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The National Bureau of Statistics has said that 112.519 million Nigerians live in relative poverty conditions. The absolute measure puts the country's poverty rate at 99.284 million. This paper attributes the poverty facing Nigerians to incompetent leadership and bad governance. Using Michael Lipton's theory of 'urban bias' which posits that there is more poverty in the rural areas because of the existence of parasitical and corrupt urban elites, this paper points out that people in rural areas are most affected by poverty due to marginalization by government. It points out how bad governance has led to the persistence of the Dutch disease (or mono-cultural economic policy) and its effect on poverty. It also highlights the effect of corruption – the misuse of entrusted power for private gain – on poverty. The paper then presents a historical comparison of the effect of good leadership and bad leadership on poverty in Edo state since its creation in 1991. It concludes with cogent recommendations on the role of the government, the international community and the poor masses in tackling poverty via good leadership and governance. DOI:10.5901/mjss.2013.v4n6p29

Nigeria, the world's most populous black nation, faces a major crisis in its federal structure and democratic experience. Despite the allusion to democratic governance of the country, the political class, especially elected state governors, and the bureaucratic elite have turned autocratic, refusing to obey the Constitution which demands compulsory elections into the local government administration, siphoning the statutory allocation to the councils from the Federation Account, generating instability in the polity, and arresting the socioeconomic development at the grassroots. This paper puts in perspective the legitimacy crisis and elite conspiracy in the local government council administration, which has spread rural poverty and discontentment among the citizenry, and recommends concrete steps to arrest the calamitous drift.Keywords: Nigeria, constitution, democracy, development, elite, legitimacy, local government LOCAL