Solving leadership, security questions

The failure of leadership in Nigeria dominated other issues at a thought provoking discourse held at the weekend in Kano. BASHIR MOHAMMED reports
Unarguably, Africa is a continent almost perpetually bedeviled by conflicts which has abysmally consumed millions of lives and destroyed properties. Perhaps this is the reason why critics would settle for Conflict as the second name for Africa. Sadly, these conflicts with their severe consequences are premeditated more often, by the continent’s pathological dictators who used power to sit tight, by creating a dynasty to suite their whims and caprices.
Despot’s beclouded project Where such tyrants failed to see reason and quit the stage when the ovation is loudest often find themselves wallow in false and orchestrated public loyalty, because like a time bomb ticking inexorably, they are disgraced out of power eventually, in what critics describe as peoples’ backlash.
Take for instance, the case of former South Africa President, Jacob Zuma, who is currently standing trial in public court of competent jurisdiction, on corruption charges. Of course, Zuma is not alone, the list of African rulers in corruption scandals is endless and disturbing. Without doubt, Nigeria still ranks high among countries with this type of odious record.
Mother of looting, psychiatric test In recent time in Nigeria, the disclosure on looted public funds has been regular newspaper headlines.
The humongous amount of money allegedly recovered from individual accounts, is mindboggling at the same time make the public to wonder if such looters should not be subjected to psychiatric test to ascertain their mental balance and even spiritual fitness, in the first place. For stealing public treasury while they occupied office.
It would be recalled that the mother of looting that earned Nigeria a pariah status among the comity of nations, was under late Gen Sani Abacha’s dictatorial reign. Since then the image of the country with respect to corruption has remained battered.
The recent disclosure on looted funds is indicative that the corruption fight is far from changing mindset of the rulers. Indeed, the rulers are adamant, for lack of nationalism and patriotism, they continue soiling their hands in public treasury with many of them becoming richer than their respective countries, consequently, the continent is a laughing stock of the West, as well as a perpetual weeping boy.
Despots kicked out of power However, Blueprint checks revealed that some despots were kicked out of power, other relinquished power unceremoniously. Even then, others got killed for refusing to listen to popular voices of reason and attempted to stay put by creating a dynasty for their children to succeed them. The notion of credible and selfless leadership in Africa, had been a subject of cacophony of debates by scholars, who have been utterly cynical about the way and manner, Africa is dismally held to ransom by those who considered holding onto power perpetually as their birth right.
External conspiracy theory Conflicts arising from the failure of leadership that had transcended various forms of strata and frontiers within the African continent had indeed elicited every form of external conspiracy theory where the interest of agents of neo-liberal imperialism was consolidated and their grip tightened for the craze of crude economic exploitation to hold sway.
It is a fact that cannot be dismissed with the wave of hand that in Nigeria for example, many scholars and opinion leaders have for the umpteenth time extensively deliberated on the issue of security and credible leadership within Nigeria itself as it relates to the entire continent, reaching the conclusion that absence of selfless and credible leadership is Nigeria’s and most African countries’ major albatross. Notable among such scholars, is Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, who at a recent convocation lecture organized by Bayero University Kano(BUK), presented a thought provoking expose on how the African continent was ruined , pillaged and wantonly destroyed as the result of failure of leadership.
Disaffection with dominant practice of democracy It is however the contention of the ScholarDiplomat that discontent and disaffection with the dominant practice of democracy has been building up, interest has been growing in the governance “model” represented by contemporary developmental states which are registering impressive rate of growth and overseeing massive process of social transformation.
According to him, the notion of looking east towards the experience of countries like China is driving an impressive global balance of power altering domestic programme of structural transformation has gathered some traction among diverse political actors around the world including Africa.
Lively debate He said that there is a lively debate going on about the roots of the current state of generalized discontent and disaffection with democracy with people suggesting that the core of the problem is to be located in the excessive emphasis on liberal political pillars of democracy to the exclusion of the social economic pillars. It was also his submission that to stem and overcome the challenges facing democracies around Nigeria and elsewhere in Africa, it has become inevitable that development will have to be centred at the heart of policy and politics and that a new social compact between state and society will need to be established to serve as a framework for the exercise of citizenship and the measurement of progress.
Development without peace and security According to him, there can be no development without peace and security and there can be no durable peace without sustainable development, stressing that there can neither be peace nor development unless people have the right to decide who rules them and there is respect for human rights as well.
He said “leadership is a challenge that speaks to the ability of those who administer public affairs for the common good. effective leadership that is also engaged and committed goes a long way in helping to draw the maximum benefits from the security-democracy development interface”. “And it is the domain in which Africa has been most ill-served.
indeed, we live in a moment in African and World history when leadership failures and deficits a becoming a serious threat to security, democracy and development,” he added. “Leadership is a critical factor in national security and it should be understood in two important but related ways.
Firstly, there are the personal qualities of integrity, honesty, commitment and competence of individual leaders, secondly, there are the collective qualities of common vision, focus and desire for development of the elites as a whole” he affirmed. “The standard for recruitment and the performance of our individual leaders over the years have left much to be desired. and across Africa we have paid the price in divided societies persistent poverty, growing inequality, massive corruption, flagrant and pre-meditated abuse of power and office the wastage of public institutions and the rest” he stressed.
“Freedom from want, freedom from fear and freedom of future generations to inherit a healthy natural environment- these are the inter-related building blocks of human and therefore national security”. He however stated that for Nigeria and Africa to grow in peace, and security, and achieve democracy and development, leadership must rise to the challenge of the times and citizens must not relent in demanding only the best from those who govern their affairs pointing out that in doing so, it should never be forgotten that all great nations are the products of men and women, who have the will and vision to accomplish greatness.
Arab spring In his view, where conflict did not degenerate into full blown war and the collapse of governmental authority, domestic instability took the form of sporadic riots and protests often centering on issues of service delivery, unemployment, feelings of exclusion, and other social grievances of the kind witnessed during the so-called Arab spring. He noted that war, conflicts and instability were exacerbated by highhanded rulers whose style is symptomatic of chronic leadership deficits that provide a fertile ground for insecurity gangster violence and extremism to fester.