The age has chosen Africa and by that I mean Nigeria. Even I could see how I may stand accused of a self-serving predilection for primordial bias. To get this “what-if” out of the way let’s examine the facts objectively.
Consciously or unconsciously the leadership of this country will be transferred to great personalities. Be it, from the North or the South or both; a plethora of magnificent minds will shower the country and the world with their wisdom as while achieving extraordinary goals which will be revered forever. A variety of leadership styles can be observed in the demographic cohorts traditional excluded from the scheme of things. The epitome of their greatness will be seen across various fields.
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Achieving such a success is often related to hard work and sacrifices. And when to some people or countries success comes easy, to others it doesn’t. There are many factors which contribute to achieving dreams and one of them is productive creativity. One of the best ways is to be motivated and inspired by other people who managed to accomplish great things, especially entrepreneurs given the Nigerian context. No other country has the potential every index or feeler suggests will make it glorious, than Nigeria in today’s Africa. You just can see this everywhere you look.
Individual leadership is already taking firm roots. Notwithstanding, it doesn’t matter how far we might raise, at some point we’re about to stumble because if we’re constantly doing what we do – raising the bar, if we’re constantly pushing ourselves higher, higher, the law of averages, not to mention the myth of Icarus, predicts that we will at some point fall. And when we do, I want us to know this, remember this, that there is no such thing as failure. Failure is just life trying to move us in another direction. And we can resist it, or correct it accordingly. This principle is being actively engaged by young Nigerians, and they will no doubt leverage.
What we have to understand is that we can’t connect the dots looking only forward, we can only connect them also looking backwards. So we have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in our future because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give us the confidence to follow your heart, dare to accomplish something!
The Nigerian scene incorporates everything Africa has to offer and if we can see this and do whatever it takes to make a difference we touch the sky soon enough.
For very few people today, with the Nigerian context as the determinant, it would probably appear as if no one believes we would make it. After a turbulent start at independence, we have made a lot of progress even though we have also taken ourselves back a few steps by virtue of some sad events in our history.
Very few countries are as synonymous with their great potential as Nigeria is. It wasn’t until 1999 it reverted to civil rule. And the civil leadership did fight and won that battle, many paying the grand price. When the steam began to run out, with the political gerontocracy becoming increasingly inept and clueless, young people are making efforts to solve our problems through other means accessible to them and I believe this is a breakthrough. The abysmal performance of the APC/Buhari government has given this movement a pronounced impetus. At this point we could say that Nigeria could get anywhere, and very fast on the back of its people, not the other way round.
Nigeria started as a middle income country, and had a very close relationship with the world’s greatest superpowers. In every field, Nigerians have showed flashes of brilliance, including a knack for business and entrepreneurship.
Nigerians, especially the young, are already starting businesses and partnering with global high tech brands, and for the fact that this is happening, that is the cited brands coming to Nigeria, is a telling testament to what is on our horizon. It’s extremely likely that in just a decade, we would be on the path to changing the way the world is shaped.
Even though some aspects of formal leadership are still falling apart, young people continue to break new grounds thereby closing the gap and that will in no small measure help in re-achieving political equilibrium. Working together, many sections of the population are pouring everything they have into building up or rebuilding the country. There are many Nigerians with incredible vision, they are aggressive in terms of strategy and have unrivalled work ethic – and this will make Nigeria a true giant, not just in Africa but on the global schematic.
By the time some of the reforms being put in place, in public administration, in social services and civil society activism – both economic and sociological, start kicking in, Nigeria is going to be an economic monster.
The 2020:20 Vision instituted by the Obasanjo government for instance has been all but forgotten, having failed miserably in terms of impact. But leadership in individual initiatives whether sociological or economic is becoming ubiquitous – and that has started not only closing the gap, but it is also the inflection point in our journey to the sky. This era could begin as soon as 2023, after the general elections precisely.
In the next two decades, Nigeria could be routinely ranked among the richest countries in the world, and by about half a century from the start of the Fourth Republic, Nigeria could become a world superpower. The theory of change here of course assumes that the right inputs and a sound administrative basis is put in place.
It does not matter anymore really what the political authorities do, or fail to do. Our eyes are increasingly being opened to the fact that the Nigerian state will not be our messiah – it is going to individuals, regular people of all over the country. We can do it – if only because we have dreamt it. But that is only if we go after this objective like we mean it.
By Huzaifa jega
