Once I saw a pot on a burner and I remembered the idea of the hotseat. The pot sits there more like a middle man, taking whatever the chef puts in it and giving a sweet meal at the end of the day, few times though, the food gets burnt or the water dries up. The meal will not be our actual focus today but the art of staying on the heat.
One immediate lesson to note from the pot here is that of leadership and responsibility. All over the world it is the same thing. Right from the family stage, to schools, groups and government at all levels. The call to any kind of leadership is the call to service and sacrifice.
Is the Heat Evitable – Must the leadership seat be hot? Should a father who is financially well, has obedient children and a loving wife, go out of his way to look for this heat in order to assert his leadership position or prowess in the home. He may not, but what if his child falls sick or there are extended family issues. All these are fires he must tackle.
Even in the developed nations with the best human development index, like Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Holland, where everything seems to be going well for citizens and country together, leaders there still have issues to tackle every day.
For one, there are opposition parties in these states who will take the government in power to task on slightest opportunities, aided by the fact that they have healthy democracies. The increasing globalization of the world means that these governments must manage or protect their countries from negative global trends like the Covid 19, drugs, terrorism and others.
The answer is clear, the heat cannot be completely avoided, so those who come to leading positions, whether by natural circumstances or by elections, must be willing to take responsibility even as they also enjoy the favors that leadership bring.
The Nigerian Heat – The seat at Aso Rock is definitely a hot one for a lot of obvious reasons such as but not limited to
– A checkered history whose echo continue to disturb from independence till date the very fabric of the nation and which successive regimes have failed or succeeded in different measures to handle.
– A constitution that fails to handle the current realities of the Nigerian state.
– Its place as the giant of Africa in which it has the ethical and compelling responsibilities of managing to some extent the affairs of the continent. Being a part of the complex and volatile West African region is also an important factor to consider.
– The culture of corruption which has become more effective than our written constitution.
– The multiethnic and religious nature of the country
It is in light of these that we can assert that anyone who aspires to lead a country such as Nigeria must have come to serve sacrificially or otherwise, and that regrettably, obey nature’s law which abhors vacuumby occupying the villa.
Handling the Heat
There are many ways of handling the Nigerian heat, it will be categorized into 3.
1. Take full responsibility and sit on the heat with great leadership, thereby producing refined refreshing results.
2. Stand aside, ignore the heat and spend time spectating with the populace.
3. Become a major part of the heat.
Nigeria has been fortunate, we cannot say we have had leaders in the 3rd category. But certainly, overtime our leaders have mixed simultaneously the first two strategies to managing the Nigerian heat.
