Impact of Leadership and Governance on Poverty Alleviation in Africa

Abstract

Leadership is one of the most observed and least understood phenomena on earth (Afegbua & Adejuwon, 2013). A call for a focus on leadership and is timely, important and no doubt topical, reflecting the worldwide thrust toward political and economic liberalization (Afegbua & Adejuwon, 2013). The ubiquity of the phenomena in contemporary times has made most African and indeed, global multilateral organizations, like the World Bank, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) to become governance infatuated by giving prescription and insisting that is the key to economic growth and development in Africa (Essien, 2012). Nonetheless, after two decades of unprecedented economic growth, how much have the lives of African families improved? A plethora of its citizens wallow in poverty hinged on the declining quality of governance, and indeed the spatial culture of non-existent leadership in Africa. The latest estimates from the World Bank suggests that the share of the African population in extreme poverty did decline- from 56% in 1990 to 43% in 2012. These are staggering numbers. In fact, the search for aptness in government and that is oriented toward development, the common good and well-being of the people of Africa has become something of a scandal and simply ironic (Anyanwu, 1998: 148). This paper engages in a conceptual examination of the nexus between leadership and focusing on the impact of their interaction on poverty alleviation. Using selected key indicators such as government effectiveness and control of corruption, voice and accountability, budgetary transparency, resource allocation and targeting of benefits, and the rule of law and human rights, this paper investigates the contents of member states, its Impact and the extent which it can transform leadership and promote good as a basis for achieving poverty alleviation in Africa.