Democracy In Nigeria Research Articles

Stalemates to Democracy in Nigeria: The Paradoxes of Human Rights and Social Justice

Stalemates to Democracy in Nigeria: The Paradoxes of Human Rights and Social Justice

NEW MEDIA AND DEMOCRACY IN NIGERIA: AN APPRAISAL OF THE OPPORTUNITIES AND THREATS IN THE TERRAIN

A democracia na Nigéria, sem dúvidas, ganha impulso recentemente. Este desenvolvimento coincide com uma era de maior acesso à informação pelas massas, cortesia da nova mídia e suas inúmeras plataformas e oportunidades de comunicação. Hoje, cada membro do público que está conectado a nova mídia pode não apenas acessar informação, como também criar e compartilhar as mesmas nas várias plataformas de consumo em massa. Democracia, que implica na participação popular no processo de governança, se beneficia imensamente desta tendência. Este estudo explora o papel que a nova mídia desempenha na consolidação da democracia no país, com grande atenção nos canais de comunicação das eleições gerais de 2015, quando a nova mídia defendeu a divulgação de informações sobre as eleições, e as consequências do período eleitoral que preparou o caminho para a administração atual. Ancorado na Teoria da Responsabilidade Social, o estudo questiona até que ponto as novas plataformas de mídia liberalizam o processo de comunicação política no país, além das oportunidades e ameaças que elas abrigam à consolidação democrática. O argumento central da pesquisa é que a nova mídia se apresenta como uma ferramenta útil nas mãos de ativistas e cidadãos interessados em participar do governo e de efetivamente desempenharem o papel de vigilantes, um privilégio que, até agora, estava longe da realidade. Existem, entretanto, vários abusos que, infelizmente, ameaçam desperdiçar as oportunidades da plataforma, tais como prevalência de ódio e discursos perigosos, aumento na intensidade de mentiras, erros, falsidade e propaganda negativa, além do uso de seções de comentários para atacar, intimidar e demonizar os outros debatedores de questões políticas levantadas nas notícias, através de inúmeras plataformas online. Por fim, o artigo recomenda uma ‘cautelosa’ incorporação das novas mídias no processo democrático para abrir caminho a uma maior participação.

Freedom of Religion and Its Regulation in Nigeria: Analysis of Preaching Board Laws in Some States of Northern Nigeria

AbstractThe re-enactment of religious preaching board laws to regulate religious preaching in some states of Northern Nigeria generated debates between Government on the one hand and religious/human rights groups on the other. This research examines the Preaching Board Laws of Kano, Borno and Kaduna States in Northern Nigeria through the prism of the Nigerian Constitution and other democratic norms that relate to the right to freedom of religion in all democratic orders. It applies argumentative methodology to raise and analyse the following questions: how reasonable and justifiable are these religious preaching board laws in a democratic Nigeria?; what gave rise to the enactment of these laws in the states under study?; what judicial review mechanism would be employed to determine their reasonableness and justifiability in a democracy?; how do they accord with the freedom of religion clause in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria? The research establishes that some of the provisions of these laws are inconsistent with the provisions of the Nigerian Constitution and, by extension, international freedom of religion norms operating in all democratic orders. Second, Nigerian courts have not developed suitable balancing mechanisms for resolving conflicts between the right of the state to regulate and citizens’ right to freedom of religion otherwise called the two competing rights, in the light of which the research calls for the amendment of the laws to accord with the provisions of the Constitution and international freedom of religion norms acceptable in all democracies. The paper further recommends a harmonised proportionality test or judicial standard of review based on Nigeria’s religion-state relations and local experience for the use of courts, legislators and administrative agents coming face to face with this type of conflict in their official capacity.

The Nigerian Police Force and the Task of Policing Democratic Nigeria: Issues and Problems

The Nigerian Police Force and the Task of Policing Democratic Nigeria: Issues and Problems

Conflict resolution in Nigeria after the 1967–1970 civil war

ABSTRACTAfter 50 years since the inception of Nigeria’s civil war, how successful have been efforts to promote reconciliation? This article first considers the claims made by both sides about the war’s nature. In the Nigerian setting, necessary measures for conflict resolution extended well beyond the amnesties and reconstruction provisions available in the war’s aftermath. In a democratic Nigeria neo-Biafran revival raises questions about the efficacy of official policies of re-integration. The reimagining of Biafra also highlights failure to shape a consensual public memory of the conflict.

