Leadership issues in nigeria from 1960 to 2018, treating each leader on it’s merit pdf

POST GRADUATE SCHOOL

FACULTY OF ARTS AND SOCIAL SCIENCES

DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY WAR STUDIES

THEORIES AND CONCEPTS OF LEADERSHIP

LEADERSHIP ISSUES IN NIGERIA FROM 1960 TO 2018,

TREATING EACH LEADER ON IT’S MERIT

BY

Nurt9ja

JUNE 2018

ABSTRACT 

Nigeria, a country richly endowed with natural resources and high quality human capital is yet to find its rightful place among the comity of nations. A major reason that has been responsible for her socioeconomic stagnation is the phenomenon of corruption. The kernel of the paper rest in the fact that political leadership and corruption were interwoven and it is against this background that it explored the corrupt tendencies of the political leadership class in Nigeria since 1960 and its implication for socioeconomic development. The paper concludes that for Nigeria to experience sustainable socio-economic.  

INTRODUCTION

Nigeria gained its independence, it was entering a period of rapid social and economic change, and many people were quite optimistic about its future. Few people imagined that in the next fifteen years there would be political chaos succeeded by military coup d’état and a thirty-month long civil war. But no one can see why there were those developments. In their intense desire for independence, Nigerian leaders reached compromises without facing realistically their differences like the minorities’ problem and issues of equal opportunity, proper sharing of the nation’s wealth, and so on. This they tried to do after independence was won, when Nigerian, when Nigerians faced the difficult task of making a nation. Is an incontrovertible fact that corruption has been the bane of Nigeria’s development, thus without mincing words the phenomenon has ravaged the country and destroyed most of what is held as cherished national values. Unfortunately, the political class saddled with the responsibility of directing the affairs of the country have been the major culprit in perpetrating this act. Regrettably, since independence a notable surviving legacy of the successive political leadership both civilian and military that have managed the affairs of the country at different times has been the institutionalization of corruption in all agencies of the public service, which, like a deadly virus, has subsequently spread to the private sector of the country. Indeed, it is a paradox that Nigeria, the world's eighth largest exporter of crude oil, a country endowed with many resources, still has more than 70 percent of its population living below the poverty line as a result of corruption and economic mismanagement. Pathetically, the logic of the Nigerian political leadership class has been that of self-service as some of the leaders are mired in the pursuit of selfish and personal goals at the expense of broader national interests. Consequently, emphasis has been on personal aggrandizement and self-glorification with the result that corruption has become an euphemism for explaining political leadership in Nigeria in relation to the management of national wealth.  History has shown that no nation of the world grew and enjoyed steady development in virtually all spheres of its national life without experiencing good and selfless political leadership. This is largely because qualitative growth and development has always been an outcome of good governance. Commenting on the experience of the Nigerian nation, the renowned novelist, Chinua Achebe, insisted that the root cause of the Nigerian predicament should be laid squarely at the foot of bad leadership. “The trouble with Nigeria,” Achebe argued, 

THE FIRST REPUBLIC (1960-66)

THE FEDERAL COALITION GOVERNMENT

At the Nigeria’s independence, the federal government was a coalition composed of the mainly northern NPC and the mainly Eastern NCNC. The mainly western AG led by Chief Obafemi Awolowo was in opposition. The coalition government was led by Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, the NPC deputy leader and the first Federal Prime Minister. In November 1960 Dr. Nnamdi Azikwe the leader of the NCNC became the first Nigerian Governor-General.

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT HOSTILITY AND THE WESTERN REGION CRISIS

From the beginning the NPC-NCNC coalition was hostile to the AG opposition which it tried to destroy, accordingly, in the federal House of Representatives two measures were taken which deemed to win particularly against the AGs position. One was a motion pasta-in that house which called for the creation of a Mid-west state out of the minority area of the western region while no measure was taken to create states out of the Northern and eastern regions. That state was in fact created in 1963. Another measure was the ordering of an enquiry into the affairs of the AG-sponsored national bank. To carry out the latter, a special Tribunal outside the control of the Law Courts was set up, though this act was later declared illegal by the Federal Supreme Court.

