The Nigerian Elites And The Crisis Of Leadership By Omano Edigheji, PhD

Chima Ubani, Alao Aka Bashorun,
Gani Fawehinmi and Beko Ramsome-
Kuti are in my thoughts. They were
heroes of the democratic struggles in
Nigeria. They were selfless
individuals who sacrificed personal
comfort for the common good.
They inspired me and we fought
together for a democratic order –
sadly, the foursome is today not with
us. The civil rule the country have
today is not the democracy they
envisioned and fought for. Chima,
Aka, Beko and Gani fought for a
democracy that will engender
qualitative improvement in the lives
of all Nigerians, not few, not
criminally connected individuals or
groups, not one religious or ethnic
group. They struggled for a
democracy that would guarantee
Nigerians access to quality education,
healthcare and good physical
infrastructure. These heroes struggled
for a country where every Nigerian
would have legitimate means of
livelihood. They fought for a country
that would enhance the productive
capacities of every Nigeria, both
human and natural. They fought for a
country where every Nigerian will live
in dignity. These democracy icons
struggled for a society of “producers”
not of “consumers”! These
compatriots struggled for a united
Nigeria and a society where every
vote will count. They struggled for a
society where the will of the people,
not Godfathers, is the basis of
governance. That is the nature of the
society they fought and sacrificed
their lives for. These giants of our
democratic struggle envisioned that
democracy will lay the foundation for
Nigeria’s progress and prosperity.
Today, the political space has been
hijacked by elements best described
as criminals, who terrorize the rest of
society. They have hijacked key levels
of the state, economy and society.
As an example, in the social sphere,
our religious bodies, especially the
churches are not spared this rot. We
have seen the emergence of Godless
Churches that worship the “Nigerian
God”. Churches that churn heavenly
things as piety while being pre-
occupied with worldly things. They
encourage and condone the looting of
our commonwealth by public officials,
some of whom are made elders in
these churches – the more public
official loots, the more prominent he
or she becomes in these churches.
Similarly, contractors who fail to
complete projects (leading to the
phenomenon of abandoned projects
and the consequent continued
underdevelopment of Nigeria) while
having collected the funds from the
treasury, occupy prominent places in
these churches. Such churches have
nothing in common with the
teachings of Jesus. They are places
of worship of the “Nigerian God”, to
borrow from Elnathan John. Other
religions in Nigeria are likely to have
variance of these elements among
themselves. These tendencies among
religious bodies have corrosive
effects on Nigerian moral values with
adverse consequences on
governance.
Nigeria is today a country where
poverty, inequality, under- and
unemployment are increasing. The
majority of our youths and graduates
are unemployed and unemployable,
the latter because of the poor quality
of education in the country.
There is a general acknowledgement
of the decline of the Nigerian
education system. Pass rate of WAEC
attest to this point. But this decline is
partly due to the neglect of the
education sector by successive
governments at all levels. As an
illustration, two months ago I visited
my Alma mater, Iluelogbo Grammar
School, Iluelogbo (now Owologbo,
which I attended between 1977 –
1983) in Isoko North Local
Government Area, Delta State. To my
surprise, I found the buildings
dilapidated; the library and science
laboratories closed; and some
students sitting on the floor. During
my time, as student of the school, the
second republic’ s administration of
Governor Ambrose Alli, ensured that
the school library was well equipped
with books and all classrooms were
well furnished. I and others,
including the current Secretary to the
Government of Delta State,
Ovuozourie Samuel Macaulay and a
current board member of the Niger
Delta Development Corporation,
Solomon Ogba, attended the school
under those conditions. I was
surprised to find my Alma mater in
such a dire state. I am sure most
schools, including higher education
institutions, in the country are in such
a dreadful state. Everywhere in the
education sector, there is a general
decline partly due to the neglect of
the sector by public officials, most of
whom were beneficiaries of better
quality education in past years.
Why are the elites, both economic and
political elites, neglecting and
destroying, a system that they
benefited from? Their predecessors,
in my case, the second republic
political leaders invested in my
secondary school education. Why are
current political leaders not investing
in the education system today?
How can our past education system
be better than that of today and
tomorrow? Any society that
progresses should ensure that its
today and tomorrow is better than its
past. That today’s political elite is
not investing in the education sector
destroys our tomorrow. Sending their
children to study overseas might
have immediate personal benefit, but
in the long turn if the education
system is not fixed, it might be
shortsighted for the elite and society.
This is because tomorrow, it is those
that attend the poor education system
today that will be in charge of key
state institutions as well as key
positions in the social and private
sector.. The likely results will include
further erosion of morality, poor
institutions that will be unable to
provide public goods and protect
citizens and their properties; and a
private sector that is unable to
compete globally.
Insecurity, including the emergence of
religious and ethnic militias, is
currently on the rise because of poor
governance. Our people are dying
because of poor governance. At the
same time, highly political connected
individuals are getting richer. With the
slightest illness they go abroad for
medical treatment and send their
children to schools in Europe and
North America. Ghana and South
Africa have been added to their list of
countries where they send their wards
to school.
The political and economic elites
however, have become victims of the
rot they created in the country (not
God’s wish), and if unaddressed will
destroy them. Insecurity in the
country has claimed the lives of some
of them. Some others have been
victims of kidnapping. Especially in
the South East and most parts of the
North, the elites cannot go back to
their home towns and villages
because of fear of being kidnapped
and because of the general insecurity,
including armed robbery. As a
consequence, they are holed up in
major cities such as Abuja and
Lagos. What this mean: insecurity
has stripped the elites of freedom of
movement in their own country.
