CRISIS OF DEMOCRACY AND IMPLICATIONS FOR GOOD GOVERNANCE IN SOUTH WESTERN NIGERIA 1999-2021

Abstract

Democratic government globally is designed to cater for the welfare of the populace via the provision of public goods to alleviate the standard of living of the common man and improve the socio-economic development of the country, however, in Nigeria since the return of democratic government in 1999, the country has experienced various degrees of crisis of democracy which has negative effect on good governance. The implications of the crisis made the citizens to lack trust in their elected and appointed representative, the image of the country to the international community has been mal due to recurrent crisis of democracy. The study examined the crisis of democracy and its implication on good governance in Southwestern Nigeria. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design to gather adequate information from the respondents. The study involved an in-depth inquiry involving a structured questionnaire and interview session to collect data from the respondents. The study population of (372) consists of (501) executive members of All Progressive Party (APC), the ruling party (501) People’s Democratic Party (PDP) major opposition party, (120) senior staff of Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) and (150) electorates in the selected states of Southwestern Nigeria. In addition, interview sessions were conducted with the Secretary of the selected political parties, INEC officials and Electorates. The findings of the study showed that the unwillingness of political actors to foster the improvement of the people’s development and welfare has affected good governance. Also, the study showed that democratic crisis has affected human and natural wealth of Nigeria. The study concluded that political players should accept the results of elections in good fate and collective responsibility should be used in the appointment of government cabinets the attitudes of winners take all should be eradicated in Nigeria's political system.