International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences

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Good Governance and Development in Nigeria: The Gap between Rhetoric and Reality

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The Nigerian state as governance template has been dominated by vexatious problem of underdevelopment since the post-colonial history. Good governance and development as an intertwine concept have largely been elusive resulting from leadership problems, weak institutions, pervasive corruption, existence of multiple centros of loyalty base regime, ethnic and religious interest among others. The paper deploying secondary source of data to scrutinize the extent to which Nigeria has been effectively governed. Whilst there have been some highlands of sincerity and integrity among leaders, there have nevertheless been a preponderance of abysmal leadership in our most populous state in Africa. It is the contention of this paper that the country has not been properly governed. The paper therefore recommended that the “change” mantra upon which the president rode to win the 2015 presidential election be rather realistic rather than rhetoric towards actualizing socio-political cum economic development