Usman A. Tar, Ph.D. | Nigerian Defence Academy (original) (raw)
Papers by Usman A. Tar, Ph.D.
Studia Politicae Universitatis Silesiensis
The impact of the novel Covid-19, otherwise known as the coronavirus on the entire spectrum of Ni... more The impact of the novel Covid-19, otherwise known as the coronavirus on the entire spectrum of Nigeria’s national life, as elsewhere, remains yet indelibly unquantifiable at present. Thanks to the Elite culpability in the management of the corona-virus epidemic that has now rendered the entire Nigeria’s national life halted and, on the brinks of spontaneous discontinuity. Conceptualized in this study to mean negligence of duty, this study unpacks how the Nigerian political Elites and leadership’s inefficiency has contributed inversely to the eventual outbreak, sporadic rise and the negative consequences of Covid-19 on the entire populations’ Nigeria’s economic and sustainable development goals. Drawing from David Hume’s theory of causation, this study discovers that leadership and Nigerian political elites’ failure in the management of the Covid-19 pandemic, before and during its eventual outbreak and manifestation in Nigeria triggered the incident Covid-19 case in Nigeria, and its ...
Studia Politica Slovaca, 2021
human insecurities in afrika, the politics of non-refoulement and the plights of the african refu... more human insecurities in afrika, the politics of non-refoulement and the plights of the african refugees along mexican-american borders the rise of refugee problems worldwide, particularly the african refugee crisis, inherently underlines the preponderance of the spiking degree of human insecurity in Africa and the definitional and operational shortcomings of the Geneva Refugee Convention of 1951, which was designed to protect the rights of refugees and asylum seekers to safety and express access to neighboring states. this article attempts to unpack how the spiking rate of human insecurity in Africa and the definitive and organizational shortcomings of the 1951 Geneva Refugee Convention have led to the troubling spate of the Mexicoamerican border african refugee crisis, amongst several unabating largescale migrations to developed world including the European countries. From a case-study methodological standpoint, this study utilizes the advantages of rigorous qualitative data and analysis techniques. Despite the development of the 1951 Geneva Refugee convention and other international regimes, the increasing numbers of african refugees along the Mexican-american border and around the world remain alarmingly worrying. the african refugee crisis now poses unprecedented dangers to global human security, with over five million people internally displaced and thousands of african refugees seeking asylum along the Mexican-american border. a thorough human based security approach is recommended to address the ravaging human security challenges precipitating the influx of African migrants along the Mexico-American borders.
The Palgrave Handbook of Small Arms and Conflicts in Africa, 2021
The Routledge Handbook of Counterterrorism and Counterinsurgency in Africa, 2021
Peacebuilding in Contemporary Africa, 2018
Peacebuilding in Contemporary Africa, 2018
The Routledge Handbook of Counterterrorism and Counterinsurgency in Africa, 2021
The Palgrave Handbook of Small Arms and Conflicts in Africa, 2021
This article explores the emerging regional security architecture to fight terrorism and insurgen... more This article explores the emerging regional security architecture to fight terrorism and insurgency in the Lake Chad Basin (LCB). It diagnoses the evolution of the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC) as a sub-regional organization that unites Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria. In particular, the article critically investigates recent efforts by some members of the LCBC to create regional security architecture under the aegis of the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) to fight terrorism and insurgency within the Basin. The article argues that this new security mechanism in the Chad Basin is largely driven by resource geopolitics, regional security and Nigeria's quest for hegemonic stability. It is argued that historical contradictions, linguistic differences, resource geopolitics, hegemonic politics, and local national politics have also hampered meaningful progress and undermined the basis for erecting robust new security architecture in Africa's LCB. Résumé Cet article exp...
For a number of years, Darfur region in western Sudan has been a scene of violent clashes between... more For a number of years, Darfur region in western Sudan has been a scene of violent clashes between mainly sedentary farming communities of the three ‘African ’ ethnic groups (Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa) and ‘Arab ’ nomads. For all these years, successive Sudanese governments have repeatedly claimed that these clashes were caused by competition over resources. In the last couple of years, however, what used to be constructed as resource conflict dramatically turned into one of the worst humanitarian crisis and ethnic genocide, next to the Rwandan genocide, affecting over a million western Sudanese in Darfur region. The crisis erupted when in February 2003, two rebel movements–the Sudanese Liberation Army/Movement (SLA/M) and Justice and Equality Movement (JEM)–emerged and demanded the development and equality for Darfur region vis-à-vis other parts Sudan. It eventually fermented into a sustained armed conflict between, on the one hand, the armed forces of Sudan and its allied proxy mili...
