"The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been"---Henry Kissinger.
Having belched on the American parody, the world is settling for the reality, and the new reality speaks to the fact that every politics is local. Almost everyone who took interest in the last American presidential election largely blamed different hypotheses for the way the election skewed and the manner the winner emerged, I did too, but it is time to move on. And as speculated, immigrants who had shown their clean pair of heels, but are yet to perfect their resident permit or naturalization may have find themselves at the firing lines of ideological policies. Hence, there is need to prepare for them.
Unless we choose to play to the gallery, you and I know that President Trump would send illegal immigrant packing, even if his wall construction along Mexican border is not feasible, because the size of the wall is almost equivalent 3000 kilometre (journey of Nigeria to Spain) and obviously many African countries would be at receiving end, because this is the continent whose leaders have looted their countries dry, and uncommonsensically wired the same loots to Europe and the same America; and impoverished their country men and women, a situation that compelled the poverty stricken citizens to take trouble over desert and Mediterranean sea to cross to Europe in search of greener pasture in the first place.
So, I will take this intervention to Nigeria, my country, and make attempt to set tone on how we could firm up against the new reality from the new world. It is expected that thinkers in other countries would do the same. As it stands, Nigeria is in recession, and quite unfortunately, we have a moral figure as President, Muhamnadu Buhari, but economic indices have shown that decency or moral standing of a leader is not enough to govern a complex country, but a President as a Chief Executive Office (CEO) with a credential to live ahead of his time in terms of vision, mission and delivery, and age has no role to play in this. Virtually, all Nigerian leaders have read about Lee Kwan Yu of Singapore, but it takes a deep to have a clinical finish on the know-how.
Meanwhile, I am an advocate of "Big Table Theory", which I title my book in the making, and what that means is that, a leader, be it President or Governor does not need to have fleet of degrees or a bookworm, all he or she needs to do is to set up a big table and people it with intellectuals, intelligentsia and spade workers with precedence, not "my boys" or "my political soulmates" or political jobbers. Yes, those mentioned matter, but there are ways to settle them constructively. Sorry, I ought to have warned that I am communicating with people who have heads, in this piece, not people with little mind whose limit of their understanding stands on the periphery. May be, I will address them later, when indulgence would be needed to drive austerity.
Largely, Buhari has no table, because the question of direction of his policies has still not been coherently answered by the people he selected, and more importantly, the communication of his programmes has been very disjointed, and I am right to say that his lovely wife got the message better, but all government houses including Aso Rock are giant prisons populated by chorus singers, who woukd tell man of power what is good to hus ears, and spin doctors whose greed and egocentrism are the propellers of "them and us" in the nation.
With a year gone, and the government is still moving back and forth like yoyo, with all motion without movement, I am beginning to think that we need to reset this nation, and I am of opinion that it should begin with the next election that would afford us an opportunity to listen to the aspirants on what can be done to revive our ailing economy. So, this nation needs a Revivalist not a religionist who will appeal to the possible worlds after failing to harness resources of this familiar world, and this nation needs a fresh breathe, not the politicians who had bankrupted their respective states before claiming championship on campaign stage. Interestingly, these are possibilities before Buhari, but honestly, I don't know who will push the man.
Yes, some people are arguing that the former governor of Lagos state, Bola Tinubu is a man who knows how to hunt for talents and potentials, but the last time I checked, Buhari is the President, and on his table is where the buck stops last. If he thinks and believes that his "enemies" are plank of his success, why not bringing them closer to enjoy the credit. Besides, Tinubu could not have been the only missioner in the population of 185 million, according to the latest statistics. I think, all wise elite must strive to rescue this nation.
What about the governors who have personalized governance in their respective states? So, appalling that citizenry whose monies are kept by these club of "spoilt brats" in trust would be begging them to perform their duties, not because they wield power of life and death, but because the denizens have been so impoverished that they hardly know their rights. However, I would be committing fallacy of hasty generalization if I tar all governors with the same brush. Some made attempt to be different, but how different? That would form the kernel of the next intervention, and I promise to begin from the State of Osun, where Rauf Aregbesola is presently holding forte. After all, there is altruism that says charity begins at home.
Butika is an intercontinental journalist.
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