The Nation Newspaper

Tag: lessons

  • Leadership lessons from S.M.I.L.E

    Leadership lessons from S.M.I.L.E

    The Strategy for Mentoring Initiative and Leadership Empowerment (SMILE) has conducted its graduation for students of its Leadership and Mentoring Programme. As expected, the focus was on building strategic leadership for the youth for a better nation. SEUN AKIOYE reports

    In the last four years, Mrs. Bimpe Bamgbose-Martins an Associate member of the Chattered Institute of Personnel Development (CIPD), United Kingdom and the Managing Director of a construction firm, Matokins Nigeria Limited, has been doing something many people would say is out of sync with her education and career.

    With a degree in Economics from the University of Ibadan, Bamgbose-Martins found her true calling when she came in contact with the teachings and mentoring of the late international coach, motivational speaker and Pastor, Myles Monroe. On her return from the mentorship programme she began to put into action all the lessons from Monroe by establishing a unique institution that would provide leadership empowerment and life skills for Nigerians.

    Her idea is a paradigm shift from the self help mentors who may have bastardised the meaning of leadership for self gains and recognition. Her method is aimed at releasing potential into the new generation of young people that can be trained and mentored to become successful leaders. For this she got the total support of her mentor whom she fondly called “papa”. According to Monroe, “SMILE is introducing a new phenomenon with the theme of self replacement.”

    One of the important people to buy into this idea early is the First Lady of Lagos State, Dame Abimbola Fashola who according to Bamgbose-Martins is “a woman of exemplary character” and “who has been a pillar of strength for me personally, since the inception of SMILE four years ago and from whom I continue to glean wisdom and inspiration.”

    The Quest for Leadership

    The founding of SMILE is to play a strategic role in the quest for building the next generation of leaders in Nigeria. According to Bamgbose-Martins, the school offers “tailored made programme to meet every leadership needs of every major strata of our society.”

    SMILE’s unique selling point is the “release of self” and the empowerment and mentoring of the next generation of leaders in the country. During the launch in April 2011, Dame Abimbola Fashola said mentoring and leadership empowerment remains the key to success for any society.

    “Mentoring and leadership empowerment remains the most powerful tools to positively impact the next generation of leaders. The younger generation needs to be guided, inspired, encouraged and taught to imbibe the essential ingredients of success which includes hard work, right attitude, moral values, determination, perseverance, passion and can –do-spirit among several others.”

    Monroe agreed with the First Lady. At the ceremony he told the pioneer students how discovering and developing leadership in young people will produce the next generation of leaders in Africa which is badly lacking on the continent.

    “One of the obligations of leadership is to transfer what you have in you to the next generation, make yourselves unnecessary by giving out all you have, success without succession is failure,” Monroe said.

    Since then, SMILE has gone ahead to train many Nigerians who have submitted themselves to its training and mentoring under the different platforms it offered like the one year leadership and mentoring course for graduates and young professionals to provide a platform for them to acquire knowledge, develop skills, competencies and values that will empower them to excel and become effective leaders. There is also the Change Agent programme designed for underserved young people especially in secondary schools.

    The SMILE programmes, four years after its inception have already produced visible change agents who are making a difference in their different spheres of influence. The organisation also recently made some significant changes to its strategy to make room for more youth involvement by “providing more platforms and opportunities for young people to organize and drive our events.”

    New interventions to the programme include: ICT training for underserved youths, internship programme for secondary school leavers to help them build skills, gain valuable work experience that would keep them engaged while they seek admission into higher institutions, scholarship programmes to provide opportunities and financial support for indigent students with great potential and school educational outreach programmes to inspire students in different public schools to aspire for greater heights in their academics and life.

    This vision is already bearing fruit as some of the youth have gone ahead to become skillful in many areas. For instance, 17-year-old Lekan Adepoju, a secondary school leaver who is currently seeking admission into a higher institution was responsible for putting together all the technical details about the organisation and the videos.

    The release of leaders

    The graduation ceremony for 28 graduates of the 2014/2015 batch of the One Year Leadership course was a milestone in the fact that it was coming a year after the tragic death of the mentor of the institution, Monroe, in the Bahamas.  Monroe had always been present at every graduation to inspire and encourage the students but this year, his spirit seems to loom large over the auditorium as video clips of his past messages to the students were shown.

    SMILE-03Bamgbose –Martin acknowledge the fact that S.M.I.L.E may not have come into being without the support of Monroe. “Today is a particularly significant day for us at S.M.I.L.E as it marks the first set of graduations after the passing of our founding father, late Dr. Myles Munroe without whom S.M.I.l.E may not have come into existence as this organisation was birthed under his teaching and grew immensely under his direct supervision.”

    The theme for this year’s event was “Youth as agents of national transformation” underscores the crucial role youths can play in the development of the nation especially in the new era in Nigeria.

    The guest of honour, Dame Fashola was lavish in her praise for the founder and the strides she had made in four years. She also revealed some ‘pleasant truths’ about the founder. “SMILE calls me her mentor but I beg to disagree, we share ideas and same convictions that this country must change, that is what gave birth to SMILE,” she said.

    She had some words for the graduating students too. “What you have gone through is to become a better person and you must key into that change philosophy.” However she also noted that the students didn’t appreciate some of those who were mentioned to have made great strides in the society. “I expected that you will give a standing ovation to the teenagers who have put all these programmes together,” she told the students who later redeemed themselves with much standing ovation, Mrs. Fashola said “Now, you are standing up too much, you are embarrassing me.”

    Mrs. Fashola has been one of the pillars of support and inspiration for the programme and she made a solemn pledge to stay involved. This is no mean commitment as many of the students also find her involvement a source of inspiration. “I will not miss anything SMILE calls me to for anything in the world,” she said.

    Some of the sponsors of the organisation were there to offer a token of their advice to the graduating students. Akeem Ogunniran, Managing Director, UAC properties Ltd spoke about the power of dreams which is exemplified in the fact that the biggest brands in the world today were started by young people. Annul Bathia, Director Corporate Social Responsibility of Chi Nigeria Ltd also spoke about the power of focus while Niyi Adesanya, the founder of 5th Gear Consulting, also a leadership and motivational organisation promised gifts to the top three graduating students and promised to also be involved with SMILE.

    •Mrs. Abimbola Fashola
    •Mrs. Abimbola Fashola

    Part of the highlight was the presentation certificates to the students by Mrs. Fashola and the presentation of 100 books to five public schools in Lagos. The books donated by UBA Foundation went to schools where SMILE is already working and mentoring young people including, Omole Senior Grammar School, Mende Senior Grammar School, Ikosi Senior High School, Government Senior Model College and Baptist Senior secondary school.

    Also two 300 level University of Lagos students who have been great mentors to their peers were rewarded.

    So how has the programme impacted on the lives of the students? Femi Adeyemi who got an award for his mentorship of secondary school students during the programme said his life cannot be the same again. “This programme is unique and it has impacted me a lot, I have developed unique leadership qualities and from here I will go and do greater things,” he said.

    Bosede Bello, a school teacher and graduating student agreed. “There is no way I can be the same, this programme has changed my life.” Though not alive to hear these testimonies, this was the plan and goal of Monroe when he partnered with Bamgbose-Martins to establish SMILE four years ago.

    Monroe: “I am confident Nigeria is in good hands because SMILE exists.”

  • Lessons from Singapore

    My definition of an educated man is a man who never stops learning and wants to learn.”- Lee Kuan Yew

    One of the key principles guiding my life is imbibing positive attributes and traits from mentors and people I admire and jettisoning the negatives. I give similar advice to the young men I have, or still mentoring. As fallible humans, we all have our strengths and weaknesses. As is true with humans, so it is with nations which explains why some succeed and others fail.