Budget Padding and Appropriation in Nigeria: An Appraisal of Legislative Powers in an Evolving Democracy

The return in 1999 to civilian rule and constitutional democracy in Nigeria gave rise to the re-emergence of governmental structures and institutions that hitherto were suspended and underutilized. Military rule had grown an over pampered and powered executive arm of government which was transmuted unto a supposed democratic setting. The legislative arm of government is thus a nascent organ with adapted tenets and procedures that are yet to be fully domesticated. This paper therefore examines the roles of the legislature in appropriation with the intents of determining if it has powers to alter, change and or make further budgetary provisions. The study adopted extensive use of secondary data that were analyzed content wise and surmised that whereas the Executive manages the national economy that the legislature through its powers of appropriation authorizes withdrawals from the Consolidated Revenue Fund in order to foster good governance of Nigeria.

Political Violence and the Prospect of Democracy in Nigeria: A Survey of the South-East Geopolitical Zone of Nigeria

Political Violence and the Prospect of Democracy in Nigeria: A Survey of the South-East Geopolitical Zone of Nigeria

HATE SPEECH AND THE 2015 GENERAL ELECTIONS IN NIGERIA

Elections in the world are not taken with levity as it is one of the major determinants of what would become of the certain country in some years to come. During the 2015 general election in Nigeria, the political environment was intensified with the proliferation of adverts, political innuendos and propaganda messages. Media organisations in Nigeria, as always, became vehicles and channels of expressions and propaganda. A significant number of these messages had elements of hate speeches which were targeted at ridiculing opponents and opposition parties. Nigeria has witnessed several elections and campaigns with the intention of securing the people’s vote, however, the political environment of Nigeria is not which that can be describe as conducive with candidates attacking personalities and political parties. Questions are being raised as citizens want to find out the role hate speeches plays in election campaigns and how it affects voter’s choice of candidate with their perception about such candidate before, during and after the election. The essence of the hate speech is to ridicule and lower the esteem of others before well-meaning voters. This paper evaluated the extent at which hate speeches were used during the 2015 general elections in Nigeria. This paper was anchored on the social responsibility theory, which explains how media should ideally operate in a given society of social values and it is the standard against which the public judges. The paper concluded that many hate speeches were used across all the mass media during the 2015 general elections in Nigeria but as none of these people who uttered the hate speeches were not punished. The paper recommended that political actors that engage in the use of hate speeches during electioneering should be punished according to the electoral laws of the country. Furthermore, stringent punitive measures should be meted to media outlets that publish or broadcast hate speeches as a form of deterrent for the growth of democracy in Nigeria.

The ‘David and Goliath’ and 2015 Election Outcomes in Nigeria: From the Opposition to the Ruling Party

Generally, Nigerian political parties in the present republic have been hampered by crisis of internal democracy thus undermining their political leadership recruitment function. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is a good example of one of these Nigerian political parties that lacks internal democracy. In fact, PDP was a leviathan. The 2015 Election symbolised a contest between David and Goliath. The electoral outcome is that PDP has transformed from a ruling party to an opposition party. The study, by relying on the theory of relative autonomy of the state and secondary sources, concludes that lack of internal democracy was a necessary condition for PDP’s poor performance in the 2015 General Elections, and thus, there is a relationship between crisis of internal democracy and 2015 electoral outcomes. Also, the article noted that PDP authoritarianism deepened crisis of internal democracy in Nigeria and that this authoritarian character of the former ruling PDP was a reflection of the authoritarian character of the Nigerian state, which is currently shaping the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). The study is essentially qualitative, historical and inductive.

Political campaign and democratisation

AbstractThe use of hate speech for political mobilisation and its overall impact on democratisation have generated debate and controversy in both post-colonial formations and more advanced democracies. This is because hate speech tends to promote hatred between different ethnic groups. In Nigeria, it is usually deployed in the build up to elections. Using mixed methods approach, this study interrogates the consequences of hate speech as a political campaign strategy on electioneering and democratisation in Nigeria. The study argues that the use of hate speech in political campaign entrenches hatred and discriminatory voting pattern among citizens. It grossly affects democratisation, the quality of party programmes and candidates chosen by voters. Despite its appeal to extreme right populism based on ethnic voting and other forms of exclusionary politics, the use of hate speech as a political campaign strategy neither promotes the principles of majoritarian democracy nor protects minority rights.

