EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP

A TOOL FOR DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA

Abstract

Leadership and good governance are crucial to realizing any giant stride taken in pursuit of  development anywhere in the world, Nigeria is not an exception. However, leadership is a reflection of
characters, which include but not limited to knowledge, vision, courage, openness, accountability, determination, transparency,
uprightness, motivation and patriotism put in place by office holders to lead their people and followers so as to achieve reasonable and positive societal development. It is also important to note that a great deal must be between the leader and its follower which will be explained in details. This study took a
critical look at leadership and how it can influence development in our country and also argues that ineffective leadership is at the centre of Nigeria's under development and opines that effective leadership can be used to achieve political stability and engender
growth and development of the nation. This study adopted the theoretical analytical approach as its methodology and finds out
that there is imbalance in leadership roles that needs to be corrected for effective development both in government and other spheres of life. Thepaper recommends amongst others that Nigeria should adopt leadership models that can lead to optimal human resource productivity to achieve the much desired development in the country and also introduce the spirit of mentoring to thefuture
generation.