CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
The socio-economic and political development of any country depends largely on the ability of its leadership to facilitate, entrench and sustain good governance (Afigbo, 2007). However, when there is a culture of impunity in any society and there is a wide spread of lack of leadership by example to enthrone transparent and qualitative public bureaucracy, a degenerated symptoms of underdevelopment continues to manifest as exemplified particularly in Benue State and Nigeria at large public administration (Onigbide, 2007).
The manifestation of symptoms of underdevelopment does not imply that Benue as a state or Nigeria as a country lacks quality and competent human resources to engender development, but the process of enthroning leaders is bedeviled with crisis and it does not provide room for morally upright, competent, visionary leaders to emerge. In this context, Imhonopi and Ugochukwu (2013) vehemently assert that Nigeria is richly endowed by providence with human and material resources critical for national development and advancement. However, since gaining political independence, Nigeria has continued to meander the path befitting failed, weak and “juvenile” states.
A state that had very great prospects at independence and was touted to lead Africa out of the backwoods of underdevelopment and economic dependency, Nigeria is still stuck in the league of very poor, corrupt, underdeveloped, infrastructurally decaying, crisis riven, morally bankrupt and leadership-deficient countries of the South. Rather than become an exemplar for transformational leadership, modern bureaucracy, national development, national integration and innovation, Nigeria seems to be infamous for whatever is mediocre, corrupt, insanely violent and morally untoward.
According to the Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI), “Good governance is the process and institutions by which authority in a country is exercised; the process by which governments are selected, held accountable, monitored and replaced; the capacity of governments to manage resources efficiently, and to formulate, implement and enforce sound policies and regulations; and, the respect for the institutions that govern economic and social interactions among them” (Onigbide, 2007). It also includes both a broad strategy and a particular set of initiatives to strengthen the institutions of civil society with the objective of making government more accountable, more open and transparent and more democratic (Minogue cited in Abe, 2010).
History has shown that no nation in the wide world grew and enjoyed steady development in almost all spheres of its national life without experiencing good and selfless political leadership (Ogbeidi, 2012). This is mainly because qualitative growth and development has constantly been a product of good leadership. Therefore, the undertaking of this study will investigate the relationship between Leadership and the challenges of development in Benue State from 1999-2015.
1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
The frequent cases of bribery, corruption, frauds or embezzlement of funds coupled with other social ills such as nepotism, tribalism and the like are highly worrisome in Benue State. These vices are very rampant and seem to portray that leadership has been myopic and unfruitful on the whole. So far, there seem to be no end in sight in the scheme of things going by the wide-spread poverty, hunger, sickness, unemployment and lack of social cum economic amenities that plaque Benue State.
The problem of leadership and its pervasive bearing on social cum economic development inBenue State and Nigeria is multifaceted. Now, the root cause of underdevelopment in Nigerian problem is attributed to bad leadership. There is nothing basically wrong with the Nigerian character. There is nothing wrong with the Nigerian land, climate, water, air, or anything else. The Nigerian problem is the unwillingness or inability of its leaders to rise to their responsibility, to the challenge of personal example, which is the hallmark of true leadership.
Political analysts, policy watchers and developmental researchers indicate that Nigeria is fraught of poor leadership, corruption and weak bureaucratic institutions. It is an axiom that since attainment of political independent, Nigeria has never been governed by selfless, truly transformational and intellectually endowed leaders. That is, Nigeria has never selected its best sons to positions of leadership and mediocre leadership can only lead to mediocre government without any meaningful development. It is against this backdrop that this research study seeks to explore the relationship between leadership and the challenges of development in Benue State from 1999-2015 with a special reference to Makurdi Local Government Area.
1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The major objective of this study is to examine the effect leadership on development in Benue State from 1999-2015. Other specific objectives are:
i. To examine the relationship between leadership and development crisis in Benue State.
ii. To investigate the effect of leadership on socio-economic development in Nigeria.
iii. To determine the effect of leadership style on grass-root development in Benue State.
1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
This research work shall be guided by the following research questions:
a) Is there any significant relationship between leadership and development crisis inBenue State?
b) Is there any significant relationship between leadership and socio-economic development in Nigeria?
c) Does leadership style have effect on grass-root development in Benue State?