How quality leadership different from good politics – SDP’s Adebayo

Leader of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Prince Adewole Adebayo believes there is difference between quality leadership and good politics, declaring that Nigeria’s problem is basic and could be solved within four years.

Adebayo, however, lamented that people always think that politics and governance are the same thing.

He noted that there is a marked difference between politics and governance, stressing that one could be adept in politics but a total failure in governance.

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“If governance fails, everything will crumble. So, politics and governance are two different things. There are people who can be in governance who are not avid in politics, but they are very good,” he added.

He cited an example with Lagos which used to have the best water in the English-speaking world due to governance, not politics.

“If you read the colonial journals, if you are coming from London, they say, no, no, don’t bother. Once you get to Lagos, you can drink water from the fountain anywhere. It’s safe,” he stated.

He emphasised that the people who were behind all of that and those who built the waterworks were not politicians because if you ask them to stand up and speak, they wouldn’t know what to say but they were good in the water.

“The people who came up with the best idea for education were not good in politics, but they knew how to educate people. So, the role of politics is that you will select those who are politically communicative and bring them to your political party. Then, you also select those who are very proficient in the areas of life and who can say farewell to poverty and empower the people that can uplift the nation,” he said.

He noted that to be able to deliver good governance, one must be able to bring together talented individuals with fantastic political communication and political organizing abilities and not necessarily people who are good in politics.

He added that in addition to having the leadership skills to manage resources, such persons must also have some levels of altruism because to succeed in politics one must be willing and ready to do the required things.

“This is because, in politics, you do things that don’t affect you. Altruism is what makes a soldier die in a war that doesn’t have any personalistic aim. Altruism is what makes you build schools for children that are not yours.

“That altruism is what will make you build a national institution. But, the opposite of altruism is what makes you appropriate what was built before you came and now put your name on it. It’s all part of the problem. So what you need to learn is that offering good governance is not difficult. Our problems are basic.

“We have solved them before in our civilisation. In the past, we used not to be hungry at all.

“We have had civilisations that are secure to the point where women would go to the stream, fetch water, and play around. Nobody would worry about them.

“So, we can do it again. I don’t want you to think that our country is beset with unsolvable problems. None of our problems can last longer than the life of one administration that is committed and serious,” he said.

He used what the FCT minister, Nyesome Wike is doing to prove that the country’s problems can be solved in four years if the leadership in Nigeria is committed and serious.

He said: “It shows to you that if the person in charge of communication does that, education does that, health does that, it is easier to transform a developing country than a well-developed country.

“So the idea that we need to be patient should be properly defined. It is a patience that is strategic, not just being patient. For example, if you are into construction and you do a concrete deck, you have to wait 21 days for it to dry. That is strategic patience. But you cannot say I’m waiting without pouring the concrete. You must pour the concrete first and then wait.

“So our leaders who say we should be patient, must do something which we are waiting for. A mother, who is cooking jollof rice for the children will tell them, wait for 30 minutes or one hour. They will be patient because they see that the mother is cooking. But if she’s lying on her bed and making telephone calls, they are going to worry.“