Democracy in Nigeria Essay

By May 2009, Nigerias nascent unsophisticated should have been a decade. Thus, the thrust of this upstartsprint is an in prudence analysis of the possibility of sustaining participatory set beyond any sudden reversal. The. paper however, takes a cursory look at the daunt ch eachenges ahead and infers that unless the g all all overnment increases societal expenditure and truncate the current dauntless corruption, the hope of democratic consolidation whitethorn stock-stilltually be a mir historic period. sepa place style of speaking arouse, nascent, corruption, state legality and rambleAs rightly collated by Decalo1, the even upts in Africa overlyk scholars by impress, since just ab erupt doubted Africa could move towards sphere. so far in the mid-1980s, angiotensin converting enzyme argued that by condition of their pauperization or the violence of their administration, Afri empennage states were un c bely to move in a democratic direction. A nonher add ing that to have anticipate studyity regulating to flourish would have been historical blindness3, since placeside the core (industrialized states) body politic is a rarity, support for Tillys thesis why Europe exit non occur again with a hardly a(prenominal) exceptions, the limits of democratic development in the realism may rise up have been reached4. However, nonwithstanding the doubts and skepticisms openly expressed by scholars, Nigeria, like some(prenominal) early(a) African countries, became democratic. On May 29, 1999 Nigeria became a democratic state. former to 1999 policy-making transition, Nigeria was low firm soldiery autarchy and absolutism for close to 29 days (since 1966), when the military made their outgrowth of all incursion into Nigerias government activity and politics, adjacent the collapse of the starting signal republic5. It is vital to bank bill that authoritarian governments were interrupted only by a brief partage point of courtly rule in the Second demesne (1979-1983)6. Thus, Nigerias march to inherent nation was a chequered one tag by anti- colonial struggles, crises, coups, counter-coups, and a thirty-month agonizing civil war in the midst of 1967 and 1970.So far, Nigeria has passed with several phases in her democratisation iron out viz (a) era of colonial autocracy and absolutism, that is, boundary of formal colonialism till October 1st 1960, when the estate gained flag independency (b) emergence of constitutional commonwealth (1960-1966), (c) the return of military autocracy and absolutism (1966-1979) (d) restoration of constitutional res publica (1979-1983) and (e) the second coming of military autocracy and absolutism (1983-1989) . 7 Since 1989, that Nwabueze made that observation, the enactment has added more phases to her democratisation bid.With the inglorious stepping forth of ecumenical Ibrahim Babangidas ecesis in 1993, an Interim depicted object Government (I NG) was dedicate in place, headed by tribal chief Ernest Shonekan, handpicked by an unelected military President (General Babangida), thereby devising the ING suffer a serious legitimacy crisis ab initio6. The interim contraption collapsed aft(prenominal) eighty-two days, following the declaration that it was misbranded by a Lagos High homage in a suit instituted by the assumed winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential option Chief M. K. 0. Abiola. Cashing-in on the court verdict, General Sani Abacha staged a coup detat, dissolved all the extant democratic social organisations retained by the ING, and at one while again, returned the farming to a fiilJ blown military dictatorship. It was in this state of confusion that Gen. Abacha died in June 8, 1998 in a mysterious circumstance. Gen. Abdulsalam Abubakar, who besidesk over after(prenominal)ward the transfer of Gen. Abacha, who had a transition policy-making platform reputed to be the shortest in the annals of military-midwife political transitions in Nigeria.Eventually, barring all odds, Gen. Abubakar transfer over the reins of government to Chief Olusegun Obasanjo (a retired habitual) in 1999. With the inauguration of Chief Obasanjos noncombatant administration in 1999, hopes were high once again that res publica would be carry on and united. But alas, the military background of Chief Obasanjo became a serious liability on the form when the supposedly democratic government became a replica of dictatorship in its entire facet.By 2003, after the termination of his first term, his administration conducted a popular election, and handed over to itself. This election was in general perceived to have been massively rigged. 9 In 2007, at the expiration of his administrations constitutionally mandated second term, a nonher(prenominal) general election was conducted to usher in another civil government. This election was note valuey in a deem of ways. First, it was after eight tumu ltuous forms of democracy the longest period since independence from the united Kingdom in I960. 0 Secondly, for the first cartridge holder in the hi spirit level of the country, there was a civilian-civilian transfer of argument office.It would have been even more remarkable if there had been a transfer of exponent from the ruling party to the opposition. Meanwhile, the thrust of this paper is an indepth analysis of the major challenges facing the nascent democracy in Nigeria to prevent it from the brats of authoritarian repression or what David Beetham calls overturn waves. 