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Canadian Journal of Family and Youth, 15 (1), 2023, pp. 14-32
ISSN 1718-9748© University of Alberta
http://ejournals,library,ualberta.ca/index/php/cjfy
Students’ Attitudes Towards Political Participation and Democratic Values in Nigeria:
Critical Democracy Education Implications
Adaobiagu N. Obiagu, Celestina U. Machie and Nneka F. Ndubuisi
Abstract
This study investigated the attitudes of university students toward political
participation, as well as four other selected democratic values – freedom and
liberty, human rights/human rights protest, corruption resistance, and separation
of powers in Nigeria. A descriptive survey design, with a tool entitled ‘Attitude
towards Democratic Values Questionnaire (ADVQ)’, was used to collect data
from randomly selected 250 undergraduate students (male = 120; female = 130)
from a university in Nigeria. Six research questions were answered using
descriptive statistics in guiding the study. The results showed that university
students reported an unwillingness to protest human rights violations as well as
the tendency to accept bribes and campaign for a wrong political candidate for
financial gains, despite general findings that indicated positive attitudes towards
all selected democratic values among university students. The result of the
variance analysis conducted to ascertain the influence of gender on attitudes
towards democratic values showed that female students scored significantly
higher than their male counterparts in all measured democratic principles,
excepting human rights and separation of powers. Implications of findings for a
critical democratic education that emphasises critical consciousness, spatial
voting, and socio-political resilience are discussed.
Keywords: human rights, political participation, democratic values,
separation of powers, democracy education
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Obiagu, Machie and Ndubuisi
Adaobiagu Obiagu is an educator and a lawyer. She is a lecturer in the Department of Social Science
Education at the University of Nigeria. She teaches and researches pedagogy and themes of gender,
citizenship, human rights and peace education mainly from critical, decolonial, and transformative
perspectives. She has authored and co-authored papers in these research areas, including the
following: (1) Ajaps, S.O., & Obiagu, A.N. (2021). Increasing civic engagement through civic
education: A critical consciousness perspective. Journal of Culture and Values in Education, 4(1), 64
– 87. https://doi.org/10.46303/jcve.2020.2 (2) Obiagu, A., & Nwaubani, O. (2020). The challenges of
teaching for human rights in Nigeria: Knowledge, pedagogy and activism. Human Rights Education
Review, 3(2), 5 – 26, http://doi.org/10.7577/hrer.3804; (3) Obiagu, A.N., Mezieobi, D.N., Aroh, N.P.,
& Akubue, F.N. (2020). The effect of cooperative concept mapping on misconceptions, knowledge
achievement and transfer of learning in peace education. The Social Studies, 111(1), 18 – 38.
https://doi.org/10.1080/00377996.2019.1652139
Celestina Machie graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Social Studies Education from the
Department of Social Science Education at the University of Nigeria. Her research interests include
social studies education, youth and youth development.
Nneka Ndubuisi graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Social Studies Education from the
Department of Social Science Education at the University of Nigeria. Her research interest includes
social studies education and well-being.
Acknowledgement: We thank the students who participated in this study.
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Obiagu, Machie and Ndubuisi
Introduction
Democracy is a system of governance that guarantees representative government,
power to the people, fundamental rights, participatory engagement, checks and balances,
impartiality administration, and equality (IDEA, 2021c). The presence of democracy in a
given State can be measured by the State’s practice of democratic values – the fundamental
beliefs and constitutional principles which guide the practices of a democratic government–
such as justice and equality, freedom and liberty, rule of law, separation of powers, and
respect of human rights. Current observations show that democracy is facing challenges in
recent times; there is increasing reports of democratic recession and backsliding across
advanced and developing countries (Diamond, 2015; IDEA, 2021c; VonDoepp, 2019). In
Nigeria, democracy, although it has not been well practiced since its adoption, has receded to
the barest minimum, with Nigeria described as a hybrid regime with a score of 4.11 and rank
of 107 in the 2021 Democracy Index (Economist Intelligence, 2021). “Nigeria’s democracy
suffers many issues such as violations of human rights, poor attitude to work, extortion and
bribery, corruption, and varying conflicts” (Obiagu, 2019, p. 5), and abuse of separation of
powers, with rife electoral violence/malpractices. The seeming silence of the citizens on these
democratic issues that hamper the enjoyment of the advantages of democracy (i.e., economic
development, human development, peace, and security) is more troubling (Gerring et al.,
2012; Halperin et al., 2004).
Due to the importance of democracy to development, efforts ranging from the
adoption of governance transparency policies to electoral reforms, economic empowerment
and increasing citizens’ engagement in civic activities are pursued to improve the practice of
democratic values. Of particular concern to this paper are educational efforts towards
improving citizens’ democratic behaviours. These efforts range from formal to informal
citizenship, voter, or human rights education programmes and awareness campaigns.
