Leadership and the Nigerian Economy

The Nigerian economy is largely oil-based. Some people would rathersay it is a mono-product economy. The economy has been in dire straits over the years,because of a combination of the neglect of education, especially technical andvocational education and science-based technology education, poor leadership andgovernance, corruption, as well as poor monetary and fiscal policies. All these havemade a review of the poor investment in human capital development and infrastructure andinstitutions that drive the Nigerian economy and national development rather compelling.The political leaders have always raised the people’s hope by painting glowing picturesof their development plans and how they would stimulate the economy and improve thepeople’s living conditions. Thus, they swore that they would give priority attention tohuman capital development and national development, and empower the citizens,particularly the poorly educated, unskilled, and unemployed youths, with relevant humanskills capital and entrepreneurial skills to enable them to contribute profoundly tonational development. Yet the political leaders have, over the years, failed toadequately fund education and strengthen the infrastructure and institutions that woulddrive the economy and create employment for the teeming population. Both the new-breedpoliticians, like the old politicians before them, are promising to transform the nationinto an industrialized society and the people cannot hold their expectations. Thereality though is that Nigeria cannot become an industrialized society without investingabundantly in human capital development (education and health), leadership, andtechnological capabilities, which means investing in the future development of thenation