Evaluating Digital Economy Policies and Youth Empowerment Amid Democratic Backsliding in Nigeria
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Democratic backsliding and institutional exclusion within hybrid electoral regimes create a structural paradox when technocratic digital economy modernization operates alongside the systematic restriction of civil liberties. This study evaluated the dysfunction of youth empowerment policies in Nigeria and employed exploratory documentary policy analysis, historical institutionalism, and a comparative case study involving Kenya and Estonia. The analysis demonstrates that initiatives training three million technical talents and expanding telecommunications infrastructure fail to generate substantive economic empowerment due to structural conversion gaps, informal sector dominance, and persistent device affordability barriers. Policy effectiveness is further undermined by the transfer of citizen databases to foreign jurisdictions, the enactment of cybercrime legislation legalizing warrantless communication surveillance, and unilateral social media restrictions. Synthesizing the capability approach, political opportunity structure, and democratic backsliding confirms that cyber repression triggers digital opposition mobilization and skilled labor emigration, whereas democratic consolidation requires data localization, online deliberation decriminalization, and meritocratic public procurement.
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