Former INEC chairman, Jega, laments, says ‘good leaders in short supply in Nigeria’

A former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Attahiru Jega, has detailed the reasons for the dearth of good leadership in the country since the return to democracy in 1999.

Delivering a paper, titled, “Importance of Personal Leadership Competencies in an Organization in Transition”, at the retreat organized by the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS) in Ilorin, the Kwara state capital on Monday, the former national electoral umpire said that Nigeria has been experiencing bad leadership since the return of the civilian administration.

Jega also stated that the country is yet to enjoy dividends of democracy since the advent of the present democratic rule because Nigeria is in short supply of good leaders.

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“For the past 23 years, the country has been under democratic rule, but the so-called dividends of democracy have not yet been delivered to the majority of Nigerian citizens. Unfortunately, there has been bad leadership, not that there are no good leaders in the country but they are in short supply while the democratic institutions are also weak.

“In general, leadership at all tiers of the Nigerian federation has not been good; it has been essentially bad and undemocratic; characterized by bad, rather than good, democratic governance.

“Many national organizations and institutions have been afflicted/affected by this tendency towards bad governance.

“The basic things we require in good governance are good leaders that can be transformational and transitional if we are to achieve good dividends of democracy”, Jega said.

He further suggested that the country needs a leader with good representation, responsible and responsiveness, integrity and honesty, adding that such a leader must have cognate experience and competence understand democratic governance and must be a leader who can inspire and motivate the followership.

“We also need institutions that can inspire good governance”, the former INEC chairman said.

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