By Gimba Kakanda
ABUJA (Sundiata Post) Again, a case for strong institutions
I insist that Nigeria doesn’t need an extraordinary leader to guide it towards the light of civilization, it doesn’t need – as we theorize here every day – a strong personality to overturn its fortunes. In fact, if you hire your favourite leader in history to supervise Nigeria in this fragmented state, he may go the way of Jonathan, the way of Babangida or the way of Buhari – clueless, corrupt or incapacitated.
If you trust a politician with building a strong institution, you are in for a misery. A politician, like a leopard, has a permanent trait: an ambition, which is settling for a decision or policy that does not disfavour him if left undisturbed.
A conversation with a politician friend a few years ago comes to him. He said, “My business is suffering because of this political office. I borrow money from my firm to pay for some of these projects I initiated.” Confused – no, amused – I asked, “Are you seeking re-election?” Of course, he said, and that the people needed him. So I asked him to make his revenues and expenditures public, at least to convince them he’s not tampering with their money, that he’s in fact an undisguised Santa. He laughed, and I laughed. He thought I was joking, but it’s a challenge he couldn’t take.
If you engage a James Ibori as a staff of, say, the Central Bank of a functional country in the West, he may turn out as effective, and law-abiding. He’s in a system he can’t flout rules, a system with a fiercely independent journalism and civically responsive citizens who won’t cite his ethnicity, region or religion to launch a “Stand with” campaign.
I’ve thought about this for years, and agreeing with it even more with this apparent failings of the Buhari presidency. I asked myself once, why couldn’t Buhari intervene to reverse those furiously criticized employment scams at our federal agencies? It’s because of a mindset of people like a relative of mine who said, “There’s nothing wrong with it, let him employ just his children. We trust him like that” or a Facebook friend who, reacting to my outrage then, simply said, “We don’t care, Buhari till 2023!”
It’s such manifestation of a glaring inability to think critically and patriotically that has led us to this path of chaos. Nigeria needs us more than it does the people we elect. It needs you and I, with our brains intact, our guts untamed, and also our patriotism unkillable, to innovate, and invent new ideas through engagements or conflicts with the powers that be – a critical mass. Yes, that’s the only “miracle” Nigeria awaits: a critical mass!
Source: Facebook/GimbaKakanda