Africa´s Largest Economy, World´s Poorest People: Paradox of the Nigerian State in a Democracy

Mike Omilusi ()
Additional contact information
Mike Omilusi: Ekiti State University

No 901894, Proceedings of International Academic Conferences from International Institute of Social and Economic Sciences

Abstract: Nigeria?s 1999 transition to civilian government culminated a long, turbulent period of military rule and failed democratic experiments. At the time of the political handover, many Nigerians expressed hopes for a ?democracy dividend? that would expand political liberties, improve the performance of government, encourage accountability among leaders, and revive the ailing economy. However, the anticipated benefits of democracy have been slow to emerge, and the new dispensation has failed to fulfill the expectations of many Nigerians. This essay examines the poverty situation in Nigeria in relation to what democracy, as a people-centered system of government, should offer the citizenry especially in a country regarded as rich in human and material resources. It traces the interface between democracy and the poor while analyzing the trends, patterns and causes of poverty in the country. The failure of the present democratic government to alleviate the alarming level of poverty is also brought into focus. It suggests ways of reversing the unpleasant trend.

Keywords: Poverty; Democracy; Economy; State; Government (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 19 pages
Date: 2014-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-afr and nep-pke
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Published in Proceedings of the Proceedings of the 14th International Academic Conference, Malta, Dec 2014, pages 342-360

Downloads: (external link)
https://iises.net/proceedings/14th-international-a ... id=9&iid=59&rid=1894 First version, 2014

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sek:iacpro:0901894

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Proceedings of International Academic Conferences from International Institute of Social and Economic Sciences
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Klara Cermakova ().