BACKGROUND

Nigerias failures have come about largely as a result of frequent leadership change, lack of
ideology, policy reversal and weak institutional patterns. The leadership selection process in
Nigeria takes the imposition pattern and that Nigerian leaders have frequently come to their
position with limited experience. Hence, the decline in moral and discipline caused by bad
policies, eroded professional standards and ethics and weakened the system of governance.
Laying emphasis on leadership and governance in Nigeria goes a long way to establish the fact
that it is a paramount issue that can affect the well-being of a developing nation. For Nigeria to
overcome the crises of leadership and governance affecting the entire population, those on whom
the burden of leadership will fall in the future must fully comprehend their responsibilities,
duties and obligation. They must also be exposed and be prepared to face the challenges of
leadership in developing society without being selfish and avoiding corrupt practices. Since the
long term salvation of developing countries depends on the quality of its future leaders. The only
leadership and governance that has maximum empathy and minimum dictatorship for the people
can be relevant to the qualitative movement of Nigeria.
This paper attempts to examine the extent to which bad governance has impacted negatively on
the overall achievement of sustainable peace, security and development in Nigeria. Most
literature focuses on good governance being the panacea for achieving the above listed cherished
values
However, this study reveals that these variables are interrelated and intertwined, as each
generates, sustains and reproduces one another. Hence, it becomes necessary to undertake a
study of their interface, and their impact on Nigeria. Good Governance is a qualitative form of
the concept Governance; which according to the World Bank Institute (WBI)
It consists of the traditions and institutions by which authority is exercised. This includes the
process by which governments are selected, monitored and replaced, the capacity of government
to effectively formulate and implement policies; and the respect of citizens and the state
institutions that govern economic and social interactions among them. (Owoye & Bissessar,
1992:1)
Indeed, the diminution or the absence of the qualities mentioned above reflects the
institutionalization of bad governance in the society. Good governance, peace, security and
development that are sustainable are veritable values every nation desires to cultivate. The
cultivation or achievements of these objects have apparently been the desire of sundry
governments in Nigeria since independence. In fact, it is interesting to observe that since the
Nigerian state returned to civil administration in 1999 during the era of what Samuel Huntington
(1991) called the third wave of democratization; the nature of governance in the country has
been the subject of intense debate by scholars of all persuasions (George-Genyi, 2013). For
George-Genyi,
the rising concern about the governance project in Nigeria cannot be explained outside the
countrys historical experience, one that has laid the solid foundation for the current wave of
ethno-religious and politico-economic crisis in the land. This state of affairs importantly raises

some serious concerns about the question of good governance in Nigeria where the politics of
deprivation and mismanagement of resources appears to be taking over the principles of
accountability, transparency and responsibility

INTRODUCTION
Leadership is one of the most observed and least understood phenomena on earth. A call for a
focus on leadership and governance is timely, important and no doubt topical, reflecting the
worldwide thrust toward political and economic liberalization. Throughout the whole world,
there has been an urgent desire among various people and government for unity, justice, peace
and stability. The resurgence of this desire is not only explicable through their political policies
alone; but also it is reflected in the social and economic policies.
In fact, most constituted governments in Africa have been undergoing serious and deepening
political economic problems. These problems generated by political, social and economic
instability and the prevalence of ethnic, communal and religious crises, which have bedeviled
Nigeria, call our attention to the problems of leadership and governance in the nation. In other
words, the staggering wave of violence, insecurity, increasing crime wave, economic recession,
coupled with the break in law and order are the attributes to the problem of leadership and
governance in Africa. Therefore, the quest for good leadership is a sine-qua-non for governance
and sustainable development.
A governance approach highlights issues of state responsiveness and accountability, and the
impact of these factors on political stability and economic development. For too long, social
scientists dealing with Africas development have concentrated on economic issues, overlooking
the highly important political dimension of the process
The use by Nigerian state elites of arbitrary and repressive measures and their inability to apply
governmental regulations throughout the national territory is a sign of state weakness or
softness. Paradoxically, the states consolidates power at the political center and extracts
considerable economic resources from society; yet it spends much of it obtains on itself and lack
the capacity to spur the countrys development as a whole. It is in light of this, that the Nigerian
leadership and governance crises is stated as follows:
BAD GOVERNANCE IN NIGERIA
The driving force behind Nigerias experiment with democracy came both from ideology
conviction and the growing impatience of an ever bolder public consciousness, and from the
related manner of the continents prevailing economic woes.
On the other hand, the politically conscious urbanized, professional and studies bodies began to
rail against the continual failure of their rulers to match rhetoric and promises to economic
progress, for much of Nigeria had experienced a steady decline in living standards through the
1960s The World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other bilateral aid donors
also made it quite clear that if further financial assistance was to be forthcoming. Africas