National Orientation Agency (2006) emphasised the need to use civic education to promote
youths’ active participation in meeting with political officials to express their concerns and
desires, petitioning and demonstrating peacefully, voting, registration, contesting elective
offices, demanding accountability from elected representatives, scrutinising and criticising
government policies, writing articles in newspapers, boycotts and labour union strikes so as
to solve political problems in Nigeria. With this objective, civic education was reintroduced
in curricula in 2008 to empower students with democratic and other values (NERDC, 2008).
These values include freedom of speech, free and fair elections, right to vote and be voted
for, equality, electoral credibility (citizens’ vote must count), justice, rule of law, national
integration (unity in diversity), transparency, patriotism, self-reliance, dignity of human,
supremacy of constitution, toleration of opposition and legitimacy (NERDC, 2018).
Despite the implementation of democratic values through school subjects such as
civic education and government, democratic problems (e.g., human rights violation, electoral
violence and malpractice, suppression of freedom of speech, ethnic discord,
kidnapping/killing of political opponents, and writing or sponsoring the publications of
damaging articles in the media) are rife in Nigeria. The youths who undertook civic education
are employed for human rights violations and democracy disruption. These issues could be
connected to the poor implementation of democratic contents and the dominance of rote
learning in both pre-higher and university education. To impact citizens’ democratic
behaviours and effectively solve Nigeria’s democracy issues through the teaching of
democratic values in schools, the attitudes of citizens toward democratic values need to be as-
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Obiagu, Machie and Ndubuisi
certained. This is because attitude plays a key role in predicting or producing behaviour.
Allport (1935) defined attitude as a “mental and neural state of readiness” (p. 798).
Ascertaining students’ attitude towards democratic values will answer whether students are
ready to apply the learnt democratic principles to practice, and also inform the transformation
of democracy education.
There are inconsistencies with results of studies that have explored the issues of actual
political participation and human rights activism, and attitude towards human rights,
freedom, and corruption (Cohrs et al., 2007; Fadairo & Ladele, 2014; Obiagu & Ajaps, 2022;
Lewis & Bratton, 2000). Therefore, this study sought to add to this literature by investigating
the attitude of youths towards selected democratic values – political participation, freedom
and liberty, human rights respect and protection, resistance of corruption, and separation of
powers. A focus on these principles is informed by their endangerment by increasing socio-
political problems like abuse of judicial independence, victim blaming, and a high rate of
corruption. Findings could provide insights into citizens’ poor democratic behaviours despite
learning about democracy in schools, and hence, inform better strategies for rethinking and
implementing democracy education. The study draws on the responses of 250 (female = 130;
male = 120) undergraduate students of a university in Enugu state, Nigeria to attain its goals.
A focus on this group is motivated by the important roles the youths play in a democracy.
Literature on Selected Democratic Values in Nigeria
Previous studies on each democratic value explored in this paper are reviewed below.
Political Participation in Nigeria
Political participation involves engaging in political activities, such as voting in
elections or referendums, petitioning, boycotts, mass protests and political rallies. It serves as
a tool that the citizenry uses to influence governmental structure, policies, and decisions as
well as hold their government accountable (Obiagu & Ajaps, 2022). Previous studies found
that political participation is low in Nigeria (Adetoro & Omiyefa, 2017; Obiagu & Ajaps,
2022). Nigeria’s voting data from the year 1979 to 2019 made available by IDEA (2021a),
for example, indicate that voter turnout declines annually to the tune of 5% to 10%, with the
number of registered voters being around 50% of the number of voting age population. The
number of total votes cast being about three to four times less than the number of registered
voters. Material gains also drive political participation in Nigeria, making vote selling and
buying a significant problem in Nigeria’s political landscape. Electoral violence is very high
in Nigeria and mostly perpetrated by the youths mobilised by politicians as thugs. Gender
influences political participation in Nigeria; women are consistently found to participate less
in politics either as voters or leaders (Agbalajobi, 2010; Obiagu & Ajaps, 2022). As reported
by the International Institute of Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA, 2021b),
Nigerian women are not adequately represented in the political space. Patriarchal culture and
stereotypical media are strong factors in women’s low engagement in politics; female
politicians are criticised and scrutinised than male politicians and discussions about female
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Obiagu, Machie and Ndubuisi
politicians are gendered and sensationalised (Eshiet, 2013; IDEA, 2021b). Evidently, while
much is known about actual political participation, little is known about attitudes towards
political participation. To effectively tackle the problem of political apathy among the
citizens and promote increased political participation, we need to first understand people’s
attitudes towards political participation. This paper fills this gap by focusing on the attitude of
university youths towards political participation.
