Browsing: democracy

Well, we are not here to look into the costs and benefits of this new addition at a time when Nigerians are clamouring for a review of the cost of the machinery of the government and the implementation of the Oronsaye Report on the cost of governance. Our focus is on the strategic relationship between government and citizens, as explored in ‘Media, democracy and the public interest’.

Lest we forget, the evolution of democracy has its rich history in a rebellion against dictatorship, against monarchical institutions, against bigotry, and anything that prevents mass participation. Be that as it may, democratic governments function only to the extent of the understanding of the society and the political gladiators practising it. So, for the society to have a functional democratic system, it must have a robust understanding of the tenets as well as the intrinsic attributes of democracy so that it won’t appear alien to its practitioners and/or those over whom it is being practised. Since everybody will have to be part of it, it also has to be a general, not restricted, knowledge.