Democratization Process In Nigeria Research Articles

Powers, Duties And Limitations Of Election Petition Tribunals In Nigeria: A Socio-Legal Analysis

The exercise of the duties and powers of the Election Petition Tribunals (EPTs) in the democratisation process in Nigeria is imperative to producing legitimate leaders. However, there appear certain limitations to the discharge of this core constitutional duty such as corruption of Tribunal Judges and other challenges militating against the EPT. The objectives of this study were to examine the powers and duties of the EPT and the limitations. The study employed the use of mixed research methods consisting of doctrinal legal research and empirical methods. The doctrinal method consisted of primary sources of law including legislation and decided cases and the secondary sources of law used journals, texts and official reports. The empirical methodology adopted structured questionnaire administered to specific groups within the six geo-political zones of the Federation. Data obtained were analysed using multinomial logistic regression and estimated on two scenarios where the Respondents were pooled together and in each category. The results of the study from Judges and Magistrates, Legislators and Law Teachers (without categorisation) showed that the explanatory variables explain about 84%, 76% and 60% respectively of the challenges faced by the EPT and the functional statistics showed that the results were all significant. The qualitative analysis used personal interviews with selected persons in the legal profession. The findings of the study were that variables that correlate with the study positively or inversely are finance, appointment, political influence, and bribery which constitute challenges to the adjudication of election petitions in Nigeria. The study concluded that adjudicatory powers and duties by the EPT and Courts are continually challenged by several factors that hinder the democratization process.

Two Decades of Electoral Democracy: Voter Apathy and Democratization Process in Nigeria

Two Decades of Electoral Democracy: Voter Apathy and Democratization Process in Nigeria

Civil Society Organizations and electoral credibility in Nigeria

ABSTRACT Electoral malpractices undermine the legitimacy of the electoral process, the general acceptability of electoral outcomes, and challenges the democratization process in Nigeria. This study examines the role of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in the electoral process and its impact on the credibility of electoral outcomes in Nigeria, with emphasis on the 2019 general election. With evidence collected from documentary sources, we argue that the role of CSOs in the democratization process (before, during, and after elections) is important in advancing democracy in Nigeria. We found that the participation of CSOs in the electoral process of 2019, as significant as it was, was undermined by the paucity of fund, insecurity, administrative bottlenecks, and limited access for monitoring movement of sensitive election materials. We recommend, among other things, that the government set aside support funds for qualified/accredited Civil Society Organisations in the electoral process to aid them in undertaking their important role in the democratization process.

Nigerian Civil Society Situation Room (NCSSR) and Electioneering Process in Nigeria (2015–2019)

Civil society organizations have played a pivotal role in democratization process in Nigeria since the advent of the Fourth Republic. They have greatly helped in the success of the 2015 and 2019 General Elections through pre-election, during election, and in post-election monitoring and advocacy. This article, therefore, examined the role of the Nigerian Civil Society Situation Room (NCSSR) in improving the election in Nigeria during the 2015 and 2019 General Elections. While many civil societies flourished recently in Nigeria, their role toward democratization and facilitating credible election remain insignificant until in the 2015 and 2019 General Elections where their activities helped immensely the process of a credible election. A Civil Society as the Third Tier of Government framework was adopted as a theoretical explanation of the context of the work. The research used a qualitative case study method of data collection where informants consisting of members of NCSSR, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and academicians were selected for the interview and Focus Group Discussion. The total number selected was 16 from the three identified categories. The research discovered that the NCSSR aided the process and fairness of the 2015 and 2019 General Elections through proper monitoring, civic voter education, active collaboration with electoral body (INEC), and collaboration with international donor agencies through what they called “Civil Society Situation Room” which consist of more than 60 registered civil societies. The research recommends that civil societies should be empowered with constitutional backing and independent funding to enable them carry out their responsibilities adequately. Also, the article recommends that the electoral body (INEC) should liaise more and cooperate with civil societies to enable them conduct good and credible elections in future.

