Improving citizen’s participation in governance

The document identifies extreme poverty, weak local government structures, and a lack of ideological political parties as primary barriers to citizen engagement in Nigeria. It recommends that citizens utilize technology to monitor government spending, join political parties to influence decision-making, and hold local government councils accountable for basic services to reduce the influence of elite-driven patronage networks.

• Extreme poverty in Nigeria creates a cycle where citizens are preoccupied with immediate survival, allowing political elites to replace accountable systems with patronage networks by distributing small economic items during elections.
• Local government councils, the tier closest to the grassroots, are often redundant because state governments frequently seize control of their funding and administration, eroding governance at the community level.
• Political participation is hindered by the fact that Nigerian political parties generally lack guiding ideologies and are instead formed for the personal gain of the ruling class, leading to low membership and frequent party-switching.
• Corruption in government procurement and spending is exacerbated by a lack of public information and awareness regarding the Procurement Act, though organizations like BudgIT and Connected Development are using technology to monitor expenditures.

APA

Ibirogba, E. (2019). Improving citizen’s participation in governance. Good Governance Africa. https://digitalmallblobstorage.blob.core.windows.net/wp-content/2019/12/Improving-Citizens-Participation-in-Governance.pdf

Chicago

Ibirogba, Eniayo. Improving citizen’s participation in governance. Good Governance Africa, 2019. https://digitalmallblobstorage.blob.core.windows.net/wp-content/2019/12/Improving-Citizens-Participation-in-Governance.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Ibirogba |first1=Eniayo |title=Improving citizen’s participation in governance |publisher=Good Governance Africa |date=2019 |url=https://digitalmallblobstorage.blob.core.windows.net/wp-content/2019/12/Improving-Citizens-Participation-in-Governance.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{ibirogba2019improving, author = {Ibirogba, Eniayo}, title = {{Improving citizen’s participation in governance}}, institution = {Good Governance Africa}, year = {2019}, url = {https://digitalmallblobstorage.blob.core.windows.net/wp-content/2019/12/Improving-Citizens-Participation-in-Governance.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }