DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
FACULTY OF MANAGEMENT SCIENCES
TITLE PAGE
DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE AND POVERTY
ALLEVIATION PROGRAMME: A CASE STUDY OF OLUSEGUN OBASANJO ADMINISTRATION
2003-2007
A PROJECT SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT FOR THE AWARD OF BACHELOR DEGREE (B. Sc) IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
APPROVAL PAGE
This
research work has been approved for the department of Public Administration.
DEDICATION
I dedicated to my parents for their
support and encouragement.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
In my journey to make this research
work a reality, I am indebted to so many people.
I thank my Supervisor who in spite
of her numerous engagements spent her time to read through this work and to
guide me until the work become a reality. I equally thank her for the motherly
role she played particularly assisting and advising me to ensure that this work
was completed.
ABSTRACT
The
topic of this study is democratic governance and poverty alleviation programme.
A case study of Olusegun Obasanjo administration 2003-2007. However, they are
problems emanating from this programme which is poor living conditions of the
people. The methodology used in the work was structured questionnaire and oral
interview to gather the required information. The information derived was
sources of data collection, population of study and determination of sample
size which was used to analyze the democratic governance and poverty
alleviation programme in Nigeria. The researcher finds, that for democracy to
be in Nigeria, the government should foster macroeconomic sector and ensure
poverty alleviation. At the end of the work, the researcher made some recommendations
which includes basic infrastructural both at urban and rural areas, full
employment opportunity, development of human capital among others.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title
Page
Approval Page
Dedication
Acknowledgement
Abstract
Table of Contents
CHAPTER
ONE: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
1.2 Statement of the Problem
1.3 Objective of the Study
1.4 Significance of the Study
1.5 Scope and Limitations of the
Study
1.6 Research Hypothesis
1.7 Theoretical Framework
1.8 Operationalization of key
Concepts
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 The Concept of Democracy
2.2 Forms of Democracy
2.3 Principles of Democratic
Governance
2.4 Democratic Governance and
Poverty
2.5 Poverty Alleviation Programme
(PAP)
2.6 How has Democratic Governance
Affected Poverty Alleviation?
2.7 Gap in Knowledge
References
CHAPTER THREE
3.1 Research Methodology
3.2 Area of Study
3.3 Sources of Data Collection
3.4 Primary Source of Data
3.5 Secondary Source of Data
3.6 Population Size
3.7 Determination of Sample Size
CHAPTER
FOUR: DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS
4.1 Data Presentation and Analysis
4.2 Test of Hypothesis
4.3 Discussions of the Findings
CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND
RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1 Summary of Findings
5.2 Conclusion
5.3 Recommendations
Bibliography
Appendix
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Nigeria
is at a crossroad. They have the opportunity now more than any other time in
it’s history. Nigeria has the chance to build a society than can guarantee
justice, human dignity and civil liberties to all Nigerians.
Nigeria is committed to nation
building and democratic consolidation. The burning issue is: will Nigeria’s
people and leadership grasp this opportunity to move the country forward, on
the path of justice, peace and economic development or will Nigeria repeat its
pattern of a short break of civilian government between long stretches of
military rule?.
On 29 May 2003, Nigerians continues
to face economic, political and social uncertainties. Flash points of ethnic,
communal, religious and resources conflicts persists. The economic environment
is still unstable. The Niger Delta crisis has yet to be resolved and
environmental degradation in oil producing regions remains a problems.
Exacerbating this is the public perception that government has been insensitive
and show in addressing fundamental issues affecting Nigerians resource
distribution, infrastructure development and security. An air of anxiety and
uncertainty continues to pervade Nigeria society.
It is generally agreed that since then
progress has been in the areas of personal freedom. The transition has made
possible a new, more open society in which people no longer live in fear of the
military. Nigerians remains loyal to the idea of corporate entity called
Nigeria, despite the challenges, Nigeria democracy in their country.
There has been a stupendous rise of
poverty in the country. The copious gulf between the obscene rich and
pathetically poor citizens widens too, almost to a unimaginable and alarming
rate and cannot be overemphasized. There was a joy and prodigious smiles on the
faces of the poor and hungry masses as Olusegun Obasanjo enunciated his
political promises to be dully realized in 2005, and above. Among them is
Poverty Alleviation Programme, Security of lives and property, provision of
amenities, creation of job opportunities to the ever teeming Nigeria youth.
