The place of integration in Nigerian political structure: A search for redirection

Abstract

Since the beginning of democratic regime in Nigeria in 1999 after years of military interruption, Nigerians have continued to evaluate the activities of those elected into power at every level of governance and see how they have been able to exemplify the virtue of integrity in the discharge of their electoral promises to the electorates. Existing studies have engaged this critical narrative from the perspectives of honesty, self-discipline, accountability and transparency with
little attention paid to the virtue of integrity which could be said to be the fulcrum upon which other virtues stand. Integrity means the soundness of moral character and consistence of an individual between his inner values and attitude and his outward words or actions. In order words, the more consistent an individual is, the higher the degree of integrity he possesses. In a simple language, integrity means doing the right thing when nobody is watching. It therefore means that, for any political office holder to effectively discharge his electioneering campaigns promises without fear or favour, the virtue of integrity must be his watchword. The method employed in collecting data for this study is the qualitative method which involves the use of observation, one-on-one interviews and focus group discussion. This paper examined the virtue of integrity among the nation’s political office holders and the interconnectivity between integrity and good governance and how such synergy could engender immense benefit for those at the corridors of powers and Nigerians at large.