What Do Nigerians Really Want?

In a previous article, I made a wish-list of the qualities I wanted to see in the next Nigerian President. I posted the article on my facebook page and I got quite a number of comments on it. Comments that ranged from sheer derision and disbelief that any one individual could possess such attributes to more thoughtful comments by individuals who indicated they might start assessing potential presidential aspirants based on a more rigorous set of expectations.

One comment however that caught my attention in particular was one that questioned if Nigerians were indeed ready for such a leader. It is an old saying that a people will get the leader they deserve. If a people have absolutely no interest in the process that produces the leader of the nation and a thief and charlatan is voted in, one could argue that is the kind of leader the people deserve. If however, people take the time to understand what each candidate is offering, compares and weighs all the options, goes out to vote and then ensures that their votes are counted… well... you get the idea.

But this above scenario is an advanced stage of a process. Before we can assess what each aspirant at local, state and national level is offering, Nigerians need to define and clarify a few fundamental issues about what they really want. It is when one knows what one really wants that one is better equipped to identify who will best provide this to you and exactly how they intend to do this. I will give an illustration.

American politics can be very partisan and broad lines are drawn between Republicans and Democrats. With decades of political rivalry between them some of the lines have deepened into chasms that stretch and divide opinion on social, economic and political issues. Do we allow private citizens to bear arms? Do we want to allow gay couples to get married? Should abortions be legal and available for free? Do we want to increase taxes and provide more funds to programs such as Medicaid? Or reduce taxes and let market forces determine who gets the best type of health care insurance? How much interference do we want the government to have in our affairs? Is Lady gaga truly reflective of how we want to be portrayed in the world?

Depending on how you answer the above questions usually determines which part of the political spectrum you will be buttonholed in. Polls indicate that a lot Americans consider themselves centre of the spectrum (Independents) lurching a little to the right or left on specific issues.

Underlining this whole process is a common theme. Despite the sometimes bitter debates and hot air blown about by Republicans, Democrats and Independents alike, Americans are united in the pursuit of a common goal. They call it, ‘The American Dream’. This is more than just a single goal or objective. It is rather more a philosophy and way of life. It is the belief that no matter where you come from or what god you believe in, if you work really hard and take your opportunities you WILL build a better life for yourself and your family. If you plan properly and make a few sacrifices, your children will go to a better school than you did and attain one higher level of educational achievement, thereby getting a better job than you did. If you display exceptional talent in an area of life, that talent is nurtured and built upon and celebrated when it reaches its full potential.

Of course the above is a gross simplification and there will be any number of groups who complain that the American dream has passed them by. Or that some segments of society have hijacked the dream and don’t want to let it go. But the fact is that the American dream remains the goal and the how to achieve the goal is what dominates political discourse.

I believe political discourse in Nigeria is severely limited to how to acquire political power. The attainment of political office is an end in itself and not a means to an end. Politicians in Nigeria spend lots of money, energy and manpower to gain political power and then once they have it, have absolutely no idea what to do with it. In countries with a bit more maturity in its political theatre, the election to office of a group of politicians is a sanscrosant contract between the government and the people. The people say, ‘this is what we want to do with our lives. We want to work hard, send our children to good schools and watch a good football game at the weekend’. Do not interfere with where I go to worship on Sundays, provide me with the roads to get to work, affordable schools for my children and deal with those noisy neighbouring countries on our behalf’. The government in turn says, ‘No problem, it will cost you this much to build those roads, maintain those schools and ensure that the banks are able to give you a good loan for that business you want to start’.

Once the government in power forgets or refuses to listen to the demands of the people, they are quietly (sometimes loudly) told to pack their bags at the next election and let someone who will listen to them take over. And sometimes, the people just tire of the same group and say, ‘Give the other chaps a chance’.

I sincerely believe the lack of a common goal/dream/objective for Nigerians is a severe limitation in how we choose our leaders. If we don’t know where we want to get to, how do we know the type of person to lead us there? Nigeria like the rest of Africa suffers from the legacy of the colonial masters who drew arbitrary lines across the continent and mashed up diverse nations into contraptions that served their economic interests at the time. This however fails to become a valid argument in the task of nation-building. The USA as an example again is made up of a potpourri of nations and peoples. Diversity is celebrated and woven into the unique fabric that is the American dream. Do you want to work hard, buy a house in suburbia and drive an SUV? Call yourself African-American, Italian-American, Irish-American or Mexican-American you are and will always be an American.

