Good Governance and National Development: Nigeria in Perspective

Issues relating to good governance and development have been pushed to the forefront of world affairs, largely because of the wave of the democracy movement now blowing soothingly across the whole length and breadth of the international community. Good governance and development are dividends of democracy that are of great interest to the democratic family. The paper attempts to critically examine the intimate relationship between good governance and development with particular reference to Nigeria as a case study. Abundant literature on the subject matter reveals that democracy and good governance provide an enabling environment for development to take place, and that the role of political leadership in realizing all of this is critical. It is recommended, among other things, that (1) the intellectual class should be involved in the country’s development plan; (2) there is the urgent need to create a virile but flexible work force that can initiate and execute development plans; and (3) efforts must be made to embark on capacity building of all the institutions of governance so that they can perform their roles optimally for the benefit of the country