Federalism and the Challenges of Democratization in Nigeria: Lessons from the Swiss Model

Switzerland, a country composed of four major language groups, is comprised of 26 cantons and many municipalities, with each canton being linguistically homogenous, has always been a model of a federal state that is practising an inclusive democracy. The Nigerian federation, on the other hand, has evolved from a colonial federal legacy that was based on three unwieldy component regions into a union of 36 states and 774 constitutionally entrenched localities. Pressures for fundamental federal reforms have remained a persistent, intense and divisive feature of contemporary Nigerian politics, characterised by ethnic, religious and regional contestations that frequently produce episodes of violence. The paper examines the impact of federalism and Democratization process in Nigeria with particular focus on governance, political representation and participation using the Swiss federalism as a model in a comparative perspective. Both primary and secondary sources of data are applied with the theory of Separation of Powers guiding the discourse in the paper. The findings suggest that the Swiss federation has been built into a state where governance is institutionalised, while diversity is seen as strength with the people and the cantons well represented through participation in decision making, whereas in Nigeria, the practice of federalism has thrown up many challenges of governance. The paper recommends that Nigeria should borrow a leaf from the Swiss model of federalism through the devolution of power and decentralisation of functions from the federal government to the states and local governments. Also, Nigeria could adopt the Swiss model of direct democracy, which would allow for more citizens' participation in decision making and governance.

External Actors and Democratization Process in Nigeria's Fourth Republic: The Case of the United States of America

External Actors and Democratization Process in Nigeria's Fourth Republic: The Case of the United States of America

Elite Collusion and African Governance System: A Critique of Democracy and Development in Nigeria

Following the commencement of the third wave democratization in Africa, scholarly preoccupation shifted, or at least began to shift away from the over flogged discourse on colonial antecedents and authoritarian rule among others, as explanations for governance failure in the continent. Thus, the prevailing liberal political conditions now offer a new perspective to articulate the development problematic in emergent democracies of Africa. This paper seeks to examine how the negative outcomes generated by this governance system have made development the casualty of the democratization process in Nigeria. It advances the thesis of elite collusion to provide insights into the causes of governance failure in Nigeria. The paper argues that the hegemonic interest of the ruling elite remains the predominant factor that narrowly defines public policy. By means of interpretative approach the paper reviewed secondary data from extant literature and development reports that are Germaine to the subject matter of the study. It established that much of the development deficit is the predictable consequence of the disconnect between the common good and state policy/institutional action. This disconnect is exacerbated by a political environment that is overwhelmed by self-seeking and unpatriotic ruling elite. The paper concludes that; democracy, though, a necessary condition for good governance and sustainable development, requires an ideologically driven party politics to reconstruct the prevalent governance system. A number of recommendations are made among which are; an urgent need to build strong governance institutions that are rule bound (re-bureaucratization) in order to neutralize elite collusion, and a realignment of the democratization process to embrace the variant of social democracy – an option that prioritizes the participation of the masses in the development process.

‘<i>E dibo, Ke Se Obe</i>’: ‘Vote for cash’ as an emergent paradigm of electoral corruption in Nigeria

The democratisation process in Nigeria has been seriously hampered by endemic corruption. The blatant buying and selling of votes at polling booths during elections in Nigeria further dims the hope of democratic consolidation. Known and referred to comically in the Yoruba language as ‘E dibo, ke se obe’, literally interpreted as ‘vote and cook soup’, that is ‘vote for cash/cash for vote’, in apparent reference to the money that voters get if they vote in a particular direction; the phenomenon is fast emerging as the new face of commercialization of Nigeria’s electoral process. The decline of participatory democracy and fizzling of the euphoria that accompanied Nigeria’s return to civilian rule in 1999 informed this conversation. To explain the details of this discourse, this chapter relied on the understanding of the relationship of poverty and political participation as provided for by the political economy approach. Guided by the class analysis of poverty, this chapter interpreted vote buying and selling, a current emblem of Nigeria’s democratization process, as a creation of the ruling class. Money has become a dominant factor in Nigeria’s electoral process and the masses are increasingly made to exchange their votes for money just as they buy and sell goods and services. If unchecked, it poses a risk of further engendering electoral corruption and the inevitable collapse of the democratization process. Thus, this chapter utilized secondary sources of data to interrogate the corruptive effect of direct vote buying/selling on elections in Nigeria with specific reference(s) to the Edo State and Ondo State Gubernatorial elections conducted in 2016, as the phenomenon gives cause for concern given the fact of the threat it poses. The chapter concludes with some recommendations on the way forward. Keywords: Corruption, Vote Buying/Selling, Poverty, Elections, Democratisation

Electoral Administration and Democratization Process in Nigeria : Problems and Prospects

Electoral Administration and Democratization Process in Nigeria : Problems and Prospects

