Nigeria since its return to civilian rule in 1999 was accompanied by the sweet aroma of a system called “Democracy”. This historic system had found its way back into the Nigerian polity after numerous interruptions by the “men in khaki” and horrendous coup d’états.
Democracy was ushered back on May 29th, 1999 by the then military Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, a man who would go down forever in history as the father of the fourth republic, as he did not only willingly transit power to a democratically elected President, Olusegun Obasanjo but also provided a constitution which continues to serve as a guide and embodiment of the virtues and system of governance in the Nigerian state till date.
Democracy in a lay man terms could be referred to as “citizens’ freedom” but a broader perspective to its main composition would inform the premise that for democracy to thrive, there must be five basic features which are; periodic free and fair elections, a vibrant opposition, rule of law/supremacy of the constitution, an independent judiciary and respect for human rights. All these basically help to ensure that citizens are the game makers and changers when it comes to deciding who rules or doesn’t rule them.
This is perhaps why democracy is one of the most sought out forms of government.
Nigeria in this democratic process can still be described as nascent when compared to the “Big Boys” of the advanced first world countries, based on their achievements of the key features listed above.
Having gone through 19years of uninterrupted democratic civilian rule, we seem to be making progress with periodic elections that have began to gradually earn the “free and fair” status, the emergence of a vibrant opposition party who have for the first time dethroned the ruling party at the helm of affairs hence upgrading Nigeria from a one-party dominance state to a multi-party democracy. Some progress has also been made in the rule of law, human rights and partial dependence of the Judiciary, and we may very well be on our way to consolidating democratic ethos in our polity.
In conclusion, though we have had our hitches in the past, and some exist in our present and perhaps future, we must ensure that we make our democracy work through citizen participation in governance, policy making and implementation processes which would be the only pre-requisite for having good governance, transparency, innovation and accountability