Global intellectual, Professor Toyin Falola, has declared that political stability and the rule of law are indispensable pillars of sustainable development in Africa. He made this known while speaking during a major public lecture titled “Power, Politics and Development in Africa”, held at the Aliyu Akwe Doma Theatre of the University of Jos,
“The absence of violence or conflict does not automatically imply political stability,” Falola stated. “True stability lies in the resilience of institutions—institutions that are transparent, accountable, and sufficiently flexible to absorb internal shocks and external pressures without collapsing into authoritarian tendencies.”
He argued that across postcolonial Africa, political institutions have often been unable to address the complexities of multicultural states, largely due to inherited colonial frameworks and a limited capacity for adaptation. For development to take root and flourish, he insisted, political stability must be undergirded by inclusive governance and a strict adherence to the rule of law.
Highlighting the corrosive impact of impunity and selective justice, Falola warned that “the uneven application of the law fuels corruption, cripples institutions, and delegitimises democratic processes.” He called for judicial reform, the enforcement of contracts, and institutional accountability as fundamental conditions for long-term progress. “Institutional accountability is not just a matter of governance etiquette—it is the very soul of development,” he declared. “Without the rule of law firmly embedded, development becomes vulnerable to arbitrary power, elite capture, and systemic instability.”
Drawing from historical memory, Professor Falola situated Africa’s current governance challenges in the political inheritance of postcolonial states. He reminded the audience that newly independent African nations were burdened with artificial borders drawn by colonial powers, which lumped together disparate ethnic, linguistic, and cultural groups without a common historical or political identity. These new states, he explained, were built atop fractured communities, with fledgling institutions and minimal experience in self-governance.
“The colonial legacy left behind a centralised administrative system designed to serve imperial interests rather than indigenous welfare,” he noted. “What African leaders inherited were not systems of governance suited to their complex realities, but alien structures ill-equipped for managing pluralistic societies.”
According to Falola, the immediate post-independence years were marked by intense efforts to forge national unity and political stability. “The process of nation-building required more than flag-waving independence,” he said. “It demanded the cultivation of a shared identity and the centralization of state power in a way that often marginalized ethnic and regional affiliations.”
Yet, this centralisation, he argued, often evolved into authoritarianism. Bereft of democratic traditions and constrained by weak institutional checks, many African leaders adopted autocratic models of governance. Military coups became common, and regimes justified their takeovers as necessary to maintain stability and restore order. “These were not democratic experiments,” he explained. “They were projects of power consolidation, shaped by colonial habits of command and control.”
Falola traced the roots of these authoritarian patterns to colonial-era governance systems that emphasised hierarchy and excluded public participation. He noted that many postcolonial leaders, themselves educated within the colonial order, reproduced these structures in the newly independent states. “Suppressing dissent, curtailing liberties, and centralising executive power became the defining features of governance,” he said.
Yet even amid this trajectory, Falola acknowledged the continent’s democratic aspirations. “The latter half of the twentieth century witnessed a wave of democratic awakening,” he observed. “Multiparty elections, civil society activism, and grassroots mobilisations became hallmarks of this renewed drive for accountability and participation.”
Nonetheless, he cautioned that Africa’s democratic experiment remains incomplete. “Weak institutions, corruption, and political patronage continue to distort democratic processes and erode the legitimacy of the state,” he lamented. Falola described a cycle in which state resources are exploited for personal gain, public trust deteriorates, and development efforts stall under the weight of inefficiency and mismanagement.
“In too many African countries,” he noted, “development initiatives are frustrated by institutional weaknesses that make service delivery, infrastructure expansion, and public accountability almost impossible to sustain.”
He emphasised that corruption is not merely a moral failing but a structural issue embedded within systems of unaccountable power. “It distorts the rule of law and enables elite domination,” he warned. “Where the institutions tasked with enforcing law and order are themselves compromised, justice becomes negotiable and democracy remains a façade.”
