BY Dyepkazah Shibayan
Babagana Kingibe, a former secretary to the government of the federation (SGF), says Nigeria is not doing badly after 25 years of uninterrupted democracy.
Kingibe spoke in Abuja on Tuesday at a public lecture organised by the presidency to commemorate the country’s Democracy Day.
The former SGF said countries that have been practicing democracy for years are still battling with challenges.
“Building and sustaining strong democracies is a lifelong endeavor for any nation,” he said.
“It is always a work in progress. Even older democracies, as shown by the just concluded European Parliament elections in Europe and such as in the United States, which has been practicing democracy for the last 250 years.
“They are still grappling with the challenges of perfecting their democracies. You will see why if I say that relatively speaking and given our young democratic life of only 25 years and very wide national diversity.
“You will see why I would say that we’re not really doing badly after all.”
Kingibe said strengthening democratic institutions such as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the judiciary, and the police has been a work in progress.
“Here in Nigeria, we have come to the conclusion that the worst civilian government is better than the best military regime,” he said.
“Both these sentiments reflect the general frustration at the failure of democratic governments to always deliver expected services in our time, anti-departure. democratic governance is not easy.
“Every one of our governments of the last 25 years had endeavor with mixed successes to confront a myriad of national challenges pertaining to security, economic prosperity, to inclusion, population is explosion, unemployment, and uneven development corruption, national cohesion, infrastructural deficits, provision of social services such as education and health and housing.”
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