The Palgrave Handbook of Small Arms and Conflicts in Africa, 2021
The Palgrave Handbook of Small Arms and Conflicts in Africa, 2021
Africa is seen as continent of 'anarchy' by the outside world. Abrahamsen (2005), Abrahamsen and ... more Africa is seen as continent of 'anarchy' by the outside world. Abrahamsen (2005), Abrahamsen and Williams (2005) and Abubakar (2017) supported the view as they viewed the postcolonial state with pessimism and argued that it is characterized by political violence; structural imbalances, inequity, social injustices, underdevelopment, corruption and electoral malpractices. The rise in communal, ethnic and regional wars, inter and intra-state armed conflicts, herdsmen-farmers' conflict, terrorism and separatist movements are apt descriptions of the postcolonial state which also fits into the weak state paradigm. The conspicuous failures have, in many contexts, overshadowed the modest achievements attained after independence by many African countries. A study conducted by the Institute of Security Studies (ISS) in 2011 indicates that most wars in Africa are facilitated by the abuse of small arms and unregulated activities of Private Security Companies (PSCs). Lack of regulations or limited laws against private security firms in some countries has given impetus to 'war merchants' (including governments in some developed countries) and war lords to develop further interest in Africa where laws are flouted and impunity is at its peak. On this premise, the PSCs take
The Governance, Security and Development Nexus, 2020
Violent Non-State Actors in Africa, 2017
Somalia represents a classic case of 'state collapse' in the post-Cold War global dispensation. A... more Somalia represents a classic case of 'state collapse' in the post-Cold War global dispensation. At the center of Somalia's disintegration and eventual collapse is the failure of the state to sustain the basic structures of authority, thus giving room for the efflorescence of clan warlords, armed militias and other violent non-state actors (VNSAs). Al-Shabaab represents a latent specimen of VNSA and cas fortuit behind the disintegration, anarchy and collapse of state legitimacy in Somalia. In post-Cold War Africa, a new set of conflicts has emerged in which VNSAs-including a plethora of ultra-nationalist and extremist religious ideologues-exploit socioeconomic discontents and other fault lines in the state to engage in terrorist tactics and unleash wanton destruction against innocent civilians. The rising terrorist threats in parts of Africa have triggered an appalling humanitarian crisis as a result of violence against unarmed civilians.
As African countries continue in their march towards neo-liberal democracy, elite power politics ... more As African countries continue in their march towards neo-liberal democracy, elite power politics has assumed new but macabre heights. The continent’s governing class is demonstrating dramatic behaviour in achieving and sustaining power by all means possible. In this article, recent experience in Nigerian 2007 general elections and the upcoming 2011 elections are recalled to argue that rival elements of the governing class are engaged in a vicious circle of subordinating one another, albeit with no threat to their hegemony. The paper appropriates Michael Foucault’s concepts of ‘new economy of power relations’ and ‘legitimation’ as well as Antonio Gramsci’s terminology of ‘subordination and hegemony’ to demonstrate that, by both design and default, dominant form and structures of power are reproduced and sustained by the governing class. The paper shows that dominant elites (incumbents and their allies) use state structures and an emerging single-party machinery to get an upper hand o...
