“The trouble with Nigeria is simply and squarely a failure of leadership. There is nothing basically wrong with the Nigerian character. There is nothing wrong with the Nigerian land, climate or water or air or anything else. The Nigerian problem is the unwillingness or inability of its leaders to rise to their responsibility, to the challenge of personal example which is the hallmark of true leadership,” Professor Achebe, lamented this in his book ‘the trouble with Nigeria’.
The welfare of the people and security of lives are primary purpose of the government. Today the criteria for choosing leaders would be worth the choice of the people as the tragedy of having the mantle of authority in the hands of those who may not represent the interests of the citizens is better imagined than experienced.
May 29, 2015 marked a new dawn with the inauguration of Muhammadu Buhari as the new president after beating the then sitting President at the poll. At these 2019 elections Nigerians are anxious to get a glimpse on how the elections will look like? Unlike in 2015, when change battled continuity, 2019 is most likely going to be maintaining a change versus changing the change. PMB’s victory came with high hopes and expectations from the citizenry towards correcting the country’s anomalies especially considering the change mantra of the APC administration. Nigerians hope PMB’s administration will sanitize system but unfortunately, things like these have continued to happen under PMB’s watch at an alarming rate, and the most painful part of it is that his continued silence especially when many disheartening scandals rock his government officials.
Unfortunately PMB’s administration is characterized with high level of nepotism at the detriment of the Nigerian masses that sacrificed a lot and spent hours under the sun to vote for you. The people’s expectation for a pragmatic change in every aspect of national life was quite high and Nigerians fail to see changes promised to them by PMB and all became disillusioned. Nigerians expected Buhari-government to provide urgent solutions to some of the myriad challenges facing the nation and its citizens.
But Nation’s economy and wellbeing of Nigerians suffer most because economy has gone from modest growth to its first recession in 25 years, putting the nation’s goal of becoming one of the world’s 20 largest economies by 2020 virtually beyond reach. Nigerian masses are angry and questioning PMB leadership and style of governance Masses and even Buharist but not blindside one condemned and frowned at it in totality. Masses couldn’t imagine that an injustice of this nature could happened under his able leadership, nearly end of his first term in office public and investors are still awaiting his economic agenda.
More than anytime Nigerians need a leader that will strengthen Nigeria’s Unity by promoting the spirit of co-operation and consensus especially in a society that is as complex and as heterogeneous as Nigeria and ensure toward building a strong, resilient and prosperous economy. Nigerians want a leader that will establish a strong and effective democratic government that will secure Nigerians people lives and properties. The economy is what determines whether a government is first in place and secondly, whether it is functional. Now from those two perspectives, you will recall the very serious promise about job creation and so on. All of those constitute the welfare of the Nigerian people. The second important element is security.
In 2019 elections Nigerians need to have a true leader Nigeria desires today must be knowledgeable in technological trends and how they shape societal growth and transformation. Any aspirant to the nation’s presidency must be vibrant, intelligent and technologically-driven individual with strong entrepreneurial flair. But the aspirant must be abreast of social, economic and political challenges facing the country today and must have ready-made proposals in the form of manifesto to counter these challenges. Yes there are very few patriotic Nigerians that fit into the nation’s ideal leader possessing the qualities enumerated earlier.
The tragedy of having the mantle of authority in the hands of those who may not represent the interests of the citizens is better imagined than experienced. Today the criteria for choosing leaders who would be worth the choice of the people when they get into power have been reduced to a meticulous assessment of the fruits (antecedents) of such a person
Dukawa can be reached at [email protected]