A critical analysis of the Concept of governance and practices in Nigeria

1.0. Understanding good governance::

According to the World Bank, governance consists of the traditions and the institutions which is used to exercise authority by the government. Governance practices differ from one country to another and are considered a big indicator of development. Governance includes the process using which the government are selected and replaced. It is also the capability of the government to formulate and effectively implement policies. The citizens look up with respect at the governance institutions which facilitate economic and social interactions in the country. According to the World Bank, the six dimensions of governance are voice and accountability, political stability, effective governance, regulatory quality, rule of law and control of corruption (The World Bank, 2013) . According to the World Governance Indicators effective governance indicators seek to measure the quality of public services, civil services, absence of bureaucracy, and quality in policy implementation and commitment of the government in implementing the policies. The political leadership in the country is expected to be flexible, innovative and learning constantly from its mistakes and from examples of governance practices of other nations. The quality of infrastructure, easy online accessibility of government services, and provision of essentials like good education system,public health care, electricity supply and telecommunications are characteristics of efficient governance (Leftwich, 1994) . The prevalence of red tape signifies the degree to which bureaucracy meddles with the discharge of essential public services and hinders business activities. The good governance practices should aim at curbing these limitations. The government should have strategic priorities and government should implement the reforms without any hindrance. The sustainable governance practices must ensure that the government revenues are generated by low taxes, tariffs, export rebates, broad tax base, low administrative and compliance costs and effective tax administration system (Millenium Challenge Corporation, 2014) .

Governance in Nigeria:

The challenges of democracy in developing countries of Africa like Nigeria and Ghana are a result of poor governance systems. African countries have to embrace and accept the Western model of democracy and governance the system in Nigeria cannot be improved and will continue to be bleak. Majority of the African countries like Nigeria have still been maintaining the traditional pre colonial form of democracy and governance and the current practice of governance is an inheritance of the traditional practices. The fifty decades of post colonial governance was fraught with political and economic challenges and economic indicators of development stand testimonial to this fact. The political challenges are very evident in the system of governance in Nigeria (Ogundiya, 2010) . The leaders of the country and administrators do not have good faith in the success of the mechanism. The leaders who rose to power by adhering to the norms of democracy have corrupted the governance mechanism due to their desire to earn money and gain power. Most of these political leaders want to stay in active politics and administration so that they can make money and also retain power. Thus the new blood and power of youth is denied an opportunity to enter into the political governance system. The ruling party denounces the opposition party in the country by highlighting the big flaws in their governance and sometimes this goes beyond acceptable limits thus creating political tensions in the state. The presence of polarised opposition political parties creates a polarised society and subsequently a polarised nation. Another challenge faced by the country is the refusal of the leaders to adhere to good governance practices. The leaders in power deny any significant role to the opposition which makes it difficult for the latter to question the former. The political parties in power bribe the press, radio and media in order to attack their opponents and from dissuading the public to be informed of the corrupt practices that are taking place in their governance (Amuwo, 2005) .
Governance in weak countries is an uphill task and this is evident in the case of Nigeria as well. The institutional conditions that persist in weak states make effective governance difficult to achieve. Weak states are unable to provide political goods like peace, stability, law and order and development. The weak states, who are mainly ex-colonies, do not exhibit developmental politics unlike states that have achieved freedom through military warfare. Since these nations received their sovereignty easily they always felt that there was no need to undertake any hardship to strengthen their nation (Kjaer, 2004) . This is why the government is unable to launch pilot projects for development and these states continue to remain impoverished through weak governance. The existence of poor infrastructure has been a problem in Nigeria although roads, railways, dams, hydroelectric projects and waterworks continue to remain priorities for the nation. The corruption in execution of these projects and administrators swindling the budget allocated for these infrastructural projects is a harsh reality. Where the administrative mechanism in the country itself is corrupt, it is extremely difficult to bring in good governance mechanisms. The country needs leaders who could set an example for hard work which will eventually pay off, rather than being examples of corruption (GhanaWeb, 2008) . Economic and social challenges faced by Nigeria explain why the democratic governance system is failing. As the top leadership in government is still not held accountable for the fraud, scam and corruption, a precedence for integrity is difficult to establish and this is why the country is still not in the pathway to development. The country needs institutions like strong opposition, auditing bodies for the government, a strong parliament and the rise of the public who could question the government and their practices. As long as the public does not question the act of the government and merely engages in the electoral process, the leadership will continue to remain corrupt and the development of Nigeria will remain a mere dream (Olu-Adeyemi, 2012) .
The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1999) has enforced the elements of good governance under the Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy. The Section 14(1) of the constitution says that the Republic of Nigeria will be a nation adhering to principles of democracy and social justice. The section also states that the welfare of the nation will be the primary responsibility of the government and that the participation of the people in the democracy would be a part of the constitution. The constitution seeks to promote national integration, equity, justice, freedom, welfare and happiness of every citizen. These are the essentials of good governance which have to implement effectively in the administration of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and its states (Okeke, 2010) .
Existence of weak democratic institutions is a drawback to sustainable governance practices. The weak democratic institutions like the Executive, Judiciary, electoral agencies and the legislature, do not have authority of their own and are subject to practice of dictatorship of the party in power. All these bodies are not independent of the party in power and therefore the party in power tries to change many things in its favour while the governance mechanism and the faith of the public in these institutions is rendered weak. Even the police have been incompetent in maintaining law and order in the society and the occurrences of communal, regional and ethnic violence have become common. The institutionalised corruption that is evident in these systems is a threat to efficiency of democratic governance in Nigeria (Ajayl, 2007) . According to the Transparency International Index (TI) in its Corruption Perception Index report projected the nation as the 2 nd most corrupt country in the world among the 133 countries surveyed. The index points that all public institutions in the country are corrupt and this has attracted related crimes as well. According to the report, bribery, patronage and every form of corruption is in built in the system and the society that even the anti-corruption laws have failed to put an end to it. Corruption has become an integral part of the society and threatens the democratic governance in the country.
Poverty is another factor that is an impediment to the governance mechanism in the country. The underdevelopment, despite the abundant presence of natural resources, is the result of poverty. Even as the economy continues to grow the number of people living in poverty has also continued to grow proportionately, which indicates that poverty is impeding the sustainable development and proper execution of government policies. According to the NBS Harmonised Living survey 2010, it is seen that the proportion of the extremely poor population is about 38 percent of the total. This has to a large extent, undermined the proper functioning of the governance mechanism and the democratic process of Nigeria. The security challenges faced at the borders of Nigeria have largely been attributed to the presence of abject poverty in the country. Poverty also ultimately leads to corruption and malpractices that threaten the law and order situation in the society.