Beyond the Façade of Democratic Governance and Sustainable Development in Nigeria: Democrazy or Democracy?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.64321/jcr.v2i5.05Keywords:
Democracy, Development, Governance, Good Governance, Sustainable DevelopmentAbstract
Contemporary debates on democracy, governance, and development are greatly inspired by the level of political transformations and reformations that have taken place in many countries within the African continent. In countries such as Nigeria, where the democratisation process is a work in progress, the intellectual preoccupation in the country reflects on how the prevailing political conditions foster and trigger democracy, whose vestiges bring good governance and sustainable development. The main thrust of this paper examined the place of democratic governance and sustainable development in the Nigerian political system. Methodologically, the paper adopted qualitative and made use of secondary data sourced from books, journals, articles, conference papers, etc., to thematically analyse issues raised in this study. This paper reveals that all efforts by successive civilian governments to entrench a true democratic system and good governance in the country seem to be counterproductive and prove abortive. This paper concludes that Nigeria has yet to achieve democratic consolidation, as the practice of democracy in the country is underdeveloped. The expected benefits, such as effective political representation, protection of civil and political rights, public accountability, peaceful ethnic coexistence, freedom of association and expression, and adherence to the rule of law, are largely absent or minimally realised.
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