In addition to these hostile acts, the Federal government tried to exploit the divisions within the AG to its advantage. The AG there was a division between those led by Awolowo, who wished to continue in opposition till the day they would win Federal power, and those led by Chief S. L. Akintola, AG deputy leader and Premier of the western region, who wished to be part of the Federal Government. In this way, the latter hoped the AG in particular and the West in general would share in the fruits of independence, an AG party conference summoned in May 1962 for the purpose disciplined Akintola. He was replaced as Premier by Alhaji A. A. Adegbenro, who was loyal to the party leader, Chief Awolowo.

In the Western House of Assembly riots broke out as Akintola’s supporters’ and the opposition NCNC tried to prevent Adegbenro from proving that he, as the new Premier had the support of the majority of the House. The federal Government seized the opportunity to impose a state of emergency on the West for the next six months the West was governed by a federal Government Administrator, Dr. M. A. Majekodunmi. In the following month, June 1962, a special Commission of Enquiry, under Justice G.B.A. Coker, was set up to examine the affairs of six western Government corporations. In September, AG leaders including Awolowo, were arrested on charges of treason. After a celebrated trial, Awolowo was found guilty and sentenced to ten years imprisonment, reduced to seven on appeal Chief Anthony Enahoro was repatriated from Britain to face charges on the same offence. He was also found guilty and sentenced to fifteen years, later reduced to ten when in January 1963, the state of emergency was lifted in the West, Chief Akintola formed a coalition government between his supporters and the NCNC. AG seemed to have been overshadowed by its opponents.

END OF THE FIRST REPUBLIC

On the night of 14-15 January 1966, a group of majors based in Kaduna staged a coup in which the Federal Prime Minister, the Premiers of the North and West, the Federal Minister of finance and most of over the government, for they failed to kill the head of the army, Major General J.T.U Aguiyi Ironsi, He and other surviving officers were able to put down the coup and restore their control of the army. To them, the discredited and terrified politicians handed over power. The First Republic had collapsed.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF HEAD OF GOVERNMENT IN NIGERIA

GENERAL AGUIYI IRONSI REGIME (JANUARY-JULY 1966)

Until early January 1966, the Nigerian military behaved according to tradition. Their basic concern was the defence and security of Nigeria. On the night of Saturday 15 January 1966, five middle level officers led groups of army men to overthrow the government of Nigeria. Through this the prime minister, Sir. Tafawa Balewa and his finance minister, Chief Okotie Eboh were murdered together with the premiers of the Northern and western regions the heads of the military major general Aguiyi Ironsi became the commander in chief of the Nigerian armed forces and Head of State. This was the beginning of a long stay of the military in Nigerian politics. Consequently, the first republic constitution was suspended and replaced with military decrees. During this regime the four regions of the country was divided into provinces. A military coup was effected leading to the assassination of Ironsi in July, 1966.

GENERAL YAKUBU GOWON REGIME (JULY 1966 – JULY 1975)

Following the assassination of General Ironsi in July 1966, a northern Lt. Col. (latter general) Yakubu Gowon became the head of the state and commander in chief of the Armed Forces. Gowon’s choice as head of the state was due to the fact he was the most senior northern officer left in the army, the others having been killed in the bloody coup of January 15, 1966. Hence, more senior officers from the south were not acceptable to the northern young military officers in the forefront of leading the coup. The first major task that Gowon faced was that of keeping Nigeria as one country, a civil war which lasted thirty months was fought between the federal troops and troops of a newly declared republic of Biafra., though Nigeria fought the war without borrowing from other countries, in all respects it was in an expensive war, both in term of loss of life and money. The civil war ended in January, 1970 and a period of reconciliation, reconstruction and rehabilitation began in earnest. In the nine-point transition programme announced, he promised to disengage the military from politics by October 1, 1974, he announced that the 1976 disengagement date was unrealistic. This later led to his ouster by Brigadier (later General) Murtala Mohammed on July 29, 1975.

