Inherited Colonial Governance and Democratization Models: Implications for Socio-Economic Development in Nigeria

Abstract Book of the 12th International Academic Conference on Humanities and Social Sciences

Year: 2026

[PDF]

Inherited Colonial Governance and Democratization Models: Implications for Socio-Economic Development in Nigeria

Toyin Cotties Adetiba

ABSTRACT:

Without the consent of Africans, the continent lost control of its political and economic power to the Europeans following the Berlin Conference of 1884 where African states were formally partitioned amongst the European powers. This marked the beginning of ruthless, exploitative, and oppressive colonial system of government. The period of colonialism was laden with struggles for freedom and decolonization. Though independent, the legacy of the colonial democratic model hinged on the expansion of political powers to a position of political dominance has taken root in Africa and thus becoming the determining factor in Africa’s socio-political and economic system. The colonial choices determined the post-colonial choice of governance in Africa. For Africans, the departure from the pattern of colonial governance is very difficult and to a certain degree costly. The political system in present-day Nigeria is an unswerving representation of the pattern set up by the colonial system with the indigenous political institutions replaced with another political system strange to Nigerians. Hence, post-independence Nigeria adopted its colonizers’ more centralized and authoritarian political system. Underpinned by the following questions (i) Does the inherited colonial governance represent the common good of Nigerians? (ii) What are the effects of the inherited legacies of the colonial style of governance and its implications for socio-economic development in post-colonial Nigeria? The study relies on a qualitative research method while contending that for Nigeria to free itself from its former colonialists, the connection between the state and civil society must be strengthened.

Keywords: Post-independence, Decolonization, Colonialism, Europeans