The Role of Government in the Development of Party Politics
Chapter One
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
Clearly from the content of this research work the aim and objective of the study among others is to reveal the impact of government formation on Nigeria’s democracy.
However, the objective that the project is designed to achieve.
- To ascertain property the impact of party formation on Nigeria democracy Especially the study intends to established the effects of the part system formation on Nigeria democracy.
- The study also help to bring out the problem and system of political party formation in Nigeria
- To determine how part activities will promote national development and national unity.
- To know the influence of parties on the quality of leaders in Nigeria democracy
- Lastly proffer solution by way of recommendation on how part system formation can improve democracy in Nigeria.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
Conceptual Framework
This paper examines the activities of political parties in Nigeria’s fourth republic with the focus of unfolding the nexus between political parties and political representation in the Nigerian State. It argues that the existence of political parties has not meant political representation in Nigeria. The paper identifies and discusses the factors that have affected representation in Nigeria. Before going into the discussion however, a clarification of the key concepts of Democracy, Elections, Political Parties and representation was made in the next section.
Democracy
Democracy is essentially a system of government in which the people control decision making. It is a system of government that ensures that power actually belongs to the people (Omotola, 2006). According to Schumpeter democracy entails “institutional arrangement for arriving at political decisions, which realizes the common good by making the people decide issues through the election of individuals, who are to assembly in order to carry out its will” (in Omotola, 2006:27). It is an institutional arrangement for arriving at political decisions in which individuals acquire the power to decide by means of a competitive struggle for the peoples vote (Omotola, 2006:27). Democracy therefore from the perspective of this paper is viewed as a governmental process which encompasses the competitiveness for power in order to control political decisions in an atmosphere where civil liberties are exercised.
Political Parties
Political parties may be defined by their common aim. They seek political power either singly or in cooperation with other political parties. In this wise, Schumpeter has opined; the first and foremost aim of each political party is to prevail over the others in order to get into power or to stay in it” (Schumpeter 1961: 279). The distinguishing factor from other groups in a political system is this goal of attaining and/or maintaining political power. Adigun Agbaje has identified three characteristics that distinguish political parties from other seemingly similarly constituted organizations. These are; – It is a label in the minds of its members and the wider public especially the electorate. – It is an organization that recruits and campaigns for candidates seeking election and selection into public political office. – It is a set of leaders who try to organize and control the legislative and executive branches of government (Agbaje, 1999:195). The conception of this paper therefore is that political parties are the political structures and organizations through which people seek political offices especially in a democratic setting.
Election/Representation
Election as we have hinted is a major aspect of democracy. Elections, broadly conceived, refer to the process of elite selection by the mass of the population in any given political system. Although controversy rages among political thinkers about the nature of representation, there is one point of universal agreement; the representation process is intrinsically linked to elections and voting. Political representation is implicit in the very idea of constitutional government and elections are essential to the functioning of a truly representative government. Representatives, acting on behalf of the electorate make the legislative and executive decisions that voter in the aggregate could not possibly make for themselves, considering the sheer numbers of people involved (Anifowose, 2003).The link between elections and democracy should be clear from the above “for thus far, no superior method has been evolved for selecting the leadership of a democratically ruled society”. (Ojo, 2007:6). As important as elections are in a democracy, it is important to note that they do not always lead to representation. This is to the extent that the incidence of fraud may characterize certain elections such that even when the people come out to vote, their votes do not count. Election rigging and other fraudulent electoral practices frustrate the democratic aspirations of citizens who have voted or would have voted into office someone else other than the eventual winner.
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CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research Design
This study adopted survey research design which is descriptive in approach. It is systematic collection of data in standardized form from an identifiable population or representative.
Source of Data
The research utilized two types of data collection which are primary and secondary source of data collection.
- Primary source
- Secondary source
Location of the Study
The research took place at some selected local government areas in Enugu sate Nigeria.
Population of the study
The population of this study is made up of 771,317 people in the five local government area, which are among the local government that make up Enugu state, Nigeria.
Sample Size Determination
According to Odo (1992) sampling is a process of selecting a proportion considered adequate to represent the entire existing characteristic with a target population for the purpose of generalizing the findings. The sample size of this study was determined from the populations which are the residents and local government staff.
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF DATA
Presentation of Data
This chapter provided for the presentation and analysis of our research questions and text of our hypotheses. Simple percentage and frequencies were used in the analysis of our research question while Chi-square was used for hypotheses.
Research Question 1: What are the effects government on Political parties
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Summary of findings
The study finds out that it is no longer news that most Nigerian political parties today are ideologically barren if one looks at it from the angle of their ideologically-unguided party manifesto and the frequent defection of members across party lines. Not helping matters is the continuation of the ideology neoliberalism for the Nigerian State which was introduced to the country through the 1986 Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) by the neo-liberal financial institutions the IMF and World Bank.
Conclusion
Political parties in Nigeria over the years and especially since 1999 have failed to perform one of their key functions namely representation. Political parties have flourished literally speaking since 1999 but this has not been translated to effective representation. A number of reasons have been responsible for the increasing number of political parties and the paradoxical lack of representation. Suffice to say as this paper has shown that the key reason for lack of political representation is electoral fraud. The extent of fraud that has trailed elections in Nigeria since 1999 has led to the crisis of representation.
For the existence of political parties to translate to representation, the electoral process as it is at present needs to be overhauled. First, the electoral management body really needs to be made independent. Secondly, electoral fraudsters need to be punished through effective institutionalization and implementation of enabling laws. Until these issues are adequately tackled, the quest for political representation will remain a mirage.
Recommendations
In the light of the findings in this research paper, the following are strongly recommended: Political system already formed in Nigeria but obviously lack an ideology should take out time to adopt one, be it home-grown or a foreign ideology, while those with a nebulous ideology should clearly state their ideology.
Political system should desist from cooking-up programmes only to get the masses to vote for the candidates they field to be elected to the different public offices at the federal, state and, local level. Rather than luring the electorates with what they want to hear, political parties should come up with a comprehensive, feasible and lucid manifesto.
The number of registered political parties in the country should be downsized from 91 to a reasonable number.
The continuous defection of party members should be discouraged by political parties. This is possible if they henceforth have in place stringent rules and regulations on the admission of members without fear or favour.
The ideology, neoliberalism, should be replaced with the ruling party‟s ideology, which must have been well considered as suitable for piloting a developing country like Nigeria to greater height.
References
- Adedibu, L.(2009),I dominate the Politics of Oyo, ’Tell Magazine,September17
- Agbaje, A. (1998), Parties of the Electoral Process in a Democracy in J.A Ayoade, (ed.) Democracy:
- Its Meaning and Value, Ibadan: Vantage Publishers.
- Agbaje, A. (1999) “Political Parties and Pressure Groups”, in R. Anifowose, and F.Enemuo, (eds.) Elements of Politics, Lagos: Malthouse Press Ltd,191-209.
- Aina, A.D. (2002), Party Politics in Nigeria under Obasanjo Administration, Monograph Series No. 1, Department of Political Science and Sociology, Babcock University,Nigeria
- Akintunde, K. (2010) Those in the 2011 Presidential Race, Newswatch, May 31, 12 – 19. Anas, A.A. (2010) Interview: It‟s Okay For Jonathan to Run, The News, June 14, 21.
- Anifowose, R. (2003) Theoretical perspectives on Elections in R. Anifowose, and T. Electoral Fraud, Legitimacy crisis and the Government of National Unity (GNU) Option Babawale (eds.) 2003 General Elections and Democratic Consolidation in Nigeria, Lagos: Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, 20 – 45
