Nigeria needs a leader who knows, who understands and has the wisdom to lead with humility and compassion, if we must break the yoke of poverty and overcome the burden of disease.
Through wisdom a house is built; and by understanding it is established; by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches (Prov. 24: 3- 4).
A nation is built by wise people. Men and women of understanding design the processes and structures on which it is established. It takes only knowledgeable individuals to create wealth and prosperity.
A wise man understands the difference between riches and prosperity. A nation may be rich and yet not prosperous. A rich nation is one whose balance sheet shows a surplus. A prosperous one is that where citizens live in humane conditions, where the general conditions of life give opportunities for hope and joy.
We must move to the next level by deploying our knowledge resources creatively in order to fill our land with riches and prosperity.
If we must break the yoke of poverty and overcome the burden of disease; if we would upturn our reproach, we need a leader who knows; who understands and has the wisdom to lead with humility and compassion.
A wise leader leads by example. He shares in the people’s suffering, their shame and joy. He gives hope through his life. He inspires through his character. He instructs through his sacrifice.
If the people will carry a burden, he is the first to lift two; if they must starve his children will be first on the list. We have rulers in Nigeria, not leaders. They preach reform and pile up farms to feed foreign lands. They fight corruption but fail to check their own greed.
We have dwelt long enough on our mountain of despair. We have stayed too long in the valley of failure. We have swum too long in the floods of crisis and underdevelopment. It is high time we started taking responsibility. We should put our hands together on the plow of national development.
Nigeria is the only country we have. Its failure is our failure, its pains are our pains, its gains our gains. Let us focus on the common good; let us deemphasize our differences and look to what unites us.
Let us join hands together and make Nigeria the pride of the black race. We are able to do it because we have hope. We can achieve it because we believe we can. We have what it takes. It is time to dream again!
We call on you to share in this new dream, to be part of a great movement; to join the critical mass that will create the greatest change in the history of mankind. Make Nigeria the new EDEN!
We can turn our lamentation into joy; we can transform our fears into energy; we can turn our reproach into praise; our grumblings can become prayers; our differences can become our assets; our failings opportunities.
Let us build a land where the old can dream and the young see visions. A place, where rich or poor; old or young; weak or strong have a place to stand.
There is a leader for every time. A momentous time needs an extraordinary individual. There is a champion for every vision. A champion stays the course no matter what. A leader understands the times. He understands what must be done and knows how to get things done. A leader is a knowledgeable man, skilled in learning and wisdom.
One may buy fame. Your reputation is who people think you are. But character is a priceless virtue that cannot be faked. It shows and speaks through time and times.
Nigeria needs a man of character to lead her. Such a person should be: wise without being crafty; skilful but not manipulative; listens but is not fickle; compassionate but not patronizing; respectful but not servile; strong yet meek; learned but full of humility;
He or she must be firm without being rigid; passionate but not overzealous; enthusiastic but not overbearing; confident but not arrogant; courageous but not foolhardy; vocused yet not self-willed; religious but not fanatical.
11 Qualities Which Our President Ought To Have
Continuity
“In which ever way we look at it, Nigeria has come a long way since 1999”. It is clear that the principles of reforms and anti-corruption have been pursued, even though with tainted zeal.
The next president of Nigeria should continue to reform. But he must first reform himself. He should move beyond reforms into genuine transformation of our society.
Nigerians will like to know why fuel scarcity persists; why the refineries are not functioning; who are those who receive payment for oil subsidies and the reasons crude oil theft cannot be stopped.
We want to know why the roads remain terrible, why the power sector is unyielding after so much investment. Nigerians want to know how their leaders suddenly became billionaires overnight and where politicians get the funds to buy votes.
Loyalty
Loyalty must begin with respect for the constitution and the laws of the land. It is established in one’s subjection of his ambition to national interest. The new president must not be a manipulator, a law breaker, a liar, a womanizer, a cultist and an unjust fellow.
He must truly fear God in deeds not words alone. A true Nigerian leader must place Nigeria above family, friends, ethnicity and religion. He must place fairness and justice above convenience, expediency and winning of elections.
