Ernest Osogbue
I’m constrained by feedback received from my earlier piece of this same title to do a follow-up. Some who read the story were of the view that I shielded political leaders from responsibility. In that, I was more about what citizens need to do to make their lives better, without reminding political leaders of their responsibilities.
That is not exactly true. I made clear that political leaders could do well to provide basic social amenities like water, electricity, roads, rural infrastructure, and others that make life worth living. Before going further, however, I wish to clear up my understanding of leadership. A look at the Nigerian Constitution will show that you require only basic education to be the president. On the other hand, you require much more education to be the Vice Chancellor of a university or even a minister. This means that the Constitution agrees that the job of a VC or a minister is more relevant in the long run than that of the president. Hold on.
A president serves for a limited period prescribed by law. Also, the president is only a coordinator, and all he needs to do is to listen to the experts in each field and make the best decision for the country. This does not require too much education but requires basic leadership skills, which could be innate. A VC and a minister are expected to be experts before they attain such a position.
The challenge of the African society is that citizens leave to politicians what they should be doing for their country. Africans, albeit Nigerians are wont to point fingers at political leaders and accuse them of negligence, incompetence, and corruption, vices for which they too are guilty. Citizens do not stand up for their rights. They do not defend their professions but sit as armchair critics. For instance, if the president appoints an incompetent or corrupt person as the Attorney General and Chief Justice, legal practitioners should come together and fight until the person is removed. But instead, they sit and grumble. Do they expect engineers to defend the legal profession? The same thing happens in all other professions. Illiterate politicians have been deciding the direction of our educational system since independence, while professors stand by and complain.
Before and after President Buhari’s election, there were issues concerning his educational qualifications, and to date, those issues were never resolved. It follows, therefore, that the only official educational certificate that President Buhari has and is in the public domain is his primary school certificate. In the eight years of his administration, Buhari was telling professors, doctors, and others what to do. What kind of nonsense is that? No professional body stood up to a primary school certificate holder to tell him that this is not how things should be done.
There’s an over expectation from politicians and public office holders in Nigeria (Africa). There’s an impression that once you become the president, you own the country and can do as you please. This is not correct. The job of the president is to coordinate the decisions made by experts in different fields of national life. The challenge, however, is that because of the resources that political office holders control and the powers they wield in the public space, professionals who have more to offer society, become jealous and envious of them. They abandon their oversight role as custodians of societal values and begin to scrutinize contracts and appointments made by politicians. This is Africa’s biggest challenge. Professors forget that they are supposed to teach political leaders how to do the right thing. Professors were waiting for Buhari to lead and tell them what to do.
Something fundamental to democracy and leadership is currently going on in the US. President Donald Trump, in the exercise of his political powers, made pronouncements concerning some universities, including Harvard. In a twist which is still playing out in the courts, the president (Vice Chancellor) of Harvard University, Alan Garber, used his oversight to call President Trump to order, by telling him that he lacked the power to dictate the academic direction of Harvard University. That is how professionals should act; defend their turf. The president’s powers end where expert opinions start. That’s democracy.
The problem we have in Africa is that professionals have capitulated to the political leaders. Either due to long years of military rule or because they covet political patronage, or that they can not organize themselves. Professionals are so cowardly that they kowtow and bow to politicians who control and manipulate them. How can our society grow with such an attitude?
What should ordinarily be happening is that despite being the president of the country, professionals in the various segments of the society should be dictating what should happen in their specialist areas and then hold their ground. Unfortunately, however, this is not the case, and as a result, politicians run roughshod across the society, doing as they please. While professors and educated people are running for cover. Only to come out once in a while to make feeble noises as social critics.
This should not be so. Leaders in every segment of society should stand their ground on what should happen and have an oversight on what the political leaders do. It is only when this happens that our society can develop. A situation where a primary school certificate holder tells professors what to do because they are too cowardly to stand their ground should not be blamed on the political leader. The professionals should be blamed for being weak and cowardly. Nigerians blame politicians for poor power supply, but no one has asked professors of electrical engineering for the electricity template they designed and why they’re not fighting for it to be implemented.
If leaders in engineering, law, journalism, education, the military, the police, in technology, and other segments of society, come together variously and take a stand concerning their professions and decide not to be bullied by the political leaders, our country will be transformed.
For now, however, as long as professionals have either capitulated or are too cowardly, or unpatriotic to stand their ground before the politicians, our country will continue to drift in the wrong direction.
