MONETISATION OF POLITICAL POWER AND THE CRISIS OF THE NIGERIA STATE, 1999-2019

Abstract

Monetisation of political power otherwise known as money politics has gained concern in the international community as it threatens democratic stability and sustainability across the globe. The menace seems to be the root of political crisis in Africa, particularly in Nigeria's fourth republic, beginning from the return to civil rule in 1999. Primarily, the study examined the implications of money politics in the electoral process and democratic consolidation of the fourth republic vis-a-vis how it has contributed to the crisis of the Nigeria State. This study by implication presented money politics as the independent variable which causes changes and effects on leadership performance. Hence, financial inducement always influenced virtually all aspects of institutional mechanisms and processes for leadership selection and governing activities. The failed system theory, on which this study anchored, corroborated the position of this paper which stresses that due to incessant leadership crisis arising from monetisation of political power, the Nigeria State has lost the capacity for effective governance. This, according to the paper, has had grave implication in service delivery which plunges the system into recurring episodes of leadership crisis. This study identified three dimensions of monetisation of political power in the fourth republic to include; financial corruption/poor accountability syndrome of public office holders; godfatherism and high cost of election funding. This study obtained materials solely through secondary sources. The paper also recommended an all-encompassing institutional and cultural re-evaluation as very potent remedies to incidences of leadership crisis in Nigeria arising from the monetisation of political power.