    So much has been written on the life and times of the late Singapore leader, Lee Kuan Yew’s achievements, both in and out of office. This great leader was ranked among the best leaders of the 20th century because of what he did for his tiny landlocked city state by turning it into one of the most developed countries of the world. One key area he focused on – which is often overlooked – is the huge investment in education. How did he do this?

    The strategy that the late statesman adopted was “to develop Singapore’s only available natural resource, its people.” It is therefore instructive to note that as a result of this strategy Singapore ranks among the top performers in educational attainment, as measured by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD’s) Program for International Student Assessment (PISA). Moreover, though a city-state of just five million people, Singapore boasts two universities among the top 75 in the latest Times Higher Education World University Rankings, the same number as China, Japan, and Germany.

    Lee Kuan Yew did not just wave a magic wand and everything suddenly fell into place.  No, his was a deliberate, calculated and targeted effort of a mind that is aware that with disciplined efforts man can actually move mountain. As expected, it was not easy starting, especially for a landlocked country without any visible natural resource.

    Though a nationalist, Yew ensured that the country’s education system was built on the very solid foundations inherited from Singapore’s British colonial past. In contrast to many of his contemporaries among post-colonial leaders, Lee Kuan Yew was not afraid to embrace whatever elements from that past that would prove useful to the nation-building enterprise. Like most nationalists, he detested colonialism, but he was smart enough to realise that there are elements beneficial in national transformation.

    In line with this, many of the country’s premier educational institutions – for example, the National University of Singapore (founded in1905), Raffles Institution (founded in 1823), and the Anglo-Chinese School (founded in 1886) – significantly predate independence in 1963. Moreover, the curriculum for secondary education is modeled on the British O level and A level qualifications (with some adaptation to account for the generally higher average attainment levels of students in Singapore). And, though infrastructure is by no means neglected, the primary focus of educational investment is students and teachers.

    To cap it, a national system of generous scholarships enables the best students to avail themselves of an education at some of the world’s premier universities, even as Singapore develops its own world-class institutions. Moreover, with starting salaries above the national median, the teaching profession attracts, develops, and retains some of the best graduates. This was deliberate and it has paid off in the long run.

    Standards were also crucial to this strategy as the education system is uncompromisingly driven by merit which some have criticised as being elitist in its focus on identifying and developing the very best talent and, equally important, directing it toward public service. To ensure that the state gets the best from recipients, government scholarship recipients are obliged to serve in the public sector for a minimum of two years for every one year of study.

    A system driven by merit will expectedly have higher standards governing the training, development and promotion of teachers. Criteria are created where top-performing teachers are given leadership responsibilities without excessive regard to tenure, and there is a revolving door between the education ministry, classrooms, and school administration. Educators are frequently seconded to carry out policy work. Many subsequently choose to return to the classroom.

    The elitist tendency in Singapore’s education system is tempered by the fact that quality education is available for all levels of academic aptitude. The country is rightly proud of its elite secondary and tertiary academic institutions, but one could argue that the hidden gems of the system are the hundreds of neighborhood schools, institutes for technical education, and polytechnics that provide high-quality education for all.

    Not losing track of a rapidly changing world, Singapore’s education system is relentlessly forward-looking and in tune with the times. Take the language of communication as an example; the country adopts a bilingual approach with English, in addition to the mother tongue of Mandarin, Malay, and Tamil. These are used to relate with mainland China and Malaysia. This is further driven by the focus on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics which are better known by the acronym STEM. It helped propel the country from a third to a first world nation in less than two decades.

    Why English and not Chinese since a substantial number of Singaporeans are from mainland China, some may be tempted to ask. The choice of English was driven by history and a multiethnic society’s need for a common language. But it was also a prescient recognition of English’s rapid emergence as the lingua franca of global commerce and science, and that once entrenched it was likely to remain so for decades, if not centuries, to come.

    In this regard, too, Lee Kuan Yew distinguished himself from other post-colonial leaders of his generation. Rather than pandering to narrow nationalist sentiment and opting for the majority language and culture, he and his colleagues chose to adopt a global language for a global city.

    As things began to change globally, Singapore’s education system began to change from the 1990s, as policymakers, concerned that their approach to education might be somewhat regimented and overly focused on STEM, began to provide avenues for excellence in the humanities, arts, and sport. That rebalancing is still ongoing, with a new emphasis on identifying ways to foster creativity and entrepreneurship.

    As a forward looking country, policymakers learnt from the Asian financial crisis of 1997. The world economy was shifting to a global knowledge economy, the competitive framework of nations was being redefined and national progress would increasingly be determined by the discovery and application of new and marketable ideas. The growth of the global knowledge economy required a paradigm shift in Singapore’s education system towards a focus on innovation, creativity and research.

    All these would not have been achieved without funding which is why education spending usually makes up about 20 percent of the annual national budget. The government subsidises state education and government-assisted private education for Singaporean citizens and funds the “Edusave” programme (part of a scheme to maximise opportunities for all Singaporean children. It reward students who perform well or who make good progress in their academic and non-academic work, and provides them and schools who qualify with funds to pay for enrichment programmes or to purchase additional resources).

    The country also created a new educational vision, “Thinking Schools, Learning Nation.” This major milestone in Singapore’s education journey recognised former Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong’s belief that “a nation’s wealth in the 21st century will depend on the capacity of its people to learn.” The vision encompassed a wide range of initiatives over a number of years that were designed to tailor education to the abilities and interests of students, to provide more flexibility and choice for students and to transform the structures of education. Career paths and incentives for teachers were revamped and teacher education upgraded.

    To those who believe that large-scale change in educational performance is not possible, Singapore has shown several times over that significant change is possible. Singapore has developed a high-quality system in terms of educational retention, quality and efficiency.

    The country has taught the third world that to become and remain high-performing, they need a policy infrastructure that drives performance and builds the capacity for educators to deliver it in schools. Singapore has developed both. Where She is today is no accident, it is the result of several decades of judicious policy and effective implementation.

  • Lessons of 2015 polls

    Lessons of 2015 polls

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had boasted that it will rule for 60 years. But, the ruling party, contrary to its projection, will assume the role of opposition next month. Assistant Editor LEKE SALAUDEEN examines the lessons of the transition from a ruling party to an opposition platform. 

    Amidst fear and uncertainty, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) braved all odds and conducted what has been adjudged by foreign and local observers as free, fair and credible Presidential election. The outcome of the election has changed the political equation in the country. For the first time in the history of Nigeria, the opposition has sent the ruling party packing. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that has been in power since 1999 will be in opposition as from May 29, when President-elect. Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) will be inaugurated.

    Apart from winning the presidential election, the APC has the majority in the Senate with 60 senators-elect, while the PDP has 49 out of 109 members of the Upper Chamber of the National Assembly. Similarly, the configuration in the House of Representatives has changed in favour of the APC out of 360 members, APC has 214. With these results, the APC will dominate the Eighth National Assembly. It will, based on its numerical strength, produce the principal officers: Senate President, Deputy Senate President, Majority Leader and Chief Whip. In the House of Representatives, APC will produce six out of the 10 principal officers in the House: Speaker, Deputy Speaker, Majority Leader, Deputy House Leader, Chief Whip and Deputy Whip. The PDP will contend with Minority Leader, Deputy Minority Leader, Minority Whip, and Deputy Minority Whip.

    The major fall out of the election is the waning popularity of the PDP in states where it had consistently held sway. Apart from losing the governorship in many of its erstwhile strongholds, the party lost governorship in many of them, failed to win senatorial seat, produce members of House of Representatives, and failed to produce majority members in the Houses of Assembly. For instance, APC won all senatorial, House of Representatives and House of Assembly seats in Kano State where PDP used to hold sway since 1999, except in 2007 when it lost the governorship to the defunct All Nigeria Peoples’ Party (ANPP).

