CRISPNG Parliament: Is Nigeria suffering leadership or followership problem at 63?

Leadership and followership are intertwined when it comes to governance, and Nigeria’s problems have been linked to both as the country grapples with  socio-economic challenges 63 years after attaining independence.

But is Nigeria really suffering a leadership or followership problem — or both?

In this edition of CrispNG Parliament, Nigerians share their views with Blessing Chukwuneke as the country marks its 63rd Independence Day.

Excerpts:

Sunday Elom – Journalist: If things are not going well in a country it is a combined effort of leaders and followers. Our leaders give us what we permit them to give us. From the start, followers granted leaders excessive freedom, allowing them to extend their influence beyond their intended boundaries. Followers have failed to realize that power resides with the people; we’ve given them ultimate power, making them believe they possess supreme control over us. Corrupt leaders do not act independently but rely on subordinate leaders or followers for assistance.

Who is truly responsible for election rigging—politicians or the people? For instance, during election rigging, followers are often the culprits, not the leaders. The leadership problem we are having is as a result of followership failure. You can’t be an activist with an unclean hand.

Our current suffering is the consequence of accumulated followership failures to hold leaders accountable. We criticize leaders for their poor performance, yet it is the followers who break the law, even in minor matters like obeying traffic rules.

Jabir Ridwan – Journalist: It always breaks my heart to imagine a time when Nigeria will be better, I wonder if things will change for the better if we continue on this path. Our people do not know their rights, and they do not want to be educated.

The politicians do not want the development of the country, they are always after their own selfish interest. Leadership is not about status but willingness to serve and make changes. I attribute the blame to the followers, because a leader can not assume power without being elected by the followers.

How do you expect someone was spent millions of naira to get into the position to care for you, he already paid you! The change begins with us, and I doubt the problem will be resolved, if we, the followers do not vote in the right leaders.

Joseph Chinagorom – Journalist: It’s both sides, but more on the path of leadership. Athough we have our problems, as sometimes we show that we lack the capacity to choose the right leaders, sometimes due to the poverty that even the leaders put us into, people vote in the wrong persons because of the immediate gain, there is a relationship between bad leadership and increment in poverty level.

It is mainly on the part of the leaders because they are the people who take the real policies that drive the nation. If they take the right decisions there will be economic prosperity, there will be quality health care services.

Generally, the leaders are the ones who show the desire to embezzle funds rather than fulfilling the promises they make.

Ola Solomon: I doubt if the leaders in the country are up to 5,000 compared to about 200 million Nigerians. When you have such a vast population, it’s not possible that they all will be wrong.

The issues we face stem from both sides, but tilts towards the leadership more. As small a local government or ward is, if we dig into the happenings there, you’ll be surprised. This does not mean that the people do not know their rights or do not want something good for themselves.

We have a leadership problem at the moment, I can say for sure that it was not there in the past. We grew up to hear of the exploits of Nnamdi Azikiwe, Obafemi Awolowo, and the likes and nobody from that era can actually say that there was a leadership problem back then. The things obtainable in the past are no longer available now.

Looking at how things are organised in the UK I wonder what price they paid to get to that pedestal. This doesn’t mean that they do not have leadership problems. When you have a process that imposes on you things that are not right, when you have a process that is designed to crumble, this is the kind of result that we get. Even when followers speak up, there is no guarantee that they will be be heard.

Presently, though I not loyal to any political party, I feel like the people are suppressed; you want to fight it, but the atmosphere is not safe. Endsars for example has been swept under the carpet.

People are urged to vote, but do those votes actually count? I’m yet to see an election where we don’t end up at the tribunal at various government. This takes us back to leadership problem, as leaders do not let the system work.