Freedom and Liberty in Nigeria
Freedom and liberty are core democratic values. It is an ideal of democracy that people
be entitled to their freedom and not subjected to any form of restrictions, enslavement or
deprivation except in accordance with the law. The principle of freedom and liberty
guarantees the right to freedoms of expression, conscience, association, and movement. This
democratic value is protected in the Nigerian Constitution which provides for the right to
personal liberty in section 35(1) and freedom of expression of the people in section 39 (1). A
study on Nigerian’s attitude towards freedom show that the majority of Nigerians support
freedom of expression (Lewis & Bratton, 2000). The support notwithstanding, a reasonable
number of the study participants reported that they would not take action where such
freedoms are deprived (Lewis & Bratton, 2000). Despite the recognition of these democratic
values in Nigeria’s constitution and Nigerian’s endorsement of the values, the enjoyment of
freedoms is low in the country. Government institutions from time to time infringe on the
freedom and liberty of the press, particularly journalists and activists (United States
Department of State, 2019). Afrobarometer’s study on the status of freedom in Africa showed
that Africans’ perceived freedom of expression in a 2016/2018 survey declined by 7% from
their perception in the previous 2011/2013 survey and that they are less confident about their
freedom to engage in political speech as they exercise great caution in their political speeches
(Logan & Penar, 2019). On interpersonal levels, predators engage in restricting and violating
the freedom and liberty of others through kidnapping or controlling, with youths mostly used
for these predatory purposes. Hence, this study sought to understand Nigerian youths’
attitude towards freedom and liberty.
Human Rights Protection in Nigeria
“Human rights are basic human entitlements founded on the dignity of human persons
and the inherent human right to life and claims or freedoms –not necessarily covered in the
extant laws of a state– which do not infringe on another’s right or national or global security,
broadly defined” (Obiagu & Nwaubani, 2020, p. 6). Nigeria is a signatory to many human
rights conventions and it enshrined human rights in chapter 4 of its constitution. These rights
include right to life, rights to freedom of movement, expression, conscience, religion, and
association, rights to non-discrimination on grounds of race, religion, political affiliation, sex,
or ethnicity, right to privacy, and right to privacy. In spite of these, human rights violations
are high in Nigeria and appearing worse with each day that passes (Amnesty International,
2021); with significant human rights issues, unlawful and arbitrary killings, unlawful
infringement on citizens’ privacy rights, and criminal libel (United States Department of
State, 2019; Amnesty International, 2021). Why is human rights violations increasing despite
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Obiagu, Machie and Ndubuisi
educational efforts at empowering citizens to fight it and protect human rights? An answer to
this can be deduced from the attitude of Nigerians towards human rights protection and
respect. This has not been much investigated. Research on people’s attitude towards human
rights have been conducted in some other contexts (see Crowson, 2004; Cohrs et al., 2007).
Cohrs et al. (2007), for instance, found that human rights endorsement predicts human rights
behaviour and having universalist values positively predicts endorsement of human rights.
Right-wing authoritarian beliefs negatively predicts endorsement of human rights. Nigerians,
in this context, report an unwillingness to challenge the infringement of their right (Lewis &
Bratton, 2000; Logan & Penar, 2019). The present study extends previous research by
focusing on university students who have received civic education and as such, are expected
to have better attitudes towards human rights and its protection.
Corruption Resistance in Nigeria
Corruption is generally conceptualised as the use of public office for private gain. It has
multiple negative effects on human rights, peace and development, and hampers the growth
of democracy and economic development (Obiagu & Ossai, 2020). Corruption is increasing
in Nigeria and Nigeria’s score in corruption perception index consecutively failed from 2018
to 2021 with the country ranking 144, 146, 149 and 154 in 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021
respectively (Transparency International, 2021a). Resisting corruption can be said to be an
important democratic value in Africa since corruption undermines accountability and
transparency in governance and leads governments to crack down on independent voices
calling out abuses of power (Transparency International, 2021b). Studies have shown that
corruption is euphemised in Nigeria (Ojo et al., 2020; Obiagu & Ossai, 2020) and this could
result in actions against corrupt practices not being taken seriously by the citizens. A study by
Fadairo & Ladele (2014) revealed that 50% to 89% of respondents of the study showed
favourable attitude to different kinds of corrupt practices. Adesina & Oluyemo (2012)
conducted a study on the views of youths about corruption in Nigeria and found that over
57% of the surveyed youths disclosed that they would embezzle public fund before carrying
out any development project. Yet the dream of Nigerians is to see corruption end. Our study
extended previous studies by focusing on attitude of youths towards corruption resistance.
