International Journal of Innovations in Research (ISSN: 3048-9369, Online)
Published 2025 | Version v1
Journal article Open

Democracy: A Challenge to Sustainable Development in Nigeria, Focusing From 1999 – 2024

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  • 1. World Innovators University, Nigeria

Description

Democracy and development are concepts that have generated several discussions and arguments among scholars, politicians and academicians. Sustainable Development has been a matter of serious concern on the best way and means it can be achieved by international organizations, regional organizations, Non Government Organization, political actors, gladiators, policy makers and the academia in both developed and developing nations of the world. There are series of studies and postulations on how sustainable development can be achieved it seems this is illusive mostly in African nations as the gap between developed and developing nations gets widen on daily bases despite the rich resources that are found in African nations mostly Nigeria. There is high level of poverty in Nigeria despite all human and natural resources, internally and externally generated revenue yet she is tagged 47 with GDP per capital of 6.148,Gobal finance (2024) Poverty Index. The survey gave a conceptual clarification of democracy and sustainable development. Structuralist functionalist theory was used as the theoretical framework, data collected through secondary sources. The study revealed that democracy as practice in Nigeria is responsible for all the woes of underdevelopment and high level of pathetic poverty in Nigeria. It unveils that circumvention of democratic principles and values marked the underdevelopment of the nations and planting of pandemic sustainable underdevelopment. Democracy midwife governance system and in a monolithic economy like Nigeria, where the political structure determines other substructures which give birth to poor governance, corruption, unemployment, insecurity among others. In conclusion, the paper recommended for stong institutional framework that will drive democratic dividends to the people, accountability, restructuring, attitudinal change, and review of the constitution, electoral reforms, and independent of the judiciary to mention but few.

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References

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