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| Prof. Yemi Osinbajo |
In the dusty heat of Yola, Adamawa State, on a Tuesday in late October 2026, former Nigerian Vice President Professor Yemi Osinbajo delivered a pointed reminder that democracy is not an abstract ideal or a mere electoral ritual.
Speaking at a lecture titled “Democracy and Development: The Imperative of People-Centred Governance,” organised as part of activities marking Governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri’s 59th birthday, Osinbajo argued that any democracy capable of enduring and earning genuine popular legitimacy must place ordinary citizens at its core.
“Democracy is all about the people,” he emphasised. Democratic governance, he insisted, must be participatory and accountable. Government officials have a duty to ensure that policies translate into concrete improvements in citizens’ lives—food on the table, functional schools and hospitals, safer streets, and real economic opportunity—rather than remaining trapped in the realm of statistics or elite discourse.
This was no isolated rhetorical flourish. Osinbajo has repeatedly returned to this theme in recent years, whether discussing social justice as the foundation of African development, the limits of GDP growth without broad-based welfare gains, or the need for justice systems that serve ordinary people rather than bureaucratic convenience.
His Yola remarks fit into a broader diagnosis of why democratic systems across the continent face pressure even as majorities continue to express a preference for democracy over alternatives.
The Survey Evidence Behind the Diagnosis
Osinbajo referenced survey findings showing that while many Africans still prefer democracy, satisfaction with its performance remains stubbornly low. This tracks closely with data from Afrobarometer, the continent’s leading public opinion research network. In its 2024 flagship report (drawing on surveys across 39 countries between 2021 and 2023), about 66 percent of respondents preferred democracy to other forms of government.
Large majorities rejected one-man rule, one-party rule, and military rule. Yet only 37 percent said they were satisfied with how democracy was working in their countries. Fewer than half viewed their countries as mostly or completely democratic.
More recent Afrobarometer rounds (2024/2025 data from 38 countries) show similar patterns: preference for democracy around 64 percent, but satisfaction hovering near 38 percent. Demand for democracy has weakened over the past decade in many places, and opposition to military rule has softened, particularly in countries that have experienced coups. A 2023 UNDP survey of 8,000 African citizens reinforced the point: even in countries that had undergone unconstitutional changes of government, only about 11 percent preferred non-democratic systems.
The gap between preference and satisfaction is not primarily an ideological rejection of democracy itself. As Osinbajo has argued elsewhere, it stems from the lived experience of economic inequality, persistent poverty, unemployment, insecurity, and the sense that elected governments fail to deliver meaningful improvements for the majority. When growth figures are announced while citizens struggle to pay school fees or hospital bills, the promise of democracy rings hollow. Public trust erodes, and institutions become vulnerable.
Osinbajo’s prescription is clear: democratic institutions retain legitimacy only when people experience better living conditions. Leaders must therefore prioritise people-centred governance—tackling economic hardship, confronting corruption, expanding opportunities, and restoring confidence through results rather than rhetoric.
This aligns with the African Union’s Agenda 2063 vision of democratic, people-centred governance and with the insight, drawn from thinkers such as Amartya Sen, that political freedoms must translate into social and economic freedoms. Elections alone do not constitute democracy; dignity does.
A Birthday as Platform for National Conversation
Governor Fintiri turned his milestone birthday into more than a personal celebration. By hosting a substantive lecture on democratic development, he created space for reflection on Nigeria’s own democratic journey since the return to civilian rule in 1999—the longest continuous stretch of democratic governance in the country’s history. Osinbajo praised this choice, noting that it elevated the occasion into a discussion of national importance.
Fintiri himself spoke of gratitude to God and sober reflection on his roles as husband, father, businessman, and politician. These experiences, he said, had given him opportunities to serve humanity.
Looking ahead, he announced plans to establish the Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri Foundation after leaving office. The foundation would focus on scholarships and support for vulnerable members of society—an explicit continuation of people-focused service beyond formal power.
The gesture fits a pattern visible in his administration. Since taking office in 2019 (and winning re-election in 2023), Fintiri has emphasised infrastructure, education, healthcare, agriculture, and security in a state still recovering from the scars of insurgency in the Northeast. Internally generated revenue has risen significantly. Model schools, upgraded hospitals, road and flyover projects, housing initiatives, digital transformation efforts, and empowerment programmes have been pursued.
On his birthday itself, reports indicated a donation of around ₦65 million to support patients with serious illnesses at teaching hospitals in the state.
Whether these efforts fully meet the scale of need is a matter for ongoing public evaluation, but they illustrate an attempt to make governance tangible at the state level.
Voices on Freedom, Accountability, and Communication
Other speakers reinforced complementary themes. Taraba State Governor Dr Agbu Kefas, who chaired the occasion, warned political leaders against using public resources or state institutions to suppress dissent. Democracy thrives, he said, when citizens can freely choose their leaders and question those leaders’ actions without those questions being treated as attacks. “Public trust grows when leaders fulfil their responsibilities and citizens exercise their rights responsibly,” Kefas asserted. Free expression and the protection of rights are not optional extras; they are structural requirements for accountable government.
Senate Deputy President Senator Barau Jibrin, the guest of honour, highlighted the practical importance of communication. Effective two-way dialogue between government and citizens strengthens participation and understanding. Better public communication helps people grasp not only policies and projects but also the real constraints and trade-offs of governance. Without it, suspicion and disengagement grow.
The gathering itself underscored the cross-party and regional dimensions of the conversation.
Dignitaries included the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress and governors from Borno, Bauchi, Gombe, and Plateau—states that, like Adamawa, navigate complex security, economic, and developmental challenges in the North.
Broader Implications for Nigeria and Africa
Osinbajo’s intervention comes at a moment when African democracy faces real tests: a wave of coups in parts of the Sahel and West Africa since 2020, declining trust in institutions, youth unemployment, inflationary pressures, and the lingering effects of global shocks. Nigeria, as the continent’s most populous nation and a relatively stable electoral democracy, carries particular weight. Its ability—or failure—to demonstrate that democratic governments can deliver broad-based improvements will influence regional perceptions.
People-centred governance is not a soft alternative to hard economic management. It is a recognition that sustainable growth requires inclusion. When large sections of the population remain excluded from opportunity, social cohesion frays and political legitimacy weakens. Investing in human capabilities—education, health, skills, and basic security—is simultaneously a moral imperative and an economic strategy. Bottom-up approaches that prioritise the needs of the majority from the design stage of policy, rather than relying on trickle-down assumptions, offer a more resilient path.
Critics may note that lectures and birthday reflections alone do not transform systems.
Corruption, elite capture, weak institutions, and policy inconsistency remain stubborn obstacles. Yet the consistent articulation of a people-centred standard by figures such as Osinbajo creates a public benchmark against which performance can be measured. Citizens, civil society, the media, and opposition voices can use that standard to demand accountability.
Fintiri’s decision to mark a personal milestone with a public conversation about democracy’s purpose is itself a small model of the participatory ethos Osinbajo advocates. Whether the ideas expressed in Yola translate into deeper reforms across Nigeria will depend on political will, institutional capacity, and sustained citizen engagement long after the birthday banners come down.
True democracy, as the former vice president framed it, is not self-sustaining. It must continually prove its value in the daily lives of the people it claims to serve. In an era of eroding trust and rising expectations, that test has never been more urgent.
Samuel O. Sulaimon is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Naijapiz. He covers Global, News, Sports, Finance, Faiths, Education, Politics and Technology.
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