Nigeria's history in the past five decades as an independent political entity is full of great hope and aspirations.It is also full of daunting challenges and shocking disappointments.Between 1966, when the first independent civilian administration was upstaged in a military coup, and 1999 when the current Fourth Republic was inaugurated, the country was under different military regimes while it also occasionally attempted democratic rule.In all of these years, political corruption, lack of transparency, lack of accountability, ineffective leadership, abuse of human rights and dignity, stunted economic growth and evident underdevelopment generally dominated the country's socio=economic and political landscape. In the light of this, Nigeria kept on running round in circles as it attempted to address the combination of challenges, which this book describes as governance crisis.It critically examines the role of the modern state in the perennial crisis and argues that the rapid erosion of its autonomy and functionality under successive regimes in the country exacerbated the problem.For ease of reference, two regimes-military and civilian were selected for