UNDERSTANDING “COMMON GOOD” AND ITS IMPACT ON THE NIGERIAN POLITICS

The purpose of the study was to investigate the concept of the common good and its impact on Nigerian politics. To achieve this purpose, the descriptive research design was used with 150 undergraduates (in Political Science Department) randomly selected from three (3) tertiary institutions in Lagos State. The primary source of data collection was derived through a self-structured questionnaire given to the participants within the study area on the subject matter. The reliability of the instrument was determined using the Split-Half Method with a co-efficient of reliability of 0.82. Simple percentage analysis was used to analyze the 4 stated hypotheses at 0.05 alpha level. It was concluded that Nigeria needs a kind of governance that emphasizes public transparency and accountability, rule of law, popular participation and engagement, which are basic features of the common good. The researcher recommended that there is a need for politicians at all levels of government across political parties to create and preserve the conditions which allow people, either as groups or as individuals, to reach their fulfillment more fully and more easily through the concept of the common good. Also, the study recommended that in a multicultural society like Nigeria, Government needs to ensure that agreement on the common goods is reached by popular opinion, participation, and engagement.