GENERAL MURTALA MOHAMMED REGIME (1975-1976)

On the evening of July 29, 1975, Brigadier Muritala Mohammed, Director of Army Signals and Gowon’s commissioners for communication, announced the formation of a new government. He sacked the entire service chief under Gowon, his commissioners, as well as his Governors. All the sacked officers were later subjected to probe exonerated only two Brigadiers Oluwole Rotimi (west) and Mobolaji Johnson (Lagos) over charges of corrupt practices. These found guilty were dismissed from the armed forces.

General Mohammed soon announced a four-year political transition designed to terminate on 1 October 1979. He also embarked on his reformist approach to sanitizing the nation. Hence, the pace of action of the Mohammed regime was. He set up panels to look into various aspects of the Nigerian life, including the need for a new federal capital and the creation of more states. The regime also injected a sense of direction. Workers got to work promptly and did not stay away from work without good reasons. But the economy suffered for his mass importation syndrome.

On February 3, 1976, Murtala Mohammed announced the creation of seven more states, thus raising, the number of states in Nigeria to nineteen. Military Governors were appointed, and as was the tradition then, all changes took ‘‘immediate effect’’. The panel that worked on the new state creation was headed by Justice Ayo Irikefe, who later became the nation’s Chief Justice.

The committee that worked on the need or otherwise for a new national capital was headed by Justice Akinola Aguda. The committee concluded that Lagos had become too small and congested to continue as the nation’s capital that the colonial masters limited the federal capital to Lagos Island, and did not extend it beyond the cater bridge to the mainland and Apapa was responsible for the congestion of Lagos. A green land located around the centre of the country was named as the Federal capital Territory, and a section of it called Abuja was earmarked for development in the near future. One of the reasons given for moving the capital was to give all Nigerians ‘’Sense of belonging’’ in the federal capital, which Lagos no longer capable of providing. General Murtala Mohammed was gunned down on February 13, 1976 on his way to work from his residence at Ikoyi.

GENERAL OLUSEGUN OBASANJO REGIME (1976-1979)

It is widely believed that the tenure of Mohammed and Obasanjo should be tied together. The unsuccessful coup and the assassination of General Murtala Mohammed on February 13, 1976, brought General Olusegun Obasanjo to power. And despite the assassination of General Murtala Mohammed, General Obasanjo saw to it that the promise to return Nigeria to a democratically elected, government was maintained and then proceeded with the execution of the transition to civil rule programme. The constitution drafting committee, which had earlier been set up by General Murtala Mohammed was to produce an enduring and workable constitution for the country. Following the submission of the drafter constitution by the constitution drafting committee a constituent assembly was set up by General Obasanjo in August 1977 to deliberate on it.

On October 1, 1979, General Obasanjo and his junta handed over to Alhaji Shehu Aliyu Shagari who took the title of the Executive President of Nigeria.

THE SECOND REPUBLIC (1979-1983)

ALHAJI SHEHU ALIYU SHAGARI (OCTOBER 1, 1979-1983)

Nigeria’s second republic, was a presidential system of government operated on the American mode. It was unlike the first republic which operated on the British parliamentary model. The presidential system was preferred to the parliamentary one because it provided a single individual as executive who could decide and act promptly when necessary. An election was held between five political parties but Alhaji Shehu Shagari of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) won the 1979 election. The other political parties were Unity party of Nigeria (UPN) led by chief Obafemi Awolowo, the Nigerian Peoples party (NPP) led by Alhaji Waziri Ibrahim, and the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) led by Alhaji Aminu Kano. The NPN obtained the largest share of the votes in the elections, with the UPN coming second, the NPP and PRP fourth, and fifth respectively.

THE END OF SECOND REPUBLIC

The civilian government of Alhaji Shehu Shagari was overthrown by the army on 31 December, 1983 – to the great relief of many Nigerians and a military government headed by major – General Muhammed Buhari was instituted in its place.

