The general objective of this study was to use the socio-cultural indicators of development in interrogating Nigeria’s developmental challenges. The Nigerian nation is the seventh most populated country on earth. The development of such a location consequently continues to attract research attention. The paper’s theoretical framework is combinatory, embedding the modernization and elite theories. The documentary method of research was adopted for the work involving the reexamination and amplification of secondary sources of information, on the bases of which the paper’s findings were made. The paper found that on the grounds of the considered socio-cultural indicators, Nigeria remains underdeveloped. It is concluded and recommended in the paper that to defeat the existing developmental challenges in the country, the national political elite must follow the lines of leadership dependability in governance