Electoral Violence and Democratization Process in Nigeria : A Review of 2011 Post Presidential Election Violence in Katsina State

Electoral Violence and Democratization Process in Nigeria : A Review of 2011 Post Presidential Election Violence in Katsina State

Civil Society Groups (CSGs) and the Democratisation Process in Nigeria, 1960-2007

This paper analyses the significant role the civil society groups (CSGs) played in the democratisation process in Nigeria between 1960 and 2007. The paper discovers that the CSGs made use of the conceptual mechanism in the democratisation process of Nigeria. The conceptual mechanism allowed the CSGs to inject such important concepts as accountability, rule of law, democracy, transparency, human rights and due process into the democratisation process between 1960 and 2007. These concepts were used to tackle some of the major democratization challenges, such as corruption, religious crisis and governance that confronted Nigeria between 1960 and 2007. By using the historical methodology, the paper analyses the crucial role the CSGs played in both the civilian and military administrations thatgoverned Nigeria between 1960 and 2007. The central thrust of the paper is to show how the CSGs contributed to the enthronement of democracy and democratic practices in Nigeria.

Television Broadcasting and the Democratization Process in Nigeria: The Successful and Unsuccessful Story

This article assesses the performances and challenges of television broadcasting in the democratization process in Nigeria. The historical discourse identifies both successes and challenges of both the military and civilian governments in the management of television broadcasting for the facilitation of democratization process. The successes achieved by the military governments centre on expansion of the industry while those recorded by the civilian governments had to do with consolidation of the expansion. The challenging aspect of television broadcasting under the military largely had to do with restricted access and operation along sectional lines. The civilian governments on the other hand politicized and introduced negative commercialization of television broadcasting. Also, under the civilian governments, television broadcasting is heavily involved in unethical practices. To use television broadcasting to contribute meaningfully to the democratization process in Nigeria, the paper recommends the strengthening of regulatory framework, making television broadcasting wholly an affair of the private sector, introducing the community television broadcasting project, and encouraging the civil societies and professional associations to advocate for best practices in the industry.

State and Democratization in Nigeria

The articles interrogates the relationship between democratization and people power in Nigeria. It argues that the broadening of the Nigerian public sphere has not led to reciprocal development of democratic principles and practice. As civilian rule reigns and economic growth is reported, Nigeria’s democratization is fraught with many challenges. Democratization remains questionable in Nigeria; it is rudimentary and distorted by irregularities. These have had implications for national development and human securities as the poverty level worsens and acclaimed economic growth and “democratic dividends” fail to enhance Nigerians’ quality of life. The trivialization of democratization raises critical questions about its state and relevance to Nigerians and the Nigerian state. Is Nigeria democratizing or de-democratizing? How does the democratization process bring the Nigerian people closer to state (power)? How has it helped their developmental quests? The article contends that Nigeria’s democratization process is indeed on trial. As Ake argues, Nigerian state democratization does not only trivialize the essence of democracy—it also continues to reverse the democratization process. Against this background, the article concludes that the democratization process in Nigeria requires elite political will and people’s consciousness to advance to the next stage for better democratic consolidated and economic development relevant to Nigerians.

Education and National Development in Nigeria: A Philosophical Perspective

The paper examines the key words: culture and development, and in the process attempts to bring out their relationship to education in a developing country like Nigeria. It further states that investment in education is sine-qua-non with national development. Hence this paper sees education as an important tool for national development. The paper finally asserts that democratization process in Nigeria is saddled with limited access to education and struggle with the task of making it available to all citizens.

Role of newspaper advertisements in the democratic process: the case of the 2007 presidential election in Nigeria

Using content analysis as a method of investigation, this article examines the role of newspaper advertisements in the democratisation process in Nigeria, with specific reference to the 2007 presidential elections. Unlike the previous studies that mainly did comparative analyses of advertisements along political lines, the present study investigates the extent to which newspaper organisations complied with legal and ethical guidelines on exposure of political advertisements. The political actors and major issues contained in the political advertisements were also studied. Three national newspapers, The Guardian, This Day and The Punch were purposively selected for the study. The period of study covered the 3 months immediately preceding the election date (February–April 2007). All the issues of the three newspapers for the 3 months (a total of 89 editions of each) were studied. The content coding categories and units of analysis were adapted. This study found that a majority of the newspaper advertisements had identified sponsors, although an equally significant number of the copies did not have identified sponsors; the advertisements focused on issues, which however may not be of immediate relevance to the needs of the electorates; burning national issues were ignored; and there were more image‐boosting than image‐attenuating advertisements. Failure of government regulatory agencies to sanction culprits, including the nonconformance by newspaper organisations, with ethical and legal guidelines on political advertisements were reported, along with relevant recommendations. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Godfatherism and the future of Nigerian democracy

