ACCOUNTABILITY IN NIGERIA’S DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE: ISSUES AND CHALLENGES
1Abdulrahman Adamu & 2Salisu Ogbo Usman
1Department of Political Science, Federal University Gusau, Nigeria
2Department of Political Science, Kogi State University Anyigba, Nigeria
Email: abduladamu6@gmail.com, usmansalisuogbo09@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
This paper looks at the issues and challenges facing Nigeria’s democratic governance with focus on accountability which has been regarded as the alpha and omega in a democratic setting. This is because any government that lacks accountability lacks everything as accountability provides opportunity for checks and balances between and amongst the various democratic institutions. This paper argues that there is absence of accountability in almost all the institutions of democracy in Nigeria which had led to the high rate of corruption witnessed in the country in recent time. The paper concludes that until Nigerian public officials see accountability to the citizens as an important factor in the governance of the nation, Nigeria will continue to remain underdeveloped economically, politically and will find it difficult to achieve the goal of providing dividends of democracy to the people. Theoretically, the approach taken in this research is to recognize the political institutions as organs through which political activities are carried out on behalf of the people. The approach also focused on how the relationship between citizens and these institutions provide a principal-agent related result. Methodologically, this paper adopts qualitative method through the use of secondary source of data for its analysis.
Keywords: Challenges, Democracy, Institutions, Governance, Accountability
