The Retired Military as Emergent Power Factor in Nigeria

The author is a highly respected scholar, currently director of the Strategic Studies Programme at the University of Ibadan. His study is an analysis of the growing power and influence of retired top military officers in contemporary Nigeria. He argues that the traditional concept of the separation of civil society and the military is out-moded. Factors such as the growing numbers of such retirees, their share of the national budget via gratuities and pensions, penetration into spheres of civilian activity, roles and businessmen and large-scale farmers, members of boards of directors of major industrial concerns, involvement with companies vital to the country's economy, and their participation in government and politics.