Criticism as a Forerunner of Good Governance: A Philosophical Reflection

Criticism is one form of participation in governance that is mostly frowned at and often routinely ignored by political leaders. This mentality displays it insignificant as it seems not to enhance good governance. The case in point is the Nigerian government. However, the position of this paper is that the touchstone of good governance for any society starts from allowing and listening to criticisms, and in turn learning from them. It is of the view that praises alone are not sufficient to actualize good governance; that criticism is a valuable source of information for decision making; and that dictatorship of governance cannot testify good governance because it does not allow criticisms from the governed. This work therefore, discusses how criticism may be valid in boosting good governance in our society.