My prayers for Bola Tinubu

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For the incoming president, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the jamboree and jubilation will be over by the time he takes the oath of office tomorrow. Then, the burden of shepherding the over 200 million people in the country will rest squarely on his shoulders. Before now, the president-elect could afford to point fingers at others for whatever was not going well with the country. He cannot do that any longer. As from tomorrow, everybody will look up to him for direction. His responsibility will be to see that things go right with, and in, the country.

This is not a mean task considering the country’s state of affairs. So many things need to be fixed; energy supply, roads, education, economy, security etc. We have a huge infrastructure deficit, a high unemployment rate, a very high inflation rate, a high number of out-of-school children, a high number of multi-dimensionally poor people and a high rate of insecurity, among other challenges. But we cannot fix everything at once. No leader can solve a country’s problems in one fell swoop. This is why vision is essential. Vision is the compass that takes a people from where they are to where they ought to be. The generality of the people see things in part but the leader has the whole picture. The essence of this vantage position is for him to know what is critical and what is not. Therefore, it is essential that a leader is visionary. With vision, he is able to decide which programmes and projects have the greatest impact on the people. Without vision, progress is impossible as the rule of the thumb would be the order of the day. Nigeria needs to be freed from her cyclical journey that leads nowhere. Therefore, I pray that Almighty God will give our president the vision to know what to do to get us out of the rut we are in.

Having a vision, however, is just the first step; the President needs much more than that. He needs to know the problems to solve just as well as he needs to know how to solve them. This is where wisdom comes in. Leaders have come and gone and they all seemed to know what was wrong with the country but when offered the opportunity to steer the ship of the state, they floundered and failed to fix the state because they lacked the requisite wisdom to solve the problem. Wisdom is knowing how to solve problems, not just identifying problems, and this is a requirement for anyone who aspires to lead a people. As Bola Ahmed Tinubu commences his presidential journey tomorrow, I pray that the Almighty will endow him with the wisdom he needs to be a problem-solving leader.

But having the wisdom to solve the nation’s many problems is not the ultimate; the President also needs the courage to deploy the wisdom as appropriate. Many leaders aspire to high offices with great intentions. But on assumption, they realize that certain forces are staunchly opposed to the actualization of the changes they had planned to effect. In many cases, the great ideas are interred at that point because the leader is reluctant to step on toes and hurt some people. But it takes a leader with a large dose of courage to move against established people opposed to his plans and dislodge them in the bid to do what is right for the people. This is why Maya Angelou says, “Courage is the most important of all the virtues, because without courage you can’t practise any other virtue consistently. You can practise any virtue erratically, but nothing consistently without courage.”

I pray that the Almighty will give Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu the courage to do what is right for the country and its people.

While courage is critical to his success as President, Tinubu will need to balance this with compassion for the people. Most times, courageous leaders subject their people to unintended afflictions. In their stride to right age-long wrongs, they trudge on, not minding whose ox is gored and, in the process, they leave many hapless people saddened and wounded. While courage is indispensible for those who want to effect positive change, there is the need to balance this with compassion. A compassionate leader will always review his policies to see how they impact on the weakest members of the society with a view to protecting their interests. If the vulnerable are left unprotected, governance loses its heart.

So, it is my prayer that the Almighty will give the incoming President, Bola Tinubu, the enablement to be a compassionate leader.

Finally, a bird does not fly with a wing; the president must of necessity work with a team. However, the team can either make or break his government; the team can either improve the lot of Nigerians or dd to their pains. So, it is essential that he picks the right set of people to work with him to birth the change that Nigerians crave. Going by the number of people who are already jostling for cabinet and other positions, the incoming President needs the guidance of God to choose those who will work for the good of the country, rather than use their assigned positions to feather their nests. Therefore, I pray that God will give Bola Ahmed Tinubu the divine ability to pick a team of people whose priority will be to serve the Nigerian people to the best of their ability.

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