Leadership, Participatory Democracy and Good Governance in

Research on Humanities and Social Sciences, 2014

Like all other nations Nigeria aspires to greatness but over five decades after Independence still ranks very low on all parameters of good governance. The objective of the paper is to examine the concepts of leadership, participatory democracy and good governance, evaluate their significance as components of the development process and articulate the implications of their absence from the administration of public institutions. The paper argues that all three elements are missing from the development process in Nigeria. Systems Analysis or systems theory as enunciated by David Easton is adopted as the theoretical framework. Methodologically the study relies mainly on secondary historical sources of data collection. The paper is significant for its identification of the need for these concepts as guiding principles of the development process in Nigeria. The scope of the paper is Nigeria as a whole from Independence in 1960 till date. It draws the conclusion that Nigerians must insist on good leadership, participatory or inclusive democracy and good governance from their leaders at all levels.

Leadership, democratization and good governance as concepts have assumed prominence in the world's history of both underdevelopment and development discourse. In Nigeria, people have continued to experience a severe economic poverty and wretchedness over the years due to leadership that is absence of a moral principle. This frightening situation appears nonstop consequent upon the democratic and military rulers who have been advocating for good governance, economic prosperity and establishment of critical infrastructures since independence in 1960 who are not effective " change agents ". Therefore, the main thrust of this paper is to explore the paradox of political leadership and the challenge of good governance in Nigeria in the midst of abundant human and material resources. The paper is divided into six segments: introduction; theoretical framework; methodology, conceptual debate; the lamentation and ended with recommendations. It adopted transformational leadership theory which canvasses the transformation of people and organizations in a literal sense. The paper recommended the strengthening and creation of more anti-corruption institutions, avoidance of the emergence of accidental leadership and considering of good governance as a right to be demanded and enjoyed by the citizens.

Developing Country Studies, 2015

The paper examined leadership roles in democratic Nigeria. Particularly, it showed how the political elites have at different times subverted the essence of democratic governance in the country since independence and thus, tacitly encouraging political instability. Relevant data were obtained through secondary method and empirically discussed. The study revealed that the relative stability being enjoyed in the polity is lubricated through intensive patron-client arrangement. The paper concluded that sustainable democracy will continue to be a mirage in the country until political power is held and used in the interest of many. Good governance, transparency and accountability are suggested as necessary vitamins for democratic consolidation in the country.

Nigeria has been politically independent for many years yet the country still struggles with issues of democratic transition, strong leadership, and governance. It would appear that none of the efforts made to consolidate true democracy and effective governance will bear any fruit. Many Nigerians feel that the return to democratic rule in 1999 has not satisfied their hopes for greater freedom, better leadership, and economic growth. As a result, Nigeria is struggling with a wide range of issues, including but not limited to widespread poverty, corruption, insecurity, kidnapping, and ethno-religious conflicts. Poor leadership and management are to blame for these issues. Therefore, this paper examines the state of democracy, leadership, and good governance in Nigeria. It focuses on the connection between democratic leadership, good governance, and long-term prosperity in Nigeria. Content analysis was used to glean useful information from secondary sources, which was then explored empirically. The results showed that, in comparison to the industrialised world, Nigeria's brand of democracy has not been free and fair. In particular, it showed that the political elites have actively worked to undermine the foundations of democratic governance, displaying poor leadership and covertly supporting political instability, underdevelopment, and poverty. It stresses that effective democracy provides the finest opportunities for good governance and development. The study also found that the current level of political stability is not sustainable due to patron-client relationships. Until political power is obtained legitimately and employed in the interest of the population, the study concludes, democratic consolidation will be a fantasy. Therefore, democratic consolidation and long-term economic growth in the country require good governance, accountability, transparency, and diligent leadership.

Journal of Public Administration and Governance, 2016

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. This paper is descriptive; it looks at the place of leadership and good governance in the actualization of overall national development in Nigeria. Transformational leadership theoryand contingency theory of leadership viewpoints are examined vis a vis diverse impediments to national development in Nigeria, as vital to feasible and substantial national development; The paper recommends that; The leaders who govern should be made accountable by publicly declaring what...

