Leadership is probably the one critical mass needed to sustain a society/country, make it peaceful and secure and prosperous, push it faster to development and more prosperity.
Our politics today, is not searching for good and credible candidates, it is not in pursuit of development, it is not promoting good governance, it is not commending with the education or health care of the citizens, it neither has, no respects values, etc. Our politics is a nightmare. From 1999 to 2022, we have lost some basic values in our country. Our educational system, health system, social services, morality, decency, security, public institutions and many more, have rather degenerated. Our struggle for one nation is itself at stake with the daily, across the nation, increasing secessionist calls in some places violently. If I am asked, to list some tangible benefits we achieved as a nation from democracy in these over two decades of its practice, personally, it will take me a long time to give an answer.
Also and very unfortunately, our politicians, our political parties and the National Assembly have not demonstrated that they have learned any lesson for the good of the country. The importance of leadership could be seen where serious countries trace the corporate history of their prospective leaders to their primary school periods, some even earlier.
In our country, the major qualification for leadership recruitment seems to be money. The more money you have, the more are your chances. It is either that our leadership recruitment drive forgets the most recent history of aspirants or does not have any value of engagement.
If we have values or remember history, the majority of the aspirants across all the parties and across the country, will not dream of showing their faces to the public. Apart from outright nonperformance as current or previous public officers, there is monumental and sudden wealth accumulated by them that is mind-boggling and the sources cannot be explained. In our decent community of the past, any public officer with property no matter how small, but beyond one’s statutory salary, would be asked, ‘from where did you get this?’ In our society today, a public officer living astronomically beyond his means is hailed and celebrated by his tribesmen, the clergy and Nigerians. But the saddest part of it is when money is now the deciding factor in our selection/election of leaders.
One wonders that public officers who could not pay salaries, came to office through dubious and murderous means, political vagabonds, misfits, the epitome of bad governance, corruption, mismanagement, etc. yet, they have the audacity to bid for higher office, higher responsibility just because they have accumulated money. One could beat his chest that, that money belonged to the public or from a public source.
This predicament could be seen promoted by the sale of forms by political parties. Putting amounts whereby credible and upright Nigerians are automatically barred. This must not be allowed to continue unless we are promoting oligarchy and monarchy of the politicians of no substance. The second predicament is the delegate’s issue. People were vaguely selected or elected and called the delegates to elect various candidates for various positions including candidates for president of a country with over 200 million people. The way and manner these delegates were selected/elected and often changed without notice by the strongest stakeholders is putting our country to ridicule. Above all that, and probably due to the selection/election of the delegates where no known qualities, values or criteria to qualify as a delegate were made public was making the whole process completely subjective. The most pitiful aspect of the delegate syndrome is where votes are raised up for the grasp of the highest bidders. One wonders what else, despite Nigeria’s current situation political parties, delegates and politicians need as a lesson to use the current constitutional provision to diligently promote credible and innovative leaders for our collective good?
The National Assembly, on the other hand, could have used its powers to correct the wrongs but rather concentrated on how to target the governors for their own personal interests and not of Nigeria. The law barring office bearers from being delegates was not in good faith.
The National Assembly could have enacted laws to strengthen the delegate system. They could enshrine conditions such as a minimum of first degree education, non-partisan retired high level public officers such as the level of permanent secretary, high level community/traditional/religious leaders, youth and women representatives enshrined as law to qualify as a delegate. There must be a referee report from credible people in the community attesting to the character of the person, his/her means of livelihood that are credible and respectful in the community. Leadership recruitment procedures must be meticulous and patiently and diligently followed. The Western countries we emulate blindly never take the issue of leadership for granted. They give it the attention it deserves without an iota of compromise.
Another related issue to sanitise our politics is the change of political parties by office bearers for their own personal interests. An office bearer elected on the merits of a particular party will just over-night switch over to another one for reasons other than public interest. This political tourism needs to be checked to strengthen our politics to be of principles and honour. One can change party, yes but resign and recontest. It may appear costly for the country but the values it will bring into our polity are more than the resources. Just to mention two, it will check the bandwagon of joining the party in power to avoid prosecution due to corrupt practices in governance or the of use all kinds of electoral malpractices to retain power.
If we could make our parties and the delegates’ system credible and strengthened, it would mean different levels of credible candidates would emerge from the parties. With an independent electoral commission that is really independent and credible, the road to making our democracy worth it has begun. If, however, the status quo remains, we are not only wasting scarce resources, in the name of elections but have mortgaged our country, making the future not just bleak but have adopted a sure path to self-destruction.
Apart from enacting laws and use of schools’ curricula, National Orientation Agency should take it up as a priority project or programme to reorient the citizens to imbibe and respect certain values; abhor and fight certain vices to build a nation we will all be proud of. For the purposes of a group, community, society or nation to stop what is harmful to it and do what is right for its benefits, one is prompted to ask our politicians and our elite in general, what the Qur’an asks, ‘is there no upright person among you?’
Prof. Abdulkarim, Department of Public Administration, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria
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