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Civil Society And Democratic Consolidation In Nigeria From 1999-2017
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Consolidating democracy in Nigeria through the conduct of credible
elections has remained an albatross. The history of Nigeria’s democratic
experiments demonstrates that elections and electoral politics have
generated so much animosity which has, in some cases, threatened the
corporate existence of the country and in other cases instigated
military incursion into political governance.
Appraising the roles of
Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in the consolidation of democracy in
Nigeria has been a mixed bag of the good, bad and ugly. The skewed
trajectory of democracy in the Sub-Saharan of Africa led to the creation
of terms like ‘delegative’ (O’Donell, 1996); ‘illiberal’ (Zakaria,
1997); ‘hybrid’ (Diamond, 2002) and ‘incipient’ (Raker, 2007)
democracies. Despite the premium placed on civil society organisations
(CSOs) as institutions for strengthening democracy in Nigeria, democracy
has not fared well in the country. Put it differently, democracy in
Nigeria has refused to take root downwards and bear fruit upwards. Civil
society organisations (CSOs) in recent times have criticized the
democratization process that Nigeria has experienced, describing it as
essentially an exercise in re-stabilization of democratic cartels
through improved circulation of elites, to lend legitimacy to economic
deregulation. In the same vein, Shin (2009:34) posited that:
Democratic
transition in Nigeria has not automatically produced democratic
institutions in place of the replaced authoritarian ones. Nor have the
newly created democratic institutions performed any more efficiently
than the ones they replaced.
Also, leading civil societies groups
like Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Oodua Peoples’ Congress (OPC) among
others have in separate times posited that the consolidation of
democracy in Nigeria is not yet eureka because issues like unaccountable
strong–man leadership, corruption, ethnicity, religious crisis, lack of
rule of law and other patrimonial factors are giving democracy a fight
for its life. Therefore, the current state of democracy in Nigeria since
1999 to 2017 leaves much to be desired.
It is against this premise
that this study seeks to examine the role of civil society and
democratic consolidation in Nigeriafrom 1999-2017.
1.3 Objectives of the Study
The
general objective of this study is to examine the role of civil society
and democratic consolidation in Nigeriafrom 1999-2017. The specific
objectives are:
§ To assess the role of civil society organizations in enhancing political development in Nigeria.
§ To investigate the challenges affecting civil society organizations in Nigeria.
§ To provide plausible recommendations on how to strengthen the civil society for democratic consolidation in Nigeria.
1.4 Research Questions
This study will be conducted with the following research questions:
i. Does the role of civil society organizations enhance political development in Nigeria?
ii. What are the challenges affecting civil society organizations in Nigeria?
iii. What is the effect of civil society on democratic consolidation in Nigeriafrom 1999-2017?
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