Philosophy, Governance and Society: A Reflection on Nigeria's Leadership Crises Since Independence

Resumen

One may question the relationship between Philosophy, governance and Society. Society perceptively defined, is a group of people inhabiting a particular geographical area with well-defined boundaries, states and sovereignty. Why then is philosophy present in this discourse? And, why is governance as a process established in society? Human society in the state of nature according to Hobbes, was solitary, nasty and brutish, in fact, life was survival of the fittest. In this case, the conceptphilosophy as a rational and problem-solving enterprise was applied to quit the cruelty of the human beings by consensually entrusting their sovereign power to a monarch to drive the affairs of the society for the common good of the people. To ascertain clarity in this paper, research has been narrowed down to the Nigeria's Leadership systems since independence. Using the analytic mechanism of philosophical inquiry, this paper delves deeply into questioning the capabilities of the Nigeria leaders and the extent to which their governance have led Nigeria as a society in terms of philosophical quality, civilization and the common good of the people since independence. Having inquired in this context, it becomes obvious that Nigeria as a society is far back behind other societies, especially the Western world, in terms of philosophical roadmap, civilization, providing for the good welfare of the citizens and otherwise. For Nigeria to be in march with the civilized nations of the world, our leaders must philosophically re-orientate their leadership attitudes for the well-being of the entire nation, the led must philosophically exercise their sovereign power aright in constituting government to avoid bad leadership.