THE CHALLENGES OF DEMOCRATIC CONSOLIDATION IN AFRICA: NIGERIA’S FOURTH REPUBLIC EXPERIENCE

Abstract

Nigeria pride herself as one of the giants in the continents of Africa owing to its population, landscape and natural resources endowment. Nigeria, like most Africa countries gained her independence from the Britain in the late 1950s during the cold war that reshaped global politics and enthroned democracy as the most acceptable form of government in the world. Nigeria’s journey into nationhood has been characterized by several events ranging from military intervention to civil war, ethno-religious conflicts, corruption, political instability, insecurity and economic crisis among others. Nigeria’s return to democratic rule in 1999 after about three decades of military rule raised the hope of its citizens that constitutionalism, rule of law and credible democratic process will be restored; almost two decades after, six successful democratic transitions and general elections, the country is still struggling to consolidate its democratic process. Elections have been hailed as the hallmark of democracy, but the challenge of conducting free and credible elections that will be acceptable by all parties has being a challenge in Nigeria’s fourth republic. The story is not different in most African countries, for example, Kenya’s Presidential elections among others.This paper takes an historical analysis into Nigeria’s post-independence political experience, it empirically reviewed it trends since her return to democracy in 1999, identified the challenges of democratic consolidation in the country and finally, proffer solutions that will strengthen and enthrone democracy in the country and the continent at large. The paper is qualitative in nature; it relied on the author’s compilations and secondary sources of data. Data collected were analyzed using content analysis method.