2 It is to these anti-democratic forces that could lead to democratic rise which had interpreted place in Mauritania of late via a military coup detat that we now turn to. (A) As I have argued elsewhere13, quantitative cross-national research on the sparing deciding(prenominal)s of democracy and democratization slackly consistently reveals that a countrys level of sparing development is associa ted positively and unvoicedly with the extent to which the political governances obvious properties of democracy.There is, therefore, a two-way causative relationship between the parsimony and sustainable democracy the state of the parsimoniousness is the determinant of enduring democracy, provided democracy is a key pre-requisite for sustainable stinting transformation. The meaning is oroad- posteriord economic prosperity sustains democracy, whereas widespread pauperization and ignorance undermine it. To mimic President Clinton of U. S. when he was running for office in 1992, it is the economy, serious stop 14 No doubt. Nigeria is potentially Africas largest economy.Every year, the country produces over 200,000 graduates of tertiary institutions (including 65 universities), has the 6th largest accelerator reserves in the world, eighth largest crude oil producer (with abundant, but to the highest degreely untapped natural resources gold, limestone, among others), and with 60 percentage of its cultivable land lying fallqw. In the words of Soludo (2005), Nigeria has also gazillions of its citizens in Diaspora (with estimated nose candy,000 Nigerian medical doctors and scientists abroad). Unfortunately, was not lucky in the first 40 years of its independence with bear on skilful political governance.In his perceptive public lecture, Charles Soludo, Nigerias Central situate Governor,16 noted further that democracy has not been endured in Nigeria simply because the economic song did not add up whereas, democracy and indeed any form of government must regress tangible economic benefits to the generality of the citizenry to be presumable and sustainable. In a seminal article on What Makes Democracy Endure, Prezeworski gear up the empirical evidence that Once a country has a democratic regime its level of economic development has a very strong effect on the probability that democracy result kick the bucket emocracy can be expected to wea ther an average of about 8. 5 years in a country with per capita income under $2,000 33 years between $2,000-$4,000 and 100 years between $4,000-$6,000 Above $6,000 democracies be to live forever.No democratic system has fallen in a country where per capita income exceeds $6,033. 17 Be that as it may, or so African states have a couple of(prenominal) economic potentials of any significance (many literally nothing) that could suck foreign risk capital, which is why entrepreneurs did not flock into them in the past, irrespective of political orientation or level of democracyAnd to trust on local capital to sack development is to foredoom many to never-ending marginality. 18 Taking a inform from the same withdraw of argument, Akintunde19, while rationalizing the reasons for the demise of democracy in the first republic, postulated that a democracy which is not founded upon a tighten economic base is not seeming to succeed because it lacks an essential condition of efficien cy. It is unavailing to fulfill the expectations of its citizens in the common parlance, it cannot deliver goods.So meaning(a) is the economic base that many people have surmised that even communist countries, as they gravel wealthier, will come to resemble westerly democracy more and more20. Unfortunately, in Nigeria, as in most of the developing countries, due mostly to the poor economic base, the middle kind is a very small nonage of the population. Western democracy is, therefore, not steadfastly founded because it lacks one of the essential ingredients of success an influential middle year.This fact, which is sometimes a surprise to African leaders21, was well known to Aristotle more than two thousand years ago. match to Aristotle, when democracies have no middle class and the poor are greatly top-notch in number, trouble ensues and they are quick ruined.The link between democracy and the strength of the economy reveals that those who are not rich usually confined to mere voting, political career thus become the privilege of those who are wealthy plenteous to afford the leisure to devote to politics in most western countries, until the climax of Trade Union M. Ps. 23Thus, while blaming the politicians, it is worth repeating that, by embarking on western democracy on an inadequate economic base, the Fourth Republic was set on a death course, it was bound to be corrupt. 24 The same scenario is playing itself out in Nigeria presently. No doubt, it is a daunting task in the face of the aforementioned(prenominal) historical evidence to sustain democracy in an economy like Nigeria, where per capita income has been downstairs the $1,000 mark.That, according to Prezeworsk25, poses a serious threat. Considering the nexus between democracy and the economy similitude the expectation of an average African, Claude Ake (of blessed memory) averred that The universal people of Africa are supporting democracy as a second independence. This time th ey want independence not from the colonial masters, but from indigenous leaders. They want independence from leaders whose misrule has intensified their penury and exploitation to the point of being aliveness threatening.And they are convinced that they cannot now derive physical improvement without securing political potency and being conk out determined to stick public policy closer to neighborly ask. Nonetheless democracy is being interpreted and back up in ways that defeat those aspirations and explicit no sensitivity to the social conditions of the banausic people of Africa. Generally, the political elites who support democratization are those with no access to cause and they invariably have no impression for democratic values. They support democratization more often than not as a st countgy of originator The people can (only) choose between oppressors and by the appearance of choice legitimate what is really their disem springment. 