The Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) has described 27 years of uninterrupted civilian governance as Nigeria’s most notable democratic achievement, but warned that the country’s democratic experience has not translated into meaningful development.
Martins Egbeola, IPAC National Publicity Secretary, made the remarks in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Thursday. He noted that issues such as insecurity, poverty, and corruption have worsened compared with the era of military rule.
“Despite 27 years of democracy, Nigerians have not experienced significant improvements in their quality of life,” Egbeola said. He highlighted that Nigeria ranks poorly on the global terrorism index, poverty rate, corruption perception index, and has over 18.3 million out-of-school children.
Assessing the performance of the political class since 1999, Egbeola argued that politicians have largely benefited from democracy, while ordinary citizens continue to face social and economic challenges. He stated that the current political structure has failed to deliver meaningful progress and called for a national restructuring.
Egbeola emphasized the need for intensified efforts to tackle corruption, uphold civil liberties, promote transparency, reduce governance costs, curb nepotism, strengthen institutions, and ensure respect for the rule of law.
