Nigeria and the culture of recycling old leaders, its effect on her economic advancement and nation building in the 21<sup>st</sup> Century; A critical examination

Abstract

Recycling old leaders in Nigeria politics has been a problem to the Nigeria people in recent time as the country has the habit of recycling old leaders who are between 87 years and 90 years who has nothing good again to offer the country, while the youths are there without any hope. This paper explores Nigeria political system and the culture of recycling old leaders, and its effects on her economic advancement/development and Nation building in the 21st Century. The theory used to analyze the paper was Modernization Theory, while the methodology for data collection was secondary sources like; books, newspapers, journal articles, and internet source materials, among others. The research findings on the subject matter implicated ethnic politics, sit tight syndrome and greed, among others. These manifested in economic backwardness/stagnation, relegating citizens’ backward, disunity, killing of initiatives and discouragement of ideas on nation building and economic advancement, as well as ethnic politics, encourages corruption and nepotism. Based on the findings, the paper suggests constitution review, age limit for the political office seeker, power rotation, youth active participation in politics by joining a political party, overhauling the system and condition of service for every political office seeker.