The paper assesses democratic governance in the Nigerian fourth republic. Most Nigerians expected the return to democratic governance on May, 29 1999 to set the stage for the socio-economic and political transformation of the country. The paper contends that the democratic experience has been problematic for Nigerians. The paper, underpinned by the elite theory, is descriptive, historical and analytical in nature and employs the secondary source in the gathering of data. The paper argues that the uninterrupted character of the democratic transition, improvement in civil and political rights and some economic development dividends are positive outcome of the democratic experience. Yet, the successes associated with the democratic experience seem to have been overshadowed by poor governance, the problems of poverty, de-industrialization, widespread unemployment, large scale collapse of infrastructure, illiteracy, insecurity of lives and property, political corruption, and weak governance institutions. Consequently, public trust in the democratic process, institutions and actors is in decline. The paper suggests amongst others, responsible and effective political leadership and civil society as critical to a productive democratic performance in Nigeria.

This work is an analysis of the use of satire as a form of imagery to depict some political issues in cartoons as featured in the Nigerian national dailies. Survey method of research design was adopted as a means of sampling copies of national dailies from which political cartoons were selected, while Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) was adopted for the analysis of data gathered. Findings reveal images of corruption, official responsibility, political failure and brutality/cruelty/suffering as the dominant concerns of the cartoons featured by the papers. While the corrupt postures of those who have links with the past government are dominant in the image of corruption portrayed, both those in and out of government are subjected to some satiric expose in respect of official responsibility, failure in politics and brutality/cruelty/suffering. At the end, it is recommended, among others, that more searchlight should be focused on the corrupt tendency of those still in power, and that more research efforts be devoted to the use of political cartoons to encourage citizen participation in national discourse.

The paper examines the challenges of leadership and followership in governance and how poor leadership has undermined democratic and sustainable development in Nigeria. Specifically, it explores reasons why one of the world most endowed nations in human capacity continues to be bequeathed mis-governance. Using documentary approach, we argue that the challenges for poor leadership and followership in Nigeria’s contemporary political system are tied to corruption and self-aggrandizement of leaders and followers with unquenchable self-centeredness coupled with a crop of leaders without vision towards the betterment of the country. We conclude however that Nigerians should focus on electing leaders with proven track records of selfless service, achievement towards geared sustainability and developmental stride for efficiency, effectiveness and higher productivity. If this was done in line with the intent to salvage the crumbling political system, there would be renewed value orientation that is required to make Nigerians more politically responsible to the country.

Previous studies have examined the impact of the relationship between international nongovernmental organisations and the military on peacekeeping operations and humanitarian programming. However, how relations between international nongovernmental organisations and military actors affect preventing/countering of violent extremism has not been central to existing debates. By using the qualitative-dominant mixed methods approach, this paper investigates relations between these actors in Northeast Nigeria and argues that the dynamic interactions between international nongovernmental organisations and the military largely breed mistrust and conflict between them. This undermines the capacity of international nongovernmental organisations to prevent/counter violent extremism. The paper concludes that mutual respect for the operational procedures of the military and international nongovernmental organisations in the Northeast is relevant for an enhanced relationship between them and sustainable preventing/countering violent extremism programming in Nigeria and beyond.