DEMOCRACY AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC INCLUSION IN NIGERIA: REDUCING THE MUTUAL EXCLUSIVITY THROUGH ISLAMIC MICROFINANCE

Abstract

Nigeria’s return to democratic rule about 18 years ago heralded a
new beginning that was expected to promote political stability,
ensure economic prosperity and build societal civility. However,
Nigeria is now politically disintegrated, socially dislocated and
economically unstable mainly due to many reasons but chiefly
socio-economic exclusion. Notwithstanding its large Muslim
population, policy recommendations from the West towards solving
its myriad of political-economy issues often discounts Islamic
alternatives. This has brought to the fore a challenge to the status
quo as well as the philosophy that underlines Nigeria’s
political-economy inclinations and implications for its teeming
population. The objective of this theoretical paper is to stimulate
discourse on the policy directions that are in alignment with political
economy reality of Nigeria as a Muslim majority country.
Specifically, this paper profiles Nigeria’s current socio-economic
realities, and its political economy vis-à-vis the global economic
order. The paper argues that the various Islamic social finance
platforms especially Islamic microfinance may play a big role in
mitigating the mutual exclusivity of democracy and socio-economic
inclusion of Nigerians especially the Muslims.