Internal conflicts and development challenges in Nigeria’s fourth republic

The aim of this paper is to examine internal conflicts and development challenges in Nigeria’s fourth republic. The advent of democracy in 1999 ushered in democratic governance in Nigeria after a long period of military rule. Democracy is thought to promote peace, rule of law, equality and justice, but Nigeria since 1999 has suffered various forms of internal conflicts and security threats ranging from communal conflicts, ethno-religious conflicts, resource control and indeginship conflicts to terrorism by religious extremist. All these conflicts have threatened the corporate existence of the country and the development of some parts of the country. The conflict is it ethnic or religious has become a daily occurrence with threats to life and properties as well as human security. The paper relied on data from secondary sources such as journals, books, reports from national sources and international organizations and it is basically descriptive. It is found that the democracy in the fourth republic has bread conflicts and little peace for development. It is also found that the democratic process in Nigeria breads comiption, intrigues and discord among its citizens. It is recommended that government should dialogue with all aggrieve zones. Justice and fairness is important for meaningful development and to address fiscal federalism.