Prebendalism

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Richard A. Joseph, director of The Program of African Studies at Northwestern University, is usually credited with first using the term prebendalism to describe patron-client or neopatrimonialism in Nigeria.[1] Since then the term has commonly been used in scholarly literature and textbooks.

The Catholic Encyclopedia defines a prebend as the "right of member of chapter to his share in the revenues of a cathedral."[2]

Joseph used the term to describe the sense of entitlement that many people in Nigeria feel they have to the revenues of the Nigerian state. Elected officials, government workers, and members of the ethnic and religious groups to which they belong feel they have a right to a share of government revenues.

Joseph wrote in 1996, "According to the theory of prebendalism, state offices are regarded as prebends that can be appropriated by officeholders, who use them to generate material benefits for themselves and their constituents and kin groups..."[3]

As a result of that kind of patron-client or identity politics, Nigeria has regularly been one of the lowest ranked nations for political transparency by Transparency International in its Corruption Perceptions Index.[4]

Other results include the corruption investigations into the activities of 31 out of 36 Nigerian governors,[5] the frequent comments in the Nigerian press about the problems of corruption (for example, Victor E. Dike's article in the Daily Champion of Lagos, "Nigeria: Governance and Nigeria's Ailing Economy"[6]) and the common defenses of prebendalism as necessary for justice and equality in government funding (for example Oliver O. Mbamara's editorial, "In Defense of Nigeria: Amidst the Feasting of Critics" at Africa Events.[7]

Prebendalism has also been used to describe the nature of state-derived rights over capital held by state officials in parts of India in the early 18th Century. Such rights were equally held to be of a patron-client nature and thus volatile. They were thus converted where possible into hereditary entitlements.[8]

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  1. ^ Joseph, Richard A., Democracy and Prebendal Politics in Nigeria: The Rise and Fall of the Second Republic, Cambridge University Press, 1987
  2. ^ The Catholic Encyclopedia, http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12371a.htm
  3. ^ Joseph, Richard, "Nigeria: Inside the Dismal Tunnel," Current History, May 1996
  4. ^ Corruption Perceptions Index 2006, http://www.transparency.org/policy_research/surveys_indices/cpi/2006
  5. ^ "Nigerian governors in graft probe" at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/5387814.stm
  6. ^ Dike, Victor E., "Nigeria: Governance and Nigeria's Ailing Economy," Daily Champion (Lagos), http://allafrica.com/stories/200612130710.html
  7. ^ Mbamara, Oliver O., "In Defense of Nigeria: Amidst the Feasting of Critics," Africa Events, http://www.africanevents.com/Essay-InDefenseOfNigeria0606.htm
  8. ^ Seema Alavi, The 18th Century in India (New Delhi, 2002), p33