The situation of poverty stricken
described above had continued to grow from bad to worse. But the president came
up on 29th day of May 2003, we learnt over the air and his address
presentation that he was going to lead Nigeria into a promise land.
The president on 15th February
2004, declared, “Nigeria our resources; human and material, we shall strive to
eradicate poverty from our country.
That was why Obansanjo came up with
the poverty alleviation scheme: passed it into law with the prime as he said of
creating jobs, as it were for the teaming Nigeria populace. This, for him is a
way of effecting out poverty. He further added “I am mindful of the level of
unemployment amongst the youth, our professional at all levels. I will
endeavour to create employment opportunities.
Nigeria is among the fell sub-Saharan
African countries in which the government has mapped out poverty alleviation
programmes and strategies as an important economic policy objectives. The
emergence of a democratically elected government in Nigeria promise to put
yearnings of the nation’s poor masse for poverty alleviation. We must, however,
accept the fact that although the government seems to have the political will
and has shown a commitment towards poverty alleviation, the progress has
slow.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
For almost a decade, poverty and
poverty related issues have been the fore front of socio-economic discourse
world-wide. In Africa in general and in Nigeria in particular, poverty has
become deep-rooted and its eradication, but at least its alleviation, has
become one of the ideal goals of development policies.
The persuasive level of poverty in
Nigeria has been issue of concern to leaders and policy makers in Nigerian,
Africans and other people and institutions the world over.
The large number of people in
poverty in Nigeria and elsewhere implies that resources are inefficiently used and
therefore increases the risk of social upheards and political instability.
Poverty widens income and social inequality and as the gap between the rich and
the poor becomes increasingly obvious to the poor, they become restless and
instability becomes the rule rather than the exception.
These
become source of worry to me and led to the following research questions.
i.
What is the
nature of democratic governance in Nigeria since 2003-2007?
ii.
What is the
relationship between democratic governance poverty alleviation?
iii.
Has the
poverty alleviation policy of 2003-2007 democratic governance in Nigeria
alleviated poverty among the citizens?
1.3 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The objectives of this study
are:
i.
To assess the
democratic governance in Nigeria since 2003-2007.
ii.
To examine
how democratic governance can affect poverty.
iii.
To access the
introduction of poverty alleviation in Nigeria.
iv.
To identify
major constraints inherent in 3rd world countries in practicing
democracy.
v.
To look into
and examine how poverty alleviation improved (affected) the lives of Nigerians.
vi.
To suggest
some policy recommendations based on the findings of the study.
1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
This
is the benefits that would be derived from it when the project is successfully
completed and those that will benefits from it.
This work shall be of immense
benefit to entire political class and administration in Nigeria. Again, the
entire Nigeria will also benefit from the research. The research will establish
the benefit of the Nigeria poverty alleviation policy under democratic
governance.
Furthermore, the democratic
institutions and policy makers such as the political parties, technocrats,
Nigerian leaders etc will also benefit from this work.
The research is timely because it
will proffer a solution to high rate of poverty in the country and the
democratic issues.
The work will be practically
relevant to the decision makers who are always first with varieties of decision
to make.
Lastly, it is in accordance with
national priority that it will reduce the high level of poverty and bring about
increase per capital income and stability in economic growth.
1.5 SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
The
scope of this is the total area of research work covers. This research work
looks into the relationship between democratic governance and poverty
alleviation in Nigeria since 2003-2007, with respect to how poverty has been
improved upon by the democratic governance (tools) applied in the country.
Above all, to assess the democratic governance of the 36 states the country
including federal capital territory. As a matter of fact, the problem of
democratic governance is not only obtainable in Nigeria; they are present in
all other 3rd world countries as well as developed ones in the
world. Nigeria makes good representation.
However, some of the limitations
encountered in gathering the data and other materials inadequate finance, lack
of time, unco-operative attitude of some Nigeria in responding to oral
questions and mistakes in written textbooks limits the carrying out this work.
