Joy Ngozi Ezeilo, Muhammed Tawfiq Ladan & Abiola Afolabi-Akiyode (eds.):
Sharia Implementation in Nigeria. Issues & Challenges on Women's Rights and Access to Justice.
Enugu: Women's Aid Collective (WACOL) / Lagos: Women's Advocates Research and Documentation Centre (WARDC) 2003.
ISBN 978-36242-4-5. (xxxv+278 pp.)
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Since the introduction of Sharia criminal law (or its re-introduction, as many see it) in large parts of Northern Nigeria since the year 2000, intense efforts are being made to deal with the human rights implications of the Islamic judicial system. This book has emerged from a conference held in Abuja in February 2003 that brought together experts for Public and Islamic Law and representatives of NGOs working for human and women's rights.
This book does not only provide thorough insights into the on-going debate about Sharia within Nigeria. It also, and primarily, shows a variety of concrete options to achieve improved access to justice within the framework of the Sharia judicial system. One line of action, generally agreed upon by legal specialists, is to apply the strict procedural rules required by Sharia law. The book provides numerous examples of these rules. Another option is to take into account the current socio-economic conditions and widespread poverty; these are factors which, as many scholarsis argue, have to put restrictions on the full-scale applicability of the law itself.
With both academic depth and practical orientation (including indices to statutes and cases quoted), this book is the first of its kind and provides essential resource material for scholars, lawyers, and activists alike.

Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi & 'Lanre Arogundade (eds.):
Gender Audit 2003 Elections and Issues in Women's Political Participation in Nigeria.
Lagos: Women's Advocates Research and Documentation Centre (WARDC), 2003.
ISBN 978-062-029-X. (x+141 pp.)
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Nigeria never had a female president, nor are there any female governors. An almost insignificant number of women were elected into various posts in the last general elections held in the country between April and May 2003. Only 3 out of 109 members of the Senate are female, and only 21 out of the 360 members of the House of Representatives. The situation is not better in most State Houses of Assembly. "The United Nations has enjoined states to aspire to a minumum of 30% by the year 2000. Admittedly only a handful of nations can boast of this achievement even in the year 2003, but at least there is some movement, whereas in Nigeria, it seems that we are all motion with little movement." (Foreword)
This book, based on a detailed study of the 2003 election results, not only takes account of the dismal state of gender equality in Nigerian politics. It also gives an overview about women's roles in Nigeria's political history and analyses the mechanisms that operate against women in Nigeria's party political system. The book furthermore contains biodata and contact addresses of female politicians, thus constituting a manual for all those interested in strengthening female political participation in Nigeria.

Joy Ngozi Ezeilo & Abiola Afolabi (eds.):
Sharia and Women's Human Rights in Nigeria. Strategies for Action.
Lagos: Women's Advocates Research and Documentation Centre (WARDC) / Women's Aid Collective (WACOL), 2003.
ISBN 978-8051-03-0. (iv+140 pp.)
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From the Introduction: "The flaw in the implementation of Sharia Penal Criminal Code since 2000 in Northern Nigeria, is that the code is inadequate to protect the rights of women. Access to justice is affected particularly in the Area and Sharia courts. Effectiveness is limited by low literacy level and inadequate access to resources. The protection of women from abuse and violence under existing law is inadequate.
Often, judge's attitudes and biases affect the type of judgement they render in such cases, with women's testimony devalued and treated as that of a minor or person without necessary legal capacity. [...]
This publication is designed to increase the knowledge of the civil society on issues of sharia and women's rights. Our intention is to produce a good resource material that will contribute positively to the debate and also recommend a strategy for addressing issues of women's rights under Sharia Law. Knowledge to us is wealth. We recommend this book to students of Sharia Law, women living under Muslim law and women's rights advocates, media, lawyers and those who wish to know more about the status of women's rights in Sharia."

Nankin Bagudu (ed.):
Linguistic Minorities and Inequality in Nigeria.
Jos: League for Human Rights, 2003.
ISBN 978-34272-6-1. (xvi+249 pp.)

From the Preface: "The debate as to whether the interest of minorities is better protected within the context of promoting special rights and privileges for them or through the doctrine of national integration and cohesion is still continuing. Whatever is the route to redressing such concerns, it is imperative that the government admits that it has minorities and they are deserving of special treatment, not because they are a special breed of people but because they are disadvantaged.
This work is a collection of papers representing voices from the peoples of the cultural middle-belt. It also The book contains a number of human rights instruments in the appendices. This helps readers to understand the basic standards required of nations both now and as guide for the future."

