Nigerians are tired of ‘political’ leaders ­­— Tsado

Mathias Tsado started his career as a banker before he resigned to set up the Hope Platform Initiative, a platform that wants to see a generational shift at the nation’s highest office. He spoke with MUHAMMAD SABIU about the platform, the problem of leadership in this country and why he feels the youth should take over power in 2019 from the present crop of ‘political’ leaders. Excerpts:

 

As one person belonging to  the Northern minority, do you subscribe to the view that the minority should be given the chance to contest for the position of  the president in the next dispensation?  

As regards to minority ethnic groups in Nigeria; My views about marginalisation in Nigeria are quite unique, majority of Nigerians see leadership as a platform for settlements and sharing resources, particularly to their immediate family members and cronies, a view which has eaten deeply into the fabrics of our national structures, so everyone seem to want to project a movement that secure his group or his ethnic groups so that they have unfettered access to the national treasury,  when governance is about deliverables, it has nothing much to do with the tribe and religion of the leaders, the resources are transparently distributed and judiciously put to use for the benefit of all. Once we begin to think along this line, our views about marginalisation would gradually begin to change, secondly, we also need to look at the issue of state of origin, I believe if we allow people to settle wherever they like and are given the opportunity to attain any height in their career both  professionally and politically it would help us to address the issue of marginalisation, we have to focus more or meritocracy than we do now federal character, but most importantly, we must ensure that governance is not about wealth accumulation but about the ability to affect the lives of the people on the streets.

 

You launched the Hope Platform Initiative apparently out of the resolve to change the system. Can you tell us whether you have made some progress and what do we expect?

Yes, the platform is a group of young people that came together because they are concerned about the value system of Nigeria which is fast deteriorating. So, we came together because we believe that there is the need for us to have that check. Those of us that grew up in the 80’s and 90’s, we remember that we have these certain values that we held supreme, the kind of parenting we got at that time and the exposure, we had the privilege to attend public schools from primary up till university.

So, we have this value relationships, norms. I remember trekking from my house to the school with my mates without even knowing that the time has gone and all these things disappeared. That people started building houses with high fences, children could not relate anymore, we felt it is important for us to begin to look at how these things are, so we started this programme and started training people to have to know the right  values .

Also, we discovered the failure of leadership in the country to provide the leeway. So, we wanted to raise a new generation of leaders that are concerned with integrity, excellence, patriotism, and dedication to service. So, why  do we need to raise the new generation of leaders? Today, everything we see about leadership is that of merchandising not the people. We told ourselves that we need to train ourselves in order to have models in terms of good leadership and good governance.

 

Talking about leadership, what kind of leaders do you think this country needs or lack?

First of all, I am an ardent follower of Lin Quan Yu and Nelson Mandela. I have read the biographies of these two great leaders. I think whoever wants to lead should read their history and learn from their leadership qualities. It baffles me to think that we have people who have shook hands with these two leaders and even ate with them, but could not understand the kind of people they were.

Thus, what we need in Nigeria today is a visionary and  compassionate leader. We need a transparent, accountable and an inspirational leader. We must have a leader that has the ability to inspire people, but the moment a leader fails to inspire his people, he has lost that leadership attribute. That’s the kind of leader we lack in this country.

Today, people look at those in government with distrust. Recently, when I was watching  television, I listened to  a prominent politician saying he still wonders why Nigerians believe in campaign promises. So, what this statement  implies is simple at the campaign rallies our politicians lies. So, it means that link, that trust is shattered. Today, every one is on his own, providing for himself what he can afford. So, what we need at this moment is leaders who are truly and selfless. Who understands that at this point, we need to bring every body together as a team. This country has to run as a team not as opposing forces.

A leader that has the capacity that when he speaks, the people would genuinely feel at home with him and feel connected to the person.  So, over the years we have seen leaders who came with superpower mindset that they wanted to solve the problems confronting the country, but when they came into government by issuing decrees and what have you, but in the 21 st century you cannot do that. At this century we don’t need leaders who will build bridges, we don’t need leaders who will build schools, we don’t need leaders who will build the  health care sector, but a leader who will get us involved in building these structures. We need a leader who can be able to communicate with us. As long as we don’t have such kind of leaders things cannot be right in this country.

Really, what is needed now is for us to understand clearly that at this point, we are not in need of a political leader. We are in need of statesmen who truly have the affection and the understanding, it has nothing to do with age but has to do with the person’s competence, character, capacity, determination and discipline he had acquired. Basically speaking, if we can have these kind of leaders in our country, we can move forward.

 

Looking at the two dominant political parties that is the All Progressives Congress (APC)/ Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), can we  say they have provided good leadership since the return of democracy?

They are certain things we have got fundamentally wrong that is leadership. Do these people understand what leadership means? Sitting with many of them, having a conversation with them and watching them on television and reading them in newspapers, I wonder if we are talking about traditional leadership or cultural leadership or even political leadership.

One very critical thing that is important in the 21st century is your ability to communicate with the people. In this country, it is a privilege for you to hear president speak to you. It is very rare. In other parts of the world, you get to hear the president talking to his people every blessed day. Here, you are not going to have a press conference but you will get  only press release from the aides of the president.

When this press release come, there is no interaction between the newsmen and the president. This is not what we envisage. They think that leadership is about sharing the national cake. We told them leadership is about planting  a  tree, so that all of us will be able to benefit from the fruits after we have laboured together to water the tree. Whether the fruits comes in our generation or not, generations that will come will benefit from the tree.

So, if Iam going to answer your question directly, whether APC/PDP  have provided meaningful leadership for Nigerians  to some extent they have done the part they were supposed to do. They have played their part to the best of their knowledge and understanding. The fact that the country has remained one and the country has continued to exist, I give kudos to both parties. Apart from that, I don’t think they have done wonderfully well.

 

Are you as a young Nigerian ready to vie for the office of the president if given the opportunity?

This is a very good question. I will not wait to be given the opportunity I have been nursing that idea since 2014. This was the reason we set up the Hope Platform Initiative to create awareness among the youths on the need to have a generational shift . When I thought of trying to take a leap on the nation’s highest office, I cried for 30 minutes. I felt that something was missing in this country.

We have all the ingredients to be great, but the man who is going to fix the country and ensure things are done right is missing. I was inspired with what I saw around me. When I saw the rate of poverty, when I saw the dilapidation in our educational system, when I saw the porous state of our health care, when I saw the number of young energetic unemployed graduates, I told myself I can’t live in this generation and refused to stand up for something. I think my going into politics is for service. I think I was born to be part of those who will proffer solutions to the problems confronting this country.

I have prepared my blue print. A lot of people have been asking me about it, but I feel it is not yet time to make it public. It is not only about blue print, but I have the implementation architecture. The implementation is very critical, it tells one how he intends to solve these problems not listing them as the case may be.