GENERAL MOHAMMED BUHARI REGIME (1984-1985)

Following the collapse of the second republic and id-of military rule in Nigeria, there was no action initially to move nation towards a constitutional government. The Buhari regime that took over power, concentrated attention on the resuscitation battered economy and had no time for any political programme. General Muhammad Buhari made it abundantly clear that the issue of political programme had to wait until the economy had improved drastically. The government however became authoritarian repressive and high-handed it its governing style. Various draconian decrees were promulgated. As a result of these developments many politician were arrested and jailed, a thing no one thought was possible before then.

For the first time in the history of Nigeria, the citizenry was humbled with a sense of discipline. Lawlessness seemed to be on his way out of the land, while civil and cultured behaviours began to a regular feature of the nation’s daily life, especially in the cities.

General, Buhari military regime was a determined military government that tried to cure the several ills of the nation, but it was however a politically naïve government. On august 27, 1985, the Buhari a palace coup staged by General Ibrahim Babangida.

GENERAL IBRAHIM BABANGIDA REGIME (1985-1993)

On assumption of power, Babangida’s first task was to abrogate some of the draconian decrees and set the victims free. He also pledged to respect human rights and disengage the military from governance. He then set the machinery in motion to produce new constitution from the Third republic. Three fundamental were set up by the Babangida administration. They are Political Bureau, the Constitution Review Committee and the Constituent Assembly. The political Bureau, which commenced its task on January 13, 1986, organized national debate, collated and synthesized the views of Nigerians on the types of political system to be evolved in the country. Following the omission of its report, the constitutional review committee was setup on September 7, 1987 to review the first and second republic constitutions in line with the accepted recommendation of the political bureau the report of the constitution review committee assembly on May 11, 1988. After about one year of deliberate on the draft constitution it was submitted to the armed Forces Ruling Council (AFRC) which effected some modifications and later promulgated the constitution in 1989.

After many postponements, the presidential election which was held on June12, 1993 was however annulled by Babangida regime on June 23, 1993. Eventually, Babangida regime was compelled to ‘’step aside’’ after installing Interim National Government on August 26, 1993.

GENERAL SANI ABACHA REGIME (1993-1998)

Based on the mounting opposition against the Interim National Government (ING) and its declaration as an illegal regime by a Federal High Court in Lagos, General Sani Abacha who was the ING’s secretary of defence, moved swiftly to topple the government and installed himself as the new Head of State on November 17, 1993. To consolidate his power, General Abacha embarked upon a gradual process of total elimination of all opposition to his new regime.

Although the 1989 constitution was not allowed to operate, the military government of General Sanni Abacha decided to produce a new constitution that would usher in the fourth republic in Nigeria. This represents the sixth phase of the constitution making in the country. It was preceded by the establishment in January 2994 of a constitutional Conference. Although, the conference was a diversely criticized because of the unrepresentative nature of the membership, it made far-reaching recommendations in the draft constitution, which formed the bedrock of the Abacha regimes political transition programme. A fundamental recommendation made by the constitutional conference was the division of the country into six geographical zones for the purpose of power sharing at the federal level, notably, the rotation of the office of the president, vice president, prime-minister, deputy prime-minister, senate president and speaker of the house of representative. The conference also recommend the establishment of a federal character commission as well as the composition of the federal cabinet in proportion to the votes won by each political party at the polls.

On October 1, 1995, Abacha announced a transition timetable for the restoration of democratic civilian rule in October 1998. This was a repetition of the Babangida’s abortion transition programme prescribing election into local council, state assemblies, state governorship, national assembly and the presidency. General Abacha died on June 8, 1998.

