THE ROLE OF THE INDIVIDUAL IN PROMOTING NATION BUILDING

1.      Protection of state property and facilities: the individual can help promote nation building by protecting properties and facilities that belong to the state. State properties such as roads, electricity, hospital facilities, water facilities, tourist sites and many others have to be handled with extra care so that they can keep functioning for longer period of time. This will help prevent the government from continuously using state funds to rebuild or replace the mishandled properties.

2.      Adopting positive work attitudes: individual citizens must adopt positive attitudes towards the work that they do. This will ensure higher productivity. The individual is expected to be punctual and regular at the work place. He must be committed to his duty and display attitude of hard work cooperation. He is expected to eschew all attitude of corruption and embezzlement of funds.

3.      Fulfilment of tax obligation: the individual must fulfil his or her tax obligation to the government. This would enable the government to raise enough revenue to undertake state projects or infrastructure like road, markets, hospital etc to enhance the socio-economic development of the state.

4.     Obedience to the laws of the state: the individual needs to respect and obey the rules and regulations governing the state. He is obligated to defend the constitutional provisions or laws and also get them enforced to regulate the behaviours and actions of other people. He is expected to avoid and prevent violation of other people’s rights in the country to ensure peaceful co-existence among the people.

5.     Assisting the police to combat crime: one requirement for nation building is peaceful atmosphere and a high sense of national security. This is achieved with through the efforts of the individual to assist law enforcement agencies such as the police to find the hide out criminals and to get them arrested. Individuals need to report any person, be it, friend, family member etc found to be involved in any act of criminality to the police for their arrest.

6.     Participation in communal activities: the individual needs to take part in communal activities in order to ensure collective effort for development. He is required to offer his labour in terms of skills, knowledge, experiences and other important qualities to support communal activities.

7.      Avoidance of ethnocentrism


CHALLENGES OR PROBLEMS OF NATION BUILDING

1.      Uneven distribution of development projects in the country

2.      Existence of bribery and corruption

3.      Negative attitudes towards work

4.      Lack of long term planning

5.      Destruction of state properties

6.      Illiteracy and low education

7.      Mismanagement of resources


BALANCE OF POWER

Balance of power refers to a political arrangement that requires that each of the organs of government takes part, and is able to influence the activity of others. This is to ensure that no one organ of government become so powerful that it will abuse the rights of the individuals in the country.


HOW BALANCE OF POWER CAN BE ACHIEVED

Balance of power can be achieved through the following ways:

a.       Separation of powers

b.      Checks and balance

c.       The rule of law

d.      Democratic governance

e.       Press freedom

 

IMPORTANCE OR BENEFITS OF BALANCE OF POWER

a.       It prevents dictatorship

b.      It protects the rights of individuals

c.       It promotes efficiency of government

d.      It ensures smooth administration

e.       It reduces the burden of the organ of government.


DICTATORSHIP OR AUTOCRATIC RULE

Dictatorship or autocratic rule is a system or form of government in which the political power of a state is held by a single individual. The leader has absolute power over his or her subjects. Under this form of government, opposing views are suppressed and are seen or considered as an attempt to overthrow the government.


HOW TO PREVENT AUTOCRATIC RULE OR DICTATORSHIP

1.     Independent state institutions: State institutions such as the Electoral Commission, Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE), National Media Commission (NMC) etc must perform their mandated duties independently without any external influences. This will help prevent power from getting into the hands of a single individual.

2.     Separation of powers: Separation of powers help prevent dictatorship. This is because the principle of separation of powers is to prevent too much concentration of power in the hands of a single authority. Hence, there should be division in the functions, powers and personnel of government into the three organs of government.

3.   Periodic election: Elections should not only be free and fair. It must also be conducted periodically. This will afford the citizens or the qualified electorate to renew their mandate either for the incumbent leaders or to reject them and elect new individuals or representatives to govern them.

4.   Rule of law: The laws or regulations of the state should be the rules and nothing else. The people in authority must at all times exercise their power in accordance with the laws of the state as provided in the constitution.

5.      Existence of a constitution: the present of a constitution in a country to guide and influence the conducts of the people will help prevent dictatorship. This is because the constitution outlines the functions of the various individuals in authority.


WHY DEMOCRACY IS A BETTER FORM OF GOVERNMENT THAN DICTATORSHIP

1.      Tolerance of varied opinions

2.      Smooth and peaceful change in government

3.      Separation of power

4.      Protection of rights of citizen

5.      Mass participation in government

6.      Encouragement to foreign investors