    There are lessons to learn from the fall of the PDP.

     

    Sovereign Power

     

    One major lesson of the election is that the sovereign power belongs to the people. The era of political parties taking people for granted is gone. Nigerians are very conscious of their rights; they know with their votes is they can install or remove government that failed to perform. The turn-out of voters on March 28 presidential election bears testimony to this. Despite the shift in the election date from February 14 to March 28, people still clamoured for change of leadership. They were tired of the PDP government that have been in power for 16 years without making positive impact in their life.

    Civil rights activist Comrade Moshood Erubami said, if the election was shifted to December, it will not stop people from voting out President Jonathan from office. He said: “People have made up their mind on a government that has failed in its primary responsibility of securing lives and property, that failed to provide stable power supply and that promotes corruption and mismanaged the economy.”

    Erubami said what is being witnessed today is the strong will of the people coupled with the commitment and determination to effect a change. The people have tolerated the PDP in the past 16 years. They squandered the goodwill invested in them. They dashed the hope of the common man. They installed the reign of impunity, brigandage and anything that goes. They have forgotten the day of reckon they have forgotten that people would hold them accountable for all they did while in power. It was too late for the PDP to appease the minds of the people who had waited to cheat them a lesson that you can deceive people for some time, not all the time.

     

    Religious/ethnic sentiment

     

    The issues of ethnic and religious differences became pronounced under the Jonathan presidency. In the build up to 2015 elections, Jonathan polarised the country into the North-South dichotomy. His political godfather, Chief Edwin Clark, formed the Southern Assembly comprising handpicked leaders from the 17 states in the South. The purpose was to prepare ground for Jonathan’s re-election in 2015. Clark also infiltrated the north by wooing the leaders of the Middle Belt who are mainly Christians.

    Few months to the election President Jonathan was hopping from one church to the other, canvassing support for his re-election.

    Attempts to use religious sentiments to get electoral advantage did not work. Student activist Victor Akpofure said Nigerians are too sophisticated that nobody can use religion to determine whom to vote for. A ccording to him, the poverty on the land does not know whether you are Christian or a Muslim. What Nigerians voted for on March 28 was a leader that has the capacity to resore the glory of this country irrespective of tribe or religion.

     

    Spendthrift

     

    The power of incumbency could not save President Jonathan from losing the presidential election. He has access to public funds to buy his way through. The last two months preceding election showed how President Jonathan turned electioneering campaign into “cash and carry” matter. He relocated to the Southwest with a view to winning the votes in the region.

    It was alleged that individuals and groups visited by President Jonathan came out with broad smile after being enriched with dollars or naira. One of those who attended a town hall meetings addressed by the President in Lagos confided in our reporter that he refused to collect the dollars offered him after the programme. He said the question that came to his mind was that if the President can use this money to bribe people so that they can vote for him, why can’t he use the money to fix roads, provide electricity, equip schools and hospitals?

    Another participant who collected the money said the reason why he didn’t reject it was because he knew it was public fund. “I consider it my own share of the national cake. However, I didn’t vote for Jonathan or PDP in all elections”, he stated.

    The naira and dollar splashed by the President and his party, could not sway peoples to vote for PDP. Nigerians based their voting on performance.

     

    Impunity

     

    The Jonathan administration has no regard for the rule of law. It is intolerant of the opposition. President Jonathan has used the security apparatus to deal with his perceived enemies. At a stage Nigerians were becoming apprehensive over what appears to be the blossoming of the Goodluck Jonathan administration into a full -fledged dictatorship. They are worried that the presidency is steadily descending into despotism with assault on the freedom expression, the press and the use of national institutions against opposition.

    For instance, the President unleashed the military to stop opposition governors — Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers and Adams Oshiomhole — to attend a rally organised by the APC in Ado-Ekiti on the eve of the governorship election in Ekiti in July last year.  The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal, also tasted the bitter pill of military assault. He was shabbily treated at the venue of a security seminar in Kaduna, Kaduna State. Other dignitaries were allowed free entry, the soldiers on duty insisted that Tambuwal’s official car must be searched. He was forced to disembark and trek to the venue. The soldiers also said they were acting on orders from above.

    The Inspector-General of Police withdrew Tambuwal’s security details shortly after he defected from PDP to APC. The police boss backed his action by saying Tambuwal was no longer Speaker. However, the same IG has reinstated Tambuwal’s security aides.

    To analysts the growing intolerance and impunity of the Presidency pose a major threat to our hard-earned democracy. They argued these acts of interdiction by the government are unconstitutional as they breached Section 41 of the 1999 Constitution, which guarantees freedom of movement to every Nigerian.

     

    Corruption

     

    President Jonathan’s posture against the monster called ‘corruption’, which appears to be the root cause of many of the country’s woes, is unimpressive. Jonathan who made war against corruption, the mantra of his administration was founding wanting. His body language, according to Speaker, House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, encourages corruption. The Pension Fund Scam, $20 billion missing oil money, N10 billion allegedly spent on jet maintenance by Petroleum Minister, Diezani Allison-Madueke, the bullet- proof car scandal involving ex-Minister of Aviation, Ms Sarah Oduah and many others counted against Jonathan.This has provided grounds for the opposition to take the administration to the cleaners.

    Jonathan has a poor public image due to his failure to wage a spirited war against corruption, leakages in the oil industry, including oil theft and pipelines vandalism. One of the perceived weaknesses that have cast the Jonathan administration in bad light is less than forceful Presidential presence and ineffective deployment and application of presidential power in calling people around him to order. This has to do with the President’s perceived inability to deal with the mediocrity within his kitchen cabinet. His actions suggest that he accommodates mediocre elements within his inner circle and that he lacks the will to show them the door.

     

    Economic Mismanagement

     

    There are ominous signs that the country is broke. Since last year the Federal Government has reduced the states monthly allocations from the Federation Account. As a result, many states owe workers salaries and lack funds to prosecute developmental projects. Yet, the Jonathan administration claims that with rebased Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Nigeria’s economy is now the first in Africa and 26th in the world. But Nigerians are not impressed with statistics that do not reflect the true situation on ground.

    More than a year after the rebased GDP was announced, the living conditions of the Nigerians have been progressively nose diving and pathetic. Economic growth without jobs and food on the table means nothing to common people. The unemployment figures are frightening. Nigerians have been grappling with several years of infrastructure decay. The transformation agenda was supposed to address this in a holistic way. Bad roads and epileptic power supply are some of the major factors hampering business activities.

    Nigeria can only boast about growth if the infrastructure needed by the various sectors to grow and create employed are there. The government ought to resuscitate the textile and agricultural sectors, which are huge employment windows with the capacity to grow wealth.

    Renowned economist, Henry Boyo described the GDP rebasing as a development that “is good for the ego”, insisting that the standard of living of an average Nigerian is lower than a South African.

    He called for policies that will stimulate critical sectors in terms of financial engineering and credit facilities for the Small Scale and Medium Scale Enterprises.

     

    Insecurity

     

    The deteriorating security situation in the country, especially in the northeast and part of northwest where Boko Haram terrorist group has a strong presence portrayed President Jonathan as inefficient leader. The lackadaisical attitude of the government in tackling terrorism gave an impression that Jonathan was not bothered about the senseless killings of innocent Nigerians in the north by the terrorists. The suspect heightened when over 200 school girls were abducted in Chibok, Borno State. It took Federal Government two weeks to believe that the abduction took place.

    It was the government’s apparent lack of adequate concern over the fate of the girls that has reduced the image of the administration in public opinion. A year after they were abducted, Nigerians do not know precisely the where about of the girls. The reported ceasefire agreement brokered by the President of Chad and the prospects of the girls regaining their freedom had provided a glimmer of hope for the government that such break through might reduce the negative impact of the development on Jonathan’s re-election bid, but the agreement remained a paper work. Even at that, it was too late for many Nigerians, who had made up their minds.

