CHALLENGES OF POLITICAL LEADERSHIP IN AFRICA THE NIGERIAN PERSPECTIVE 1999 - 2009 A PAPER PRESENTED AT THE 2ND ANNUAL UAACAI

I INTERNATIONAL SUMMIT IN GHANA ON THE THEME; RE-ENGINEERING THE FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION AND INJUSTICE FOR GOOD GOVERNANCE AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENTAL GROWTH IN AFRICA BY DR. HON. ANTHONY CHUKWUDOZIE JIENDU iiin: A GOLD MEDALLIST INCORRUPTIBLE ICON AWARD RECIEPIENT AT THE MAIDEN ANNUAL UAACAI INTERNATIONAL SUMMIT ABUJA, NIGERIA 2008

Distinguished Guests I will like to quickly set the right altitude for the issue for discourse today by making clarifications of the three key underlying concepts in the topic, which are leadership, political and challenges to enable a clearer understanding of the subject matter. First is the word leadership which has received varying interpretations therefore defying one universally acceptable meaning. I will not be deterred however in giving a precise meaning to the word for the purpose of this paper. Leadership has been described as the act of conducting, directing, guiding, commanding and overseeing the activities of a group of people(1). It can further be termed a social process in the context of a functional relationship between people.

It is however not so much of what functions leaders perform that is seen as that relationship that arises out of that social process. More particularly, leadership does not depend on the activities of one person alone but on how people act together in a social relationship to make meaning of the situations facing them(2). Leadership can also be explored as the act of creating a way for people to contribute in making something extraordinary happen(3). Stretching it further, leadership connotes the process of social influence in which one person or group of people can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a desired common task(4). In all these, I cannot but get attracted to the definition by Allan Keith which describes leadership as an act of creating a way for people to contribute in making something extraordinary happen. At this point, let us pause to consider this important issue of who a leader is. Websters Dictionary and Thesaurus describes him as that person who goes first, a person whose example is followed(5). Applying this in the context of Political which is the next leading concept in the topic, it refers to leadership that is national and public oriented as well as civil in nature(6). The synthesis of the above clarifications is that political leadership must connote the ability of creating a way for people to change the situations facing them. These situations could be security of lives and property, provision of physical infrastructures and social amenities, good roads, health care facilities, education employment etc.

The last concept Challenges in the context of the topic describes situations or problems that stimulates efforts or calls for questions(7). At this junction, we are driven back to the problems of African leadership as could be experienced in the Nigerian perspective between the periods 1999 2009. Let us recall that on 29th day of May 2009, Nigeria marked her tenth anniversary for the restoration of democracy in the country after so many years of military dictatorship. Practically speaking, ten years ago, the then President of the country Chief Olusegun Aremu Obasanjo was sworn in after the last segment of Military rule then spanning 31 out of the 39 years of the countrys Independence 1960 1999. The transition was heralded by a euphoric ceremony in Abuja, the Federal Capital City of the country. There were jubilations all over the country that at last, Nigerians are off the hook of Military dictatorship. Beautiful promises were made by the incoming Leadership to address most of the ills identified as plaguing the nation much to the rising hope of the entire populace. Such promises include problems of epileptic electricity and petroleum products supplies, insecurity of lives and properties, high rate of unemployment, inflation, poor health care facilities, bad roads and so on. Amongst all these promises, the Government of Obasanjo must be given kudos for its economic reforms of which the major legacies were the writing off of its inherited $30 billion Paris Club debt(8), the Public Sector Privatisation Programme as well as the Telecommunication Sector revolution.

We will also acknowledge the successes of the regimes anti corruption crusade championed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC under the Chairmanship of Nuru Ribadu. Even though this police chief is now being criticised as then being a stooge to the Presidency, we must not loose sight of the great impact he made in fighting economic and financial crimes in the country during his tenure. Obasanjo spent a total of eight years in office and handed over to President Umaru Musa YarAdua leaving a larger part of his promises unfulfilled. When YarAdua assumed the mantle of leadership over two years ago, I personally heaved a sigh of relief and said alas for the first time, a trained university graduate is elected a President; a man I heard has beautiful integrity and decency. To me, this raised the possibility that Nigeria is now set to break this vicious circle of bad leadership that has defined the nations political landscape for decades. But how far YarAdua has gone to alleviate the Nigerian problems in the over two years of his office is becoming a source of great concern to the Nigerian people. The high optimism with which Nigerians welcomed him is rapidly evaporating due to worsening power supply, deteriorating public infrastructure, high level of corruption and impunity in public life, worsening situations in the Niger Delta, blatant electoral manipulation etc. It is not enough to have democracy for its own sake, we Africans rather need to analyse the quality of our democracies and find out how our

