As Nigerians are celebrating 62nd Independence Day, and apparently on the March again to elect a new president in 2023, it is on us to focus the populace’s attention on electing the best president to lead effectively as the commander-in-chief and fully engage with the governance matters of solving national problems, mainly, to deliver the dividend of democracy efficiently to all Nigerians. In my earliest piece, I underlined some qualities the next president of Nigeria must possess. Nigerians must hire the right person to solve national problems and develop our democracy into a globally enviable to developed/western democracies.
Governance is all about solving problems either by identifying them and or implement agenda to solve problems inherited from predecessors. As the election is closing in on the electorates, it is central to the current leadership debate over the most qualified, tested, competent, and experienced candidate fit for the job to stand on winning qualities. The core knowledge-based governance in the next dispensation for Nigerians, is the ability to determine the attributes associated with a leader to consider him as competent, tested and experienced. All leaders must have checkable leadership skills to deliver the dividends of democracy to most Nigerians. Regarding Nigeria of today, the argument should focus intelligently on the antecedents of the individuals contesting to be the next president with respect to their previous contributions to democratic processes and the engaging perspective to advance democratic values for the benefit of Nigeria.
The bottom line could be a triple type. By the end of the process, the best among the candidates, widely accepted as having the capacity and competence to solve Nigerian problems, wins. Such a leader must hit the ground running on the first day. It is working assiduously to tiger-rising Nigeria’s economic, technological, and democratic development. Nigeria’s current republic has this democracy evolving since 1999, and the leadership has changed hands in several electoral orbits. The debate for assertively outstanding leaders who will advance Nigeria without hypocrisy and the likes remains imperative. The situation calls to mind that when it comes to leading, the country and its citizens must keep developing and equalising opportunities.
Undoubtedly, there are many essential inputs to the leadership equation of Nigeria. Nigerians’ expectations are, in fact, growing with the possible neglect of what the global economy operators counsel in an approximation of the market. Nigerians’ expectations must benchmark without any leadership hypocrisy to approximate the market. When you take time to factor in some main inputs to formulate exemplary leadership for Nigerians in a digital and globally uncertainty, you begin to see the urgent need for a president to be an exceptional equaliser of opportunities, among other winning qualities. Nigeria diverse ethnicity calls for equalizing opportunities, which is synonymous to restructuring economically. The physical notion of restructuring to my mind in Nigeria could create more leadership flukes than what can really work for our democratic development as a nation.
According to the CIFORB Country Profile, Nigeria is a unique Country with a massive diversity of over two hundred fifty ethnic groups. The populous and politically influential ethnicity cuts across the seven ethnic Hausa-Fulani 29%, Yoruba 21%, Igbo 18%, Ijaw 10%, Kanuri 4%, Ibibio 3.5%, Tiv 2.5%. With such statistics, Nigeria next president must be an expert mover, capable essentially to lead exceptionally on equalizing opportunities and, not results. Most Nigerian current republic presidents are mostly good in equalizing results. For example, before this current administration, proceeds from oil were applied at ninety percent on recurrent expenditure while only ten percent goes to infrastructure financing. Take this as an error that speaks volumes that government should never have equalized results.
Inclusive leadership is effectively about executing a framework to equalise opportunities. If you take a careful note of Lee Kuan Yew’s transcript on equalizing opportunities, you come to agree with the leadership framework of how best to equalise opportunities. Yew accentuated on the contribution of the electorates to get the intellectual ablest and best into politics to equalise opportunities. I quote him: “One key requirement is: Let’s avoid hypocrisy and do this thing honestly at proximate the market rate. Try and get the government on the cheap, you’ll end up with a cheap government and you will be sorry for yourself. First job of a government is to equalize opportunities; not equalize results. You equalize result and you are done-for. You end up with what Deng Xiao Ping calls, “The iron-rice bowl”. Nobody works, everybody does their minimum, very little rice in their bowl. …You vote in jokers, cranks, weak men, charlatans with some gift of the gab, you run a very serious risk of losing everything you have.”
