Towards a sustainable egalitarian society in Nigeria: a reflection on the leadership style of ^cUmar bn Al-Khaṭṭāb

Abstract

Since the return to civil rule in 1999, the Nigerian State has been plagued with myriads of socio-economic and religio-political problems which are mostly blamed on bad and unproductive leadership. Each successive government has been blamed for not providing the needed qualitative leadership that will lay foundation for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and build a viable country that can stand tall among other nations. There is no gainsaying the fact that the Nigerian State is characterized by insecurity, kidnapping, brigandage, epileptic power supply, terrible infrastructure, “fantastic corruption” and “authority stealing”. There is no better time that the nation is in dire need of an ideal and egalitarian leadership than now. This paper examines the leadership style of ^cUmar bn al-Khaṭṭāb, the second caliph of Islām who is widely acknowledged as one of the best leaders of humankind with a view to adopting his templates as necessary for quality leadership in Nigeria. The paper adopted a historical and analytical approach and posits that the current crops of leaders have a lot to learn from the illustrious leadership style of the great companion of Prophet Muhammad whose foundational characters are honesty, integrity, simplicity, accountability and, above all justice. The research exposed ^cUmar's great concern for the welfare of the people which saw him moving round at night to ensure that the people were safe and well fed. The conclusion is that if Nigeria’s leaders could emulate the leadership style of ^cUmar, the nation would stop witnessing stunted growth and development.

Keywords: Infrastructure, Government, Islām, Society, ^CUmar bn Al-Khaṭṭāb