LEADERSHIP AND THE FIGHT AGAINST CORONAVIRUS DISEASE 2019 PANDEMIC IN NIGERIA

It is no longer news that Coronavirus Disease 2019 alias COVID-19, has affected the politics, economy, social, cultural, business, including sporting activities of all countries across the world, Nigeria inclusive. Reversing and possibly managing the pandemic well so that the economy experiences less negative effects comes out of it stronger requires not only appropriate, but also strategic and visionary leadership. Thus, this paper examines how the political leadership of Nigeria managed the pandemic, especially during the peak period of the disease in 2020. Transformational leadership theory underguided the investigation, while data thereto were generated from secondary sources (such as reports from Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 and World Health Organisation including the social media). Upon investigations, it was found that the country's leadership was unable to strategically deliver on its mandate of managing/handling the scourge successfully, especially at the time of the lock down. It was equally revealed that various sectors of the economy and especially vulnerable groups (such as the aged and those in the informal sector of the economy) were worst affected by poor handling of the situation. The electorates should vote in only visionary, transparent and accountable leaders as a way out of the problem. In addition, Non-Governmental Organisations in collaboration with Community Based Organisations should step up regular enlightenment campaigns to make the electorates hold their leaders to account for their actions.