Separation of Powers in Nigeria
Separation of powers is a democratic doctrine that “highlights the roles to be played by
the respective bodies (executive, legislative and judiciary) involved in the triangular equation
and how to play them” (Mrabure & Awhefeada, 2020). The doctrine originated in the 4th
century BC when Aristotle (1998) and other philosophers such as John Locke through their
writings championed the separation of powers between three arms of the government. The
separation of powers and the independence of the judiciary are crucial in ensuring
compliance with the democratic principle of rule of law (Mrabure & Awhefeada, 2020). The
principle promotes the idea of checks and balances necessary to prevent dictatorship and
arbitrariness. The principle of separation of powers is highly abused in Nigeria in different
levels of governance. There is no significant checks and balances of powers between the
executive and legislative arms at the local levels (Ugwuanyi et al., 2015). The powers of the
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Obiagu, Machie and Ndubuisi
judicial arm of government is usually abused by the executive arm in Nigeria (Mrabure &
Awhefeada, 2020). Yet much protest has not been witnessed in Nigeria against the abuse of
separation of powers in Nigeria. A Nigerian study showed that more participants chose not to
take action if the powers of the judiciary is infringed on by the executive (Lewis & Bratton,
2000). It is important to understand how youths perceive this principle of democracy. The
understanding might inform practices that will promote the respect of separation of powers in
Nigeria.
Research Questions
Specifically, the following research questions were answered by this study.
1. What is the attitude of Nigerian youths towards political participation?
2. What is the attitude of youths towards freedom and liberty?
3. How do youths feel about human rights respect and protection?
4. What is the attitude of youths towards political participation?
5. What are the attitudes of youths to the practice of separation of power?
6. Does gender influence the attitude of youths towards democratic values?
Methods
Adopting a descriptive survey design, this study used a questionnaire entitled ‘Attitude
towards Democratic Values Questionnaire (ADVQ)’ to collect data on Nigerian youths’
attitudes towards selected democratic values (freedom and right to liberty, human rights
respect and protection, corruption resistance, political participation, and respect for the
separation of power). The method suits the objective of this study to ascertain the attitude of
university students towards selected democratic values. The study was conducted in the
Nsukka Local Government Area of Enugu State, Nigeria and the sample comprised 250
undergraduate students (male = 120; female = 130) conveniently and randomly sampled from
the University of Nigeria, Nsukka to participate in the study. Beyond receiving components
of democracy education at the university level, these students completed civic education
lessons in their secondary education.
The instrument, ADVQ was developed by the authors. It was comprised of two
sections. Section A requested information on participants’ biodata (gender). Section B had 5
clusters comprised of 33 items – 8 items in Cluster 1 (attitude towards freedom and right to
liberty), 7 items in Cluster 2 (attitude towards respect and protection for human rights), 6
items in Cluster 3 (attitude towards corruption resistance), 6 items in Cluster 4 (attitude
towards political participation), and 6 items in Cluster 5 (attitude towards respect for
separation of power). All items were rated on a 4-point Likert scale of Strongly Agree (4) to
Strongly Disagree (1). The questionnaire items were drawn from reports in existing literature
and researchers’ experience on democratic values in Nigeria. The suitability and language
clarity of the items in the instrument (i.e., face validity) were ascertained by three University
of Nigeria lecturers: two lecturers who are vastly knowledgeable in political studies and one
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Obiagu, Machie and Ndubuisi
lecturer knowledgeable in measurement and evaluation. Pilot tests were run with 30 students
from a faculty exempted from the study. The reliability tests on their responses were analysed
with Cronbach Alpha. The pilot test yielded alpha coefficients of .78 which indicate a high
level of internal consistency of the scale’s item (Field, 2013). The instrument was adopted for
the study.
Data Collection and Analysis
The second and third authors administered the questionnaire on undergraduate students
who formally consented to participate in the study. A total of 270 questionnaires were
distributed with 250 returned, constituting a 91.9% response rate. Participants completed the
measure on the spot and the researchers collected the completed measures. A further
reliability analysis was run on the collected study’s data and the result yielded an alpha of .90
which indicate a very high level of internal consistency of the scale’s item (Field, 2013).
Frequencies, percentages, mean and standard deviations analyses were computed on the data
for answering research questions while the research hypothesis was analysed with t-test.
Preliminary analyses were conducted to determine the study’s data satisfaction of
assumptions of normality, test of equality of error variance, and homogeneity of variance.
Findings
The mean results were scored on a range of 1 to 4. A score below 2.5 indicates a poor
or negative attitude towards the measured democratic values while a score of 2.5 and above
indicates a positive attitude towards measured democratic values (Krosnick & Presser, 2010).
This mean range is adopted as the boundary between ‘what is’ and ‘what is not’ in studies
using a 4-point Likert scale: In this study, it is adopted as the boundary between positive and
negative democratic attitudes.