26 In line with the abov e postulations, Jerry Gana (a one-time Information Minister) admitted, too, that You know the psyche of our people.If democracy does not produce ashen water, if democracy does not produce good roads, transform agriculture, cultivate industrial development, hygienise society, give us power supply, democracy will lose credibility and they may say, na democracy we go hack on? 7 The caveat is that where democratic processes do not yield economic returns, a regression to dictatorship cannot be govern out. This point is clearly stated by Larry Diamond thus Many new democracies in Latin America, Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa will probably breakdown in the long suit to long run unless they can minify their often appalling levels of poverty, inequality, and social injustice, and finished market oriented reforms lay the infrastructure for sustainable growth.When this is juxtaposed with the admittance by the Central Bank in its 2008 firs guide report released to the public29, the e conomy is in staring(a) crisis. The Apex Bank attributed the high rate of flash in the country to the ludicrous power supply. According to the report, the inflation rate on a year to year basis was 7. 8 percent, compared to 6. 6 percent and 5. 2 percent save in the preceding thread and the corresponding period of 2007. The report noted further that inflation rate on a 12-month meandering(a) average basis for the first quarter was 5. 8 percent compared with 5. percent recorded in the preceding quarter.Indeed, nothing can be more soothing to the nations debilitating power crisis, largely fingered for stunting the economy, rendering it comatose and occasioning a declining industrial empyrean, whose capability habit nosedived to a paltry 20 percent by the end of 2006. Epileptic power supply, a very prohibitive business climate and in consistency in government policies, have combined to fence the countrys industrial celestial sphere leading to the closure of multinationals, li ke Michelin, Panalpina, and other notable firms.The shrinking of the textile sector from 170 in the 60s, 70s, and 80s to 10 in the 90s, also evinces the acute nature of the problem. The novel disclosure by the House of Representatives perpetration on Power, which probed the power sector that the country now generates less than a miserable 1,000 megawatts, makes mockery of the countrys tidy sum of becoming one of the 20 largest and most resilient economies by 2020, compared to South Africa, a country of 42 million people, which generates over 42,000 megawatts.Much of Nigerias investment in the power sector has been enmeshed in corruption and enthralled in the appetite of the political elite for primitive accumulation. 31 The concomitant effect of poor economy is lingering with the poverty problem. Nigerias poverty conundrum has assumed a fright dimension. In the words of Dr. Magnus Kpakol, Senior peculiar(a) Assistant to the President and National Coordinator of National pove rty Eradication Program, in a public lecture entitled Poverty Solution The Role of Government in Poverty Eradication declared that The number of poor Nigerians could be, put at an estimated configuration of 70 million n 1980, the approximate was 28. 1 million. 1985, 46. 3 million 1992, 42. 7 million 1996, 65. 6 million and 1999,70. 0 million, 2004,54. 4 million. 32 He gave the statistical breakdown along the six regional levels to be North-East, 72. 2 percent South-East, 26. 7 percent South-South 31. 5 percent southwestward 43. 1 percent North-Central 67. 0 percent and North-West, 71. 2 percent. 33 Undoubtedly, something must be wrong somewhere, for a critical official poverty statistics, which revealed that over half of Nigerias 150 million population are poor, is unexplainable discharge by the abundant human and material resources in the country.The economy was so deplorable that 2007/2008 United Nations Development Programmes (UNDPs) Human Development Index (HDI) ratings pl aced Nigeria at 158th position out of 177 countries. 34 No doubt, democracy is endangered in Nigeria more than ever before. Poverty, want, and squalor are anti-democratic forces in the rule. The only exception is Indian democracy, which has long baffled theorists of democracy. Democratic scheme holds that poverty, widespread illiteracy, and a profoundly ranked social structure are uncongenial conditions for the functioning of democracy.But the historical renewing of Indian democracy was noted by Barrington Moore Economically (India) remains in the pre-industrial age But as a political specie, it does belong to the modern world. At the time of Nehrus death in 1964, political democracy had existed for seventeen years. If imperfect, the democracy was no more sham Political democracy may seem strange two in an Asian setting and one without an industrial revolution. 36 To avert recapitulation, my previous work glaringly with empirical entropy proved the pathetic downslide of N igerias economy over the years with the attendant threat to democratic sustenance. 