Democracy and Governance seem to convey similar connotation due to the fact that both concepts go in a long way to attain the same purpose through some instrumentalities which are considered as their Principles, Characteristics, Indicators, Indices and Features. These instrumentalities have more often than not made the relationship between Governance and Democracy inseparable both as the system and practice of government. One can hardly become successful without the impact of the other. It is crystal clear that among the principles mentioned herein are the following: Accountability, Transparency, Rule of Law, Constitutionalism, Service Delivery, Popular Participation, Effectiveness and Efficiency to mention a few. This paper examines the symbiotic relationship between governance and democracy in Nigeria with a view to pointing out if indeed the country (Nigeria) has attained good governance through the practice of democracy since 1999 till date. In doing this however, the study employs the use of secondary source of data collection and content analysis of scholarly contributions from various authors and specialists in the areas of governance and democracy.
Nevertheless, the study finds out that the challenge of democratic governance in Nigeria among others have been majorly products of geo-political lop-sidedness, poverty, lack of free, fair and credible election, lack of readiness to accept defeat after election and so on. The study equally finds out that for governance and democracy to thrive sufficiently, all these challenges raised, highlighted and discussed must be addressed with the co-operation of the policy-makers and stakeholders in Nigeria.
Democracy, Governance, Popular Participation
