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On Saturday, February 25, 2023, Nigerian citizens would have another golden chance to go to the polls to elect the next President and members of the National Assembly, who will pilot our affairs from May 29 and June 10 respectively. The poll affords us as a people a very unique opportunity to right the many wrongs many of us perceive are in the system, and which are making our march to genuine national development a very difficult task.
The election offers the best chance to the people, who in a democracy are the real sovereignty to express in practical form their inner desires. It gives them opportunity to work to bring quickly into reality those thoughts and vision of far better society they have harboured in their hearts, which sometimes they ventilate in the safe confines of their homes and beer parlors. By now, it ought to be very clear to all of us that it is not what we say and how many times we say them that counts; what matters most is the effort we make to see those thoughts, precepts and vision and accompanying anger moved from the realm of imagination into the world of reality.
Philosophers knowledgeable in societal affairs have since taught us that everything on earth is in stationary state, state of matter they call it until moved only by the deliberate acts of men. Until people resolve there must be light, darkness reserves the right to continue to exist. It is foolhardy we ought to know by now to sit and wait for the class whose actions in the first place brought gross darkness into the land, to midwife change. It will never be. At best what they will do and which is their line of escape is ignite motion without movements. We have seen these severally in the life of our country. If these retrogressive forces knew anything better they wouldn›t have chosen to walk the path of destruction and perdition which they chose in the first instance.
They took various options they did just because that was all they knew; it was all that was within their ability and competence. After all, majority of the leaders we have had, had no sound education. Keep away the superficial argument that education is not intelligence or brilliance. Poor leadership selection has tended to relegate the important position of well-tutored mind in good governance. Vision in some instance may be a gift from God but even at that it still has a human component attached to its full blossoming; if God releases vision and the individual is unable to comprehend, the force will be wasted because it will remain dormant and unproductive. No man can arrive at a destination he himself has not envisaged or seen. He won›t even draw capacity for take-off except it is to be the journey of a demented mind, which usually would have no destination in mind. We all know that this kind to be quite a hazardous movement. Men must see not only to walk right but to remain steadied on the right direction.
People can doubt what they hear but very difficult to doubt what one sees. Not having clear vision has been at the root of our under-development and even retrogression. We got independence from the British but failed to do the first thing which would been to sit down in an atmosphere of conviviality with noble hearts, to ask reasonable questions as to what kind of country and nation we would love to have and then take steps to its realization. Our founding fathers rather than doing the above began instead with divisions and infighting that finally led to conflicts and eventually to painful deductions and conclusions. More than 60 years after nationhood the unpleasant consequences are with us, threatening to snuff life away from millions of innocent citizens.
We see the outcome all around us, dismembering of the country, if ours could indeed be called a country in the real sense of it: insurgency, a sovereignty losing the enforcement arm of its authority, religious fundamentalism even from those who managed to find their way into hallowed places of power and authority, kidnapping, unbridled level of whoredom, reckless kind of hedonism, closed economy and virtual corruption of state institutions, among others.
Today, the legal governments we have in place have considerably lost the aura of office and the power to enforce state dominance over constituencies, non-state actors have taken over, and the cause is very easy to pick out. In placing primordial interest well and above germane factors for progressive governance culture, we lowered the bar in the leadership recruitment process. This made way for all kinds of charlatans to find their way into sensitive political leadership positions. Some of us would recall that legendary Nelson Mandela once before his transition lamented effects of poor leadership in our country and how that has become very costly, negative wise, for Africa and the whole of the Black race all of whom looked up to our country for rich examples.
Comical former President of Zimbabwe but now late, Robert Mugabe gave us the most fatal blow shortly before he died. He described all Nigerians as a funny lot who with so many universities and tertiary institutions dotting the landscape, churning out graduates every year couldn›t be scrupulous enough to find men equipped enough to lead a country of over 200 million people in this modern age. «Nigerians want to be as developed as Europe and the United States of America, they want to be giant of Africa yet they voted for a leader looking for his primary six certificate to be sitting with leaders in the class of Barack Obama, a graduate from Harvard and others to discuss world politics and economic restructuring,» Mugabe fired, offering his characteristic hollow smiles.
