DEMOCRACY AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA’S FOURTH REPUBLIC: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY

Abstract

As a theory that sets some basic principles according to which a good government, whatev-er its form, must be run, democracy offers a good prospect for achieving national develop-ment of especially heterogeneous societies. The common feature of democratic governance is its emphasis on improving the socio-economic welfare of the people and this is synony-mous with the idea of national development. All over the world, democracy is prioritized because it is assumed to have the magic wand to effectively deal with inter and intragroup conflicts arising from the democratic method. But the Nigerian experience with democracy is not very pleasant. While ethnoreligious violence is rife in the politics, the economy remains on its kneel with abject poverty as a recurring decimal among the people. The popular expectations, that democracy will resolve all these challenges have largely been unattained. Therefore, it is against this backdrop, that this study explored the effect of democracy on national development in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic. A descriptive method was adopted and cross-sectional data were collected across the twenty-five Local Govern-ment Areas in Delta State with the aid of a structured questionnaire. Non- probabilistic sampling techniques comprising of purposeful and convenience techniques were used to elicit information via questionnaire from 400 respondents. Data were analyzed using Pear-son product-moment correlation and regression analysis. The result of the study revealed that there is a positive and significant relationship between democracy and national development in Nigeria’s fourth republic. Thus, the study recommends among others that the political leaders should adhere to the basic tenets of democracy and constitutionalism to promote good governance and foster national development.