NIGERIA AND ITS BAD LEADERSHIP
I personally dedicate this special write up to all loving Nigerians here on steemit and to the world in general
Nigeria as is generally referred to, are the giants of Africa, this is rightly so not only because of the enormous endowments that God bestows on us as a nation in terms of material resources (minerals, size e.t.c) and because of this our population or human resources we are one of the most blessed countries/nations of the world. Despite the above, it seems we also have some things that look like a curse which stands between us and the resultant gifts of God to us. as we can realize or remember our past history under the colonial regime, the evidence of this bad leadership was noticeable as to what is happening to us today, and to put it rightly, since our independence from the colonial regime, Even when we were under the colonial rule, some setbacks or disadvantages might have been there but then the situation of the evidence of what seems to be a cause of bad leadership as we have it today, was not there.
The only resultant effect of the colonial rule over us is that during their rule, Nigeria was geographically divided into three regions and this could be regarded as one of the first seeds which might have been the grandfather or the beginning of the seed of misfortune of Nigeria and also the beginning of instability of the country.
The next seed of this misfortune of the nation started after gaining our independence in 1960 when we had our first self government or self rule as one Nigeria under three regional governments with three heads of government in each of the regions. The North, the West and the east. Even though these three heads of government in the three regions along with their contemporaries and patriots worked very hard to have self rule and independence from the colonial regime, after so much struggle to achieve the feat which was glorious and heroic. Those leaders at that time and Nigerians at that time and those present and generations yet unborn will always be grateful to them for granting us independence or freedom from the colonial rule that can be described as the glorious time one can think of good leaders of Nigeria at that level.
After the independence, the three heads of the three regions started ruling each of the regions in the way each of them could cope and under three different political parties. The NPC(Nigerians People’s Congress) under the northern government headed by the Sultan of Sokoto, NCNC was under the eastern region headed by Nnamdi Azikiwe and the action group in the western region headed by chief Obafemi Awolowo. This three regional government and their political party, headed by the heroes of Nigeria independence where naturally expected to provide platform and the enduring foundation for a new Nigeria. For happiness, for fulfillment of hopes and dreams and to make Nigeria develop ,progress and grow to the level of the developed nations of the world and be counted among the developed nations of the world and in the committee of nations . But alas things did not work as it should due to many factors and circumstances. Despite the fact that some tried vigorously with various missions and visions for true nationhood, others worked and labored on mediocre and unproductive doctrine not connected with self servicing or purposes, with bad politicking, with tribalism and ethnicity and with regional bias. These factors or behaviors or actions are the beginning of bad leadership which later metamorphosed into a big “Iroko tree” and other subsidiary. Big deep rooted trees of bad leadership band other vices such as greed, corruption nepotism, tribalism, ethnicity “419” and so many vices which can be traced to this bad leadership and which brings Nigeria to where we are today. from the above it can be seen that if heroic efforts and actions of those leaders that won independence for Nigeria have harnessed, maintain and concretize toward s the common goal of developing the nation to the level of the developed nations of the world, Nigeria would have been one of the most developed countries of the world today and all the dreams, missions and visions of hope of Nigerians would not have been dashed as we have today. So there is no doubt that most of our past and present leaders have been the cause of the misfortune of this country particularly the politicians who during politicking have always been the beast political animals with very little or no human thought or feeling while campaigning with deceit and self servicing in all ramifications using all means available including gifts in cash and tribalism, nepotism, and languages of division among the various ethnic groups thereby causing and creating hatred, beating the drums of division, undermining patriotism and one nation. Some of the result of the above brought about attempts of succession, military incursion into governance, violence of all dimension, bribery and corruption, unequal distribution of the nation’s wealth among the various states and regions of the country, abject poverty to the greater number of Nigerians in the midst of plenty. Disgrace and debasement of this country by some Nigerians due to unbearable condition they find themselves in this country. These are just but few of the resultant effects of bad leadership, dominated mainly by politicians and other unpatriotic Nigerians for self servicing.
REMEDY
As you can see above, Nigeria’s problems are multidimensional, but mainly on leadership (and I want to add here bad followership)
We must re-appraise and review the kind of government we adopt in governing our country. First and foremost whether parliamentary system or presidential system.
