10th U6+ Consortium of African Universities International Conference

This paper traces the historical development of the current democratic process to the post-Cold War era, which Huntington described as the third wave of democratisation. It evaluates the linkage between democracy and good governance, examining whether the former is a prerequisite for the latter or whether the lack of the latter in Africa can be attributed to the former. Drawing on the Nigerian experience, the paper argues that, despite the significant relationship between democracy and good governance, the former has yet to give rise to the latter, largely because the choice of liberal democracy failed to account for the unique characteristics of African people. In addition, the paper identifies several challenges, including sit-tight syndrome, systemic corruption, a winner-take-all electoral system, and an inefficient local government system, among others, as factors that hinder good governance. To change the tide, the paper recommends that liberal democracy be replaced with a homegrown variant that takes into account the specificity of African people's socio-cultural cleavages in designing the institutional and governance architecture. It concluded that African countries need to revive the peer review mechanism to promote good governance, pro-people public policy, and excellent service delivery, with a charge on Nigeria to lead the process.