State legitimacy and the unending crisis of petrol subsidy reforms in Nigeria

Why would the citizens of an oil-producing state continually resist reform-induced petrol price increases, even when subsidy payments are proved to be a serious threat to the capacity of the state to deliver its core constitutional mandates? In this paper, we tackle this question by contending that the difficulty in petrol subsidy implementation in a country like Nigeria has more to do with the clear lack of state legitimacy and public trust, and the recorded cases of political instability entrenched by forced attempts at reforms. By contextualizing the reform efforts in Nigeria within the framework of the relationship between state legitimacy and reforms, we are able to provide valid insights to a broader understanding of the "whys" of public resistance to the authority of the state to enforce reform. The Nigerian case, as revealed in this article, provides evidence of a shift in paradigm from the conventional and dominant Weberian emphasis of state legitimacy around the nature and sources of state authorities to a more functional context of citizens' perception of the governance process as a source of legitimacy.By far the most contentious issue in the postcolonial relationship between the UK and Uganda was the 1972 expulsion of British Asians by President Amin. Although it is well documented that Idi Amin refused to bow to international pressure to reverse this decision or extend its compliance period, our knowledge of the numerous schemes, especially the covert ones, that were considered and/or operationalized by the British government in order to influence a revision of this decision remains limited. This essay, using newly available evidence mainly from the British National Archives in London, attempts to fill this gap. Such insights enhances the utility value of this episode for our understanding of bilateral and multilateral relations among states.