Courage
True courage is the ability to subject oneself to authority; the ability to restrain oneself from crushing the weak; the understanding of your limitations and a correct evaluation of your options at any given point.
It involves putting yourself at risk for those who have no voice. It is not a function of brute force, an exercise of self will: But putting yourself at risk for the common good. A truly courageous man puts his life down for his fellow man.
Inspiring Leadership
A leader is not one who gets people to do what they ordinarily ought to do by threats. He is one for whom people would gladly do those things which they would otherwise not contemplate.
The president must be a mobilizer. He should inspire hope. In times like this, when our people are required to make difficult adjustments, they need inspiring leadership.
A Family Man
Every nation is built on the quality of the family. The family life of a leader is the subject of public debate. A leader with a sound family life is an asset, not only to the party, but also to the nation in building its core values and focusing on reorienting the national psyche.
Nigeria must look to someone with a solid family set up. We cannot again have people lead us who send the wrong signals to our youth.
Qualifications
The challenges of development in the global arena have become so complex that the leader must be capable of understanding the intricacies of governance and international politics and cooperation.
It is now too risky to have individuals learn on the job. The leader must be intellectually sophisticated and skilled to earn respect and command authority. The political space is now global to the point that local political influence is no longer enough.
Nationalist
What kind of leader do we desire? An ethnic leader promoted to national limelight on the altar of expediency? A religious chauvinist or some individual with questionable means who rides on agitations?
We think we need a nationalist with outstanding credentials and legendary experience. We are in a period in history when we cannot afford to make mistakes. This cannot be an era of politics of settlement.
We stand the risk of losing all the gains of democracy if we promote self above the common good; if we insist on entrenched ethnic positions and promote individuals who lack the pedigree.
Experience
If experience can be measured in depths and span, Nigeria, more than ever before, needs a leader who is deep and expansive. We need a person who can act as a thread that links the various phases of Nigeria’s recent history.
A man, a leader who has political savvy and is a skilled manager of human and material resources. We do not need an experienced thief, a local chieftain or a discredited brute.
An Excellent Bridge-Builder
We need a bridge; an uncontroversial individual who has links across the length and breadth of the nations. Our president must be a bridge across the nations and generations. A consensus builder, an avid communicator, a listener.
Compassion
Development is about people. Policies must be given human face and rules and laws must exist for people. The tragic thing about our interpretation of development sometimes is that we are often led to accept foreign paradigms without questioning their relevance and we implement ideas without contextualizing them.
Development cannot be trivialized to the point of sloganeering, just as change does not come about because we wish it. At this point in our history, given the severity of poverty and disease, we need a leader who is in touch with the people and their conditions.
Poverty will not disappear until the leaders themselves bring their own conditions closer to the people or lift up the people closer to their own conditions.
Integrity
Without integrity, all other qualities are worthless. At such a time when the land is bathed in blood and deception, when criminality has overtaken our national life and violence hold sway, when deviance has become normalized, Nigeria needs a promise keeper. A squeaky-clean individual, not a shady lackey or dubious personality.
Such a leader must mirror the kind of quality he or she expects of Nigerians. He or she must be able to mentor the youths as a beacon of integrity. For law to be established on firm footing, the president should not be burdened by suspicions of illegality or be prone to blackmail.
For the leader to enforce standards, he must not come under the weight of shadiness. If we have to restore order in the land, the president must have a legacy of orderly behavior. You cannot give what you do not have.
“The future is not some place we are going to, but one we are creating. The paths are not to found, but made, and the activity of making them changes both the maker and the destination.” (John Schaar). If we can dream again, then we can achieve great things.
If we could revive hope, then we will arrive at our destinations. We have faith that Nigeria will one day, soon, in our life time become the land of opportunity. A place of unlimited promise for all; an oasis in a world torn apart by crisis; and a pride to all black peoples whereever they are.
Who among the current contestants for the Office of President knows how to get us to this land of our dreams?
•Egbokhare is a professor of Linguistics, University of Ibadan.
