ZONING POLICY AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF DEMOCRACY IN NIGERIA
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the study
The zoning policy has really caused a lot of political instability in the country as a result of disagreement among politicians but in spite of that it still brings about development of democracy. A recent pieces in the economists highlights the system of zoning, that Nigeria employs to alternate power between the north and south of the country. In the economists word. “candidates are picked alternatively from north and south behind closed doors and presented to voters in rigged polls”. Since independence 50 years ago, Nigeria has not achieved its full potential as the giant of Africa public services across the country
are all but non-existent, corruption rife and democracy in the time meaning of the word is not being practiced. For many decades, presidential politics in Nigeria has been saddled with ethnicity or tribal politics, religious intolerance and more recently electoral malpractices, well meaning and patritic elements in the polity had wrested with the idea of the best formula that will guarantee peace and stability in the country. Historically the highest political office in the land has been dominated by the countries citizen’s of northern extradition. This was made possible by subsequent military regimes whose
brands of leadership has no space for democratic contraception. The zoning formula was therefore envisage to enable the northern and southern Nigeria to have an equal chance of producing the president during an eight year presidential cycle. The zoning formula was first adopted by the second civilian administration of Alhaji Shehu Shagari and Dr. Alex Ekwueme in 1979, during the first quarter of president Shagari’s second term, the military led by general Buhari truncated regime, thereby making it impossible for southern Nigerian to experience the plan. During the consecutive 15 years of northern dominated military governance, the zoning formula was forgotten for the past ten years, beginning with Chief Olusegun Obasanjo’s civilian regime 1999-2007, and the administration of Shehu Musa Yar’dua and president Goodluck Jonathan 2007 to president, the (PDP) Peoples Democratic Party had started dangling the carrot of the presidential zoning between the southern and the northern sections of the country. Advocates of presidential zoning often cite peace and stability in the policy as the main reason, but Nigerians must seriously ask themselves how zoning both presidential down to even gubernitorial
elections have been able to bring peace and stability (development), can zoning or quota produce the best leadership material suitable for development desperately needed at this critical time. According to professor J.T Nwabueze, zoning and rotation principle or policy is part of a democratic culture used for fair play. He went further to say that it counters the negative impulse and tendency of a group of people to remain in office as long as possible and use the resources of the nation to service its narrow and practical interest. It also offers itself as an antidote to a practice that engenders nepotism, promotes
corruption, and breed ineiciency, which in turn stultifies growth abs sustainable development. Ifedi Andi Okwenna, 2009, also opined that if power is allowed to systematically rotate between the various zones the political space will not only widen, the process will definitely throw out capable leaders who can transform our country and move it to greater height.
