Plato’s Idea on Philosopher King and the Nigerian State: A Critical Reflection.

Abstract

This paper examined the philosophical worldview of Plato’s idea on philosopher king in his classical work “The Republic” in the light of the contemporary leadership crisis in Nigeria. It is specifically aimed at tracing the emergence of leadership crisis in Nigeria right from independence, identifying the qualities of leadership in Plato’s ideal state, analyzing Plato’s ideas on philosopher king in relation to leadership in Nigeria, and examining how leadership crisis in Nigeria could be addressed using Platonic template. The paper adopted a qualitative analysis which was solely based on secondary sources of data gathering as a result, relevant literatures were critically reviewed. It was revealed that the major challenge of the Nigerian state is that of leadership. It was also noted that Nigerian leaders lack the sterling qualities of Philosopher kings as espoused by Plato in his hypothetical Republic. Furthermore, the paper submitted that leadership crisis in Nigeria would undermine the realization of Plato’s ideal state. The study concluded that there is urgent need to eschew Nigerian state off the bad leadership rearing its ugly head so as to enjoy the dividends of democracy and socio-economic development.