I have lived with Igbos, Hausas, Ebiras and Tivs. In the day-to-day grind of everyday life our aspirations were remarkably the same. We wanted to succeed at whatever it is we did. We wanted to gain a university qualification and get a really good job that would enable us to splash out on a big society wedding and move into a fully furnished house, furnishings that didn’t include a generator because the power supply was constant, reliable and affordable. We wanted to take holidays to the UK and enjoy the beaches of Cornwall and the Edinburgh comedy festival but be eager to return and still catch the Star-Mega Jamz at the Bar Beach and attend the Night of a thousand laughs in Muson Centre. We wanted to be able to drive to the Muson Centre in VI and return back to the mainland without having to avoid the Ikoyi link bridge because of the fear of a thrown tyre rim. We wanted to have kids safely in hospital and be secure in the fact that the teaching hospital was up to any complications or conditions in our health.

This isn’t too much to ask is it?

But time and time again, the political elite exacerbate divisions of ethnicity and religion in a bid to acquire power. It would probably be more satisfying if a section of the country was a nirvana because a son of the soil had acquired power and accelerated development in that region. But this is not the case. Power is acquired and used for self enrichment. Mansions are built with high fences around them while the gutters right outside the gate contain the dregs of society hoping for a handout and the mansion owner dares not go out freely in the fear that he will be targeted by the victims of his corrupt practices. Or he goes out in a protective security bubble, ignoring the world around him.

I just wonder about one thing. The different ethnic groups I lived with were in cosmopolitan Lagos and also the melting pot of the University of Ibadan. One could argue that these individuals were like me and constitute just one part of society. That of the urban middle class. An urban middle class that has been decimated true but that is a story for another day.

What about the 60% of Nigerians that live below the poverty line? Does the mechanic in Beere Oje in Ibadan share similar aspirations with the shoemaker in Langtan in Jos? Would the almarijis who cluster round the big man's house every Friday abandon a life of handouts if the opportunity to go to school or learn a trade was offered? Would the area boys in Idumota Lagos, rather set a goal of becoming master craftsmen rather than dealers of violence and thuggery?

I sincerely do not the answers to these questions. At least not yet.

What I do know beyond a shadow of doubt is that Nigerians have to define what we want. We need to identify those who are most likely to lead us to that desired state and ensure they have a chance to lead. And I choose my words very carefully. Lead us there. Moses led his people to the promised land. But the people still had to follow. They did not sit in Egypt and send Moses out to look for the land and come back with Ekenedilichukwu buses to ferry them there. They braved 40 years in the wilderness before arriving at their destination. Nigeria has added on an extra 10 years to that record. And Canaan is still not on the horizon.

So yes we are still in the wilderness. We need to start defining the things that unite us, pool our aspirations into cohesive plans and lay out road maps on how to achieve them. Only then would we be able to start fulfilling our potential and be recognized as a true giant of Africa.

The Qualities I want in the next Nigerian President

The quite excellent article by Amara Nwankpa contained an action for readers to click on a link and have their say on what attributes the next Nigerian President should have. That got me thinking on what an attribute is.

In philosophy, an attribute is an abstraction of a characteristic of an entity or substance. Or perhaps even of a being. Dictionary.com defines it as a ‘quality, character, characteristic or property’

With this mind, I have thought long and hard about what qualities I would want to see in the next Chief Executive Office of Nigeria Incorporated. These qualities would be intrinsic and be sort of a base level of attributes regardless of your ideology, political, tribal and/or ethnic affiliation.

A lot of the ideas for the attributes I want in a President below have been influenced in some measure by two things. The first are the conversations I have had with my friend Kenechukwu Umeasiegbu. A consummate intellectual and knowledge-seeker for the sake of knowledge-seeking, Kene is also one of the most single-minded and driven individuals I know.

From his days in student politics at the University of Nigeria Nsukka where he graduated with a 2-1 in Geology (hons), to when he contested for a position on the National committee of the International organizations for students AIESEC, Kene has always been driven by the force of ideas. My conversations with him are always refreshing, highly anticipated, catalysts to more thinking on my part and always over far too soon.

The second is an article by a Professor of the University of Ibadan (I forget his name right now) writing for the Comet newspapers of Nigeria. The article in question must have been published more than 10 years ago but I remember being powerfully moved by it and considered listing the attributes outlined in it back then and plotting how to acquire each and every one of those attributes. And yes… I (once) harbour(ed) dreams of becoming President of Nigeria. We are all allowed to dream.

The rest of the ideas I have put down here are a result of my travel and experiences in Europe and New Zealand; of living in societies where the rule of law reigns supreme and society has inbuilt characteristics that enable it to continually renew and improve itself. Based on these and so much more, the following, in no particular order of importance are the attributes I want in the next Nigerian President.

