Leadership and the Failed State Status of Nigeria (2010 -2012). An Enquiry

The main objective of this paper is to evaluate the impact of leadership in redressing the failed state status of Nigeria with a focus on the present administration (between 2010 and 2012). For the past three years, Nigeria has been keeping the ugly company and ranking consistently as the fourteenth on the list of failed states, but the governing elites have been making spirited campaigns and slow haste in explaining away this situation. Through heavy reliance on secondary sources of data, the utilization of elite theory as framework, backed by the analytical approach to the issues raised/discussed, the paper observed that the ranking of Nigeria on the failed state index ignores some historical facts and current situational realities which make the failed criteria suspect and questionable. There is therefore the need to rethink and tinker with some of these criteria to reflect socio-economic and political performance in realistic terms. Purposeful and people –centered approach to governance capable of redressing the dysfunctions of the Nigerian state is also canvassed