OPINION: Who Will Fix Nigeria – Charles Okhai
Nigeria. A capsizing ship. Yet the dramatis personae in the drama playing out only pre occupy themselves fighting over what is in the shop. Their eyes, their minds are focused only on what they can grab. Sadly enough, no one, none of them could reason that should the ship capsizes, no one will be spared of disaster, because their greed, their self centeredness becloud their true sense of judgement. What a pity!
Nigeria could be likened to this imaginary ship, just like a Cow that everyone joyfully milk, but no one cares about the consequences of leaving it unfed.
Nigeria, my beloved country is in dire need of a true Patriot who would rescue it. But where is this Patriot? Certainly not any of these charlatans masquerading as Presidential Aspirants, corrupt individuals, people of no competence, no purpose, no sense of integrity.
We need strategic leaders, we need serious minded individuals, selfless and patriotic. As a nation, we are in dire of Patriots that would restore Nigeria at least back to her glory. There should be no sentiments of brotherhood, no regionalism, no religiousity , not even that of political party, we just need a patriot to fix our dear nation, Nigeria. It is disheartening to note that there are some individuals who are much willing to negotiate Nigeria’s future just for a “mosel of bread”. Rather, we should come up as a people determined to effect a positive change in the future of our nation.
We are done with mediocres, done with religious bigots, done with avaricious leaders. We need strategic leaders of influence, leaders who would build legacies, leaders who would establish principles of sustainable development.
Yes, we need a political class of strong passion for nation building, a political class equipped with the requisite knowledge and skills to solving our complex challenges of our developmental progress.
Nigeria is one country in Africa that has had enough chequered history of bad leadership. The reason is simple. Our leaders do not come before the table of leadership with purpose driven cohesion for the ultimate transformation. So we need leaders with purpose beyond themselves in pursuit of transformational agenda. Leaders who would take politic as a mere vocation, leaders with developmental ideology where only the people, the nation is the winner.
We know this class of leaders, they live among us, we know them, and we know those who will spell doom to Nigeria if enthroned for the wrong reasons. We can fish them out, it is all about purpose and integrity.
Integrity is a key factor. High level attainment of any nation is intrinsically connected to the level of the integrity of her leaders. The yardstick with which we select the next set of leaders for our nation come 2023, will determine if there will be any numenclature of a nation called Nigeria thereafter. This should matter most to every well meaning Nigerian, because it is the poor, those who live at the knife- edge of existence that suffer most the outcome, the aftermath of bad government.
Should we enthrone BAD government for our selfish interest, or we enthrone GOOD government for the benefits of all of us, and the future generations.
Dr Charles Okhai
President, Nigerian Association of Christian Journalists (NACJ).