GENERAL ABDUSALAM ABUBAKAR REGIME (1998-1999)

The Abdulsalami Abubakar government showed dedicated commitment to returning the country to democracy but did not do much to fight corruption. It is instructive to state here that the Third Republic was sandwiched within the thirteen years military rule of General Babangida and Sani Abacha (1985 – 1998). During this period, a number of commissions of inquiry were instituted, yet no inquiry and reports stopped the high rate of corruption. The Fourth Republic commenced with the election of General Olusegun Obasanjo 

PRESIDENT OLUSEGUN OBASANJO (1999 - 2007)

Who contested under the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) emerged winner and was sworn in as the Fourth Republic president. Obasanjo’s first term was characterized by his desire to free Nigeria from the huge foreign debt incurred during the military rule. He and his Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo- Iweala succeeded in getting Nigeria’s huge foreign debt cancelled. He also tried to fight corruption by establishing the Economic Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). EFCC’s main objective was to clamp down on anyone involved in financial crime. He appointed Nuhu Ribadu to head the Commission; Ribadu. Senior members of the government were arrested for financial crime but in time however, it became clear that only those opposed to Obasanjo were brought to account (Dowden, R. 2009). Other credits of his regime include the establishment of GSM mobile phone networks and privatization policy. However, despite the above, Obasanjo’s leadership was not devoid of high-handedness, bad temper, and dictatorial tendencies. In 2000 he sent troops to level the Odi community in Niger Delta, following the murder of several policemen. He fell out with friends and never forgave his enemies. He treated parliament with contempt and tried to persuade them to change the constitution to allow him run for a third term. The Parliament stood firm and did not grant him his request. Obasanjo just like Gowon actually had the opportunity of transforming the nation positively because he had all the support he needed locally and internationally after a long period of bad military rule. The international community did not put pressure on him mainly because they needed a powerful ally in Africa that will promote free market reforms and he Obasanjo provided that Dowden, 2009). However, his leadership style denied him the opportunity of transforming Nigeria and leaving an ever lasting legacy of change. His inability to truly fight corruption which is the main hindrance to transformation in Nigeria even though he established the necessary Commissions (EFCC and ICPC) needed to fight corruption deprived him of becoming a leader of repute. In fact report has it that during the first four years of his government federal ministers allegedly stole more than N23 billion from the public coffers. An audit report released by Vincent Azie, acting Auditor-General of the Federation, showed that the amount represented financial frauds ranging from embezzlement, payments for jobs not done, over-invoicing, double debiting, inflation of contract figures to release of money without the consent of the approving authority in ten major ministries. Rather than cautioning the ministers whose ministries were named in the fraudor invite the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) to further investigate the veracity of the alleged fraud, Vincent Azie was hastily retired by the Presidency for procedural offences. His administration ended in 2007 after eight years (1999-2007) in office. He handed over to Yar’ Adua.

YAR’ADUA’S ADMINISTRATION (2007-2010)

Did not last too long because he took ill and died before the expiration of his first four years. Nevertheless, he tried to set Nigeria on the part of progress by initiating the Seven Point Agenda. The Seven Point Agenda were the seven goals his regime hopes to achieve. The goals were; 

i. Power and energy - To develop an adequate power supply so as to ensure Nigeria's ability to develop as a modern economy by the year 2015. ii. Food security - The emphasis is on the development of modern technology, research, financial injection into research, production and development of agricultural inputs leading to a 5 to 10-fold increase in yields and production. This is supposed to result in massive domestic and commercial output and technological knowledge transfer to farmers. 

iii. Wealth creation - This reform is focused on wealth creation through diversified production especially in the agricultural and solid mineral sector. This requires Nigerians to "choose" to work, as hard work is required to achieve this reform. iv. Transport sector - The transportation sector in Nigeria with its poor road networks is an inefficient means of mass transit of people and goods. With the goal of a modernized and industrialized Nigeria, it is mandatory that Nigeria develop its transport sector. v. Land reforms - While hundreds of billions of dollars have been lost through unused government owned landed assets, changes in the land laws and the emergence of land reforms is supposed to optimize Nigeria's growth through the release of land for commercialized farming and other large scale business by the private sector. The final result is supposed to assure improvements and boosts to the production and "wealth creation initiatives". vi. Security - An unfriendly security climate apparently "precludes both external and internal investment into the nation". Thus, security will be seen as not only a constitutional requirement but also as a necessary infrastructure for the development of a "modern Nigerian economy". With its particular needs, the Niger Delta security issue will be the primary focus, marshalled not with physical policing or military security, but through "honest and accurate dialogue" between the people and the Federal Government. 

