Political Clientelism and the Challenges of Good Governance in Nigeria

Abstract

The Nigeria democratic system has been characterized with dominance of patron-client relationship thereby posing disequilibrium in accessing public resources made for all citizens. This research on political clientelism and the challenges of good governance in Nigeria is written to examine how political clientelism affects good governance in Nigeria. The study is anchored on the theory of servant-leadership theory. The study adopts a descriptive research survey design. Pilot study was conducted using a test retest method and tested using Cronbach alpha to establish the reliability of the instrument. Validity of the instrument was also tested. Additionally, population of the study is 1,646,350 which are the total registered voters in Kogi State, Nigeria during the 2019 governorship election. However, considering the large size of the population the study adopts Taro Yamani sample size statistical formula to reach respondents numbering 400 using a structured questionnaire but only 324 respondents completed and returned their questionnaire given 81% retrieval rate. The statistical tools used comprised descriptive and inferential statistics and hypotheses tested using linear regression analysis. Finding revealed that there is a significant positive relationship between political clientelism and good governance (r = .864, p-value <0.05). The study revealed that good governance has been threatened in Nigeria due to the reality of political clientelism. Based on this, the study recommends that the nations democratic institution strengthened with the view to promoting a fair, just and an egalitarian society.

Keywords: Political, clientelism, Governance, Democracy