The types of data used in carrying
out this research work are’ primary and secondary data collections.
The
primary data is oral interviews while the secondary data is all the information
gathered from textbooks by different authors and in the internet.
1.6 RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS
The hypothesis of this study
includes that:
i.
People tend
to express their views more in democratic setting than in non-democratic
setting.
ii.
The rich
participate more actively in democratic setting than the poor ones.
iii.
The poor are
more likely to be used in democratic setting to perpetuate crisis than the
rich.
iv.
Poverty tends
to engulf the rural people more in military regime than in democratic era.
1.7 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
The theory used to explain
this work is Decision-making theory as propounded by Karl Dutch in 1967.
In this context, the poverty alleviation programme of Olusegun
Obasanjo is a product of decision-making. The policy is meant to serve the
aspirations, values and ends of the decision makers of this country.
However, the relevance of this
theory to this work is that it’s enables the researcher to study the
behavioural tendencies of the main actors in polity in the allocation of issues
and values towards the poverty alleviation in the country through the process
of democratic governance.
Other importance of this theory to
this work is that it enabled the researcher to examine whether poverty
alleviation programme policy of Olusegun Obasanjo administration is a good
decision or not since there are many order projects and programmes to be
executed.
1.8 OPERATIONALIZATION OF KEY CONCEPTS
The following terms are hereby
defined in the context of their usage.
i.
Democratic
governance: Refers as a political system with a high level of civil and political
liberties. It involves mass participation in government and decision making
through representation.
ii.
Poverty
Alleviation: This is a process of reducing poverty level or level of poverty in
the society or country.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1 SUMMARY OF FINDINGS
The Objective of this Study was to examine the
democratic governance and poverty alleviation programme in Nigeria, 2003-2007,
using President Olusegun Obasanjo’s democratic governance. It equally
tried to x-ray the bane of Nigeria poverty alleviation programme.
In a bid to summary the researcher
findings, it is important to note that in the country Nigeria, the high level
of poverty can be addressed when the element of good democratic governance is
in place. This will gives the citizens the ability to participate in governance
of country thereby alleviating poverty.
Moreso, it is evident that in
Nigeria today, the poor masses do not participated activity in the politics of
the country because of their inability to lay hands on finances. This make the
rich ones to participate more in the government which the public observed was
aiming at looting public treasury.
Also, in the cause of the summary,
it was noted that the democratic government, the political conflict in the
country are been caused by poor masses which was attitude to their poor level.
5.2 CONCLUSION
The phenomenon of poverty is complex and exerts
pervasive influence on all aspects of an economy’s life, particularly for the
sub-Saharan African countries, which include Nigeria, poverty has become
endemic. Poverty is a condition of living characterized by disease, illiteracy,
malnutrition and squalor to the extent that it inhibits the realization of
potentials by individuals and even entire societies.
Poverty is therefore a socio-economic
and political liability to any action. The universal democratic principles of
popular sovereignty, political equality, popular consultation, majority rule
and minority rights, the rule of law and fundamental human rights cannot thrive
in a poverty stricken society. Furthermore, the environment conditions and the
institutions necessary for democracy cannot function in a society pervaded by
poverty for democracy to their and be sustain in Nigeria, the government must
take action to foster efficient macroeconomic and sector policies for sustained
growth and poverty reduction.
In particular, poverty reduction
must be based on effective analysis of the problems must truly target the poor.
Furthermore, government decision making, especially decisions on public
expenditure must be decentralized. Commodity participation must be promoted in
the design, implementation and monitoring of programmes that are essential for
successfully alleviating poverty. Moreover, there must be a shift of actual expenditures
on social services from urban to rural areas.
However, we maintain that for
democracy to be sustained in Nigeria, poverty alleviating policy instruments
needed to be designed to achieve population restraint, equity orientated income
in structure and adequate educational, health and infrastructure facilities.
Based on the past antecedents, of the democratic governance in Nigeria, there
are no hopes that democratic governance can achieve this onerous task.
For democracy to survive in Nigeria,
the poor needs to be reawakened to its responsibility of strengthening and
internalizing democratic values as well providing a meaningful check on the
excesses of the state.