vii. Education - The two-fold reforms in the educational sector are supposed to achieve the "minimum acceptable international standards of education for all." With that achieved a strategic educational development plan "will ensure excellence in both the tutoring and learning of skills in science and technology" by students who will be seen as the "future innovators and industrialists of Nigeria." This reform is to be achieved through massive injection into the Education sector (Ola, R. 2009). His goal setting kind of gave his administration direction and that is one of the marks of a true leader as earlier discussed. He focused on achieving the Seven Point Agenda. He set a December, 2010 target for the generation and transmission of 6000 megawatts of electricity in Nigeria (Ola, R. 2009). He also confronted the Niger Delta problem through the creation of a ministry dedicated to the region. President Yar’Adua on the 25th of June 2009 came up with an unprecedented decision, proclaiming amnesty for all militants in the region. This proclamation and its subsequent acceptance by the militant groups brought some measure of peace and stability to the region (Ola, R. 2009). He also decided to commence the dredging of the River Niger after being on the drawing board for forty years. However, the cold hands of death did not allow him the opportunity to complete his task. His death on 4 May, 2010, led to the swearing in of his Vice President.

GOODLUCK EBELE JONATHAN AS THE NEW PRESIDENT 0N 5 MAY, 2010. 

Jonathan after being sworn in promised to continue with Seven Point Agenda Yar’Adua, however, as time passed he declared that all aspects of the economy needed attention not just the seven points. He ended the Yar’Adua period and contested for another four years. He won the 2011 presidential elections and ruled till 2015. Jonathan tried to improve the economy of the country but he was faced with a lot of challenges. Among his major achievements include the revival of the railway transport system that had stopped functioning for the past 28years; dredging of the Niger, construction of the 2nd Niger Bridge, improved power supply from 2500mw to almost 5000mw and construction of 10 new power plants; introduced cutting edge anti-corruption technology based Public Finance management tools including Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information (IPPIS),Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS) and Treasury Single Account (TSA); halting the spread of the Ebola Virus disease; established 12 federal universities, vibrant democracy (for the first time freedom of speech was allowed, rise of strong rival opposition parties and the use of card readers for elections) gender parity in politics, and many others. The major challenge faced by Jonathan administration was insecurity. The Boko Haram terrorism in the North threatened the very existence of Nigeria as a nation. The insurgents succeeded in killing, maiming and displacing citizens especially in the North East region of the nation. The terrorists took over some of the towns in the north east and hoisted their flags in these towns. Most of all they abducted women and school girls, prominent among which was the Chibok girls. Jonathan deployed soldiers to fight the terrorists and also released millions of naira for the purchase of ammunitions to fight the insurgents. Try as much as he could, he did not succeed in curbing the activities of the terrorists. The main factors that contributed to the failure were corruption and sabotage. Many of the members of his administration who were entrusted with the purchase of ammunition and making sure that the terrorists were defeated diverted the money assigned for the programme. The former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki for instance was accused of taking advantage of the Boko Haram insurgency to divert huge amount meant for the purchase of ammunition. Aside Boko Haram, there was the Fulani herdsmen attack on villages, Ombatse militia, kidnapping and many others. Massive corruption was one other factor that affected Jonathan’s administration. Corruption has always been a problem in Nigeria but Jonathan’s administration witnessed a frightening record. The president allowed corruption to thrive under his administration. He failed to bring corruption cases to a logical end. Corrupt officials were allowed to go without being punished. Examples were; 95 billion naira Maina pension scam, Kerosene subsidy scam, police pension scam, Stella Oduah car purchase scandal, among others. Jonathan as a person may not be corrupt but his inability to call to order members of his administration robbed him of his second term in office. Many took advantage of his simplicity and that is not a mark of an effective leader. An effective leader is expected to be simple and at the same time firm. Jonathan’s regime came to an end on 29 May, 2015 after handing over to 

