Political Culture and Democracy in Nigeria

Abstract

This paper understudies the importance of political culture and its effects on democracy in Nigeria. The study was achieved by examining the core issues surrounding democracy in Nigeria, such as ethno-religious gimmicks, patrimonialism, and godfatherism, which hindered the realization of core democratic values like liberty, justice, and equality. The qualitative research design is adopted for this study, leveraging secondary sources of data generated from academic Journal articles, periodicals and media accounts. Content and thematic analysis is adopted for effective analysis of this qualitative data. All these were considered based on the objective of the study, which seeks to evaluate the nature and effects of the Nigerian political culture on its democracy. It also aims at establishing the role of political culture in strengthening democracy in Nigeria. The findings of this study revealed that the political culture in Nigeria is characterized by interests, such as tribalism; ethnicity and religiosity, while the democratic process is marred by persistent challenges which include: unlawful use of security personnel by politicians; electoral officials often use their positions to serve personal or political interest. The finding also reveals that corruption; lack of accountability, injustice prevalent during electoral tribunals and poor coordination, together with fragmentation erodes public trust, discourages political participation and support for the implementation of reforms. Based on the results obtained this paper makes recommendations for policy makers, practitioners and the academia.