Leading from the emerging future’1: any lesson for Nigeria's development Agenda?

This article surveys ‘Leading from the Emerging Future’ and explores its political and economic analysis to determine as to whether or not the political leaders of Nigeria can learn any lesson from it to enable them break the barriers to the nation’s development agenda. This seminal book focuses on practical approach that empowers political leaders to shift their mental models from ego-system awareness to eco-system reality so as to transform the nation’s extractive political and economic institutions that hinder national development. While appraising the activities of the political leaders the article shows that the performance of the economy has been poor with pervasive poverty and endemic corruption. The article argues that the main reason for this is that the structure of the political economy of Nigeria is largely designed to promote and protect the interests of political leaders and their cronies. Unlike previous studies on leadership and change in Nigeria that simply observed that the system has been rendered unproductive by poor leadership, this article posits that the problem with Nigeria is that the political leaders have failed to shift their mental models from ‘ego-system awareness to eco-system’ to build effective political and economic institutions to empower the citizens with the 21st Century knowledge and skills to drive the economy and improve their living conditions. It argues, therefore, that discussion on leadership and change in Nigeria deserves a different approach to transform the ossified institutions into innovative and creative ones. This can inspire the political leaders to shift their mindset and design and implement policies that will fit into the new global economy and help them to lead from the emerging possibilities.