     

    Marginalisation of Southwest

     

    President Jonathan made frantic efforts to woo the votes of the people of the Southwest. The PDP’s calculation was that if Jonathan defeats Buhari in the Southwest, he would win the presidential election at first ballot. But the Yoruba alleged Jonathan of total neglect of the region.

    A pan-Yoruba movement, the Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG) said it was too late for President Jonathan to woo the Yoruba nation to back his re-election bid. The ARG spokesman, Kunle Famoriyo said for the past five years under his administration , the Yoruba people have been deliberately marginalised and skewed out of national reckoning, especially in terms of key appointments and opportunity to partake in key sectors of the economy.

    In Erubami’s view: “No real Yoruba man or woman who supports a pan Yoruba political and  development agenda would vote for Jonathan because the Southwest has gained nothing from his administration. There is no tangible thing President Jonathan has done since he took over from the late Prsident Umaru Yar’Adua to warrant his being re-elected.

    “Despite the goodwill the people of the Southwest accorded him in 2011, what did we benefit from him? It should be dawn on Jonathan that the self-serving Yoruba leaders that promised him a bulk vote from the region lack electoral value; some of them failed to win in their wards.

     

    Intra-party crisis

     

    The PDP was embroiled in internal crisis in the last two years before the elections. The crisis came into open when some party chieftains and seven governors pulled out and formed a splinter group called new PDP. Their major grouse t was what they described as lack of internal democracy in the party. The crisis festered till mid 2014 when the likes of former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, Former Kwara State Governor, Senator Bukola Saraki, Governors Aliyu Wammako (Sokoto), Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano), Rotimi Okorocha (Rivers), Murtala Nyako (Adamawa) and AbdulFattah Ahmad (Kwara) defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC). With that stroke PDP lost five states to the opposition.

    The internal squabble also affected the party’s strength at the National Assembly. Not less than 15 senators and several members of the House of Representatives dumped the PDP for APC. The situation became worsen when some members of the National Assembly could not get return tickets. They alleged imposition of candidates and quit the party. The PDP went into election without most of its influential members particularly in the north. It was reflected in the result. The northwest and north-central that used to be the stronghold of the party have been taken over by the APC.

    The meddlesomeness of the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan in the party affairs contributed to the problems of the party. Some leaders in the party, including some governors are not happy with the way she dabbled into the party affairs. She incurred the wrath of party big wigs for imposing candidates for different elective positions, especially in Bayelsa, Rivers, Delta, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi and Kwara States.

    A PDP chieftain said: “What we don’t understand is why the President has allowed his wife to exhibit overbearing influence in party matters. Before the election, I spoke to many elders in the party and they said they would not vote for President Jonathan because of his wife. Protest votes among PDP members were responsible for Jonathan’s defeat.

     

    Hate campaign

     

    The emergence of Gen. Buhari as APC presidential candidate unsettled the PDP. The party was jittery over the popularity of the former Military Head of State in the north coupled with the acceptability of the APC in the Southwest.

    The PDP was attacking the personality of Buhari. While the APC was busy marketing its programme to the electorate, PDP engaged itself on Buhari’s educational qualification and his state of health. Even when Buhari’s alma mater released his School Certificate result, yet they still raise fresh issues.

    The PDP sponsored hate documentaries and speeches on Buhari and other APC leaders in other to portray them and the party in bad light. The First Lady, Madam Patience Jonathan went to the extent of describing Buhari as brain dead. She insulted the sensibilities of the north when she said the people of the region are fond of giving birth to Almajirins (disadvantaged children). Unknown to them, the hate campaigns worked in favour of Buhari and the party he represents across the country.

  • Lessons of Buhari’s victory

    With God all things are possible. If men were God, something would have happened, but men are not God and can never be. The above assertion underscores the victory of the presidential candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC) Major General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) in the just-concluded presidential poll. The outcome of poll is a big lesson and eye opener to every Nigerian irrespective of religion, status and tribe. Buhari is today the Abraham Lincoln of Nigeria. His tenacity and resilience paid off at last. Despite initial odds and frustration, Buhari even at his age never lost hope or confidence in Nigeria as a country.

    He kept faith and hope that the country can be salvaged. His election victory is unique and unprecedented in the sense that for the first time in the country’s political history, an incumbent president was defeated in an election by opposition candidate. It happened at a time pseudo analysts and prophets of doom had prophesied that it was impossible because of power of incumbency.

    Ahead of the presidential poll, they vowed that Buhari would never become president of the country again. They threatened that instead of handing over to Buhari, the country would be better divided. They wished Buhari dead and alleged that he was sick and cannot rule the country well. They said he was brain-dead and cannot recognize anything even his phone numbers.

    Everything was thrown into the mud to demonise the person of Buhari and other members of his party. It was a campaign of calumny like never before. Religion, ethnicity, and primordial sentiments were thrown up. Our great country Nigeria was torn along ethnic and religious lines. A dangerous political precedent was laid and political sycophants who claimed to be leaders were championing and promoting them, insulting our collective sensibility with our patrimony all for selfish reasons.

    Nigerians were being brainwashed with all sort of lies and gimmicks. But they all forgot that Nigerians know better and would take wise decision when the chips are down. Not even the sudden shift in the date of the presidential poll discouraged Nigerians because they have bought into the “change” campaign mantra of the APC and saw Buhari as a brand and incorruptible.

    I have always asked this question; how many of us were like Buhari? We are in a clime where what matters most is wealth and power, not how they were acquired or gotten. No wonder politics has become a do or die affair because most politicians have no second address and lack clear vision, and integrity. But for Buhari, what worked for him in the election is his integrity which he had built over the years.

    In trying to demonise Buhari during the campaign, his political opponents could not point at any wealth he amassed, while in office as Head of State or chairman of Petroleum Trust Fund. He lives a modest and humble life and never believed in amassing ill-gotten wealth. Even as a former Head of State, Buhari has no house of his own in Abuja or overseas. All these good virtues were to his advantage during his party primaries and presidential election. Even the political class and the APC chieftains saw that there was need for urgent change in the country’s political leadership to save the country from total collapse. Having seen the direction the country was going, sacrifices were made by the political class and Nigerians who realized that if the country collapses, they and their kiths and kin are not safe, and posterity will not forgive them. Besides, they have no other country of their own except Nigeria. So in Buhari, they saw the alternative and better option. That was the reason they voted for him en masse during poll.

    Today Nigerians have decided and Buhari is the president-elect. So the questions are; where are the influence peddlers who are always bestriding the corridors of power, holding the country ransom, dictating who gets what for their selfish reasons. Where are the praise singers and the shameless godfathers who vowed that Buhari would never be president of the country again? Where are the prophets of doom who prophesied otherwise about Buhari’s victory? Where are those who wished Buhari dead and said that he is brain-dead? Where are the Aso Rock cabals who hijacked and misled President Jonathan for so long? Have they seen how transient political power could be? For those that they have ears, let them hear and for those who have eyes, let them see. The change has come and the PDP’s boast that they would rule the country has become a mere talk and a ruse.

    I know just like every other Nigerian that the cabal would be disappointed for not being consulted by the President before conceding defeat to Buhari after the poll. But the cabal should bury their heads in shame because President Jonathan acted wisely by conceding defeat, having realised that they are deceits and saboteurs masquerading as political leaders. President Jonathan has proved that he understood the idiom “once bitten, twice shy.”

    By President Jonathan’s action, he has written his name in the political history of the country to the shame, and disappointment of the political hawks in who believed that the corridors of power are their ancestral homes. It is obvious that if President Jonathan had acted as expected by these political hawks or merchants by rejecting the poll result and something unusual emanates from it, they will be the first to abandon and blame him when the chips are down.