Table 1: Mean and Standard Deviation [SD] of Responses on Subscales (n = 250)
Measured Variables
Mean
SD
Democratic Values
Attitude (DVA)
Right to Freedom and Liberty
3.05
.49
Human Rights Respect & Protection
2.64
.24
Corruption Resistance
2.63
.54
Political Participation
2.52
.21
Separation of Power
2.53
.23
Total [DVA]
2.67
.17
21
Obiagu, Machie and Ndubuisi
Overall, the result of the mean and standard deviation analyses of participants’ responses on
the 33 items of the ADVQ (see Table 1) showed that university students have a generally
positive attitude towards democratic values. All subscales and the overall measurement scale
received a mean score above 2.5. Of these, only one subscale (right to freedom and liberty)
received a mean score much above 2.5. Students reported a mean score slightly above the 2.5
benchmark on human rights protection, corruption resistance, political participation, and
separation of power factors.
Table 2: t-test Analysis in the Mean Responses of Male and Female University Students
on each Measured Independent Variable (n = 250)
Measured Variables
Male
Female
t-cal
Df
Sig**
Decision
Mean
SD
Mean
SD
Freedom and Liberty
2.97
.49
3.11
.48
-2.20
248
.028
Reject
Human Rights
2.68
.26
2.61
.21
2.31
229*
.022
Reject
Corruption Resistance
2.48
.39
2.76
.62
-4.32
219*
.000
Reject
Political Participation
2.44
.20
2.58
.19
-5.45
248
.000
Reject
Separation of Power
2.58
.21
2.46
.23
4.16
248
.000
Reject
Overall Democratic
Attitude
2.64
.14
2.71
.19
-3.45
238*
.001
Reject
Note: * = Equal variance not assumed; ** = (2-tailed)
Gender has an influence on attitudes towards democratic values as shown in Table 2
with women reporting a significantly higher positive attitude towards overall democratic
values. Male students are more likely to endorse human rights and separation of power than
the female students, while female students are more likely to endorse freedom and liberty,
resistance of corruption and political participation. Results of percentage, mean, standard
deviation and t-test analyses conducted on specific measured democratic values (freedom and
liberty, human rights protection, corruption resistance, political participation, and separation
of power) are presented in subheadings below. Worthy of note is that the asterisked items
indicate undesirable or negative attitude and thus are reversed scored, after conducting
frequency analyses on participants’ responses to the items, to get the true total attitude mean
scores.
22
Obiagu, Machie and Ndubuisi
Differences in Attitude of University Students Towards Rights to Freedom and Liberty
The data in Table 3 show the mean score of respondents’ attitudes towards rights to
freedom and liberty while the data in Table 2 additionally reports on gender mean difference.
Table 3: Percentage, Mean and Standard Deviation for Youths Attitude towards Rights to
Freedom and Liberty (N = 250)
My attitude towards right to freedom and liberty is that:
Percentage (%)
M
SD
SA
A
D
SD
1.
I like speaking my mind in all issues relating to
human right abuse.
10
86.8
.0
3.2
3.04
.48
2.
I like expressing my views in any democratic
gathering
8.8
80
.0
11.2
2.86
.72
3.
I believe that we have come to a time when freedom
of speech can no longer be tolerated.*
3.6
30.4
15.2
50.8
3.13
.97
4.
I do not like situation where human rights are abused.
30.4
27.6
.0
42.0
2.88
.85
5.
I like a situation where people’s wealth make them to
be respected more than others.*
5.6
30.4
15.6
48.4
3.07
1.01
6.
I believe that enjoyment of right to liberty should be
dependent on socioeconomic status of someone.*
5.6
18.0
8.8
67.6
3.38
.97
7.
I believe that socioeconomic status of an individual
should not be a factor in enjoyment of liberty.
35.2
64.8
.0
.0
3.35
.48
8.
I believe that men should enjoy more freedom and
liberty than women.*
3.6
53.6
15.2
27.6
2.67
.92
Grand Total
3.05
.49
Results show a generally positive attitude towards rights, freedom, and liberty with
female students providing greater endorsement for freedom and liberty. For item 8, more than
50% of the participants agree with the statement that men should enjoy more freedom and
liberty than women. As shown in Table 2, a significant difference exists in the mean freedom
and liberty attitude scores of female and male students to the favour of female students.
Differences in Attitude of University Students Towards Human Rights Respect and
Protection
The data in Table 4 shows that university students generally have a positive attitude
towards human rights protection while data in Table 2 found that attitude towards human
rights protection to be significantly influenced by gender with men showing a higher positive
attitude towards human rights.
23
Obiagu, Machie and Ndubuisi
Table 4: Percentage, Mean and Standard Deviation for Youths Attitude
towards Human Rights (N = 250)
My attitude towards human rights is that:
Percentage (%)
M
SD
SA
A
D
SD
9.
I hate to say anything even if my right is violated,
because I do not want to get myself arrested.*
3.6
51.2
15.2
30.0
2.72
.94
10.
I like to protest when my right is violated. Even if there
is no one to attend to my request.
3.2
59.2
15.2
22.4
2.43
.87
11.
I do not like to protest when my right is violated
because no one will listen to me.*
36.4
40.4
0
23.2
2.10
1.13
12.
