A FLOCK WITHOUT SHEPHERD

By Chris Okotie (e-mail:okotie@revchrisokotie.com , follow on twitter -@Revchrisokotie, 08078421451, sms only)
(Published in National Mirror, 31st January, 2013)

COLUMN TITLE: THE PRINCE OF NIGERIA PARADIGM

From a promising beginning at independence in 1960, to a false start to democracy, punctuated by political unrest that culminated in the 30-month civil war and the military interregnum, Nigeria’s fortunes have suffered reverses that could only be blamed on bad leadership. This is one point in which there’s a national consensus.

We used to be envied by less endowed nations because of our huge deposits of natural resources and potentials in human capital. Not anymore. Despite being a leading exporter of petroleum products, our beloved country is now in the bottom league of the human development index. This is not the rating we deserve. But nevertheless, that is the hard fact. About 53years after independence, we have not been able to translate our potentials into productive reality. So potentials remain potential, to the shame of our nation.

To paraphrase Shakespeare, “Some people are born great, some acquire greatness while some have greatness thrust upon them”. It is so with leadership. Some are born leaders, that is, naturally, they have the innate ability to lead. Some learn leadership skills by training. That’s part of what good education gives to you. Corporate organisations, for instance, groom managers to take up executive responsibilities. Gradually, over time on the job, these managers become successful corporate leaders. Some turn out to be boardroom lions. Then, some people by providence suddenly find themselves in positions of leadership. These categories of leaders are often ill-prepared for the herculean task of leadership, except in rare cases when they become successful by sheer force of circumstances.

Unfortunately, Nigeria has been governed mostly by the last category of leaders described above; that is, leaders who suddenly found themselves at the helms largely due to providential circumstances. It is also the reason why quality leadership has eluded this nation for so long. A great nation can only realise its potentials if governed by great leaders.

Nigeria remains a Lilliputian among nations because it has been ruled by little men, “reluctant leaders” or men who woke up one day to find themselves in positions of authority. An unprepared leader, who came to power by luck, cannot expect to lead with vision and purpose. Anyone who desires to shoulder the huge responsibility of leadership must be prepared for it. To lead Nigeria, a nation of 167million people, you’d need buoyancy of vision, dynamism, courage and profound understanding of the complex problems facing our nation, especially in a century when internet has turned the world into a global village.

The absence of a national father figure to give the needed inspiration and define our character as a nation is responsible for our predicament. That, in no way, belittles the great and valued contributions of our patriarchs, namely, Sir Ahmadu Bello, Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, who fought for our independence, but due to no fault of theirs, never succeeded in breaking out of their ethnic cocoons to lead a united country.

Their quest for political control of the nation when the colonial rulers departed, degenerated into bitter party rivalries that fragmented the polity along ethnic lines, resulting in the prolonged mayhem that ultimately led to the collapse of the first republic.

When the military intervened to try restoring order, the young, middle-ranking officers who displaced the feuding politicians tied their loyalties to the ethnic chieftains who were murdered in the spate of coups and counter-coups that ensued. The nation was pushed to the precipe by a divided military that lacked a strong central command; hence the civil war, whose aftermath caused distrust in the polity and raised questions of nationhood that, is yet to be resolved to this day. Therefore, the subsisting national question is a direct response to the nagging absence of quality leadership at the centre.

We’ve never had a national leader in the mould of Mao of China, Peter the great of pre-Bolshevik Russia, Pandit Nehru of India, George Washington of America and Emperor Meiji of Japan, whose visionary leadership transformed the Asian country into the first industrialized nation in the Far East. Each of these leaders gave character and a sense of purpose to their respective nations.

Strong leadership is necessary especially at the formative stage of a nation. To a large extent, it helps shape the character of a nation, together with its intrinsic values and cultures. Ultimately, every nation defines its own vision, value system and frame of reference. We are yet to do that. Our nation has no discernible mission to which every citizen is committed. In the absence of this, our youths are being choked by alien cultures with the underlining decadence and immorality. We are like a flock without shepherd. To compound our problems we do not have strong institutions. That is why there’s no continuity in government, every new regime tends to discredit the key polices of the preceding administration. And so, policy inconsistencies have become a permanent feature of our governments. The obvious image of instability that we project to the world discourages foreign investors from committing themselves to long-term projects in Nigeria.

The incalculable damage of bad leadership to a nation can only be better imagined. Unless all stakeholders in the Nigerian Project face up squarely to this age-long malady, and structure our electoral system in a way that produces quality leadership at every turn, I am afraid; our country may remain like a flock without a shepherd.