Sir Henry Willink's Report of the Commission appointed to enquire into the fears of Minorities and the means of allaying them. Researched, reviewed and reproduced by League for Human Rights.
(Published originally in 1958. Reprint, with a new introduction by Nankin Bagudu).
Jos: League for Human Rights, 2002. (xv+223 pp.)

From the Introduction: "It is over 44 years now since the Sir Henry WIllink's Commission report of 1958 was concluded and submitted to the then British Colonial government. The issues raised in the various sittings of the commission have continued to reverberate across the country till date. Indeed, between 1956 till date, minorities across the country have continued their cries of marginalisation and systematic humiliation."

see also: Publications on Gender Budgeting

Centre for Democracy and Development:
A Handbook on Budgeting: A Guide to the Due Process Approach
Lagos: Centre for Democracy and Development 2005.
ISBN: 1-902296-21-4. (ix+110 pp.)
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From the Foreword: "Is participatory budgeting possible? There is no doubting the fact that citizens and civil society organisations must be involved in government decisions about how public money should be spent on their behalf if sustainable development is ever to occur. Studies and the trend of society have shown that budgeting should not be left to the technocrats alone. ... For the budgetary process to be considered truly participatory the voices and priorities of minority and majority groups have to be reflected in the final analysis and, the engagement of the community with the process also has to be sustainable. This in a nutshell, is participatory budgeting.
The challenge is how? How do we ensure that the critical voices are heard, and not just heard but also listened to, and that their views also get integrated into the final budgetary spending? How do we build capacity to sustain this engagement of the critical policy arenas? We cannot ignore the fact that monitoring the trend of public expenditure is a political task, which demands skills, knowledge, information sharing and the cultivation of mass support to facilitate and sustain the process amongst stakeholders. Given the lack of precedence in demanding for such a policy standpoint, there are bound to be challenges of awareness and technical skills to demand and ensure the realisation of such budgets. One of such is provision of information for civil society to ask relevant questions and to monitor resource allocations."

Sam Amadi & Frances Ogwo (eds.):
Contextualizing NEEDS. Economic / Political Reform in Nigeria
Lagos: The Human Rights Law Services (Hurilaws) & Centre for Public Policy & Research (CPPR) 2004.
ISBN 978-36705-0-6. (xix+74 pp.)
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From the Foreword: "This report is a result of a dialogue and analysis carried out by a number of people on the National Economic Empowerment & Development Strategy (NEEDS), Nigeria's current medium-term economic reform agenda, initiated by the Obasanjo-led government.
This publication, a collection of critical essays on economic reform in Nigeria, especially with respects to NEEDS, is one of the many forms of engagement with economic policy-making in the context of human rights that the two groups are making. We hope that the publication will help to stimulate debate and public participation in economic policy design and implementation. Above all, we hope that the architects and managers of NEEDS will consider some of the issues raised by the authors and improve the quality of the policy design and management, especially as regards social and economic welfare of ordinary Nigerians."

African Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ):
Oil of Poverty in Niger Delta
[Benin-City]: ANEEJ, 2004.
ISBN 978-062-270-0. (vi+76 pp.)
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From the Foreword: "This book is a result of the debate on the lack of transparency and accountability in the management of oil revenue of the part of government and multinational oil firms which are the root causes of conflicts, poverty and environmental degradation in the Niger Delta. [...] The book undertakes an evaluation of the impact of oil in the region [...] that is the goose that lays Nigeria's golden egg. [...]
The book looks at how oil has benefited the region, granted that the region's oil contributes 40% to the nation's GDP; 95% of her exports; and 80% of her gross revenue. [...] Extensive reviews of current literature on oil in Nigeria and fieldwork in the oil states as well as communities were methodologies used in collecting research data for this book."

