POLITICAL FINANCE AND DEMOCRACY IN NIGERIA

Ndubisi Obiorah (ed.):
Political Finance and Democracy in Nigeria
Lagos: Centre for Law and Social Action, 2004.
ISBN 978-36705-3-0. (xii+92 pp.)
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From the Preface: "The nascent political finance regulatory regime in Nigeria is ineffective and rarely enforced. The notorious ‘godfather’ scandals which have bedeviled governance since 1999 in the Anambra and Kwara states in southeastern and central Nigeria respectively, vividly illustrate the deleterious impact of unregulated political finance on democratic development in Nigeria and the emergence of new political parties and the possibility of even more political movements seeking registration as political parties reinforces the imperative of political finance reform.
The ‘godfather’ crises have generated a national groundswell of support for political finance reform but there is as yet no comprehensive or systematic dialogue among politicians, civil society and the general public as to options and prospects for reform or the nature of any concerted action to address the problem. There is an emerging national consensus on the imperative of political finance reform but a national debate on a prospective reform programme is as yet inchoate.
Towards addressing distortions in Nigeria’s democratic development, the Centre for Law and Social Action [CLASA] initiated a research and advocacy project in October 2003 to stimulate a national dialogue on political finance reform in Nigeria with a view to developing a reform strategy. The project seeks to promote effective political finance reform in Nigeria utilizing popular mobilization to secure the strengthening and institutionalization of the political finance regulation framework in Nigeria. CLASA undertook a comparative study of political finance regulation in selected ‘transitional’ and ‘advanced’ democracies and drafted a policy agenda for reform. A workshop for key actors was convened in Lagos on December 11, 2003. The present publication comprises the working documents for the key actors workshop and the policy agenda."

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Ndubisi Obiorah:
Preface

Michael Pinto-Duschinsky:
Financing Politics: A Global View

Udo Ilo:
Political Finance Regulation in Nigeria: The Legal Framework

Uche Emelonye:
Political Finance in Nigeria: A Policy Agenda for Reform

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