Africa’s West meets its South: A Comparison of Democracy in Nigeria and South Africa, 1993-2016

Africa’s West meets its South: A Comparison of Democracy in Nigeria and South Africa, 1993-2016

Civil Society, Conflict Resolution, and Democracy in Nigeria

Civil Society, Conflict Resolution, and Democracy in Nigeria

Democratic Politics and Security Challenges in Nigeria: Retrospect and Prospect

Any critical assessment of the evolution of democratic politics and security challenges in Nigeria is most likely to point to a troubling political future. The country’s ethnic and religious cleavages are not just severe and enduring; they have become its principal Achilles heel. The deep divides in the Nigerian society is exacerbated by the militarised nature of the state which is characterised by the use (or threat) of violence to settle political conflicts, the legitimisation of state violence, the continued domination of military values over civilian life, the brazen violation of human rights, extrajudicial killings and the gross repression of the people. This chapter analyses the evolution of democratic politics and continuing lack of success in entrenching liberal democracy in Nigeria. By examining the underlying causes of Nigeria’s purported imperviousness to the revival of effective democracy, the paper hopes to identify pertinent security challenges that have coalesced to impede her path to political stability and development.

Empirical assessment of the role of geospatial technology in delivering governance and strengthening democracy in Nigeria

The paper examined the concept of development in line with the role of geospatial technology applications in governance and geospatial management in Nigeria. It also evaluates the previous efforts made by successive governments in managing governance process through geospatial technology initiatives using Lagos State as a proof-of-concept. It empirically demonstrates the role of monitoring spatial development initiatives using Landsat multi-dates satellite images 1985, 1990, 1995, 2000, 5005, 2010 and 2016 and Geographic Information System technique. The paper then identified, mapped and examined the settlement growth of Lagos using Ikorodu Division as an empirical proof-of-concept. The study reveals a geometric increase in uncoordinated human activities resulting from sporadic spatial development (builtup area) from 27.67 sq km (7.7%) in 1985–313.02 sq km (87.3%) spatial coverage in 2016. Based on the regression line, the study reveals a strong correlation between increasing settlement development and time. Low level of community involvement and lack of sense of ownership of development project initiatives in developing a local “vision” and strategy are identified as a problem. The paper re-emphasized that sustaining democratic processes as well as the fight against poverty will be won or lost mostly in the rural and less in the urban areas. The rural area is home to about 70% of the world’s poor due to lack or inadequate government services and basic amenities. The study suggest that making the future better for the yet unborn requires appreciable fundamental dataset, technologies, human resources and reliable government structures.

Evaluation of Impact of New Democracy on Consumption, Income and Growth of the Nigerian Economy

This article describes how the new democracy in Nigeria has existed for eighteen uninterrupted years and many scholars believe that it has been an improvement over past regimes. The acid test of this claim is to find out if the new democracy has indeed caused a shift in the consumption pattern and a change in the consumption habit of Nigerians. The total differential modeling approach was applied to test the null hypothesis that the new democracy has not impacted the standard of living of the average Nigerian. The results indicated that the new democracy did cause a shift of N6.61E+06 and N9.27E+08 on consumption and income, respectively, in 1999 as well as caused a change in consumption habit of N32.9 million annually. Nominal income also changed by N46.13 million annually as a result of the new democracy. The growth in consumption and nominal income were N22708022 million and N31832692 million, respectively. In addition, the new democracy induced a change of N0.995 mill/annum in real income. Therefore, it will seem that the new democracy has positively impacted the Nigerian economy. However, while the growth rate associated with past administrations is 0.6634%, in terms of real growth, it will seem that there is no significant growth in the economy associated with the current democracy. This article also shares some recommendations that will make this impact manifest on the economy.

