The Challenges and Prospects of Political Sovereignty and Good Governance in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic

Abstract

This paper examined the challenges of political sovereignty and good governance in Nigeria’s fourth republic. In building the background to this paper, an attempt was made to establish a nexus between political sovereignty and good governance in Nigeria as the latter sustains the former. The paper also holistically examined the state and significance of the much-needed good governance, as a sine qua non for political sovereignty in the fourth republic. It revealed that the sovereignty of the Nigerian state has variously been threatened, owing to poor governance over time. In line with John Locke’s social contract theory, this study acknowledged that political sovereignty exclusively resides with the people in a democratic dispensation. It was based on Locke’s theory that the paper argued that the claim of the Nigerian state of sovereign reign over its subjects has been jeopardized by the vicious cycle of poor governance structures, exacerbated by the corrupt political leadership. The paper unequivocally identified the elite in power as consistently failing to fulfil its side of the bargain with the citizenry. The dysfunctional tendencies of politics of seclusion, exclusion, avarice, insensitivity and drive for personal gains characterize the actions and inactions of political leadership thereby dovetailing into poor governance. In effect, the paper established that poor governance has over time encumbered the effective administration of the two most essential aspects of our social existence-the economy and security, in which stability is critical to the sustenance of a country’s political sovereignty. Methodology for data gathering and analysis was literature-based. The paper recommended a positively-impacting political leadership style for the Nigerian state to turn around the fortunes of the country’s state of economy and security. It further recommended significant measures to address squarely, institutional incapacitations and corrupt tendencies of the political elite, including administrative malfeasance over sensitive governance issues. The paper concluded that except for Nigerian state actors addressing the poor governance issues in the country, political sovereignty would continue to be undermined.