The study explores the relationship between godfathers and godsons with a particular attention to its influence on the development of Nigeria’s politics, and seeming demise of resourceful governance in the country. The study adopts unstructured interview to elicit the perception of actors’ involved and political elites, relying on qualitative and content analyses of data. The study found that there was a shift in the modus operandi of post independence godfatherism, and what obtains in contemporary Nigeria was violence-inspired godfatherism, which successfully replaced politics of welfare by politics of warfare in the affected areas. This acted as impediments to sustainable democratization process in Nigeria. The study concludes by recognizing the inevitability of godfathers in politics but there was the need for proper management of godfather/godson relationship. Key words: Godfatherism, patron-client politics, mafianism.

Constructing a Cardinal Measure of Democratic Development in a Transition Polity: The Nigerian Example

In the last decade, the political institutions and practices under which economic decisions are made have received increasing attention in the analysis of the responsibility for economic underperformance. This attention has in turn led to a questioning of the issues of conceptualization and measurement of the variables involved. While economic variables are easily conceptualized and measured, political institutional factors present some difficulty. Although the aim of a democratic system is to assure the rights and freedoms for the citizens of a polity, for those polities in transition, the processes that drive societies towards or away from higher rights and freedoms for their citizens are more important. This paper attempts to cover the following topics: first, to construct measurable variables of democratization that can be used to determine the level of democratic development in a transition polity; and second, to apply these variables to determine the level and patterns of democratization in Nigeria. Section two highlights significant past research which has measured the levels of democracy across different countries. In section three Nigeriaxi' s political history is summarized to show a polity in continuing political transition. Section four identifies relevant dimensions of democratization in a transition polity. Section five applies the dimensions to derive indices to measure the level of democratization in Nigeria. In section six the pattern of the democratization process in Nigeria is established. Section seven justifies the measures for transition polities and suggests the use to which they may be put.

United we stand: labour unions and human rights NGOs in the democratisation process in Nigeria

Human rights NGOs were the vanguard of the struggle for democratisation in Nigeria, but they had to forge alliances with labour unions and other groups to galvanise this process effectively. This paper explores the alliances between labour unions and NGOs in the struggle against military dictatorship in Nigeria to analyse how horizontal relationships have fared in exchanges within civil society. It argues that the exigencies of sustained political struggle throw up conflicts over issues of participation, accountability, and egalitarianism that in turn promote social capital within civil society by mitigating hierarchically structured and asymmetrical patterns of exchange among its members.

The Dynamics of Civil Society and the Democratization Process in Nigeria

RésuméOn a représenté les sociétés civiles africaines “à l’état naissant” comme les initiatrices principales du processus de démocratisation des années 1990. Mais, suite à l’instauration de gouvernements démocratiques en Afrique, les grands espoirs investis dans le rôle et la capacité des organisations de ces sociétés civiles à promouvoir les réformes de gouvernance et à favoriser l’approfondissement de la démocratie ont été fortement exagérés. Si l’autorité démocratique a permis un plus grand espace favorable à l’expression politique au Nigéria, les acteurs non-démocratiques sont devenus très visibles et les chasseurs de pouvoir ont dominé l’espace politique parce qu’un secteur substantiel des organisations des sociétés civiles est tellement détaché de l’état et leur orientation vers le désengagement est tel que les conditions ne sont guère propices à la construction d’un état ou à la démocratisation. Les associations professionnelles ou celles de la classe moyenne, initialement au premier rang du mouvement démocratique ont tendance à se séparer du mouvement populaire. Les organisations civiques pro-démocratie au Nigéria ont été en grande partie modelées par la nécessité de confronter des régimes autoritaires et de ce fait, ont été limitées dans leur capacité à promouvoir une consolidation de la démocratie. Ces organisations doivent subir un processus de renouvellement démocratique interne, se rapprocher davantage du mouvement populaire et construire des structures capables de faire face aux institutions étatiques.

The Dynamics of Civil Society and the Democratization Process in Nigeria

The Dynamics of Civil Society and the Democratization Process in Nigeria