Leadership and Human Resources Development in Nigeria: Factors for National Development

Abstract

The human resource of any organization or country is the most important and invaluable asset it has and thus, an essential tool in achieving organizational goals and national development. However, the success or failure in achieving the vision of any organization or nation-state depends solely on the quality of its leadership and how it is able to enhance the knowledge, skills and attitudes of her human resources. Aside the material resources in Nigeria, she is also endowed with human resources. Lack of adequate emphasis on human resource development as a tool for development on the part of government as well as business organizations and private bodies has brought about hardship among Nigerians especially the youth, and has thus led them to their engagement in unethical means for survival. It was against this backdrop that the study examines the investments made by successive government in Nigeria on human resource development. It discussed human resource development from the micro/organization level and macro/national level. As a secondary data based research, the study utilized evidences from the Human Development Index (HDI) report of selected years (2000-2014) and used system theory of Talcott Pearson as a guide for its discussion. It pinpoints the problems of leadership with regards to human resource development in Nigeria. The paper recommends that organization; government and private bodies should invest hugely on the human resources as this will result to the achievement of the mission and vision statement of any organization, and of course, leads to national deve