Impact of Money Politics on Good Governance in South West Nigeria (2011-2019)

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume V, Issue XI, November 2021 | ISSN 2454–6186

Impact of Money Politics on Good Governance in South West Nigeria (2011-2019)

Omoleye Olabode
School of Postgraduate Studies, Department of Political Science & International Relations, Nile University of Nigeria

Abstract: This study explored the impact of money politics on good governance in Southwest Nigeria (2011-2019). Five research questions were framed while one hypothesis was formulated and tested for the study. From a population of 38,257,260 a sample of 400 respondents was drawn using the stratified sampling technique. The descriptive survey research design was used for the study. One instrument was utilized for the study. The questionnaire was a 27-item Money Politics and Good Governance Questionnaire (MPGGQ). The reliability of the MPGGQ was obtained using Crombach’s Alpha which yielded coefficient alpha value of 0.74. Descriptive statistics of mean and standard deviation was used for data analysis while Chi-square statistics was used to test the research hypothesis. The study found that: money politics impacts highly on good governance in Southwest Nigeria between 2011 and 2019, money politics impacts highly on the emergence of people’s choice of political leadership in Southwest Nigeria. Also, money politics impacts highly on the electoral system in the Southwest between 2011 and 2019 and have negative consequences on good governance. The extent money politics affected performance in office in the Southwest between 2011 and 2019 is high. Money/godfatherism, poverty, corruption and impunity, weak electoral body, deceit by politicians, desperation to win at all cost and weak electoral framework are the major causes of money politics in Southwest Nigeria. The paper concludes that Money politics has obliterated the political process in the Southwest states of Nigeria and has impacted negatively on good governance. Money politics also impacted negatively on good governance and abuse of political office because the political office holders. The study among others recommends that until the regulatory agencies responsible for monitoring of elections and sanctioning of offenders improve their efforts in minimizing excessive use of money in politics of Southwest Nigeria, it will continue to produce incompetent leaders and this will lead to bad governance and abuse of power as well as misuse of state resources for private gain.

Keywords: Money Politics, Good governance, Power, Politics

I. INTRODUCTION

Money politics in a layman understanding is that kind of politics whereby members of a political party offer money and inducements in order to win support from certain individual or communities during an election campaign. During elections in Nigeria, it is common to hear of instances where people were given money, rice, stock fish, salt and cloths. In return, the recipient would cast their votes for a specified political party.

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