I will never engage in any protest even when it is going
to help me because am scared of being killed.*
8.0
71.2
0
20.8
2.34
.89
13.
I do not care to know about the human rights enshrined
in the Nigerian constitution.*
5.6
37.2
15.6
41.6
2.93
1.01
14.
I am passionate about protecting freedom of religion.
3.2
60.8
15.2
20.8
2.46
.86
15.
I like a situation where right to life is respected.
52.4
47.6
0
0
3.52
.50
Grand Total
2.64
.24
A close observation of specific items show that youths have negative attitudes
towards items promoting human rights protests. This indicates that while youths have
positive attitudes towards human rights protection, they are unwilling to engage in protest for
human rights protection or against human rights violations.
Differences in Attitude of University Students Towards Corruption Resistance
Results in Table 5 shows that university students have a moderately positive attitude
towards corruption resistance; a democratic value. The data in Table 2 shows a statistically
significant difference in the mean response scores of female and male students with female
students showing greater positive attitudes towards corruption resistance and male students
reporting less likelihood of resisting corruption.
Table 5: Percentage, Mean and Standard Deviation for Youths’ Attitude
towards Corruption Resistance (N = 250)
My attitude towards corruption resistance is that:
Percentage (%)
M
SD
SA
A
D
SD
16.
I believe that engaging in corruption is inevitable.*
2.8
48.4
15.2
33.6
2.80
.95
17.
I can accept money or kind gestures to vote someone into
a leadership position.*
7.2
68.0
4.0
20.8
2.38
.89
Obiagu, Machie and Ndubuisi
18.
I do not see anything wrong with buying a civil servant,
who is rendering one services gifts or giving the person
money to motivate him or her to do more.*
6.8
66.0
4.0
23.2
2.44
.92
19.
I do not like individuals who refuse to oblige workers
requesting for money or goods from them.*
3.2
58.4
15.2
23.2
2.58
.88
20.
I see people who refuse to give gratifications or gifts to
workers as oversabi.*
3.6
51.2
15.2
30.0
2.72
.94
21.
I dislike people using their public office for private gains.
36.4
39.6
0
24.0
2.88
1.15
Grand Total
2.63
.54
Reference to specific items especially the reversed scored negative items shows that
university students, even though dislike the misuse of public office for private gains, can
accept bribe and be influenced by bribes in their official capacity.
Differences in Attitude of University Students Towards Political Participation
The data in Table 6 showed that youths have a positive attitude towards political
participation. A mean comparison (see Table 2) shows that female students have a positive
attitude towards political participation while male students have a negative attitude towards
political participation. A t-test analysis shows that the mean difference was statistically
significant.
Table 6: Percentage, Mean and Standard Deviation for Youths’ Attitude
towards Political Participation (N = 250)
My attitude towards political participation is that:
Percentage (%)
M
SD
SA
A
D
SD
22.
I like voting in elections
35.2
45.6
.4
18.8
2.97
1.05
23.
I will never allow myself to be used as thugs to disrupt
an election.
36.4
39.6
0
24.0
2.88
1.15
24.
I like campaigning for people that offer me money even
if they are not the right candidate.*
2.8
62.4
15.2
19.6
2.52
.84
25.
I don’t like voting during elections because my vote
doesn’t count.*
35.2
45.6
.4
18.8
2.03
1.05
26.
I hate participating in politics because it doesn’t
contribute anything to my life.*
38.4
45.6
.4
15.6
1.93
1.01
27.
I like voting for the most qualified and responsible
candidates during election, even if he/she doesn’t share
gifts.
7.2
76.4
4.0
12.4
2.78
.75
Grand Total
2.52
.21
25
Obiagu, Machie and Ndubuisi
Analysis of the specific items showed that university youths liked voting in elections
and a resolution not to act as thugs that disrupt elections. Further analysis of item 25, when
the SD score is considered, showed that the perception that votes do not count can serve to
dissuade many youths from voting in an election and participating in politics. As seen in item
24, youths reported their likelihood of campaigning for wrong political aspirants if there will
be monetary gain in doing the campaign.
Differences in Attitude of University Students Towards Separation of Power
Result in Table 7 showed a positive attitude towards separation of power, an attribute
of democracy. A mean comparison of the data in Table 2 showed that female university
students have a negative attitude towards separation of power while male university students
have positive attitudes towards the principle of separation of power. A t-test analysis
indicated the difference to be statistically significant with male university students reporting
better positive attitude towards the principle of separation of power.
Table 7: Percentage, Mean and Standard Deviation for Youths Attitude
towards Separation of Power (N = 250)
My attitude towards separation of power is that:
Percentage (%)
M
SD
SA
A
D
SD
28.
I like the practice of checks and balances in Nigerian
democracy.
