Democratic Governance and the Challenges of Nation Building in Nigeria

Nigeria is not the only plural country in the world but an amalgam of rival ethnic groups pitched against each other in a contest for power and resources that have reflected in the political processes, sometimes threatening the corporate existence • and unity of the country. The inability of Leadership of the country to manage the internal crisis and failure to cure ethnic Chauvinism and Particularism in the Process of Nation Building has made her future bleak, blurred and precarious. The opening up of the political space in 1999 has led to the m-rush of political forces that are as heterogeneous as they are complex. A new political elite and a generation of politicians mainly nurtured during the military era, with little or no experience in democratic norms and values. Political parties that are fast tracked into existence within shorter period without solid grassroots participation or any clear vision of what to do after elections are so prevalent. Political entrepreneurs and “new breed" politicians seeking to expand patrimonial networks and protect vested interests from being eroded by democratic principles ambush the political process and high-jacked political power. Thus, the character of the state has become parasitic and distortionary without adequate mechanism of uniting the divergent interest. This in turn makes the quest for nation building and development stunted, halted and blotted. It is evidently clear that any claim of democratic project without adequate mechanisms to address the problem of nation Building will only be cosmetics, unrealistic, ephemeral and a journey in self- deceit.