Politically, people may disagree about the best means of
achieving good governance, but they quite agreed that
good governance is absolutely imperative for social and
economic progress (Oburota, 2003). Then what is
governance and what makes governance a good or a
bad one? This is perhaps a philosophical question which
may attract endless and multifarious answers.
Fundamentally, the question of good and bad is
ethical/moral. According to Madhav (2007) good
governance has much to do with the ethical grounding of
governance and must be evaluated with reference to
specific norms and objectives as may be laid down. It
looks at the functioning of the given segment of the
society from the point of view of its acknowledged
stakeholders, beneficiaries and customers. It must have
firm moorings to certain moral values and principles. The
question dealing with governance, though significantly
related to democracy, is culture specific and system
bound. It depends to a large extent on the historical
experiences of a nation, its cultural mores, aspiration of
the people and the stated political and economic
objectives of the state, including individual and group
preferences, current issues, the expectations of the
governed, the nature and type of the political system, the
ideological and religious predisposition of the state and a
host of others. For instance, the fundamental objective
principle entrenched in the Nigerian constitution provides
the yardstick for measuring good governance. Section
14(1) states that, “the Federal Republic of Nigeria shall
be a state based on the principles of democracy and
social justice”.