Democracy: A Comparative Study of Its Indices, Practice and Relevance to the Nigerian Federalism

Abstract

Democracy is complimented the world over as the best form of government because it engenders or fosters participation in politics by the generality of the citizenry. In Nigeria, it has been advocated that the return to democratic rule and the abandonment of military dictatorship who ruled by decrees and force of arms would signal the terminal end of the political abnormalities and inconsistencies the country has suffered since independence. The year 2022 makes it a consistent run of twenty three (23) years after the last military Head of State sat bestride this nation. It is the position of this paper that what we have in Nigeria does not reflect either democracy or true federalism, whether it is viewed from the indices on the ground, the making of the Nigerian Constitution, or in its practice. We therefore hold that in the absence of true federalism, there cannot be an ideal democracy since “You cannot put something on nothing and expect it to stay there. It will collapse” (Mc Foy). We will begin by defining democracy, constitution, constitutionalism and some associated concepts and examine the process of making the 1999 Nigerian Constitution. We will then try to navigate its path by asking, “Is the 1999 Nigerian Constitution a democratic Constitution? We will then proceed to identify the basic criteria for democracy and constitution making, and collapse this on the Nigerian type of Federalism. We will finally settle for an examination of Nigerian Federalism and how is has bearing on the Federal Government and its federating units, the State Governments. We will then proceed to identify the indices of and examine the relevance of democracy to a democratic polity, and how this applies to the practice of democracy in Nigerian. It is by so doing that we will articulate the true essence of democratic government in Nigerians and how it has been corrupted in Nigeria and conclude with a recommendation on the way forward towards establishing an egalitarian state and within such peculiar African values as “live and let live.”