CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS AND DEMOCRATIC CONSOLIDATION IN NIGERIA

Abstract

This study examines civil society organizations and democratic consolidation in Nigeria. The general objective of this study is to examine civil society organizations and democratic consolidation in Nigeria, while the specific objectives are to: assess the impact of poor cohesion and synergy on democratic consolidation in Nigeria, investigate the role of poor resource mobilization and networking on democratic consolidation in Nigeria; examine the impact of societal attitudinal mind-set towards and distrust for civil society organizations on democratic consolidation in Nigeria and assess the role of interference and exploitation by political parties and government functionaries on democratic consolidation in Nigeria. Four research questions were raised to guide the study and the study adopted case study design and the data utilized were obtained from both primary and secondary sources. Whilethe primary data were derived from focus group discussions, the secondary data were obtained from relevant textbooks and journals. The findings of the study revealed that the critical role which civil societies are expected to play in the democratization process and democratic consolidation in Nigeria is largely constrained by poor cohesion and synergy, poor resource mobilization and networking, societal attitudinal mind-set towards and distrust for civil society organizations and interference and exploitation of civil society organizations by political parties and government functionaries. The study made some useful recommendations including the exigency of genuine cohesion and synergy, resource mobilization and networking and true collaboration between civil society groups and othermajor stakeholders such as political parties, security agencies, the participating voting publicand the judiciary.