The effective management and utilization of available resources to improve living conditions of the citizens and other myriad needs of the nation remained the pre-occupation of every responsive government. However, this has been undermined by character of leadership in the contemporary Nigerian society in form of corruption, embezzlement etc. In view of this, the study therefore seeks to unravel character of leadership and the puzzling nature of corruption and bad governance as being detrimental to national development of Nigeria. To understand the character of leadership in the contemporary Nigerian society, the study is anchored on the Marxian theory of Post-colonial state as its analytical framework. Furthermore, it adopted documentary method and used descriptive analysis of secondary sources of data. The study revealed that character of leadership in the contemporary Nigerian society, which manifests in form of corruption; embezzlement etc. resulted to the abandonment of projects in the country, thus undermining national development. Therefore, recommended amongst other things a leadership monitoring body for checkmating misconduct and misappropriation of public funds. Keywords: Corruption, Embezzlement, Leadership-qualities, National-development, Unemployment.