Democracy and National Development in Nigeria: Challenges and Way Forward
Abstract
Democracy is a form of government that creates an avenue for massive participation in government, while national development is said to have been achieved when the government offers meaningful services to its citizens in terms of quality education, economic well-being, political, social, as well as advancement of nation. This paper therefore examined democracy and national development in Nigeria. First of all, the paper gave a background of the topic, and then went on to define the main concepts; democracy and national development. Also, the paper discussed the nexus between democracy and national development, need for innovation in education, state of education innovation in Nigeria, challenges of democracy for national development in Nigeria, and way forward. Based on the challenges highlighted the paper concluded that the reality in Nigeria democracy using different indicators revealed that, democracy have not improve development, in spite of the fact that virtually all notions and models of development have been experimented. Hence, it was suggested among others that democratic leaders in Nigeria should include those who possess substantive political will and creative mind. Also, godfatherism, vote buying, ethno-religious crisis, and corruption in political process must be extricated.