Personally, I can not believe Deng Xiao Ping mentioned that before, but when you see many Malaysians at that time, they wanted to have iron-rice bowl for their careers, take the notion as described as an iron-rice bowl as stable, that could recline around without any repercussions and will never be fire unless a serious fault. Contextually, you need a mover of equalizing opportunities to make things happen on a national scale. Mover in this context is the capacity or ability of a leader to cause an opportunity to move to where it could be best created and utilised, and in the interest of majority of the citizens.
Notably, inclusive leaders will never equalise results, but opportunities. Some leaders are stayers! What do I mean by this? Some leaders can only equalise results, that is, getting the minimum out of all the leadership teams. Also, a leader as a stayer will not see talents in others but try to keep the team moving collectively in a circle. Whatever way you look at a stayer, it’s a political team leading that centre on equalising results. Politicians with this mind-set can quickly get results in privatising public assets and look for a way to equalise the results to their businesses and or that of their closed assets. That’s why when you have a stayer as the President of a nation, they are the arrowhead of corruption, and the utility of such crime shall circulate within such stayers’ inner circle. If you do a consecutive and corrective mapping between movers and stayers regarding unemployment, studies show that unemployment is higher among stayers by more than three hundred percentage than movers. And in terms of socio-economic progression, only stayers from a routine and manual socioeconomic background reached higher managerial or professional occupations, compared with movers from similar experiences.
When you consider Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu retrospectively, you discover at least five indispensable qualities of an expert mover of equalising opportunities. Asiwaju did not become an active progressive democratic activist overnight. The irony side has always been part of him; it was visible even pre-1999 and it’s there till date. We know how Asiwaju breathed life into the pro-democracy struggle when he took over its financing after the cruel annulment of June 12, 1993, election results. His financial muscle provided the life-line for the activities of NADECO in those days. His financing of Radio Kudirat was a game changer that positively redirected the activities of the pro-democracy movement and tails that pinned into the eventual handover of power to civilians in 1999. Asiwaju did this as an activist advancing equalising opportunities as a leader who takes leadership as professional selflessness. Asiwaju focuses on the evergreen values for the coming generations to adopt as a steady paradigm, even when uncertainty speaks against authentic leadership.
Asiwaju had been a prominent voice canvasing both fiscal and political restructuring from the advent of this democracy. He instituted a type of Treasury Single Account in Lagos State before it became a national policy. That is thinking outside the box. He talked about the Supply and consumption economy, not the usual supply and demand economy. One deals with the production and other consumption economies. He executed the credit economy as a powerful solution to corruption to transparently capture every financial transaction within the system. That is how to be a mover and equalise opportunities in the interest of national development. If that is not restructuring, then I accentuate that those are the attributes you should look for before voting for a presidential candidate in the 2023 election orbit.
Asiwaju is a confident and expert mover of equalizing opportunities. He executed a blueprint for Lagos with a zero margin for error with leadership integrity, dedication and competence. Undoubtedly, he has the conviction to make the right call and do the right thing even if it will cost him a few number of votes. We have seen him demonstrating this repeatedly and keep winning elections. Asiwaju is a leader for now and the one Nigerians can trust. At this stage of our National development, Nigeria cannot afford hypocrisy, compromise and fluke to retard our democratic development. Asiwaju knows how best to work closely with the people to deliver winning and improved economic policies for the improved lives of the citizens. When he took the stewardship of the Lagos State as the Governor, he reformed the civil service human resource to eliminate wastages, block leakages by effectively equalized opportunities to make the Lagos State Civil crew what it is today. He passed a Lagos’ success formula to the next generation of successive Governors. The iron in Asiwaju remain untouched to Tigerising the Nigeria economy and democratic development.
Asiwaju’s political concept of “Emilokan” carries an indicative value of equalising opportunities. The main global north nations (western countries) are beginning to be largely successful in attaining equal opportunities by the balancing of other factors to maximise that an individual could bring significant positive impact to the economic development of their nations. Asiwaju’s sense of commitment fleshes out what the “Emilokan” stands for as an integrative national development framework of equalizing opportunities. The “Emilokan” model will effectively and efficiently integrate the eight sub-systems together to deliver overwhelming, the dividends of democracy to all. The model extensively will execute the following on national scale having succeeded tremendously in Lagos State. The Emilokan framework’s eight cohesive elements are Economic evolutionary and diversification; Manpower recruitment and development; Industrial revolution and ICT engagement; Legal reforms; Optimal use of Government resources and blocking leakages; Keeping Nigeria and Nigerians safe from external and internal aggression; Agricultural transformation, and Nigeria for Nigerians.
