The greatest challenge facing the Nigerian nation is not restructuring, insurgent militancy, corruption, economic recession, youth unemployment, or energy crisis, but the dearth of selfless and visionary leadership. There is a crisis of bad governance. All myriads of problems the nation is facing are the effects of poor quality of leadership that has failed over the years to transform the national wealth to commonwealth.
It is obvious, that bad leadership seems to be plaguing Nigeria with each cycle of election raising hopes, and dashing expectations; translating into bad governance at all levels particularly at the federal which is the most powerful because of the enormous resources it controls.
From Tafawa Balewa till date, it has been paradise lost, except for the 201 days interregnum of the vibrant, fearless, and dynamic Murtala Muhammed whose portrait adorns Nigeria’s N20 notes.
The quartet of Nnamdi Azikiwe, Sir Tafawa Balewa, Sardauna Ahmadu Bello, and Chief Obafemi Awolowo could aptly be described as Nigeria’s first and best four, but in retrospect they seemed not to be ready for the challenge of foundational nation building, after ‘flag’ independence was negotiated with British colonialists. Not surprisingly, they allowed petty rivalry and inter regional conflicts to truncate Nigeria’s march to greatness.
The pioneer coups and counter coups of 1966 and the ensuing civil war of 1967- 1971 not only decimated Nigeria’s human capital and stagnated economic development, but sowed seeds of ethnic distrust that is still germinating in spite of the ‘No Victor No Vanquished’ end of war proclamation of General Yakubu Gowon.
The Gowon administration of 1967-1975 was economically blessed. But the limited vision of the administration hindered it from maximizing the booming oil resources for national development. The administration failed to look beyond the oil boom.
If you ask most of the older generation Nigerians- Christian or Muslim, northerner or southerner, Yoruba, Igbo or Hausa/Fulani, who is Nigeria’s best Head of State, they are likely to refer to Murtala Muhammed, a Muslim northerner who straddled the political saddle for only 201 days. History has not judged Murtala by the thickness of his military toga or ethnic religious inclination but by the fresh breath injected into national lethargy in spite of his ideological limitations. The lesson here is that the real issue in our leadership challenge is not a Northern/Southern; Christian/Muslim; or Igbo/Yoruba/Hausa President, but one of leadership that not only knows the problems, but bold to take iconoclastic decisions to solve them.
Olusegun Obasanjo who succeeded Murtala Muhammed is perhaps the luckiest living Nigerian alive. National leadership was thrusted on him twice in 1976 and 1999, without any overt or convert political manoeuvring from him. He was truly called to serve on those two occasions. The only time he pursued an ambition was in 2003 when he succeeded himself for a second term. If the General turned chief had used the total 11 years he was privileged to be Nigeria’s Head of State for positive achievements, he would have become a political god in the likes of Nelson Mandela or our own Awolowo once described as the ‘best president Nigeria never heard’. But Obasanjo blew up his three chances in power, just like a kid will blow up millions of dollars won from lottery. Obasanjo’s present cries and lamentations over the national socio-political and economic bereavement are tears of a crocodile and lamentations of a prodigal leader.
Shehu Shagari, Nigeria’s first civilian administration (1979-1983), now an aged national statesman, surrounded himself with several colourful politicians in the likes Paul Unongo, K.O. Mbadiwe, Umaru Dikko, Olusola Saraki but the administration’s achievements were colourless. The only discernible colour was the colour of corruption, electoral violence, cronyism, and austerity measures. Another attempt at greatness was fizzled away, providing an alibi for the military that midwifed the civilians to power to return boot them to hospital beds and prison cells.
General Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria’s current president, brought more energy, zest, and dynamism into his first tenure as military’s Head of State, than now as a civilian president. The first tenure was characterised by a relentless fight against indiscipline, corruption, and internal and international economic sabotage, though also accused of several human rights abuses. Maybe age has caught up with President Buhari; while he has fulfilled his political ambition of returning to Aso rock, the nation is still awaiting the dividends of the messianic fervour, hosanna chorus, and hallelujah proclamations that propelled him to power. The administration continues to trumpet its fight against corruption as its greatest achievement, but a more successful fight against poverty and youth employment is what will make its bid for a second term smooth sailing.
As for Ibrahim Babangida who once described himself as an evil genius, the Structural Adjustment Programme introduced by his government laid the foundation for Nigeria’s present economic miasma. Rather than lay a legacy of good government, he dribbled everyone through an endless political transition programme, until he dribbled himself out of power in 1993 under the false notion of stepping aside.
The Sani Abacha and Abubakar Abdulsalami military interregnum before the 1999 transition to civil rule were typologies of government in power, but empowering self rather than people; with the Abacha government particularly vilified for human rights abuses and massive corruption. Ernest Shonekan was a passenger in government, and the forces that put him there as a stop gap removed him seamlessly after his liability government filtered away all its nuisance value. The immediate past administration of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan is still being tried by its successor for perceived misdeeds. Good luck brought Jonathan to power, but the nation is still rueing the misfortunes of his personal luck as they never translated to national greatness.
Year 2019 will produce another (or same) occupant of the presidential seat. My concern is will it usher in a president in the class of Kim Dae-Jung who pulled South Korea from the brink of economic catastrophe while transforming the Asian country to a strong, industrialised nation?
When will Nigeria produce a Nelson Mandela, to liberate us from internal apartheid that allows 469 distinguished and honourable men and women to appropriate almost a quarter of the nation’s resources to themselves, making them richer than most local governments in Nigeria? When will a Mandela arise and sacrificially lead the nation out of internal captivity of Nigerians by Nigerians?
Is any member of the political class ready and willing to commit suicide in the example of Mikhail Gorbachev, (1988-1991), the former Soviet leader who superintended the collapse of communism, and also ended free speech and religious restrictions through ‘Glasnost’ policy. When cometh the Gorbachev that will break down the artificial divide of Nigeria’s religious and ethnic groups that have given rise to calls for political restructuring? Who will pull down the Berlin wall of corruption that has turned an oil rich country to a land of suffering and misery?
Nigeria is in search of national hero, no matter the ideological colouring – socialist, liberal, or capitalist. Nigeria is in search of a revolutionary in the mould of a Lech Wa³êsa, the Polish that mobilised the citizenry around the Polish Solidarity Movement, becoming the first non-communist president in 1991 in a wave of democratic frenzy.
Or would our women folk, beyond calling for more lots in power, be capable of producing an Angela Merkel, the 59 year German Chancellor, doubling as the de facto leader of the European Union; who has played a gregarious role in managing EU’s debt crisis, solidifying the unity of the largest trade block and steering Greece out of recession? Would Nigeria be able to produce a Winston Churchill that will defy the imperialist and neo-colonial powers, putting national interest first, and mobilizing the citizenry to defend the nation’s prosperity, just as Churchill defied the Nazis personified by Adolf Hitler in World War II?
Who will be our Abraham Lincoln that will abolish internal and external slavery and transform the economy? Who will be our Martin Luther King that will lead resistance against internal inequalities that puts monthly minimum wage at N18,000 (about $50) in an land of milk and honey?
Is the political system capable of producing such a national hero or heroine in 2019? Would a political earthquake change the present equation and throw up such a leader, or should be continue to raise our hands to God for divine intervention?
- Babalobi, Coordinator of Way Forward (WF), a pressure group, writes from Lagos.