Problems of Democratic Transition and Consolidation in Nigeria: Drawing Lessons from the Democratic Experience in India

Abstract

Newfound ‘consensus’ that has emerged in the form of the acceptance of the concepts of ‘democratization’ or ‘governance’ is about the minimalist form of liberal democracy under the auspices of the contemporary political aid industry. With the label of democracy getting detached from the content of the concept, even the ‘home-grown’ non-democratic regimes in Africa have appropriated the term. As for Nigeria, weakened both by political decay and economic crisis, ‘democratic transition’ was more of an obligation than a choice for the political class of Nigeria. The recent democratic openings, however, have failed to reconcile, if not aggravated its ethnic, linguistic, regional, religious and cultural differences. Nigeria today is in desperate need of democratic solutions and consolidation while facing a serious crisis in the form of an overall absence, deterioration or breakdown of social, economic and political institutions of governance; the safeguard of human security; a dependent political economy of oil; and the dereliction of physical infrastructure. Lessons from the relatively successful experiences of Indian democracy can be instructive, as India, like Nigeria, not only lacked all the ingredients that make liberal democracy a success at the time of decolonization, but to an extent also faces similar challenges even now.