17th January, 2014
A university don, Professor Akin Oyebode, has said that there is the need for a new leadership group in Nigeria today if the country is to chalk up success along the ladder of true socio-economic and political transformation, adding that it is impossible to better the lot of the long suffering people without installing a leadership group that sees itself as the slave rather than master of the people.
The Professor of Law and Chairman, Office of International Relations, Partnership and Prospects, University of Lagos, UNILAG, stated this in his speech titled: Developing A New Leadership: An Imperative for National Development in Nigeria, at the symposium marking the 75th Birthday of Chief Bisi Akande, at the Eko Hotel Expo Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos, southwest Nigeria.
He said for such to happen, the people require new thinking and a new attitude in terms of their relationship with the leaders.
“They now have to reject hypocritical, self-opinionated and self perpetuating persons masquerading as their leaders and replace such with selfless, tested and trustworthy persons to take charge of their destiny.
“The time is ripe for the people to do away with a slave mentality by abandoning their false consciousness and exude requisite self-confidence by becoming truly masters of their destiny.
“Since leadership is about development, anyone lacking capacity to facilitate the movement of the country from pre-history to a higher level of socio-economic formation should be compelled to vacate the bastions of power and privilege which he had become accustomed to occupying. Everyone should henceforth realise that the people are indeed sovereign and are, therefore, entitled to go to heaven the way they want.
“We are already over fifty years late but it is better late than never. It is now time to have our own true leaders who can join the ranks of George Washington, V.I. Lenin, Fidel Castro, Nelson Mandela, Obafemi Awolowo, and Lee Kuan Yew instead of continuing with pretenders lacking in knowledge and true appreciation of what the problems are and what is to be done in order to resolve them,” he said.
He said that unlike other countries, Nigeria at independence was not lucky to have leaders imbued with a correct notion of the urgent tasks confronting the country, let alone, a commitment towards political and socio-economic transformation.
He added that instead, the country had foisted on it a leadership wedded to the idea of continuing business as usual.
“In fact, it is no exaggeration to aver that over the past several decades, what we have had was a succession of rulers masquerading as leaders, whether in agbada or khaki.
“These self-seeking, self centred and self-perpetuating rulers only brought Nigeria to the brink of collapse through innumerable hare-brained, dysfunctional and counter-productive policies,” he averred.
He said that the major issue in Nigeria today is how to extricate the country from the labyrinths of underdevelopment, adding that only those who are endowed with the requisite insight can read the situation correctly and be able to galvanise the social forces towards ameliorating the niggardly circumstances of the vast majority of the people.
“However, where leadership is in the hands of venal, opportunistic, corrupt and self-serving elements, all the people would get is a lot of motion without movement, just like the potter’s wheel.”
—Jamiu Yisa