A SOCIO PHILOSOPHICAL AND POLITICAL EVALUATION OF GOVERNANCE CHALLENGES IN NIGERIA AND THE WAY FORWARD

Phillips Olubiyi and Omowunmi, Joshua Olusegun

Department of General studies, Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro Ogun State, Nigeria

Department of Public Administration, Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro, Ogun State,

E-mail: telcomas@yahoo.co.uk

ABSTRACT

Since the attainment of independence by most African countries in 1960, regarded as the golden year of the continent the problem of leadership and issues of good governance have continued to have devastating impact on nation building in Nigeria. Indeed, with the exit of the first generation African leaders such as Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Julius Nyerere of Tanzania, etc. who were more foresighted and pragmatic the current political leaders, has remained problematic for Africa. This paper argues that in addition to the aforementioned problems other critical issues of ethnicity, religious crises, boundary-border disputes inherited from the colonial era, good governance, refugee crises, election disputes, poor leadership, governance, terrorism, and the challenge of nation building have equally continued to have deteriorating and concomitant effect on the process of nation building on Nigeria especially in the 21st century.

Keywords: Leadership Challenges, Corruption, Human Rights, Civil Strife