Good day colleagues/ fellow Democrats. This is yet another great time for us to come together to collect thoughts, plans and perspectives that will foster development in our dear country Nigeria. Indeed this is a spring board for us to engage in discussions that can birth in us a greater vision and inspire us to a greater height as we scale the ladder of success. Yes, we’ve come a long way in this pursuit of a very successful democracy and majority of the population has yet to experience tangible improvements in their lives. Also, many may question the practicality of democracy or acquire a distorted understanding of what democracy really entails. They may become susceptible to populist or authoritarian appeals that are camouflaged as democracy. The best way to improve the lot of these people is to achieve greater reform and more complete democracy, not to compromise political or economic freedoms. The paramount need is for better “Participation”- this will make a meaningful difference in Nigeria’s Democracy.

Participation by citizens and civil society organizations brings meaning and life to democracies. Business groups, like other social and economic interests, have a right and a responsibility to participate in policy making, debate, and other political activities. Business associations, as a key component of civil society, participate by representing business interests, sharing information with government and the private sector, educating the public on economic issues, and making policy recommendations.

The formula of “let things be” is proving fatal to democracy development in Nigeria. Nigerians should look at the events in Arab countries and others where new approaches to democratic transitions are being witnessed. The role that citizens play and the nature of freedom of expression in modern democracy are changing. If Nigerians can involve themselves in this cause of good governance and democracy development, we can experience a lot of solutions to the problems facing us; this will give us a voice and afford us a greater role to hold the development and government institutions accountable.

Nigerians must understand the concept of participation as a tool to solving our problems and achieving more in economic development. Participation gives the people the opportunity to fight their problems and make the changes they want. It is also clear that through participation, we can achieve all other ingredients that our democracy needs for proper development. Whether accountability, rule of law, freedom, equality, responsiveness, etc., we can achieve them all through full participation. Thank you once again!

No democracy can ever be achieved without the people’s participation. Remember, Together Everybody Achieves More! Cheers!

Participation as a key ingredient to Democracy development in Nigeria (Part 3)

Participatory democracy is a process emphasizing the broad participation of constituents in the direction and operation of political systems.
Participatory democracy strives to create opportunities for all members of a political group to make meaningful contributions to decision-making, and seeks to broaden the range of people who have access to such opportunities. Because so much information must be gathered for the overall decision-making process to succeed, technology may provide important forces leading to the type of empowerment needed for participatory models, especially those technological tools that enable community narratives and correspond to the accretion of knowledge. Effectively increasing the scale of participation, and translating small but effective participation groups into small world networks, are areas currently being studied.

Today, we can witness the recent event all around the world (Democratic Transition) which emanates from a high rate of people and the introduction of a new wave in participation – “E-participation”. The need for the term has emerged as people are achieving much from the platform.

A more detailed definition sees e-participation as “the use of information and communication technologies to broaden and deepen political participation by enabling citizens to connect with one another and with their elected representatives.

The term participation means taking part in joint activities for the purpose of reaching a common goal. This encompasses both trivial situations in which participation mainly has a technical meaning, ”doing things together”. For example, a football team needs 11 players, and dancing often requires two or more people acting in a coordinated manner. But participation, even in trivial situations, also has a goal-oriented aspect which means decision making and control are involved. Participation in political science and theory of management refers to direct public participation in political, economical or management decisions. The two are not completely separated but belong on a spectrum of complexity and context. When participation becomes complicated, decision making becomes necessary. Hence, any participatory process is potentially important for the rule system governing the activities. In terms of points 2 and 3 above, this means that when service processes become complex, the implementation of them will not be in all details based on political decisions but also on what is found to be practical. Such decisions are made in many places in a situated manner. When such practical doings become implemented in government (e)service systems, they will affect decision making, as many changes will later be hard to make simply because existing procedures are implemented in ICT systems and government agencies’ procedures. There are many theories dealing with institutionalization, for example structural theory, Institutional theory, and Actor-Network Theory. These theories all, in different ways, deal with how “ways of doing things” become established or rejected, and how those that become established increasingly affect the ways we “normally” do things.

If you don’t have citizen participation, you have government choosing what will happen. The only scenario government is required for is to ensure everybody gets their natural rights (health care, security, clean water, clean environment, support in times of trouble, food, etc.) and that justice is served. They also need tor regulate businesses and guarantee jobs. What else does the government have to offer that the people can’t provide for themselves.

Note: Democracy without the people’s participation is a failure to good governance and economic development.

Democracy is Participation and Participation is you!

SUO!