32.0
67.2
.8
0
3.31
.48
29.
I believe that tyranny and dictatorship are reduced with
the help of checks and balances.
8.0
71.2
0
20.8
2.66
.89
30.
I strongly believe that there is need for the legislature,
executive and judiciary to respect and maintain
independence of another.
2.4
60.0
15.2
22.4
2.42
.86
31.
I will always join the society to fight against tyrant
leaders in Nigeria, that is using democracy to carry out
their evil plots.
9.6
64.8
13.2
12.4
2.72
.80
32.
It is wise for the president to take action without
legislative or judicial approval in non-emergency cases.*
10.4
68.8
0
20.8
2.31
.92
33.
I like when the president enforces actions without the
required judicial approval if the judiciary is slow to reach
decision.*
34.8
61.6
0
3.6
1.72
.64
Grand Total
2.53
.23
26
Obiagu, Machie and Ndubuisi
An analysis of specific items indicated that university youths believe that tyranny and
dictatorship are reduced with the help of checks and balances and are also willing to fight
against tyrant leaders in Nigeria. Responses to item 30 and the negatively worded reversed
coded items 32 and 33 show a low endorsement of the principle of separation of power by the
study participants indicating university students’ objection to the independence of each arm
of the government and checks and balances.
Discussion
This paper investigated the attitude of university students towards selected democratic
values (political participation, human rights protection, freedom and liberty, corruption
resistance and separation of powers) in Nigeria. Generally, the results showed positive
attitudes towards the values. Political participation and separation of powers received the
lowest scores.
Specifically, the finding indicates that female university students have positive
attitude towards political participation while male students have negative attitude towards
political participation. It is surprising that the females, who are found to participate less in
politics (Agbalajobi, 2010; Obiagu & Ajaps, 2022), reported a more positive attitude towards
political participations than their male counterparts mostly found to be more active in
politics. This contradiction could be explained by structural factors such as patriarchy that
limits women’s agency and participation the public arena. Participants further reported liking
to vote but hold a disturbing belief that their votes do not count. This held perception that
their votes do not count can serve to dissuade many youths from voting in an election and
participating in politics. It could be the perception behind the low turnout of voters during
elections in Nigeria (IDEA, 2021a) especially in present years when voters’ education is
implemented through civic education curriculum. The finding of the likelihood of youths
campaigning for wrong political aspirants upon receiving a monetary gain is particularly
disturbing and points to a lack of critical political thinking among youths.
Freedom and liberty are the most endorsed democratic values by university students
in this study. This finding compares with the findings of previous studies (Logan & Penar,
2019). The finding that more than 50% of the participants agree with the statement that men
should enjoy more freedom and liberty than women can be explained by the patriarchal
culture of Nigeria that has not been disrupted by the already existing civic education in
Nigeria. The significant difference found in the mean freedom and liberty attitude scores of
female and male students to the favour of female students indicates Nigerian females’ desire
to enjoy equal freedom and liberty as the men.
The findings of the study that university students endorsed human rights compares
with previous findings (Logan & Penar, 2019). Our study finds that even though university
students report positive attitude towards human rights, they reported negative attitude
towards engaging in protests for human rights protection or against human rights violations,
including when their own rights are involved, due to their fear of being further violated. This
is similar to Lewis and Bratton (2000) finding that many Nigerians reported unwillingness to
protest a violation of their liberties by the government. The disruptive nature of protesting in
27
Obiagu, Machie and Ndubuisi
Nigeria as noted by Obiagu & Ajaps (2022) explains this mismatch between youths’
endorsement of human rights values and willingness to engage in protests to enforce the
rights. This suggests that fighting human rights violations takes more than educating about
human rights.
Whereas the study participants reported a generally low positive attitude towards
corruption resistance, attention to specific items raised some important concerns. A focus on
specific items revealed that youths could be resisting corruption to a very low extent; they
reported a favourable attitude towards bribery and vote-selling. The finding of favourable
attitudes towards bribery compares with the findings of previous studies (Fadairo & Ladele,
2014; Adesina & Oluyemo, 2012). This finding could be explained by the systemic nature of
corruption in Nigeria that suggests corruption as a culture.
The low endorsement of the principle of separation of power among the respondents
could be explained by the red tape that affects the enforcement of checks and balances and
delays in the prosecution of corrupt and nepotic public officials. Probably, they perceive the
procedures involved in checks and balances as cumbersome and standing in the way of quick
justice. Yet the neglect of the procedures fuels dictatorship and worsens citizens’ rights to
freedoms and liberties. This attitude towards separation of powers could explain Nigerians
unwillingness to protest the infringement of judicial power by the executive (Lewis &
Bratton, 2000). This lack of unwillingness was evident in the recent abuse of judicial powers
and separation of powers by the president of Nigeria (Mrabure & Awhefeada, 2020) which
went unprotested. Arguably, students are not able to act out their positive democratic
attitudes because they are not empowered by their education to enact the values. Teacher
education programmes fail to prepare teachers to teach for democracy (Ari et al., 2021;
Obiagu, 2019).
