As the general election of 2019 continues to dawn on us, politicians have started positioning themselves for victory at various levels. Self-imposed political analysts have also started inundating us with tales about the qualities of aspirants they feel we should vote for, more often than not, for personal aggrandizement. It is also a season of letter writing and predictions.
Two former presidents have issued statements asking Nigerians to cooperate with incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari to finish his first term of office next year, but that he should make a sacrifice for a better Nigeria by standing down his right to vie for another term of office and thereby allowing a younger person to emerge as Nigeria’s next leader. Nigerians are described as the most prayerful people in the world.
That, ironically, has not stopped some of our people from committing some of the worst crimes known to humanity. In number of mosques and churches, we are said to be have the highest, but globally. But in terms of morality, we are among the lowest.
What this boils down to is the need for us to dwell practical in the choice of our next president – to at least try to catch up with the rest of the world – beginning with our small African neighbors that have gone far ahead of us because they did not allow primordial sentiments to determine their choice of leadership.
They go for quality, and quality they get in governance. In the fast-paced world we live in today, what we need is a leader who can create solutions; who can, literally, squeeze water out of stone. We need a leader who can take responsibility for governance; one who believes the buck stops on his table. It is not just about saying I can do it. Anyone, including an idiot, can claim he or she can do it.
But it is about established record of performance, or what is called pedigree. This is a very serious matter because Nigeria’s almost two hundred million people will be such a huge burden on the rest of the world if, this time around, we fail to get it right.
We simply shall not, and cannot continue to see our children crossing to Libya and other countries and ending up in humiliating slavery or dying in the Mediterranean. We need a leader who will make Nigeria attractive for all its citizens to see the need to remain here and develop it.
It is about providing solutions, not excuses or buckpassing. When Larry Page and Sergey Brin realized humanity was finding it difficult to access information wiThease, they created Google to make us find things faster on the Internet.
There was a time, in the 80s, a set of computer was selling for over five thousand dollars. And the size was awesome. To solve that problem, Steve Jobs partnered with Steve Wozniak to reduce the size of computers and make it handy. Today, we all hold sophisticated computers on our hands with the smartphones we hold. Computers are no longer for the rich and the famous.
From his dormitory room at Harvard University, Mark Zuckerberg created the Facebook to help render the world to a truly global village. At the touch of a button, one can socialize with persons across all regions of the globe. Jeff Bezos is today the richest person in the world because he created real solution to a problem facing humanity.
Many Nigerians may be cynical about him and his ways. But that is what former military president Ibrahim Babangida meant when he asked Nigerians to go for digital leadership in 2019 and move Nigeria forward When Singaporeans realized they were headed for doom, they elected a man of action, not excuses, in Lee Ken Yeuw to save them from potential annihilation and horrible poverty.
A few years later, Yeuw provided the quality leadership that transformed Singapore from third world to first. He did that by embracing modernity and ensuring the appointment of compatriots who firmly share and believe in his vision for all-round selfless development.
He did not protect his lieutenants that fell foul of the law, and pursue only political enemies, as it is happening in Nigeria today. And of course, he ensured there was no clannishness, or a cabal to hijack his government while he goes about grandstanding.
A short video I watched on the Internet described the biggest problems needing global solution as energy, water, food, environment, poverty, terrorism and war, education, democracy and population. To solve these problems, we need a leader who, as said earlier, can literally squeeze water out of stone.
When Dr. Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo became the governor of Gombe state in 2011, he realized, upon assumption of office, that, in spite of the commendable efforts of his predecessor, the state needed more investments in education, infrastructure, agriculture, trade and commerce and more. Rather than wasting time filling the airwaves wiTh excuses or buck passing, he frontally faced these challenges with unprecedented commitment and zeal.
He knew he cannot go it alone. He therefore assembled a team of quality aides and commissioners who he saddled with responsibilities and clear-set goals. You get pushed out of the way if you prove to be lousy. It is not about friendship or relationship, but about serving the people.
He believes leadership is all about changing society for the better, not about personal aggrandizement. That is the kind of leadership Nigeria needs, if we are truly serious about building the society of our dreams, and saving our children from dangerous voyages abroad by giving them hope for a better tomorrow. Maxwell, a retired ambassador, writes from Onitsha
