Wanted: A Bello-Balewa academy

The government calls it Armed Forces Remembrance Day but there are many of us out here who feel it’s a misnomer. Just as I argued last year, January 15th should be called Armed Forces Victims’ Remembrance Day, because it was on this same date in 1966, that members of the armed forces committed their worst […]

The government calls it Armed Forces Remembrance Day but there are many of us out here who feel it’s a misnomer. Just as I argued last year, January 15th should be called Armed Forces Victims’ Remembrance Day, because it was on this same date in 1966, that members of the armed forces committed their worst atrocity, to date, against the Nigerian nation.
Granted that the armistice that ended the civil war was also signed on January 15th 1970, four years after the cold-blooded massacre of our founding fathers by some murderous men-in-uniform; but nothing should have been allowed to overshadow the sad events of January 1966. Indeed some of us can’t help thinking that the armistice was deliberately timed to eclipse the tragic significance of that day. Just like calling it armed forces remembrance day was another such attempt, because most other countries of the Commonwealth remember their fallen heroes on November 11th.
But whether the nation officially recognizes the real heroes of January 15th or not, the rest of us try to commemorate them through lectures and symposia, usually organized by individuals and groups loyal to the memory of our true heroes. But we can do better than that, we can rise up to the challenge of safe-guarding their memory and transmitting the values they lived and died for by setting up an academy for that purpose.
If there is one thing all well-meaning and patriotic Nigerians are agreed on today, it is that the nation suffers from a dearth of honest, far-sighted and selfless leadership. A Bello-Balewa leadership academy, named after Sir Ahmadu Bello and Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa can provide that much needed institute which will impart the kind of visionary and patriotic leadership values that those two and their contemporaries practiced in the First Republic.
Luckily we have their biographies and anecdotal evidence from their few surviving contemporaries to give us a start- off point. Setting up such an academy and recruiting scholars for the sole purpose of studying their life styles and philosophies is a must for people of my generation. And here we must include other selfless visionaries like Malam Aminu Kano, their political opponent, but also their co-traveller on the path of true and honest leadership. There were others too that were not as prominent as these three but were equally noble-minded and served their country selflessly. We must find them, write their inspiring stories, take them to the institute and teach them to our young ones.
Right now, all that our children read and hear are stories of corrupt politicians and scandalous leaders whose exploits do nothing but ruin our economies, under-develop us further and lead to the crimes that make daily headlines. When we were growing up looting of government treasuries, armed robberies, kidnap for ransom and rape of minors were unknown crimes. Today they are the stuff news stories are made of. We need to give our children a better societal model than the one we live in. They deserve it. But the first step is to create an academy that will groom our leaders to give them a better life.
Some of us might not have lived the same time as these all-time heroes but we need to take this one step because we have to preserve and transmit the legacy of our founding fathers. And a worthwhile legacy like theirs must be preserved for posterity. This is even more pertinent because there are attempts in certain quarters to justify the assassination of these same leaders through claiming that they were corrupt people so the soldiers were forced to intervene. Indeed there are those who actually pass off Chukwuma Nzeogwu and his cohorts as patriots who struck to save our nation. Luckily majority of our compatriots don’t believe this. We see them as the bloodthirsty, ethnic bigots that they were.
An institute like this can teach our young ones about all the educational and economic legacies that these leaders established which saw the North competing, in a short few years, with other parts of the country which had a head start over it. We must tell our children that the far-sighted leadership of Sir Ahmadu Bello was the reason for the proliferation of educational institutions all over  Northern Nigeria, and the establishment of Agricultural institutions, monumental economic initiatives like the NNDC and our various farm produce boards.
They must be told that the right honourable gentleman, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, was so matured and refined as Nigeria’s first prime minister that he warmed his way easily into the hearts of top leaders of the time. His historic and memorable state visit to the US and the grand reception he enjoyed, showed the respect that Nigeria commanded in the comity of nations at that time. That Balewa was one of the first few leaders, then American President John F Kennedy called, in order to launch his satellite telephone, showed how we were treated as worthy partners by the powers of the day.
Today Nigeria is struggling to win a pride of place among the nations of the world. Not even within Africa does Nigeria command the kind of respect she commanded in the 1960s. A close example was the recent funeral of Nelson Mandela. Despite leading a 58-man delegation to the funeral, our president did not even get as much as an honourable mention. This is how far we have descended down the world’s diplomatic ladder. And all because of our lack of able, patriotic and visionary leadership.
Our youths must be taught about the leadership of nobility and service to the community. They must know that though Malam Aminu Kano never won a high political office, he nevertheless served his people well by leading others in a sensible political opposition that yielded fruits. Without a government portfolio to his name, he guided the governors his party produced in the Second Republic, towards grass-roots based societal development. Today he is remembered through worthy monuments in many parts of the country.
What these three leaders have in common was that they didn’t practice politics of corrupt enrichment and self-aggrandisement because they were busy playing the politics of meritorious service. Not one of them left a family house worth the name at the time of their deaths. Now compare this with the mansions our governors, legislators, their wives and even children, own in various parts of these country and even abroad. How can people so enamoured of their selfish lifestyles have time for societal service?
We must re-orient our youths towards our founding fathers’ philosophy of life. It is high-time they learn that life is not all about the rat race that people are engaged in, in the search for quick riches and high political office. They should know about the value of selfless leadership and leaving behind a good name. The Bello-Balewa academy will teach all these and more. The only question is, who and who out there will join me in setting up such an institute?