Nigerian electorate’s perception of their representatives: the case of Ovia South West Local Government Area of Edo State

Abstract

Democracy, as a concept, is based, fundamentally, on the need for the people to have a voice in governance. Its philosophy is basically that of electing persons in various capacities that would represent and protect the interests of the constituencies that elected them. Thus, the extent to which this can be achieved has been and still is a subject of great intellectual discourse in countries of the world, Nigeria being no exception. The paper examines the relationship between the electorate and their representatives in Nigeria, using Ovia South West Local Government as a case study. The study adopts the survey research design and utilized a structured questionnaire for data collection. Description statistics, such as frequency counts and percentages were used to summarize the data, while chi-square inferential statistics were used to test the relationship between variables. The study found that a non-cordial relationship exists between the electorate and their representatives and this has dire consequences for human and infrastructural development in the local government. Also, the majority of the sampled respondents opined that their elected representatives have failed to attract developmental projects to Ovia South West. Policy recommendations were made that elected representatives should hold regular town hall meetings with the electorate to update them on their  activities and the feedback received should be integrated into policies. Moreover, there should be constant civic education of the electorate to enable them participate and demand effective representation from their elected representatives.

Keywords: Elected representatives, Politics, Governance, Development