Acta Politica Polonica, 2021
Venus 6° N. In addition to these conjunctions with the Moon, Venus is in conjunction with Regulus... more Venus 6° N. In addition to these conjunctions with the Moon, Venus is in conjunction with Regulus on Oct. 5d. 14h., Venus being 0•4° S., Venus with Jupiter on Oct. 25d. 14h., Venus being 0•2° N., and Mercury with Spica on Oct. 26d. 09h., Mercury being 4° N. Mercury can be seen before sunrise during the middle of the month, rising at 4h. 45m. on October 15. Venus rises at 2h. Om., 2h. 30m. and 3h. 15m. on October 1, 15 and 31, respectively, and is very bright, its stellar magnitude being about-3 •7 ; its distance from the Earth is increasing throughout the month, from 87 to 106 million miles, and the visible fraction of the apparent disk also increases, from 0•65 to 0•75. Mars rises at 17h. 20m., 16h. 15m. and 15h. 05m. on October 1, 15 and 31, respectively, and sets at 3h. 30m., 2h. 35m. and lh. 50m. on the following mornings ; its stellar magnitude decreases during the month from-2•2 to-1•3. Mars was at minimum distance from the Earth during September and is now getting farther away, being at 53 million miles by October 31 ; it is near <Ji Aquarii throughout the month. Jupiter rises at 4h. 05m., 3h. 30m. and 2h. 45m. at the beginning, middle and end of the month, respectively ; at the beginning of the month it is near cr Leonis and moves into Virgo, being near ~ Virginis at the end of the month. Saturn sets at 19h. 30m. on October 1, and is too close to the Sun for satisfactory observation. Occultations of stars brighter than magnitude 6 are as follows, observations being made at Greenwich: Oct. 14d. 20h. 28•3m., c 1 Cap. (D); Oct. 22d. 23h. 05•4m., 129 H 1 Tau (R) ; Oct. 27d. 03h. 27 •6m., A 1 Cnc. (R) ; R and D refer to reappearance and disappearance, respectively. The Orionid meteors are active during October 15-25, but conditions are unfavourable ; the radiant is near R.A. 6h. 24m., Dec. 15° N. Taurid meteors may be seen during the last few days of the month ; conditions are favourable and the radiant is near R.A. 3h. 36m., Dec. 14° N. ERRATUM.-In the article on "The 1956 Cambridge Summer School in Physical Chemistry", published in Nat,ure of September 15, on p. 578, eleven lines from the bottom of column 1, for "carbon monoxide" read '' chlorine monoxide''.
Studia Politicae Universitatis Silesiensis
The impact of the novel Covid-19, otherwise known as the coronavirus on the entire spectrum of Ni... more The impact of the novel Covid-19, otherwise known as the coronavirus on the entire spectrum of Nigeria’s national life, as elsewhere, remains yet indelibly unquantifiable at present. Thanks to the Elite culpability in the management of the corona-virus epidemic that has now rendered the entire Nigeria’s national life halted and, on the brinks of spontaneous discontinuity. Conceptualized in this study to mean negligence of duty, this study unpacks how the Nigerian political Elites and leadership’s inefficiency has contributed inversely to the eventual outbreak, sporadic rise and the negative consequences of Covid-19 on the entire populations’ Nigeria’s economic and sustainable development goals. Drawing from David Hume’s theory of causation, this study discovers that leadership and Nigerian political elites’ failure in the management of the Covid-19 pandemic, before and during its eventual outbreak and manifestation in Nigeria triggered the incident Covid-19 case in Nigeria, and its ...
Studia Politica Slovaca, 2021
human insecurities in afrika, the politics of non-refoulement and the plights of the african refu... more human insecurities in afrika, the politics of non-refoulement and the plights of the african refugees along mexican-american borders the rise of refugee problems worldwide, particularly the african refugee crisis, inherently underlines the preponderance of the spiking degree of human insecurity in Africa and the definitional and operational shortcomings of the Geneva Refugee Convention of 1951, which was designed to protect the rights of refugees and asylum seekers to safety and express access to neighboring states. this article attempts to unpack how the spiking rate of human insecurity in Africa and the definitive and organizational shortcomings of the 1951 Geneva Refugee Convention have led to the troubling spate of the Mexicoamerican border african refugee crisis, amongst several unabating largescale migrations to developed world including the European countries. From a case-study methodological standpoint, this study utilizes the advantages of rigorous qualitative data and analysis techniques. Despite the development of the 1951 Geneva Refugee convention and other international regimes, the increasing numbers of african refugees along the Mexican-american border and around the world remain alarmingly worrying. the african refugee crisis now poses unprecedented dangers to global human security, with over five million people internally displaced and thousands of african refugees seeking asylum along the Mexican-american border. a thorough human based security approach is recommended to address the ravaging human security challenges precipitating the influx of African migrants along the Mexico-American borders.
