THE LEADER, THE LED AND THE MISLED
The fortunes of a people lie with the people, contends EDO UKPONG
“The people and not the leaders, are the true architects of society”
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Democracy as a concept of governance has received global acceptance in its various forms. No two democracies are the same but the commonality in all democracies is the exercise of governance powers by persons, either collectively or individually on behalf of the people/state/society. At the core of democracy is the selection of the persons who will govern on behalf of the people. The selection process is usually through one form of election or the other and in theory it is meant to represent the free will of majority of the people. That the process suffers from varying degrees of imperfection in all countries who have elections is not the subject of this intervention. Rather this intervention is to interrogate what we the people should expect from those persons who end up at the helm of affairs with governing powers to superintend different aspects of our socio-economy.
For the sake of good order let me confess that what prompted this article is the insufferable postulation floating widely and freely that Nigeria’s fortunes rise and fall with its ‘leadership’. By that the proponents mean the political leadership and in our case the President is the almighty Leader. I beg to disagree and vehemently too. In my assessment, the fortunes of a people lie with the people. And this notion of a people waiting to be led appears to be a collective attempt at shirking individual responsibility for our attitudes and actions which in my view aggregate the critical mass that shapes a society’s vision and ethos and hence its direction and outcomes. That is why I agree with the argument of the 18th century philosopher, Joseph de Maistre, that – ‘the moral and intellectual qualities of a people determine the kind of government they will have’.
The popular opinion that we Nigerians mirror our actions and attitudes on those of the political leadership is demonstrably illogical. It is said that if people exhibit corruption tendencies, it is because the leadership is perceived or seen to be corrupt. And ‘fish rots from the head’ is a popular quote in support of this fallacy. I am not persuaded that in a very religious country like Nigeria, our people will put aside the examples set by revered powerful General Overseer pastors, influential Imams or powerful deities (for those with a preference for Indigenous beliefs) in favour of those examples of political leaders no matter the exalted position.
If all religions have laid out established and clear doctrines to guide the conduct of adherents, it will be absurd to ascribe collective untoward conduct to any other leadership other than that of the particular religious tendency. There is a reason why religious adherents are called FOLLOWERS, and it is a simple reason, they are enjoined to follow and be guided by the subscribed doctrines only.
In my numerous discussions on this matter I have found the following examples rather thought provoking. Nobody I have asked has been able to name the leaders of Switzerland or Finland. In fact, nobody has been able to recall the name of any Swiss leader ever! They all agree though that those countries are amongst the most successful in the world. So, my argument in question form will be ‘is it the leadership or the people that are responsible for the success of these countries?’. My take is that the people of these countries have collectively built enduring socio-political structures that operate and are safeguarded with the imprimatur of the collective will of the people and not dependent upon the whims and caprices of ‘leaders’.
Also noteworthy is the fact that in the atmosphere of gloom we paint for our country, there are also some areas that not only offer hope but are quite inspiring and uplifting. We blame the ‘leadership’ when our sports teams do not perform well, when public services are poor and generally for everything that goes wrong, with the absence of an ‘enabling environment’ being the culprit. So, the leadership is responsible for creating the enabling environment? It is the case that in this same environment, our entertainment industry is superlative and have become world beaters. Our musicians have captured the world’s imagination and rapt attention. The Remo Stars Club and football academy are very impressive world class facilities that portend better days ahead for our sporting sector generally. Yet these remarkable developments have been achieved under ‘bad leadership’. So, in my opinion this is another illustration of we the people being the architects of our progress. And please, this is not me suggesting that good governance has no role to play, far from it! Without good governance providing good access roads and security for example, the private initiatives will not achieve their full potential and we the people will be the losers.
Again, this is not an attempt to discharge our political leaders from responsibility for the many challenges bedeviling our national development. In as much as they are in the public sector front lines of managing our commonwealth and executing policies for the betterment and orderliness of society on our collective behalf, it is fair to pass a negative judgment on their all-round performance as a class. There can be no equivocation in condemning their ignoble role in the distressing state of our nation. The essence of this intervention is to make the case that we as a people must take responsibility for our role in causing the unsatisfactory state of our nation. This acceptance is a necessary foundation, for we as a people to build the national consciousness that will drive the collective will for us as a people, to take ownership of our collective destiny. To make progress, we must act and behave like good citizens and not merely be passengers in the ‘vehicle’ driven by the ‘Leader’.
In truth, the Nigerian elite bears the greatest burden of guilt for the mess we have made of our country. Let us recall a few short years ago, where we literally became the champagne guzzling capital of the world! International businesspeople (many of them borderline criminals) were flying into Nigeria with suitcases of obscenely priced exotic watches and other luxury items for sale to the locust elite in DOLLARS! We imported the biggest SUVs with scant regard for the running costs of these vehicles. After all, petrol and diesel were very cheap. We were spending humongous amounts of money buying imported generators but will refuse to pay for the electricity (however epileptic the supply) we were consuming and yet fail to see the causal link between our myopic attitudes and the poor state of electricity supply and distribution. Obviously other factors like poor governance in the form of retrogressive laws and corruption are significant but these should not be isolated.