leaders have used it to improve the living conditions of the African people. The process of ascending to political leadership is a big challenge in Africa particularly in Nigeria. This problem is the major cause destroying the aged long tested good principles, practices and intentions of the democratic system of governance. In all cases where the processes remain corrupt, it is like building a house on a faulty foundation. Rather than yield any good dividend its collapse is a matter of time. In retrospect, let us reflect on the political upheaval and instability that followed the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election in Nigeria believed to have been won by late Chief Moshood Kolawale O. Abiola. An election that was both locally and internationally acclaimed to be the freest and fairest ever in Nigeria at that time and till today was voided. I do not intend to take you back to that history but to remind you that the very unacceptable situations at that period overtly reared their ugly heads in the 1999 elections though in different ramifications. Again and again we witnessed their repeats in the 2003 and 2007 elections that were landmined with thousands of election petitions and unending debates of who were party candidates after elections have been concluded and results declared. Not quite a few States experienced this situation where a person who was declared winner by the electoral umpire in an election and sworn in as a Governor of a State was upturned by the courts as not being the political

partys candidate and then replaced by another who was not even voted for in the first place to become the Governor. Or is it the very lengthy time it takes to adjudicate in election petitions which results in sitting Governors being thrown out by the courts as not having won the election after spending so many years in office. Do the Authorities ever think about the policy inconsistencies these types of absurdities constitute in the very system of governance? No matter the quality of legal or constitutional arguments canvassed for this kind of scenario, my honest view is that Nigerian democracy is not yet tidy. In resolving these absurdities, Nigeria needs an electoral reform that will see to it that election petitions are resolved before the swearing in of winners. Looking at most of the elections in Africa, these have been characterised by political violence, assassinations, thuggery, corruption, godfatherism, wilful manipulation of the electoral processes and total neglect of the mandate of the people as expressed in their votes. The deplorable dimension of these in the Nigerian perspective is what the world witnessed some few months ago in the inability of the country to conduct credible Governorship election in Ekiti State; a tiny enclave of no more than 2 million in population compared with South Africa which conducted a successful national Presidential election during the same period. Is this not a classical case of irony and contradiction for which this big brother nation of African continent should hide its head in shame? At the

end of the day, the Ekiti election remains a disgrace to Nigeria and Nigerian Leadership, but that is if at all they care. The issue of Millennium Development Goals have dominated public discourse all over the developing nations of the world. Issues that bother on higher life expectancy, improved standard of living, good health, higher level of literacy, social security and so on. But for centuries, African riches in gold, diamond, oil, fertile lands, good weather, intellect and other natural gifts have embarrassingly not impacted positively on the living conditions of a greater number of our people who continue to live in squalor, abject poverty and subhuman conditions and environments. Crime rate, school drop out, robbery, prostitution, drug trafficking, child labour and the modern day voluntary enslavement and slave trade in the form of human trafficking and illegal immigration of African youths to their so called Eldorado have remained on the increase over the decades making African nations poorer and poorer. The unfortunate madness in these are the unending armed conflicts, blood spillage, genocides, killings, maiming, refugee problems etc we have witnessed in Rwanda, Liberia, and Sierra Leone and continue to witness in Darfur and the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria. African youths have notoriously continued to be executed in hundreds of thousands annually at the Horn of Africa allegedly by the Egyptian and Libyan Governments for reasons of illegal immigration of fellow Africans into their countries.

This is happening in an era we are talking of a unified State of African Union, a common currency for Africa and a Trans African Highway. At an era when capital punishment is vanishing from the statute books of the civilised world, African Leaders continue to write history with the blood of fellow Africans for the mere crime of trespass. African leaders are bequeathing the legacy of blood and conflict to the younger generations and those yet unborn. Borrowing from the immortal words of Mr. Peter Obi, the Governor of Anambra State of Nigeria, is Africa cursed or are we the cause? Unless African leaders agree that it should no longer be business as usual and implement the Millennium Development Goals strategies in all its ramifications, its good intentions will continue to score zero in most of the African nations. Let us ruminate at this point on the evergreen and immortal words of late Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu of Nigeria who said . our enemies are the political profiteers, the swindlers, the men in high and low places who demand 10 percent: those that seek to keep the country divided permanently so that they can remain in office as Ministers or VIPs at least: those that make the country look big for nothing before the international circle: those that have corrupted our society and put the political calendar back by their words and deeds. Like good soldiers, we are not promising anything miraculous and spectacular. But what we do promise every law abiding citizen is freedom from fear and all forms of oppression, freedom from general inefficiency and freedom to live and strive in every field of human endeavour both nationally and internationally. We promise that you will be no more ashamed to say that you are a Nigerian(9).

