Educational Leadership and Policy in Nigeria: A Backward and Forward Look

Abstract

The paper examines the contemporary issues and prospects in educational leadership and policy in Nigerian universities. Anchored on situational leadership theory, analysis of government policies and scholarly works, it explored the factors impeding effective educational leadership and policy implementation. The paper employed conceptual frameworks such as Historical perspective of Educational leadership in Nigeria, Issues of Educational leadership in Nigeria, Political Influence on Educational Leadership, Inadequate Funding Influence on Educational leadership, Insecurity Challenges witnessing by Educational leadership, and Educational Policy Implementation in Nigeria. Drawing on a multidisciplinary conceptual framework it analyzed, the paper concludes that educational leadership and policy implementation issues affect effective management of university education in Nigeria.  Based on the variables reviewed, it was recommended that university stakeholders should ensure recruiting appropriate and adequate personnel into the university system; avoiding politicizing lecturers’ recruitment and assessment for promotion; Increasing the budgetary allocation for educational sector as recommended by UNESCO standard (26%); equipping the university security unit with modern sophisticated gadgets and consulting and ensuring policy implementers’ inputs at the policy formulation stage.