PRESIDENT MOHAMMED BUHARI (2015 TILL DATE)

Who won the 2015 presidential election became the very first to unseat an incumbent in Nigeria. Buhari on assuming power emphasized that his administration would enact new policies to diversify Nigeria’s economy from oil to other sectors such as agriculture, mining and manufacturing (Nwabughiogu, L. 2016). He also promised to fight against corruption and prosecute all those charged with embezzlement and siphoning of public funds. Meanwhile some top government officials during the past and present administration has been arrested by the anti-graft commissions and are currently facing trials. It is hoped that his war on corruption will not just end with the Jonathan’s administration but will extend to all previous administrations before Jonathan because they were all guilty of corruption. Buhari also embarked on soliciting loans from foreign nations to help finance the 2016 budget. China is one of the countries that have agreed to give Nigeria $2 billion loan to help finance the 2016 budget. There is nothing wrong in asking for loan, however, why should the President opt for more loans from other nations of the world to increase the nation’s debt which is already being serviced with 25% of the Federal Government annual budget? Are there no options? What will happen to the economy in subsequent years if the nation continues to use a large part of its annual budget to service loans? Wouldn’t these loans mortgage the future of Nigerians and place Nigerians at the mercy of foreign nations? The problem with African leaders is that they are so aid-dependent and this has made the generality of Africans to have an aid-dependent mentality. Thus, any little challenge they seek for who will give them loans/aid to solve their problems. Many a times the loans/aid are mismanaged and never used for the purpose for which it was got. As posit by Senator Ben Bruce- Murray (2016) the government can attract more revenue by working with Nigerians in diaspora. According to him Nigerians in the diaspora remitted over $20 billion into Nigeria in 2015, more than double the combined amount from foreign, direct investments, international aids and foreign loans that came into Nigeria in 2015. It is therefore, pertinent that Buhari’s government rather than rush to collect loans from foreign nations thereby increasing Nigeria’s indebtedness, should explore other necessary avenues. Nations like Singapore in 1967 faced economic problems but rather than opt for foreign aid, the government decided otherwise. The leaders were convinced that their people must never have an aid-dependent mentality. If they were to succeed, they had to depend on themselves. To Lee Kuan Yew, the world does not owe them a living. They chose not to live by the begging bowl (Lee Kuan Yew, 2000). If Lee could push his people to believe in themselves rather than depend on others to bail them out, what stops Nigeria from doing the same? How long should we continue to live by the begging bowl? Although it is too early to judge Buhari’s government, nonetheless, some of the basic issues that would be used in assessing his administration at the end of his four year term are; 

CORRUPTION

Corruption is a huge problem Nigeria has been fighting with since independence. It started with government officials and has gradually eaten deep into every other area of the economy. It’s very rare to see a government official who isn’t corrupt nowadays.

Currently, Nigeria ranks very high in the league of corrupt nations, and as stated by ex British Prime Minister David Cameron, Nigeria is a “fantastically corrupt” country with corrupt leaders. This problem has been there since independence and has gotten worse.

President Muhammadu Buhari has put up a fight against the monster but only time will tell if the war will be won. Plus he probably has just four years to achieve this.

Impunity of Leaders

Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Once in power, Nigerian leaders at the federal, state and local government levels feel invincible and disregard the rule of law, whenever they can. Leaders bend rules to their wishes and damn the consequences. The judiciary arm of the government has been toothless and only clamp down on the average citizens while top government officials who break the law are left to wander free.

Internal Strife

Nigeria is an amalgam of over 300 ethnic tribes. For some reasons, these tribes haven’t found a way to co-exist peacefully, despite having decades of experience. Most people firstly pledge allegiance to their tribe before admitting they’re Nigerians. As a result, square pegs have gone into round holes and needless squabbles have degenerated into full-blown war between communities. Tribalism reigns in Nigeria and it plays a great part in the country’s current quagmire.