7 Bruce Baker too in his perceptive piece accent much the strength of the economy and sustainable democracy.As a corollary to the aforementioned wispy economy, the state, in terms of being short or strong, matters to the study of threats to democracy twain from within and without, as well as one of the common modes of failure of democracy and democratization. 39 Perhaps, the greatest manifestation of a weak state vis-avis sustainable democracy is that it cannot successfully administer a authorized and fair credible election which is the means of democracy.No doubt, one of the. fundamental problems that post-colonial African states are facing is that of how to sustain and consolidate democracy through credible elections. 40 In the whole continent of Africa, few states could lay claim to having genuinely conducted bring out and fair elections as universally perceived. Hence, election administrati on that will attain governmental legitimacy after polls has always been a serious concern to electoral scholars. 41 The reason for this is not far-fetched. It is well known that most new states in Africa, Asia, and Latin America are too weak for the assignment.This is why state capacity is one of the major prerequisites for democratic nurturing, sustenance, and consolidation. In the extant literature on democratization and state capacity generally, five elements are crucial to the strength of the state vis (a) monopoly of the tyrannical power of society, that is, control of instrument of obsession (b) the right to improve appraise and lay in revenue (c) the power of legal enactment, that is, power to make laws (d) sovereignty over grunge and society and (e) control of the institutions of the state or state apparatus, i. . bureaucracy. 42 These five elements taken together constitutes the basis of state power and they endow the state with the status of statehood. However, it ne eds be emphasized that nation states which cast aside for the status of statehood may differ in their degree of stateness some are strong states, and others are weak. No doubt, Nigeria falls into the category of weak or soft states. resembling others in her category, Nigeria runs a system, one in which formal rules (laws, officially stated administrative rules and practices, etc. are applied lavishly and in a lax manner rather than rigorously and consistently. It is one in which private advantage can be gained and private bargains struck concerning the enforcement or non-enforcement of the rules as when a businessman bribes a tax official. Besides money, another inducement is human relationship sentiment while another is the choose of superiors. The consequential effect is that in several cases, individuals may be too sizable than the state in which the rule of law is abused with imp consent.Cases of such were too legion(predicate) to be mentioned during the last Nigerias gen eral elections in April 2007. 43 In a nutshell, the stronger the state in all ramifications, the better for deepening of democratic values in Nigeria. This can be achieved via the entrenchment of state institutions cum congruent political behavior by the political elite. Perhaps the most crucial of all imperatives for the consolidation of Nigerias nascent democracy is the restructuring of the lopsided and structurally imbalance federal arrangement.As rightly noted by Emeka Anyaoku, former deposit General of the Commonwealth At the flavour of the several conflicts plaguing the Nigerian state at present is the consequence of the failure of the practice of professedly federalism. The power shift debate that characterized the politics of transition from military to civil rule and which has persisted several months after, rose largely out of the frustration of large segments of the population with the structure of the political system that has shut significant sections out of the c orridors of power for most of the post-independence period. 4 With Nigeria being one of the most analyzable societies in Africa, federalism was adopted to integrate the plural form and divided societies.This is in line with the intelligence of early generation of students of inter-group relations or plural societies, which considered federalism an effective way of achieving and preserving two integration and stability in deeply divided societies. Whenever events seemed to demand that a compromise is affected between the necessity for unity and cooperation on a wide territorial reserve basis, the temptation is to proffer catch all management formula, such as federalism .. >>45 This tendency to see federalism as a magic wand that can express irreconcilable inter- pagan hostility into conciliation and federal cooperation was subscribed to by Carnell, thus in tropical area characterized by peak cultural and ethnic diversity federalism comes as something of a political panacea . 4 In a nutshell, federalism is considered the most catch framework for governing multi-ethnic societies.However, new-fashioned events in Nigeria clearly demonstrate that the polity is far from being a federation, or alternatively as has been suggested, that Nigeria is not a true or real federation. 47 Since 1954, when the foundation of classical federation for Nigeria was laid,48 the system is still far from being problem-free. The story is that of both political and governmental derangement. 49 Worst still, Nigerias ethnic make-up remains what Furnival calls in the strictest find a medley (of people) for they mix but do not combine.