Narrated Ma’qil; I heard the Prophet (saws) saying, “Any man whom Allah has given the authority of ruling some people and he does not look after them in an honest manner, will never feel even the smell of Paradise.” Sahih Muslim
Devil’s Rectangle is an End Time scenario depicting the satanic coalition of political leadership, the gullible followership, the mass media, and the conniving religious institution. It is a very sad and painful situation. When these four forces conspire that society becomes doomed.
In Marxist philosophy, the bourgeoisie is the social class that came to own the means of production during modern industrialization and whose societal concerns are the value of property and the preservation of capital to ensure the perpetuation of their economic supremacy in society. Joseph Schumpeter saw the creation of the bourgeoisie as the driving force behind the capitalist engine, particularly entrepreneurs who took risks to bring innovation to industries and the economy through the process of creative destruction.
Today, in our clime and most African countries that social order is dominated by a new bourgeoisie, made up of political leaders and not captains of industry. They are rent collectors who make huge profits without investments; they have no factories and are neither entrepreneurs nor employers of labor but they own huge amount of money, but they are not investors or creators of wealth; they live a life of opulence like princes but they are not royalty. They are ‘carpetbaggers and scalawags.
Impervious to the suffering and tribulations of the people they are supposed to serve, they are as callous as the proverbial ‘agbalowo meri, Bale Jontolo’. The greedy and avaricious traditional ruler of Jontolo village.
Vexed by their shenanigans, Obi Ezekwesili said: “Our political leaders have turned democracy into a criminal enterprise, breaking all the principles of representative government. They have not illuminated or advanced Nigeria. Under their watch, Nigeria has become the epicentre of human greed, avarice, official impunity and duplicity.”
The leadership failure Nigerians experience is not the fault of their stars but the fault of leaders and the led alike wrote Ochulor, Chinenye Leo in his paper: Failure of leadership in Nigeria, American Journal of Social and Management Sciences. He says Nigerians should not abandon themselves to fate.
The first step towards changing this attitude, the paper argues, is to carefully identify the causes of misrule in Nigeria. As a nation, the accuracy of Nigerians in identifying the causes of misrule in Nigeria and their sincerity in redressing misrule in Nigeria, have serious implications for the efficient leadership that Nigerians are in dire need of.
Leadership crises coupled with policy inconsistency and summersault are no doubt serious problems confronting Nigeria and Africa.
Despite the socio-economic and political challenges facing Nigeria, the paper posits that Nigeria and Africa can surmount its problems and challenges if political leaders and followers discard all forms of tribal politics and primitive accumulation of wealth. Equitable distribution of resources, a balanced intellectual and social development should also be promoted and accorded top priority in the process of policy formulation and implementation in Nigeria and indeed Africa.
In – Leadership Challenges and Nigerian Development, Onodugo Ifeanyi Chris, of the University of Nigeria, Nsuka, argues that Nigeria’s failures have come about largely as a result of frequent leadership challenges; lack of ideology, policy reversal and weak institutional patterns.
His paper examines the leadership selection process in Nigeria and found that the process takes the ‘imposition pattern’ and that Nigerian leaders have frequently come to their position with limited experience. Hence, the decline in morale and high level of corruption caused by bad policies, eroded professional standards and ethics and weakened the system of governance.
The paper observes that for Nigeria to overcome the crises of leadership in the country, those on whom the burden of leadership falls must fully comprehend their responsibilities, duties and obligations. They must also be exposed and be prepared to face the challenges of leadership in developing the society.
The socio-economic and political development of any country depends largely on the ability of its leadership to facilitate, entrench, and sustain good governance. Importantly, good governance is a manifestation of committed, patriotic and disciplined leadership.
It is logically unbelievable and appalling that despite the long years of independence, Nigeria the so called “giant” of Africa is still battling with the problem of good governance. The crop of leaders since independence had in one way or the other lacked vision, most of them have been engrossed with corruption and political bickering leading to the enthronement of maladministration and mismanagement of public resources, and consequently economic setback and abject poverty as nation’s heritage.
A major reason that has been responsible for her socioeconomic stagnation is the phenomenon of corruption. This is also the conclusion of Michael M. Ogbeidi, Associate Professor in the Department of History and Strategic Studies, University of Lagos, Nigeria.
Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Once in power, Nigerian leaders at the federal, state and local government levels feel invincible and disregard the rule of law, whenever they can. Leaders bend rules to their wishes and damn the consequences. The judiciary arm of the government has been toothless and only clamp down on the average citizens while top government officials who break the law are left to wander free.
Nigeria is an amalgam of over 300 ethnic tribes. Tribalism reigns in Nigeria and it plays a great part in the country’s current quagmire.