Ideas-driven. The next Commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria must have ideas; Ideas that drive him towards a vision. A vision that he has put a lot of thought into and that he believes in. A belief and commitment to his vision is of course vital. It should be a vision that he has articulated and laid bare for the whole world to see. He will have ideas flying out from his head and these ideas will be the drivers to his vision. A widely-read individual, he will devour information and have a pulse on global trends and an active involvement in local ones. He will know the value of an education (either formal or informal) and be comfortable in the presence of members of the intelligentsia.

The president must be a sweet talker. Charismatic to the point of being a cult-personality, the President must be able to pull attention to himself and using this quality force disparate groups of people, interests and motivations to listen to and buy into his vision. The force of his ideas and vision (mixed in with his personal charisma) will stay with people long after they are no longer in his presence and engender a loyalty not to his person but to the ideas he proposes. He will inspire people beyond their immediate needs and make them feel like their actions need not be for their personal gain alone but for the greater good.

He must be a ruthless bastard. The President will encounter stiff opposition from groups as equally committed to maintaining the status-quo as he will be to changing it. He will have the mental aptitude to recognize these groups quickly and will not hesitate to either under-cut their authority as to render them insignificant in the larger scheme of things or completely eliminate their resistance. He will not play to the old stereotypes of nepotism and mediocrity but will deal with allies and foes alike with a firm yet fair hand. He will be a man of his word, saying and doing exactly what he means. He will be an extremely hard worker, one who can function at high levels for most of the day and who firmly believes in the value of a good’s day work.

The CEO of Nigeria Plc. will be incorruptible. He will completely disprove the old saying of ‘Power corrupts…’ In order to do this, he will have a well grounded connection to reality with relationships that serve to remind him every single day why he does what he does. This relationship could be with his children or grandchildren or with someone who embodies the phrase, ‘future generations’. He will lead by example and have zero tolerance for members of his team or inner caucus who deviate from the path of righteousness. He will have character of spirit that transcends the physical and allows him to wield great power and yet remain aloof to the allure of misuse.

The leader of the most populous black nation on the planet will be a compassionate individual. He will have a genuine empathy for people and be sensitive to their needs. There will be times when he has to take action that results in collateral damage either politically, militarily or economically. And although his ruthless streak will allow him to take the right decision for the greater good, he will feel the consequences of his actions within his very being which will stand him in good stead for future difficult decisions. He will wear this cap of responsibility stoically and without complaint. He acknowledges that the buck stops at his table and has enough character of spirit to cope with these kinds of decisions without buckling under the pressure and be unable to take future decisions. He will have a common touch and be seen as such by the masses. In deed and word, he will be able to connect with and speak to the dreams and aspirations of a wide range of society. He will place value on hard work and have belief in a system that rewards a certain input with a commensurate output

The Commander-in-Chief will be able to spot potential from miles off. In people, situations or circumstances, the President will have the ability to recognize talent in people and use them; read a situation very quickly and react appropriately and; analyze prevailing circumstances and plan for them. He will actively seek to encourage the people around him to reach for stretch targets and in the process develop their talents and enriching their experiences. He will not be afraid or threatened by people smarter than he is but actively court them either as allies or even as political opponents. This is because he recognizes that open and constructive debate and challenges to your ideas can only make them better.

The President will be a strategic and pragmatic individual. Without compromising on his ideals or betraying his vision for the country, he will be practical enough to recognize when things will work and when they will not. He will be willing to completely change his tactical plan if it will consequently benefit his overall strategy. He will not be afraid to admit when something has not worked and he will take the learning from each failure and use it to build on his subsequent successes. He will have the mind of a chess grandmaster able to see the overall strategy but possess enough tactical nous to adjust his game plan. His ruthlessness will let him sacrifice a pawn (or two) in order that he might capture the King but his compassion will ensure he does not do this lightly and only when the alternative would lead to an even worse outcome.

A reflective nature. In the high pressure atmosphere of statehood, the President will have the ability to practice self-reflection and meta-cognition. He will have the ability and schedule the time to take a step back away from it all from time to time to evaluate and come to objective conclusions about the progress (or otherwise) being made.

The President will have a belief in and readiness to sacrifice for the greater good. Although a supremely confident individual who knows his limitations very well and his strengths even better, the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria will have an unshakeable belief in the rule of law and the fact that no one individual or institution is above the law. He would be willing to make personal sacrifices in order to achieve the goals he has set out and when he invariably asks sacrifices of the citizenry, there will be a clear perception that it is no sacrifice he is not willing to take or has taken himself.

These then are the attributes I believe the next President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria should possess. For the ease of writing, I have used the pronoun ‘he’ throughout this write-up but of course these attributes are not gender-specific.

So… DO you know someone (or two) with all the qualities above? If you do, ask them if they are interested in applying for the job. If they are, they will of course then have to convince a few million voters HOW they intend to use the attributes above to do the job!