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| Need for attitudinal change |
The huge boulder on the way of Nigeria is not the average
Nigerian leader. Rather is it the average Nigerian voter. The leadership
challenges that are ‘peculiar’ to Nigeria have, actually, existed in other
nations that we envy today. However the difference between Nigeria and those
flying nations is that the sluggish state journey lasted just long enough for
the common man to perceive it. They were then swift in ensuring it ended, using
the power democracy has placed in their hands. In the case of Nigeria, the
people observed the blemishes barely ten years after independence but failed to
end it.
If you asked an ordinary Nigerian what he thinks is the
solution to Nigeria’s problem, he id likely going to give you that boring thing
about a political revolution. They will
site the case of Ghana where a revolution has changed the nation even when I
personally think that there isn’t much difference between Nigeria and Ghana.
This answer is even the best answer compared to “we live it in the hands of
God” implying they have run out of ideas and surrendered even when God has
already devolved power to us.
Until the Arab Spring, I used to think that a revolution
works only through a ferocious blood bath.
The Arab Spring grossly changed this diffident impression of mine. In
Tunisia, it merely took the outpouring of Tunisians into the streets to
compelled Zin El Abidin Ben Ali to pack his bag and baggage. In Egypt it also
took the weapon of will to compel Hosin Mubarak to quit after three decades of Dracula
dictatorship. Ironically, in Places like Syria where the struggle is bloody,
one can confidently say that the revolution has failed despite the losses in
terms of lives, maiming, the economy and the regression.
It is clear that, given the circumstance of Nigeria, the
revolution of the mind is what is desired. The common man must cultivate a
progressive mind that can help him identify his problem, first and foremost.
This is our first problem: improper diagnosis. Aside being able to recognize
our problem, we should know how to end it and be courageous enough to act
towards ending it.
We don’t know how to
identify people with the capacity to give us what we want; we think it is a
game of trial and error. In Nigeria, we have been administered by rulers who
are slightly ahead of uneducated traditional rulers in their mindsets. They
lack modern approaches to issues. While the rest of the world moves on, we
stagnated in a mire, left talking about how Malaysia came to Nigeria to pick
palm oil seedlings, went home and worked hard to beat Nigeria as the number one
palm oil-producing nation in the world. The ordinary man in Nigeria is not able
to see the difference in the way of thinking between a traditional Nigerian
politician and those in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia … with whom we started.
Ordinary people in Nigeria think that the right political leader is one who
hangs around traditional rulers and respects, deeply, the opinion of religious
leaders. On the contrary, our founding fathers designed our laws to ensure the
separation of the state and the mosque/ church. Furthermore the ordinary man thinks
the right political leader is one who wears a flying traditional dress without
compromise. There is nothing wrong with wearing what is traditionally ours. The
problem however is the use of these dresses as the yardstick for identifying
the right man for the job at Aso Rock or the government house of any state.
Nigerians everywhere: behind truck wheels, riding on the
spines of Okadas, selling under the open sun in the markets, in secondary
schools, university/polytechnic campuses, at constructions sites … must
recognize that the sole and most imperative criteria for considering a man fit
for a leadership role is what he has been able to do during a previous and
lower level of administration. Our refusal to heed this truly confirms that we
think the choice of an excellent leader is a game of trial and error. It took
just about two decades for a Nigerian, John Godson to become the first black
MP. What did he do? He used money he has made to provide scholarship to
students and help the poor. American President, Barack Obama, as a congressman
sponsored laws that changed the plight of Africa-Americans in his constituency
remarkably. He became a political superstar. We don’t need to look far to see
that there are Nigerians who brought changes in the areas where they were
assigned to carry out a task, even within the last fourteen years. They
demonstrated the strong ability to identify the challenges of their assignment,
understood how to overcome them and created the right atmosphere for their
accomplishment.
Once such individuals are identified, the next thing is for
Nigerians to be able to overcome polarization that revolve around emotions,
religion and tribe. Refusing to vote an individual you just like because of his
fine looks is not an easy decision to make. If however, you recognize that such
a decision is fundamentally critical in deciding tomorrow’s trajectory of the
nation then you need courage to do it. Therefore a bloodless revolution needs
critical thought and courage to make a sacrifice. It is also the same where
either religion or tribal considerations is tempting you to make a flawed
decision. You also need critical thought and courage to make a sacrifice. I
checked the national anthem and pledge to see if there is a line where the need
for sacrifice is stressed. I did not find one.
If we choose the option of a violent political revolution we
must also be ready to make sacrifices in terms of lives, maiming and the number
of years we will have to go in the reverse direction. There is a difference
between sacrificing your religion and sacrificing a wrong individual who comes
from your religion. I should not be misquoted.
In Nigeria, a political revolution must come from the mind
and is easy if we can build a strong courage to make sacrifices.
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