"This Was the First Time I Felt Like a Real Citizen": What Nigeria's Deliberative Town Halls Revealed About the Hunger for Democracy    

In January 2024, IDEA brought its Deliberative Town Hall model to Nigeria for the first time, partnering with two members of the National Assembly to host structured, substantive conversations with citizens in Bende and Baruten/Kaiama. The results surprised even the researchers. Participants didn't just engage. They came alive. One person described the experience as the first time they ever felt like a real citizen instead of a pauper going to see the big man.  

We sat down with Marco Castradori, a PhD candidate in Comparative Politics at Princeton University and the lead organizer of IDEA's Nigeria work, to talk about what he witnessed, what puzzled him, and what comes next.

What surprised you most about how participants responded during or after the town halls?

I think what surprised me most was seeing how clearly impactful and novel this experience was for people, and the extent to which they seemed to value it. We are accustomed to thinking of citizens in democratic countries as largely uninterested in participating in politics and focused primarily on outcomes. Instead, here we saw a strong latent demand to feel engaged and part of the political process even beyond elections.

Was there a moment during the project when you thought, "This is actually working"?

Seeing how enthusiastic the participating MPs were after the event was quite illuminating. In the end, these types of reforms require the participation of those in a position of power, and seeing how satisfied they were gives you some hope that these are the types of things that may have a future, even in contexts like Nigeria.

You've lived and worked in Nigeria. What do outsiders most often misunderstand about democracy and civic engagement there?

Most people see Nigerian politics primarily through the lens of ethnicity. I do not mean to say ethnic identity does not matter. It certainly does. But my sense is that, in their daily lives, Nigerians feel a strong cross-ethnic "class" solidarity that creates opportunities for genuine collaboration, even across ethnic differences.

One participant said, "This was the first time they felt like a real citizen instead of a pauper." What does that tell us about what's missing in traditional democratic engagement?

Most Nigerians place considerable hope in "good leadership." They want to be involved, yes, but they also want to feel inspired by those in power. Too often, Nigerians feel the opposite. Totally removed from the elite few who seemingly do whatever they like, paying no regard to regular folk. There's a clear need to re-establish a stronger, more trusting, and more honest relationship between political elites and citizens, and things like deliberative town halls can help in gradually doing so.

You found that even people who didn't attend the town halls shifted their views. Why do you think that happened, and what does it suggest about how democratic change spreads?

This was a really puzzling finding for us, one we really did not expect and do not quite have an explanation for. We have some very tentative evidence of some spillover, in the sense that those who participated in the town halls may have influenced their social relations who did not, but it is not sufficient to make any confident claims.

What's one lesson from this project that you think applies beyond Nigeria?

While Nigeria is unique in many ways, there are aspects of how politics works there that are echoed across the continent. Without wishing to speculate too much about contexts I do not know as well, I would suggest that much of the same anger and frustration that exists in Nigeria may be present in other African countries. If that is so, then it is plausible that small positive political experiences like a deliberative town hall can help rebuild public trust in democracy, where it is often waning.

What's next for this work, and what are you hoping to learn in the second phase?

We are planning to implement some new town halls in Nigeria in the next year or so. Our plan is to use them to learn a bit more about how people in Nigeria understand "democratic representation," what they demand of it, and how the practice of representation can be aligned with those expectations.

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Marco Castradori is a PhD candidate in Comparative Politics at Princeton University. His research focuses on the meaning of representation in different contexts, public deliberation, and democratic consolidation in Sub-Saharan Africa. He leads IDEA's work in adapting Deliberative Town Halls in Nigeria and other African countries. Marco previously worked in Nigeria as a research fellow for the Centre for the Study of the Economies of Africa (CSEA).

To learn more about IDEA's Nigeria Deliberative Town Halls, visit the International Programs page.