Mathematically speaking, 100 days is
just 7 percent of 4 years that Yar’Adua has to steer the ship of this
country. It is therefore quite early to make established conclusion
about his administration. It is only noteworthy that Nigerians cannot
be deceived by this early days commitment to the ideals of democracy
and good governance. President Yar’Adua needs sustained efforts before
his good intentions will begin to yield result. He should not allow
charlatans and sycophants to dissuade him and redirect his focus. He
needs to tie himself up with his commitment to provide servant and
selfless leadership to the country. The whole world is watching to see
his commitment and delivery of his inauguration day’s promises.
YAR’ADUA’S 100 DAYS OF SERVANT LEADERSHIP by Folorunso Elegbede
Leadership as a concept unarguably is the engine that drives all
successful enterprise globally. A right leader chosen or elected with
an enabling environment is sure to pilot the affairs of an
organization to achieving its set objectives. The undoing of all
undeveloped nations is that they have been unfortunate to have selfish
and self serving leaders piloting their affairs. The truth is that
anywhere in the world where leaders who are greedy and ready to
peculate the resources of a nation emerge at the helms of affairs, the
citizens have always being at the receiving end. The problem of
poverty, corruption, insufficient infrastructures, ethnic crises,
religion crises, election crises etc. are all fall outs of bad or more
appropriately blind leadership.
And as if Nigeria is cursed as far as leadership is concerned, since
independence we have seen leaders who simply can be described as the
devil incarnate as evidenced by the most inhuman treatment meted out
to citizens and particularly those who challenged these diabolical
entities who have been unfortunate to steer the ship of our country.
Truly, when I think of my dear country, I weep and this happen on a
regularly basis. With our unquantifiable natural resources, we would
not be able to conclude that nature has not treated us well.
In terms of human and natural resources, nature has been very
benevolent to us. Nigerians all over the world are making landmark
achievements in whatever they do. In information Technology for
instance, there exist a vibrant array of Nigerians who are effectively
exploring the ICT world. The same applies to other sectors i.e.
medical science, the business world, the academia to mention but a
few. Similarly in natural resources, Nigeria is not a mono – cultural
economy, there are vast majority of other natural resources that we
are not exploring simply because we have oil. The focus of the
Nigerian leadership since the late 70s on oil, has done grandiose harm
to our natural life indeed, this have been the bane of our nation.
The successive military juntas were always full of rhetoric, casting
aspersion on their predecessors, all these only worsened our
situations and turned Nigeria into a pariah state. Indeed, in the
days of the military, the county was brutalized and militarized.
Every kind of evil that can be imagined reared her head during this
period.
When Obasanjo emerged in 1999 particularly because of our military in
leadership background, many took him for the messiah. He has therefore
made history in his own way. Nigerians will not forget Obasanjo for
his inhumanity to man. It baffles me that a man who from Prison
landed in the Palace of governance on a platter of gold could abuse
the privilege destiny bestowed on him. To put it bluntly, Obasanjo
left Nigeria worse than he met it. He even attempted to alter the
constitution to enable him run for a Third time. We will not forget
his duo parting gift of VAT increase and fuel price hike, few hours to
the end of his tenure.
The issue in our hands however, is the 100 days of President Yar’Adua
as the Commander-in- chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces. The election
that produced Yar’Adua was largely flawed, this made him to have a
credibility problem as at the time he took over the reins of
leadership. Perhaps, in his determination to affect the lives of
Nigerians and proof to the world at large , that in administration
style, he is totally different from the erstwhile President, he has
taken certain very bold steps, that demands commendation except for
the fear of drawing an early conclusion.
Yar’Adua’s public promise to Nigerians is that he will be a servant
leader and this has also enjoyed widespread commendation from all
strata of Nigeria. To my mind, with our present predicament
notwithstanding, it is only a servant leader that can move Nigeria to
her promised land. My concern is whether the President understood in
totality the full meaning of servant leadership. To start with, a
servant has no will nor interest of his own. This means he has to
pursue the interest of Nigerians not of PDP and not of the North. He
has to be fair, just and objective in his dealings. Godfatherism,
Nepotism, and ethnicism should have no place in the way and manner he
runs the affairs of the Nation as a servant leader. He would not mind
whose ox is gored as long as due process and rule of law is respected.
The last 100 days of Yar’Adua’s administration, has turned out to be
diametrically opposed to the expectations of the people. Nigerians
thought Yar’Adua will toe the line of his predecessor, given the fact
that obasanjo was the Chief Campaigner during the electioneering
period that led to Yar’Adua’s election. The memory of Obasanjo’s
jumping from pillar to post throughout the federation to campaign for
and install Yar’Adua is still fresh in our mind. Antithetically
however, Yar’Adua in his activities in the last 100 days has proven to
be a man of his own mind (not a servant leader yet). He has revoked
the sale of refineries which Obasanjo and his sycophants fraudulently
perpetrated. He has sacked Funso Kupolukun to rid NNPC of perceived
corruption by splitting it into five pieces. Yar’Adua has also asked
the EFCC and ICPC to follow due process. The fuel price hike that
Obasanjo executed as his parting gift to act as icing on the cake of
Nigerians’ suffering has been reverted. Perhaps, in his bid to gain
credibility, he declared his asset which also forced his Vice to
follow suit. In fairness to the President, he has also upheld the rule
of law within this period.
Mathematically speaking, 100 days is just 7 percent of 4 years that
Yar’Adua has to steer the ship of this country. It is therefore quite
early to make established conclusion about his administration. It is
only noteworthy that Nigerians cannot be deceived by this early days
commitment to the ideals of democracy and good governance. President
Yar’Adua needs sustained efforts before his good intentions will begin
to yield result. He should not allow charlatans and sycophants to
dissuade him and redirect his focus. He needs to tie himself up with
his commitment to provide servant and selfless leadership to the
country. The whole world is watching to see his commitment and
delivery of his inauguration day’s promises.
