THE NIGERIA PROJECT CHALLENGE

Building A Nation

Ituah Ighodalo

The biggest challenge in Nigeria today is getting the right people in government and that has to be the focus for every one of us.  Government is extremely powerful; it is widely said in Nigeria that after God it is government.

The problem with Nigeria today is that a lot of people cannot even identify what a good government looks like because they’ve never had one and they have never read stories that tell them what one should look like. So, committed thought leaders and citizens who are responsible, ethical, and accountable need to redirect citizens to what a good government and a good, responsible, ethical, and accountable leader should be.

Nigerians have accepted corruption in politics and government as a way of life. As committed leaders and responsible, and active citizens, we must not accept corruption in politics and government in Nigeria, and across Africa as the order of the day. The Nigeria Project, therefore, needs people who will challenge the following:

1. The challenge of a change of our constitution and making sure that the constitution helps the restructuring of Nigeria.
2. The challenge of having a constitutional conference where we come together as Nigerians to discuss the formation of this country and its existence.
3. The challenge of Building Peace and Reconciliation across all ethnic divides to help prevent potential national conflict.
4. The challenge of championing education and making sure that we have all 20 million out-of-school children back in school.
5. The challenge of fighting corruption and making sure that leaders use Nigeria resources to better the life of Nigerians and not themselves.
6. The Challenge of having a free and fair election process and ensuring that the agency saddled with the responsibility is transparent, accountable, and reflects the will of the Nigerian people.

Every responsible and active citizen and leader can check and choose their own challenge and be ready to keep working at it to the end, it is when we have citizens and leaders contributing in different ways to address these challenges that we can finally say we have a Nigeria that is very strong with active citizens united in purpose to make Nigeria a better place.

At Africa Leadership Group/Nigeria Leadership Series, we believe that addressing these challenges requires policy changes, and adopting a transparent system of government with elected leaders at every level who are committed to citizens’ engagement and accountability.  Commitment to inclusive, and equitable society including improved conflict resolution, peacebuilding, and effective diversification of resources for sustainable development. What we need are servant, and value-driven leadership; empowerment, and unleashing of our youth and women’s individual and collective energies; passion, and capabilities for nation-building.

Nigerian problems require Nigerian solutions and there are more than enough talent and resources out there that will make Nigerians available to solve Nigeria’s problems.  We need to have discussions with Nigerians at home and in the Diaspora, and the private sector.  We also welcome the international community interested in partnering with Nigeria without any hidden or self-service agenda.

.Ituah Ighodalo is the President/Founder of Africa Leadership Group