“A true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions, and the compassion to listen to the needs of others.”-Abraham Lincoln
Leadership is a privilege to serve and better the lives of the people, not the other way round. The concept of leadership and public position needs to be redefined in the context of the third world countries.
Most of the African Nations are currently on life support and its citizens cannot breathe, because of the effects of poor leadership and the misconceptions that Leadership is an open ticket for self aggradizement and a life of opulence leading to corruption, nepotism, plundering of resources and squandering of riches.
Leadership is an opportunity for service and mentoring another generation, a privilege to serve humanity and become an instrument of generational blessings and advancement.
The attributes of good leaders is ultimately a response of; selflessness, trustworthiness and dependability; good leaders motivates and inspire others in their characteristics that includes: Vision; Courage; Integrity; Humility; Strategic planning; Focus; Team Player. This are the qualities that makes good leaders great.
Good leaders are great minds with unparalleled access to excellence and unimaginable capacity to accommodate divergent opinions, great sense of humor and empathy. Like the great ‘TATA MADIBA’ Nelson Mandela of the blessed memory.
Most of the African Nations with defective system that produced questionable leaders, are in total shambles; insurgency, banditary, kidnapping, infrastructural decay, economic and political instability. All of which are the resultant effects of misconceptions about leadership in the third world countries.
Our institutions, over time have also been weakened by reasons of despotic governance and overbearing tendencies of ‘rulers’ and the military incursions into our governing system, the hangover continued.
This is the time for the ‘soro soke’ generation to completely disengage, the ‘drop d mic’ generation. No better time. Leadership is about the culture and ability of solving problems, not blaming predecessors and the youths who have proved that they are not lazy.
Africa deserves good leadership, Nigeria will experience massive TURNAROUND in due course. Vibrancy replacing despondency, joy unspeakable full of glory and total support for our youths as we approach the New Year 2021.
Odusanya is the convener of AFRICA COVENANT RESCUE INITIATIVE ACRI
