By Tolulope A. Adegoke, PhD

“Across the world, we are navigating the fault lines of outdated leadership. The future belongs to those who can mend these cracks with the mortar of integrity, the vision of long-term purpose, and the resilience of empowered people” Tolulope A. Adegoke, PhD

Leadership serves as the foundational pillar for any thriving organization, corporation, or nation. It is the critical framework meant to ensure stability, inspire direction, and foster resilience against challenges. Yet, a pervasive and unsettling phenomenon is emerging worldwide: the development of deep fault lines within these very structures of authority. This crisis of confidence spans sectors and continents, from established Western democracies to burgeoning economies in the Global South.

This examination explores these global leadership fissures, with a specific focus on Nigeria’s complex landscape. We will diagnose the universal symptoms, analyze their acute manifestation in the Nigerian context, and ultimately, propose a constructive framework for renewal aimed at individuals, businesses, and governments.

Diagnosing the Global Leadership Decay

The erosion of effective leadership rarely happens overnight. It typically begins with subtle, often ignored fractures that gradually weaken the entire system. These fractures commonly appear as:

1. The Credibility Chasm: A growing disconnect between a leader’s promises and their tangible actions. When rhetoric of transparency clashes with a reality of opacity, the essential bond of trust is severed.
2. The Tyranny of the Immediate: An overwhelming focus on short-term gains—be it quarterly earnings or political popularity—that sacrifices long-term strategy and sustainable health. This is the equivalent of building on unstable ground.
3. Strategic Inertia: In a world defined by rapid change, leaders who cling to outdated, rigid hierarchies render their organizations incapable of adapting, innovating, or surviving future shocks.
4. The Empathy Void: Leadership that is intellectually or emotionally detached from the realities of its people, employees, or citizens. This breeds disengagement, stifles collaboration, and fuels a silent exodus of talent and goodwill.
5. The Succession Failure: A critical neglect of leadership pipeline development, which creates a dangerous vacuum of vision and competence during transitions, jeopardizing institutional memory and future stability.

The Nigerian Context: A Magnified View of the Crisis

Nigeria, a nation brimming with phenomenal human and natural potential, offers a powerful case study where these global fault lines are particularly pronounced and consequential.

Within the Political Arena:

Leadership is frequently marred by a system that rewards patronage over performance. Rampant corruption diverts essential resources from critical public services, leading to a catastrophic decay in infrastructure, healthcare, and education. This, combined with policy instability across political administrations, creates an environment of uncertainty that discourages vital long-term investment.

Within the Corporate Sphere:

Many organizations, including prominent family-owned conglomerates, are hindered by overly centralized decision-making and weak corporate governance structures. When nepotism overshadows meritocracy, innovation is suppressed, and employee motivation withers. A survivalist mindset, driven by a challenging economic climate, often trumps strategic investment in talent and innovation.

Within Public Institutions:

A pervasive culture of bureaucracy and inefficiency often widens the gap between the government and the governed. This leads to profound citizen frustration and a demoralized public workforce, undermining the very purpose of these institutions.

The cumulative effect of these intersecting failures is a palpable national anxiety—a widespread belief that the nation is operating far below its potential, not due to a lack of resources or talent, but because of a fundamental breakdown in its leadership frameworks.

A Framework for Renewal: Building Resilient Leadership

Identifying the problem is only the first step. The imperative is to forge a path forward. The following advisory framework outlines how to bridge these fault lines and unlock latent possibilities.

For Individuals (The Agents of Change):

1. Transition from Spectator to Stakeholder: Exercise accountability through informed civic participation and constructive advocacy. Use platforms, including digital media, to demand transparency and results from leaders.
2. Embody Ethical Leadership Daily: Demonstrate integrity, accountability, and empathy within your immediate circle—your workplace, community, and family. Leadership is an action, not merely a position.
3. Commit to Lifelong Learning: Proactively acquire new skills, cultivate a global perspective, and strengthen your emotional intelligence to navigate an increasingly complex world.
4. Engage in Reciprocal Mentorship: Actively seek guidance while also dedicating time to mentor others. Cultivating the next generation is a collective responsibility that ensures a continuous flow of capable leaders.

For Corporations (The Economic Catalysts):

1. Ingrain, Don’t Just Install, Governance: Move beyond superficial compliance. Foster a culture where independent boards, radical transparency, and ethical practices are non-negotiable core values.
2. Systematize Leadership Development: Establish robust talent management and succession planning programs. Intentionally identify and nurture future leaders through targeted training, mentorship, and strategic role assignments.
3. Champion a Stakeholder-Centric Purpose: Define a corporate mission that creates genuine value for all stakeholders—employees, customers, communities, and the environment. This builds lasting brand equity and attracts purpose-driven talent.
4. Cultivate Psychologically Safe Spaces: Foster an organizational climate where employees feel empowered to voice ideas, question assumptions, and experiment without fear of reprisal. This is the bedrock of a truly innovative and adaptive organization.

