In this series, we have already considered three attributes that Nigerian electorate should look out for in who they elect as the president in 2023. The need to elect the right person as president in 2023 can never be over-emphasized because the quality of the president determines the quality of life Nigerians would have. If we elect the right person in 2023, things would begin to turn right in the country. But if the people make the mistake of voting in the wrong person, not only would the next four years be more difficult than the past seven, the seed of hardship for coming generations would have been sowed. So, electing the person with the right attributes to lead the country is sine qua non to having a strong country structurally and economically.
In 2023, Nigerians need to elect a courageous president.
Without courage, the best a person can be is ordinary. Without a courageous leader, no country can transit from the third world to the first world. It takes courage to run with a vision, it takes courage to rally people behind a vision, it takes courage to be innovative, it also takes courage to take tough decisions. So, without courage, nothing much gets done. That is why Aristotle posited that courage is the mother of all virtues because without it you cannot consistently perform the others.
Nigeria needs a president that will be courageous enough to tackle corruption, sort out the nation’s electricity problem, fix the refineries and end insurgency. Nigeria needs a president who is not afraid to step on powerful toes and will not shy away from slaughtering sacred cows. Nigeria needs a leader who is daring and patriotic enough to champion power devolution and restructuring of the polity. Nigeria needs a leader who will not, because of second term considerations, focus on the expedient while neglecting the essential. The expedient is routine, the essential is what transports a nation into greatness.
To be courageous, a leader must have two virtues; competence and character.
Competence breeds confidence, which also produces courage. A president who is on top of the situation in his country will be able to take well-informed decisions and reject injudicious counsel. A competent leader will be able to challenge the status quo, try new things and tread where angels dread because of his knowledge edge.
A strong character is a product of integrity. Integrity is adhering to the highest standards in all situations. Courage is the first casualty of unethical leadership. A president who cannot check his own excesses will find it extremely difficult to rein in his aides. His moral deficit will rob him of the courage to do the right things because he knows that the basis of his action could be easily challenged. So, he lacks the courage to go against the grain; he cannot afford to defy the odds. Neither does he have the courage to follow his heart when everything looks bleak because he knows that his cupboard is filled with skeletons.
Dr Goodluck Jonathan had the chance to be the father of modern Nigeria; providence handed him an opportunity to lay the foundation for a stronger and better Nigeria but he floundered the chance for lack of courage. As the sitting president, Dr Jonathan on March 17, 2014, set up a National Conference to fashion out “the structure and guiding principles of state that will guarantee our emergence as a more united, progressive and prosperous nation.”
The conference cost the country N7billion and the participants invested their time and intellect, coming up with propositions that have been the yearnings of the people over the years. The Federal Government went ahead to set up a seven-member Presidential Committee on 2014 National Conference “to develop appropriate strategies for the implementation of the report of the National Conference” and “advise the government on all matters necessary for the effective implementation of the report.”
However, the report was not implemented by the Jonathan administration because the then president felt that some influential persons in the country were opposed to it and would not support his second term plan should he go ahead to implement it, though he himself admitted that the report had the answers to the country’s nagging problems. Although the former president later said he did not implement the report because of shortness of time, the real reason was that he did not want to step on some powerful toes in the country. He knew that he did not have much time when he embarked on the process towards the end of 2013. Because of his lack of courage, he missed what would have been the finest point of his presidency and the turning point for our country.
No leader without courage can transform a country.
President Muhammadu Buhari also missed the opportunity to be one of the greatest leaders Nigeria has ever produced when he failed to seize the opportunity to end the subsidy regime when he balked at the plan to stop the national hemorrhage by June this year.
The Buhari administration had earlier perfected the process of ending fuel subsidy which has cost Nigeria trillions of naira that could have been used to develop the nation’s much needed infrastructure, improve healthcare delivery, end the menace of out-of-school children and create employment opportunities for millions of Nigerians. But President Buhari backed out of the plan because, according to the Finance Minister, Zainab Ahmed, the timing “is problematic”. But in the real sense, timing was not the issue but the president’s lack of courage to take tough decisions about putting those managing the NNPC on their toes. Since the coming of President Buhari, Nigeria has spent billions of dollars to repair the nation’s refineries, yet the country still imports 100 per cent of its refined petroleum products. The country spends billions of naira monthly on NNPC staff as emoluments, yet the country cannot refine just one barrel of crude oil. Between January and March this year, NNPC did not remit any money into the federation account because of fuel subsidy. How can we continue with a system that makes it possible for a few to continually fleece the country? The failure of President Buhari to end the subsidy regime was not because of his love for the average Nigerian but due to his lack of courage to deal with those who are holding Nigeria hostage.
No country can prosper without a courageous leader.
For Nigeria to move past its immediate past and its current reality, Nigerians must elect a courageous president in 2023.
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