Constituency Offices and Good Governance: An Assessment of the Nexus in Nigeria 1999 - 2019

Abstract

Military incursion into government and governance undoubtedly remains impediment to national growth and development in Nigeria. Fortunately too, the Nigerian Federation has witnessed virtually two decades of uninterrupted democracy and democratic process. However, the state still grapples with good governance cum development in infrastructures, provision of adequate primary and secondary healthcare, security of citizens’ lives and property among many other human needs. This study examines the nexus between constituency offices and good governance so as to determine their relevance, accessibility and sustenance within the context of Nigeria’s twenty years of uninterjected democracy particularly by the military. It adopts descriptive analysis, resting on secondary data source. Elite theory serves as its theoretical framework in order to enunciate the elements characterizing public decision-making in the context of constituency offices’ structuralisation in the country. The study concludes, among other observations, that constituency offices are rarely established and where available, usually situated in personal estates as well as parliamentarians are highly dogmatic in decision-making. It therefore, recommends that stringent constitutional measure should be provided for the mandatory establishment of constituency offices in centralized locations and legislators be legally committed to be formally accountable to their constituencies and constituents on regular basis including recall process of defaulting legislators be made an easy exercise.