EFFECTIVE GOVERNANCE AND DEMOCRATIC CONSOLIDATION IN NIGERIA: LABOUR UNIONS IN 21ST CENTURY AS A FOCAL POINT

Abstract

In Nigeria sovereign nation, more than anything else, the greatest obstacle to the nascent democracy is the neglect of effective governance and democratic consolidation with Labour Unions participation in 21^st century for nation building, as evidenced by the current spate of armed robbery attacks and political assassination. Nigeria’s abundant wealth is sufficient to make it one of the effective states in the African continent. However, the excess resources, like the sugar in the blood stream of a diabetic patient, serve no positive purpose for the teeming population. Poverty and hunger are the principal characters of the Nigerian State with attenuated crises affecting the socio-economic well – being of the people.  While Nigeria ranks among the highest producers of crude oil in the world market, it also leads in the classification of countries in distress.  Corruption and mismanagement of the abundant resources, coupled with the insatiable appetite of the leaders to pillage the country of its potentials for rapid political and economic growth. We are in the days of debate. The somehow chaotic Nigerian political terrain has thrown up several challenges, has thrown up issues, many issues that are subjects of debate. Since the emergence of the nascent democracy in 1999, this nation has not sufficiently delivered dividends of democracy to the masses. The focus of this paper is to appraise the Effect of Good Governance and Democratic Consolidation with Labour Unions participation in 21^st Century which were brought to the fore while the objectives of the study were well spelt out.  Hypotheses were postulated and the Group Theory was used to explicate the works.  Data were obtained from both primary and secondary sources. From the primary sources, the survey method, that is, the use of questionnaire were designed and adopted. Data obtained from this method were analyzed with the simple percentage. The paper concludes by advocating the need for the Labour Unions to have wider spread and to participate more actively in the democratic process, among others, as ways of being more relevant in democratic process. This paper discovered that this malaise was responsible for the failing status of the Nigerian State.