Authentic leadership versus servant leadership, movement to salvage young people in Nigeria in the era of crisis: #End SARS protests & COVID-19 pandemic

Background: Leadership is necessary in groups, organizations, and nations to influence, guide, lead or direct persons, individuals, teams, or entire nations. It is both an area of research and a practical skill and it is very important especially in this era of crisis such as the Covid-19 pandemic, economic crisis around the world and ENDSARS protests in Nigeria.

Objective: This article evaluated the authentic and servant leadership styles, compared, and contrasted them, reviewed how leadership is practiced in Nigeria, looked at the movement to salvage the young people of Nigeria, the #ENDSARS protests and what leadership style Nigeria should focus on for the future to deal with these challenges. This paper examined the above listed and gave recommendations on how leadership should be practiced in Nigeria going forward as well as the necessary environment and skill needed to teach servant and authentic leadership.

Conclusions: Transformational leadership style that has features of servant leadership and is ethical is needed in the wider corridors of power in Nigeria to transform the country’s fortunes. It is important that countries and organizations conduct more sensitization and training on the right leadership styles that can be used in crisis and groom leaders that can manage crisis with the most effective style and method.