Political leadership and Nigeria’s image crisis
The myriads of socio-economic and political challenges that bedeviled Nigeria have been the crux of much debate. The pendulum has swung from one extreme to the other throughout history. However, the debate as to the impact of these challenges on external perception about Nigeria is still ongoi...
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| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
2018
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| Online Access: | http://journalarticle.ukm.my/13270/1/29098-89105-1-PB.pdf http://journalarticle.ukm.my/13270/ http://ejournals.ukm.my/gmjss/issue/view/1144 |
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| Summary: | The myriads of socio-economic and political challenges that bedeviled Nigeria have been the
crux of much debate. The pendulum has swung from one extreme to the other throughout
history. However, the debate as to the impact of these challenges on external perception about
Nigeria is still ongoing. In spite of vast literature on the Nigerian project and the country’s
potentials for greatness, all seem to be sound and fury without a clear cut line of action
towards addressing Nigeria’s plummeting image. This is the focus of the current effort. The
paper examines the salient motivations for Nigeria’s ‘falling’ image and external perceptions
on Nigerians in the context of political leadership. Applying both primary and secondary
methods of data collection which were qualitatively analyzed the study discovers that the
fundamental factor dampening Nigeria’s image is a failure of leadership and irresponsible
followership resulting from corruption, diplomatic frailties, lack of political will to ensure
dignity and integrity, among other manifestations. While the paper underscores some
leadership efforts to building a positive image, it argues that the instrumentality of
implementation is in a state of vacillation. Thus, the paper concludes that corruption and
failure of leadership are responsible for Nigeria’s image crisis. Hence, the paper
recommends, among others, that there is need to build a symbiotic relationship between the
Nigerian leadership and citizenship upon the infallible foundations of trust, integrity,
patriotism and an unyielding spirit of nationalism, with the aim of establishing strong
structures and institutions. This requires the culture of good governance. |
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