His outburst from the point of nationalism may look harsh but viewed from point of objectivity, it is the best truth a genuine well wisher can tell his cherished friend. Great minds tell close pals that their white shirt has a stain. It is not about wavering over a bad situation. It is about telling the truth. For us, it time to begin telling ourselves the truth. We begin with one. Most of the leaders we have had ran and unfortunately those there now still run today on ethnic, religious and comradery spirits. Government policies were tied and are still in those ropes, outside these nothing happens.
Today, nepotism has been elevated to national policy. Most bewildering is the fact authors of united Nigeria even presently run on these discredited lines and the rest just keep quiet watching even when we know aberrations left unchallenged over time become acceptable norms – what some sociologists would term the «new normal». We can see our kind political and economic situations, leaders are beginning to think things we can do must be outsourced before we can see progress. After 60 years of independence, we can›t have fuel even though we have crude in commercial quantity. Our leaders cannot build refineries which secessionist Biafra achieved under very hostile war environment. To supply enough electricity, not to talk of uninterrupted supply, has become an intractable challenge. Things as simple as organizing free flow of traffic now look like operations we should outsource to angels.
So, in a nutshell, what are the core challenges of our country today? Very simple to pick and the good thing is that it would appear the majority of the population seem to know what the trouble with us and country is. First is the creation of a New Nigeria. The truth is that we still don’t have a country. Those vast in the study of political science and the act of creating a country will understand the point being made so easily. For those who don’t understand, it is time they do and very quickly too. Countries don’t come by imposition it comes by dialogue and rich examples from the leadership class, which also is a product of quality brain and training. We can look to Kenya and learn. We need a well trained mind. Having great aides is excellent but like Machiavelli, the late Italian dictator once taught, “to benefit from quality advice from able advisers, the leader must himself be very knowledgeable.” Plenty sense in this. In government even people we consider decent try “to advice to gain.” We need a unifier in words and actions. Noble mind.
It is not enough to be well tutored; the new leader must be visionary,. There must have been visible vision and passion associated with him before now. Office is not where one gets to before searching for a vision, such a choice would be swallowed by torrents of selfish pressure that accompany every victory. The energy to drive a vision is “sine quo non”. A lethargic leader is a curse on its own.
The third most important issue would be productive economy. If truth is economical, we are a non-starter. To have 200 million people hooked to consumerism is a walk with eyes very open into Armageddon. Part of the insecurity threatening to break the union has its roots in non-productive nature of our economy. Restructuring the economy and moving this figure from consumption to production is no small task, it is not a job for the brainless. This point we must note and take very seriously else we enter into a worse affliction far terrible than what we have experienced all these years put together.
We need a President who can run the country like a corporate entity, measuring achievement against timelines. A leader that would be hands-on task kind. Someone described stupidity as the act of making mistakes and when one has the opportunity to effect corrections still opts to stay on the same style and tactics. It is only the unserious that does same thing and expects different results. Now we have the chance, given the level of dislocations and pains. The wise path would be for citizens to first resolve to defy every inconvenience to participate in the voting process.
It is not only important to talk, it is far productive to walk the talk. Like they say, “action speaks more than works.” Participation to produce, it must be based on well-reasoned steps. In this case we can’t desire progress and well being and still jettison the centrality of merit-driven society. A religious leader very recently solved the biggest riddle plaguing the land when he asked those who will vote in coming elections to raise their hands. Nearly all present did raise their hands. Then he said what seemed like a very simple prayer, “MAY YOUR CHILDREN GROW UP TO BE LIKE THE PERSON YOU WANT TO VOTE FOR.” Quickly hands went down with faces looking remorseful, indicative that their minds and hands were likely to work at cross purposes when eventually they undertake actual voting. Dilemma of a weak mind.