I would have recommended praying for our leaders for a change of heart but I believe prayer will work better with two in agreement, therefore the leaders of this country particularly the politicians and the followers must determine and resolve to change their bad ways of self-servicing. They must follow the biblical injunction that a leader must be a servant as exemplified by our Lord Jesus Christ/Isa they must be prepared not to exploit or deceive Nigerians for whatever reason whatsoever, and resolve to serve the people faithfully to the betterment of every Nigerian. It is then that prayers will work for us. They should not struggle for a position of authority on a do or die basis to get there but rather, it would have been better they are invited to the position of leadership by the people of the country on the worth of the aspirant in terms of integrity, honesty, capacity to deliver, preparedness to work as servants to the people with the overall interest of the masses and the patriotic zeal to move the country forward developmentally in the committee of other nations. They must shun corruption and tribal sentiments which are an inclination of the two cancers that have eaten deep into the fabric of Nigeria and every Nigerian at all levels which have brought us to where we are today.
In order to change the tide and move the country forward progressively and developmentally at the world level, among other things we must have good leaders and followers who are corrupt free and above board in all areas of leadership. To achieve this, corruption and all other vices associated with bad leadership must be eliminated or minimized by all means.Followership
We have talked so much about the politicians and other bad leadership of thought; we will now turn our focus to the bad followership. As it is generally said, it takes 2 to tango. As we spoke on bad leaders that have been the major clog in the wheel of progress in this country so also it applies to bad followership among Nigerians in all ramifications such as corruption ethnicity, e.t.c. Many of us Nigerians take delight in encouraging the bad leaders to become worse in their actions in terms of corruption, tribalism ethnicity, nepotism e.t.c in various forms and dimensions. As a matter of fact, during election campaign periods from the time of independence up to the present time, all politicians of all shades, all political parties and at all levels , use money and other attractive inducements to lure or to woo Nigerians to support them even by those known not only to be crooks but armed robbers, killers, kidnappers, ’419” and the lot. Unfortunately, these people still get the massive vote of voters because of the money, power and other inducements, given to the electorate. These lily-livered or gullible Nigerians because of their poverty or greed to make money or to get rich quick still collect money from these bad politicians knowing fully well that they are bad and are of no substance in providing good governance for the masses including themselves who collect these illegal gifts, thereby selling their consciences for a pot of porridge.
The resultant effect of which backfires disastrously when the concerned dubious politician wins the elections and occupies the position of power to determine the fate of the masses including the recipients of the Greek gift to the electorate while campaigning. This time around the recipient of the cash or kind from the dubious politicians becomes helpless and becomes an object of adverse poverty and of no consequence in the scheme of things that could make life meaningful, hopeful and worthwhile as a citizen. This continues as long as the politician remains in power with the suffering of “the stupid, unpatriotic, greedy electorate. Unless Nigerians i.e the followers sit back and have a serious rethinking that a politician who pays for his way to get into power will never think of the goodness of those people who elected them to power. Rather he will continue to serve his own interest and the interest of his own clique until the end of the "glorious" power drunk. So Nigerians should see this trend as a situation that has been befalling this country and made the poor to be poorer and the rich to be richer, particularly the politicians to the point where only about 5% have the wealth of this country and they are the politicians and unpatriotic Nigerians. This is as a result of bad leadership at its peak, which Nigerians are experiencing right now. My advice is that Nigeria should now sit-up and shun corruption, avoid Greek gift of any kind during electoral processes so as to end the unending poverty hoisted on Nigerians by politicians. We should, therefore, resolve to elect credible people to the position of leadership and authority no matter what anybody gives out to buy the conscience of an individual in order for this country to become better for all of us and not for the few as it is today.
Tribalism, Ethnicity, and Nepotism
Another cancer that has eaten deeply into the fabric of this country is Tribalism, ethnicity, and nepotism. This (disease) affect almost all Nigerians but becomes more manifested, more pronounced, more elaborated and more celebrated by the politicians and other unpatriotic Nigerians for their self-servicing purposes as earlier enumerated above. Ordinarily, this should not have been much pronounced or become a barrier in our life as a nation, if not for the above reason. This is because an ordinary Nigerian in most circumstances pays very little attention to Tribalism, ethnicity, and nepotism without any cause. If Nigerians meet themselves outside this country, they see themselves as one and live as brothers and sisters who eventually work together as Nigerians. But back to this country, the politicians start drumming these slogans to cause division, hatred, and all sorts of negative tendencies among Nigerians. The resultant effect is a divided Nigeria and brings about unpatriotism and disloyalty to the cause of our country. My advice is that every Nigerian today must resolve to live as true Nigerians and listen no more to the politicians and other unpatriotic Nigerian whose stock in trade is “divide and rule” for their own benefit and prosperity to the detriment of the country. As we know in the past, this lead to secession, violence, killing, hatred of the highest order, civil war e.t.c so please Nigerians stand up and be proud to be counted as a patriotic citizen, so that this country can be great and nurished. May God bless Nigeria!!!
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michaelgodson