Democracy and New Public Management: Tools in Addressing Underdevelopment in Nigeria

The prevalence of underdevelopment amongst countries in Africa and Nigeria, in particular, has been attributed to systemic pathologies arising from system of leadership, governance, resources and institutional management. The old paradigm of government and governance is no longer feasible in addressing underdevelopment hence recourse for a paradigm shift. The relevance of democracy and new public management has been brought to the fore as a result of emerging issues and challenges manifested in the behaviour of top political leaders, government functionaries, the modus operandi of government institutions and poor state of development amidst abundance of resources. It is against this background that this article seeks to examine the usage of democracy and new public management as tools in addressing underdevelopment. The qualitative and explorative methods were adopted as secondary sources of data used. This article concludes to address underdevelopment, the principles, models, practices, systems and structures of democracy as a system of governance and new public management as a governance operating tool should be re-examined, remodelled, realigned and be adaptable taking into cognisance prevailing issues and challenges with a view to attaining the tenets of new public management-productivity, economy, efficiency and effectiveness.