Democracy, Good Governance and Political Leadership Misconception in Nigeria

Abstract

Since Nigeria’s democratic rule began, successive leaders have increasingly neglected the welfare of their citizens by accruing dividends of democratic government to themselves, friends and families. The apparent neglect has manifested chronic hunger, high level of illiteracy, inadequate health facilities, poor infrastructural facilities, and unimaginable poverty level in the country. The situation has remarkably shown that Nigerian leadership has undermined the culture of democracy and good governance, based on their misconceptions of what democracy and good governance stand for. The misconception of democracy and good governance by Nigerian leadership has unequivocally affected their idea of provision of essential needs to the citizens. Hence, frustrations arising from the citizen’s neglect have spurred groups’ agitations and separatists’ movement for self-determination in all parts of the region.  This has resulted in suppression/oppression and the use of state’s security agencies to intimidate the agitators by the government. The paper therefore, examines the effects of leadership perceptions of democracy and good governance and how democracy and good governance can be embraced by political leaders in Nigeria. To achieve the study's objectives, the paper employed qualitative data such as textbooks, the Internet, and Journals. The findings revealed that Nigerian political leaders are more interested in liberal democracy, which does not take the welfare of citizens into account in the day-to-day running of government. The paper recommended that political leaders should imbibe quality leadership with stanch commitment to the rule of law, among others.