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Democratic Consolidation in Nigeria: Progress and Challenges

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Arabian Journal of Business and Management Review (OMAN Chapter) Vol. 5, No.5; December 2015 DEMOCRATIC CONSOLIDATION IN NIGERIA: PROGRESS AND CHALLENGES Okeke, Remi Chukwudi Department of Public Administration and Local Government, University of Nigeria, Nsukka Email: [email protected] Phone: 2348035523818 Abstract We have in this study, identified democratic consolidation as a process and not a realization. In this process, therefore, the nature of democratic consolidation in Nigeria has been characterized by the determination of the nation’s political actors to squarely face the challenges of the surrounding vicissitudes of democracy. We have essentially in the study, identified some of the features of the progress made in democratic consolidation in Nigeria within the period of focus (1999- 2015). We have examined the nature of the attendant challenges and made some far- reaching recommendations on how to enhance the chances of democratic consolidation in this West African nation-state. Keywords: Democracy, Democratic Consolidation, Nigeria, Progress, Challenges INTRODUCTION The Nigerian state is a study in political and developmental unpredictability - a nation that in empirical terms continuously contradicts political bookmakers. Thus, as this West African nation-state trudges on in nation building, she has continued to negate every uncharitable visioning. In this process, within and outside her territorial confines, Nigeria has continued to defeat the numerous naysayers whose positions had attempted to create immense wedges, for the nation’s ambitions and aspirations - the hopes and aspirations that continue to hold her together, despite the darkest political astrology (Adebanwi & Obadare 2010). Many insiders in Nigeria (and outsiders also) know that this same country is not working (see Kukah 2012; Coulter 2013). Very many scholars therefore have remained amazed by this Nigerian contradiction - a country that is working and is not working. Furthermore, Amuwo (2009) had described Nigeria as witnessing a democracy, political, economic and development impasse. Has the situation grown less traumatic? To some scholars therefore looking at Nigeria, it would appear as if British colonialism actually left an indelible conservative imprimatur on the country’s politics and society. The general perception of an otherwise informed public opinion in this regard; is that ‘the British 21 Arabian Journal of Business and Management Review (OMAN Chapter) Vol. 5, No.5; December 2015 programmed Nigeria to fail’ (Amuwo 2009). Indeed, Adebanwi & Obadare (2010) succinctly present the dejection that characterizes Nigerian analysis as follows: Nigeria offers a magnificent template for examining the chronic schizophrenia that characterizes the African postcolonial state and the resulting social (de)formations that (re)compose, and are, in turn, (re)composed by, the state. Although rigged against reason and rhythm from its very conception and inception, Nigeria ironically, contains perhaps the greatest combination and concentration of human and natural resources that can be (re)mobilized in creating an African power state with a capacity to stand at the vortex, if not the centre of continental revival and racial renewal. This paradox raises a fundamental question: Why have the socio-economic and political actualities of, and in, Nigeria, been historically (permanently?) subversive of her potentialities? Thus, here and there, there are dark prognoses and invidious conclusions about this crippled giant (Osaghae 1998), a country whose common future as a united polity has been severally questioned as a possibility by many of its frustrated citizens (Adebanwi & Obadare 2010). Bourne (2015) thus adds that the year 2015 may be another in which Nigeria seems to teeter on the edge of the abyss but it would be surprising if it were to fall in. Bourne was alluding to the tendencies of political bookmakers who envisioned doom and destruction as the aftermath of the 2015 general elections in Nigeria. The elections have since been conducted, won and lost and the unpredictable Nigeria State did not break up. Hence this study was actually conducted as preparations were being made for a change of baton in the governance of Nigeria, after the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Retired General Muhammadu Buhari, defeated the sitting President of Nigeria, Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, in the 2015 Presidential election1. In democratic configurations, all this present the portrait of democratic consolidation, particularly from 1999, when the country returned to the path of democracy, after the long period of military aberration. Consequently, the general objective of this study is to establish the nature of the democratic consolidation in Nigeria. The specific objectives are to (i) identify the features of the noticeable progress in democratic consolidation in Nigeria (ii) examine the nature of the attendant challenges and (iii) make recommendations on how to enhance the chances of democratic consolidation in this West African country.2 DEMOCRATIC CONSOLIDATION: A CONCEPTUAL ELUCIDATION The apposite place to begin the conceptual elucidation on democratic consolidation is perhaps the operationalization of the concept of democracy itself. Therefore, democracy in this study stands for a people-centered system of government, which entails periodic popular elections, in which the sanctity of the electoral process is strictly guaranteed. Implicit in this position is the connotation that democracy not only allows mass participation, by way of encouraging the electorate to participate in the selection of their representatives, but also that democracy is nourished by transparency and accountability in public administration (Yagboyaju 2013). It should be emphasized that democracy thrives better in many parts of the world where there are also strong democratic institutions. In other words, democratic principles thrive and are more effective when they are supported by strong institutions of modern government (Yagboyaju 22 Arabian Journal of Business and Management Review (OMAN Chapter) Vol. 5, No.5; December 2015 2013). Therefore, when Yagboyaju, cites Ake (1996) as opining that democracy is about principles rather than about institutional forms, there appears to be a contentious issue in this proposition. According to Yagboyaju, Ake had argued that it is the principles of public accountability, mass participation, majority rule, and minority rights that define democracy as a concept. Thus, citing Mimiko (2010), Yagboyaju concludes that it follows therefore, that any political system that provides for these principles qualifies to be called a democracy (anyone that does not, no matter the majesty of physical infrastructure of democracy put in place, cannot justifiably refer to itself as a democracy). The problematic issue here is that the sanctity of these principles is a function of the majesty of physical democratic infrastructure – the excellence of strong democratic institutions. Hence, according to Ogundiya (2009) cited in Akubo and Yakubu (2014), democratic consolidation is about regime maintenance and about regarding the key political institutions as the only framework for political contestation and adherence to the democratic rules of the game. Democratic consolidation should therefore consequently connote a consistent and sustained practice of democratic principles (Yagboyaju 2013). Beyond conceptual orthodoxy however, democratic consolidation might as well be denoted as when democracy is being consolidated (when democracy is being consolidated in defence of the people-centeredness of the precepts of democracy). Democracy is therefore, a system of government and a system of defence. It is a system for defending the powers of the people against usurpation by political goons. Democracy defends the hopes of a people against onslaught by sundry intruders. Therefore, in the context of developing democracies, the stronger the defence mechanisms of democracy the nearer the tendencies of the system towards democratic consolidation. Hence, democratic consolidation critically refers to the growing of the defence mechanisms of democracy. Consequently, democratic consolidation is a process. It is not an accomplishment. Some scholars tend to view democratic consolidation as a realization – an achievement. According to Valenzuela (1990) cited in Akubo and Yakubu (2014), the building of a consolidated democracy involves in part an affirmation and strengthening of certain institutions, such as the electoral system, revitalized or newly created parties, judicial independence and respect for human rights, which have been created or recreated during the course of the transition. In this context, democratic consolidation becomes a post-transitional condition, curiously akin to some developmental fixity. Yagboyaju (2013) further opines that democratic consolidation could be said to effectively prevail in most mature and advanced democracies of the world, where many of the prominent democratic principles largely constitute the political culture. But democratic consolidation is a lot more than all of this. In fact, democratic consolidation is a feature of all democracies. While the need for building the defence mechanisms of democracy may be more pronounced in emerging democracies, all democracies are prone to attacks that necessitate the fortification of democracy. It is this process of fortification that is democratic consolidation. Democratic consolidation therefore
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