THE SEED, THE SOIL AND LEADERSHIP There is certainly a bond between some seeds and certain soil. Not all seeds will do well on the same soil, for this reason certain plants are grown in some specific geographical locations. The seed is thus as important as the soil and the soil will only attract the type of seed it can support. The implication of this paradigm is that you cannot change the plant that the soil produces without changing the soil. If we put leaders in the position of seeds and the society in the position of soil, then we can say that leaders are reflections of the society, the society produces the types of leader it want as the leaders only survive as long as the society tolerate them. In my undergraduate days, we had two students’ union leaders. The two of them were highly respected by the students. They were always on the students’ side fighting for their welfare, this they pursued with honesty and steadfastness. After their set, the university proscribed students union and after the union was allowed to function again, many groups of leaders emerged with the most vocals lacking in honesty but would use their oratory skills to get students attention and to leverage on this for personal gains at the expense of the students they claimed to be fighting for. At about the time the second set of students’ leaders were reining, I had a chat with a friend. The person opined that it’s this set of students’ leaders that would go far in politics unlike the previous sets who would not compromise. True to my friend assertion, barely 15 years later some of those corrupt students’ leaders are now in high political places, one of them even claimed to be fighting corruption as he perceived that ‘the fight against corruption’ is a profitable business’. However his life style is not in tandem with his message and some people would say it’s the message that matters not the messenger, but how wonderful it could be if the messenger is in line with the message. Unfortunately, I have not heard the names of the first set of students’ leaders in a longtime. It’s as if they have politically gone into oblivion. Who is to be blamed for bad leadership- the seed or the soil? I mean the leaders or the society? The answer is obvious. Beside the changes the electorate can make at polling units, the response of the society to leaders will go a long way to make leaders adjust their attitude to what is required of them for their survival. I once watched a BBC hard talk interview on you- tube. The interviewer quizzed Nigerian former president Olusegun Obasanjo on corruption, especially as it relates to business between foreigners and local business partners. In one of his responses, Obasanjo said, that for a transaction to be regarded as bribery, there has to be a giver and a taker and that both of them are guilty. Some political leaders and public servants steal because they have to be rich enough to meet the greed of their followers and political associates. In some quarters, a leader is only deemed to be good or competent if he gives cash gifts regularly to people in his community or live a lavish life style that produces a multiplying effect for a couple of days. Good leadership will change Nigeria or Africa on a larger scale but the orientation of the society must first change. World Bank recommended developing countries should have 70% of budget on capital expenditure and only 30% on recurrent expenditure. The reverse is the case in Nigeria, because political leaders must have opportunities to steel, so that they will have enough money to throw around and to also live in opulence. The expectation of the society must be refocused. Political leaders should be seen as real public servants who work like other people in the private sectors and one being paid for working, such that their financial entitlements should primarily be for them and their family. They should also be seen to live under that financial constraint as seen in the developed world. Political leaders should thus be judged by the smooth running of the society, infrastructure development and other things that pertains to community development that can not be personalized. Honest people that have what it takes to give good leadership must also come out of their shells and refuse to be intimidated by the political big wigs that believes in the old model of inducing the electorate with money and hollow promises presented in sentimental rhetoric. People like Donald Ducks, Babatunde Fashola, Adams Oshomole (former Governors) and Nasir el-Rufai (former Minister) and many other political leaders in Nigeria chose not to be on the side line but pushed their way to politics and has so far showed good examples. The change we want must come from the root. The society has to set the tone and all hands must be on deck. What happens when a farmer sees weed (unwanted plants) in his farm, he removes them so that the planted seeds can develop well without competition. In the same way, the society must get rid of the bad leaders roaming the streets so that the true leaders we yearn for can have rooms to operate. Good morning!
Posted on: Mon, 08 Dec 2014 10:24:15 +0000
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