Leader of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Prince Adewole Adebayo, has declared that Nigeria’s problem is basic and could be solved within four years, but lamented that people always think that politics and governance are the same thing.
He said that there is a marked difference between politics and governance, stressing that one could be adept in politics, but a total failure in governance.
“If the government fails, everything will crumble. So, politics and governance are two different things. There are people who can be in governance, but not avid in politics, but they are very good,” he added.
He cited an example with Lagos, which used to have the best water in the English speaking world due to governance, not politics.
“If you read the colonial journals, if you are coming from London, they say, no, no, don’t bother. Once you get to Lagos, you can drink water from the fountain anywhere. It’s safe,” he stated.
He emphasised that the person who was behind all of that and those who built the waterworks were not politicians; because if you asked them to stand up and speak, they wouldn’t know what to say, but they were good in water.
“The people who came up with the best idea for education were not good in politics, but they knew how to educate people. So, the role of politics is that you will select those who are politically communicative and bring them to your political party. Then, you also select those who are very proficient in the areas of life who can give farewell to poverty and empower the people that can uplift the nation,” he said.
He noted that to be able to deliver good governance, one must be able to bring together talented individuals with fantastic political communication and political organising ability, and not necessarily people who are good in politics.
He added that in addition to having the leadership skills to manage resources, such a person must also have some level of altruism, because to succeed in politics, one must be willing and ready to do the required things because, in politics, “you do things that don’t affect you. Altruism is what makes a soldier die in a war that doesn’t have any personalistic aim. Altruism is what makes you build schools for children that are not yours.
“That altruism is what will make you build a national institution. But the opposite of altruism is what makes you appropriate, what was built before you came and, now, put your name on it. It’s all part of the problems. So, what you need to learn is that it is not difficult. Our problems are basic. We have solved them before in our civilization. In the past, we used not to be hungry at all. We had guilds that would educate every child, whether you want to be a hunter, you want to be a bricklayer, you want to be everything.
“We have had civilizations that are secure to the point where women would go to the stream, fetch water, and be playing around. Nobody would worry about them.
So we can do it again. I don’t want you to think that our country is beset with unsolvable problems. None of our problems can last longer than the life of one administration that is committed and serious.
“It shows that if the person in charge of communication does that, education does that, health does that, it is easier to transform a developing country than a well-developed country. So, the idea that we need to be patient is a patient that is strategic. For example, if you are into construction and you do a concrete deck, you have to wait 21 days for it to dry. That is strategic patience. But, you cannot say I’m waiting without pouring concrete. You must pour the concrete first, and then wait.
“So, our leaders who say we should wait, we should be patient, they must do something which we are waiting for. A mother, who is cooking jollof rice for the children, will tell you, ‘wait for 30 minutes or wait for one hour’. They see that the mother is cooking; if she’s lying on her bed, making telephone calls, as long as you don’t worry, wait, they are not going to worry.”