Prof Attahiru Jega, Bayero University, Kano political scientist and one of the most acidic recent campaigners against ineffectual leadership is on the warpath again. This time, he is putting Nigeria’s fate or future of on the quality of leaders elected in 2023.
Prof Jega
As far as Jega is concerned in a Lecture at the University of Lagos March 27th, 2022, qualitative leadership determines whether the country develops or not, whether people live in peace or in pieces and whether popular needs and aspirations are satisfied or not. That is, he believes that a lot depends on how the leaders unite or divide citizens, how they inspire or demoralize and demobilize citizens; and how they harness and utilize national assets and resources to develop the country or how they destroy the country’s potential by reckless pursuit of self-serving objectives.
His argument is that if leaders lacks vision, are narrow minded and short-sighted, or are quarrelsome and self-serving, they would only constrain the country’s development; they won’t be able to unite and inspire citizens; they would rather divide citizens on ethno-religious or other primordial identities; they would wreck, vandalize, privatize or steal national assets and resources; and they would certainly be unable to address the fundamental needs and aspirations of citizens, with regards to human security, peace and contentment
Intervention recalls that, hitherto, Jega had singled out and dismissed the elite assemblage in the two most dominant political parties in Nigeria today, saying they have robbed democracy of any accomplishments because they are simply incapable of adding any values to leadership. Although the last but one Chairman of Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) did not name any specific targets in his outing, there are clearly those who would not be comfortable with the intervention.
This is more so that Jega is saying that Nigeria has been recruiting and/or appointing, electing inappropriate leaders, putting round pegs in square holes, thereby undermining rather than strengthening good and democratic governance.
A cartoon in ThisDay, one of Nigeria dailies depicting the journey to 2023
For these reasons, electing quality leadership in 2023 is the only way to put away the legacy of impoverished governance and arrested development for Jega who congratulated the University of Lagos Muslim Alumni Association (UMA) for choosing leadership selection for their 2022 Annual Pre-Ramadan Lecture held at the Jacob Ade Ajayi Auditorium in the university.
Said Jega in a paragraph that will torment his targets most, “Nigerian citizens belong to the category of unfortunate citizens of the world in whose country leadership, though in the context of a civil democratic dispensation, leaves much to be desired, in terms of a sustainable vision for our country’s development, selflessness in elective public leadership positions, competence and capacity to lead a country in the 21st century, and in terms of having an enlightened self-interest to galvanize and forge elite consensus on how to reposition, stabilize and develop the country on a sustainable basis”
There is an African saying, he argues, that asserts that “a wise cat that cares about tomorrow does not eat a pregnant mouse”! Jega insists the very fat cats in Nigeria were eating all the mice without discrimination or regard for tomorrow! Aside from thus suggesting that the elite in politics are so myopic they cannot see the dangers of their myopia, the professor of political economy calls such a very senseless act that cares neither for the human dignity of the citizens nor for the survival and sustainability of the country!
He then comes to the conclusion that all other things considered, Nigeria’s legacy of profound crisis of leadership is now crying for urgent resolution. Some put would not mind putting words in Jega’s mouth by replacing resolution with revolution. It has not been beyond Jega but he has not said so at the 2022 University of Lagos lecture, certainly not from the text of the Chairman’s remarks available to Intervention.
Instead of a revolution, Jega’s panacea is seizing the leadership recruitment processes and getting leadership selection election right. “And this needs to be done, at the latest, by the 2023 general elections”, he said, pointing out the urgency of rescuing politics political leadership from being about the only job for which no qualification appears necessary except to have a lot of money, usually, stolen money. He was endorsing a paragraph in a recent column by Prof Jibrin Ibrahim, a fellow political scientist.
Outlining why this should be done, Jega who spoke as Chairman of the occasion insists that the special purpose vehicle for getting into elections, namely the political parties, have been captured by so-called ‘money bags’, ‘godfathers’ and powerful patrons, operating undemocratically to install clients and otherwise very unprepared and untrustworthy people into elective positions as against the thorough preparation, competence and trustworthiness.
To accomplish this, every citizen has a role to play to bring about responsible and responsive leadership and good democratic governance, he said, adding that there should be no “Siddon-look” while bad people are having a field day in politics and messing it up, (his words).
Jega does not agree that politics is inherently bad but only as bad as the voters allowed it. “When we allow bad people to populate politics, it becomes bad, very bad”, argues Jega who calls on religious leaders, community leaders, civil society organizations and community-based associations, all enlightened, patriotic and well-meaning Nigerians to engage positively with the political and electoral processes, contribute to improving the leadership recruitment process and help nurture a better future for our country in terms of democratic governance and socio-economic development.