The Palgrave Handbook of Small Arms and Conflicts in Africa, 2021
The Routledge Handbook of Counterterrorism and Counterinsurgency in Africa, 2021
Peacebuilding in Contemporary Africa, 2018
Peacebuilding in Contemporary Africa, 2018
The Routledge Handbook of Counterterrorism and Counterinsurgency in Africa, 2021
The Palgrave Handbook of Small Arms and Conflicts in Africa, 2021
This article explores the emerging regional security architecture to fight terrorism and insurgen... more This article explores the emerging regional security architecture to fight terrorism and insurgency in the Lake Chad Basin (LCB). It diagnoses the evolution of the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC) as a sub-regional organization that unites Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria. In particular, the article critically investigates recent efforts by some members of the LCBC to create regional security architecture under the aegis of the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) to fight terrorism and insurgency within the Basin. The article argues that this new security mechanism in the Chad Basin is largely driven by resource geopolitics, regional security and Nigeria's quest for hegemonic stability. It is argued that historical contradictions, linguistic differences, resource geopolitics, hegemonic politics, and local national politics have also hampered meaningful progress and undermined the basis for erecting robust new security architecture in Africa's LCB. Résumé Cet article exp...
For a number of years, Darfur region in western Sudan has been a scene of violent clashes between... more For a number of years, Darfur region in western Sudan has been a scene of violent clashes between mainly sedentary farming communities of the three ‘African ’ ethnic groups (Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa) and ‘Arab ’ nomads. For all these years, successive Sudanese governments have repeatedly claimed that these clashes were caused by competition over resources. In the last couple of years, however, what used to be constructed as resource conflict dramatically turned into one of the worst humanitarian crisis and ethnic genocide, next to the Rwandan genocide, affecting over a million western Sudanese in Darfur region. The crisis erupted when in February 2003, two rebel movements–the Sudanese Liberation Army/Movement (SLA/M) and Justice and Equality Movement (JEM)–emerged and demanded the development and equality for Darfur region vis-à-vis other parts Sudan. It eventually fermented into a sustained armed conflict between, on the one hand, the armed forces of Sudan and its allied proxy mili...
The Palgrave Handbook of Small Arms and Conflicts in Africa, 2021
The Palgrave Handbook of Small Arms and Conflicts in Africa, 2021
Africa is seen as continent of 'anarchy' by the outside world. Abrahamsen (2005), Abrahamsen and ... more Africa is seen as continent of 'anarchy' by the outside world. Abrahamsen (2005), Abrahamsen and Williams (2005) and Abubakar (2017) supported the view as they viewed the postcolonial state with pessimism and argued that it is characterized by political violence; structural imbalances, inequity, social injustices, underdevelopment, corruption and electoral malpractices. The rise in communal, ethnic and regional wars, inter and intra-state armed conflicts, herdsmen-farmers' conflict, terrorism and separatist movements are apt descriptions of the postcolonial state which also fits into the weak state paradigm. The conspicuous failures have, in many contexts, overshadowed the modest achievements attained after independence by many African countries. A study conducted by the Institute of Security Studies (ISS) in 2011 indicates that most wars in Africa are facilitated by the abuse of small arms and unregulated activities of Private Security Companies (PSCs). Lack of regulations or limited laws against private security firms in some countries has given impetus to 'war merchants' (including governments in some developed countries) and war lords to develop further interest in Africa where laws are flouted and impunity is at its peak. On this premise, the PSCs take
The Governance, Security and Development Nexus, 2020
Violent Non-State Actors in Africa, 2017
Somalia represents a classic case of 'state collapse' in the post-Cold War global dispensation. A... more Somalia represents a classic case of 'state collapse' in the post-Cold War global dispensation. At the center of Somalia's disintegration and eventual collapse is the failure of the state to sustain the basic structures of authority, thus giving room for the efflorescence of clan warlords, armed militias and other violent non-state actors (VNSAs). Al-Shabaab represents a latent specimen of VNSA and cas fortuit behind the disintegration, anarchy and collapse of state legitimacy in Somalia. In post-Cold War Africa, a new set of conflicts has emerged in which VNSAs-including a plethora of ultra-nationalist and extremist religious ideologues-exploit socioeconomic discontents and other fault lines in the state to engage in terrorist tactics and unleash wanton destruction against innocent civilians. The rising terrorist threats in parts of Africa have triggered an appalling humanitarian crisis as a result of violence against unarmed civilians.
