An Historical Appraisal of Nigerian Democratic Experience

Abstract

The objective of interrogating Nigerian political experience through history is intended to provide another perspective to the existing effort of scholars in other fields, government documentations and available texts. Effort will be made to locate democratic tenets in the diverse political structures that are indigenous to the people, with view of providing necessary back ground for the sequence of changes witnessed in the political history. This will be followed by the sequential changes witnessed in the administration of the polity. It will cover the periods of the colonial administration. That is, pre amalgamation, post amalgamation and Nigeria after independence.

The paper will examine each of the phases of the Nigeria administration, the attendant problems and the consequences. By this, effort will be made to locate the problems with the view of charting the way forward to make Nigerians benefit from its human and material endowments.