Books published by Adonis & Abbey Publishers Ltd

Though the history of hikes in petroleum prices began in 1973 when the military government of Gen. Yakubu Gowon increased the price of petrol to 9 kobo per litre from the equivalent of 8.8 kobo that had prevailed before then, the politics and economics of removal of subsidies on premium petroleum products entered into the national lexicon in 1986 when the military administration of General Ibrahim Babangida announced that due to the devaluation of the Naira, the domestic price of fuel had become unsustainable cheap and was becoming a burden on the national purse. Ever since, most regimes in the country have toyed with the idea of removing the subsidies, with organised labour and the civil society usually vehemently opposed to the idea. In late 2011 the Jonathan administration announced plans to completely remove the subsidies but gave no timeline amid threats by organised labour, students and civil society groups to stoutly resist the move. On January 1 2012, the regime announced the removal of the subsidies and subsequently reiterated that its decision on the issue was irreversible. It however announced some measures, including the provision of buses, to help cushion the impact of the move. This volume takes a critical look at the politics and economics of the pro- and anti-subsidisation lobbies. It also examines the likely economic and social impacts of the move and its implications for the poor, the overall economy and the country's democratic project. _____________________________ Jideofor Adibe has been a Guest research fellow in a number of institutions across the world including the Centre for Development Research, Copenhagen, Denmark; the Nordic Institute for African Studies, Uppsala, Sweden, the Centre for Developing Area Studies, McGill University, Montreal, Canada and the Institute for Commonwealth Studies, University of London, UK. He currently teaches political science at Nasarawa State University, Keffi and also writes a weekly column for the Nigerian newspaper Daily Trust. He is equally a member of the paper's Editorial Board. _________

To borrow a hackneyed phrase, Nigeria has had a chequered political history before and since independence from British colonial rule on October 1, 1960. Two sets of actors - the civilian politicians and the military politicians - have been on the national political stage since January 15, 1966. General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida was one of them. In his eight years in power as president, or perhaps more correctly as military president, he affected the course of Nigeria's events, for better or for worse, in a way that few, if any, before him did. It is not possible to tell Nigeria's story without Babangida's part in it. The book is the story of IBB, the little orphan from Minna, Niger State and his meticulous rise to the top of his profession and the leadership of his country. Perhaps, more importantly, it is the story of Nigeria, its post-independence politics and power, told from the perspective of the actions and decisions of one of the main actors on the country's political stage. The events that shaped the Babangida era did not begin on August 27, 1985, the day he staged a palace coup against General Muhammadu Buhari. They began long before that. This book is the definitive story of the military, politics and power in Nigeria. ______________________________ Dan Agbese holds degrees in mass communications and journalism from the University of Lagos and Columbia University, New York, respectively. He is a former editor of The Nigeria Standard, the New Nigerian as well as former general manager of Radio Benue. Agbese was one of the founders of the trail-blazing weekly newsmagazine in Nigeria, Newswatch. He was until April 2010 the Editor-in-Chief of the magazine. He is the author of several acclaimed books, including Nigeria their Nigeria, Fellow Nigerians, The Reporter's Companion, Style: A Guide to Good Writing and The Columnist's Companion: The Art and Craft of Column Writing. Agbese is also a highly-regarded newspaper columnist.