Nigerians and the effects of change mantra

The survival of a nation depends on the good its leadership can bring to bear on the people of the nation. No nation is guaranteed continuous existence if her citizens wallow in abject poverty, hardship and adversity, especially if such nation is identified as having the potential human and material resources that guarantee greatness. For […]

The survival of a nation depends on the good its leadership can bring to bear on the people of the nation. No nation is guaranteed continuous existence if her citizens wallow in abject poverty, hardship and adversity, especially if such nation is identified as having the potential human and material resources that guarantee greatness.
For many citizens in civilised democracies around the world, an election is a decisive judgement about the future of their nations. For them, it defines one of the core values of democracy. If the election is free, fair and acceptable, the nation can continue towards democracy and peace.
Nigerians had a lot of expectations from the current government with the types of promises and manifestos they offered to Nigerians during their immensely populated campaigns across the country. From then till now, a lot has been said regarding the Buhari/Osibanjo administration in ruling the country; some of which I wish to throw some light on.
Ours was a democracy that strives upon filth. Leaders are selected rather than elected, electorates were subjugated rather than liberated, and results of casted votes were cooked up in someone’s sitting room rather than collated from the honest votes of the electorates, individuals were maimed and killed each time they attempt to defend their rights to bring to power, leaders of their choice. Now, more credibility and fairness can be attributed to our elections, and this was elicited during the chairmanship and counsellorship elections.
The ability of the leadership to lead and coordinate the numerous agencies that make up the state must be gained from the detachment of the office from the occupant of the office itself. The leaders should not be the office, but the office must be the leader. The office has the physical control of the territory that makes the nation a state; thus, collective decisions must be made, reasonable public services must be made available favourable relationship must be established to interact with other nation states as a full member of the international community. All these are getting better as the relationship between Nigeria and other outside countries within Africa and beyond have been cemented by President Buhari.
In the presidential media chat, President Buhari spoke like a leader who has total control over the affairs of his country and addressed each issue with the consideration of Nigeria as his country and its people his subjects at heart.
In this recent occurrence of the Naira depreciation issue, if Buhari had gone ahead to listen to some Nigerians who were clamouring for the devaluation of our volatile naira, things would have been different, but with his tenacious zeal to boost indigenous productivity and creativity. The escalated value of the dollar is now trimming lower.
It is in this light that I urge Nigerians to observe tolerance and persevere with Buhari, pray for him and support him for if we do not, change does not happen overnight, it is a gradual process. If we withdraw our hope from him, then our hope for change will be utopian. 
Zuleihat Yusuf writes this piece from Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University, Lapai, Niger State