The Impact of Political Socialization on 2015 General Election: Reflections on Nigerian State

Abstract

The paper contends that political socialization, the process by which citizenship orientations are transmitted, is conditioned by shifts in the political, social, and economic contexts at the community, nation state, and international levels. The complexities that characterize the political socialization process and its outcomes become especially evident during periods of transition and upheaval. Election is an irreducible feature of democratic governance and the 2015 general elections in Nigeria have come and gone. The thrust of this paper focuses on the impact of political socialization on the just concluded general election in Nigeria. Having a strong grasp of how the socialization process works, the paper provides us with tremendous insights into the changes that took place in the general elections. The paper argues that the Nigerian state is painfully characterized by bureaucratic and political corruption resulting in high level of poverty and deprivation that necessitate change in government. It is against this background that this paper attempts a critical analysis of the political socialization patterns and governance process in Nigeria. The paper adopts cosmopolitan political theory as its framework. The methodology adopted is descriptive and content analysis. The paper posits that the absence of democratic stability in Nigeria especially since the enthronement of democratic governance in1999 is due largely to lack of effective citizenship education in the country. The import of the paper is that political socialization through effective citizenship education in Nigeria is the panacea to free, fair, peaceful and credible election as shown by the post election studies, and thus recommends how this could be realized in Nigeria. The paper concludes that to politically socialize Nigerians to evolve the right political culture necessary for nation building is a task that must be done by the new government.