Things have gotten worse for the Nigerian masses over the decades. The country’s economy has been deteriorating over the years with the hope that things will get better without any result.
Over the years, we have had leaders who, prior to ascending leadership positions, are sold to the masses as beacons of hope amidst the misery viciously staring them in the face, courtesy of previous leaders only to assume leadership positions and become total strangers and despots, insensitive to the plight of the masses. “They go into office as doctors, and leave as patients’’. Valentine Achum
In line with the above assumption, I dare say that the trouble with political leadership in Nigeria is the lack of a fundamental combination of patriotism and conscience.
Where there is no vision, the people perish is an aphorism that has become common knowledge among the Nigerian political leaders, who often articulate visions in colourful and expensive development plans, policies, programmes, etc., but mostly for chanting. They are chicken-hearted in the implementation of these plans, except to enrich cronies, political stooges and royal choristers or sycophants.
Although Nigeria is the second African exporter of crude oil and the sixth in the world, the nation’s underdevelopment is associated with weak management and corruption.
We certainly need leaders who speak ‘‘Nigeria’’ much more than they speak Igbo, Hausa, or Yoruba. We need leaders who can do for the country much more, or at least as much as they can do for themselves. It is important to note that everything in a country is being conceived in the realm of politics (leadership). Politics is regarded as the super structure, while every other thing such as the economy, security, etc. constitute the sub-structure. If the super-structure is faulty, the sub-structure wallows in decrepitude and cannot correct itself.
It is the super structure (activities of political leaders) that either enriches or impoverishes the sub structure (the economy). Nigeria’s underdevelopment is more of poor implementation than lack of development visions and programmes, “Seek ye first the political kingdom and all else shall be added unto you”. Kwame Nkrumah
In a paper: The Challenges Of Leadership And Governance In Nigeria, Godwin Okaneme submitted: “From the time of the nation’s independence up till now, it has seriously grappled with the challenges of poor leadership and governance or what has been popularly referred to as leadership and governance ineptitude. Governance therefore has become an all-comers affair where the qualified and the unqualified, the high and the low as well as the rich and the poor all jostle inordinately for political power.
The paper opines that to solve the nation’s intractable leadership and governance challenges conclusively, the country needs a true and transparent transformational leadership structure which will drive the political and governmental system in the country for effective and efficient political leadership and governance that will ultimately usher in genuine and verifiable development in the country for the overall benefit of the entire citizenry.
“Nigerian political leadership is an entangled, mangled, and cluttered perplexity of subterfuge machinations and deception. They seem divided along ethnic and religious lines but are eternally united in thievery and corruption; enemies by day and gang of marauding highwaymen at night”.
A leadership that spent so much money in putting up the iconic Trade-Fair Complex in Lagos only to abandon it and turn it into a motor spare-part market, can never be a goal oriented leadership. Equally, we cannot vouch for the earnestness of a leadership that allowed the two roads leading into our busiest ports to virtually close down.
Leaders that abandon and allow Ajaokuta Complex to waste away are not progressive leaders; the same goes for the leaders that allowed the Aluminum Smelter Complex at Ikot Abasi or the various Steel Rolling Mills to rot. There are over a thousand abandoned projects in Nigeria ranging from the multibillion dollar to multimillion dollar ones. The iniquities of our leaders are not pleasing to the Almighty. Fortunately, we all know the solutions to these problems. They are characterological and behavioral.
Retired AIG Farida Waziri in a seminal lecture, ‘Leadership and the Challenges of Good Governance in Nigeria said: “Leadership should be born out of understanding of the needs of those who would be affected by it.” The world over, it is servant leaders that have made the difference in the lives of their people and advanced their governments over time through vigorous and sacrificial pursuit of positive change with great respect for acceptable societal values.”
“Effective and productive leadership must be seen to be transparent and accountable to the citizenry. This increases goodwill amongst the people and the chances of elected leaders succeeding in their endeavors. This also promotes legitimacy, acceptance and most importantly role modeling. Available resources must be properly harnessed and used based on the principles of equity and equality, so that the impact is felt through the rank and file of society.”
“The government must be service oriented and promote effective delivery of public services so as to enhance local and small-scale economic development aimed at improving the lot of the youth and the poor. Information must be made available to the people especially to non-state actors for enhanced purposeful engagement with leadership”.
Can we expect these and more from the incoming administration come May 29? We hope the answer is not ‘blowing in the wind.’
Show us the straight way, The way of those on whom Thou hast bestowed Thy Grace, Those whose (portion) is not wrath, and who go not astray. (Quran 1:6-7)
Barka Juma’at and a happy weekend