Olisa Agbakoba & Hilary Ogbonna:
Local Government Administration & Development in Nigeria (A Capacity Building Manual)
Lagos: Human Rights Law Service, January 2004
ISBN 978-36705-2-2. (xvii+109 pp.)
[more information and full text]

This is a training manual for local government administrators, community-based organisations, NGOs, activists and policy makers, interested in improving good governance on the local level in Nigeria.
The objectives of this manual are: (1) to enable local government administrators to appreciate their roles as developmental agents and to enable them harness the various resources at their disposal to bring about meaningful grassroots development; (2) to help various interest groups and grassroots constituencies reach an understanding of issues in local government administration; (3) to assist political actors, community organisations and grassroots people in the context of their dealings with the local government; and (4) to help every stakeholder to develop action plans for the local government in their respective areas.
The manual is intended to be used as training material for seminars and workshops, as a reference guide as well as advocacy material in public enlightenment and discourses.

Ndubisi Obiorah (ed.):
Political Finance and Democracy in Nigeria
Lagos: Centre for Law and Social Action, 2004.
ISBN 978-36705-3-0. (xii+92 pp.)
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From the Preface: "The nascent political finance regulatory regime in Nigeria is ineffective and rarely enforced. The notorious ‘godfather’ scandals which have bedeviled governance since 1999 in the Anambra and Kwara states vividly illustrate the deleterious impact of unregulated political finance on democratic development in Nigeria.
The ‘godfather’ crises have generated a national groundswell of support for political finance reform but there is as yet no comprehensive or systematic dialogue among politicians, civil society and the general public as to options and prospects for reform or the nature of any concerted action to address the problem. There is an emerging national consensus on the imperative of political finance reform but a national debate on a prospective reform programme is as yet inchoate.
Towards addressing distortions in Nigeria’s democratic development, the Centre for Law and Social Action [CLASA] initiated a research and advocacy project in October 2003 to stimulate a national dialogue on political finance reform in Nigeria with a view to developing a reform strategy. CLASA undertook a comparative study of political finance regulation in selected ‘transitional’ and ‘advanced’ democracies and drafted a policy agenda for reform. A workshop for key actors was convened in Lagos on December 11, 2003. The present publication comprises the working documents for the key actors workshop and the policy agenda."

African Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ):
Report on National NGO Consultative Conference on Water and Sanitation (3-4 December 2003)
[Benin-City]: ANEEJ, 2004.
ISBN 978-062-270-5. (36 pp.)
[more information and full text]

From the Foreword: "This report is fallout of a national NGO Consultative meeting on Water and Sanitation held from 3rd - 4th December 2003 at the Conference Hall of Heinrich Böll Foundation, Lagos, Nigeria. [It serves] the formation of a Civil Society Network on Water and Sanitation, the first of its kind in Nigeria. [...] The network will henceforth lead civil society's dialogue, campaign, mobilization and participation in all issues related to national water/sanitation management in the country in collaboration with other sister organisations abroad. The formation of the network comes at a critical time when government water and sanitation policies are failing and a new Presidential Water Initiative (PWI) is in the works."

Eze Onyekpere (ed.):
Readings on Privatisation
Lagos: Socio-Economic Rights, December 2003.
ISBN 978-34830-4-8. (vii+140 pp.)
[more information and full text]

From the Foreword: "Public enterprises in Nigeria have been known to be sources of great waste, corruption and generally have underperformed in relation to tax payers' investments in them. But how do we proceed? Do we distinguish between public enterprises in critically essential sectors like water, electricity, health, education, etc. and treat them separately from hotels, casinos, banks, paper and pulp and other purely commercial enterprises? In these critical sectors, are there no alternatives to outright handing over to the private sector through privatisation?"
Readings on Privatisation is a publication of the Privatisation Observatory of Socio-Economic Rights Initiative. The Observatory seeks to provide a forum for interaction and dialogue within civil society, and between civil society and government, about the government's on-going privatisation policy. This publication contains an array of papers: from those that are uncritically supportive, to the sceptical and to papers that disagree with the entire process. This reflects the current state of debate within the broader civil society in Nigeria, from NGOs to academics to trade unionists. The aim of this book is to stimulate further debate and enquiry that will help in creating the awareness necessary for holding the privatising authorities accountable to the people.

From PRSP to NEEDS: A New Façade. A Report of the African Network for Environment and Economic Justice (ANEEJ).
Benin City: ANEEJ, December 2003.
ISBN 978-062-270-5 (36pp.)

