2015: Reclaiming The Future: We Must Get Leadership Right Only the bravest of souls would deny that the problems facing Nigeria today are serious. On their part, the pundits, the prophets and other soothsayers have long determined that we are drifting into the position of willing victims of fate. The talk on the streets is that we are helpless in the grip of forces we cannot control. The challenges go beyond material things; but even if they are, they do not diminish their gravity. Values have shrunk to abysmal levels, corruption has exploded along with joblessness and poverty, living standard keeps deteriorating and government, at all levels are faced with serious curtailment of revenues. No one seriously believes it will be a tea party for Nigeria as it seeks to traverse its second century of existence. The intractable Boko Haram insurgency, for one, appears set to bring the country to its knees. It has so far resulted in the death of tens of thousands of innocent citizens and displaced millions from captured territories in the North Eastern part of Nigeria. The insurgents continue to abduct women and especially young school girls including the more than 200 Chibok girls. Add these to the Niger Delta militancy, kidnappings and armed banditry and you have a sorely strained national security architecture not unlike a state of nature where life is said to be short and brutish. Despite the much touted growth statistics, there is no denying that our economy is in crisis. With the rebasing of the economy, Nigeria is said to rank as the largest economy in Africa. But the irony is stark: as a mono-cultural economy which perches precariously on only the oil leg, it limps so badly it can hardly walk. What it has in its trail is just as shocking: 70% of all governments’ revenue and 90% of all foreign exchange earnings come from oil alone. Nigeria is home to the largest number of dollar billionaires in Africa including the richest African with an estimated value of $25 billion. Most of these billionaires are mere oil assets vendors. Most private jets flying in African airspaces are owned by the Nigerian billionaires. But side by side with these rich few is the largest number of paupers. The statistics are grim: 80% of the 170 million Nigerians are living below the poverty line. Youths unemployment is over 60%. Less than 2% of the population owns 60% of the banking capital. This privileged class comprises of corrupt public servants and members of the parasitic private sector whose contribution to our economic growth can best be described as negligible. The economy is also constrained by an absence of diligent and realistic development plan as well as decaying infrastructure in spite of government’s best efforts at resuscitation. It is easy to see how this dire economic situation can contribute to social anomie and serious security challenges. It requires the right leadership to adwdress these challenges. The popular belief is that democracy has the capacity to produce such leadership; a leadership that emerges through free and fair election; one that is guided by the rule of law and is accountable; a leadership whose motivation is service to the people and advancement of their wellbeing. It is in this belief and great optimism that Nigerians welcomed and celebrated the transition from military dictatorship to democracy in 1999. Fifteen years since and those expectations are yet to be realized. Free and fair elections remain a distant dream. The political space has been dominated by the most selfish, unpatriotic and greedy political elites who have succeeded in capturing and retaining power through a monetized and divide and rule politics. It is obvious that military dictatorship has simply been replaced by a fake and illiberal democracy. The need to renew faith in Nigeria and redeem the country and reclaim its future is made more compelling by these prevailing socio-economic and political conditions. The 1914 amalgamation of the disparate ethnic nationalities into one country – Nigeria – and colonial rule are often cited as the root causes of our disunity and other existential national problems. Yet colonial rule lasted a mere 60 years; including the pre-amalgamation period; we have been independent for fifty-four years. Most African countries/states share similar diverse composition and colonial experience yet except Congo, Rwanda and recently, the Central African Republic they have not allowed these to hobble them. The theme of this contribution is therefore to assert that there is nothing wrong with Nigeria that has not been caused by Nigerians; there is nothing wrong with this country that cannot be fixed by Nigerians. Nigeria can restart its journey to the future it deserves by following the twin paths of (a) restoring the primacy of public good over private greed and (b) rejecting the notion that has been peddled since 1999 that the interests of our various people are incompatible and forever in conflict. The first requires leadership to reacquaint itself with virtues of honesty, integrity, empathy and self abnegation, accept the rule of law as the guiding principle of governance and embrace planning for real development. The second requirement is for the political elite to refrain from propagating or counting inter-ethnic and inter-religious relations as a zero-sum game. There is no doubt that difficult situations create lots of room for error, making the task of restitution all the more difficult. And yet, for the 170 million people of Nigeria, the alternative to success with our nationhood is horrendous. We must believe we can and by God we will. Failure is not an option. God bless Nigeria! (Leadership)
Posted on: Thu, 18 Dec 2014 06:43:27 +0000
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