MONEY POLITICS AND THE PERFORMANCE OF ELECTED PUBLIC OFFICIALS IN NIGERIA: A CASE STUDY OF OVIA NORTH EAST LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF EDO STATE

ABSTRACT

This study investigates money politics and the performance of elected public officials in Nigeria: A case study of Ovia North East Local Government Area of Edo State. The research adopted the simple random sampling techniques through survey administration of questionnaires. Simple percentage statistical instrument was employed to analyse the research hypotheses. The result of the findings indicated that the electoral process in Nigeria strongly influenced vote buying and vote selling. The findings also demonstrated that the phenomenon of vote buying and vote selling is a function of poverty in the country. Again, the findings show that vote buying and vote selling is strongly influenced by high rate of unemployment. The findings further revealed that vote buying and vote selling strongly hinders free and fair electoral processes. Based on the findings of this study, it can be recommended that electorate should reject every inducement during election from politicians, not to take money from candidates can reduce vote-selling, but a different type of promise (to take vote-buying payments, but to nonetheless vote according to one’s underlying candidate preferences) can have a smaller effect, and even possibly increase vote-selling, if voters are partially naive about (underestimate) their vote-selling temptation. Policies should be put in place to galvanize political parties, elected public office holders and aspirants to public offices in Nigeria and other emerging democracies to review how they prioritize their policies and allocate states’ resources, and place more weight on making and fulfilling election commitments on the provision of infrastructure and delivery of public services. The study recommend that INEC should sensitize the political parties to the implications of good governance and public services on electoral practices, and voters to the relevance of their votes in relation to employment, provision of welfare packages for the citizens and public services.