State and Democratization in Nigeria

Abstract

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.

Keywords:

• Democracy
• Democratization
• Nigeria
• State

Notes

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2. See Samuel Huntington, The Third Wave: Democratization in the Late Twentieth Century (Norman, OK: The University of Oklahoma Press, 1991).

3. Cyril Obi, No Choice, but Democracy: Prising the People Out of Politics in Africa? (Uppsala: Department of Peace and Conflict Research, 2008), 25.

4. See D. Lamb, “The Africans”: Encounters from the Sudan to the Cape (London: Macmillan, 1987); cited in Kayode Soremekun in Dele Olowu, A. Williams, and Kayode Soremekun, “Introduction,” in Governance and Democratisation in West Africa, edited by Dele Olowu, A. Williams, and Kayode Soremekun (Dakar: Codesria, 1999); A. Rowell, J. Marriot, and L. Stockman, The Next Gulf: London, Washington and Oil Conflicts in Nigeria (London: Constable, 2005).

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8. Claude Ake, The Feasibility of Democracy in Africa (Dakar: Codesria, 2000); Abubakar Momoh, “Democracy or Governance? Making Sense of Disempowerment in Nigeria,” Guardian, August 19 and 23 (2005); Abubakar Momoh, “Democracy, De-Democratisation and Development in Nigeria,” Nigerian Journal of International Affairs 32, no. 2 (2006): 61–86.

9. Obi, No Choice, but Democracy.

10. Cyril Obi, “Last Card: Can Nigeria Survive Another Political Transition?” African Journal of Political Science 5, no. 2 (2000): 67–86.

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13. Robert Dahl, Polyarchy: Participation and Opposition (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1971).

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16. Obi, No Choice, but Democracy, 5.

17. Goran Hyden, “Informal Institutions, Economy of Affection, and Rural Development in Africa,” Tanzanian Journal of Population Studies and Development (Special Issue: African economy of Affection) 11(2) (2004).

18. See Boaventura de Sousa Santos, “The Process of Globalisation,” Eurozine (n.p.), 1–47.

19. Obi, “Last Card,” 70–71.

20. Robert I. Rotberg, “Failed States, Collapsed States, Weak States: Causes and Indicators,” in Rotberg, R. I. (ed.) State Failure and State Weakness in a Time of Terror (Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press, 2003), 1–28.

21. Tukumbi Lumunba-Kasongo (Ed.), Liberal Democracy and Its Critics in Africa: Political Dysfunction and the Struggle for Social Progress (Dakar: Codesria, 2005).

22. Dele Olowu, A. Williams, and Kayode Soremekun, “Introduction,” in Governance and Democratisation in West Africa, edited by Dele Olowu, A. Williams, and Kayode Soremekun (Dakar: CODESRIA, 1999), 3.

23. Eghosa Osaghae, “Democratization in Sub-Saharan Africa: Faltering Steps, New Hopes,” Journal of Contemporary African Studies 17, no. 1 (1999): 7–9.

24. Obi, “Last Card: Can Nigeria Survive Another Political Transition?” 70; Jibrin Ibrahim, “Democratic Transition in Africa: The Challenge of a New Agenda—Concluding Remarks,” in Democratization Processes in Africa: Problems and Prospects, edited by E. Chole and J. Ibrahim (Dakar: Codesria, 1995), 120.

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26. Obi, “Last Card,” 71.

27. Issa Shivji, Accumulation in an African Periphery: A Theoretical Framework (Dar es Salaam: Mkuki na Nyota, 2009), 9.

28. Issa Shivji, Silences in NGO Discourse: The Role and Future of NGOs in Africa (Cape Town: Fahamu Press, 2007).

29. Obi, No Choice, but Democracy, 8.

30. Obi, “Last Card,” 71.

31. K. Hippel, Democracy by Force US Military Intervention in the Post-Cold War World (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), 5.

32. J. Wolff and I. Wurm, “Towards a Theory of External Democracy Promotion: A Proposal for Theoretical,” Security Dialogue 42, no. 1 (2011): 77–96.

33. Obi, “Last Card,” 73.

34. Ibid., 80.

35. Shivji, “Silences in NGO Discourse.”

36. Obi, “Last Card,” 79.

37. Obi, No Choice, but Democracy, 10.

38. Claude Ake, The Feasibility of Democracy in Africa, 7–12.

39. Ibid., 26.

40. Claude Ake, “Is Africa Democratising?” 1993 Guardian Lecture, Guardian on Sunday (Lagos), December 12 (1993b).

41. Claude Ake, “The State in Contemporary Africa,” in Political Economy of Nigeria, edited by C. Ake (London and Lagos: Longmans, 1985).

42. Ake, “The Unique Case of African Democracy.”