Abstract
Democracy is popularly defined as the government of the people by the people for the people. In other words, it is a peoples’
government informed by the majority for the interest of the greatest number in society. Such a government must therefore
aspire to improve the welfare of the greatest number in society to remain relevant. Nigerians clamoured for the return to
democratic governance for a long time and that clamour was not without conflicts and injuries. However, since 1999,
democracy has been in the country and currently is about 13 years old. The question is: are the expectations being realized?
This work compares the pre-democratic and democratic dispensations in Rivers State using the unbalanced growth theory.
The work observed that the cost of democracy in Nigeria at this time is relatively high compared to the military era. There is a
need for more efficiency in governance in Nigeria now.