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LEADERSHIP AND GOOD GOVERNANCE IN NIGERIA: ISSUES AND PROSPECTS FOR NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
ABSTRACT
This study was intended to examine leadership and good governance in Nigeria: issues and prospect of national development. This study was guided by the following objectives; to determine the relationship between leadership and good governance in Nigeria, to determine the relationship between leadership, good governance and National development in Nigeria, to examine the consequences/effect of leadership and governance failure in Nigeria on national development and to identify the component/causes of poor/bad leadership and governance in Nigeria. The study employed the descriptive and explanatory design; questionnaires in addition to library research were applied in order to collect data. Primary and secondary data sources were used and data was analyzed using the chi square statistical tool at 5% level of significance which was presented in frequency tables and percentage. The respondents under the study were 100 residents of Abuja, FCT, Nigeria. The study findings revealed that there is a significant relationship between leadership and good governance in Nigeria; based on the findings from the study, The leaders should be made accountable by publicly declaring what they have been able to achieve in terms of performance as well as how much was expended in every sector on a yearly basis and auditors with integrity should be made to verify the claims in order to ascertain the genuineness of the claims.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
Nigeria was colonized by the British in the 18th century, but later got its independence in 1960. Prior to that time, Nigeria was noted for its richness in agricultural produce through which she earned its foreign exchange and built its reserve. In the 19th century, Nigeria was the world’s largest exporter of cash crops such as cocoa, groundnuts, palm-oil and food crops like cassava, yams, and sugarcane (Claude 1996). In the late 60s, petroleum was discovered in Nigeria, coinciding with the military coups and rule. At this time, the military regime hindered economic development in Nigeria by ushering in bribery and corruption, mismanagement, looting of treasury, killing, maiming, and nullification of elections (Shobola & Nicholas-Omoregbe 2012).
The discourse on the delicate future of Nigeria is strictly connected to the failure of governance and leadership. The human and infrastructural development curve of Nigeria is on the downward drift, in spite of the increase in oil revenue over the past three decades. Obviously, the actions of economic and political managers who are highly dependent on oil lease have exposed the Nigerian State to oil resource spell (Iyoha, Gberevbie, Iruonagbe & Egharevba 2015; Nyeswusira & Nweke 2014). There is an agreement among policy makers, development scholars, and institutions that the wealth of a nation has strong relationships with its type of governance, leadership and social policy framework (Kaufmann 2013; Bardhan 2005). Leadership is important to demonstrating better-quality governance, which enhances societal development, because it is a process of influencing the actions of a structured group towards the setting and attainment of goals.
It is a truism that the quality of leadership and overall governance in a country directly affects the level of political stability and development that such country enjoys. Bad governance and poor leadership only result in underdevelopment and political instability (Ologbenla, 2007). It is on the recognition of the imperative of leadership and governance to a country that Nnablife (2010) avers that the survival of a system rests with leadership. All things rise and fall on leadership because leadership effectiveness is a steering that drives a nation or any organisation to heights of development and productivity by the application of good governance (Folarin, 2010). The post-independence Nigeria continues to grapple with the monster of bad leadership and governance which have been the bane of political instability and poor state of development in the country. With the diverse mineral and human resources, it is not far-fetched to expect Nigeria to soar high in consonance with the economic giants of the world. Paradoxically, Nigeria – the giant of Africa (as it is called) wallows in socio-economic, political and infrastructural decadence in all her crevices. The inability of Nigeria’s leadership to harness the nation’s vast resources and reserves towards socio-economic development continuously calls to question the composition of the fabric of the nation’s leadership and governance. There seems to be a total collapse of ethical governance with the abuse of every moral norm of administration and a loss of conscience towards ‘rightness’ and objectivism in polity. To this end, it becomes a wonder if Nigeria can ever rise out of decadence and her impoverished state if those that are meant to drive the steering towards the nation’s emancipation lack the morality and sanity to do so.
