Chukwunonso, Ugochukwu Ikenna and Ngozi Muonagor Maryann
Department of Public Administration, Federal Polytechnic, Oko, Anambra state, Nigeria
Corresponding Author’s email: uiolunonso@gmail.com
Abstract
This work seeks to examine the relationship between voter apathy and democratic consolidation in Nigeria. Voter apathy is a term that describes people’s unwillingness to partake in the voting process in a country while democracy is the government of the people by the people and for the people and democratic consolidation is a term that emphasizes the entrenchment of democratic principles in the long run in a country practicing democracy. It has been observed that there are causes of voters’ apathy in Nigeria which has contributed to the withering of democratic consolidation. These include but are not limited to voter suppression, lack of trust in the political process, lack of voter education, etc. While the benefits of democracy can never be overemphasized, there is a common opinion that it encourages peaceful coexistence among the people, promotes patriotism among the populace as well as provides legal rights to people and enables a country to earn respect among other countries of the world. This entails that there is an utmost need for democracy to be consolidated in Nigeria being a country with a nascent democracy and with people of different cultures, tribes, languages, religions and political affiliations if the country was to achieve economic and socio-political development.
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