    The victory has renewed my faith in the people of Nigerians that at any crucial moment in the country’s history, they would do the needful to keep the country together. It has also shown that Nigerians are not dociles and dullards as some opportunistic and accidental leaders have believed and thought before now. It has revealed that henceforth no elected leader should take the people’s power for granted on any account. It has underscored the point that history could be made or marred one day and nothing is permanent except change. It has proved that Nigeria is growing and maturing politically and democratically, and that with a square peg in a square hole, the country’s electoral process will be better off.

    For the president-elect, Buhari, to whom much is given, much is expected. The massive support given to him in the election by Nigerians is a clear testimony of the people’s confidence in him. So for this reason, Buhari’s government cannot afford to disappoint Nigerians. Obviously, there are great challenges ahead for Buhari and his party, but one good thing is that Buhari and his party men are not strangers in Nigeria. They understand the enormity of the challenges confronting the country and are in a vantage position to provide workable solution.

    The in-coming government must first of all tackle the monster called corruption headlong and forthwith. It is the greatest enemy of the country since independence and successive governments have treated it with kid gloves. It is root of the country’s numerous problems. Expected to be sanitized by the new government is the country’s electoral process that has been characterized with fraud and irregularities. The process should be made to be transparent, free and fair. Public office holders whether elected or appointed should be made to accountable to the people, and not to themselves as it is presently. Meritocracy and integrity must be basis for choice of our public leaders and not ethnicity, religion or other primordial sentiments.

    I believe that with Buhari’s integrity, sincere and selfless approach to governance, the country can be restored to its past glory. No sacrifice is too much at this point by both the political leaders and followers. So all hands must be on deck to salvage the country as there was no loser and winner in the poll. It is all for the good of the country and the future of the posterity.

    • Imansuangbon, lawyer and politician wrote from Virginia, USA. 
  • Lessons from Lee

    Lessons from Lee

    Lee Kuan Yew has a lot to teach us in his biography for lifting a humble outpost onto the league of the world’s elite

    The name of Lee Kuan Yew, the charismatic phenom of statecraft and governance, has been a reference point among politicians and political commentators in Nigeria in the past decade. Many see him as a model, and one to be envied and aped.

    When that man died March 23 at the age of 91, he closed the chapter of a generation of leaders who have left their world better than they met it. He belongs in the class of men like Tito and Mandela who would not stand idle while decay and tyranny shadowed the earth. They played a role, and for that history and the destiny of humans would be forever indebted.

    When Lee Kuan Yew was born on September 16, 1923, Singapore was a colonial outpost in thrall of Britain. He became a pilot of the small outpost’s trajectory through the rough and tumble of colonial weaning. He formed a political party, The People’s Action Party (PAP), and staked his genius and his brand of patriotism and politics until his party rose to ascendancy and helped pry it from the grip of colonial Britain.

    He led the country from 1959 to 1990, and in those years Singapore soared from what is known as the Third World to first world, an idea he relished as evidence in his book, From Third World to First World. His is one of a biography of a stallion in statecraft. Singapore was a poor country with no resources. Compare that with Nigeria with the abundance of resources like oil, palm produce and groundnut, and we can understand the power of one man to loft a humble people to the company of the world’s elite nations.

    As he himself had confessed, Singapore did not fall into the stereotype of a strong and vibrant nation. It did not have one language, one culture, a homogeneous population, a common sense of destiny. It overthrew all the assumptions and stood tall. That evokes a strong challenge to Nigeria, with a variegated population with conflicting languages and ethnicities and even religious variance. If Singapore was able to rise above all its insularities, why not Nigeria?

    In Nigeria’s election season, we have seen that tribes and faith have become a central part of electoral permutations and loyalties with the bigger canopy of Nigeria retreating to the shadows of contempt.  As this editorial is written, Nigeria is in the thick of an election with the furies of tribe and faith at play.

    Before Singapore became completely free of Britain in 1965, Lee kuan Yew sought a sort of alliance with Malaysia and that lasted between 1963 and 1965, when it failed, and he had to contend with the distrust and uproar of ethnic tension between the dominant ethnic Chinese and the Malay and Indian minorities. Lee recalls that period as a “moment of anguish,” since the minorities threatened a fragile nation. It was about the same time that Nigeria receded into ethnic imbroglio that crippled the country in a 30-month bloodbath of a civil war.

    But with Lee’s sublime cunning and tough hand and large heart, the ethnic differences did not pop up again on his watch. In 1965, the country became independent. The country grew in the years of Lee’s reign with a system that has become a case study among political scientists and political economists since the 1980’s. He introduced the Westminster model of government in the fashion of Great Britain, and he served as prime minister. In spite of the apparent liberalism of the system, he shunned a multi-party system, so his PAP was the solo party in Singapore. He was not a democrat, and he saw his decision as a pragmatic step. He thought that his style conformed to his impatience for development, and the Cambridge University graduate with double star first class in law, derided the west for its contempt for his authoritarian style.

    His economic model, however, was liberal and he embraced the five Cs of capitalism – cash, condos, credit cards, cars and country clubs. That vaulted the country into what he described as an “oasis of a first world in a third world.” He ran a corruption-free government with transparency and the rule of law. His country topped the World Bank’s ‘ease of doing business” rankings. He took advantage of the country’s natural harbour into a strategic advantage on the Malacca Strait, and was nexus of 40 percent of the world’s maritime trade.

    But it must be noted that not all of Lee’s style will fit today’s globalised world of twitter, internet, instagram and yen for equality and liberalism. A writer called it “Disneyland with death penalty.” Even after he stepped down, his PAP faced revolt and he lost his position as mentor.

    What we must learn from him is the sense of focus in governance and disdain for corruption. The country only had a harbour and it took advantage of it to create a prosperous nation. We must make our own heroes while learning from the virtues of the world’s great. Lee was one of them.

  • Boko Haram: Lessons of regional co-operation

    SIR: The regional military co-operation against Boko Haram is a right step in the right direction; it promises to be the last straw that will break the back of the insurgents. With the deadly routing of the insurgents from hitherto occupied territories and villages in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states, it is earnestly hoped that the scourge of this rag-tag group that elected to turn civilisation upside will soon be over.

    The joint military operations have brought to fore the import of regional collaboration in not only managing the savagery and barbarism of Boko Haram but other regional crises. The success recorded in the military campaign and the on-going momentum should be sustained and not allowed to suffer any setback lest the group re-strategise. Officers and men of the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF) who have placed their lives on the line need our support to regain the lost pride of our region. Boko Haram insurgents are not spirits but human beings living within our communities. It is therefore our duty to report suspected individuals in and around our vicinities to law enforcement agencies.

    That the sect was able to survive and acquire its notoriety was because the environment tended to sustain and accommodate the group’s ideology to the detriment of regional interest. In the words of Franklin Roosevelt, “let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not the president and the senators and the congressmen and government officials, but the voters of this country.”

    However, why these joint measures were not taken in the last six years is disturbing. Could it be blamed on the differences arising from the colonial history on which basis the region has been unfortunately divided? In fact, it calls to question why African nations have thrown away the African renaissance and eventually forgot our well acclaimed culture of good neighbourliness.

    The formation of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in 1975 stemmed from need to promote “…better relations among member nations…by ensuring a stable and secure political environment in which (their) peoples can live in freedom…under the law and in true and lasting peace, free from any threat to or attempt against their security…” With the community threatening to fizzle out of reckoning into apocalyptic doomsday, it remains to be seen how these lofty goals can be accomplished.

    The scourge of Boko Haram has reminded individual countries in the sub-region of the urgent need to once again be each other’s keeper. They should continually rally support and identify with predicaments of neighbouring countries in all circumstances of distress and disaster.

