The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Nigerian leadership

  • Nigerian leadership and erosion of trust

    Nigerian leadership and erosion of trust

    By Oluwole Ogundele

    It is pertinent to start this paper with a seemingly mundane but foundational question as follows: Are Nigerian citizens truly ungovernable by nature? This question gains its importance against the backdrop of the numerous crises bedeviling the country since the dawn of independence in 1960 from Britain.

    With the exception, of one or two administrations, the Nigerian socio-economic and political situations have been going from bad to worse largely as a result of bad, hypocritical leadership. The leaders are known for feeding fat on the wealth of the country while the ordinary people continue to groan. These leaders are always flexing muscles due to their incurable, savage egotism at the expense of robust performance. Painfully, they have refused to emulate their counterparts In Europe and America, who see themselves as servants of the people. In Nigeria, the led must prostrate themselves before our “wonderful”, megalomaniac leaders who are indeed, on a par with archaic Homo sapiens. Certainly, there is a disconnect. Consequently, exemplary leadership coupled with good governance, is still light years away. For how long will this pretentious, crude behaviour continue?

    PBAT has a very big job to do. He needs to begin to re-set the imbalance in order to succeed. The president has to make much more sacrifices than hitherto. So far, the people do not trust their leaders based on some antecedents as opposed to sentiments.  Government cannot have its cake and eat it. The gluttonous technocrats insulting the toiling masses as if they do not have blood running in their veins, need to do a rethink. There is no space for empty rhetoric again. More and more Nigerians are going to their grave earlier than necessary due to abject poverty. In actuality, destitution has become a major challenge across the country.

    Read Also: Cleric urges Nigerian leaders to embrace humility, honesty

    It is most disturbing that the political class members continue to behave as if the led do not matter. Huge salaries and allowances running into millions of naira per month for each member of the political class especially the National Assembly. This is happening in a geo-polity where a university professor can hardly buy his drugs and also take care of the nuclear family. Again, most of the retired professors cannot afford to maintain their cars. Who will trust a bunch of uncaring leaders? Are our remote ancestors angry with us?  Some days ago, Ghana had transparent, free and fair elections. The leaders and the led demonstrated patriotism and political maturity. On the other hand, the Nigerian political class members, are second to none, in fomenting trouble and buying votes largely because material poverty has been weaponised.  Normalisation of evil has become a component of our political culture.

    Unfulfilled electoral promises can never promote mutual trust between the leadership class and the ordinary people. The followers are not moronic at all. The Nigerian leadership right from the immediate post-colonial era has been failing the working class. Politics is a lucrative business. I believe that President Bola Tinubu has the capacity to change this ugly narrative. Those who have looted our treasury must be brought to book. These corrupt people should be treated like armed robbers, given the huge numbers of people they had sent to their early grave. Thieving politicians and their business friends are making Nigeria very unlivable despite its abundant natural resources. That’s why many of our youths are desperately migrating to Europe and America among other places.

    Experience over the years has shown that Nigeria- a microcosm of Africa, has its own brand of democracy that allows the executive arm to remotely or otherwise control the remaining two bodies-legislature and judiciary. This is a caricatured democracy!  Mutual trust must not be treated with levity in order to begin to experience good governance, where actions and activities of the political leaders meet the needs, aspirations and sensitivities of society.

    In this connection, the welfare and security of everybody matter a great deal. Deception is not an act of good leadership. It is about spiritual deficiency which is at variance with robust humanity.

    Once upon a time, a senior Nigerian public officer, mismanaged a huge amount of money meant for retirees. What happened to him shortly after he was arrested? Nigerian leaders (with a few exceptions) stink to high heaven! Nobody knows his whereabout up to now. The list of huge corruption cases is long and disturbing. I hereby humbly appeal to PBAT to curb the mess. An average Nigerian is becoming more hopeless and miserable than hitherto.

    As noted by this swriter in this newspaper a couple of weeks ago, everybody ends in a casket, where maggots will be having a field day. Therefore, our leaders must add good conscience to political power as the clock ticks. They need to become students of practical philosophy. Corruption including megalomaniac tendencies must be kicked out of the Nigerian system. This applies to all levels of leadership including the academia, where a double standard of morality has become a way of life.  Prostituted appointments and promotions often dominate the intellectual space.