As African countries continue in their march towards neo-liberal democracy, elite power politics ... more As African countries continue in their march towards neo-liberal democracy, elite power politics has assumed new but macabre heights. The continent’s governing class is demonstrating dramatic behaviour in achieving and sustaining power by all means possible. In this article, recent experience in Nigerian 2007 general elections and the upcoming 2011 elections are recalled to argue that rival elements of the governing class are engaged in a vicious circle of subordinating one another, albeit with no threat to their hegemony. The paper appropriates Michael Foucault’s concepts of ‘new economy of power relations’ and ‘legitimation’ as well as Antonio Gramsci’s terminology of ‘subordination and hegemony’ to demonstrate that, by both design and default, dominant form and structures of power are reproduced and sustained by the governing class. The paper shows that dominant elites (incumbents and their allies) use state structures and an emerging single-party machinery to get an upper hand o...
Acta Politica Polonica, 2021
Venus 6° N. In addition to these conjunctions with the Moon, Venus is in conjunction with Regulus... more Venus 6° N. In addition to these conjunctions with the Moon, Venus is in conjunction with Regulus on Oct. 5d. 14h., Venus being 0•4° S., Venus with Jupiter on Oct. 25d. 14h., Venus being 0•2° N., and Mercury with Spica on Oct. 26d. 09h., Mercury being 4° N. Mercury can be seen before sunrise during the middle of the month, rising at 4h. 45m. on October 15. Venus rises at 2h. Om., 2h. 30m. and 3h. 15m. on October 1, 15 and 31, respectively, and is very bright, its stellar magnitude being about-3 •7 ; its distance from the Earth is increasing throughout the month, from 87 to 106 million miles, and the visible fraction of the apparent disk also increases, from 0•65 to 0•75. Mars rises at 17h. 20m., 16h. 15m. and 15h. 05m. on October 1, 15 and 31, respectively, and sets at 3h. 30m., 2h. 35m. and lh. 50m. on the following mornings ; its stellar magnitude decreases during the month from-2•2 to-1•3. Mars was at minimum distance from the Earth during September and is now getting farther away, being at 53 million miles by October 31 ; it is near <Ji Aquarii throughout the month. Jupiter rises at 4h. 05m., 3h. 30m. and 2h. 45m. at the beginning, middle and end of the month, respectively ; at the beginning of the month it is near cr Leonis and moves into Virgo, being near ~ Virginis at the end of the month. Saturn sets at 19h. 30m. on October 1, and is too close to the Sun for satisfactory observation. Occultations of stars brighter than magnitude 6 are as follows, observations being made at Greenwich: Oct. 14d. 20h. 28•3m., c 1 Cap. (D); Oct. 22d. 23h. 05•4m., 129 H 1 Tau (R) ; Oct. 27d. 03h. 27 •6m., A 1 Cnc. (R) ; R and D refer to reappearance and disappearance, respectively. The Orionid meteors are active during October 15-25, but conditions are unfavourable ; the radiant is near R.A. 6h. 24m., Dec. 15° N. Taurid meteors may be seen during the last few days of the month ; conditions are favourable and the radiant is near R.A. 3h. 36m., Dec. 14° N. ERRATUM.-In the article on "The 1956 Cambridge Summer School in Physical Chemistry", published in Nat,ure of September 15, on p. 578, eleven lines from the bottom of column 1, for "carbon monoxide" read '' chlorine monoxide''.
This book explores the debate on globalisation of higher education with a particular focus on Bri... more This book explores the debate on globalisation of higher education with a particular focus on British Higher Education Institutions (HEIS). Using the narratives and experiences of international students, the book interrogates the policy framework and nuances in the packaging and delivery of higher education in the UK. The book reveals that on face value, the British higher education appears to be well structured and articulated seeking to provide a "world class" educational system, but there are areas of constraints: learning support for those in need of English, immigration and visa services in the light an emerging stringent policy, and social and welfare support services for students and their families, among others