The effects of public perception of Yar’adua’s leadership on stability and sustainable development

Abstract

The political stability and socio-economic development of my state hinge on the competence and effectiveness of the political leadership. Without the support, co-operation and contributions of the populace, leadership becomes a herculian task for the leader. However, the willingness of the populace to support and co-operate with the political leader is dependent on how the governed perceive and assess the quality and character of the leadership. This work is an attempt to use the factors of legitimacy, political will, charisma, political culture, popular participation, political stability and social integration; identified by the respondents as the highpoints for determining the effectiveness and efficiency of the president, to assess the effectiveness and efficiency of President Yar Adua in the face of the mounting public criticism of his administration. Employing the primary research method of direct observation, interviews and questionnaire, the data generated was processed through the theoretical
perspective of Leonteif’s input/output model of analysis, and the findings led to the conclusion that, although the performance rating of the President was below average; the quantum of the activities of his
government portends a high index for appreciable development strides.