In
Marxist philosophy, the bourgeoisie is the social class that came to
own the means of production during modern industrialization and whose
societal concerns are the value of property and the preservation of
capital to ensure the perpetuation of their economic supremacy in
society. Joseph Schumpeter saw the creation of the bourgeoisie as the
driving force behind the capitalist engine, particularly entrepreneurs
who took risks to bring innovation to industries and the economy through
the process of creative destruction.
Today,
in our clime and most African countries that social order is dominated
by a new bourgeoisie, made up of political leaders and not captains of
industry. They are rent-collectors who make huge profits without
investments; they have no factories and are neither entrepreneurs nor
employers of labour but they own huge amount of money but they are not
investors or creators of wealth; they live a life of opulence like
royalty but they are not royalty; they bestride our narrow world like
colossi, master of all they see. Impervious to the suffering and
tribulations of the people they are supposed to serve, they are as
callous as the proverbial ‘agbalowo meri, Bale Jontolo’.
Not content with living in the old Government Reservations, our politicopreneurshave
opted to build mansions on hilltops, like the ubiquitous Colonial
District Officers, far removed from their people. Perhaps like Jomo
Kenyatta wrote in Facing Mount Kenya, there they ‘commune with the gods’. These are our leaders! Much has been written about them.
Vexed by their shenanigans Obi Ezekwesili said: “Our
political leaders have turned democracy into a criminal enterprise
breaking all the principles of representative government. They have not
illuminated or advanced Nigeria. Under their watch, Nigeria has become
the epicentre of human greed, avarice, official impunity and duplicity.
Success is now measured in what you could corner for yourself, no matter
how many children were left starving to death. That is why the country
is littered with policy hoaxes and uncompleted projects and programmes,
including a $16bn electricity scam; misappropriation of foreign aid for
the betterment of heath care; such as HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and
Malaria; most of which disappeared into the quicksand of ramshackle
governance in Abuja championed by the former administration; another
donation of $660m made recently will likely to go the same way”.
In
a paper: THE CHALLENGES OF LEADERSHIP AND GOVERNANCE IN NIGERIA, Godwin
Okaneme submitted: “From the time of the nation’s independence up till
now, it has seriously grappled with the challenges of poor leadership
and governance or what has been popularly referred to as leadership and
governance ineptitude. Governance therefore has become an all comers
affair where the qualified and the unqualified, the high and the low as
well as the rich and the poor all jostle inordinately for political
power. The paper opines that in order to solve the nation’s intractable
leadership and governance challenges conclusively, the country needs a
true and transparent transformational leadership structure which will
drive the political and governmental system in the country for effective
and efficient political leadership and governance that will ultimately
usher in genuine and verifiable development in the country for the
overall benefit of the entire citizenry. The paper further canvasses for
an open, accountable, transparent and competitive leadership
recruitment process which will give all citizens who genuinely wish to
take up political positions the fair and unimpeded chance to do so
without any let or hindrance since politics is generally regarded the
world over as a call to serve humanity and not an opportunity for
self-enrichment as many see it presently in Nigeria”.
Whatever
the argument is, the important point is that leadership challenge has
been a clog in the wheel of progress in Nigeria. Thus, present and past
leaders of Nigeria seem to have failed to provide quality leadership
capable of addressing numerous challenges confronting the country”. Nigeria and the Challenges of Leadership in the 21st Century: A Critique by CHRIS. IWEJUO NWAGBOSO and OTU DUKE ; International Journal of Humanities and Social Science Vol. 2 No. 13; July 2012.
The
socio-economic and political development of any country depends largely
on the ability of its leadership to facilitate, entrench and sustain
good governance. Over the years, we have had leaders who, prior to
ascending leadership positions, are sold to the masses as beacons of
hope amidst the misery viciously staring them in the face. They cream
their way into the hearts and minds of unsuspecting masses with their
humble disposition, camaraderie, or seeming understanding of the plight
and sufferings of the people, only to assume leadership positions and
become total strangers and despots, insensitive to the plight of the
masses. As one commentator puts it, “Nigerian political leadership is
an entangled, mangled and cluttered perplexity of subterfuge
machinations and deception. They seem divided along ethnic and religious
lines but are eternally united in thievery and corruption; enemies by
day and gang of marauding highwaymen at night”.
According
to Valentine Achum: “They sing sonorous and sensuous songs of reforms,
only to end up with ‘cacophonous choruses’ of deforms. They serenade the
masses with pleasing and teasing tunes of prosperity, only to leave the
masses grieving and grinding with elegies of poverty. They fly into
office as angels, only to crawl out as demons. They vivaciously jog into
office as heroes, only to sluggishly stroll out as villains. For the
few with good intentions, they end up being corrupted by the bad ones.
They go into office as doctors, and leave as patients’’.
‘Where
there is no vision, the people perish’; we certainly need leaders who
can translate visions into reality. A leadership that spent so much
money in putting up the iconic Trade-Fair Complex in Lagos only to
abandon and turn it into a motor spare-part market, can never be a goal
oriented leadership, nor can we describe a leadership that watched the
deterioration of the Lagos/Ibadan, Sagamu/Benin and other road
infrastructure, as a serious leadership. Equally, we cannot vouch for
the earnestness of a leadership that allowed the two roads leading into
our busiest ports to virtually close down. Leaders that abandon and
allow Ajaokuta Complex to waste away are not progressive leaders; the
same goes for the leaders that allowed the Aluminum Smelter Complex at
Ikot Abasi or the various Steel Rolling Mills to rot. There are over a
thousand abandoned projects in Nigeria ranging from the multibillion
dollar to multimillion dollar ones. The iniquities of our leaders is not
pleasing to the Almighty. Fortunately, we all know the solutions to
these problems. They are characterological and behavioral.
Nigeria’s
underdevelopment is more of poor implementation than lack of
development goals and programmes. Policy summersault and development
projects abandonment are common.
Retired AIG Farida Waziri in a seminal lecture, ‘Leadership and the Challenges of Good Governance in Nigeria said “Leadership
should be born out of understanding of the needs of those who would be
affected by it.” The world over, it is servant leaders that have made
the difference in the lives of their people and advanced their
governments over time through vigorous and sacrificial pursuit of
positive change with great respect for acceptable societal values.
Effective and productive leadership must be seen to be transparent and
accountable to the citizenry. This increases goodwill amongst the people
and the chances of elected leaders succeeding in their endeavors. This
also promotes legitimacy, acceptance and most importantly role modeling.
Available resources must be properly harnessed and used based on the
principles of equity and equality, so that the impact is felt through
the rank and file of society. The government must be service oriented
and promote effective delivery of public services so as to enhance local
and small-scale economic development aimed at improving the lot of the
youth and the poor. Information must be made available to the people
especially to non state actors for enhanced purposeful engagement with
leadership”. Need we say more?
Barka Juma’at and a happy weekend
Babatunde Jose
+2348033110822
+2348033110822
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