oversight structures, to ineffective mechanisms. While the crisis of governance dominates society with the attendant consequences, the political elite lives in opulence. The paper submits, therefore, that the crisis of governance occasioned by mismanagement of public resources by political leadership will continue to fester if citizens continue to support unethical practices by the political leaders.Item Judicial review as an accountability mechanism in South Africa : a discourse on the Nkandla case(Durban University of Technology, 2022) Fagbadebo, Omololu; Dorasamy, NirmalaSeparation of powers among the three branches of government, in most Constitutional democracies, is a design to avert the tyranny of a personalized rule. With specific roles, in relationships characterized by separated but shared powers, each branch of government is a watchdog against the other in case of any abuse. In the South African governing system, the Constitution guarantees functional power relationships among the legislature, the executive, and the judiciary branches of the government. Nevertheless, the dominant party system, in practice, has weakened the legislative oversight and accountability powers to tame the excesses of the executive, contrary to the intendments of the drafters of the Constitution. Judicial review of the various legislative and executive actions, however, has created precedents that seek to reassert legislative capacity to hold the executive accountable. At one time or the other, the judiciary had indicted the legislature and the executive of dereliction of duties. Using primary and secondary data from judicial pronouncements, constitutional provisions, and other public documents, with extant literature, respectively, this paper reviewed the environment that prompted the activist posture of the South African judiciary. An entrenched culture of party loyalty and the incapacity of the legislature to enforce accountability have bolstered the need for assertive judicial review in ensuring accountability. The failure of the legislature to exercise its oversight power has provided the platform for the judiciary to rise as a formidable accountability instrument. Judicial independence, guaranteed by The Constitution, would continue to sustain the tenets of South African representative democracy.Item A discourse on the plight of South African women in the face of abuse and neglect(University of the Western Cape, 2021-10-25) Fagbadebo, OmololuAn upsurge in the rate of violence against women has an adverse effect on women in South Africa. Sadly, many South African women who are the victims of violent sexual conduct, such as rape and other forms of violent sexual abuse, have in part contributed to the prevalence of HIV/AIDS infection among women. Of the 7,7 million South African living with HIV/AIDS in 2018, 4,7 million were women, while another 69 000 were among the new infections. They are more vulnerable to HIV infections with 21,17 percent of women living with the disease. Using personal conversations, literature searches and documents for primary and secondary data, this article argues that value orientation that ascribes superiority to men has damaging consequences on the status of women. South African women are exposed to violent habitual actions of men that denigrate their womanhood. The article, therefore, submits that there is a need to reinforce civil society and strengthen the justice system for the protection and promotion of the rights and freedom of women. Aside from this, the government should increase its commitment to the enforcement of requisite legislative frameworks that safeguard the rights and freedom of women, and review punishments for any acts of violence against women.Item Corruption and the challenge of accountability in the post-colonial African states : a discourse(Adonis and Abbey Publishers, 2019-04-15) Fagbadebo, Omololu; Mtshali, KhondloScholars and commentators have described the African state in different forms and versions based on their assessments, rightly or wrongly, of the development‟s strides. Reports by international and local developmental agencies often present gloomy descriptions of a continent suffering from the resource curse. The scorecards of most of the African leaders seem to confirm the assertions of failures in the midst of abundant resources. The corruption pandemic in Africa has rendered the societies as the exporter of potential human resources needed for developments and innovation to the countries of the West. While the continent‟s deplorable social and economic situations worsened, the leadership cadres exploit their power to widen the inequality gaps through unethical conduct. This paper interrogates the leadership-accountability nexus in some countries in Africa with a view to understanding the nature of the pervasiveness of governance crisis. The paper argues that African leaders are more of political predators than freedom fighters against the legacies of colonialism. Rather than explore the state‟s power to promote the public interest, African leaders are more concerned with their personal welfare, exploiting the vulnerability of the citizens. Cases of leadership corruption and malfeasances are swept away thereby engendering the unprecedented culture of leadership deficiency with impunity. This paper submits that the crisis of governance in Africa could be dealt with only if the citizens are liberated from the grip of leadership insensitivity and the rhetoric of colonialism.Item Interrogating the constitutional requisites for legislative oversight in the promotion of accountability and good governance in South Africa and Nigeria(SAGE Publications, 2019) Fagbadebo, OmololuAfrican Studies Association of India. This article interrogates the effectiveness of the requisites for constitutional provisions in respect of the promotion of accountability and good governance in South Africa and Nigeria. The article notes that the drafters of the Constitutions of the two countries made sufficient provisions for the regulation and control of the executive and legislative activities in a manner that could guarantee effective service delivery. These constitutional provisions, in line with the practices of their respective governing systems of the two countries, empower the legislature to hold the executive accountable. The article discovers that the lawmakers in the two countries lacked the capacity to harness the provisions for intended purposes. Using the elite theory for its analysis, the article argues that legislative oversight in South Africa and Nigeria is not as effective as envisaged in the constitutional provisions envisaged. This weakness has given rise to the worsening governance crises in the two countries in spite of their abundant economic and human resources. The article opines that the institutional structures of the political systems of the two countries, especially the dominant party phenomenon, coupled with the personal disposition of the political elites incapacitate the effective exercise of the oversight powers of legislatures in the two countries. The article, therefore, submits that the people of the two countries have to devise another means of holding their leaders accountable in the face of collaboration between the executive and the legislature to perpetuate impunity in the public space. Independent agencies should be more active in the exposure of unethical behaviours of the political elites, while the judiciary should be more independent in the dispensation of justice.Item Corruption, governance and political instability in Nigeria : a dysfunctional conundrum(Book Publisher International (a part of SCIENCEDOMAIN International), 2019-10-28) Fagbadebo, Omololu; Alina Georgeta, Mag; Kaustubha Nand, BhattThe Nigerian State is a victim of high-level corruption, bad governance, political instability, and a cyclical legitimacy crisis. Consequently, national development is retarded, and the political environment uncertain. The country’s authoritarian leadership faced a legitimacy crisis, political intrigues, in an ethnically -differentiated polity, where ethnic competition for resources drove much of the pervasive corruption and profligacy. While the political gladiators constantly manipulated the people and the political processes to advance their own selfish agenda, the society remained pauperized, and the people wallowed in abject poverty. This invariably led to weak legitimacy, as the citizens lacked faith in their political leaders and by extension, the political system. Participation in government was low because citizens perceived it as irrelevant to their lives. In the absence of support from civil society, the effective power of government was eroded. Patron -client relationships took a prime role over the formal aspects of politics, such as the rule of law, well-functioning political parties, and a credible electoral system. In order to break this cycle and ensure good governance, accountability and transparency must be guaranteedItem Inter-chamber relations in Nigeria's presidential system in the fourth republic(Springer International Publishing, 2019) Fagbadebo, Omololu; Fashagba, Joseph Yinka; Ajayi, Ola-Rotimi Matthew; Nwankwor, Chiedo