Abstract
The study was an investigation into the prospects and challenges of adaptive leadership and governance in Nigeria. This study dives into how adaptive leadership can be applied in Nigerian public governance, highlighting its importance, current use, challenges in implementation, and potential for reform. With rising worries about governance inefficiencies, exclusionary leadership, and deep-rooted corruption, adaptive leadership emerges as a hopeful alternative for fostering inclusive and accountable governance. The research utilized a mixed-methods approach, blending quantitative surveys from 100 carefully selected public officials with qualitative interviews and document analysis. Descriptive statistics helped analyze the research questions, while regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses. The results indicate a strong perceived need for adaptive leadership, but its actual application is only moderate due to persistent structural, institutional, and political barriers. The regression analysis confirmed significant relationships between adaptive leadership factors and governance effectiveness. In particular, adaptive leadership has great potential to build public trust, boost stakeholder engagements, alleviate poverty, and enhance accountability. However, challenges like resistance to change, elite control, and bureaucratic inflexibility continue to pose significant obstacles. The study concludes that adaptive leadership could greatly transform Nigeria’s governance landscape if there is a focus on institutional reforms, political commitment, and inclusive frameworks. It suggests targeted leadership training, legislative restructuring, and the establishment of civic engagement mechanisms. This research adds valuable insights to the governance and public policy literature by empirically demonstrating both the potential and challenges of adaptive leadership in a developing context.
Keywords
Public Governance, Adaptive Leadership, Stakeholder Engagement, Accountability
Citations
IRE Journals:
Kyauta Nathan Bawa
"Prospects and Challenges of Adaptive Leadership and Governance in Nigeria" Iconic Research And Engineering Journals Volume 9 Issue 4 2025 Page 311-324
IEEE:
Kyauta Nathan Bawa
"Prospects and Challenges of Adaptive Leadership and Governance in Nigeria" Iconic Research And Engineering Journals, 9(4)
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