The 2022 Committee and Nigeria’s leadership crisis

Last Thursday, this newspaper reported that “14 governors, captains of industries, ministers and pressure groups  have come together under the aegis of the 2022 Committee” at a retreat in Lagos to generate “new ideas and strategies” that aim to save Nigeria. The report described the meeting as comprised of Nigerian  leaders from various walks of […]

Last Thursday, this newspaper reported that “14 governors, captains of industries, ministers and pressure groups  have come together under the aegis of the 2022 Committee” at a retreat in Lagos to generate “new ideas and strategies” that aim to save Nigeria. The report described the meeting as comprised of Nigerian  leaders from various walks of life “who have risen above religious, political and ethnic considerations to build consensus around issues of the economy, national security, governance and other critical areas of national life”. So far, Nigerians’ reactions to the group’s move have been rather mute or indifferent.

Daily Trust on Sunday welcomes any initiative that brings the question of the form and quality of leadership in Nigeria to the frontpage of national politics in an election year and we commend the 2022 Committee for this bold step. However, Nigeria has failed to realize its potentials precisely because quality leadership at the subnational levels has all but disappeared completely. So, a group comprising 27 former and current governors, and others, that seeks “to chart a new course for the country” must publicly acknowledge and accept their share of the blame—individually and collectively—for the failures of the past. That must be the starting point for the 2022 Committee.

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And then, there are a few other things. In his 1984 polemic, The Trouble with Nigeria, Nigerian celebrated novelist and writer, Chinua Achebe, declared that “the trouble with Nigeria is simply and squarely a failure of leadership”. That was almost four decades ago, and it still rings true today. As are Achebe’s explanatory factors for this leadership failure—tribalism, mediocrity, lack of patriotism, indiscipline and corruption, and so on. And yet, four decades after, Nigeria’s leadership crisis remains unresolved.

It is still not clear what set of values and original principles underpin the form and content of leadership—at all levels—in Nigeria. What values should underpin the relationship between leaders and the led in Nigeria? How should Nigerian leaders wield power at whose behest and for whose benefit? These are not mere rhetorical questions. In the colonial era, the values of leadership were clear: to superimpose a moral and cultural superiority of the leader on the people he leads, and to govern on behalf of an Empire thousands of miles away.

The values of colonial leadership were thus antithetical to the advancement of the led and all resources for public administration must be ploughed towards the singular enjoyment of the leader, not the led. This colonial system of leadership remains by and large intact in Nigeria to date. It is, in fact, the very question that engaged one of our finest historians, Mahmud Tukur, in his 1999 book, Leadership and Governance in Nigeria: The Relevance of Values. Tukur asked: How can we reclaim those values of leadership that are designed entirely towards the advancement of the led? The 2022 Committee must answer this question with sufficient clarity for all Nigerians.

And then, there is the issue of basic competence and capacity which Nigerian leaders at all levels must have. This is not just a question of university certificates, but of both moral and practical education, of the ability to manage people and resources and to be one with the community, the ability to recast the past in a different light and to hold bold visions of the present and future, and to mobilize Nigerians towards common goals.

Leaders everywhere are recruited from the same slew of institutions from which Nigerian leaders are also drawn: the military, bureaucracy, religious organisations, academia, the corporate world, trade unions, youth and women’s organisations, and so on. Nigeria’s crisis of leadership is thus not just about the failures of individual leaders, but a consequence of the failure of these same institutions that generate tomorrow’s leaders. The “new ideas and strategies” for a new Nigeria being dreamed up by the 2022 Committee must therefore include how to institutionalize leadership across all sections of the Nigerian society.

And to these must be added the particular ideas around leadership contest in Nigeria. All too often, the contest for leadership positions, particularly at the presidential and governorship levels, is defined by those issues that divide Nigerians, that inflame popular passions, and push the country to the brink. On the other hand, issues and policies about the living conditions of Nigerians and about our collective development tend to be mute. Politicians are already at this game all over again.

We, therefore, find value in the 2022 Committee’s initiative of building a national consensus around certain issues in Nigeria’s politics, economy and governance. It is the starting point for any national development project, and a major reason some countries remain politically stable regardless of which party or individual assumes power. Nigeria must have its own version of consensus issues regardless who initiates them. But the issues must be debated thoroughly, systematically, and inclusively.