‘Meeting Points, Missing Links’: 63 Years Of Independence And 25 Years Of Unbroken Democracy
The Oasis Reporters
February 11, 2026
By Benjamin Agbokaide Atu
Nigeria is 63 years old as an independent nation with a staggered 25 years of unbroken Democracy. Prior to the October 1 Independence Day, there were indeed outstanding patriots that existed from all parts of the country. The level of high patriotism was bound by common ideals irrespective of tribe, creed and religion.
The collective focus was targeted at upholding a prosperous and indivisible nation. Nigerian unity has remained her greatest strength despite regional secessionists movements, ethnic diversity, and others. Nigeria would not have been the giant of Africa without unity and stability which has made it the most populous black nation on earth.
Hence, successive governments continue to perceive the unity of Nigeria as non-negotiable in order to retain the title of the giant of Africa.
The founding fathers of the nation, in spite of their interests, had in their wisdom believed in the unity in diversity existing in the nation. These nationalists who were the pillars of Nigeria’s unity, see the unity of Nigeria as its strength. Their efforts and patriotism has kept the nation together as one geographical entity.
After 63 years of self governance and over 25 years of sustainable and unbroken democracy, what changes have we made?
Critical metrics that serve as evaluation tools are all pointing towards a negative direction. According to the 2024 report by Transparency International released in 2025, Nigeria has climbed five places in the latest 2024 Corruption Perception Index (CPI), moving from 145th to 140th among 180 countries globally.
Is that progress? It sounds musical reading that Nigeria’s 2024 Corruption Perception Index score is 26 out of 100, a slight increase from 25 in 2023. Its global ranking improved from 145th to 140th out of 180 countries.
Do we still have hope? Can we still make anything good out of this nation?
In areas of critical metrics of evaluation of our democracy, Nigeria is far behind time. Nigeria ranks 120 out of 140 countries in the 2024 World Human Rights and Rule of Law Index, scoring below average and falling behind military-ruled Niger, gang-plagued El Salvador and war-torn Ukraine.
The index, compiled by the World Justice Project, assesses how nations uphold human rights and maintain the rule of law. It evaluates government constraints, corruption levels, openness, human rights protections, public order, regulatory enforcement and the effectiveness of civil justice systems.
Nigeria’s ranking has fluctuated over recent years. It plunged from 106th in 2020 to 121st in 2021, and climbed slightly to 118th in 2022, before falling back to 120th in both 2023 and 2024.
In terms of scores, 2024 marks Nigeria’s lowest performance since 2015. The country scored 0.44 on a scale ranging from 0 to 1, with 1 representing the highest level of adherence to human rights and the rule of law. This is a decline from 0.41, a score Nigeria maintained from 2021 to 2023 after dropping 0.1 in 2021.
In the World Justice Project, WJP, Rule of Law Index Nigeria scored 0.49 in this category, ranking 88th of 142 countries. While the legislature did well, with a score of 0.65 and a global rank of 42, other areas showed poor results.
For example, Nigeria’s judiciary ranked 77th, scoring a below-average 0.48. Regionally, it placed 12th among 38 African countries. Nigeria has perpetually maintained 88th as a permanent status in the World Justice Project. It goes to show that Democracy in Nigeria is at risk with no compliance to the rule of law.
The World Justice Project measures government constraints as how well those in power are held accountable by law. It looks at checks like constitutional limits, judicial oversight, and non-governmental influences such as the press. It’s no more a debatable topic that Nigeria has become World Poverty Headquarters.
Consistent damning reports have shown that Nigeria is “Poverty Capital of the World. The World Poverty Clock, created by Vienna-based World Data Lab, as of 2019 declared that 91.16 million of the country’s 198 million people were living below a dollar a day (extreme poverty).
Needless to bring in the 2024 /2024 report in order not to diminish the little hope we still have for the nation. It will shock Nigerians to know where this nation stands in the world Human Right, Open government regulatory enforcement, Absence of corruption, civil justice among other critical metrics of evaluation of a well structured system. These whole Backsliding development point down to a democratic breakdown.
Democratic deception and democratic backsliding in Nigeria today, begins at the ballot box. Democratic breakdown are no more caused by Army generals and soldiers but by elected government officials.
A major meeting point between the Nigerian Independent and the Nigeria unbroken democracy is the attitude and behavior of politicians.
It was this same behavior that is currently being paraded that the military used as an excuse to take over the government. Attitudes of 63 years ago are still manifesting in the much celebrated 25 years of unbroken democracy. The missing link between the Independent and the Unbroken Democracy is still the same.
The road not taken.
No deliberate effort to enact National integration to mute ethnic tensions. Many government efforts to subvert democracy are “legal” in the sense that they are approved by the legislature or accepted by the courts. Yet these undemocratic actions are usually portrayed as part of an effort to improve democracy. These were exactly the same attitudes and actions that put the 1st , 2nd and 3rd Republic democracies at risk.
The various agitations and protests are warning signs of an authoritarian government where politicians don’t put democracy ahead of their interest. A clear demonstration of democratic recession.
This was why Bill Newman warned that it’s the neglect of little things that add up to become great things. One broken wheel can ditch a train, one quarrelsome staff can cause a strike of ten thousand workers. One wrong decision can ruin a destiny. Today, the destiny of Nigeria is being threatened by both insecurity, secessionist movement, ethnic tension and false national unity which has been the root cause of the national question.
Restructuring is another major missing link in both the Nigerian independent and the 25 years of unbroken Democracy. The major spillover cry of Nigerians right from independence in 1960 till date, has been the need for restructuring and institutionalisation towards nation building, national integration and development.
With 25 years of unbroken democracy, the call for restructuring has become louder. In spite of the pretense of being united, the Nigerian society is sharply divided by mutually reinforcing issues with each segment of the population living in their own nation State.
The disintegration noises in Nigeria can only be resolved by selfless leadership and not regional or religious bigotry. The current coercive integration by intimidation can’t keep the nation together. Nigeria needs to be relaunched. What we witnessed in Sudan a few years ago has shown that you can’t hold people together by intimidation against their interest and that is a major constraint in our political leadership that has made it impossible for leaders to lead effectively and for followers to also follow voluntarily.
The continuous call for peace by governments at all levels have continuously fallen on deaf ears because those who believe they have been denied justice don’t really have need for peace.
Within the country, the security systems have nearly collapsed, with Islamist terrorism, banditry, armed herdsmen genocidal killings, kidnapping, violent robberies, piracy and cultism tearing at the nation’s fabric. It is tales of woe galore.
