CONSTANT COMPARISON BETWEEN ENUGU AND OTHER STATES; FALLACY TAKEN TOO FAR.

✍️ By Ogbodo Miracle Chinenye.

Each day of our lives, we live up to choices, which ranges from what to eat, what to wear, where to go, etc. Chances are that one made a choice after considering alternatives and choosing the one that best suits them for whatever reason that pleases them.

This decision making process has to do with a lot of comparison, which alternatively states that most of us compare all the time which makes comparison part of our every day life.

Comparative politics is the systematic study and comparison of the diverse political systems in the world. It is comparative in searching to explain why different political systems have similarities or differences and how developmental changes came to be between them. It is systematic in that it looks for trends, patterns, and regularities among these political systems.

According to James Bill, comparative politics is fundamentally the study of political forms and processes in two or more than two political contexts or environments.

When embarking on comparative studies of state governments in Nigeria, we need to acknowledge two things; the individuality of each of the states (talking out its distinct peculiarities like political history, political problems, and it’s cultural heritage), and the commonality of a number of political structures and processes in both states ( these are those things that are peculiar to the both states like, political structures and a sitting government, the power and responsibility of making decision for the state).

Undertaking a comparative examination of Nigerian states, one has to keep the lines above in mind. That is to say that for one to undertake a comparative analysis of Nigerian States, the first level of comparative analysis would be geared essentially towards explaining the differences in the physiognomy and dynamics of Nigerian states and could inform theory building on such issues as why different Nigerian state have different political needs and different levels of economic development, why they choose a particular models of distributing power and other political resources, etc.

On the second level of comparison, one can attempt to appreciate the different degrees to which identical political phenomena occur or function in Nigerian states. At this point, some identical phenomena exists like the existence of political structures, the workings of political parties, Problems of Urbanization, and problems of local government.

It is instructive to note that the constant comparison of Enugu State with other states in Nigeria is a fallacy taken too far because in the commonality of these states, there is little or zero identical political phenomena. There is no uniformity in the monthly revenue of the federal government to each state, there is the presence of federal character principles, no state in Nigeria has same number of local government which breeds unequal representation in federal constituencies the only thing left in this part is the senatorial zone structure which every state in Nigeria produces three(3) Senators each.

Comparing Enugu State and other Nigerian States will require for the comparative researcher to answer the question of having access to data from each of the states Enugu is being compared to; is the data measurable? How was it generated? Have you taken note of the cultural diversity of each states and it’s effect on political and economic development before comparing these states to Enugu.

Lately, few unprofessional, politically induced comparative researchers rose in Enugu political atmosphere to unjustifiably compare the state with other states in Nigeria, while showing blind sight to the principles of comparative studies and this calls for the concern of the Noble Citizens of Enugu.

In conclusion, comparative politics is about serious issues: war and peace, democracy and authoritarianism, market-based and state-based economies, prosperity and poverty, health-care coverage, and so on.

Given the tremendous diversity that exists in our country, and the fact that no one state is “better” than all the others on every count, there is always room for improvement. The job of the comparativist researcher is to make comparisons less subliminal and random, and more deliberate and systematic, especially in the things that are critical to national peace and development.

Furthermore, the good people of Enugu will always be grateful to God for a Leader like His Excellency Governor Ifeanyi Lawerence Ugwuanyi.

We can't wait for dat buffon to leave office.
Dude is so local and dumb for a civilized city lyk Enugu