People's perception on democratic government and rural development in Nigeria : the case of Taraba state

The last 16 years (1999-2015) has witnessed renewed hope about the revival of democracy in Nigeria. The successful return to democratically elected government was widely applauded and supported by the majority of citizens. This was due to the difficulties of many years under military rule, which lasted from December 1983 to 1999. Prior to that, the military had intervened shortly after the independence in 1960. The military captured power on 15th January 1966 and ruled Nigeria uninterrupted up to 1979. The successful return to democracy was accompanied by hopes and expectations by the majority of the citizen due to the fact that the country's development remains dismal, especially in the rural areas. This study, therefore, attempts to assess the democratic government and its impacts on rural development in Nigeria with Taraba State as a case study. The methodology adopted to achieve these objectives was mixed method, in which both the quantitative and qualitative data were obtained through
survey questionnaires, interviews and focus group discussion respectively. Correlation coefficient and simple linear regression were used to analyze the quantitative data. While Nvivo qualitative software was used to analyze interviews and focus group discussion. It was found that democracy was considered the best form of government, but stunted due to the exhibited behaviours of the political leaders; who ran short of the ideal practices and values of a democratic system. Hence, democracy was not fully imbibed and therefore in deficit. Moreover, there is imbalanced political power and financial autonomy among the levels of government, especially the Local Government, which is much closer to rural people. The consequences of this resulted in poverty, inequality, deprivations, illiteracy and denial of basic infrastructural services to the rural folk, thereby pushing the people deeper and deeper into underdevelopment. It was recommended amongst other factors that leaders should imbibe the values of being patriotic and adhere to democratic ideals. Similarly, there is a need for an urgent amendment of some constitutional provisions that hamper the political and financial autonomy of the lower levels of government (State and Local government) for effective delivery of public service especially at the rural areas. These will go a long way to address the myriads of rural problems and general development in Nigeria.