LEADERSHIP AND THE CHALLENGES OF DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA FOURTH REPUBLIC, 2015-2021
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LEADERSHIP AND THE CHALLENGES OF DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA FOURTH REPUBLIC, 2015-2021
CHAPITRE ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of The Study
Leadership and development issues continue to gain traction around the world, particularly in emerging countries such as Nigeria. The obvious explanation for this is that the two principles have a direct impact on people’s well-being, particularly the poor masses.
If a country is endowed with both human and material resources, a high level of development should be expected. However, if this expectation is not satisfied, a careful analysis of the situation is required.
What makes this issue more pressing is that poverty and misery are not distributed evenly among people, and this uneven distribution cannot always be rationally justified by hard labour or ingenuity. Nyerere (1969) was quite correct when he stated,
“There must be something wrong in a society where one man, however hardworking or clever he may be, can acquire as a great’reward’ as a thousand of his fellows can acquire between them.”
In a similar spirit, we have a ‘affluent society’ in Nigeria, as characterised by Azikiwe (1980, 124). According to the sage, an affluent society is one in which there are few really wealthy people and many extremely poor people.
How can the country’s leaders contribute to the creation of an abundant society, defined as “abundant food, abundant shelter, abundant clothing, abundant necessities of life, and abundant amenities, at a reasonable cost and within the reach of many”?
Outside of the territorial geography of classic development models, the formation and sustainability of economic development are influenced not only by the availability of economic variables, but also by the quality of institutions that manage economic resources (Moses et al, 2013).
Within the context of this analytical paradigm, the prevailing statement is that regardless of a country’s economic resources, the development and utilisation of such resources is mostly dependent on leadership or management. In any case, when the management
of national resources is handed to parasites and kleptomaniacs, there is no need for rocket science to draw the obvious conclusion that pessimism and hopelessness in terms of reaching the specified objectives and improved results are the only options.
No economy has ever reached maturity if the fundamental body structures of development criteria are overseen by misguided individuals, because terrible leadership and economic development are negatively associated, just as poor management and development are mutually exclusive.
Nigeria is proof of this. Nigeria possesses all of the financial and material resources necessary to become an economic superpower not only in Africa, but also in the rest of the globe. Money, materials, and other resources intended for development projects in education, infrastructure,
and all other social services that add value to people’s lives are either mishandled or diverted for private benefit. Nigeria’s leadership environment has devolved into a money-making endeavour and an outlet for easy theft of national riches with political cover. Nigeria’s economic backwardness is the outcome of poor leadership, not political hyperbole.
Nigeria has failed to offer a meaningful existence for its population for more than five decades due to a lack of political will. Nigeria’s challenge is underdevelopment. In Nigeria, the problem of underdevelopment is corruption, and the problem of corruption is bad leadership.
From a structural standpoint, the terrible picture of Nigeria’s economic backwardness is the paradox of growth without development. Statistically, Nigeria was considered the largest economy in Africa in late 2014 (CBN study, 2014). In practise, however, it is an economy whose expansion has never been reflected in Nigerians’ living standards.
Economic indices such as poor industrialization, high unemployment rates, and poverty are the result of a history of exponential expansion. The consensus in modern economic research is that the profit of economic growth is economic development, because there is no economic development without growth (John etal, 2010).
If the Nigerian economy was growing, the fruits of that growth were always enjoyed by the privileged few or the nation’s elites, particularly those who occupied political seats of power with parasitic ideologies that always promoted the commanding erosion of national wealth for exclusive benefits through the created holes of leakages and externalities.
No viable economy anywhere in the world can prosper if the country’s leadership ignores the industrial sector, encourages the importation of foreign goods, and is oblivious to national insecurity.
No democratic country in the world can achieve economic development if it spends more than 80% of its national revenue on politicians and political procedures.
In particular, the Nigerian industrial sector has been historically slaughtered by the country’s administration, both past and present, by refusing to offer an enabling climate for investors, market conduct, and long-term confidence.
Nigeria is an economy that functions without electricity, has deteriorating infrastructure, and is surrounded by insecurity and terrorism. Aside from the loss of human lives and the damage of high-value commercial properties, their second-round repercussions are destabilising forces against both domestic and foreign investor confidence.
The nation’s tertiary institutions have been providing the economy with unqualified graduates and unproductive personnel as a result of the radical government’s disregard of the country’s educational sector,
which is the engine of growth in manpower productivity. There are structural abnormalities and broken value chains in every part of the Nigerian economy that have made development virtually impossible.
Nigerian economic limitations have been purposefully permitted to persist because there are those who profit from Nigeria’s underdevelopment (Sanusi, 2014). A perpetual pregnancy is an unusual scenario for both the mother and her unborn child.
