International Journal of Academic and Applied Research (IJAAR)   Year: 2020 | Volume: 4 | Issue: 10 | Page No.: 134-140 Impact of Underdevelopment on Democratic Consolidation in Nigeria Johnpaul Onyebuchi Nduba, Akam, Benjamin Ekene, Ayogu, Brendan Benneth Abstract: The Nigerian democratic project starting from the fourth Republic in 1999 has witnessed a lot of changes cum development as evidenced in the absence of military interregnum. The fact made above, notwithstanding, many factors which constitute the nature, character and features of underdevelopment still mitigate effective and efficient democratic consolidation in Nigeria. These factors include; dependency or the character of the Nigerian state, general poverty, poor technology, illiteracy, lack of finance, poor planning and implementation, endemic corruption, nature of the electoral body, dependent judiciary, thuggery occasioned by high unemployment, poor security and/or politicization of the security apparatus. These, no doubt, is a bane on democratic consolidation in Nigeria as cases of politics of acrimony, clashes, electoral malpractices such as under age voting, outright stealing and manipulation of electoral materials, intimidation of electoral officers, corruption, unacceptance of election results by political actors and ensuing demonstrations cum riots and unending litigations, dependence on international observers, etc. abound. Employing both the descriptive and analytical method on secondary data, this study shows that Nigeria has thus far attained a level of democratic consolidation, but lacks in great details some major indices of democratic consolidation, occasioned by the country's level of development.