Elections And Governance In Nigeria S Fourth Republic

Elections and Governance in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic is a book about Nigerian politics, governance and democracy. It at once encompasses Nigeria’s post-colonial character, its political economy, party formation since independence, the role of Electoral Commissions, as well as, indepth analyses of the 1999, 2003 and 2007 general elections that involved extensive fieldwork. It also presents aspects of the 2011 and 2015 general elections, while discussing the state of democratic consolidation, and lessons learned for achieving good governance in the country. It is indeed, a must read for students of politics, academics, politicians, statesmen and policy makers, and in fact, stakeholders in the Nigerian democracy project. The book stands out as a well-researched and rich documentary material about elections in Nigeria, and the efforts so far made in growing democracy.

This book examines the structures and processes of political decision-making and governance in Nigeria. Since Nigeria returned to elected government in 1999, it has been observed that several factors account for the differences between the design of statutory structures and processes of political decision-making and how they operate in reality. In other words, there are wide gaps between statutes and practice of political decision-making. However, the nexus between the two remains largely understudied by political scientists. Instinctively, political scientists assume that informal influences in political decision-making are aberrations, episodic or temporary. This book is designed to interrogate the nexus between the formal and non-formal dimensions of the dynamics of political decision making in Nigeria and also provide evidence about the actual functioning of governmental structures in Nigeria. The thesis of the book is that the non-formal dimension of political decision making as evidenced in rising ethno-political patronages, religious sentiments, clientelism and factionalism, are interacting with formal decision-making structures in ways that largely undermine the latter and, by extension, the democratic system. The book pursues this thesis by examining the roles of actors and institutions including, electoral choices made by voters, legislations, which perhaps is the most fundamental form of political decision-making, policies made by the executive and administration, as well as decision making within political parties, since parties are sites for articulating and aggregating issues on which decisions are to be made.

Examines Nigeria's challenges with consolidating democracy and the crisis of governance arising from structural errors of the state and the fundamental contradictions of the society in Nigeria's Fourth Republic reflect a wider crisis of democracy globally. 'Today we are taking a decisive step on the path of democracy, ' the newly sworn-in President Olusegun Obasanjo told Nigerians on 27 May 1999. 'We will leave no stone unturned to ensure sustenance of democracy, because it is good for us, it is good for Africa, and it is good for the world.' Nigeria's Fourth Republic has survived longer than any of the previous three Republics, the most durable Republic in Nigeria's more than six decades of independence. At the same time, however, the country has witnessed sustained periods of violence, including violent clashes over the imposition of Sharia'h laws, insurgency in the Niger Delta, inter-ethnic clashes, and the Boko Haram insurgency. Despite these tensions of, and anxieties about, democratic viability and stability in Nigeria, has democratic rule come to stay in Africa's most populous country? Are the overall conditions of Nigerian politics, economy and socio-cultural dynamics now permanently amenable to uninterrupted democratic rule? Have all the social forces which, in the past, pressed Nigeria towards military intervention and autocratic rule resolved themselves in favour of unbroken representative government? If so, what are the factors and forces that produced this compromise and how can Nigeria's shallow democracy be sustained, deepened and strengthened? This book attempts to address these questions by exploring the various dimensions of Nigeria's Fourth Republic in a bid to understand the tensions and stresses of democratic rule in a deeply divided major African state. The contributors engage in comparative analysis of the political, economic, social challenges that Nigeria has faced in the more than two decades of the Fourth Republic and the ways in which these were resolved - or left unresolved - in a bid to ensure the survival of democratic rule. This key book that examines both the quality of Nigeria's democratic state and its international relations, and issues such as human rights and the peace infrastructure, will be invaluable in increasing our understanding of contemporary democratic experiences in the neo-liberal era in Africa.

At the start of Nigeria’s Fourth Republic on 29 May 1999, there was great optimism as to the emergence of a new democratic future representing a significant break from the political undulations of the past. Two decades and four presidential epochs later, there is a prevalent question as to how well Nigeria has fared in governance and human rights post-1999. This book revisits the democratic ‘new dawn’ of the Fourth Republic discussing pertinent matters integral to Nigeria’s democratic future post-2019.

This book addresses various issues that have arisen in the practice of democracy in Nigeria since 1999, focusing on the Obasanjo years (1999-2007). Nigeria's return to democratic rule has been marked by developments such as the implementation of reforms to address perceived economic problems and corruption. The introduction of democracy in the country has also witnessed many challenges, including the difficult relationship between some political chief executives and their deputies; intriguing intergovernmental relations; the rise and resurgence of sub-national groups that pose serious threat to the hegemony of the state; precarious inter-ethnic/inter-sectional relations; attempts to perpetuate the tenure of chief executives through constitutional amendments; and developments in electoral politics and conflicts. The book provides incisive analysis into these issues.

Scientific Essay from the year 2021 in the subject Politics - International Politics - Region: Africa, , language: English, abstract: Political Parties are one of the fundamentals of Democratic governance, and it’s been adjudged the best form of government that allows equal opportunities for participation and representation all over the world. In 1999, Nigeria kick-started the journey of the Fourth Republic of democratic governance uninterrupted in the case of other civilized democracies of the world. Consequently, this work examined the conflicts in political parties and its challenges on governance in the country. The study adopted the descriptive approach of analysis, and made of the strategic conflict theory, the study observed that a strong and stable political party under the rule of law will guarantee good governance, accountability transparency and many more under the law. This study further observed that the political parties in Nigeria have moved some steps forward, a lot needs to be done in the areas of incessant defections/ party switching/ cross carpeting of party members from one party to another. The work also observed that the political parties need to separate party leadership from governmental leadership; the two cannot be under the leadership of one elected government official in the name of party leader. This is the result of constant conflict in the struggle to control the headship of a political party between elected officials who may have abandoned governance and other party big wigs that leads to incessant defections by those who lost out of the struggle. The study concludes that for democracy to be fully functional in Nigeria, the political parties must strengthen the party institutions and make elected leaders answerable to the party, by this act the party will remain supreme and its ideologies and manifestos must be carried out to the latter by elected representatives at all levels of governance.

In Political Party Financing and Electoral Politics in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic, Babayo Sule provides a detailed analysis of the process of political party financing in Nigeria from 1999 to the present. Sule links the party financing process with the electoral process and explores issues of democratic accountability, transparency, and corruption in Nigeria under democratic rule. Issues of excessive spending, violation of legal procedures for party financing and monitoring of parties’ activities, particularly, finances are explored. The book presents an analytical discourse on elections and processes that influence an election in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic in which party financing and money politics are instrumental. This book observes how political corruption gains root in the process of party financing and builds a theory linking party financing, electoral politics, and democratic accountability. This book provides practical policy implications for strengthening Nigeria’s electoral process and transparency in its democracy.