    It is very painful that foreign countries (with the collaboration of the local power brokers), are cheaply harvesting our natural resources while the Nigerian masses continue to experience monumental material poverty. Political leaders do not allow the available institutions or structures to work. This is a leadership form, defined and/or ruled by “bigmanism”-an ideology enshrined in megalomaniac philosophy. The ideology promotes lawlessness by the so-called big men who terrify and silence vibrant Nigerians. Public morality suffers in the process.

    The new tax reform bills being debated by the National Assembly are generally viewed with some amount of apprehension by a lot of Nigerians across the board. This is traceable to a deep trust deficit. The followers hardly have confidence in their leaders. This scenario has a long history. However, the current administration should correct this imbalance in the interest of the common good.

    Nobody will believe the story of the leadership, that the Nigerian economy is in a coma, given the huge amounts of money that go on frivolous activities and/or projects. Indeed, Nigerians are governable in the face of patriotic, compassionate, exemplary leadership. Government technocrats who are always condemning, insulting the suffering masses should begin to do a rethink. 

    If truth be told, they are not helping President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who (in my opinion) wants to take Nigerians out of the woods.

    Government needs to be communicating with Nigerians more than hitherto in order to enjoy their unalloyed support. Afterall, power belongs to the people. In this connection, transparency, accountability, probity, and equity are too sacrosanct to be glossed over. No basis for unbridled arrogance as if the political leaders are a special breed of Homo sapiens. These are the pre-conditions for sustainable peace and progress. Our focus should be on how to engineer a new Nigeria, where all criminals particularly bandits and kidnappers are brought to book, without any space for ethnic and/or religious sentiments. But shamefully, these politicians have started doing the 2027 arithmetic of power. What a country! 

    •Prof Ogundele is of Dept. of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Ibadan.

  • Exploitation of the vulnerable: A reflection on Nigerian leadership through an Islamic lens

    Exploitation of the vulnerable: A reflection on Nigerian leadership through an Islamic lens

    By Mustapha Ridwan

    While traveling from Ibadan to Lagos, our public bus made a stop at the NNPC filling station in Academy, Ibadan, around 3:20 p.m. on October 6, 2024, for refueling. From my seat, I observed a striking scene unfold.

    A car, having just refueled, got stuck in a pothole at the station’s exit. In response, five young hawkers, aged around 7 to 13, who were peddling their goods nearby, quickly organized themselves and pushed the car out of its predicament.

    In appreciation, the driver handed them 1,000 naira. However, before the children could enjoy their well-deserved reward, a man dressed in a white round-neck shirt, face cap, and blue jeans—who had no part in helping—stepped in. Without hesitation, he took the money, handing the children only 500 naira to share amongst themselves.

    What was most unsettling wasn’t just the man’s audacity to cheat the kids, but how casually he walked away as if he had done nothing wrong. The kids, too, didn’t seem upset by the injustice; their focus was solely on dividing the little they had received.

    This incident, small as it may seem, reflects a larger problem that plagues Nigerian society: the exploitation of the vulnerable by those in positions of power.

    This article seeks to draw a parallel between these children being cheated and the relationship between Nigerian leaders and their followers, while examining the issue through the lens of Islamic principles on justice, fairness, and the protection of the weak.

    Public Apathy and Acceptance

    This incident underscores a broader mindset prevalent in Nigeria, where survival mentality, political manipulation, corruption, and a culture of silence dominate. The children’s inability to challenge the man who cheated them highlights a survival instinct—they likely felt powerless to confront him, perhaps due to his age or perceived authority.

    Similarly, many Nigerians remain silent in the face of injustice, complacently accepting the little they receive instead of demanding accountability.

