David Cameron, the British Prime Minister, comes from a generation of leaders who have held positions of responsibility and accountability. The opposition Labour Party in the United Kingdom is led by the Miliband brothers, who also descend from a generation of leaders. In the United States, a relatively younger nation than Britain; you must demonstrate your leadership track record that has benefitted society. People come from the Congress to become senators and governors before saying they want to be president or vice presidents. People are also held accountable. Same in Singapore, Malaysia, even India and I dare say Ghana. In Nigeria, we have enforced a process that never brought up the best.
You cannot give what you don’t have.
How do we change or lead a change?
We must be ready and willing to change: There must be a willingness to leave the past and move into the future. Change cannot happen if the people are stuck in a time-warp unwilling to move forward.
We must see the change: This is where vision comes in. We need people who can communicate that change to others. Myles Munroe said: “You can only lead people to the degree of the future that you have gone yourself. The act of leadership is taking people from where they are to where they have never been before. The result of true leadership is discomfort and change. The most important source of leadership is vision.” The change we yearn for must be something that can be easily communicated to others.
We must find the people with the appropriate character to lead the change: Leadership is all about personality and character. Again, it was Myles Munroe that said: “An army of sheep led by a lion will always defeat an army of lions led by a sheep.” It’s all about character. Nigeria, a nation of over 150 million people is not short of human resource. It’s just that the system keeps throwing up those with corrupt and questionable characters. That must change.
We must put in the processes for change: Processes in our educational, religious, electoral, legislative and governance systems that will bring about change must be put in place. If someone has tried a process that works that brings about change, that process must be documented and taught to others and replicated across all spheres of our society.
We must commit to and be faithful to the change: We must be ready as a people and as a nation to endure the hardships and the consequences that the change will bring about. Change is not always easy. People naturally will always want to remain in their comfort zones. They have to be forced to change their thinking, their attitude, their way of life. We must be faithful as a nation to such changes
What do we need to lead change?
Education
Vision
Determination
Strength and hardwork
Truth, boldness, honesty and integrity
Capacity, skill and gift
Fairness
What do we need to do for Nigeria?
Corruption must stop: We must discourage corruption at all levels. Corruption does not take place only in government. At religious organisations, private offices, schools, even our homes, we must discourage all forms of corrupt practices.
People must be enlightened, informed and emboldened: We must bring our people out of ignorance and fear. A situation where our leaders continue to enslave the people in order to lord it over them must stop.
We must insist on clean electoral processes: The people must rise up and get involved in the electoral process. No more armchair politicking. We must all register to vote, go out to vote on election days, monitor the whole process in our different areas and generally get involved.
We must search for right leadership with the right character and proven track record, encourage and support them to participate: You must be ready to get involved at whatever level, starting with yourself and your environment. It is possible and, yes, we can. God bless Nigeria.
