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I also consider the knowledge myth relevant here. In Nigeria, where the utterly impeding “culture of big man” is holding sway, this myth needs to be broken. The “culture of big man”, which I hope to address fully in my next article, is that culture in Nigeria that could be likened to apartheid in South Africa. The culture erects an imaginary “Berlin Wall” between the stupendously rich and the miserably poor; between the educated, the half educated and the uneducated. Those in the priority divide of “rich and liberated” have apportioned to themselves the birthright of leadership. They lay claims to leadership, even when they do not care about the core leadership values of integrity, transparency and accountability. The impression being sent out is that to be a good leader, one must have attained a very high level of education and economic liberation. Although, it is true that knowledge is critical in leadership, knowledge here should not be equated to academic degrees, which many flaunt to a derisive level in Nigeria. You do not need to be an “Engineer Dr” to be a leader. There are so many philosophers who can reason more constructively than Socrates, Aristotle, Jean Paul Sartre, Thomas Aquinas and Hume, joined together, but who cannot lead. In contrast, there are many, we may call the “half educated” who are real leaders. The difference lies in the ability to create positive change. A similar argument goes for economic liberation theory.
A leader is the one that charts the course. The real leader possesses vision and momentum. She generates confidence in others. She is eager to make sacrifices. She is not ready to take anything less than victory. The real leader radiates warmth. She possesses non-negotiable values, referred to above. She is aggressive, but thorough. She has trained her eyes to see beyond today. She is desperate to produce more leaders, by empowering others. She realizes that her authority and legacy are dependent on how she is able to reproduce more leaders that will run with the vision. She is very conscious of the transient nature of her position; hence she knows it would be tragic for her time to be up, without a well-trained successor.
Nigeria will be different, if we all start to learn how to become leaders. The senior manager, in a private firm could create a change that will save many of her employees and remove the pressure from the assigned leaders. The market woman can exercise a leadership role that can beat a pathway for several consumers. The classroom teacher possesses an awesome opportunity to impart on our younger generation and prepare the soil for an eventual harvest of great leaders.
When we embrace this leadership model, the task of nation building becomes easier, because everybody is attuned to the vision of success, from individual, corporate and national perspective. We can now carefully examine the development indicators and find a way of changing, through honest and collective efforts, the message of doom to that hope. This message of hope, so powerfully presented and pursued will melt the heart of the most uncaring of assigned leader and push her willy-nilly, to fulfill her manifestoes. Positive change will automatically follow.
Perhaps, it may be important at this juncture, to ask, do we have individual and collective goals? Where do we want to be in the next ten years? Has anybody bothered to come up with clear roadmap of where this country will be in 2014? Vision 2010 had these kinds of questions in mind, but where is it in terms of concrete, practical results. Why are we so short-sighted? It seems to me that Epicurus was a Nigerian. I say this because, his laughable philosophy of “eat, be merry, for tomorrow we die” is holding sway here. Nobody seems to desire delayed gratification. We want it now and we fail.
In its Millennium Summit, the United Nations set a series of goals, which some critics have dismissed as unrealistic, especially in relation to Africa’s condition. These goals, encapsulated as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), may seem unrealistic, but it sets a worthy agenda. The goals are simple and easy to remember. They are as follows:
• To eradicate extreme poverty
• Achieve universal primary education
• Promote gender equality
• Reduce child mortality
• Improve maternal health
• Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
• Ensure environmental sustainability
• Promote global partnership for development.
Each of these goals has clear targets. They are conceived to serve as global development measuring indicators. There is no doubt that development energy, in Nigeria, and in all other African countries are being channelled towards the MDGs. I think it would be useful, if Nigeria encapsulates its own development priorities with clear targets like the MDGs. Nigerians are already tired of hollow phrases like “poverty eradication”, that cannot be translated to “poverty reduction” Our people are desirous to understand development agenda like the “needs” in clearer, lay person’s terms. We should set realistic goals and market them to ordinary Nigerians. This can stimulate ideas and serve as bulwark of inspiration, especially now that optimism is in very short supply.
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