5.3 RECOMMENDATIONS
On the basis of the foregoing discussions, I proffer
the following recommendations towards the alleviation of poverty in Nigeria.
Firstly, there is an urgent need for
the provision of basic infrastructures both at the urban and rural sector. This
is necessary, as no meaningful results will be achieved in this direction in
the absence of electricity, water, good roads, health care, etc.
Secondly, the government as well as
the private sector must take the issue of human capital formation seriously.
Education at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels must be made more
functional through the provision of conducive learning environment. The
introduction of universal basic education must be implemented. Moreover,
teachers at all levels must be well remunerated, while training of educational
administrators needed to be enhanced.
It is now a well known fact that a
greater percentage of the poor in Nigeria live in the rural areas. For the
current poverty alleviation programme of government to make the necessary
impact, there is a need for the transformation of the rural sector. This can be
done by enhancing the economic activities of rural dwellers through provision
of basic infrastructures as well as financial impetus.
Finally, it recommended that full
employment be taken as a national economic policy objective, in which case
efforts must be made to get our economic resources fully employed to enhance
aggregate output of the Nigeria economy.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Akpakpan, E.B and Umoh, P.N. (1999) developing the Nigeria Economy for an
enduring democracy, CSA production Ltd, Lagos
Aluko, s (1975), “poverty: its remedies”, poverty in
Nigeria, the Nigeria Economic society, Ibadan.
Amego, J. (2002), National poverty eradication
programme; towards a successful programme implementation; Role of the
secretariats.
Baro. R. (1996), Democracy and growth. Journal of
economic growth 1-27, U.S.A
Chole, E and Ibrahim, J (1995), Democratization
process in Africa; problems and prospects (Dakari CODESRIA).
Ekpo, H. H (2000), poverty alleviation and substance
of democracy in Nigeria, Calabar university of Calabar.
Ekong, E. (1991), Rural development and the
persistence of poverty in Nigeria. Uyo: university of Uyo press
Edozien, E.C. (1975,) “Poverty: some issues in concept
and poverty I poverty in Nigeria. The Nigeria economic society, Ibadan.
Mbonjo, O. (2000), “World Bank, IMF and Nigeria
poverty reduction strategy”. The Guardian Online July, 10 2000.
Madueme, I.S. (1999), An evaluation of the Nigeria; a
case of Enugu State”. International journal of studies in the humanities (IJOSH)
Vol 1 and 2,
Federal office of statistics (2004), poverty and
welfare in Nigeria: Wellington, American Writing Corporation.
APPENDIX
QUESTIONNAIRE
Department of Public Administration,
Faculty of Management Sciences,
Dear
Respondents,
I am a final year student of the
above named University. The purpose of this letter is for you to help me answer
the attached questionnaire for my research work as a final year student.
Please, answer the following questions
as sincerely and objectively as you can, by filling the blank space provided or
by ticking (√) were applicable.
Your
information will be treated with almost confidentiality.
SECTION A
Please
tick where appropriate
i.
Sex:
(a)
male
(b)
female
ii.
Age:
(a)
18-25
(b)
26-35
(c)
36-45
(d)
46-55
iii.
Marital status
(a)
GCE/’o’ level
(b)
NCE/OND
(c)
BSC/HND
(d)
MSC/MBA
(e)
PHD
iv.
Rank:
(a)
Director
(b)
Senior officer
(c)
Junior officer
SECTION B
i.
Do you agree that
the rich participate more actively in democratic setting than the poor?
Agree , strongly agree ,
disagree strongly disagree
ii.
Is it true that
poor masses are used in democratic setting to cause crisis than the rich?
Agree , strongly agree , disagree , strongly disagree .
iii.
Can poverty be
addressed through democratic governance?
Agree , strongly agree , disagree , strongly disagree .
iv.
Democratic
setting has done more harm than good to the development of Nigeria society.
Agree ,
strongly agree , disagree , strongly disagree
v.
Do you see
improvement as regards the poor masses since, the introduction of poverty
alleviation programme?
Agree , strongly agree , disagree , strongly disagree
vi.
Do you agree that
the introduction of poverty alleviation programme encourage corruption?
Agree strongly agree disagree ,
strongly disagree