Dividends Of Democracy Go Beyond Building Roads, Paying Salaries

The executive director of the Peering Advocacy and Advancement Centre in Africa (PAACA), Ezenwa Nwagwu, has faulted the routine celebration of road construction and salary payments as dividends of democracy, describing it as a “profound misunderstanding” of what democratic governance truly entails.

Nwagwu stated this in a statement marking Nigeria’s 26th anniversary of uninterrupted civil rule, insisting that democracy must not be reduced to infrastructure projects and basic governance deliverables.

He argued that the current political culture focuses more on optics and token achievements than on the deeper values that make democracy meaningful.

He said, “We often hear people describe things like efficient service delivery or infrastructure development as some of the key gains of democracy.

While that may sound right on the surface, democracy goes far beyond that. If it were just about service delivery, the military actually held its own. They built bridges, roads, and hospitals. In fact, they built some of the most important and enduring infrastructure our country still relies on today.

“Sadly, discussions around ‘dividends of democracy’ have now been reduced to how many kilometres of roads have been constructed or how many months of salaries and pensions have been paid.

“As important as those roads may be, that is not what democracy is about. Democracy was never meant to be reduced to showy projects. It’s about values – transparency, accountability, participation – and the systems that uphold them.”

According to Nwagwu, democracy is about building strong institutions, protecting freedoms, encouraging citizen participation, and ensuring that power is exercised with checks and balances.

He lamented that many public officials still operate with a military mindset, authoritarian in approach, intolerant of scrutiny, and obsessed with personality cults.

The PAACA executive director said that while the country has recorded some gains, there is still much to be done.

He noted that despite two and a half decades of civil rule, institutions like the judiciary and state legislatures still struggle with independence, while political parties remain weak and ideology-free.

He said, “Let’s not pretend things are normal. The political class continues to behave in ways that betray the democratic spirit. Power is still personalised, not institutionalised. We do not have strong political parties built on ideology or values. Our legislature, both national and especially state, is often a rubber stamp. Our judiciary still struggles to be independent. State Assemblies and the Judiciary still don’t enjoy financial autonomy.

“Imagine a Nigeria where state Houses of assembly perform their legislative duties without fear or favour. Imagine a judiciary that doesn’t wait for the executive to breathe before it can act. Imagine a democracy where freedom of expression is encouraged, not suppressed. These are the values we should be pursuing, not just how many kilometres of roads were paved.”