That a country’s development is dependent on its having good and visionary political leadership is a truism that cannot be controverted. In today’s world, no country can rise above the aspirations, dreams, and visions of its political leaders. For example, Chairman Mao Tse Tung laid the ideological framework and groundwork for the development of China. And the Singaporean leader, Lee Kuan Yew, a political ideologue and visionary, ignited the technological and economic development of Singapore. Malaysia, which was at par with Nigeria when Nigeria became politically independent in 1960, has prospered under good political leadership, too.
Incredibly, these aforementioned countries are not as endowed as Nigeria. Yet, they have outpaced Nigeria in economic, technological, and political development. For all our human and material resources, coupled with our possession of many waters (seas, lakes, ponds, and rivers), large landmass, and equable weather conditions, Nigeria has not become a truly developed nation-state.
The leadership crisis is the bane of Nigeria. It is our Achilles’ heel. Nigeria’s journey to sustainable national development is dogged by inept and unpatriotic political leadership. Didn’t the best novelist from Africa, Chinua Achebe, diagnose Nigeria’s problem as the failure of leadership?
I could not agree more with Chinua Achebe regarding his political diagnosis and prognosis of Nigeria, as it is obvious to the generality of Nigerians that a leadership problem is at the root of our national malaise. Until 1998, Nigeria had alternated between having vicious and despotic military regimes and being ruled by clueless political leaders, who were ethnic chauvinists and religious bigots. The military rulers ruled with an iron fist, violating our fundamental human rights, while the political leaders deepened our ethnic and religious fissures and brought about the ruination of our economy.
However, sadly, since the dawn of the Fourth Republic in 1999, our lot as Nigerians has not improved; neither has Nigeria realised its potential. Today, Nigeria is confronted with infrastructural rot and deficit. And its economy is in the doldrums and in a tailspin; consequently, millions of Nigerians have been rendered destitute.
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Moreover, education, which is the cornerstone of national development, has been neglected by successive civilian governments in Nigeria. Did their budgetary allocations for education meet the UNESCO stipulation that a country’s budgetary allocation for education should be twenty-six percent of its national budget? Yet, we are not unaware that a functional educational system is a fillip to the birthing of educational institutions, which will become bastions of scientific, political, technological, and economic knowledge.
But here in Nigeria, our political leaders are not political visionaries and ideologues. Rather, they are thieving politicians who are destitute of probity and leadership qualities. And they have warped views of political leadership. They perceive their occupation of exalted political posts as opportunities to loot our exchequer so as to become rich. Some past state governors in Nigeria, such as James Ibori, Rev. Jolly Nyame, and Joshua Dariye, who cooked the financial books of their states, were prosecuted and jailed. And till now, a majority of our political leaders, who operate at different governmental strata, are dipping their hands in the government’s coffers.
But we still have political leaders and appointees who exhibit exemplary behaviour. They are actuated by the desire to transform Nigeria positively and better the lot of the common man. And they perform their duties with patriotic fervour. They are not cut from the same cloth as our corrupt, inept, and unpatriotic political leaders. Those politicians are few and far between, however.
Among that rare breed of politicians is Engr. Eric Anyamene. Trained as an engineer at the University of Portharcourt, he went ahead to earn an MSc in Management and Administrative Studies and an MBA from the School of Management at the University of Texas in Dallas.
Armed with many years of experience as an engineer, he was drafted into the executive cabinet of Gov. Bala Mohammed, who is the governor of Bauchi State. Engr Eric Anyamene, who hails from Obosi, Anambra State, was appointed Senior Special Assistant (Strategy & Communication) to Gov. Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State. And he has been discharging his duties with panache and élan to the admiration of his boss, Gov. Bala Mohammed.
Not only is Engr Eric Anyamene making significant contributions to the smooth governance of Bauchi state by Gov. Bala Mohammed, but he is also engaged in the execution of projects for the benefit of his Anambra people. The Eric Anyamene Foundation, of which he is the founder, has been giving financial assistance to ailing geriatrics. In the recent past, the Foundation had made monetary donations to churches to aid their ecclesiastical works.
More so, his awareness that our developmental initiatives can be driven only by well-educated Nigerians informed his decision to institute a scholarship scheme for brilliant students who are from poor homes. So far, Udemba Emmanuel, Obi Chisom, and Onyedika Mgbemena, who are undergraduate students in different Nigerian universities, are beneficiaries of his scholarship scheme.
Nigeria can realise its potential and take its pride of place among the comity of nations if Engr. Eric Anyamene and his ilk are helped to access political power. If elected into political offices, their worldviews and perceptions of political leadership will influence their leadership styles and put Nigeria on the trajectory of irreversible technological and economic advancement.
Until we get it right, politically, Nigeria will continue to go round in circles. And it will remain the butt of jokes among the comity of nations unless and until we muster the political will to elect patriotic politicians who possess leadership qualities and probity into exalted political positions.
Chiedu Uche Okoye: Uruowulu-Obosi, Anambra State. Okoye is a poet and civil servant. 08062220654
