Time for Re-inventing not Re-cycling Leadership
It will be recalled that while reading one of the daily newspapers online from my base, Singapore, I was constrained to write this piece. I just read that Mr President has sent his list of would-be ministers to the National Assembly. In addition, it was alleged they are some from that belong to the "old brigade" on the lists, though not confirmed yet. I think it high time someone out there told our leaders, especially our President, to stop all this re-cycling of men and women who, in the first instance, landed us in this messy situation our beloved country, Nigeria, is today! People that had contributed significantly in the past can be included in governance not people who are political jobbers or sycophants,
President Yar Adua it is high time you started on re-inventing leadership. There are genuine and patriotic Nigerians out there in Nigeria and all over the globe who are upright and ready to serve. Just like Chief Obasanjo discovered the likes of Soludo, Ezekwesili, Okonjo-Iweala, Akunyli, Ribadu, El-Rufai, etc. These people cited here are not perfect but they made their imprints on the sand of time in governance in Nigeria. Please President Yar Adua discover your own men and women that will usher in the transformational "change we need", in the word of President-elect Barrack Obama of USA, before sycophants that surround you ruin your good name and administration!
This is coming at a time when the newly sworn comrade Governor of Edo State is saying that “commitment, competence and integrity” will guide him in selecting who will work with him to lift up Edo State out of the doldrums. He said it empathically that political partisanship will be the last yardstick in selecting men and women who will serve. This is coming from a leader who has vivid vision of his mission backed up with strong core-value. It is on record that organizations that have enjoyed sustained peaked-performance otherwise referred to as “competitive advantage” have strong vision and values.
One should be patience with President Yar Adua as leadership of an enigmatic nation like Nigeria was thrust on him unexpectedly by his predecessor, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. One thing that made him qualified then for the topmost job was his knack for integrity, uprightness and incorrigibility exhibited in Katsina State he governed for eight years. These are the core-values of Musa Yar Adua as a person. Can these core values be transplanted, implanted or superimposed on the giant nation of Nigeria with all her various diversities?
Yar Adua should know that Nigeria and Nigerians need re-orientation if we are to belong to the best 20 economies in the world in the year 2020. In any case, this can just be a mere slogan and become moribund the same way other well-intentioned policies and programmes a la MAMSER, OFN, Vision 2020, etc. It is high time, right values were injected or inculcated into the fabric of the Nigerian nation that is systematically being ravaged by a cancerous corruption. How many people are in politics or involved in governance today to truly serve selflessly? Is our society not really after what you can make or achieve while in office. It will be recalled that early this year when Dr Oby Ezekwesili, one time Minister of Solid Minerals Resources and Education, also called “Madam Due Process” was on official assignment in Singapore, I was priviledged to ask her a question: “What was the biggest challenge you had while in office?” She responded by saying that people from her immediate constituency wanted to corrupt her by telling her to bending the rules and some demanding money from her with the belief that everyone in office should be able to share money like father Christmas! She refused and she earned the accolade of a wicked woman! This shows the extent of depravity in values in the Nigerian society. It is such an embarrassing situation that even many parents/guardians are now no more asking their children/wards how they made their money! Just ride in a big car and build a big a house in the city, and then you are a celebrity. We need a desperate transformation before it is too late.
Finally, I will like Mr President to search and seek for people who will be co-pilot with him in the same plane of “servant-leadership” that is already in the air. These should be people who are not corrupt like him; not people PDP big-wigs and chieftains are pressurizing him to take on-board.
In conclusion, your dogged addiction to the rule of law is commendable and second to none in any dispensation in Nigeria so far! Mr President, please it is high time you came up with Vision backed up by Values to drive our dearly beloved and blessed country, Nigeria, forward. You will not fail. We are praying for you especially that your health will carry you through.
It is well with our country Nigeria!
John M. O. Ekundayo
Singapore SE Asia
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