Good governance as a panacea for national development in Nigeria

Abstract

Nigeria like many underdeveloped nations is in need of development not only because she wants to be like Europe and America that are usually looked upon as models, but because she desires a better living standard for her people. This prompts the Federal Government under one regime or the other to implement programmes and strategies aimed at fostering national development. Unfortunately, after 57 years of the attainment of political independence, the problem of the attainment of nationhood has remained a thorny one. It would be merely overstressing the obvious to mention that Nigeria is a nation bedeviled with teething socio-political problems. The problem has been the absence of good governance. Bad governance has often been generally identified as the root cause of Nigeria's socio­ political and economic problems. The past and present situation in the country has degenerated due to the absence of good leaders who practice good governance. The aim of this paper is to examine the prospects of attainment or achieving national development for Nigeria through good governance.