From Noah Ebije, Kaduna
The National Chairman, African Democratic Congress (ADC), Ralph Nwosu, has said that kidnapping, banditry and other crimes are symptoms of ineffective leadership in Nigeria.
Nwosu said that despite insecurity in the country if ADC is given an opportunity, it has a projection already in place to propel the county to be among the comity of superpower countries by 2040.
Fielding questions from reporters in Kaduna shortly after he paid a condolence visit to the family of late former Governor of Kaduna State, Alhaji Balarabe Musa, the ADC National Chairman said despite insecurity in the country, the population can be harnessed for greater productivity.
He, however, added that such harnessing can only be achieved if the country has leaders who are futuristic move the country forward.
‘The state of the nation is worrisome. I arrived Kaduna by train from Abuja because of insecurity, kidnapping, banditry and so on. It is unfortunate that they are saying travelling by train is the safest. It is very painful. But be that as it may, I am a very futuristic person. We started democracy for about twenty-one years now, and we can see where we are presently. We want to move from where we are to a greater Nigeria.
‘Unfortunately, we don’t have leaders; the people we have, have usurped our good works and that of Balarabe Musa who just passed away. Our leaders seized power but they are not leading. This is unfortunate. And all the crimes you see, kidnapping, insurgency, banditry are symptoms of a bad system. But if leadership is right, all these symptoms will go away.
‘ADC can rescue the situation because we focus on discipline and responsible membership, so if you are a member of ADC you pay your membership fees and show discipline and transparency. There is radical transparency because if you are dealing with money, be radically transparent so that we don’t suspect each other of an agenda. Let everybody know where you are going, that is radical transparency. Radical transparency is critical to good governance.
‘Another thing is endurance; nation-building is not a sprint, it is a marathon, it is going to challenge you, we are going to see what you are seeing, so you build endurance to give you resilience. Again you have to leverage on the power of all, no dichotomy, bring everybody on board. No tribalism, no religious sentiments and so on. If you are able to leverage the power of all, you are sure of the destination. So can ADC provide prosperity for Nigeria? The answer is 100 per cent.’
Commenting on the calls for the removal of the federal security service chiefs, Nwosu said: ‘It is the prerogative of the President to take that decision. As far as I am concerned, security is highly compromised. And within the Services the moral is low, the people are not motivated, you can achieve better results with motivation.
‘The problem is with the leadership that makes the decision to remove or not to remove. We cannot make the decision for the leadership in place because even if we say remove this person, maybe the next persons that will come will be the worst. So we should allow the process to follow.
‘The ADC philosophy is that Nigeria will be a superpower in the next 20 years. But it requires the contributions of everybody; teachers, politicians, journalists, people in agriculture. By the time we put the entire population of Nigeria to work with commitment, seeing over 200 million Nigerians working, our productivity will reverberate all over the world. I can assure you.’
Earlier, in his condolence message, the ADC national leader in the company of some of his party members, extolled the good qualities of late Balarabe Musa, saying that he was a mentor, a selfless leader who had always advocated for national leadership that would care more for the masses.
Responding, one of Balarabe’s sons, Sagir, who received the visitors, expressed gratitude for the kind words about their father, disclosing that their father is survived by nine children; six males and three females.