With Asiwaju’s perspective of “Emilokan”, his expertise will speak volumes on Tigerising Nigeria’s economy by effectively and efficiently equalising opportunities. His strategies will be similar to his module in Lagos but would be improved upon to take account of emerging technologies and social-economic realities and perceived future global best-practices, if elected in the coming presidential election. Asiwaju’s antecedents in governance provide undisputable evidence of a full sense of commitment, focussing resources on a positive attempt to correct inequalities by providing extra- schooling to those who are disadvantaged by social class. For instance, on 9th February 2000, just about eight months to his stewardship in Lagos, he presented cheques to the officials of assigned Banks to pay the Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (WAEC) for all public-school students in Lagos state, an exemplar of equalising an educational opportunity.
Asiwaju knows how to make governance an appropriate and timely intervention channel for the benefit of the populace. In Lagos State, he made several economic and strategic interventions to make the right economic progress, even on personal matters, for instance, the payment of the WAEC exam fees for all pubic-school students in Lagos State.
He is a gifted visionary who will not settle for less. He saw a massive opportunity in a seedy waterlogged landmass and from this was birthed Lekki. The entire city was created when Asiwaju was governor, and today, Lekki is a swathe of a sprawling metropolis inhabited by upscale Nigerians with a net land value that is above the average upscale environment in Nigeria. Today, Lekki has encroached on neighbouring suburbs around it like Ajah, Badore, etc., and its land value continues to soar each passing day. Lekki was a product of Asiwaju’s creative thinking and he will continue to excel in his inextinguishable desire for excellence.
Equally unprecedented in discussing Asiwaju’s expertise in equalising opportunities is the Lekki Free Trade zone, which is today fondly referred to as the Nigerian Dubai. It remains an innovative concept he drew when he was governor and targeted the massive development of the Ibeju-Lekki virgin land into a world-class industrial, business and commercial hub in record time. Today, the Lekki Free Trade Zone hosts the world’s largest refinery, Africa’s largest fertiliser company, and a deep sea-port, among many other heavy industrial concerns that directly impact the lives of millions of Nigerians. The Lekki Free Trade Zone is still embryonic, so the economic potential accruable from the zone at a complete stage of development cannot be quantified as yet.
Asiwaju is his capability comes prepared for any task he embarks on as a confident, and expert in equalizing opportunities. Asiwaju will take a sound study of any opportunity before venturing into it. He has never gone into any venture unprepared, setting him apart from other candidates now seeking the country’s presidency. Preparedness has been an attribute that has, over the years, honed his skills and given him the cutting edge in every sphere he has veered into. He is a good student of success, which manifests clearly in anything he has gone into – politics, business, work, parliamentary and gubernatorial offices.
In politics, Asiwaju is more than prepared and has come through a long history of tutelage that has seen him as a senator, a fighter for democracy and governor of Nigeria’s most economically, socially and political advanced and the most influential state. Asiwaju is an expert leading in a volatile digital world. Asiwaju’s thematic approach to leadership will continue to win the way to equalizing opportunities, escalating economic, technological and democratic development of Nigeria.
Asiwaju can always: make sense of the turbulent digital environment, implement a scorched Nigeria strategy review, excise the legacy structures and management thinking that stifle innovation and break free from past cultural norms. Unleash the creative potential of his people and high-performing team; leverage the full potential of existing and emerging technologies, and reimagine leadership for a great Nigeria. Agreeably, Asiwaju wants to deploy his rich, enviable, illustrious leadership skills to improve Nigerians and Nigeria. Of course, Asiwaju’s confidence and expertise for achieving sustainable equalizing opportunities for Nigeria will remain firm. He did this for Lagos and Lagos is today one of Africa’s best success stories and has grown to the fifth largest African economy that is growing at an astronomical rate after Asiwaju’s impact. Nigerians have no option but to drive Asiwaju with massive winning votes to become the next president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria if Nigerians desire a profound change, for the better, in the country’s fortunes from 2023 to come into fulfilment.
