POLITICAL PARTIES AND DEMOCRACY IN AFRICA: A CASE STUDY OF NIGERIA

Sustainable and strong democracy is dependent on the existence of well-organized and functioning political parties. The institution remains a crucial actor in bringing together diverse interests, recruits and present candidates, and develops competing policy proposals that provide people with a choice. In a democracy world over and Nigeria in particular there is no substitute for open competition between political parties. The objective of the paper is therefore to examine political parties in Nigeria and its role in sustaining the democratic transition in the country. The research by its nature generates data from empirical and secondary sources. The finding of the study reveals that the political parties are faced with problems of internal democracy, corruption and lacked political development strategies. The paper taking into consideration these problems probed the prospect of democracy in the country and recommended among others that political parties in the Nigeria should focus attention on evolving an ideology for economic development of the country instead of attaching much importance to primordial issues.