Leadership Without Vision: Why Nigeria Keeps Walking in Circles -By Fatai Hammed Opeyemi

For decades, Nigeria has been blessed with leaders — but cursed with directionless leadership. We’ve had rulers without roadmaps, promises without purpose, and progress without permanence. That is why, no matter how far we walk, we always end up in the same place.

According to the Mo Ibrahim Foundation’s 2024 Governance Report, Nigeria scored 45.7 / 100 — ranking 33rd out of 54 African countries — and has declined steadily in governance quality since 2014. This shows that while leadership titles abound, purposeful direction remains missing.

The Endless Journey to Nowhere
Nigeria is a nation that keeps marching — but never truly moving. Every four years, the dance begins again: new promises, new slogans, new faces — yet the same story.

From the oil boom to the subsidy era, from democracy to democracy, we keep walking in circles, chasing a tomorrow that never comes.

Despite government claims of improvement, reality tells another story. In Q2 2024, Nigeria’s unemployment rate stood at 4.3%, only a slight drop from 5.3% in the previous quarter. Youth unemployment (ages 15–24) was 6.5%, showing that millions of young people still struggle to find meaningful work. At the same time, inflation hovered around 33.8%, eroding any real gains.

Over 129 million Nigerians — about 56% of the population — now live below the national poverty line, according to the World Bank. The contrast between statistics and lived reality remains stark: a few grow richer, while the majority keep walking the hard road of survival.

Our roads are broken, our hospitals gasping, our schools silent from strikes, and our economy bleeding — yet the politicians keep smiling for the cameras, cutting ribbons, and celebrating mediocrity as achievement.

We are a nation tired of survival — tired of walking but never arriving.

When Leadership Becomes Blind

Leadership is supposed to be a torch that lights the way. But in Nigeria, the torch has long gone dim. We have men in power who see only themselves, not the people. They lead with greed, not grace. They plan for elections, not generations.

The absence of vision is more dangerous than the absence of money. A leader without foresight builds projects without purpose — and policies without progress.

Public debt has ballooned to ₦134.3 trillion (about US $91 billion) as of mid-2024, according to the National Bureau of Statistics — yet the results are invisible. Every administration borrows more, blames the last, and leaves the next to suffer the burden.

One administration builds; another demolishes. One borrows recklessly; another blames predecessors. Nothing connects. Nothing continues. Every government starts from zero — like a nation with no memory.

ASUU Strike and the Death of Tomorrow

Right now, members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) are again threatening strikes, and campuses across the country are growing silent once more.

For students, it’s another heartbreak — a reminder that in this country, dreams must wait for politics to settle. Under the Buhari administration alone, universities lost 610 days to strikes in eight years.

In 2024, the Federal Government allocated ₦2.18 trillion (about 7.9% of the budget) to education — still far below UNESCO’s recommended 15–20%. Universities are also battling rising electricity tariffs; some now face combined annual power bills exceeding ₦275 billion.

A four-year course turns to seven. Futures are paused. Hopes are postponed. Parents watch helplessly as their children’s time is stolen by leadership that can’t even keep classrooms open.

A nation that shuts its schools cannot open its future. We have graduates wandering the streets with certificates that have lost meaning — because the system that gave them those papers was already broken before they graduated.

The Pain of Leadership Without Vision

Look around — the evidence is everywhere. Farmers abandon their lands because of insecurity. Factories close down because of power failure. Graduates roam the streets, clutching CVs that lead nowhere. Citizens die in hospitals where there are no drugs, no doctors, no light.

Nigeria currently generates a peak of only 5,528 MW of electricity (2024 data), even though over 80 million citizens lack access to stable power. Hospitals and industries depend on costly generators to stay alive.

The doctor-to-population ratio is roughly 1 doctor per 3,500 people, far below the WHO standard of 1 per 600. Over 16,000 Nigerian doctors have emigrated in the last seven years in search of better opportunities.

And yet, our leaders keep talking about “renewed hope.” But hope without a plan is just a speech.
Nigeria’s tragedy is not that we don’t have leaders — it’s that we have too many without vision.

The Power of Visionary Leadership

Vision is what separates a leader from a politician. It is what makes one build for tomorrow while the other builds for applause.

Singapore was once as poor as Nigeria — but one man, Lee Kuan Yew, had a dream that outlived his time. Today, Singapore’s GDP per capita exceeds $80,000, while Nigeria, blessed with oil and talent, still struggles around $2,000.

Visionary leadership is not about grammar or campaigns — it’s about direction, compassion, and courage. A leader with vision plants seeds he may never live to harvest.

The Circle Must Break

Nigeria cannot continue like this. We cannot keep electing men who think power is a privilege, not a responsibility. We cannot keep clapping for leaders who destroy today and borrow from tomorrow.

Until leadership becomes a purpose and not a position, we will keep going in circles — repeating the same story with new faces.

This generation deserves a Nigeria that works — not one that keeps apologizing for failure. We deserve leaders who see beyond tribe, beyond tenure, beyond self.

Because without vision, a nation walks… and walks… and never arrives.

Fatai Hammed Opeyemi is a Nigerian digital certified journalist and storyteller who writes about leadership, governance, the economy, and national rebirth. His works capture the struggles, hopes, and voices of ordinary Nigerians who still believe in a better tomorrow. He can be reach via… (fataihammeropeyemi@gmail.com)