Contending Issues in the Niger Delta Crisis of Nigeria - Journal of ...

Chapter III: Contending Issues in Governance and Democracy at the Local
Government Level in Nigeria: Some Reflections on the Niger Delta Question
power and authority and empowerment of the sub-regional units.
(Otite and Albert: 2004).
Conclusion
This paper has been able to point out that the formal institutions of
government have failed in the governance quest of the Nigerian state.
A new vista of awakening has been brought to light that the
indegeneous non-governmental organizations abounding in our civil
society and the communities possess the necessary qualities for
fostering democratic governance in the Nigerian state. What is
hanging in the balance and constituting a barricade is the policy
challenge for a programme of institution building from the bottom of
society, i.e. the community levels to be developed and made to form
the foundation for governance at the local level and in the larger
society. The implication of this with reference to the Niger Delta
region, is that communities and the people will become more involved
by becoming stake holders at deciding matters that affect their very
existence. This will move Nigeria away from its present position of rule
of might to that of rule by right and consultation. When the people
gets involved in the actual machineries of governance, the teething
problems of fiscal federalism, electoral fraud and money politics will
becomes things of the past. A commentator puts it barely that ‘the
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