The issue of how a particular country, city or agency is governed or should be governed, and the relationship between the state and civil society, or how to establish an ideal balance between them in order to achieve a stable political system has been of immense concern to scholars (see Azeez 2009: 213). Arisi and Ukadike (2011: 413) expressed optimism that human beings are born into the world with an opportunity make them live better in their various communities. Such anticipated better condition of living for citizens has been largely achieved in developed nations such as Britain, United States of America, Germany, Japan, and China through the mechanism of good governance. These countries have in place, well-run educational system, and good organization of industrial sectors, affordable shelter for citizens, sound national security and political stability. They also experience favourable interdependence between growth, poverty reduction and sustainable development; as well as respect for the rule of law, human rights, peace and security among others. In essence, good governance has remained a crucial element of the socio-political system of developed countries of world. However, on the contrary, a major challenge to quest for Nigeria’s greatness is good governance.
Nigeria’s search for the most cultivated and best informed minds, and men and women and women of wisdom who will take the nation to the peak level of good governance has remained elusive. Plato, the great Greek philosopher, had argued in his time that as a just and healthy person is governed by knowledge and reason, a society must be under the control of society‟s most cultivated and best informed minds in order to achieve remarkable social, political and economic development. The fact that Nigeria remains a laggard in social, economic and political developments despite all social and economic policies implemented by successive administrations suggests that such administrations had not optimally delivered the dividends of good governance. Nigerians are worried as to why their leaders seem to find it difficult to address perennial governance problems despite abundant human and material resources. Many viewpoints have been formulated to explain governance challenge of the country. These include the emergence of colonial misadventure in Nigeria; corruption and lack of vision among past and present leaders of Nigeria. All of these have hampered any meaningful effort in the quest for good governance in the country with systemic challenges and decays. There were also institutional problems rooted on the type of governance Nigeria has had since independence. Nonetheless, Nwagboso and Duke (2012) contended that Ghana and South Africa were colonized like Nigeria but they seem to fare better in development than Nigeria. Governance among other things, involves making and implementing crucial decisions that could affect lives of individuals in a variety of ways. It has several interrelated dimensions such as economic governance, administrative governance, political governance, national governance, and systematic governance. Leadership and governance have been recognized as imperative for the attainment of the political, economic and social objective of any political community. The significance of leadership to governance is seeing in the fact that good leadership sets the tone and standard of governance. The concept of governance and leadership are intertwined. Good governance and leadership is critical for the achievement of results. It is often said that no country can develop beyond the level of its leadership. The predicament of Nigeria in terms of underdevelopment and corruption can be adduced to the problem of leadership and governance. Nigeria needs committed leaders who will govern with integrity and doggedly influence its human and natural resources toward the actualization of sustainable national development.
The quest for quality leadership and good governance is the aspiration of citizens in most countries of the world. This is because the task of harnessing scarce resources in pursuit of human and national development is related to the quality and output of leadership (Richardson, 2008, P.3). The history of the development of great nations suggests that versatile leaders played a vital role in the transformation of their societies through good governance. Thus, the quality of citizens’ life and the overall development of a nation is a reflection of governance in the nation.
In United States of America (USA) for example, Abraham Lincoln stands out because of the courageous leadership he displayed during the 1861-1865 American Civil War (Norton, <http://home.att.net/rjnorton/Lincoln87.html>).This led to the preservation of the Union, vindication of democracy and abolition of slavery. These great feats were achieved by determination in pursuit of a more perfect and equal Union (Ibid, P.17). Lincoln eventually left a legacy being upheld in the USA till date as a good model of democracy and enduring governance.
Similarly, the unification of East and West Germany could be
credited to Otto Von Bismarck, one of the most significant political figures in German history. His efforts were fast-tracked by Chancellor Helmut Kohl, who ensured the enthronement of a federal system of government in a unified Federal Republic of Germany in 1990 (Germany, http://www.mongabay.com/reference/country-studies/germany/Government.html). This was considered cardinal to a stable constitutional democracy and good governance in the Country.
In China, Mao Tse-Tung set the stage that transformed China from a peasant economy to a major economic giant in the world. As a visionary leader, his primary goals were to catch up and surpass the rest of the world in economy, sports, science, technology and defence. Today, China is the fastest growing economy in the world with an average annual growth rate of about 9 percent in the last 2 decades (Chow and Li, 1952-2010).These accounts demonstrate that with visionary leadership and good governance, a nation could experience remarkable improvement and success in its overall development.
