Democracy and the challenges of consolidation in Nigeria's fourth republic.

Abstract

With the inauguration of the Fourth Republic on May 29, 1999, Nigeria began a democratic journey that has lasted fourteen uninterrupted years. High hopes and expectations greeted the return to multi party politics in 1998 and consequently civil rule in 1999. Despite a return to civil rule, there are still great doubts over the health status of democracy in Nigeria simply because it is yet to achieve the desired ends which prompted heightened expectations in 1999. This essay therefore critically examines the challenges of consolidating democracy in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic. The study argues that sustained poor political leadership has seriously threatened the survival of democracy in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic. The absence of good governance explained in terms of defective constitutional arrangement, corruption, economic mismanagement, undemocratic internal party politics, fraudulent electoral system, rule of man as against rule of law and lack of accountability and transparency are the major impediments to democratic consolidation in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic. The methodology is both descriptive and analytical. The study suggests that it is imperative to re-write the defective 1999 constitution to accommodate the desires of Nigerians and restructure the present lopsided federal arrangement to truly reflect the diversities and potentials in Nigeria in order to achieve a consolidated democracy.