Political Leadership and Underdevelopment in Nigeria

Abstract

Good leadership all over the world is evidently the foundation for rapid development as shown by the progress made by many Asian countries that were formerly at par with Nigeria. This paper seeks to examine why the political leadership in Nigeria functions to thwart development, its causes and effects on Nigerians, and how it is holding Nigeria from development. The paper used secondary data and relied on the Structural Functional Theory as a framework of analysis. Findings revealed that the political leadership has failed Nigerians and the development process, because of the leadership’s consideration for personal survival rather than national development. The study also found that the centralised economic structure made the political leaders who control state resources fabulously wealthy while about 70% of the citizens fell into abject poverty. As corruption prevents the provision of basic social amenities for the citizenry, the money meant for development is diverted, thereby holding development back. Based on these findings, the author recommended that leaders be held accountable for all their actions while in office, and heavy legal sanctions be imposed on such misconduct that is inimical to the general development of country, among other recommendations.