The continent of Africa has also produced visionary leaders who have contributed positively in the development of their countries. Nelson Mandela of South Africa holds sway as one of the greatest figures of black emancipation with his history of anti-apartheid struggle. Eventually, he was honored as the first democratically elected President of South Africa in 1994 (Mandela, 1994, Pp. 746-747).His exemplary leadership symbolizes the struggle of oppressed people around the world. He was able to steer South Africa towards sustainable development and good governance ideals, epitomized by smooth political transition.
In our country, issues of leadership and good governance have been of great concern since attainment of independence in 1960. Despite abundant human and natural resources, corruption and mismanagement of public wealth have hampered the pursuit of national development in the Country (http://www.nationencyclopedia.com/economies/Africa/Nigeria.overviewofteheconomy.htm.). Most Nigerian leaders are accused of lacking the requisite vision, passion and character for political leadership (Dike, 2009). The consequence is that despite Nigeria rich resource endowment, she has consistently ranked low in various international assessments on human development and good governance.
The United Nations Development Programme Human Development Index (UNDP-HDI) in its 2007/2008 report ranked Nigeria 158 out of 177 countries (New Partnership for Africa’s Development, 2008, P.67). Nigeria was also ranked 11 out of 16 in West Africa in the 2009 Ibrahim Index of African Governance (IIAG) (Obi, http://www.businessday). It is estimated that about 70 percent of 150 million Nigerians live below poverty level of less than one US Dollar per day (Nnebe, 1999-2007 Vol.2, P).These low economic and development indices have been attributed to poor leadership and absence of good governance in Nigeria.
In this context, the leadership question’ vis-à-vis good governance has generated series of topical discussions at different policy and academic fora. This research is, therefore, motivated by the quest to address the question of leadership and its implication on good governance in Nigeria for national development. Thus, with a view to proffering measures that would strengthen leadership and ensure good governance in the country.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Nigeria is currently faced with myriad of problems prominent among which are poverty, corruption, insecurity, unemployment, infrastructural decay, kidnapping, ethno-religious crises and many more. These problems could be attributed to bad governance and leadership. Nigerian governance challenge has been a threat and clog in her wheel of progress towards achievement of economic growth and stable polity. Against the above background, this study tends to investigate leadership and good governance in Nigeria in relation to issues and prospect of national development.
1.3 Objectives of the Study
The study sought to analyze leadership and good governance in Nigeria as it relates to the issues and prospect of national development. Specifically, the study sought to;
1. determine the relationship between leadership and good governance in Nigeria.
2. determine the relationship between leadership, good governance and National development in Nigeria.
3. examine the consequences/effect of leadership and governance failure in Nigeria on national development.
4. identify the component/causes of poor/bad leadership and governance in Nigeria.
1.4 Research Questions
1. What is the relationship between leadership and good governance in Nigeria?
2. What is the relationship between leadership, good governance and National development in Nigeria?
3. What are the consequences/effects of leadership and governance failure in Nigeria on national development?
4. What are the components/causes of poor/bad leadership and governance in Nigeria?
1.5 Research Hypotheses
H01: There is no relationship between leadership and good governance in Nigeria.
H02: There is no relationship between leadership, good governance and National development in Nigeria.
H03: Leadership and governance failure in Nigeria has no consequences/effects on national development.
1.6 Significance of the Study
This study will be of immense benefit to other researchers who intend to know more on this study and can also be used by non-researchers to build more on their research work. This study will contribute to knowledge and could serve as a guide for other study.
1.7 Scope of the Study
This study is on leadership and good governance in Nigeria: issues and prospect of national development. This study will be conducted in Abuja, FCT.
1.8 Limitations of study
The demanding schedule of respondents made it very difficult getting the respondents to participate in the survey. As a result, retrieving copies of questionnaire in timely fashion was very challenging. Also, the researcher is a student and therefore has limited time as well as resources in covering extensive literature available in conducting this research. Information provided by the researcher may not hold true for all research under this study but is restricted to the selected respondents used as a study in this research especially in the locality where this study is being conducted. Finally, the researcher is restricted only to the evidence provided by the participants in the research and therefore cannot determine the reliability and accuracy of the information provided. Other limitations include;
Financial constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).
Time constraint: The researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work. This consequently will cut down on the time devoted for the research work.
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