IS DEMOCRACY WORKING IN NIGERIA? BY MOHAMMED BELLO MOHAMMED
IS DEMOCRACY WORKING IN NIGERIA? ‘Africa is the only continent that has moved backwards in the last 30 years’ - Tony Blair, March 2005. I have sat down several times to ask myself this question but always end up with the same answer. Before I go to that, let me talk of the type of Democracy or government we have been operating since 1999 in Nigeria, the longest period we have had under a democratic setting as it is called. It’s sad to note here that despite the fact that Nigeria generated more than enough revenue to not only drastically reduce poverty and unemployment, but could have been the Dubai of Africa, raking in revenue from tourism as well as a destination for investors. these have been made untenable because of the bad leadership we have had from the Federal to Local Government Areas who loot rather than serve the people they asked to serve. On electricity alone, the Nigerian government claimed to have spent over $30billion which to me can pr...