Nationhood; What Did We Do Wrong?
‘I believe that when the plundering and debilitating hands of the military are removed from governance and the country’s infrastructure, educational and health system are reconstructed, Nigerians will enjoy a boom of creativity and productivity- Ola Vincent’, Former CBN Gov. Sept. 27, 1998.
Democracy, taken objectively signifies the right to choose. What is, however, doubtful of this arrangement is the quality of people making such decisions. As experience has shown that when such number is placed under scrutiny, it often reveals that a greater percentage manifests signs of education but ill-informed while others exude burning desire to bring into play this electoral Instrument conferred on them by the constitution but lacks the action logic to choose rightly.
The above scenario about democracy has accounted for situations where some countries despite their practice of democracy, came to grief because the people applauded and voted those who ordinarily, have nothing to do with governance or organizing civil society, while several others despite our poor systems of government, were well-governed, because good and strong leaders were in charge.
Nigeria, a nation of people with extraordinary intellects, very high energy and vigor and other attributes profoundly important to build a modern nation but socioeconomically stunted, has despite two decades of an unbroken experiment, become a telling example of a state where democracy failed to underwrite social justice or promote social mobility A happening not because the nation is lacking in natural resources but like the recent problem of ‘’global economic recession’ confirmed that poor management of resources can increase the level of poverty even in the most prosperous countries of the world’.
Aside poor management of resources, anyone sensitive to the present moods, trends, and occurrences in the country will discover that the present predicament has its roots in actions, John Hamm, of VSP Capital, in San Francisco, seriously warned against.
Writing on the topic; the five messages leaders must manage, Hamm noted that; if you want to know why so many organizations sink into chaos, look no further than their leaders’ mouth. Over and over, leaders present grand, overarching-yet fuzzy –notions of where they think the organization is going. They assume everyone shares their definition of ‘vision’ accountability and result. The result is often sloppy behavior and misalignment that can cost an organization dearly.
Certainly, looking at our nation today, it is possible to establish a link between the leader’s asymmetrical definition of ‘vision’ and why people have become so restive, so destructive, so militant and so fractured into ‘ethnosyncrasies’ and idiosyncrasies.
