CITIZEN PARTICIPATION AND PUBLIC POLICY IN NIGERIA’S DEMOCRATISATION

Abstract

The participation of citizens in development has taken the center stage as an important precondition
for achieving speedy and sustainable development. Democracy is still the most popular type of
government practiced in the world today because of its enormous advantages over other forms of
government. Democracy, be it, liberal, African or modern, involves equal opportunity for all,
fundamental acknowledgement of popular sovereignty, representativeness, majority rule, minority
rights, right to choose between alternative programmes and popular consultation. Citizen participation
is the involvement of citizens in their affairs including involving them in formulation and
implementation of public policies. It is a constitutional right of every citizen and it gives all, opportunity
to participate in the political processes. Nigeria has experienced uninterrupted democracy in the past
decades, yet, there is growing public apathy towards the government. The citizens are disenchanted
and disconnected from the government and public policies. The objective of this paper is to analyze the
benefits of citizen participation in public policies to the country. It also seeks to explain the methods of
citizen participation in Nigeria and to discuss the challenges of citizen participation in public policies
in Nigeria. The theoretical framework utilized for this study is the Social Capital Theory. The secondary
means of data collection was utilized. Descriptive essay and narrative report were used as method of
data analysis. The paper recommends that the government should develop and build public trust with
the citizens as a way of attracting their support and co – operation. The government should also uphold
the citizens’ human rights and guarantee the freedom of speech.