Implications for Spatial Voting and Critical Democracy Education
This study is limited by the use of the self-reporting questionnaire for data collection
since participants’ responses may be biased. This limitation notwithstanding, the findings of
the study are important. Findings suggest implications for critical democracy education that
aims to promote critical consciousness and positive attitudes toward democracy, elections
and voting, separation of powers, corruption resistance and participation in human rights
protection and actions against rights violations. It invites educators to empower students to
question their attitudes toward democratic values and reflect on their fears and unwillingness
to enact their held values as well as the structures or factors contributing to their reluctance to
democratically engage. Critical democracy education further challenges students to overcome
their fears, resist hegemonic structures, and democratically engage.
Importantly, critical democracy education pursued through civic education should
empower students with spatial voting skills and sociopolitical resilience. It should pay
attention to political campaign and voting motivations revealed in this study. Topics on
elections and voting should draw materials from various voter education tools –voter guide,
party endorsement, and spatial map (for discussion on these tools see Boudreau et al., 2018)–
to enrich education for democracy. Voter education tools contain election matters like
political ideologies, processes and stages of election, requirements for contesting and voting
in elections, and the duties, functions and rights of the electorates and electoral officers; with
some visual instructional materials such as voter card, voters register at federal, state, local
28
Obiagu, Machie and Ndubuisi
government, and ward levels, polling booths, voter board for display of voter register for
claims and objections by registered voters, voter rolls, electoral officials, and independent
election observers. It is important to use voter education tools in civic classes because they
enhance spatial voting (i.e., voting for a political candidate on the ground that he or she holds
ideological views that are similar to that of the independent voter – not that of the voter’s
boss) (Boudreau et al., 2018). Spatial voting is necessary in a democratic governance process.
Spatial voting education is cogent in Nigeria to eradicate ignorance and unconscious
slavery among many Nigerians who vote along (a) sentiments, (b) important other’s
endorsement without assessment/verifications of the endorsed candidate’s claims, (c)
monetary gains, or (d) their hegemonic godfathers’ personal interests as against informed
(independent) interest in collective good will and democratic principles. Using voter
education handbooks and other voter education tools could bring learners closer to the
realities of elections in their localities; thereby make the topic less theoretical and foreign to
students. Classroom practices of organising elections for prefectship positions and engaging
students in decision-making processes (Morapedi & Jotia, 2011; Oluniyi, 2011) can prepare
students for effective voting behaviours and appreciation of the principles of separation of
powers. As noted by Sanjaya et al. (2022), civic education students should be exposed to
stimulating problem solving thoughts and empowering them to take actions related to
problem solving.
The unwillingness to protest human rights violations and abuse of separation of powers
found among participants could be disrupted through ‘sharing motivating stories of people’s
lives being improved because of raised critical consciousness and civic engagement
activities’ (Ajaps & Obiagu, 2021, p. 81). The criteria for teaching human rights (see Obiagu
& Nwaubani, 2020) should be applied in civics classes to promote activist spirits among
learners. It will be useful to emphasise in civic classes real life instances of where human
rights protests and campaigns produced effective results. Popular among these real life
human rights campaigns and protests include #BlackLivesMatter, #MeToo,
#BringBackOurGirls at global front and #EnoughIsEnough, #EndSARSNow,
#EndRapeNow, #SexForGrades protests at the Nigerian front. Some of these campaigns have
impacted Nigerian policies and lives. For example, social media activism, #SexForGrades
(BBC, 2019) led to governments’ launching of email (sexforgrades@fccpc.gov.ng) for
reporting sexual harassment and reconsideration of a Bill to that effect (Vanguard, 2019).
Also, online and offline protests against hate speech bill that proposed death sentence for hate
speech led to senates’ agreement to expunge the provision from the Bill (Daka, 2020); protest
against Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) violations of human rights led to its
disbandment.
There is need to take the issue of corruption seriously in education for democracy;
corruption presents a big threat to democratic processes in Africa and Nigeria in particular.
For other democratic values to be realised, the ability to resist corruption must be very strong.
Critical education for democracy should gear towards empowering learners with the
knowledge, skills, and experiences of using social media and other protesting tools for
promoting democratic values and behaviours. It should empower learners for sociopolitical
resilience and corruption resistance and avoidance. Given that females who participate less in
democratic activities showed higher positive attitude towards democratic principles, critical
democracy education should aim at disrupting structural issues, such as patriarchy, that
hamper women’s participation in a democracy. A suggestion would be challenging gender
stereotypes in civics classes and providing opportunities for girls to participate in making
decisions in their class and school.
29
Obiagu, Machie and Ndubuisi
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