Abstract:
This paper attempts a critical assessment of Nigerian state and its unending governance crisis. Over the decades, there has been recurrent and sustained argument that the Nigerian state underperforms due to lack of state capacity to deal with the contemporary complexities of governance. The objectives of this paper are to examine the factors responsible for governance crisis in Nigeria, factors that predetermine the character of the Nigerian State and the effects of governance crisis on socio-economic development in Nigeria. Data are drown secondary sources and the authors' close observations of events in Nigeria. Findings indicate that Nigeria has not fared well in three major areas: security of lives and properties, promotion of the rule of law, and provision of visionary leadership. The paper observed that governance crisis in Nigeria is an institutional problem that would require structural and reorientational approaches to diagnose, it therefore recommended that all enabling laws and enforcement agencies should be operational and faceless, not to identify with sacred cows.
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