From the Foreword: "This report is an attempt to demonstrate that President Obasanjo's new economic reform policy NEEDS [National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy] shares a striking similarity with SAP and PRSP. Consequently, to the authors, NEEDS is an old economic wine in a new bottle which cannot promote rapid economic growth and alleviate the worsening poverty among over 70% of the Nigerian population." The report looks into the background of the introduction of NEEDS and into its theoretical underpinnings, being virtually identical with earlier recipes for economic growth promoted by World Bank and IMF. The report also looks a the major constraints to economic development policies in Nigeria, such as corruption, lack of transparency and public accountability, the absence of civil society participation in policy formulation, and poor health and educational services..

Bola Akanji, Zwaku Bonat & Amina Salihu:
Gender-Aware Analysis of the Federal Budgets in Nigeria (1995-2002): Focus on the Education and Agriculture Sectors
Lagos: Centre for Democracy and Development, 2003.
(ix+80 pp.)

From the Foreword: "In Nigeria, especially through the military years, resource votes targeted at fighting poverty and alleciation of teh socio-economic conditions, of the majority of Nigerians, are an annual budgetary event. However, the perspective to these policy statements has presumed a similarity in equity in terms of access to resources for women and men in Nigeria. This assumption does not appreciate the patriarchal nature of our societies with the accompanying hierarchies, culture and power, which alienate women. A solution to this gap lies in gender sensitive budgetary votes, which demonstrate an awareness of the disadvantaged position of women. ... This presupposes a gender analysis of the budget."
The book combines an appraisal of policy statements with an analysis of budgetary figures, in order to assess if the specific budgetary allocation to different programmes and agencies reflect any degree of gender sensitivity and if, indeed, the allocations trail the policy statements.

Amina Salihu (ed.):
Summary Report of Round Table Dialogue with Government Budgetary Agencies and Civil Society in Nigeria. In collaboration with the Office of the Special Assistant to the President on Budget Matters.
Lagos: Centre for Democracy and Development, Feburary 2003.
(iii+28 pp.)

The Centre for Democracy & Development (CDD), based on its desire to promote knowledge and understanding of the budgeting process in the Federation and its concern for pro-poor budgeting from a gender perspective, organiszed a budget knowledge seminar, which aimed at creating linkages between Government and Civil Society. This book presents a summary of the seminar's proceedings. Mrs. Oby Ezekwezili (Special Assistant to the President on Budget Matters) chaird the seminar on budget knowledge, while Dr. Magnus Kpakol (Chief Economic Advisor to the President) presented the keynote address. The papers presented included critical information on the roles of the National Planning Commission, Central Bank of Nigeria, and the Appropriation Committees of the National Assembly in the budgeting process of the Federation.

S. Ukeje & Eze Onyekpere:
The Budget and the Citizen (A Manual for Popular Participation in Budgeting).
Lagos: Shelter Rights Initiative, June 2002.
ISBN 978-33712-8-2. (vi+89pp.)

From the Foreword: "The Budget Advocacy and Monitoring Programme of Shelter Rights Initative (SRI) is focused on a rights-based approach to budget analysis. It proceeds from the understanding that the budget concerns us all in every facet of our human endeavour. With the global consensus on the need for poverty reduction and the mainstreaming of the rights of the poor in popular human rights discourse, civil society organisations that champion the rights of the poor can no longer leave budgeting for politicians and technocrats [...].
There are varied experiences on civil society's intervention in budgeting. [...] In Nigeria, the experience is practically speaking, very recent and there is dearth of skills and literature on the subject. The Manual is written against this background, to provide information and technical skills about civil society intervention strategies in the budgeting process and pertinent macroeconomic issues."

Amadu Sesay, Charles Ukeje, Olabisi Aina & Adetanwa Odebiyi / Centre for Development and Conflict Management Studies (eds.):
Ethnic Militias and the Future of Democracy in Nigeria.
Ile-Ife: Obafemi Awolowo University Press 2003.
ISBN 1596-731X. (xvi+151 pp.)
[more information and full text]

From the Preface: "This book [...] addresses an important national phenomenon relying on empirical rather than secondary data. [The] issue has agitated the minds of many Nigerians for several years, and [...] has been surrounded by a lot of gossip, speculations, taboos, and fear if not mystery. [The book] draws attention to a trend which could have negative impact on the stability of the country and its democratic project. [...} From the data obtained on the field, the militias have widespread support in their local communities, while they draw attention to issues which are critical in the political landscape of the Nigerian polity."