By joshua 
By Ikhili Ebalu, Benin City.
Deputy Senate President, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege has expressed concerns on Nigeria’s democratic experience since 1999 saying, “a major deficit in the country’s democracy is the near absence of democratic accountability.”
The Deputy Senate President disclosed this in Benin City, Edo State while delivering the 16th Convocation lecture of Benson Idahosa University (BIU) titled “Nigeria’s democratic experience since 1999: The imperative of reforming the electoral process.”
He said,” this problem speaks to two important sub-sets of concern; one, the weakness of the substantive element of democracy interms of addressing the daily concerns of citizens for survival, and the well established fact that citizens democratic energies are often mobilized only during elections, and that in-between elections there is political dormancy.”
Omo-Agege said the evidence of the sagging patriotism in the country is palpable everywhere in the daily discourse of citizens in terms of the real meaning of citizenship.
He added that the increasing levels of poverty and the existence of social inequalities including their expressions in ethnic and regional terms as well as the withdrawal of citizens into ethnicity and religion were responsible for the inability of the state to perform its traditional roles, therefore serving as the rallying point of a national identity.
“This is a challenge that the governing party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has sought to address through economic diversification, development, development of infrastructure and various social protection programmes.”Omo-Agege said.
Omo-Agege noted that weak democratic accountability should not ignore the enforcement of respect for term of office as signs to that effect were robustly and admirably resisted by the National Assembly during the Olusegun Obasanjo presidency.