Nigeria’s Democracy in the Fourth Republic and Challenges of Development: A Critical Appraisal

Abstract

 This paper is about critical appraisal of the challenges of development in Nigeria since the return to democracy in 1999. During the military rule, Nigerians from many walks of life (civil society organizations, the media, academia, and other professionals) fought in their respective capacities for return of democracy. All of them hinged their reasons around democracy being the best form of government that could accelerate the economic development of the country. However, has Nigeria developed commensurate with the time and resources expended since 1999 and as envisioned by the Nigerian citizens? It is on this premise that the paper
attempts to investigate the progress that Nigeria has made so far. Therefore, the paper takes a look at the ideals of liberal democracy to see if Nigeria is indeed toeing the line of ideal democracy or is practicing its own variant, an assessment is done on the issues in Nigeria’s democracy, and the question of development where attention is paid on whether Nigeria has made giant stride in addressing human capital development challenges in the country. The paper discovers that, Socio-economic development witnessed in the country since 1999 is below peoples’ expectations and therefore needs to be improved.