Bad leadership is the root source of all issues in Nigeria, both politically and economically. Corruption is a concern in Nigeria, as are all other components of development stimulus.
The goal of this study is to add to the existing related literature not only by re-examining the obstacles of development in Nigeria from a political standpoint, but also by suggesting viable solutions to these challenges.
We investigate development principles via a philosophical lens, leadership orientation, and how they affect the level of development of the Nigerian state.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Bribery, corruption, fraud, or misappropriation of cash, combined with other social evils such as nepotism, tribalism, and the like, are extremely concerning in Nigeria. These vices are highly prevalent and appear to show that leadership has been shortsighted and unproductive overall. So far, the widespread poverty, hunger, disease, unemployment, and lack of social and economic amenities that plague Nigeria appear to have no end in sight.
The issue of leadership and its pervasive impact on Nigeria’s social and economic growth is complicated. The main cause of Nigeria’s underdevelopment is now attributed to poor leadership. There is nothing fundamentally wrong with the Nigerian personality.
Nothing is wrong with Nigeria’s land, climate, water, air, or anything else. The Nigerian problem is its leaders’ refusal or incapacity to accept responsibility, to rise to the challenge of personal example, which is the hallmark of great leadership.
According to political experts, policy analysts, and development specialists, Nigeria is plagued by bad leadership, corruption, and weak bureaucratic structures. It is an axiom that Nigeria has never been governed by altruistic, truly transformational, and intellectually endowed leaders since achieving democratic independence.
That is, Nigeria has never chosen its greatest sons for positions of leadership, and mediocre leadership can only result in mediocre governance with no substantial growth.
This research study intends to investigate the relationship between leadership and development difficulties in Nigeria from 2015 to 2021, with a focus on Osisioma Ngwa Local Government Area.
1.3 purpose of The study
The primary goal of this research is to investigate leadership and development difficulties in Nigeria’s fourth republic from 2015 to 2021. Other specific goals include:
To investigate the relationship between leadership and the Abia State development dilemma.
To explore the impact of leadership on Nigeria’s socioeconomic progress.
iii. Assess the impact of leadership on grassroots development in Abia State.
1.4 Research Questions
The following research questions will steer this research project:
What is the connection between leadership and the Abia State development crisis?
What impact does leadership have on Nigeria’s socioeconomic development?
iii. What impact does leadership have on grassroots development in Abia State?
1.5 The study’s hypothesis
The study developed and tested the following hypotheses:
In Nigeria’s fourth republic, leadership has no substantial impact on progress.
Hi: In Nigeria’s fourth republic, leadership has a tremendous impact on progress.
1.6 Significance of the research
Abia State is one of the Nigerian states endowed with natural and precious resources capable of enhancing people’s socioeconomic condition and living standards.
Its conceptual, theoretical, and empirical investigations will contribute to a better understanding of key issues in the context of leadership and development concerns in Abia State.
The study’s findings will also be valuable for students at the university who want to do additional research in this area.
Finally, the findings of the inquiry would be crucial to policymakers and implementers in general, since they would see the study’s findings and policy suggestions as a call to action.
1.7 The scope of the study
The research boundary of the study is the scope of the investigation. The study’s scope is concerned with the thrust of Nigeria’s Leadership and Development Crisis, using Osisioma Ngwa Local Government Area of Abia State as its study area.
1.8 Limitations of the Study
It is expected that many obstacles and limitations will be faced during the course of this research investigation. The gathering of qualitative and quantitative data for this study may be a substantial constraint because the researcher must be present on the field for all data collection operations.
Financial restrictions will also be a significant restraint during the inquiry. However, due to budgetary constraints, the researcher would like to widen the scope of the study.
Another constraint that will be encountered during the course of the study is time. Balancing this research endeavour with regular academic work is already a difficulty for the researcher.
Overall, it is expected that all of these constraints will have no effect on the validity of the research study’s findings.
1.9 Definition of Terms
The operational definitions of major terms utilised in the study are as follows:
Leadership is defined as the behavioural pattern that the recognised leader of the group brings to bear on the members in order to achieve the corporate goal through encouragement, open decision making, persuasion, influence, identification with the group, or other means (Ezirim, 2010).
Leadership Style: This is the basic approach or principle that the ruling class follows.
Development is the improvement of man’s qualities and qualities that apply to entire civilizations and populations. It entails removing impediments to man’s progressive or qualitative evolution, such as hunger, poverty, ignorance, sickness, malnutrition, and unemployment, to name a few.
Poverty is defined as the inability to meet one’s fundamental necessities (health care, shelter, food, clothing, and so on). It is a state of scarcity.
Embezzlement is defined as the illegal use of government funds for the goal of enriching one’s self-interest.
Infrastructure refers to societal amenities like good roads, houses, bridges, hospitals, schools, and power.
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