Skip to main content

The road to redemption

August 29, 2009

Reducing the problem of Nigeria to that of leadership has become the pastime of every commentator including anyone lucky enough to have access to the Internet and can write a few words in English. Truly, Nigeria has been unlucky to have been bestowed with leaders whose bellies are bigger than their brains and who would rather ‘eat’ the future of their grandchildren today but the diagnosis is incomplete if we leave the followership out of the rut we have found ourselves.


There is no doubt that leadership is very critical as almost everything rises and falls on leadership. Leaders, especially philosopher-thinkers often chart a course for the nation to follow. Such leaders will inspire action in difficult times and make the nation see beyond the present circumstances. They demonstrate through words and personal actions what words alone cannot communicate. One of such is Nelson Mandela. Unfortunately, most people who pass as leaders in Nigeria suffer from shortsightedness and myopic thinking. They look at every issue through the prism of religion, tribalism or nepotism.
 
Leadership brings order into chaos but in Nigeria leadership adds chaos to order. Or what do you think of the recent Federal Government directives to Lagos State to revert to the former 20-something local governments? You often wonder whether leadership is actually being provided because the country is in a state of disorder where might is right and anyone who has access to brutal force rules their own corner of the nation- from the motor park touts to the fuel attendant to the militant in the creeks to the kidnapper in the South East.
 
No nation can rise above or beyond the level of leadership. No wonder the Bible says,’ Woe to a nation when their king is a child and eats in the morning’. Incompetent leadership breeds incompetent followership and bad leadership breed bad followership.  A nation is only as good as the leadership but that is what Dora Akunyili has failed to understand in her rebranding gospel. As long as our leaders have a ‘liliputian mentality’ so long will Nigeria fail to live up to her potentials?
 
The Nigerian leader thinks the next votes (if they count at all) will come based on how much they can destroy and not how much they can build, which is why we have wanton destruction of our infrastructure, education, power and the health sector. Undoubtedly, they are on the wrong side of history. Unfortunately, history is an unforgiving judge without mercy and with a long memory.
 
So much for the leadership.
 
I read the online version of the Tribune newspapers today (Sunday) and there was the picture of a 75-year-old man who was abandoned on the road somewhere in Ibadan and defecates and passes urine through a tube. Only Heaven knows for how long he has been there. People have passed by him. Such people either profess Christianity, Islam or our other traditional religions. And you wonder what has happened to our collective sense of dignity and morality! A ready excuse is that it is dangerous to help in Nigeria because you may eventually be caught on the wrong end of the law but for how long are we going to continue to live with such dénouement of our mortality? Was there no landlord association in that area? Was there no church or mosque around that environment that could have brought a collective effort to bear and save the situation? Is that a problem for a Senator or the House of Representatives member? That is why I also believe it to be just and true that a nation and a people get the kind of leadership they deserve. It is also my considered opinion that God can decide to punish people with bad leadership because of the state of their hearts…. is this the case with Nigeria?
 
We have lost our sense of value as a people. Parents no longer raise eyebrow when their children bring items they themselves cannot afford into their homes.  They find it easy to procure examination papers so their kids can pass at a go. Pastors don’t query the source of offerings and tithes. Everyone believes the key to getting out of poverty for life is getting a political appointment. If you find some money (no matter the amount) and you return it to the owner, you are not only abnormal but you are the exception. Everyone may applaud you as the honest fellow but they curse you under their breath that you will never make it again in life! You return to the cold comfort of your home and a displeased spouse who may have abandoned your home before your return. I remember that old movie by Sam Loco Efe that I watched in my university days (was it titled Sergeant Joe or so?) in which he retrieved some amount of money and returned same in exchange for a handshake with the Inspector General of Police. His wife promptly told him to take the handshake to the market to buy garri.
 
Let us forget Boko Haram and other issues that we know reflect a failure of leadership for the moment. What about the issues you and I can help? We want to change Nigeria from the leadership angle but the change we desire must start with us. We can change Nigeria one person at a time. Would you rather wait in the traffic gridlock or drive against traffic? Would you rather play according to the rules or settle your way when you are in violation of the law? Would you rather tinker with your pre-paid metre so as to avoid paying the correct electricity bills while you are happy some citizens are being harangued by EFCC for corruption? An average Nigerian looks for ways to circumvent the rules rather than obey them.  On my trip to the UK recently, I found myself asking my friend who drove to a self-service gas station what will happen if we drove away without paying. He was alarmed at my thinking even as I offered various suggestions that may ensure our tracks are covered…. Change number plates; pretend as if you are swiping a card, etc. That is the typical naija man.
 
So, the problem is with all of us and I am poised to think that we are almost too far-gone as a people and the only realistic way of redemption is for something shocking to happen to us and numb us back to our senses. But that is a ‘fatalist’ approach.
 
This is a clarion call to return to a values-based way of life. Values such as hard work, honesty, courage and loyalty must be encouraged and rewarded. In this sense, we must now begin to ask questions from people who are living large. We need to begin to appreciate people for the quality of their thinking and not the depth of their pockets. We need to begin to demand accountability at all levels starting from the home. We need to begin to believe in our collective humanity irrespective of religion or tongue. And we need to keep on talking. Talking against every ill and injustice. Soon our echoes will be translated to voices. We must keep sustaining the momentum knowing one voice can make the difference. I do not pretend to have all the solutions but I am convinced this is the road to take as a nation if we are to salvage whatever is left. It is a narrow road and the terrain is tough. The gulleys are deep and navigation is not easy but it is the road to redemption. Any short cut will shake the nation to the foundations.

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('content1'); });

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('comments'); });

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('content2'); });