2023: The president Nigeria needs (III)

In continuation of our series on the kind of president Nigerians need to elect in 2023 so that the tide could turn in favour of the country and her peoples, today we consider a critical attribute that should guide Nigerians in determining in whose care they should commit their patrimony and collective destinies.

A quality Nigerians need to look out for in their 2023 President is competence. This is because while incompetent leaders make excuses, competent ones scale all hurdles to get desired results. The type of leader a country has determines the fate of the country and the lot of the people. When a country is blessed with a competent leader, resources are properly deployed, the people are connected to opportunities and the profile of the country soars. When a country has a competent president, talents are well-managed, the people’s energies are channeled into productive ventures and the country’s capacity is optimally utilized. Competent leaders turn possibilities into realities and convert adversity to prosperity.

Nigeria’s greatest challenge is not corruption, as bad as that is, but incompetence. It is incompetence that breeds corruption, not the other way round. Incompetence has been responsible for the high level of poverty and deprivation in the country. Nigeria has a humongous deposit of petrol, yet the country imports refined petroleum products. Nigeria has a huge gas deposit, yet this is flared while Nigerians have to depend on generators for electricity. Nigeria has the second largest bitumen deposit in the world, yet Nigerian roads remain among the worst in the world. The country is home to some of the most fertile soils in the world, yet Nigeria is the global poster boy for hunger. Nigeria is rich in gold, tin and many other natural resources, yet it is the country with the largest number of poor people in the world. Contrasted with Singapore, a country so deprived of natural endowments that it has to import water from one of its neighbours, Nigeria is proof that incompetence is a disaster.

The worst tragedy that can befall a country is the plague of an incompetent head. When a leader is incompetent, the people will wallow in poverty. When a country is governed by incompetent leaders, sicknesses and diseases will be prevalent. While incompetence may still be tolerable in low-cadre government officials because of their low-level influence, incompetence should not be contemplated in the president because his influence has a far-reaching effect. Rot in a fish starts from the head. So, a country is headed for the gulag if its president is incompetent. The decisions of an incompetent president take a toll on the nation and hold it back. More than anything else, leaders are supposed to make decisions that will propel their countries into prosperity and prepare them for the future. But if the decisions of a leader are wrong on a consistent basis, the only way for the country to go is south.

The major task of a leader is to hand over to his successor a country that is more virile, more stable and more prosperous than the one he inherited. But that is never the case with incompetent leaders. They weaken the fabric of the country, pauperize the people and make a minion of an otherwise strong nation. Unfortunately, the incompetence of a leader does not come to the fore until the nationals’ quality of life begins to deteriorate.

One of the attributes of a competent leader is creativity. Leadership is about solving problems and solving problems is about creativity. An issue is a problem because the solution is not obvious. If the solution to an issue is obvious, it would not be a problem. So, proffering solution to such issues would require creativity. Competent leaders have a creative approach to solving problems, the first thing they do is to change their thinking about the issue. This leads them to turn the matter around until they find an answer to it. Competent leaders are of the opinion that there is absolutely no problem that the human mind cannot find solution to. They believe that if man could conquer the moon, the ocean, the desert, and has been able to tame the wildest of beasts, there is nothing beyond the ability of man to handle. So, they never surrender to problems, rather they confront it until it succumbs to them. Competent leaders either find a way or make one; they do not believe that they can end up in a cul-de-sac.

Another attribute of competent leaders is that they are inspired to change the world. This makes them to see the world differently. They travel to the future, see what is possible in the future and begin to work towards its realization. Elon Musk has contributed immensely to the improvement the world has witnessed lately. He is the CEO of Tesla, the electric vehicle manufacturing company, whose focus is to produce environment-friendly vehicles in order to protect the world from the effects of global warming and other environmental challenges. He is also the CEO of SpaceX, an aerospace manufacturer and space transportation services company with the goal of reducing space transportation costs to enable the colonization of Planet Mars. While speaking on why he invests his intellect, energy and other resources in these areas, Musk said, “The thing that drives me is that I want to be able to think about the future and feel good about that. We are doing what we can to have the future be as good as possible, to be inspired by what is likely to happen and to look forward to the next day.” Nigeria needs a president who is inspired to change the country for the better.

Then, they are passionate about the people. Competent leaders put the people first. They are driven by the desire to improve the lot of the people. Their primary concern is not about their well-being or comfort but about making life better for their people. Nelson Mandela, after being sentenced to prison by the apartheid government of South Africa, was promised freedom if he could abandon the struggle to end apartheid. But because he was passionate about the people and concerned about their comfort, he spurned the offer and opted to stay in prison. Eventually, both the freedom fighter and the people became free. Competent leaders are so passionate about the people that they place premium on the people’s well-being.

So in 2023, Nigerians should vote for a competent leader that will maximally grow the people’s capacity, optimally utilise the country’s resources and passionately work for the citizens. It is that kind of leader that can connect the country to greatness.

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