Steemit Engagement Challenge S11/W4 - How Is Democracy Functioning In Your Country?

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Hello community friends, I welcome you to my blog and hope they are well taken. It is another great week of the engagement challenge and I do hope I make my contributions to the meaningful pleasure of readers here. It is all about democracy and the ways it works in our individual countries. We already know that democracy is one of the systems of government that has dominated most parts of the work.

It is simply the government of the people by the people and of the people. This is a system that the present decentralized system draws its concept from. A system that gives everyone a say and also allows participation at all times. If we observe very well when people are gauged for representing what democratic terms entail, there is usually chaos.

People are expected to have a word of their own, disagree to agree in all circumstances, and be partakers of decision-making activities either directly or indirectly. Guys, let's get started immediately using the stipulated guidelines.

Since the country's independence, the country has continued to fluctuate between military rule and the democratic system of government not until lately where it has enjoyed uninterrupted dividends of democracy. In this recent republic which started sometime in 1999 after several agitations for the military to go, the democratic system was restored after a peaceful handover of power to the civilians.

Until now, it has been a cruise for the country void of any military takeover. Just like the saying, even the best military rule is not as good as the worst democratic government. Maybe we are anchoring in this path and enjoying our democracy just the way we have seen. Its nascent democracy my has continued to grow as this is the 24th year of democratic rule. It may have not been advanced like what we have in the Western world, but it has continued to mutate each time we have elections.

The country currently has three tiers of government that it operates which include the National (Federal government), sub-national (State government), and local government. Just as required for every democratic system, we have the different arms of government that stir the affairs of the country. They are the Executives, National Assembly Members, and the Judiciary.

All the ingredients of democracy flow through the mechanics already mentioned above. Though there are still perceived challenges of electioneering rigging, corruption, abuse of executive powers, and other limitations imploding the country, we believe it is only a matter of time before the institutions are gradually strengthened that all these would be fixed.

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My country (Nigeria) is totally out of the trenches of domination rule. The country is presently enjoying the dividends of democracy no matter how little it keeps creeping in. Just as I said earlier, the best military rule cannot be equated to the worst democratically elected regime. The country last saw the end of military rule in 1999 when democracy was restored back to the space.

Since then, it has been biding to date with the military authorities who have continually reinstated their commitment to protecting the political space despite the sparing political tension in the country. We may also have some separatist agitation here are there, trying to dominate and hold ransome some parts of the country, but this does not in any way endanger the current political structure in place.

The country is relatively self-sufficient in food production. The country is blessed with abundant food and mineral resources. The arable land and the different food species have made food sufficiency an easy one to attend in the country. In the last decade, the country has continued to thrive in the international world in its comparative advantage to produce a greater percentage of African food sold in the Western and American world.

There is no doubt that the country has continued to suffer a deficit over time due to the suppression and oppression of locally produced food from the overbearing pressure of imported foods. Despite the government policies to ban some of these products to attain local production sufficiency, the activities of smuggling have continued to bring instability to the country.

This may be why I was not affirmative in answering a yes to my country's food-sufficient goal. The activities of smugglers have been a key limiting factor. We are also currently faced with the activities of activities insurgency and banditry in most food-producing areas, and hence, this has brought about a huge deficit in recent times in food sufficiency.

The decade-long farmers-herders clash has also posed another great danger. Farmers are attached to he farmers and killed, cattle rustled from the herders by criminals, and other mitigating factors affecting the food sufficiency agenda. No wonder why the federal government has declared a state of emergency in the area of food sufficiency after reviewing the numerous plans affecting this sector.

Due to the many challenges listed above and the under-development of both the private and public sector paths. There have been inflationary and unemployment rates jumping through the skies of recent times. Youth unemployment in my country is becoming a worrisome monster that has continued to bedevil the continued existence of this great country. Successive governments have come and gone with little impact on this.

Where there are high unemployment rates, there are possible cases of security breaches and restiveness. We cannot separate these two as there are more ideal hands than engaged hands in the system. They are potential tools in the hands of these politicians and criminals. No wonder the issues of banditry and insurgency have continued to increase despite all control measures out in place.

Even with the little employed ones, they are either not satisfied in their jobs or afraid to quit due to the fear of not getting employed. However, youth unemployment has continued to be a monster awaiting to implode if unchecked.

My dear country needs a better electioneering process to help place the right people in the right place. We cannot continue to have people imposed on us through means of rigging and other judiciary sabotage. If the electioneering system is strengthened in such a way that competency and merit are upheld, things will definitely take a new form other than recycling politicians who do not have anything better to offer.

Placing technocrats in the right place would bring about proper hiding of insecurity challenges that have further reduced our chances of maintaining food security in the country. A robust system that would bring about better economic policies, development, and prosperity for everyone. A system that would drive firm political will in engaging all sectors of the country.

We cannot be giants of Africa with little or no developmental strides. I would like to see a county where its infrastructure and self-sufficiency in most sectors are ensured. Who was that we cannot have a steady power supply in our country? It is something expected and a driver of all other sectors of the economy.

Just a clarion call to democratically installed systems in my continent (Africa) that we need to use this medium to strengthen our institutions to make them more self-reliant and help deliver on all millennium developmental and sustainable goals. Good governance without any doubt will disabuse the recent incidences of coup in the West African regions. Juntas come in because of the perceived failed dividends of democracy expected from the leaders.

I thank you, friends, for reading through my publication. This is my entry for this engagement.