For Nations (The Architects of Society):

1. Fortify Institutions Over Individuals: Invest in building strong, independent institutions—such as the judiciary, electoral commissions, and anti-corruption bodies—that can function autonomously and uphold the rule of law.
2. Prioritize Human Capital as the Supreme Asset: Direct national investment toward foundational pillars like quality public education and healthcare. An educated, healthy, and skilled populace is the most critical driver of sustainable national development.
3. Articulate and Adhere to a Long-Term National Vision: Develop a strategic, non-partisan national development plan that provides a consistent direction for policy, transcending political cycles and uniting citizens around a common goal.
4. Establish a Consequence-Based Culture: Implement a system where integrity is visibly rewarded and corruption is met with swift, transparent, and impartial justice, regardless of the offender’s status.

Conclusion: Laying a New Foundation

The fault lines in global leadership present a significant challenge, but they also offer a clarion call for renewal. The solution lies in a deliberate return to the core tenets of visionary, accountable, and empathetic leadership.

For Nigeria, and for the world at large, delivering on our shared potential requires a concerted effort to repair these foundations. We must collectively shift from a culture of short-sightedness to one of intergenerational stewardship, and from fractured allegiances to a unified commitment to the common good.

The blueprint for change is clear. By choosing to reinforce our leadership at every level, we can transform these fault lines into cornerstones for a more prosperous, stable, and equitable future. The responsibility to build rests with all of us.

Dr. Tolulope A. Adegoke, AMBP-UN is a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in History and International Studies, Fellow Certified Management Consultant & Specialist, Fellow Certified Human Resource Management Professional, a Recipient of the Nigerian Role Models Award (2024), and a Distinguished Ambassador For World Peace (AMBP-UN). He has also gained inclusion in the prestigious compendium, “Nigeria @65: Leaders of Distinction”.

A former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ahmed Idris Wase, on Wednesday, alleged that names of Boko Haram members were once discovered on the Nigerian Army recruitment list, warning that such infiltration is undermining the country’s security architecture.

Speaking during a special plenary session of the House convened to review the national security situation, Wase said former Chairman of the House Committee on Defence, Muktar Betara, could confirm the incident.

He said the development reflects the deep flaws in Nigeria’s recruitment processes, which have allowed individuals with criminal backgrounds to enter sensitive security institutions.

Wase, who revealed that he lost both a brother and a cousin to terrorists, said the infiltration of the system explains why criminal groups continue to operate freely in many parts of the country.

He added that insecurity has become so overwhelming that his surviving younger brother begged him to help secure a transfer out of their community.

He said: “My brother, former chairman of defense, and my very good friend, Betara, will bear with me that we have moments in when in the process of recruitment, we found in the list names of criminals. Boko Haram members were found in the list of Army.

“There has to be a thorough way of ensuring that when we are recruiting, those of us who are politicians should recommend people of good character and integrity. That’s the only way we can solve this problem. You find a criminal in the system, and before you know it, whatever you do, you cannot have the problem resolved. So we must change the system and way of our recruitment.

Yes, as politicians, it’s good to recommend. This is what we are here for. But when you are recommending, please recommend people of integrity, people that will meet standards and ensure that they give the best access to our country.”

The former deputy speaker warned that Nigeria’s security crisis persists partly because some individuals benefit from the chaos, enabling criminals to move in convoys and operate with impunity.

Wase further lamented the politicisation of indigeneship and citizenship, describing it as one of the key issues dividing the country and calling for constitutional reforms to address the problem.

He noted that kidnapping has become routine, with about N5 billion reportedly paid as ransom in one year, while more than 30,000 people have been killed in  Boko Haram-related attacks over time.

Wase urged lawmakers to take a holistic approach to the crisis, stressing that the scale of insecurity facing the country is more dangerous than many realise and requires urgent, coordinated action.

The 24 schoolgirls abducted from Government Girls Secondary School, Maga, Kebbi state, have been rescued.

Details of the efforts that led to the rescue of the students are still sketchy at the time of this report, but an official announcement is expected tonight, according to TheCable report.

On November 17, bandits attacked the school and abducted 25 female students after killing an official and injuring a security guard.

According to a BBC report, two of the girls escaped from their captors. Quoting Hussaini Aliyu, an official from Danko Wasagu LGA, the BBC reported that the two students ran away as they were being led into the bushes by the bandits and escaped across farmland.

On November 19, Hussaini Aliyu, chairman of Danko/Wasagu LGA in Kebbi, released names of the 25 abducted schoolgirls.

The list of the kidnapped students, seen by TheCable, is organised according to their class categories.

After the incident, Bello Sani, commissioner of police in Kebbi, said additional police tactical units, alongside military personnel and vigilante groups, have been deployed in the area.

Waidi Shaibu, chief of army staff (COAS), also directed troops of Operation FANSAN YANMA to leave no stone unturned in the ongoing search-and-rescue operation for the abducted students.

President Bola Tinubu also directed Bello Matawalle, minister of state for defence, to relocate to Kebbi over the abduction of schoolgirls.

Tinubu ordered Matawalle to move to the state “to monitor security efforts to secure the release of the abducted students”.