With a population that is fast edging towards the 200 million people mark, Nigeria is one of the most populous black nations on earth. Not only is the country blessed with amazing natural and mineral resources, it is one of few countries of the world that has very friendly weather all through the year. The irony of being blessed with abundant natural and mineral resources is the fact that we lack leaders with clear vision to take us out of the woods.
It is sickening that a country of nearly 200 million people can’t find or have a leader with vision at the helm of affairs. Our leaders are amongst the best travelled in the world. Our leaders are globetrotters, but still find it difficult to import ideas into our dear country. No governor in Nigeria travels to other countries in search of ‘foreign investors’ without a minimum of 100 members as entourage; yet the country remains in a sorry state. Debts continue to pile up, while the unemployed continue to engage in wasteful ventures. Our politicians only take pride in turning our youths into political thugs.
Our ivory towers have been turned into places where half-baked graduates are made every year. Our so-called ‘leaders’ only take pride in uploading pictures of their children graduating with first class from reputable higher institutions abroad. No one cares about the rot currently taking place in our public higher institutions of learning. No real leader folds his arms when workers are being owed months of salaries and wages. No real leader would celebrate his birthday in the midst of his mistresses in a romantic island when his people are dying of hunger.
Our hospitals lack basic facilities, while doctors embark on endless and meaningless industrial actions to the detriment of the lives and wellbeing of patients. How can a visionary and people-oriented leader not be bothered about doctors and teachers embarking on very long industrial actions? A leader who boards the next available flight to the United States or Germany on the flimsy excuse of having cold lacks human feeling, and is not worth being addressed as such.
As I write this, millions of civil servants in various states are being owed months of salaries, with no hope of getting paid in the next couple of months; yet we have leaders who can afford to rebrand bottles of champagne in their names.
Wanted! A visionary leader for our dear nation Nigeria—perhaps, we could yet find one while there is still time.