2019

In the popular consciousness of mankind, leadership has been one of the seminal phenomenon which has captured the concern of the citizens of the world. It is one of the most observed, practiced and thought provoking, yet the least understood. It exists in all societies both human and animals, even though in plants one cannot incisively identify this phenomenon. Leadership is seen as the capacity to influence, inspire, rally ,direct, encourage, motivate , induce, mobilize and activate others to pursue a common goal while maintaining commitment, momentum, confidence and courage. Therefore, leaders in any group refine, reflect , reconstruct acceptable and agreeable standards of development. But in Nigeria, it is obvious that poor leadership is the major problem of development. So, the major argument of this paper is that for any meaningful development to take place in any nation , it requires a functional leadership. This implies that the quality of leadership in any nation determines the level of national development in that nation. Hence, what we require today are leaders with visions and missions who will move this country along the envisaged path of progress and embrace the challenges of modernization and globalization. Also, politicians who are pandering to ethnic interests should be rejected at the polling booth while hard work, good skills and intelligence should be rewarded strictly on merits, without regard to ethnicity and religion. This is an option that could lead the nation to a stable development and greatness. Furthermore, for leadership to take its due place in Nigeria, our conception of leadership must move from rhetoric to application of correct values.

The paper examined the dichotomy of leadership and some selected regimes in Nigerian political system. It identifies the origin, challenges of leadership and the prospects of the search for a nationalist governing class towards building a viable country. The paper relied on secondary data and method of content analysis.

Volume-2: Issue-3 (August, 2019)

Since independence, Nigeria has suffered many and different forms of bad leadership and governance. This invariably has had its toll on the nation building process of the country as bad leadership and governance are synonymous with low development and disunity, especially when considering the dissatisfaction that arises from the different quarters of the country shaking the country’s foundation and threatening the unity of the country and disrupting real development and progress in the body polity. There are extant scholarly works on leadership, governance and nation building in Nigeria. However, it appears that the existing works have not been able to raise a louder alarm and raise a red flag against the prevailing corrupt and bad status quo in the political arena of the country which has worked against the nation building effort of the country. This paper intends to raise such alarm while warning the political leaders against impending revolution by patiently giving an account of ...

Contemporary debates on democracy, good governance and development are greatly inspired by the significant political transformations that have taken place in Africa. In countries like Nigeria where the democratization process is work-in-progress, the intellectual preoccupation has been to reflect critically on how the prevailing political conditions can foster good governance and sustainable development. This paper offers a perspective on these debates. It observes that the ongoing conversations on the democracy-good governance-development nexus are a consequence of the liberalized political environment that permits dialogue and engagement. However, the bad news is that after almost two decades of democratization, the political leadership of Nigeria is yet to grapple with the development challenge. The paper argues that the democratization process has endured to the extent that the goal of good governance is not too far-fetched. Drawing extensively from available literature and against the backdrop of subsisting reform policies, the paper concludes that the good governance project should be considered as work-in-progress. This work in progress must necessarily crystallize into an approximation of the collective hopes and aspirations of Nigerians. To this end, the paper recommends the social democratic option -one that can set in motion a democratization process that places emphasis on the people's active participation in the development process.

GLOBAL JOURNAL OF APPLIED, MANAGEMENT AND SOCIAL SCIENCES, 2019

The paper examined the link between good governance and building-nation particularly the challenges that have hindered sustainable building-nation since 1999. It was established that good governance is all about transparency and accountability in allocating authoritative resources. And as such internalizing the culture of good governance is the recipe for quality leadership aim at building-nation in every levels of government in the country. When good governance is be entrenched, the recurrent pathological problems of corruption, primordial sentiment, patron-client politics, the unholy marriage of Nigeria and ethno-religious loyalty that many scholars and analyst have identified as the challenges of nation-building in the country would be resolved. For the reason that the principles of transparence and accountability are all about using instrumentalities of government to formulate policies and programmes that would be people-oriented. For the way forward, Nigerians are what they ar...