Machiavellian Virtu - and Leadership: A Panacea for Nigerian Development.

Abstract

For more than five decades, Nigerian basket of achievement has not recorded an appreciable outcome. This is in spite of its unparallel endowment in human capital and mineral resources. In fact, the country was considered a leading light that would lead Africa out of the cocoon of colonialism and underdevelopment. The rising expectations were predicated on the fact that the new era of governance would lay a ground work for human development and respect of human freedom. Unfortunately, six years after political independence, there were palpable signs of failure and regression. By the twenty-first century, Nigeria has been reduced to a country with bleak prospects, and unmitigated corruption. The aftermath is that there is a heightened venerability of the country’s political economy . This paper seeks to examine what led to this pitiable situation in the country. This is a qualitative study, and method of data collection was based on the secondary sources. These include review of existing literature, newspapers, magazines, official bulletins and gazettes. It was discovered that the crisis dogging the country for more than five decades is a precipitate of the nature and character of the leaders who inherited political power from the colonialists. This has been reproducing itself even up to the twenty-first century. We, therefore, recommend that for the country to rise beyond its underdeveloped status, it must ensure the triumph of human security, through a leadership that must necessarily imbibe the Machiavellian Virtue. Keywords;