While delivering a lecture on leadership in Lagos four years ago, former Governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Raji Fashola painted a graphic picture of who a leader is. In the course of that lecture, he said leadership is about “solving problems and not identifying them.” To back up his definition of leadership, he cited the example of a Professor of Architecture from the University of Lagos, who after repeated visits to see him was eventually granted audience.
According to Fashola, the professor took it upon himself to visit places in Lagos with chaotic traffic situation in order to understudy them and proffer solutions. He did this for months and as a true leader he packaged his findings into a document and sought audience with the governor to give him the document as his humble contribution toward the development of the state.
The former governor said he was initially taken aback when the professor brought a comprehensive blueprint on how to redesign some roads in Lagos to ease traffic flow and not to request for contracts as is mainly the norm here. In essence, there were no strings attached to his presenting the document to the government, just a responsible citizen doing his bit toward uplifting society.
At the time of the lecture the state government had already implemented some of the recommendations contained in the blueprint. The two he mentioned include the road linking Victoria Island from MUSON Centre through Command Officers mess and the underpass linking Magodo and Otedola housing estates on Lagos-Ibadan expressway.
Leadership on all fronts is fundamental, not only in solving problems but having the foresight to identify and address them before they emerge. Whether in the home, school, workplace, religious circle and in politics, purposeful leadership is essential for harmonious living and development.
Mahatma Ghandi, the world acclaimed champion of non-violence said “When leaders exemplify the change in the world they wish to see, they win, and we all win.” The precept cuts across national boundaries regardless of how small or big the country may be. The birth place of Ghandi, India is a huge country while a country like Singapore is not.
The ripple effects of Mahatma Gandhi’s leadership in India and the selfless leadership of Lee Kuan Yew changed both countries for good. Why? The simple explanation is because the two leaders have – in different ways – exemplified the change in the world they wanted to see.
Our main problem back home is our warped view of the entire concept of leadership, if we want to follow on from Ghandi’s statement one will ask what kind of world do Nigerian leaders want to see? Is it a world of harmonious relationships and good governance or a world of supporting and bankrolling divisive elements in the society? Is it a world of envisioning where the nation will be in ten years’ time and ensuring that there are plans backed with self-sacrifice to ensure it is achieved?
But how are leaders in other countries able to exemplify Ghandi’s statement and what are some of the lessons we can draw from them? If you discount the vision and the empowerment qualities of her founding fathers starting with George Washington, the first President of the United States and some of his successors in office like Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Harry Truman to mention just a few, the United States of America would not have been what it is today.
Such leaders can be found in every country and in other walks of life and not in politics alone. They are in the Academia, in the news media, entertainment sector and in the public and private Sectors of every country. They can also be found in the Judiciary, Churches, and Mosques. Such leaders always try, as much as humanly possible; to exemplify the change in their world they envision. They are men of principle and conviction who passionately practice what they preach. Most of them drive themselves harder than they do their followers. They are, more often than not, men of steel and iron discipline.
The smooth transition of power from one party to another, and from one individual political leader to another which has now become the hall mark of America today, could be traced back to the father of the nation, George Washington who had voluntarily given up power after laying a sound foundation that the future generation of American leaders have come to view as the gold standard for leadership in their country.
George Washington taught American leaders – of his and subsequent generations – to appreciate that power belongs to the people, and that if a leader has to choose between self and national interest, the choice is clear. The youngest American President and the first Catholic ever elected, J. F. Kennedy said that much, when asked, if his faith would not get in the way of his loyalty to his country. His answer was unequivocal. As far as he was concerned, America and her national interest and stability come first.
When leaders refuse to be the change in the world they wish to see, they not only lose, their nation lose as well. One thing stands out clearly when you study the lives of Mao Zedong of China, Ho Chi Ming of Vietnam, Josep Broz Tito of former Yugoslavia, Winston Churchill of Great Britain, Nelson Mandela and F.W De Clarke of South Africa, Julius Nyerere of Tanzania, Martin Luther King etc. Their willingness and conviction to truly represent the change in their country they wish to see is glaring. They not only talked the talk, they walked the walk. They truly practice what they preach.
Good leaders come to office with a mindset to solve problems and make changes they wish to see. You have to seriously wonder about the success and competence of our leaders when you see that most of the problems we face, some dating back to Independence have remained virtually unresolved. As a matter of fact, some of those problems have gotten worse.
Take the issue of Education. It was one of the best things going for our country when Nigeria got her independence from Britain. Today it is a different story. The disdain for education by our government is simply amazing. Policy somersaults reveal we really do not have a roadmap. Any wonder why we spend billions of naira to pursue education abroad.
We’re all aware our standard of education is nothing to write home about. It is true there are more Universities now, but most of them are struggling, and the caliber of graduates they produce is a far cry from what we were used to. Unemployment has become a major problem, and it is now extremely difficult for most graduates to find jobs.
Electricity, which is the bedrock for industralisation, has only marginally improved making it look like fixing it is rocket science. Prior to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, the country faced power challenges, but it took the government less than six months to fix it before the tourney commenced. No committee was set up or white paper released – like was done in the last dispensation – to be screened and streamlined by yet another committee!
Newer challenges are with us today. Militancy, farmers/herdsmen clash, terrorism, divisive politics are some of the issues our leaders are grappling with. Of course, corruption and crime have become the order of the day. Nigeria is doing much worse today, all things considered, because most of our leaders do not exemplify the change in our country they wish to see. Things are worse because we do not yet have a responsible citizenry who are expected to hold their leaders accountable.
