ABSTRACT
Nigeria stands now at a crossroads. It cannot live with authoritarian rule and yet it has twice failed to make democratic government work. Constitutional innovations alone cannot solve the problems facing democracy in Nigeria. The 19-state federal system and the federalist provisions in the 1979 Constitution functioned well to break up the hegemony of Nigeria's largest ethnic groups, in general contain the powerful centrifugal forces inherent in Nigeria's ethnic composition. The separation of powers between executive, legislative, and judicial branches has proved inadequate in Nigeria to ensure the integrity of the democratic process. No institution is more in need of independent control in Nigeria than the electoral administration. The challenge ahead for Nigeria is not to do away with parties but to enable them to develop those features that are the mark of institutional maturity and strength: coherence, complexity, autonomy, and adaptability.
