LEADERSHIP AND THE CHALLENGES FACING OUR GENERATION

This is a speech i gave at the 1st Zaria Old Boys Association gathering on Leadership and the challenges facing our generation.




PROTOCOL

GOOD DAY TO YOU ALL.
Please permit me to start by expressing my profound gratitude to those present here in our midst that have found time from there tight and busy schedule to be with us as we mark the birth of the first Zaria Academy Old Boys Association gathering. I thank you for the honor and privilege of addressing you. It is indeed a great privilege for me to address you and an opportunity to be in your midst and to speak of issues which continue to agitate the minds of all of us. I also want to quickly thank the Executive members of the ZAOBA for the visionary step they have taken to bring this great gathering into reality.

As I look across this room, today, I am instantly reminded, in all humility, of the great opportunities before us and our dear country, well as the enormous challenges we face in the difficult task of being the future leaders of our great country. As complex as these issue may seem, as difficult and as numerous as they may appear, as controversial and as they sometimes are. I am comfortable and convinced by the very fact that this is the proper audience with enlightened minds and perhaps the “best and brightest” of our generation to deliberate and come up with positive solutions. Please where my views or perceptions of these issues are not in accord with yours, I crave your indulgence and mercy not to be angry or sentimental but rather be passionate, considerate and objective, for I am full of confidence that in the eventual differences, we are in unity in the objective struggle and commitment towards a good, focused and progressive leadership in our motherland Nigeria. Our cultural and ethical diversities has train us to take sides. Whichever side we are, the attainment of good and progressive leadership in Nigeria should be our ultimate objective.

There has never been a time in modern Nigerian history when the issues of leaders and quality leadership have been so important than now. The need for a Nigerian leadership that has the competence to comprehend the threats, challenges and opportunities of globalization, the imperative of democratization and good governance, the vision of a preferred future and the capacity and commitment to realize it, is clearly crucial. In light of the enormous problems and challenges facing Nigeria today, the current generation of Nigeria leaders has been subjected to severe criticism. It can not however be said that they have bluntly failed us as citizens and the country at large. To do so would be both unrealistic and unjust. Some of our leaders today respond to the problems confronting the nation in the best possible way they can while others pay no regards to them. There have indeed been successes and failures.

Time changes, opportunity come and go so is the case of effective leadership. Perhaps you would permit me to borrow a phrase from the great literature icon; Shakespeare as he puts it in his own words: “Time and Tide waits for no man”. Each situation and a problem is a combination of continuity and change. The current generation of Nigerian leaders have to a very large extend failed to respond effectively and positively to the challenges of change. For various reason our leaders today lack the capacity to fully comprehend the long-term implications of the domestic and global changes, the problems facing us and the competence to provide sustainable solutions. More unfortunately or even disheartening is the fact that they have failed to create conducive environment that would enable the continuous evolution of succeeding generations of young Nigerian leaders with competence, integrity, vision and commitment to the course of service. My great audiences don’t be discouraged by these facts.

Today we live in a world of continuous changes. Change is a fact of life. But changes create fears and insecurity as well as challenges and possibilities. What has distinguished the successful countries from those that failed is the mere existence of leaders with the capability to anticipate changes and to respond to them positively. Looking back, we can see that the successful countries have been those whose leaders had the capabilities to identify or anticipate important changes in the global market-place of goods, services and ideas and also responding to them timely and effectively.

The problems confronting our country today are complex and deep-rooted to history. And that is why today the outside world views Nigeria as a poor and under-developed country primarily because our leaders have failed to respond effectively and timely to changes, challenges and opportunities in the domestic and global market-place. Nigeria is where it is today because not just the leaders but we also as citizens have lacked the requisite capabilities, the political will, or both to effectively respond to the changes, challenges and opportunities that have confronted the country in the course of modern evolution. This may not be unconnected to our cultural and religious sentiments of blind respect to leaders irrespective of there performance and moral standards. A pity indeed!

The present negative image of Nigeria as a country in deep troubles of corruption and lack of public accountability and of Nigerians portrayed as a people unable to solve their problems is unhealthy and damaging. Though thanks to the courageous work of a controversial man who I have great respect for. Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, who has over the years tried so hard to redeem the international image of our nation.

My dear audience, it is not my intention to keep you this long just to listen to my not so long speech, the fact is a lot is at stake for our country to move forward, I will not do justice to my conscious if I continue to keep these facts to myself. It is time we start talking! Like I have mentioned earlier in my speech, I am greatly honored and highly privileged to stand before such a gathering of intellects and highly educated young men that I consider the best and brightest of our generation. I have so much confidence that with our generation of future Nigerian leaders that is better educated, well conversant with domestic issues and understand the threats, challenges and opportunities posed by globalization there is great hope for our tomorrow. I also want us to acknowledge the critical importance of freedom, democracy, strong civil societies, good governance, accountability and transparency in our quest for a better tomorrow.

To me the struggle for national and human liberation are historical facts to be acknowledged but the consequences of the failure of the current and some past generation of leaders to deliver to their promise is something we all have experienced. We are understandably angry, impatient and frustrated. I AM UNDERSTANDABLY ANGRY, IMPATIENT AND FRUSTRATED! I believe that we have a better sense of what needs to be done to prepare for the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century.

Let’s keep the hope alive and work for the unity, progress and continuity of the entity called Nigeria. “The struggle continues and Victory is certain”

Thank you very much for your patience and attention.