Many Nigerians
would read-
ily concur
that we suffer
from lack of
visionary leadership. This is in
tune with the postulation of late
novelist, Chinua Achebe in his
famous writing entitled, ‘The
trouble with Nigeria.’ Aside from
the first republic when we had
visionary and dispassionate men
and women at the reins of affairs,
it appears successive republics
have not had a good share of
sound leader, hence it has been
difficult for us to grow at the ac-
celerated pace expected of us.
The truth is that we do not lack
capable men and women who
understand the dynamics of good
governance and are blessed with
the right charisma and visionary
acumen expected of 21st centu-
ry leaders. Though the records
clearly show that we have some
of the most outstanding human
resources that can be found an-
ywhere in the world, in practice,
these outstanding brains are not
allowed to function in their areas
of competence when it comes to
governance.
Our major challenge, there-
fore, seem to be our inability
to harness the skills and exper-
tise of these outstanding men
and women for the good of all.
Also, our growth appears to been
stalled, albeit intentionally, by
faulty constitutional arrange-
ments meant to relegate com-
petence to the background in
place of ethnicity, quota system
and other sectional flaws that
have made it impossible for us to
field our best eleven. It is no ex-
aggeration to say that in virtually
all sectors of the economy and
the public service, we have been
pushing aside excellence and en-
trenching mediocres in top lead-
ership positions. How then do
we hope to thrive when we fail to
provide the needed environment
for excellence to thrive.
No matter how you may view
him, the truth is that former
President Olusegun Obasanjo,
appreciated the importance of
having competent individuals
in public service. In this regard,
while in office, he opened wide
the gate of his administration to
welcome the services of some of
the very best brains within and
outside the country to help him
in the task of nation building.
We had women like Ngozi Iwea-
la, Oby Ezekwesili, Aruma Otte
to mention a few. The men were
also not left out; Prof Charles
Soludo, Akinwunmi Adesina,
Olusegun Aganga, etc. These are
men and women who, but for
political jobbers, have the nec-
essary finesses to transform the
country’s fortunes for better any
day.
There is also a governor from
one of the South West states
who is attracting unprecedent-
ed attention on the social media
circle for his impressive style of
governance these past 100 days.
Humble, urbane and dutiful, he
readily comes to mind as a fo-
cused leader who appreciates the
importance of sound education
and who is desirous to transform
the state under his care to a mod-
el in good governance. There are
many more like him in virtually
all sectors of our economy and
even in the academia. All we
need to do is to put aside political
colouration, bring them together
and tap from their wealth of ex-
periences. The question is, are we
ready to do the right thing?
