Every Household Its Own Government: Improvised Infrastructure, Entrepreneurial Citizens, and the State in Nigeria

In the absence of reliable government services, Nigerians have developed innovative solutions to meet their basic needs, creating a culture of self-reliance. However, this self-reliance strengthens the state's power, as private efforts to address infrastructural shortcomings require engagement with government officials. This book highlights the consequences of this dynamic and how it perpetuates inequalities and injustices in Nigeria.

Format: Hardback
Length: 232 pages
Publication date: 08 March 2022
Publisher: Princeton University Press

In the absence of reliable government services, Nigerians have developed a unique way of life where every household functions as its own local government. This statement reflects the deep-seated distrust and frustration that many people in the country feel towards their politicians and state institutions. According to Daniel Jordan Smith, a journalist and author who has spent three decades living in Nigeria, the country's politicians and state institutions have failed to meet the basic infrastructure needs of its people, leading to the emergence of innovative entrepreneurs and ordinary citizens who have taken matters into their own hands.
Smith's book, "Every Household Its Own Government," explores the various ways in which Nigerians across different social strata have developed technologies, businesses, social networks, political strategies, cultural repertoires, and everyday routines to cope with the constant failure of government infrastructure. He describes how Nigerians provide for their basic needs such as water, electricity, transportation, security, communication, and education, often resorting to unconventional and creative solutions. While it may appear that their self-reliance and hustle render the state irrelevant, Smith argues that the state is not so much absent as it is complicit in the ongoing struggles of its people.
Through his extensive research and personal experiences, Smith shows how private efforts to address infrastructural shortcomings require regular engagement with government officials. This engagement shapes the experience of citizenship and strengthens state power. However, the book also highlights the unintended consequences of these dealings. It reveals how forms and practices of governance that thrive on official dysfunction perpetuate the very inequalities and injustices that afflict struggling Nigerians.
In conclusion, "Every Household Its Own Government" provides a powerful and insightful account of how Nigerians have adapted to the absence of reliable government services. It sheds light on the creative solutions that people have developed to meet their basic needs and the unintended consequences of their interactions with the state. The book serves as a reminder of the urgent need for political reform and the importance of building a more accountable and responsive state that can provide for the needs of its citizens.

Dimension: 235 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780691229904