Bashir Kabir
It is not a cliché that society always has a leader that reflects its core values and what it stands for. The kind of leadership of that society could only sustain for long if it is in direct tandem with the yearnings, nature, and general psychological level of reasoning of that society.
That is to say, society empowers a certain direction of leadership because, well, it is ok with the way it is. In a democratic setting, therefore, leadership is the responsibility of the whole society.
Perhaps some Africans are tired of hearing that countries that advanced in the world have always had the vision to become so. I’m not tired, though, of hearing that they’ve planned and worked tirelessly to arrive at the point they are at now and still going. Because all it takes is making a comparison to see what we have not been doing right all the time and why we are where we are at.
Another seeming cliché is that countries like China were impoverished less than a hundred years ago. They couldn’t afford what Nigerians could afford back then. But look what they become today. A huge economic boom is still shocking the West. We are not even talking of countries like UAE, India, Brazil, Malaysia, Saudi whom we’ve started with in the same class.
Everything could be tied down directly to leadership style. Visionary leadership to be specific that could plan beyond tenure expirations and self-enrichment.
The transformation plan of a country that prioritizes its economic empowerment and total self-sufficiency can be seen as an example in all the aforementioned countries. Countries still repeating classes like Nigeria and its African colleagues have different stories to tell. Massive looting of public trust, bad governance, grandeur and bourgeoisie lifestyle of the ruling class and having no care by them what the countries become in another ten years.
On this node, the Nigerian transformation plans for the past several years were theoretically sound. Even practically feasible if political sentiments are to be kept aside. The country was planning for self-reliance, economic revival, and intentions of tackling corruption.
For those that could read and research beyond the social media brouhaha, despite the hardship that’s flogging average Nigerians, the condition is not as debilitating as it could be without having secured some basic economic achievements over the past years. This is not to say that there isn’t much that needs to be done or that there wasn’t a strong commitment towards achieving those targets. However, measures such as shutting down borders (if to be done with purpose), agricultural revival (if to support the peasant farmers and not to give a monopoly to the few commercial business owners), and improving trade would have been commendable.
Wikipedia narrates that the economy of Nigeria is a middle-income, mixed economy and emerging market, with expanding manufacturing, financial, service, communications, technology, and entertainment sectors. It is ranked as the 26th-largest economy in the world in terms of nominal GDP, and the 24th-largest in terms of purchasing power parity.
According to Britannica, the Nigerian economy is one of the largest in Africa. Since the late 1960s, it has been based primarily on the petroleum industry. A series of world oil price increases from 1973 produced rapid economic growth in transportation, construction, manufacturing, and government services. But it was not mentioned how the so-called oil wealth led to the downfall of important sectors such as agriculture. And how it led to the colossal corruption in the government that was not witnessed before.
A layman would find the fancy explanations used to describe how Nigeria is still having one of the best economies confusing. What is obvious on the ground is the abject poverty that keeps widening the gap between the rich and the poor. Dependency on export items and more. How is that making the Nigerian economy any good?
For comparison sake, The Chinese economy is defined by Wikipedia as a mixed socialist market economy that is composed of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and domestic and foreign private businesses and uses economic planning Since the 12th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 1982, the economy has been described as “socialism with Chinese characteristics.”
China is the world’s largest economy when measured by Purchasing Power Parity, which is said to be the most accurate measure of an economy’s true size. The government heavily invested in structuring the economy to what they specifically want to turn it around into.
For someone who is not quite economy savvy like me, I always ask the question, how Nigeria ends up with such a great Purchasing Power Parity index, being the 24th. Purchasing power parity (PPP) is an economic theory that allows the comparison of the purchasing power of various world currencies to one another. It is a theoretical exchange rate that allows you to buy the same amount of goods and services in every country. We all know the condition of the naira value at the moment. A dollar is about 385 naira at the moment. But let’s leave that to experts and focus on what the leadership of the country couldn’t do to make things better on the street.
The whole continent of Africa is in a serious shortage of visionary leadership. Underdevelopment and Third World is still the title attached to the vast majority of the African countries. Many countries elsewhere in the world somehow wiggle out of underdevelopment status over the years. The African countries in a sad contradiction are taking steps backward instead.
Governments turned into enterprise and corruption deeply institutionalized, it is not big surprised capable leaders are so scarce and being visionary is completely elusive to the heap of garbage that always ends up at the helm of affairs. They are so clueless of anything else but how to become bastardly rich via corrupt practices.
For those that have no idea what a visionary leader is, it is a person who has a clear idea of how the future should look. They set out concrete steps to bring a vision to life, and then they lead a team of people in that direction.
This is to say, a Nigerian presidency, for example, should have the vision to take the country to a certain point in whatever years it has been planned to do that. And actually not just write a memo but set everything needed, including future presidential aspirations and party support towards the actualization of just that.
This calls for the establishment of a national council body (and its state counterparts). These bodies will be more powerful than the politicians themselves to serve as sole guides towards the country and state’s individualistic visions.
This council of sage and powerful elders should attain the greatest level of integrity from various professional backgrounds and not prone to political, religious, and ethnic sentiments. That might sound impossible, but where total interest is always given equal consideration, there will likely be less destructive division to cater to idiosyncratic needs.
Restructure the countries to address the citizen’s contextual needs if that is what it takes. Yes, the African countries’ structures were purely colonial constructs. It will be dumb to assume that this is what is best for us. They did what they did to serve their best interest. It is time to do what we actually believe is best for us based on experience. Hanging on to a system that doesn’t work in more than sixty years doesn’t come across as intelligent.
Besides how much money to make, who to give contracts and political appointments to, and how to win the next election what other visions do legislators come to the seat with? Plans of boosting the economy through securing meaningful foreign investments, capacity building, Combatting poor healthcare, urban redesigning, youth empowerment, technology, culture amongst others.
To be able to hit the above targets, what are the plans for tackling insecurity? How electric supply is made reliable? President Biden signed several memos just in under 30 minutes of entering office. What that tells you is his readiness on the areas he identified need addressing. The need to start implementing his manifestos without delay because at the end of the day his administration will be judged by the success he achieved with tangible service delivery.
In Nigeria, what normally follows up winning an election is a lavish dinner to celebrate. Then right after the newly elected (including their immediate family and friend circles) will continue to receive more gifts from those that are lobbying to be taken on the tenure ride.
Often time, months would pass without a single action being taken to address any situation including those that direly needs to be addressed like security.
Those with an action plan of any sort soon discard them or follow through with a nonchalant attitude. Anything that doesn’t transpire into a cash cow is neglected. Hoards of scrupulous business people infest the legislator’s office, scheming ways of making money for personal aggrandizement.
The truth is, this is not the way to go. Nothing positive will ever come forth when the development and progress of societies are mismanaged or allowed to be predicted by mere chance of luck or lack of it. Not everyone meritoriously deserves to lead and those that do need guidance on where the people they lead need to be taken to.
