AKWA IBOM STATE UNIVERSITY JOUNAL OF ARTS

The pathology of power in Africa is actually caused by inordinate and selfish ambitions of some African leaders. This pathological implication of power by African leadership has led to the breakdown of Africa’s political order and economic structures. The legal system in Nigeria has failed due to the evils of corruption. In many African countries, the evils of corruption have reign supreme. Corruption which has been so endemic, systemic and destructive is against our humanity and it has eaten deep into every fabric of African societies. The objective of this paper is that a clearer understanding of the conceptual clarification of ethical leadership reveals that effective leadership gives room for national development. Ethical leadership paves the way for the national development strategy of a country. This paper argues that ethical leadership and national development are like two bedfellows. In other words, there is interrelatedness between ethical leadership and national development. This paper adopts the analytical framework in explaining the interrelatedness between ethical leadership and national development in contemporary Nigeria. The major hindrances to national paradigm and sustainable development in Nigeria is the problem of leadership, abject poverty, sicknesses and diseases, poor infrastructural deficits, poor healthcare system, poor implementation of policies, lack of national planning, lack of attitudinal change, moral crisis, ethnicity, massive corruption, poor legal system, the problem of followership, weak government institutions and lack of rule of law. Nigeria, as a country is bedevilled by plethora of fundamental challenges and these have hindered sustainable development strategy in Nigeria. This paper concludes that ethical leadership arises from the need for moral rebirth and radical social transformation.

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