Elites and Governance and Its Implications on Youths' Political Behaviour in Nigeria
Author:
Lawal Yusuf AHMAD
Co-Authors:
Mallam BASHIR
Abstract:
Good governance is imperative to the development of every society; and thus nosociety ever thinks of progressing without good governance. Moreover, the basicessence of governance is seen in law making function and implementation of crucialdecisions that could affect lives and properties of individuals in their societyConsiderably, good governance has resulted in poverty reduction as well asimprovement of social welfare and better life for the citizens in so many countries of theworld. However, elites are identified as the ones that govern the society and areconsidered the drivers of all the institutions in a society. Unfortunately, corruption,mismanagement, and lack of vision among the past and the present elites have severelyaffected governance in Nigeria. Additionally, misgoveranance and corruption of thesystem has affected the political behavior of the youths in Nigeria which posed afundamental question to the Nigerian democracy. Consequently, the Youths today are‘merely puppets used by the elites in securing their personal interest especially duringelection, political rallies, and electioneering campaign through corrupt means anddestructive political culture which gradually and systematically polluted the minds ofthe youths and their political behavior. This paper using mainly secondary sources ofdata and content analysis set to examine the symbiotic relationship between the elitesand governance, and its effects on youths' political behavior in Nigeria. The paper alsoexamines the Nigerian elites as they operate in governance and as they relate withyouths in politics. Findings were that, over the years of misgovernance, elites havesucceeded in displacing the youths from their expected position as back bone of thesociety and engine of growth and development to a very lowly position as politicalthugs, instrument of violence and political corruption. The elites’ mismanagement ofleadership and abuse of trust constitute a major setback to Nigeria as a developingcountry and importantly destroyed any hope for its youths to make any difference. Themultiplier effect of such resulted in erosion of values and rising rate of atrocities andinsecurity amidst poverty that is systematically sinking the nation as a whole. The paperconcludes by making recommendations that called for a total resurrecting of the youths10 their requisite position and thereby reposition them for a better Nigeria.
Publication Year:
2022
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