The Impact of Political Leadership and Corruption on Nigeria’s Development since Independence

The paper draws an interlocking relationship between political leadership and development and concludes that, while leadership had played tremendous role in the socio-political and economic development of most nations of the world, the reverse is the case in Nigeria. Apart from identifying other social vices that accounted for the protracted state of Nigeria’s underdevelopment, the paper also singles out corruption as the major impediment to Nigeria’s quest for development since independence. Drawing from the World Bank, Transparency International and highly knowledgeable scholars in this field, the paper demonstrates the process through which Nigerian political leadership became ‘neck-deep’ in corruption with several cases of monumeotal diversion of public funds meant for the economic development of the country into individual pockets. The multi-dimensional consequences of corrupt practices on a nation’s socio-political and economic development cannot be overemphasised, as virtually all sectors of the country, including education, health, agriculture, politics, technology, e.t.c, are negatively affected, with the resultant outcome like extreme poverty, high level of illiteracy, economic dependency, technological backwardness, political instability, e.t.c, as the order of the day. Nigeria’s situation typifies the above as shown in the paper.