Our Nation at a Cross Road -By Kehinde Ademola

APC party leaders dancing with party symbol, the broom

Leadership Built on Unpatriotic Incompetence

I struggled very hard to write this piece as there were so many subjects to touch upon. I simply did not know where to start or how it would end but I was very certain I could no longer hold my peace. I was bursting on the inside with anger, shame, disappointment and downright annoyance.

Notice I combined Patriotism and Incompetence in my title. Well, therein lies my state of mind when I was trying to determine what and how to write about my feelings on the state of affairs of our nation. the issues were simply just overwhelming. So, I will paragraph phrase each in a segment.

Some may wonder why the annoyance and anger? Well when you are as close to these issues I have now become in the last 18 months you will understand. For almost 2 years I have travel every 2 weeks back and from abroad working on a critical project for our economy. As you should now, know I am writing under a pseudonym to protect my project.  Now to the opinion at hand.

Leadership

I would like to know why on God’s earth, we give accolades and awards to leaders who have demonstrated the level of incompetence we see each day and for which our nation continues to suffer so much. This question goes to all the ignoramuses that head Newspapers or media organization who continue to do this. What exactly are the accomplishments warranting all these awards? Can anyone tell me any minister of governor with the level of accomplishment deserving of these awards. Anyone who has worked for legacy and not enrichment. O.K leave Gov. Ambode of Lagos State out of it. He is worthy of the awards. Why are we honoring people who are stealing from us?

To really evaluate these people and to bring all the readers to my side. I will use just a single issue as example:

Bathroom/Toilets Test

If you truly want to judge any leader who has been able to change the lives of fellow Nigerians use the bathroom or toilet as your guide and you will reach the same conclusion as I have.

Go to any ministry, department or agency of the government and ask to use the general bathroom. You will come out praying to God you have not contacted some form of disease. In a nation of law with reasonable people, these ministries will be closed for representing a public health hazard, but it goes deeper than that. It demonstrates leadership that does not care. How do you continue to heap accolades on leadership that does not care? they do not care for their staff and immediate subordinates who they work with eat with and seat with every day, why should we expect them to care for the general citizenry. Yes, these are people we are giving awards and accolades to. How do we expect them to develop policies in the interest of the people? While most may think this is a wrong criterion but it is the little things that let you know the true nature of the leadership a person brings to the table.

It’s like buying a used car, the shining exterior does not tell you the condition of the engine. If a minister or leader is incapable of keeping a healthy environment in his ministry how does he or she manage the larger issues regarding his ministry and the country.

An even deeper analysis to the terrible nature of these so-called leaders is that you will find in all cases they have private bathroom for themselves well-kept and in almost pristine conditions. Aah, now you got it, those are the thieves of heart. Those are the people that will steal from us. They are there to take care of themselves and not the people.  Yes, it’s true, when a minister care enough for his own bathroom but ignores the staff and their condition or the visiting public for that matter, he will take care of his pocket and ignore the people. These little clues are right in front of us to enlighten us about the types of people that we call leaders.

My people, let’s give the Bathroom Test to our leaders and we will find which of them will let us rot in hell for their own luxuries and comfort. They are not leaders they are leaches.  Good leadership begin with effective administration of an operation. If a minister cannot effectively manage his ministry what can he do for the nation. This raises a whole new set of questions. Who are we hiring, I hear someone say, technocrats versus politician; do either of these group deserve to be managers of affairs of the nation? As a business executive, I look around the world at nations who have built successful societies and you rarely find professors in the executive.

What is the obsessions with hiring professors by Nigerian leaders, is it to mask their own lack of education or incompetence? Professors are theorists who mostly have no real-life experiences, if we must grow as a nation we need to leave professors in the classrooms and start hiring people who have built, manage something and met a payroll. They are builder of the nation – don’t believe me? look toward America, Japan, South Korea you will see what I mean. Stop hiring professors! They cannot execute. While the plans are beautiful on papers they cannot execute, hence we struggle to get result from all the plans various administration have laid out for decades.

Welcome to my opinion pieces this is the first of many to come.  Ok.  I’m not just a complainer I do bring some solution to my opinion pieces. On my next piece, I will be writing on how easily we can create over 20 million jobs in just few years and turn our nation around. Yes, I mean it and I said twenty million not 2, it’s not a joke, seriously, and the corruption problem? easy cake, a serious government will do a few things I will share with you that will send most corrupt politicians to long stint in jail with no way to get their slimy ass out. Trust me on this one, look for my next piece.