Leadership and Governance is a collection of essays on political economy, leadership and governance, and corruption and community development, as well as on information technology and education. This book, thus, presents a broad overview of the major problems facing the Nigerian economy. Towards that, the contributors highlight the relationship between good leadership and governance and the economic health of Nigeria as they explore the forces for a meaningful change in the polity. This book asserts that political leaders in Nigeria should be held to a higher standard of leadership and governance in order for the economy to grow and develop for 'common good'. Nigeria's educational system is the foundation for its national development. But this is impossible without investing in human capital (education and health), fixing the existing dilapidated infrastructure and institutions and acquiring technological capability that drive the economy. The power of productivity of the Nigerian economy cannot rise above the quality of its leadership, governance and graduates. Today Nigeria's young democracy is in a state of uncertainty because of ineffective leadership and governance as well as lack of accountability. Since all the essential factors are missing in Nigeria's scheme of affairs, its economy as well as the democracy transition will continue to choke and stagnate. There are myriad ways to reform the Nigerian educational system, improve its quality of graduates and the state of the economy. But closing the nation's higher institutions for five months on the pretext that there is no money to meet teachers demands is not a way to improve the state of education and its weak economy. The trouble with Nigeria's democracy is that the people do not get the type of government they want. For instance, praying to God only, as President Goodluck Jonathan often does, to rescue the nation from its challenges is not by any means a strategy to solve Nigeria's socioeconomic and political problems. His administration needs to adopt a long-term strategy for creating a learning culture to improve the state of education and the security situation so as to tackle its development challenges. This includes motivating the teachers, treating them as professional they really are, and providing them with the tools to effectively educate the youths. Like the Nigerian economy without functional infrastructure and institutions, the leaders cannot strip the teachers of the tools they need to perform their duties and expect them to perform miracles. New challenges require new paradigms. The political leaders should adopt new, effective and innovative methods to meet the needs of the economy, the rapidly growing population and the ethno-religious and politically dynamic society. This book posits that without a paradigm shift in values, beliefs and thinking on ways to reform the Nigerian educational system, as well as to invest in the commanding heights of the economy, its educational system and the economy would remain prostrate with its attendant catalogue of human misery.

Does leadership affect economic growth and development? Is leadership an exogenous determinant or an endogenous outcome of growth and development processes? Can we differentiate between the two? Do leaders decisions and actions vary in importance over various stages in the process, at least in successful cases? How important is choosing the right economic model? To what extent does leadership affect the explicit or implicit time horizons of policy choices? Is leadership an important determinant of inclusiveness in growth? In what ways do leaders build consensus or institutions to allow time for the economic plan to work? What challenges does economic success generate? How do successful leaders adapt to new problems such as income inequality and a rising middle class? Does the creation of new institutions play any role in solving these problems? Why do leaders often choose second best political economic compromises in economic development? This book has been prepared for the Commission on Growth and Development to evaluate the state of knowledge on the relationship between leadership and economic growth. It does not pretend to provide all the answers, but does review the evidence, identify insights and offers examples of leaders making decisions and acting in ways that enhance economic growth. It examines a variety of topics including leaders roles in: promoting national unity, building good solid institutions, choosing innovative and localized policies, and creating political consensus for long run policy implementation. Written by prominent academics and actual policy makers, Leadership and Growth seeks to create a better understanding of the role of leadership in growth and to encourage further studies of the role of leadership in economic growth.

Governments fail to provide the public goods needed for development when its leaders knowingly and deliberately ignore sound technical advice or are unable to follow it, despite the best of intentions, because of political constraints. This report focuses on two forces—citizen engagement and transparency—that hold the key to solving government failures by shaping how political markets function. Citizens are not only queueing at voting booths, but are also taking to the streets and using diverse media to pressure, sanction and select the leaders who wield power within government, including by entering as contenders for leadership. This political engagement can function in highly nuanced ways within the same formal institutional context and across the political spectrum, from autocracies to democracies. Unhealthy political engagement, when leaders are selected and sanctioned on the basis of their provision of private benefits rather than public goods, gives rise to government failures. The solutions to these failures lie in fostering healthy political engagement within any institutional context, and not in circumventing or suppressing it. Transparency, which is citizen access to publicly available information about the actions of those in government, and the consequences of these actions, can play a crucial role by nourishing political engagement.

A notable group of social scientists explore the political economy of good governance and how it relates to performance management, the influence of political parties, education and health issues in developing countries, the economic performance of transition economies, and the effects of climate on poverty.

Much of our understanding of local economic development is based on large urban agglomerations as nodes of innovation and competitive advantage, connecting territories to global value chains. However, this framework cannot so easily be applied to peripheral regions and secondary cities in either the Global South or the North. This book proposes an alternative way of looking at local economic development based on the idea of fragile governance and three variables: associations and networks; learning processes; and leadership and conflict management in six Latin American peripheral regions. The case studies illustrate the challenges of governance in small and intermediate cities in Latin America, and showcase strategies that are being used to achieve a more resilient and territorial vision of local economic development. This book will be of interest to students and researchers of local economic development, urban and regional studies, and political economy in Latin America as well as to policy-makers and practitioners interested in local and regional economic development policy.

This report discusses the findings from a mail survey of local government economic development activities that was sent to all 540 municipalities and 100 counties in North Carolina. An important part of the analysis examines whether cities and counties differ significantly in their economic development efforts and whether smaller jurisdictions employ different types of development strategies and tools than larger ones. The survey findings also highlight the barriers that local governments face in promoting economic development and identify important technical assistance needs and gaps in local capacity.