Youth Participation, Electoral Peace, Social Cohesion, and Sustainable Development: Implications for the 2027 Nigerian General Elections
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Abstract
Nigeria’s persistent electoral violence reveals the disproportionate involvement of young people as both perpetrators and victims. Grounded in Relative Deprivation Theory (Gurr, 1970) and Political Opportunity Theory (Tarrow, 1998; McAdam, 1996), this paper explains how socio-economic exclusion, unemployment, and blocked mobility generate youth grievances, while weak institutions and elite alignments create opportunities for their mobilisation during electoral cycles. Using qualitative analysis of secondary data, election reports, policy documents, and extant empirical studies, the study examines the nexus between youth participation, electoral peace, social cohesion, and sustainable development, particularly ahead of the 2027 general elections. It argued that structural marginalisation and patronage politics produce political marginality combined with political availability, enabling elite instrumentalisation of vulnerable youths. In this context, political elites strategically mobilise economically vulnerable youths as instruments of electoral contestation, thereby undermining democratic consolidation and long-term development outcomes. The paper reframed Nigerian youths as indispensable democratic stakeholders and proposes targeted institutional reforms to strengthen electoral integrity, inclusive participation, and social cohesion.
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