So, in an economy where many people were making so much money without being productive and not being constrained with paying meaningful taxes, enjoying subsidized electricity (when available) cheap fuel and even subsidized foreign currency, criminal waste became the order of the day. And worst of all the elite who evidently benefit the most from our commonwealth are also very unpatriotic. So, whereas it is their consumption patterns that put pressure on the exchange value of the Naira, they cynically bet against the Naira by using foreign currencies as a store of value, invested their locally acquired wealth in the economies of foreign countries and flaunting foreign currencies publicly became the status symbol verifier. That is why you will find that literally everybody in Nigeria is conversant with exchange rates. It is the elite that have ingrained this ‘conversion mentality syndrome’ into our subconscious. And anytime I hear the refrain ‘how much is it in dollars’ I am left wondering whether people convert their Naira to dollars before spending same in Nigeria. Anyway, suffice it to say that in most other countries, the citizens generally care less about exchange rates and concern themselves about the purchasing power of their local currencies.
I have no doubt that our dear country will overcome the present myriad of crisis. The Nigerian people are too resourceful and have too much at stake to allow our country to fail. ‘Sweet are the uses of adversity’ and ‘necessity is the mother of invention’ are two famous quotes that will play out in the coming years as we the people in our quest for personal survival take actions which will ultimately be for our collective benefit and progress. So, all of us have roles to play and are all leaders in various ways. The efficient and inspiring school principal is a leader that will build many more responsible citizens (with a multiplier effect) than a commissioner for education or the governor of that state! Genuine religious leaders will ingrain the much-needed positive virtues in people than a thousand orientation agencies. Sincere village heads will enable peaceful co-existence of citizens, more effectively than security agencies. The journey of building the critical mass of good citizenship necessary to put our country on the right path starts perhaps from the family units as a base and meanders upwards to the ‘leadership.’ At that juncture the leadership will be reflective of us as a reformed citizenry. It is not going to be easy or happen overnight, but my hope is that the hardship and an economy whose shape has changed forever will bring out the best in us. And personal hardship will dismantle the roadblocks of religious and tribal differences which hinder our progress but exists in our minds and attitudes.
Our people need to be sensitized about historical developments in other counties so that we will be galvanized to even do more than we are presently doing (historical and ongoing private and community efforts duly acknowledged). I just read recently that the establishment of Botswana’s first university in 1982 was driven by the people donating cows to be sold to Europe. Over four thousand cows fetched about $120,000 then, and with other significant support from some European countries and the Government, the project was successful, and it is the biggest university in Botswana today. There are other numerous examples of communities in different countries coming together to build schools, roads, water supply and so on. In neighboring Ghana, in the 1990’s, rural communities built over 1000km of roads through communal labour and funding. In Brazil, communities built over 100,000 homes in its mutual aid housing scheme. In South Korea, in the 1970’s community driven development programs built roads, bridges and homes which transformed rural communities.
As we may be aware, the British Government for example does not own any university! The top universities in the world are not funded by governments! America, arguably the most successful sporting nation in the world does not provide government funding for its sportsmen. The government of USA does not generate or distribute electricity to its people! Please let us invest in our country (as many illustrious Nigerians are doing). Let us stop deceiving our people that ‘government’ will provide everything.
‘Government’ will not provide everything BUT good governance is an indispensable factor in building enduring institutions that will activate overall progress and development. As mentioned earlier, the efforts of the private sector will be in futility if not complemented by responsible and competent political leadership. We need the political leadership that is responsive to the yearnings of the people to have our resources well managed, provide sustainable infrastructure, ensure the provision of security of lives and property and make and execute laws that will facilitate our harmonious coexistence and development. So given that our progress is dependent on the symbiotic relationship of the public and private sectors, it is incumbent on us the people to project our best interests by ensuring that only well-meaning and capable persons get the opportunity to manage our affairs in the public space. I agree that in our present circumstances our politicians are out of control and there is an atmosphere of helplessness. With the present hardship and frustration even the most out of touch politician must realize that the people’s patience is running out. So, we must see the present atmosphere as our opportunity to galvanize our people to be citizen watchdogs over our public officials. The recent Supreme Court intervention granting autonomy to elected local governments is a welcome and significant development. Local governments are closer to the people and have a greater impact on their daily existence. Being closer to the people it affords the people a better opportunity to elect people they know better and can have access, and ultimately hold to account. State governors and the President are too far from the ordinary people and the local governments are our hope for greater accountability and with time things will scale upwards. We need to take ownership of our destiny and when this is manifestly evident, our political leaders will fall in line instinctively for survival.
In closing let me reiterate that we are all responsible for the dysfunction of our country today and the best way to improve our lot is for all hands to be on deck. The fixation with blaming ‘government’ or politicians for all the ills in our country is unhelpful and not progressive. Even worse is the postulation that ‘good governance’ will fix everything. We the people of Nigeria ‘spoilt’ our country and only we the people can ensure good governance and fix our country. Happy 64th Independence Anniversary and Long Live Nigeria!
Ukpong writes from Lagos
