Global Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences

Abstract

Democratic Governance and the Poverty Question in Nigeria

Oni and Kayode Julius

It is indeed hard denying the fact that African states, including Nigeria are deeply fraught with the challenge of democratic governance on the one hand, and economic backwardness which manifests in low real incomes, poor health prospects, infrastructure breakdown, and widespread poverty on the other. Democratic governance in Nigeria particularly in terms of style is not too different from military authoritarianism. The desire for power is ferocious and total and particularly lacking in genuine and purposeful leadership that can impact meaningfully on the lives of the citizens. The result is the unbridle accumulation of capital by the ruling elites, and the consequent grinding poverty in the land. The objective of the study is to interrogate how to entrench quality governance as a means of reducing poverty. The work relies heavily on secondary source of information gathering.