Nigeria is generally seen as a country that is permanently on a reverse gear due mainly to the failure of its leadership. The country’s backwardness is most evident when compared with her contemporaries such as Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Brazil, Turkey, etc. These countries have made tremendous progress in both economic and political development due to the kind of leadership they have had since independence. The ideological premise was that only effective leadership can furnish integrative direction and action as a cure for stalemated pluralism endemic in many societies including Nigeria. Good leaders are the representatives of the “General Will” or higher interest of
the nation. As populist figures, they stand above politics and particular interests. They are political brokers or artful synthesizers, as well as expert managers of interests and builders of coalitions and consensus.
