Leadership, Higher Education and Social Transformation in Africa: a Case Study of Nigeria

Abstract

This paper explores leadership, higher education and social transformation in Africa: A case study of Nigeria. The study identifies the concepts of leadership as the process that involves an individual's capacity to exert influence over a group of individuals in order to achieve organizational goals. Leadership in the context of higher education refers to the capacity to anticipate future events in the present moment. Different leadership styles were outlined, qualities of a good Leader in Nigeria higher education were enumerated. The importance of effective leadership in higher education in Nigeria such as shared governance, protecting academic freedom and focus on student experience, support for fund raising and grants, promoting multicultural awareness, diversity and inclusion, balancing tradition and innovation, and creating a positive and collaborative campus culture and addressing societal issues were highlighted in the study. Higher education fulfils conventional roles such as research, instruction, and community service in order to cultivate personnel and distribute critical knowledge required by various industries and sectors’. Social transformation is a radical form of social change which is a more abrupt change of a society and or state, usually transformation in social relation that cause drastic change in the society of its social structure. Inclusive are factors of social transformation and the issues in Nigeria. In conclusion, the drastic change experienced in Nigeria appears in a multi-dimensional pattern deviating from a linear process of transformation which cut across different sectors of the economy and society especially considering the leadership in higher education institutions. Most importantly, the study suggested that Nigerian government and citizens should embrace social transformation especially with the positive changes in our higher education institutions, and leadership of higher education should include both academic and non-academic staff in decision making and consider relevant ideas and opinion and not be autocratic in leadership style.