The elites underestimated the impacts
poor governance will have on their
lives – they mistakenly thought that
money is everything. Because they
have access to medical treatments
abroad, they thought that the poor
health system in the country will not
affect them. Because they could send
their children to school overseas, the
political elite neglect the Nigerian
education system. That they could
buy generators for electricity, public
officials did not develop the power
sector. And because the elites could
afford to sink boreholes in their
homes, they failed to build the
required water facilities in the
country.
Furthermore, because the political,
administrative and economic elites
could hire private security guards,
they failed to equip the police to
become a force that can prevent and
combat crime. And because the
political and leaderships thought they
above the law, they destroy the
judicial system. And because they
can afford SUVs, the elites refuse to
develop our public transport and the
road and rail networks.
As noted above, the Nigerian elites
have become victims of their own
creation – poor governance. In their
shortsightedness, they forget that not
all illnesses will give them sufficient
notice to secure visas and flight
tickets before they strike. Heart
attacks do not give anyone the
privilege to acquire visas and flight
tickets before it hits you. The result
is that some among the Nigerian
elites have died unnecessary deaths.
Save for the dysfunctional healthcare
system, such people will have been
attended to in local healthcare
facilities and would have been saved.
That the Nigerian elite do not realise
this reflects their narrow mindedness.
Their recourse to foreign hospitals
also shows their lack of self-worth
and awareness. There is no society
where an elite with self-respect
resorts to overseas medical care as
the first port of call. An elite with a
sense of the self will ensure that its
national healthcare is able to cater for
their needs.
This is one area that the new black
elites in South Africa have done really
well. As a result, no one among the
South African political and economic
elites go overseas for medical
treatment. The well publicized
President Nelson’s treatments in
South African hospitals attest to this
fact. No ex-Nigerian leader will have
opted to be treated at home! Some
will argued that South Africa inherited
its good healthcare facilities from the
apartheid era. The point though is
that the ANC government since 1994
has not only expanded but also
improved the healthcare facilities it
inherited. To buttress this point, I
want to recount a personal
experience. Last week, I went to
Germiston Hospital in Johannesburg,
which I used to visit regularly
because my wife worked there in the
past. Going back there last week, I
saw that the hospital has been
expanded – with new structures and
facilities. I doubt if there has been
any such major expansion of any
hospital in Nigeria since 1999!
Today, South Africa has become a
medical Mecca for the Nigerian elites.
The excellent South African health
sector is a product of political and
economic elites that recognize that a
good national health system is
essential for their own survival and
for the general populace.
What the Nigerian elites failed to
realise is that there are certain goods
that have to be provided for society
at large because of their nature.
These include roads – roads cannot
be provided for individuals. The
Nigerian elites and ordinary citizens
use the same roads, even if the
former drive their SUVs. Unfortunately
because of our poor roads, the elites
are equally adversely affected. Some
prominent Nigerians have died from
road accidents, using SUVs
notwithstanding and others have
been seriously injured from road
accidents.
Of course, the elites have resorted to
air travel. Unfortunately for them, the
Nigerian aviation sector is one of the
worst in the world. Not all members
of the elite can afford private jets. As
a result, some political and economic
leaders use commercial airlines. All
Nigerians know the problems with the
aviation sector; including poor safety
records, delays of flights, and so on.
Majority of passengers who tragically
lost their lives in the Dana Air that
crashed about 2 years ago as an
example could be classified as
members of the elites. Also, flights’
delays not only affect the poor, but
also the elites – ministers and
governors; former ministers and
governors; senior servants and ex-
civil servants; CEOs and other senior
officials of private companies. In
these flight delays, a trip of one hour
is delayed for three or more hours,
which adversely affect both
professional and personal times.
Therefore if problems facing the
Nigerian aviation sector are solved
the elites have more to benefit than
any other group of Nigerians.
One of the consequences of the usage
of generators as a source of power is
environmental pollution and the
resultant climate change that
threatens our collective well-being.
The Nigerian elites breathe the same
air as every Nigerian. They are
therefore equally affected by
environmental pollution and climate
change. The recent flooding in some
parts of Nigeria, which was partly due
to climate change, did not spare the
properties of the elites in the affected
areas. That the political and
economic leaders do not realise this
reflects their narrow-mindedness and
poor leadership.
The elites have also been victims of
the absence of the Rule of Law.
Prosecution of political enemies is
common in Nigeria. In this context,
some among the political and
economic elites have suffered from
the arbitrariness with regard to the
Rule of Law that is pervasive in the
country.
In light of the above, even if the
economic and political elites “don’t
give a damn” about the Nigerian
people, they should give a damn
about themselves by expanding and
improving the country’s social and
physical infrastructure. They should
fix the health sector, education
system, roads, the railways, and the
aviation sector; and ensure that the
security forces are well staffed and
equipped. Instead of spending money
on condolences’ adverts and
spending billions on overseas’
medical care yearly, the economic and
political elites should invest the
necessary resources on our national
health sector. Instead of having
elaborate burial ceremonies, the elites
should immortalize their loved ones
who passed away by making
investments in the education sector,
including through scholars,
sponsorship of research, establishing
chairs, and so on. These they should
do for self-preservation or what is
generally known as enlightened self-
interest.
If they do these things and establish
inclusive political and economic
institutions it will be a demonstration
of purposeful and visionary
leaderships. Unless they do this, the
political and economic leaders will be
consumed by the rot they have
created in the country. In effect, good
governance and improved social and
physical infrastructure as well as
inclusive political and economic
institutions are not only needed by
the Nigerian people but by the elites.
If these are done, we will be moving
closer to the democracy that Chima,
Gani, Aka and Beko envisioned and
fought for.

• Dr Edigheji is Executive Director of
the newly established think-tank,
Centre for Africa’s Progress and
Prosperity (CAPP), based in Abuja,
Nigeria. Follow me on twitter
@omanoE
email: Omanoee@gmail.com