     

    • Sunday Onyemaechi Eze,

  • Corruption: Lessons from Sri Lanka

    Opening the electoral season for the 2015, Sri Lankans who went to the polls on January 8 to elect their president pulled a stunning election upset and dumped their former over-confident leader, Mr. Mahinda Rajapaska, who had called the election two years before it was due. The Sri Lankans elected the candidate of the opposition alliance, the 63-year old Maithripala Sirisena, who campaigned against the debilitating corruption of the former ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance that is eating away at the fabric of Sri Lankan society.

    The former president, Mr Rajapaska, who crushed the insurgency of the vicious 25-year Tamil Tiger armed confrontation with the state in 2009 had easily won re-election in 2010 and basking in the euphoria, the former strongman scrapped the constitutional limits of two terms, angling to become a maximum ruler. The rebuilding of infrastructure following the defeat of the Tigers provided a huge avenue for cronies of the regime to help themselves generously to the public till.

    Extensive nepotism in which the relatives and kinsmen of the former president manned key government positions added to the erosion of public confidence in the administration.

    But after the former president allegedly consulted his astrologer, Sumanadasa Abeygunawardena, who had predicted an easy win for the 69 year old strongman, Mr Rajapaska called a snap election two years before it was due with the opposition sweeping to victory with 51.28% of total votes. The defeated ruling party managed to scoop 47.58% in a high turnout of 81.52% of the total registered voters.

    The formerly fractious opposition had united under the common candidacy of Mr. Sirisena, who himself belonged to the majority ethnic Sinhalese, from the where the former president hailed.

    Mr Rajapaska, who crushed the Tamil Tigers but without effective reconciliation with the Tamil minority population in the north of the country, had them, looking over his shoulder for a conciliating national leader. The Tamils, Muslim and Christian minorities, who endured the nepotism and corruption of the Rajapaska regime seized the opportunity of the snap election to throw in their lots with the opposition alliance whom they helped sweep to victory.

    According to the former opposition, the former government and its hangers-on has through public infrastructure projects looted public funds, leaving majority of Sri Lankans in economic misery with bourgeoning social tensions. The opposition insisted that should the ruling party be re-elected, Sri Lankans in no time would have no country, except one wreaked by poverty and misery. It warned that while the regime’s hangers-on live in an unfathomable affluence, the ordinary Sri Lankans whether the minority or even the majority ethnic Sinhalese would sink further into misery except they cease the opportunity of the snap election, confidently called by the ruling party to end its corruption and nepotism. The message resonated very deeply and profoundly too to the Sri Lankans, who in exercising their vote, took out the ruling party in the historic January 8election.

    Even with the victory over the former resilient guerrilla –  the Tamil Tigers in the pocket, the ruling party, the United Peoples Freedom Alliance of Mr Rajapaska, had a difficult time convincing the ordinary Sri Lankans that corruption is a non-issue and that ending the torment of the formerly brutal Tamil Tigers was the issue for all time. By plucking in to the opposition, the Sri Lankans showed that they understood very clearly that corruption is not mere abstraction, but a crucial variable that affect the qualities of their health care delivery, and access to education, water supply and other crucial services, including even the quality of food on their tables. With government-protected stalwarts who have their hands in the public till, corruption could never be an abstract issue or a non-political starter either in Sri Lanka or Nigeria, where its corrosive impact have left millions of young people in a state of hopelessness.

    In Nigeria, whose election calendar is coming quick in the heels of the Sri Lanka’s election tsunami, corruption is also taking centre stage. The ruling party, the Peoples Democratic Party far from having in its pocket, the containment of the Boko Haram insurgency, unlike its Sri Lankan counterpart that crushed the tigers, is actually being overwhelmed by the insurgency. Even mocking the opposition for its highlight of the devastating impact of corruption in public life, the ruling party’s candidate and the president, Mr Goodluck Jonathan said that while the opposition is poised to throw corrupt people behind bars, he would continue to follow the ‘due process and rule of law’ in the treatment of corrupt people. Nigerians are not definitely forgetting that following “due process and rule of law”, has rendered several cases of corruption involving formerly key public office holders either inconclusive or abruptly discontinued from government intervention through an application of the federal attorney general’s office. Even assets temporarily siezed by statutory government agencies in the course of investigation were returned to the suspected fraudsters in apparently partisan-motivated decision by the PDP controlled federal government.

    The most depressing of these serial politically-motivated compromise involved one Mr. Ifeanyi Uba, whose capital oil and gas company taken in by the asset management company (AMCON) for alleged debt of nearly N50 billion was ordered returned to him by the federal government without any resolution of the debt issue. That individual is alleged to be the financial patron of the Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN), a key advocacy group of the president Jonathan re-election effort.

    Try as the ruling party might to exert itself, it will be hard as the formerly Sri- Lankan ruling party has found out, to banish corruption and its corrosive impact from the key issues affecting the voting decisions of the electorates in the February 14presidential poll.

    The newly elected Sri Lankan leader, Mr Sirisena has promised to deal fatal blows to corruption and even limit the presidential powers that have been deployed in the past to condone it.

    According to him, all those stalwarts of the former ruling party and their accessories who previously help themselves unhindered to the public treasury must come to terms that the day of reckoning is here.

    President Jonathan spoke glowing recently about measures his government has taken to block loopholes of the financial leakages in the public service.

    In the most comprehensive anti-corruption campaign in the modern Chinese history, its president, Mr Xi Xinping set to catch not only the low and medium scale crooks which he dubbed the ‘flies’ but also to bring to account, heavyweight political figures that he characterized as ‘tigers’. Now he has not only netted several ‘flies’ but some ‘tigers’ that are previously sacred cows.

    The former member of the ruling nine-member standing committee of the politburo, the most powerful collegiate leadership of the party and state, Mr Zhou Yokang is in the net for corruption. He is the highest official of the ruling party and state to stand trial for corruption since the political and economic reforms in the late 1970s.

    Corruption has bounced in the front burner in several countries for its extensive corrosive impact. Will Nigeria be different?

     

    • Onunaiju is journalist based in Abuja.

  • 2014 discontents and lessons

    Finally 2014 delivered a fine baby despite all the pre-natal problems and apprehensions. We should congratulate   citizens for being patient witness to the turbulent pregnancy and birth and pray God for our collective good and prosperity. There were genuine grounds for much apprehension in 2014 about the fate of the country in 2015 especially because of the general elections and the predicted end time for the country.

    The year was difficult and testy in many respects but with useful lessons that helped to define right way forward. What about the ceaseless insecurity worsened by sectarian revolts in the North and kidnapping in the South? What about the extremely rough political tackles, the highly provocative words and actions that threatened to tear us apart even before the arrival of 2015-the predicted end time for the country?  There were so many discontents that deepened fear about survival. Our greatest worry was that the elites were not working hard to prevent or cure the ills that could lead to the predicted doom.

    Generally our collective memory ran short. Sinking primordial values were revived:  Tribalism, ethnicity and religion were wrongly mobilized and deployed to selfish end to deepen hatred and division. A President who shattered the myth of tribalism with a pan –Nigerian mandate in 2011 was hijacked by a few who declared him as their own- regionalizing him in the process to the consternation and alienation of many Nigerians who voted for him earlier.

    Such supporters forgot three critical points namely; that no region can produce a President  without due support of other regions; that a Nigerian president becomes automatically the ‘father of all’ the moment he wins an election; and that the pan-Nigerian Mandate of 2011 was a reaction to perceived sense of oppression and injustice and thus a  reminder that Nigeria belongs to all  and a strong message of hope  by the electorate  that any Nigerian no matter the circumstances of birth and belief can be President in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution.

