This paper argued that the focus on human and social capital
advancement which embodies development should form the basis upon
which we appraise the success or otherwise of democratic governance in
Nigeria since the return to civilian rule in 1999. This is borne out of the fact
that the utility of democratic governance is measured by the values,
concerns and priorities of the people as well as their active participation in
the pursuit of development and economic transformation. As such, it is
manifestly clear that over the past14 years since the return to democratic
rule in Nigeria, the nation's 'leadership' has consistently failed to deliver
on the instrumental value of meeting the social needs of the people for
improved quality of life. This is evidently manifested by its poor human
development indicators which include widespread poverty,
unemployment, poor health conditions; uneven income distribution,
inadequate literacy rates, and low life expectancy.Coupled with this is the realization that the policies of government
are not pro poor policies that addresses the very foundational needs of the
people in terms of access to qualitative education, healthcare, employment
opportunities and security. Consequently, it is very disturbing that the
governance process allows relative amount of political freedoms and little
or no amount of economic freedoms. In fact, what we have as democracy is
nothing more than the· "democratization of disempowerment"
characterized by poverty, inequality, and lack of government
accountability and transparency. Today, public interests, well-being and
empowerment of the people are not the measure of all things that underlie
governance to the extent that government agenda and policies are
undemocratic an.d have largely been an exercise in alienation. The paper
sums with the conclusion that for democratic governance to thrive and be
consolidated IYf Nigeria, it is essential to first address the state of the material conditions of the people through aggregating their common
interests and conscientiously strive for the attainment ofthese goals