governments had to give urgent attention to their human rights records. More specifically, they
had to become politically more accountable to their people, and curb corruption.
It is instructive to note that no nation has achieved meaningful development socially, politically
or economically without the input of or effective leadership. Thus, in contemporary discourse,
the concept of leadership and governance has attracted a wider spread interest as they serve as
the pivot on which social, political and economic structures rest. The numerous problems which
have been bedeviling Nigerian states vis--vis ethnic and communal clashes, increasing crime
wave, drug trafficking, advanced fee fraud etc have been blamed on ineffective leadership. While
it is true that there have been apparent leadership and governance crises in Nigeria, the last two
decades has witnessed struggle to engender effective leadership and governance in Nigeria.

Statement of Problem
Despite over forty years of political independence, Nigerias aspiration and hopes remain today
largely unfulfilled. The leadership question has become a recurring issue in the discourse on the
Nigerian project. The governing class has been target of pillory, vilification, condemnation and
disdain in view of the pervasive and persistent socio-economic and political crisis. He stated
further that the economic domain has been characterized by huge external debt overhang, net
capital flight, disinvestments, collapse of social infrastructure, food crisis and insecurity, overdevalued national currency, pervasive poverty, unpopular, repressive and alienating economic
policies. It was recognized that Nigerias failures have come about largely as a result of among
other things; progressive distancing of Nigeria from the masses of the people; inadequate
preparation of the leadership that assumed the responsibility to govern their countries.
Nigerian leaders have frequently come to their position with limited experience. Though most of
them have battled on, confronting their awesome problems of development and nation-building
essentially not only unprepared but unaided, their efforts have been at best only a qualified
success. There are no institutions in Nigeria devoted to preparing potential leaders with a global
outlook, leaders who will be able to cooperate within and across national, regional and
institutional boundaries. Furthermore, it is difficult if not impossible, Nigeria to gain access to
relevant and timely information on most national, regional and global issues.
Obasanjo (1993) noted that, it need to be realized that the morass of governance in Africa
emerged primarily as a result of lack of checks and balances in Africas system of governance. In
effect, for some African leaders, their nation ended up being treated as their individual personal
property. In other cases, a decline in moral and discipline caused or combined with bad policies,
eroded professional standards and ethics and weakened the system of governance. Poor
governance become the major challenge and source of Africas predicament and socio-economic
crises. Only a few African leaders have voluntary left office; most others were assassinated or
were disposed by military coups. In the past, many African leaders would align or threaten to
align with the communist bloc or capitalist bloc in exchange for the support that allowed
them to stay in power. It is against these backdrops, the critical appraisals of the African crises

often identify the leadership and governance as the major variables to correctly historicize the
nature, character and dimensions of the African problem.
The problem in an intellectual discourse of this nature is usually concerned with the definition of
terms. It is really very difficult to attempt a definition of leadership, or in other words it is
difficult to define what makes certain persons to be leader. For example, some researchers
define leadership in terms of personality and physical traits, while others believe leadership is
represented by a set of prescribed behaviors.
Leadership is the process of creating the subordinates identification with the groups mission
and creating their desires to achieve the groups goal.
Leadership is defined as a social influence process in which the leader seeks the voluntary
participation of subordinates in an effort to reach organizational goals. It involves a complex
interaction among the leader, the followers, and the situation.
DISCUSSION
Nigeria as country in the continent of Africa is victims of poor and bad governance, and this
poses a challenge to the effective human and political development, inhibiting security and peace
of a nation
Nigeria as a nation, has suffered greatly from poor leadership and bad governance, and this
withholds the country from moving forward., National development seems stagnated and as
though she will never get there to measure among some developed countries of the world.
Each day the people of Nigeria look forward to a better Nation but, corruption and bad political
practices have eaten deeply the root that holds Nigeria strong and united.
A country that is known for peace and unity, now is been terrorized in a every state and city
involving killings, kidnapping, stealing, fighting, and innumerable corrupt practices going on,
because of one or more selfish political gains.
The nation is gradually falling, as the leadership and political responsibilities of our leaders do
not play a key role in promoting human development or dealing with issues that affect the
wellbeing of the general population. Therefore, everyone lives in fear as though all hope is lost.
Everyday there is a struggle in the life of every man to make ends meet by engaging in one
activity or the other but at the end, it seems all resources are limited. Businesses are limited,
scarcity of necessary resources such as fuel, high rise in prices of goods and services. Some of
these makes life difficult for the common man.
At the end of struggle and survival of the fittest, many families and homes tannish in poverty and
lock of food and social amenities causing men, women and children end in the grave because
they cannot afford the standard of living of the country Nigeria.
All hands then point to the government and leaders who bear rule in Nigeria, because a measure
of responsibility has been laid on them to provide a measurable standard of living for the people
of Nigeria, to accommodate both the rich and the poor, but the reverse is the case.

