Why Our Leaders Do Not Deliver - by Sunny Ikhioya

The challenges of Nigeria’s leadership have been examined at various fora and they are many. Not a few people are of the opinion that if Nigeria can cross over the leadership challenge, the country will, in no time, take its rightful place as a giant, in the comity of nations.

In this piece, I will touch on one very vital aspect of leadership, that has not been properly addressed by Nigerians.

I am referring to the Vision perspective. I want to submit that we have failed to deliver in our various initiatives because of the absence of visionary leadership. With the exception of the early founders – whose vision was freedom and universal adult suffrage, all others, since Gowon, have been leaders thrust upon us by circumstances of the times. People, who were not groomed and psychologically hyped to steer the ship of State. I will come back to this.


Vision is the picture you see ahead of you. It is the vision that will direct you to your destination. It is based upon the vision that you set goals and it will also determine your strategy- that is; how you intend to achieve your goals.

Our leaders have failed to deliver because they are not visioners, and because they lack vision, they have continued to lead the nation without a compass.

So, like Jonathan and his ministers, the vision is how each of the individual minister sees it. The one with the stronger character shines with his own – agriculture, works, finance- while others are subdued. Whereas, the over all vision and direction is supposed to be encapsulated in one policy document from the presidency, covering all areas of governance and how the programmes are to be executed.

There is no nation on earth, that has successfully developed without the input of visionary leaders. In the case of Nigeria, our leaders initially set out to free the nation from the grip of the colonial masters, and each one of our leaders then, who were more of regional/ tribal leaders than true nationalists, had perspectives of what they want their people to become.

Chief Obafemi Awolowo knew that for his Yoruba stock to come out strong in the comity of a united Nigeria, the people must first be educated and so, he made free education the strong point of his government, followed by strong agricultural policies, every other thing, that led to the dominance of the old western region in all spheres of life, developed from there. Awolowo sold his vision and programmes to his people, they bought it wholesale and got committed with doggedness. Today, the result of that exercise is very visible amongst the Yoruba race.

Whether you like it or not, the Yoruba politics is the most sophisticated amongst all the ethnic groups in Nigeria. You cannot fail to perform and expect to be re-elected, no matter how hard you try to rig. That is why they thrive in the opposition, unlike in a state, where the governor’s father had to beg for his son to be re-elected on resit basis, since you go for re-sit when you fail exams.

Ahmadu Bello had a vision of a united north – even with handicap of limited education- leading the political affairs of the country and so, he introduced deliberate policies to empower them by enrolling most of the willing youths in the military and the civil service. His united north did not discriminate between Christians and Muslims, so you had a very united north in the midst of the civil war crises. The vision of Ahmadu Bello in positioning the north for leadership can be seen from the strong position of the north, in the nation’s politics up till today.

Nnamdi Azikiwe wanted freedom for Nigeria as one united nation. That was his focus and he achieved it. Because of his example, so many southerners from the eastern region were encouraged to go to school and until the civil war crises, most strategic government positions were held by easterners. Even in the midst of persecution, the easterners have continued to hold their own in the comity of Nigerian nations. The only problem was that, Zik’s vision of one united Nigeria was not bought wholesale by his contemporaries from other regions and so, divisions according to ethnic thinking continued till this day.

Now that was the end of visionary leadership as far as Nigeria, as a nation is concerned. From Yakubu Gowon, every other leader was either forced on the nation or came in through coup de tat. Those who came in through coups pursued their personal agenda. They first came in the guise of messiahs, to sort out the corrupt, inept government but ended performing worse than their predecessors. So, we had Gowon, Murtala Mohammed, Obasanjo, Buhari, Babaginda, Abacha, thrust on the people, against their will. Soldiers who were trained to be disciplined, contented and die for the country’s cause, became the avenue for the pillaging of our common wealth. They took decisions that benefitted only them and their own people in the creation of states, land use acts, contract awards to friends and cronies, without even taking the people into consideration. For example; oil wells were allocated to friends, without consideration for the owners of the land the oil is drilled from, not even a percentage of the profit.

In fact, results show that every coup regime ended worse than its predecessor. They had no vision for the country, except their selfish ones. Thus, they all failed. That was the era when every new regime will begin fresh projects without bothering to conclude existing projects. It was so bad.

Shagari, Obasanjo, Yar adua and Jonathan were all thrusts on the people by the ruling cabals. Obasanjo was quoted as saying that he did not leave anything behind at the presidency, so he does no have any reason to go back, only for him to recant. Shagari had senatorial ambitions before he was persuaded to go for the presidency. Jonathan was already set to govern Bayelsa state before he was summoned upstairs. The same for Yar’ adua who wanted to return to lecturing.

The point to note is, all of them did not assume leadership with a deliberate vision to rule Nigeria, hence, they all did not perform to the expected standards.

To aspire to rule a country like Nigeria requires deep thought process, sound analytical mindset, deep sense of judgement,

As we look forward to future electoral excercises in this country, we must begin to search for people with the qualities listed above. Politicians must stop imposing leaders on the people. Let the prospective leaders sell themselves and their vision to the people and allow the people to decide.

Until we leave the contest open to the free choice of the people, our leaders will continue to fail us.