Nigeria: Between Development and Modernization – A Rhetorical Discussion

Abstract

Political development is complex, difficult to evaluate, beyond objective factors and deliberately manipulable. Thus, it is not a situation of one society simply imitating another. The Third World countries can therefore not simply copy the West in order to develop. Modernization is change for progress. This study is largely theoretical, though with some sizeable doses of empiricism. This paper highlights the various forms and patterns political modernization has taken in Nigeria. In particular, democratization processes in Nigeria have usually involved constitution-making by some selected individuals with dictated and shallow or restricted terms of reference, the setting up of political parties which are selectively given official recognition and granted ridiculous modes of operation, setting up of an electoral body composed of government appointees and conducting of poorly organized, funded and secured elections.

Key words: Political development, Political modernization, Political change, Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP), National Economic Empowerment Strategy (NEEDS), Seven-Point Agenda, Transformation Agenda, Political Transition/democratization, Federal polity, Nigeria.