It then seems all leaders who are elected into office are only full of promises but after the
confirmation of appointment into their office, everything changes, and the expectation of the
people is shattered to pieces. For those who must earn a living, they have to struggle, indulging
in immoral and evil practices to earn a living
There is no consensus on what actually constitutes good governance; and we have few reliable
(quantitative) indicators of the quality of governance for most countries. We cannot realistically
expect much consensus around the question of how closely poor governance and national
poverty are connected.
Some scholars tend to focus attention on good governance as a panacea for enduring peace,
security, and sustainable development in society. Bad governance tends to frustrate the
institutionalization of both peace and security on the one hand, and on the other, creates a
stunted, rentier, disarticulated, and grossly underdeveloped Nigerian society. To exemplify the
nexus among bad governance, the lack of peace and security with sustainable development in the
country, the researchers adopted a survey research method to generate the necessary data to
remonstrate that each of the variables is conversely and inversely related; that is: bad
governance, lack of peace, lack of security and unsustainable development in their interactions
systematically generates and reproduce each other. Out findings show that lack of adequate
security tends to frustrate peaceful empathy among the collectivities; disinvest the most
fainthearted efforts at generating sustainable development in the country; and, promote
economically unsustainable environment. Consequently, we suggest that all forms of corrupt
practices, and related vices should be abhorred; and, defaulters apprehended and
comprehensively punished; Leadership should not only be very responsive to the yearnings and
aspirations of the people, but should be committed, accountable and transparent in all its
activities. The strengthening of the political, economic, social and other institutions of
governance in order to sustain effective policy making and implementation; and, an enlightened
followership is an imperative force if good governance, peaceful, developed and non-violent
society is desired in Nigeria. Above all, sycophancy should be discouraged in the nations
statecraft as it promotes bad governance in Nigeria.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
Leadership is complex and, in practice, it is not as clear cut as the present analyses may seem to
indicate.
When we talk about leadership, it must be understood purely in the context of its capacity to
resolve problems and lead the people to their destined goal and national objective.
Nigeria in this context may have an identifiable goal and objective, but the problem lies at the
point of ensuring that all goals are achieved and needs of the nation are met.
So, when people stumble into leadership positions in this kind of climate, they find themselves
dazed and appear as a flotsam in the sea whose destination cannot be determined. Even when
such a leader has reasons for assumption of leadership which may appear patriotic at first
instance, actual implementation often turns out to reveal all the hidden motives

Poor governance is a general concern in Nigeria, and is mostly explained by the persistence of
inefficient markets, corruption, poor institutions, low government intervention as well as
insecure property rights.
Therefore, Nigeria needs an improved set of policy including political, economic and
institutional reforms to break the persistent poor growth performance.
The economic reforms should combine market liberalization, enforcement of property rights,
improved institutions as well as credibility and accountability of public servants and leaders.
To eliminate public resource mismanagement and to ensure quality service delivery and effective
bureaucracy, strengthen the rules of law as well as the promotion of credibility accountability
and transparency, capacity building is also a vital process.
The moment or point at which Nigeria gets rid of the variables associated with poor governance
and institutions, Africa will be in a better position to strengthen and boost its growth
performance. Consequently, poverty will be reduced and wealth increased.