Reminiscing Nigeria’s Leadership Conundrum -By Clement Uwayah

Nigeria has had a long history of leadership challenges to the extent of being adjudged by it’s citizens and others as not doing well, at least as a nation of over 60 years after independence. That position had all along been constantly held, perhaps more often chorused by our musicians whose songs had also always harped on the need to reposition things. Reminisces of Sunny Okosun’s “Which Way Nigeria?” way back in the eighties is indicative of the long history of the poor leadership we have had at all levels. The likes of the great Fela Kuti and many others were so unrelenting in their cry outs against mis-governance. Till date, all indications points to the fact that the country has not only underperformed, but still operating at a level that is very far from expectations. Virtually all facets of our national life is in comatose and in dire need of rejuvenation. All our organs and institutions are bleeding, no thanks to the successive managers with self-serving inclinations, and hence the eventual collapse of the very same institutions they were to uplift. Howbeit though, it is also possible to have had excellent managers in some of the sectors, but possibly maligned by the very top echelon that hired them and from whom finality comes.

All the negative narratives of Nigeria’s abysmal run as a nation can not be extricated from the fact that we have indeed been faced with leadership conundrum. Retrospection of our political and administrative walk reveals the painful fact that even some of our most reverered statesmen were not as deserving, because their actions helped to perpetuate us in a retarded state. For instance, the opt-out clause for a dissatisfied Unit from the Central could have made peaceful separations easy without so much wranglings to the extent of the needless civil war then. This was because it was muted, but a notable figure influenced the expulsion of that clause from the draft constitution, and it may be unarguable that had the opt-out clause been allowed, some measures of apprehension could have instilled competiveness, at least in the thinking of a possible lone-standing at any given time.

Nigeria’s leadership conundrum is not limited to the extreme cases of corrupt practices as we now know it, but did also take the form of short-sightedness and inabilities to have properly articulated and entenched navigational options for unrestricted advancements. The definition of conundrum is a situation where there is no clear right answer or no good solution. It is indeed a paradoxical, insoluble or difficult problem; a dilemma. So, how is it that our leadership style gets often described as one that is a conundrum? It would appear that as earlier buttressed in past commentaries, “Nigeria is Certainly one of Unending Paradoxes*, and with “Uncertainties as Her Only Certainty”. How else could one describe a nation of abundant resources that fails woefully to find it’s feet in the comity of nations? How could one reckon with the fact that our contemporaries are a million times better in terms of growth and development. For a nation whose citizens are doing exploits across the globe, how did we get to a situation where we have become so helpless, so much to the amusement of the international community who now make mockery of the nation and it’s citizens.

The Nigeria leadership challenges no doubt seemed to have taken root from the inculcation of mediocre minds in leadership positions. Our colonialism arguably bequited some measures of birthright-thinkism into the minds of a section of the country, and thus helped to water down the true purposes of leadership from being that of using the most fit to garner all available resources towards the achievement of desirable targets, to that of “leading is our birthright”, nothwistanding inabilities and outcomes. This is also worsened by the undeniable tribal and ethnicity inclinations, all of which have resulted to palpable propinquities to perdition. Had tribalism and ethnicity not been so infused into our system, mediocrity may have not been our lot. Ultimately, these elements destroyed the fabric of our nation’s supposed progress, as indeed we were and still now faced with existential and catastrophic situations of constantly putting square pegs in round holes and vice versa on that account.

Until the concept of who a leader is, and what leadership is all about is fully understood and imbibed, we may go on and on for centuries without achieving desired results. With understandings that there are not only qualities, but mandatory obligations and expectations that stands one out as a true leader, it could help change our narratives of mediocrity. While education is very key to sound judgements, and by extension good leadership, it must also be established that it is far more than a mere display of academic qualifications. It is now obvious that people seek degrees and sundry high and intimidating academic qualifications, basically in wait of opportunities into governance. This mindset is no guarantee for purposeful leadership as the real attraction remains the high lucre of such positions and not the mind for service.

The concept of leadership is to lift the people above, through conscientious efforts. Good leaders are never at peace until their people’s well-being are relatively better. God Himself, recognizing that there’s a dire need for people’s coordination, picked Moses who was later succeeded by Joshua. This was symbolic of the importance of leaders toward harnessing any nation. The World all over, very successful countries made breakthroughs by visionary leadership. That a country like China is a toast of the world today very well exemplifies the good of purposeful leadership. The transformations stories of several less endowed countries reveals the blessedness of purposeful leadership. Here in our African soil, we are seeing the beautiful transformation of some countries, like Rwanda, and it is a typical reflection of how leaders are inextricably tied to their country and citizens’ well-being. The possible outcomes of a leader are better predicted by his steps and actions and not his rhetoric. When a leader surrounds himself with people of questionable characters, he may have subtly chosen the deceptive path to self-service.

The system of government of nations either aids or impedes leadership performances. This explains the rationale for most countries opting for democratic systems, universally believed to be a much better system. So, it was not out of place for Nigeria to have also adopted same. However, from all indications, it doesn’t seem like we have for once gotten what we desired. Not quite long into our first foray into democratic governance after independence did we begin to experience upheavals and unimaginable destructions of lives and property. Even when the military intervened, their presence did not offer us the qualitative, role-model leadership style implied by they themselves, and as equally envisaged by the citizens. Regrettably, a great deal of impunity and corrupt practices and tendencies were traceable to the military, especially during the second stream that existed between late 1983 till handover in 1999.

So, given this historical antecedent that reveals so much ill-luck in terms of inability to have attracted for ourselves leaders capable of breaking the yoke of continuous shackles of social, economic and political quagmires, it behooves on all, the elite in particular, to brace up towards ensuring that social crusades and enlightenments take center stage towards upstaging mediocrity, instilling selflessness, and ultimately enthroning more suitable and robust leadership. The elites are in positions to assess, analyse, retrospect and best predict possible outcomes. Same elites occupy positions of influence in various spheres; in the academics, work places as top and middle management, churches, mosques, and sometimes community development associations, and so of great influence. But funnily and painfully, we have seen situations of nonchalance of the elites. They tag politics as dirty and thereby reduced governance to one where the unfit has taken sway and perpetuated themselves. Until everyone rises to take his or her position in the scheme of things, we would remain hunted by poor leadership.