THOUGHTS OF FEMOLAD: LEADERSHIP AND RESPONSIBILITY; THE NIGERIAN SCENARIO

 

LEADERSHIP AND RESPONSIBILITY; THE NIGERIAN SCENARIO      

Leadership is all about contributing to the growth of society, not a means to obtain power or harness wealth by stealing public funds.

There have been many different descriptions of leadership by different schools of thought and perspectives.

A common definition is “Leadership is defined as the ability to lead others.”

Godwin Okaneme opined that Leadership is the capacity of persons to inspire confidence and regard for himself or themselves to guide and govern the followers.

Leadership, as desirable as it is, comes with a lot of responsibility.

Too many leaders get caught up in thinking about power rather than their responsibility to those they lead.

The roles of a leader go far beyond giving speeches and displaying technical competence.

A good leader must understand he is responsible for far more than his own performance. A head of government, at any level, must be responsible everything that happens under his watch. He must also be responsible to the people he leads.

Good leaders treat their followers and constituents as human beings with goals of their own. They never treat them as replaceable cogs in a machine or, worse, targets for abuse.  Their thoughts and feelings must be paramount and seen as more important than that of the leader.

A leader must always seek the opinions of other people. No one knows it all. Consultations with people with core competencies and specialties in different areas must be consulted before taking important policy decisions.

A leader must have a listening ear. Leaders who are open to feedback and constructive criticism have a better chance of succeeding.

African leaders, particular Nigerian leaders, over the years have been bedeviled by a few factors.

Corruption, impunity and lawlessness on the part of Leaders, a poor Administrative System and Electoral Malpractices have contributed immensely to the failure of leadership.

One of the results of irresponsible leadership is corruption; Corruption in the leadership as well as the citizenry.

Since independence, corruption has become a major problem in the democratic governance of Nigeria. It has been evidently proven that most leaders in Nigeria divert funds meant for the public and development of the society into their personal foreign accounts leaving the nation in a deteriorating state as well as living the masses impoverished.

This leads to mistrust of the masses for the government of the day because there is no evidence of dividends of democracy.

Where there are no good roads, hospital facilities, industries, schools, social amenities, or prompt payment of salaries, there is a high possibility for an increase in crime and other vices.

There is no other factor that can kill leadership than corruption. It has eaten deep into the political system of Nigeria in such a way that no matter the height of the amount of revenue Nigeria generates daily, corruption will consume 70 percent.

Today, our leaders own massive properties everywhere, they own exotic cars, and their children study abroad, and all this wealth is acquired with public funds, yet they keep complaining that there is no money in the treasury and thereafter go to borrow from World Bank.

Political leaders see themselves far above the people they lead. A saddening disconnect exists between them and the people, so much so that they don’t see things the same way with them. It is a belief that power corrupts and that absolute power corrupts absolutely”. Leaders enjoy certain forms of privileges and immunity by the reason of their position of authority.

Some leaders have gone against the law and got away with it, thus disregarding the rule of law.

The degree of the lawlessness of the leader is gradually increasing day by day because the leaders have too much power to influence any system or institution, including the judiciary.

The truth about the problem of impunity of leaders in Nigeria is that we have strong and influential individuals, instead of strong and influential institutions.

This gives them an advantage over the institutions and in some cases, these institutions could be used to oppress other individuals.

The government in Nigeria is transitional in nature. Elections play a vital role and are very vital as far as Democracy is concerned.

Electoral processes in Nigeria have over the years been characterized by violence and malpractices where electoral materials are being carted away by hired thugs, manipulation of results, and shedding of blood.

When all these problems manifest, the leadership instead of taking responsibility do not feel they should be responsible for ensuring good governance and responsible to the people.

Leaders should be ready to accept the responsibility that comes with leadership.

Leadership is all about contributing to the growth of society, not a means to obtain power or harness wealth by stealing public funds.

Leaders must understand leadership before desiring to vie for any political position. Leadership is not rulership. Nigeria needs leaders, not dictators.

Good leadership must be responsible leadership.

Good leadership must be responsible in order to grow good and responsible followership.