Nigeria presents a very good and interesting example of the paradox and tragedy of Africa’s development. Nigeria is a country endowed with abundant human and material resources, yet it is a country that lay bare in ruins. The chequered political process of the country from political independence in 1960 has affected virtually everything in the country. Public institutions have been utterly undermined, infrastructures perform very badly, while the economy is in dire straits. The enormous oil wealth generated by the country from the 1970s to the present has been largely frittered away through the profligacy of successive leadership. As I pointed out elsewhere, Nigeria is a classic case of a  country where the bankruptcy of political leadership virtually destroyed the fabric of state institutions, economy and society¹.

The need to reclaim the future largely informed the struggle by civil  society groups to terminate military rule in the country and set the nation back on the path of redemocratisation. Military rule in Nigeria, which spans over 28 years (out of the 40 years of post-independence), has proved very clearly that political authoritarianism has little linkage with development in Africa.  Military rule adversely affected the entire political economy of Nigeria.  The cumulative struggles of the Nigerian people resulted in the transfer of political power to elected representatives of the people on May 29, 1999. This ushered in the fourth republic in Nigeria.

Hopes and expectations are high for the people in the new democratic dispensation. The Nigerian people draw a strong linkage between democratic rule and better living standards.  The belief is that democratic rule will transform their lives for the better. The democratic experiment in Nigeria is currently in its third year, with the celebration of the second anniversary on May 29th 2001. How has democratic rule faired in Nigeria in the last two years?   What are the policy initiatives and development agenda of the new civilian administration? What are the problems, constraints and limitations confronted by the civilian political leaders? What are the efforts being marshalled to overcome such challenges? And what are the prospects of democratic rule in Nigeria? These are the issues addressed by this special edition of the DPMF bulletin.  The contributions foray into the whole gamut of the Nigerian political economy in assessing the performance of the new civilian administration. The issues covered span the nature of the political transition programme that gave birth to the new democratic era, to the economy, human rights, media, electoral process, women, ethnic agitation and conflicts, the military and also a literary discourse of the Nigerian political crisis, capturing its past and a construction of its future. 

This bulletin is the first attempt to assess the performance of the new civilian administration in Nigeria in its two years of existence. While its true that two years is quite small in the life of a regime or nation, the exercise is necessary in order to survey the direction the nation is heading, identify the pitfalls of policy decisions and provide a guide on a new direction. This is the essence of this special  bulletin.

In putting together this bulletin, conscious effort was made to address two issues. First is to respect a key issue of our time, which is gender sensitivity. Three women contributed to this edition. Their articles are all single-authored articles and not co-authored ones. This is highly impressive. The second issue is that of multi-disciplinarity. Contributions were not restricted to the social sciences, but also touch on literary discourse. This for us is a worthwhile endeavour.  We hope this bulletin will assist the Nigerian policy makers in the process of development management and democratic reconstruction of the country, and also inform other stake holders in the development process in Nigeria on the journey so far and the way forward for the country.

Endnote
¹.   Said  Adejumobi, “Demilitarisation and Democratic Re-Orientation in Nigeria: Issues, Problems and Prospects.” Verfassung Und Recht in Ubersee, Law and Politics in Africa, Asia and Latin America, Vol. 33, No. 1, 2000, p. 39.   

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