Leadership by example entails leaders’ commitment to the core values of leading people and delivering on the mandate to the generality of the people under their care. When a leader listens and shares in the agony of the followers, such a person is considered a great leader and a hallmark of leadership principles.
One of the bitter complaints and probably the bad side of the President Muhammadu Buhari administratin is the sin (liabilities) of the past administrations who have failed to redeem and save the people from myriads of problems.
Successive administrations failed to ensure contractors are mobilised to site and contracts are painstakingly monitored to completion. These are some of the problems inherited by the Buhari government.
For over a decade the Gombe-Yola federal road has been in a “valley of the shadow of death” because of the many lives it claimed and goods worth billions of naira destroyed due to its bad nature. For the past three months, the federal road has been drawing a lot of attention, with calls by the people for government to listen to their cry in saving commuters and other road users plying the road connecting the North-west and entire North-ast from Taraba and Adamawa states, sharing international boundaries with the Republic of Cameroon.
This year’s rainy season exposed the deplorable nature of the road with vehicles, heavy duty trucks trapped on the road and bridge collapse because of the bad nature of the road. The Adamawa state part on the ongoing slow and never steady project has made commuters in indignation poured out unholy comments making desperate cries to government on the Cham, Lamurde and Numan axis of the road that seems to defy 100 percent completion.
The unbearable pains experienced when plying the road always left road users to only express their bitter complaints, resolving to apportion blames to government for failing to urgently do the needful for the people that brought them to power.
Their yearnings and passionate cries seem to fail on deaf ears until the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Barrister Boss Gida Mustapha, by way of quick response because of the economic importance of the road, gave a marching order for work to commence in earnest.
The commencement of the work elated many commuters and thousands of people posting the progress of the work on their social media handles on November 4, 2019, extolling Boss for standing in the gap to ensure Cham Numan axis of the Gombe-Yola road is done neat and clear.
Contract for the road was first awarded in 1999 by President Olusegun Obasanjo but only the Gombe axis of the road is in a better shape and contractors mobilised to site are more serious than the Adamawa axis of the road.
The General News (Tgnews) on a developmental special report described the road a “Golgotha road leading to hell” with every road user carrying his cross to death. It was revealed that the devastating and untold hardship the Gombe-Numan road, Numan-Jalingo road and Ngurore-Mayobelwa-Zing-Jalingo road is giving people, especially, farmers and rural dwellers, nightmare.
The apt response by Boss to have ignited contractors to site is attracting and celebrating him a hero of our time, an effective leader with the listening character, having self-confidence, strong communication and management skills, creative and innovative thinking, perseverance in the face of failure, level-headed and pro-activeness in times of crisis.
Mustapha’s firm belief in leadership by example is what’s required in most aspects of society, from politics, business, religion to community-based organisations. Boss is seen as a man that keyed in the good qualities of his principal, President Muhammadu Buhari, a patriot who believes in total service to humanity with less personal benefit. The forthrightness of Boss Mustapha sets him toe the footsteps of Buhari.
Boss is indeed a great leader with the ability to make strategic and visionary decisions. For rehabilitating the road that stagnated the progress of people, destroyed the economy for decades he is the man with the good story from the gods.
This writer took a tour on the ongoing work on the Lamurde-Numan road and interviewed some people in Lamurde, Gyawana, Numan and some commutters on transit.
A 53-year old Pwalle Isaac who has a parcel of land along the dilipidated road appreciated President Buhari for mobilising contractors back to site.
He narrated his ordeals as a rice farmer for many years along the road where drivers of lorries, cars lost control of their vehicles into his farm, destroyed it before or during harvest time because of the bad nature of the road. According to him, the road between Numan and Lamurde has destroyed live, destinies and the glowing economy of the areas
Aliyu said Boss Mustapha has the credit of being a good leader with good ideals to make sure the right thing is done. The excitement in Mallam Muhammad who over three decades has been a merchant in water melon revealed how the road has caused him to loss millions of naira as a result of accidents and armed banditry on several occasions. While praise singing the Buhari government, he said besides mobilising the contractors to site, a monitoring team should put an eyeand double check the work is done to specification.
“God bless Baba Buhari and bless his cabinet members who are now conscious of the masses’ plights. This area has been under a spell of lack of completion and some politicians, government officials and contractors use it as a conduit pipe to steal money from the federal government at the detriment of the people. This behaviour is a serious enemy to the economy of Nigeria. Imagine if this road was in good for the past 20 years. I think the country would have produced countless millionaires.
“I’m calling on Boss Mustapha who is the son of the soil to make sure a perfect job is done within specification, and the minister of works under the watch of Babatunde Fashola should not relax on this work because those using the delipidated nature of the road to enrich themselves are not happy to see work is on progress on the road,” Aliyu said.
The fast response of the federal government to this road that has became defiant to completion is exhilarating the people of Adamawa,Taraba and Gombe states who applies the road on daily basis for socio economy purposes.
Garba, FIMC, FBDFM, a journalist,writes from Yola, Adamawa state via08030525759