It is the last statement in that speech which states we promise that you will no more be ashamed to say that your are Nigerians that caught my attention. The plea of every average Nigerian is that our leaders should make a way for us to contribute our quota in ensuring that we are not ashamed of being called Nigerians. Let them pilot the affairs of this country in such a manner that will make us proud Nigerians in truth and in spirit. This takes more than mere rebranding rhetoric to achieve. While I agree with the recent position of Professor Dr. Mrs. Dora Akunyili the Minister for Information in the present YarAdua Government that the bad product and image which the Nigerian nation has turned into needs rebranding, the starting point of its packaging for effectiveness, sustainance and realizability is from top to bottom. Nigerians have always been good followers as frequently demonstrated in their clamour for good leaderships. The problem according to the great novelist and noble laureate Professor Chinua Achebe is that of having good leaders to lead. Nigerian leaders therefore need a change. Attitudinal changes in mind, in spirit and in truth. The recent first African visit of the American President Barack Obama to Ghana last month July 2009 vividly drives home this point. Nigeria, the internationally acclaimed most populous African nation, the second largest economy and leading exporter of oil to the USA was ignored in this visit.

While I do accept the fact that Obama can go anywhere he chooses, however, in the area of foreign diplomacy and international relations, it is a source of worry that according to the White House, Obama has chosen Ghana to showcase good governance and support for a vibrant civil society. They furthermore noted that Ghana has had three political transitions with power changing from the ruling party to the opposition. The third reason was that the strength of Ghanas institutions assured respect for the rule of law and democratic freedom(10). Eventually, Mrs Hillary Rodham Clinton the American Secretary of State went on a sort of compensation visit to Nigeria on the 11 th day of August 2009 and to some other small African countries. The implication of this visit is that while Ghana has risen to a position of prominence in international political relations and savouring the euphoria of being the first over and above Nigeria to receive in their midst a new American President, of particularly African decent, the first of its kind in the history of America, Nigeria the big brother is licking its wound and wagging its tail in disgrace having thoroughly slumped to a back bencher position of receiving a mere servant of the President in the class of small African countries. Speaking on behalf of the American Government while on the visit, Mrs Clinton helped to underscore the points which Nigerians and ofcourse the entire civilised world have for the umpteenth time held against the Nigerian leaders on high level of corruption in the country, insecurity of lives and properties, weak political system and rule of law, and the failure of succeeding Governments to alleviate the suffering of majority of the Nigeria people.

Accordingly and without mincing words, the Foreign Secretary told the Nigerian leaders that what this No.1 nation of the world desires is ... to see the reinstatement of a vigorous Anti Corruption Commission. The EFCC which was doing well has kind of fallen off in the last one year. We will like to see it come back to be able to partner with us. If I may ask, could this not be an international vote of no confidence that the present Nigerian Leadership has not been doing well? Could it not be a clear message for both the present and succeeding future leaderships in the country to borrow a leaf from Ghana? Could it also not be a call for all institutions of leadership in the country to wake up and address these challenges of insecurity of lives and properties, fraudulent electoral processes, official corruption in high places, infrastructural decay and so on which I identify as the major reasons for the ongoing relocation of foreign investments from Nigeria to the safety haven of Ghana. Not only foreign investments, even Nigerians themselves have joined in this exodus through patronising Ghanas Universities for their childrens education. The same poor Ghana that must go from Nigeria some three decades ago has risen up to the challenge and is now head and shoulder above Nigeria. If Ghanaian leaderships over the past decades can achieve this for their country, who are Nigerians to blame for the continued mess in their own country? In conclusion, there is no gainsaying the fact that the biggest challenges of African leadership as we have seen in the case of Nigeria and Ghana is the political will to re-engineer positive changes in the way we do things.

While Ghana did it and is savouring the benefits, Nigeria is yet to wake from slumber and therefore continues to suffer the repercussion. As no nation can reach its true and full potentials without good leadership, what we need most in Africa in general therefore is effective result oriented leaderships in all the institutions of governance. Institutions that are devoid of corruption, nepotism and self enrichment. Institutions that guarantee social and physical security, that promotes socio-economic infrastructures and that which improves the human life. Institutions which according to Nzeogwu enable individuals to live and strive in every field of human endeavour. AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, INSTITUTIONS WHICH ACCORDING TO OBAMA ASSURE RESPECT FOR THE RULE OF LAW, SANCTITY OF LIFE AND TRUE DEMOCRATIC NORMS AND FREEDOM.

Dr. Hon. A C Jiendu iiin Dr. Arts, MBA, B.Sc, FCIMN, AMNIM, LPMP,

1. Geddes & Grosset, 2003: Websters Universal Dictionary & Thesaurus (Uk:) p.620 2. Michele Erina Doyle & Mark Smith: Explore the Theory and Practice of Shared leadership 3. Grint K 1997: Leadership, classical, contemporary and critical approaches (Uk: Oxford University Press,) assessed from htt://en.wilkipedia.org/wiki/ledership 4. Allan Keith of Genentech 5. Ibid p.281

6. Thesaurus supra p.641 7. Ibid p.96 8. Nasir El-Rufai 2009: Nigeria:- Political dynamics and prospects for reform. (A paper presented at the Center for Strategic International Studies) 9. Onyefulu, T O 2001: Code of Conduct for public officers in citizenship education in Nigeria (West and Solomon Publishers Co Ltd) p.71, Nigeria
10. Nasir El-Rufai: supra

11. This Day Newspaper, Nigeria, August 14, 2009, Vol. 14, No. 5227