Attracting and Managing Talents in Modern Day Political Parties: Evidential Strategies from Nigeria’s Democratic Process

Abstract

The broad objective of this paper was to explore the place of succession planning and talent management among political parties in Nigeria. Specifically, the paper seeks to determine the strategies for attracting and managing talents in modern political parties with the aid of empirical evidence from Nigeria’s electoral process. The study employed the survey method of research in which the data required for the study were collected through the instruments of questionnaire and in-depth interviews. Four dominant political parties were selected out of the current 63 registered political parties in Nigeria. Quota and stratified sampling techniques were mostly used in their sample selection; and samples of 400 respondents were selected. The data collected were presented, analyzed and interpreted through the use of tables, frequencies, and percentages. The findings of the study indicated that talents can be attracted to a political party and managed through a generous reward system, good working environment, membership development policy, authority delegation, challenging jobs and committee involvement, harmonious working relationship with party officials and hierarchies. Also, talents can be managed for a party’s survival using membership development policy, motivation and other retention strategies. Our test of hypothesis also indicated that a political party’s continuity depends on the application of these strategies. Based on these findings, the study suggested that political parties should take deliberate steps to put in place some motivational and staff/membership development policies that will expose its functionaries to global best practices in democracy and party management. Keywords: Party Management, Talent Management, Political Environment, Succession Planning, Democratic Process, Political Parties, Nigeria.