REBUILDING GOVERNMENT TRUST AND EFFECTIVE DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE IN NIGERIA

The study examined the effect of Rebuilding Government Trust on Effective Democratic Governance in Nigeria. The specific objectives of the study are to; examine the effect of fair and free elections on effective Democratic Governance and evaluate the effect of Accountability mechanisms on effective Democratic Governance in Nigeria. The study adopts a descriptive research survey. A structured questionnaire design with a five-point Likert scale was used to collect data for the study. The data was analyzed using Smart PLS version 4.0 with structural equation models. The result revealed that there is a statistically significance positive effect of fair and free elections on democratic governance (β=0.686; T-Statistic = 8.193; P values < 0.001). Also, the result indicates that the accountability mechanism has no statistically significant effect on the democratic governance (β=-0.009; T-Statistic = 0.106; P values =0.916) of Nigeria. The study concludes that Rebuilding Government Trust has a significant effect on Democratic Governance in Nigeria. The study recommended among others that the government should reform and enforce electoral laws to prevent fraud, vote-buying, and other irregularities, and ensure the independence and capacity of electoral commissions to conduct elections impartially and effectively.