    With 2015 general election in mind such dream and aspiration was almost shattered in 2014 by wrong support of one cause or the other to our collective detriment. The lesson for progress is simple: let’s learn to support a cause for the right reason and allow our President be the FATHER of all.

    The year 2014 was a solidifier of evil and bad habits. Insecurity remained deadly with many people becoming more vulnerable.  Children were seized and are not found, many youths were wasted – some of them executed in their colleges and through road accidents and hostile flags flown in some parts of our land. Courage rose from within in form of youth vigilante including hunters to check insecurity to point the correct way: empower the youths and community members for security assignments, invest more on relevant technology for intelligence gathering and embark on mass ideological education to win souls for the nation. The armed forces and other security agencies will continue to be useful but they need the active support and collaboration of the community to fight  a WAR OF THE MIND  and faceless group of no fixed location such as Boko Haram and kidnappers.

    Incessant reports of corruption dominated the news media –perhaps the most sensational being the N20 billion or N10b reportedly missing from our oil account. The allegation might be false or true but nothing was heard about the outcome of investigation. This is the point 2014 made very evident-the inability to punish evil thereby sending the wrong signal. There were spirited efforts to fight corruption but it simply refused to budge- perhaps because the consequence management process was weak.  No nation is corruption free but empirical evidence shows that the ability to detect and punish crime is the greatest deterrence. Most criminals do not like exposure.

    Perhaps the greatest source of discontent was the economy. It was harsh to majority citizens. But this was not for lack of action but the wrong choice made. The economic policy was not people-friendly but elites’ bias.  This explains why otherwise pleasant news about the rebasing exercise which made Nigeria Africa’s biggest economy became suspect and controversial. Critics observed that progress made did not reflect on the quality of life of majority of the citizens. Instead of prosperity and well-being, poverty, corruption unemployment, under-development of infrastructure, neglected rural areas etc remained as acute as ever.

    The year witnessed unprecedented fall of price of oil to an all time low at the global market,  the announcement  of planned increase of electricity tariff  by the electricity regulatory agency for the new year- an election year,  complaints of non-payment of December salaries by Labour Unions, heightened piracy of oil etc. Any lesson?  Yes it was time to show patriotism, sensitivity to the plights of the consumers by some agencies and to rethink and redirect our economic policy. It must be stressed that the economic thrust of the mid-1980s days of SAP through to the privatization drive under Obasanjo to the present has failed to deliver the country to the Promised Land. Year 2014 reaffirmed this reality.

    Some institutions were misused and violated. The National Assembly was barricaded and tear-gassed thereby making the theory of separation of power meaningless. A court was invaded and sacked. According to foreign observers human rights were abused.  New meaning of arithmetic emerged: those who scored lower marks were declared winners over those with higher points.  Some minority but powerful politicians sacked the majority members in some states House of Assembly. It is needless to say that some of these depressive stuffs made one to look unto 2015 with gloom and trepidation.

    The year 2014 was bad and difficult almost throughout but it was also an eye opener to the vast opportunities around and a pointer to what can be done to become a better nation.  As usual there was the tendency to blame the leader for nearly everything bad under the sun as though one man can do it alone. It was forgotten that the leader had a vision to transform society but lacked the right elites to actualize the dream. He was weighed down by a most debilitating leadership culture ever. Wrong notion of leadership and the absence of development –oriented elites fouled the air and hindered progress. Whoever wins the presidency must reckon with the hindering leadership culture- the unclean environment and grossly incapable elites around the leader. The past year reminds us that the superman theory of leadership is wrong. While a leader is one person, leadership is a process of collective action of a group-some seen, others not. The leadership culture in Nigeria has been poor and putrefied since Independence and it remained so in 2014.

    Many more sad developments can be recalled but these are sufficient to show the hardship and attendant discontent of year 2014. But they offer useful lessons which resulted in self-discovery and general awareness on the way forward in 2015. For instance we must fight corruption with greater vigour, instal morality, sound ethical conduct, discipline and pearl integrity in our national life and evolve better leadership culture. We must reorder the economic system with a good mix of state and private capital to promote employment and reduce poverty, build more refineries to meet local demands and settle domestic debts, diversify the economy to reduce dependency and enhance infrastructure including rural development. We must promote patriotism with the interest of the individual subordinated to that of the country, selfless service and good governance. However for its pains and attendant self –discovery and heightened awareness, we would continue to appreciate 2014 for lessons to navigate our way to a better future.

    • Dr Abhuere writes from Uromi, Edo State

  • Lessons from my past

    I have been to Nigeria’s capital city, Abuja on two occasions. My second visit was the occasion of my Call to Bar Ceremony and I had to put up with an in-law of mine, who is married with two lovely children. I had a tough time keeping Ezinne, the three-year old child away from my room. She would run in and insist on ransacking and inspecting every belonging of mine. During one of such occasions, she stumbled on my wig and gown, and as soon as I informed her what they were for, she declared emphatically that she wanted to be a lawyer. Ebube, her elder sister, laughed and informed me that only some days ago, Ezinne had made a lot of noise about wanting to become a pilot. I had a good laugh at that revelation. But it was not only humour that was sparked up in me, as that incident took my thought down the windy path of memory.

    I did not always want to be a lawyer. In fact, there came a time when I was totally clueless and confused as little Ezinne. Being the best Biology student in secondary school, my parents concluded that I would be a surgeon and frowned when I eventually went to the Art class. My decision stemmed from my flair for the Art subjects and more importantly, it was, for me, a chance of becoming an economist like my favourite sister, Ify.

    At that time, I believed that if I followed my sister’s steps, I would then end up like the likes of Okonjo Iweala of the World Bank, Charles Soludo and Ndidi Okereke of the stock exchange. And so my sister became my greatest model and mentor.  Then, it was not so much about what I really wanted to be in future, but who I wanted to imitate and eventually become. I was blinded by my desire to become like other folks that I never looked deep down. Time went by and I found myself in the Economics department. I later got wiser, discovered a brand new path which I should follow if I desired career fulfilment – the legal profession.

    Switching was not an easy task as I had to re-sit the JAMB exam and aptitude test, while also dedicating adequate study time to my courses. I sought counsel from few persons before I finally decided and of all the pieces of advice I got, the one offered by a certain Chioma, a final year student particularly stands out. She berated me for not considering my friends in the Economics department. Being the assistant course representative at that time, she reminded me that I owed my friends and fellow students great duty to remain with them in the career journey we had already begun. According to her, my decision to switch courses was most incongruous with my obligation to the class. I was to stand by my friends, she maintained, and any contrary decision will be tantamount to disloyalty and  gross unfaithfulness to friendship.

    There was a certain doctor who also stands prominent in my mind. I had a small medical challenge in school – one that I cannot remember now – and I visited the school clinic. When he inquired my discipline, I told him of my intention to switch discipline, he immediately started warning me. He considered my decision thoughtless and warned me to re-think. According to him, going into the legal profession would usher me into poverty. He made reference to several relatives of his who were lawyers with a long history of impecuniosity. “You may end up as a charge-and-bail lawyer, so you better stay in Economics,” he sternly cautioned.

    I really considered Economics an amazing course which presents its graduate with wide prospects of employment. My decision was driven by a far deeper conviction, a nagging yearning, whose end I could not fathom. I was satisfied in the knowledge that I would derive eternal glee in the very act of following the path that I was rightly convinced was meant for me. I neither followed Chioma’s advice, nor that of the doctor, and so far, especially on the day I was called to the Nigerian Bar looking back in time, I have found endless contentment in the path I treaded.

    Experience, they say, is the best of teachers.  So, from my career mistake, I learned a lot of lessons.  I am now convinced that everyone must follow his or her own dream, and strive to tread that unique way that is most suited for their destiny. I have also learned that role models and mentors are there to inspire us to be the best we can be. They are not persons to be followed sheepishly or blindly. For we all are made with our own unique abilities and destinies.