    Thus, the most powerful tool for demanding justice and accountability lies in the electoral process, yet many Nigerians either neglect to vote responsibly or sell their votes to meet immediate needs, just to survive. This transactional approach to voting reflects a short-term survival mentality rather than a commitment to long-term justice and reform. By prioritizing immediate gain over holding leaders accountable, Nigerians inadvertently perpetuate the cycle of exploitation, where corrupt leaders continue to benefit at the expense of the people.

    Furthermore, Islam advocates the importance of ensuring leadership is based on integrity, and choosing a leader is seen as a serious responsibility. When citizens neglect this duty or allow their vote to be bought, they undermine the very justice and fairness they seek.

    Therefore, confronting exploitation requires more than just voting—it demands responsible, principled participation in the electoral process to elect leaders who embody justice, transparency, and accountability. When challenging injustice, it is essential to do so through legal and peaceful means, as Islam advocates resisting oppression without resorting to unrest.

    The culture of silence in Nigeria further entrenches exploitation, as many citizens fear the repercussions of speaking out or have grown numb to it, much like the children who quietly accepted the unfair distribution of their reward.

    Political manipulation and corruption are also evident in this context. Just as the man took the children’s money without contributing to their efforts, Nigerian leaders often manipulated the system for their benefit while demanding sacrifice from the masses during times of economic hardship. The culture of silence supports this injustice, as many Nigerians choose to stay quiet, accepting minimal benefits rather than demanding justice and accountability from their leaders.

    Islamic Perspective on Justice and Leadership

    In Islam, justice is the cornerstone of leadership. The Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and the rightly guided caliphs prioritized protecting the vulnerable and ensuring fairness for all. Leadership is seen as a trust (al-amaanah), a promise by the leader to defend and treat the people justly. In Islam, leadership is an inverted pyramid where the leader shoulders the responsibilities of those under their care.

    A well-known example from the life of the Prophet (PBUH) is when a woman from a noble tribe, Fatimah bint Al-Aswad, committed theft. Although people urged the Prophet to pardon her due to her social status, he firmly responded, “Even if Fatimah, my own daughter, had stolen, I would have her hand chopped off.”

    Similarly, Umar (RA) ordered the demolition of a mosque built on stolen land and returned the property to its rightful owner who was a Jew. These actions demonstrate a commitment to justice, regardless of a person’s wealth or status.

    Islamic leadership requires fairness, accountability, and transparency. The Qur’an emphasizes the importance of standing firm for justice, even against oneself or one’s kin:

    “O you who believe! Stand out firmly for justice, as witnesses to Allah, even though it be against yourselves, or your parents, or your kin, be he rich or poor, Allah is a Better Protector to both (than you). So follow not the lusts (of your hearts), lest you may avoid justice…” (Qur’an 4:135)

    Call for a Shift in Leadership and Accountability

    Islam teaches that no one is above the law. Leaders must embody Islamic values of justice, trust, and accountability. The philosophy of Islam holds that when people are on a journey, they must appoint a leader, who is to be followed as long as he adheres to Allah’s guidance. Disobedience is allowed only when the leader strays from this path.

    In the story of the children, the man who took the money acted as a leader, but instead of coordinating the children to ensure a fair distribution, he exploited them. This mirrors the relationship between corrupt leaders and their followers. Just as the children were cheated, citizens often faced exploitation. However, followers must resist such exploitation and demand fairness.

    During Umar’s caliphate, when a man questioned him about how he obtained a new cloak when everyone received only one piece of fabric from the public treasury, Umar explained that his son had given him his share, allowing him to make a full garment. This incident reflects the transparency expected of leaders and demonstrates that they should always be answerable to their followers.

    Conclusion

    Just as the children at the filling station accepted their fate without challenging the man who cheated them, many Nigerians have grown accustomed to exploitation by their leaders. The children focused on dividing the little they received rather than confronting the injustice, much like how Nigerians often focus on survival rather than demanding accountability and justice from their leaders. However, Islam teaches us to resist exploitation and injustice peacefully, legally, and wisely.

    It is high time for leaders to embody Islamic values of justice, fairness, and accountability, and for followers to demand these qualities from their leaders. By breaking the cycle of exploitation, both leaders and followers can contribute to a society rooted in fairness and equity, following the exemplary leadership of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and his successors.