Assessment of the Political Economy of Nigeria: Democratic Sustainability and Challenges for Development

Mamuda Abubakar; PhD; Alhaji Ahmadu Ibrahim; PhD; Hussaini Ibn Mohammed; PhD; Corresponding Author

doi:10.56201/ijssmr.vol.12no7.2026.pg478.491

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Assessment of the Political Economy of Nigeria: Democratic Sustainability and Challenges for Development

Mamuda Abubakar, PhD, Alhaji Ahmadu Ibrahim, PhD, Hussaini Ibn Mohammed, PhD, Corresponding Author

Abstract

Nigeria's political economy has long been shaped by dependence on oil rents, the weak institutionalisation of political parties, endemic corruption, and recurrent insecurity, all of which combine to constrain the country's democratic sustainability and developmental prospects. This paper undertakes a conceptual and secondary-data assessment of Nigeria's political economy since the return to civilian rule in 1999, examining how rentier dynamics and prebendal politics interact with formal democratic institutions to produce a persistently fragile democratic order. Drawing on governance indices (Transparency International, 2025; The Economist Intelligence Unit, 2025), survey evidence (Afrobarometer, 2024), and recent scholarship on Nigerian federalism, security, and party politics, the study finds that oil dependency continues to dilute democratic accountability, that anti-corruption reforms have yielded only marginal gains, and that overlapping insurgencies, banditry, and secessionist agitation are eroding state legitimacy across large parts of the country. The 2023 removal of the fuel subsidy and the unification of the exchange rate, while addressing long-standing macroeconomic distortions, coincided with a sharp rise in poverty, illustrating the tension between economic reform and democratic legitimacy. The paper concludes that democratic sustainability in Nigeria depends on deeper institutional reform of political parties, fiscal federalism, and the security architecture, rather than on the mere holding # of elections, and it closes with policy recommendations aimed at strengthening accountability, diversifying the fiscal base, and rebuilding public trust.

Keywords

Political EconomyDemocratic SustainabilityNigeriaRentier StateFederalismGovernance

References

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Assessment of the Political Economy of Nigeria: Democratic Sustainability and Challenges for Development

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