Causes and Effects of High Cost of Democratic Governance in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic

Abstract

Nigeria considering its forestry, aquatic and other natural resources in large deposits is a blessed country among other nations of the world. Since the discovery of crude oil in commercial quantity in the 1950s, the country has earned over $400 billion. The problem of Nigeria is how to manage her financial resources to improve the lot of the citizens through prudent and efficient utilization of available funds by a visionary leadership. Unfortunately this has not happen. Rather, those who are privileged to occupy positions use the same to loot public funds for their own benefit. Their corrupt practices have led to an increase in the cost of governance in the country. This study is set out to examine the various causes and effects of the high cost of democratic governance in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic 1999-2013. The study adopts secondary sources of data for the analysis of the findings. Findings of the study indicates that salaries and allowances of public sector workers, the maintenance of large size of executive cabinet, money spent on elections and election litigations, and corruption have been identified as some of the factors responsible for the cost of democratic governance in Nigeria. The cost on governance on the other hand has caused negative political and socio-economic effects on the country’s political economy.

Keywords: Democracy, Governance, Cost, Economy, Corruption, Election and Development.