    Again, I have learned that in life, there will always be dream killers. Focus and determination is the only solution to overcoming them. And for me, they were personified in Chioma, and the medical doctor. Chioma was wrong. I concede that there is nothing compared to faithful friendship. But any sort of friendship which becomes a barricade between a person and their dream, is at best, useless. It’s almost seven years now, the wind of life has blown me and those erstwhile course mates of mine to different directions, and naturally, I have lost touch with most of them. The doctor was also grossly wrong.  Fear is the seed of failure and there is nothing as bitter than pessimism and an abject lack of hope. His words were channelled to ignite fear in me, which if conceded to, will only distance me from my ambitions. Any man who prepares for poverty, will certainly find him at his doorpost. I did not set my eyes on poverty. Having only been called to the Nigerian Bar and currently in the NYSC orientation camp, I currently have three letters of employment from very reputable law firms in Victoria Island and Ikoyi, Lagos State.  Surely, the doctor was very wrong.

    Finally and most importantly, the past incident has enhanced my appreciation of the concept of time. It remains true, the old saying that no time is ever too late. Upon the discovery of a mistaken path already taken, one must be quick enough to make the necessary amends, or forever, live in regret, and wishful thinking.

     

    Uche is a Corps member, NYSC LAGOS

  • Lessons from America

    I was discussing the November 8 edition of The Economist magazine tiled “Welcome back to Washington” with some students’ last Monday on the uniqueness of the United States of America democracy, how it operates and its emphasis on issues. One of the students blurted “sir, you cannot compare the quality of leadership over there (USA) with our brand of kalo kalo leadership.” We all laughed about his assessment. In local parlance, kalo kalo stands for gambling.

    The students asked me a very simple, yet poignant question: “Why don’t we ever focus our attention on issues in Nigeria?” We spent quality time trying to answer this basic question. At the end, it was gratifying to me that we cannot simply write off this generation of youths as there are indeed some who think deep and really want to know whether Nigeria – at any time in its history – was ever different from what it is now. I made them understand that I completed my university without paying a dime as tuition fees; in fact, I paid less than N10, 000 in departmental and library charges!

    So why were we discussing that edition of the Economist magazine? We are all familiar with the Obama phenomenon. It took the world by storm six years ago when a relatively unknown African-American became the US President. His oratorical skills were unmatched, even his political foes attest to that. Our discussion veered toward their wanting to know what factors inform voters’ action during elections.

    That edition titled “Welcome back to Washington,” opened with this statement: “Opinion polls before the mid-term elections on November 4th suggested Barack Obama’s party would be beaten, but this was a thrashing. Republicans captured the Senate easily and their majority in the House of Representatives is now the biggest it has been in most Americans’ lifetimes. A Republican candidate in New York was indicted for 20 counts of fraud, but won anyway.”

    So what do we make of a situation where someone indicted of 20 counts of fraud got elected? That threw some of us into a quandary. One of the students jokingly asked: “Do they also have ‘stomach infrastructure’ in the US? That drew laughter as we tried to unravel why an enlightened electorate would make such a choice.

    The magazine provided the answer saying Obama cannot escape the humiliating verdict on his presidency. He campaigned in his home state of Illinois, for a Democratic governor running against a Republican who belongs to a wine club that costs over $100,000 to join. “The oenophile won by five points.”

    Again, why would an enlightened electorate vote for a right wing conservative who belong to an exclusive club that cost $100,000 (about N17million) to join? What policies would he push? Most certainly not people oriented policies. I agree with the paper that the election was a verdict on Obama’s presidency. From reports I’ve read, Americans are not happy that some of the critical things Obama promised did not materialise before the elections hence the need to vote in the Republicans to see if they can affect the needed change the people are yearning for.

    This notwithstanding, the paper warned that as Republicans toast their triumph, they should be careful not to over-interpret it. Their campaign – it noted – did not offer voters much of a positive agenda; rather, it consisted largely of urging them to blame Obama for all the trouble in the world. This is what Time magazine years ago defined as “lizard brain politics.” Lizard brain or not, it worked surprisingly!

    Some of us who monitored the election results were baffled just like the last Ekiti State governorship election baffled many. Read the Economist: “Compared with other rich nations, America is in good shape, with a growing economy, booming stock market, falling unemployment and robust public finances, at least by European standards. Why, they wonder, is Mr. Obama so disliked that Democrats in swing states asked him not to campaign for them?

    “The answer is that although the economic headlines look good, voters do not feel that way. Median incomes are in the doldrums and many households feel terribly insecure about the future. A staggering two-thirds of Americans expect their children to be worse off than they are. And when they look at Washington, DC, to see what their political leaders are doing about it, they see a circus of name-calling and irresponsibility. Last year a stand-off between House Republicans and Mr. Obama temporarily shut the government down and nearly caused a catastrophic sovereign default.”

    Does “although the economic headlines look good, voters do not feel that way” remind you of the beautiful figures our official reel out daily in Nigeria? I bet it does.

    The people – the magazine also said – view the outgoing Congress as the least productive since 1947. The proportion of Americans who trust it is a wretched 7%. It may be harsh, but when voters think the country is on the wrong track, the president and his party get the blame.

    Coming back home; how many Nigerians know the function of the legislative arm of government? We read recent reports on how senators shut down the upper house because their political futures were at stake from ‘governors’ encroachment’! As the students’ pointed out they did not see all hell breaking loose and Nigerians rising to condemn this perfidy.

    We also tried to dissect followership and the need to focus on issues, different from religion, ethnicity or emotions. One of them who attended the 2014 BrandiQ symposium recounted his experience. The Guardian editor, Mr. Martin Oloja spoke on the “Role of Media in Nigerian Politics. He advised journalists to use analytics – the use of data in telling stories – which he said is fundamental to modern journalism. He also proposed the use of research and infographics which makes reportage measurable.

    Oloja also noted that every journalist must understand the complexity of the diversity of Nigeria’s geo-political and cultural makeup and avoid the “danger of reporting Nigeria from the position of ignorance.”

    In summary, what I deduced from our discussion was that our youths are angry with the country our leaders left for us. To them, the situation is like a time bomb waiting to explode – if nothing is done to address it. They believe they are a generation that has not witnessed a “good Nigeria.” They are also of the opinion that with a vibrant youth population, it is sad that the present political structure in the country is built in such a way that the youth have been cut off from governance. However, they believe they have the intellectual and human capacity to understand the time we are in.

    Despite the limitations of poor education, limited job opportunities, the average Nigerian youth is brimming with energy and optimism. This energy and optimism is bubbling over into creative enterprise which can be channeled for good into fighting for political change and good governance.

    It requires young men and women of unimpeachable character and vision to rise above the strangleholds of bad leadership, poverty and deprivation and tap into the ingenuity of youth unimpaired by the procrastination and hand-wringing that has largely characterised the older Nigerian generation. Effective change in 2015 can only come about as the efforts of civil society are supplemented by larger numbers of progressive Nigerians, especially young Nigerians seeking political office driven by a passion to serve and push Nigeria towards her true destiny as the beacon of hope for the African continent.

    But this cannot come about if during political campaigns and deliberations, the role of the Nigerian youth is relegated to emotional appeals for votes without active participation. As a result, they become more often than not, instruments of violence.

    Given the important role of the youth as the future leaders of the country, the need to empower and inculcate in them the act of good governance to ensure active non-violent participation is more urgent today than ever. Admittedly, youth understanding of electoral issues, awareness of planned programme of activities, and the importance of non-violent participation and subsequent implications of a peaceful and democratic political governance process is limited. These are some of the areas they will be needing assistance.