WORSENING ECONOMY

Things have gotten worse for the Nigerian masses over the decades. The country’s economy has been deteriorating over the years with the hope that things will get better getting fainter. The country’s infrastructure which should stimulate economic growth is in shambles and little is done to reverse the case.

ADMINISTRATIVE INEFFICIENCY

One of Nigeria’s biggest problems is its lack of good leadership. Nigeria has barely managed to rule itself efficiently or achieve political stability since it gained independence 56 years ago. The Nigerian civil service has depreciated over the years and is now riddled with corruption and ineptitude. Due to tribalism and other ills, appointments into offices are based on nepotism instead of pragmatism. As a result, unqualified candidates are put in important positions and the result is what we have today.

CONCLUSION

From our survey of political leadership and corruption in Nigeria thus far, it is evident that the problem with Nigeria is not just corruption but leadership failure. Corruption has attained an unimaginable height and is currently assuming a pandemic proportion in Nigeria through, and with the full support of the political leadership class since 1960. Obviously, as a nation, we cannot move on without looking back because a people without a history can be compared to a tree without roots. The fact is obvious that there really was never a golden age of great leadership in the history of Nigeria. The lack of competent, responsible leaders with integrity, vision, high moral values has been the bane of the country. It is simply disheartening that Nigeria, a country blessed with natural resources and manpower is now doomed with uncertainty where abject poverty, high unemployment rate, unresolved assassinations, looting and squandering of public funds, etc, all as a consequence of corruption, have become the order of the day. No doubt, corrupt practices among the political leadership class have also resulted in undermining the growth and stability of the nation’s trading and financial system. As Nigeria seeks for more Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs), corruption tends to thrive more and impede the country’s ability to attract overseas capital. Corruption has also damaged economic development and reforms and if adequate care is not taken, it can hinder the growth of democratic institutions. Although the situation looked very bad, it is not beyond remedy. To achieve this, there must be a complete change of attitude on the part of the Nigerian political leadership class, because no matter how perfect or excellent the constitution or other instruments for ensuring accountability and checking corruption in the country might be, all will come to naught unless the political leadership class show the political will to abide by and enforce them. Consequently, until political and higher bureaucratic appointments ceases to be a means to easy accumulation of illicit wealth and a new political culture that  abhors corruption in public life and humiliates corrupt public servant, emerge in Nigeria, the country cannot escape the inevitable disastrous consequences that comes with pervasive corruption (Maduagwu quoted in Gboyega, 1996: 22).It has been realised and generally agreed that government cannot legislate an end to corruption because punishment of wrongdoers, while necessary, may not be sufficient to stop corruption. In his comparison of corruption in Nigeria and Britain, Ronald Wraith, a British scholar on public and colonial administration, who also was Chairman of the Nigerian Federal Electoral Commission in the late 1950s,pointed to the need for education in good character and the importance of diffusion of wealth, power, and education in the society. There is a need to build a culture of honesty and establish a tradition of selflessness and patriotism in public service. In Britain, responsible government began with the emergence of people who entered government service after they had amassed substantial wealth. They joined government, not to increase their fortunes, but to contribute to the country; an attitude reminiscent of J. F. Kennedy’s remark, “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country” (Wraith and Simpkins, 1963; Kennedy, 1961).In the final analysis, Nigeria simply has been lacking in one thing that every nation, big or small, needs to achieve greatness – credible, responsible and people-oriented leadership. After decades of failed attempts to produce credible leaders, it is imperative now for the political leadership class to turn a new leave by rejecting old habits of corruption which has hitherto hindered Nigeria from becoming a modern, great, and developed nation. This is not in any way to undermine the need for strong institutions. Nevertheless, no country can develop strong institutions without the benefits of good leadership, leaders who will create the conditions necessary for building and sustaining strong institutions. A positive change in the attitudes of the Nigerian leadership class is all that is needed to end corruption in Nigeria and for the nation and its people to experience sustainable socio-economic development.

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