POLITICAL POPULISM IN AFRICA: A CHALLENGE OF NATION BUILDING: A COMPARATIVE VIEW OF NIGERIA AND GHANA

Political populism has become globally ubiquitous, every electoral season exacerbates the incidence of populism, obviously within West African sub region, populism has become a challenging phenomenon, this study focuses on the manifestation of populism in Nigeria and Ghana ( 2020 , 2025) and critically interrogates how populist political actions intersects with ethnic chauvinism, scapegoating and conflict, further examined how political actors deploys populist instruments for political mobilisation and latching on ethnic, religious, anti establishment, anti-corruption mantra between Nigeria and Ghana to muster support, a development that presents critical challenge to national diversity, nation building, and democratic consolidation in both countries. Ghana has, overtimes through a consistent democratic process, moderated the rate of populism, while Nigerias political populism stems from its multicultural and ethnic diversity. The study adopted the qualitative method and relied on secondary and primary sources of data. For a theoretical background: the study adopted an eclectic theoretical approach by integrating the Social constructivist theory and Instrumental theory to analyse populism and its effect on nation-building and drawing a comparative analysis between Nigeria and Ghana. The study interrogated the etymology of political populism,  demonstrated how ethnic nationalism and identity could drive populist political tendencies. The paper relied on unstructured field interviews, secondary literature to draw a comparative qualitative analysis in explaining the persistent political populism manifesting in these two important countries of Africa and the sub-region.