Spectrum of Leadership Vision(lessness) & Hopeless Followership - Oluseyi Faseyiku

From Buhari to the youngest state chief executive, Yahaya Bello, tell me whose offspring can be found in a Nigerian college or a local university.

I do not pity Mr. Nasir El-Rufai. If truly he is determined to effect a change in a small portion of that poverty landscape called the Kaduna State he has his work cut out for him. The greatest paradox of that change and its challenges is when his vision and foresight as a leader are completely beyond the people or group he leads. When I read that there were demonstrations in Kaduna against the anti-begging legislation I knew we do have a problem, a huge one. Mr. El-Rufai isn't a purist and should not be fully credited with a 21st century idea of society for his people, but we must arguably admit that he does have a 20th century vision. But when you have a 20th century perspective, as inelegant or outmoded as that is, but the people you lead are still trapped in their 14th century jacket, there is so much to do. You must get them into the 15th century first and if that works, move them into the 16th and with real success get into the 17th until you arrive where you had earlier hoped. The problem is that this guy has only four years, maximum eight, to transport a state of 6.3 million people into the 20th century and that is it. If he leaves while they are in the 16th century, and his successor, unfortunately, happens to be weaned to the 15th, there it is clear that they will go back to their Egypt, which is still the 14th century.
The above scenario is unfortunately where we are in much of Nigeria today. Take away Akinwunmi Ambode, there is hardly any government in Nigeria that thinks of the 21st century and has a plan for the 22nd. Why do I say this? Check all of them, their 21st century is not Nigeria but America, the UK, France or Germany. Starting with education, which one of these guys have their children schooling in Nigeria? From Buhari to the youngest state chief executive, Yahaya Bello, tell me whose offspring can be found in a Nigerian college or a local university. If as the chief executive, you do not envision your immediate family patronizing a Nigerian university how do you want to share a vision which places the Nigerian citadel at the top of the world? I overshoot myself, how do you position it at the summit of African academic institutions? How do you envision that Ladoke Akintola University will be at the forefront of scientific research in Africa if your immediate family is at Rutgers.

Review all the states in Nigeria and you can construct a robust paradigm for the downward slide that the country has been speeding along in recent years. I do not in anyway justify militancy. But the link between militancy/insurgency and underdevelopment has been established firmly. There was a time that the idea of the criminality in the Niger Delta was unheard of. That was the era when it was impossible for our funds to be siphoned overseas in billions and corruption was a measely ten percent syndrome. In those days, parents expect their grown up children to explain every appearance of wealth and opulence they see. It was almost impossible to take away government paper/stationery talk less of diverting public funds into personal accounts. In those days, if a ten year old scribbled on a piece of paper to a government department, a permanent secretary was most likely to respond and end the correspondence with "Your Obedient Servant." But then things changed. Values were bashed, and we started to praise-sing thieves who deserve to be shot. The moment corruption became part and parcel of our lives, other forms of impunity and criminality became our lot.

Those who rule Nigeria may think it is cool having your kids in Yale, Harvard, Oxford and Cambridge but it is not. It is evidence of class war and visionlessness and the reason we may remain where we are. It demonstrates how little our so-called leaders' commitment are in developing Nigeria for Nigerians. You would be surprised how many of the wives of our senators, representatives, and governors have had their children outside Nigeria in the last fifteen years. It is not just because of poor maternal medical care but their stronger faith in the citizenship of America and Canada for their offspring. Do you then wonder why the steal you blind? Watch their body language. When a governor says his state lost N24 bllion to ghost workers but would not invest a mere 5% of that figure to address that issue permanently, it is a problem of vision.

Oluseyi Faseyiku