Politics by Elimination: Implications of Political Violence on Nigeria Democratic Governance

This work focus on eliminationist politics in Nigeria. We traced the development of elimination politics in Nigeria right from independence in 1960 to the present day, which is a reminiscence of Hitler’s period in Germany and Rwanda genocide. The paper interrogates the escalating political violence in different parts of the country, with increasing loss of lives. We also examine the cause of riot, arson, murder and looting which have became widespread in many states particularly in the northern part of the country which is a clearer image of the danger that comes with intolerance and political violence. We found out that the major cause of the violence is economy, because of the nature of African society that is poverty stricken. The paper then conclude that; Nigeria cannot be run by eliminating those whose political affiliation and values vary from our own; political violence is an ill wind of social phenomenon, which blows no one any good. Dialogue should be allowed to prevail over the language of violence. Key words: Eliminationist, Independence, Germany, Leaders, Political violence, Rwanda,

Centenary Celebrations: The Role of Good Governance and Effective . Public Administration towards Achieving Economic Growth and Stability in Fledgling Democracy in Nigeria

Nigeria, a country endowed with abundant natural, mineral and human resources is grappling with problems of development; a century after her amalgamation and fifty-jive years of full fledged political independence. She has been overtaken in development by some other developing countries notably Indonesia, Malaysia and Venezuela. Today, she is faced with myriad of problems prominent among which are poverty, corruption, insecurity, kidnapping, ethno-religious crises and many more. These problems can be attributed to bad governance. This paper examines the role of good governance and effective public administrative system in ensuring economic growth and stable polity. The paper adopted Elite theory as its analytical tool. The paper contends that good governance is crucial to economic growth because it enhances human development which in turn is the pivot around which other developmental activities revolve. The paper further argues that .only an efficient and effective public administrative system can deliver the dividends of democracy. It concludes that adherence to basic tenets of good governance and a combination of well trained and carefully recruited and motivated public servants as well as an enabling environment can ensure economic growth and stable polity.

The Politics of Military Transition Programmes to Democracy in Nigeria, 1966-1999

The Politics of Military Transition Programmes to Democracy in Nigeria, 1966-1999

Vestiges of Military Rule in Democratic Governance in Nigeria

The position argued for in this paper is that: the inability to manage Nigeria as a federation; challengesin the area of fiscal federalism, the culture of political apathy, the culture of lack of accountability, contempt for the rule of law, gross disregard for and abuse of fundamental human rights, intolerance for opposition and othervices that eventually undermined the capability of democratic institutions, after democratisation in Nigeria, are vestiges of military rule in Nigeria. When Nigeria returned to democracy in 1999, it was after many years of military rule. However, since the values that military governance stands for are different from those of democracy, there is the need to evaluate how many years under military despotism have rubbed off on the institutions of democracy as we have it in Nigeria today. It is pointed out in the paper that the military years that preceded the establishment of democracy in Nigeria promoted conditions, mentalities, and practices among Nigerians that are constituting hindrancesto the optimal performance of democracy in the country. This happened because democracy met in place conditions that are incompatible with norms, values, purposes, and structures that are suitable for the sustenance of democratic culture such that the rule of law, consensus-building, tolerance, free and fair election, accountability, checks and balances and other values of democracy are struggling for survival. It was concluded that the right democratisation process for Nigeria should include developing a mentality in Nigerians that is conducive for democracy to thrive. This requires the cultivation of the values of democracy in the minds of Nigerians and disabusing their minds from the anomalies associated with military rule.

The Worm Squirming in the Root: An Image of Democracy in Okediran’s <i>Tenants of the House</i>

Democracy in Nigeria may be said to have made some headway since independence. Even though this democracy seems to have overcome the truncation of its first and second republics by military dictatorships, and has transited over the decades into what may appear from an uncritical observation to be an emergent stable democratic culture, the same worm squirming in its root that had sent it into a coma is burgeoning rather than whittling down. Nigerian fiction, acting as the weather-vane for this development has spotted these political shenanigans. The literary artists have lived up to their calling as defined by Howe: to be “seized by the passion to represent and to give order to experience.” This article identifies unrelenting compulsive and pervasive corruption as the image of democracy in contemporary Nigerian literature. The paper undertakes a study of Okediran’s Tenants of the House to explore political insensitivity that is propelled by avarice in leadership in Nigeria. The study attempts to examine the angst of the author’s creativity in his attempt to capture a moment of Nigeria’s leadership vacuum in the historical consciousness of the people, and concludes that contemporary Nigerian literature remains a committed art, decrying social ills that negate the well-being of the people.