An Assessment Of Democracy And Development In Nigeria

Abstract

Nigeria having experienced an interrupted period of misrule by the military incursion due to coups and counter coups as well as the devastating civil war and coupled with corruption and mismanagement has every reason to celebrate now for enjoying the longest period of civilian rule since independence of the 1960.

The expectation of the general populace about democracy is that it comes with a lot of promises that is associated with rapid growth and development, improved living standards and social amenities as well as freedom and peace, but the reverse is the case in the Nigerian context.

It is against this backdrop that this paper attempts to assess the impact of democracy and development in Nigeria with a view to critically analyse some of the challenges impeding Nigerian democracy towards achieving its goal.