Trust and leadership

Trust and Leadership

The fundamental underpin and perhaps the indispensable fabric of human relationship is trust. It is trust coupled with love that would make two total strangers to form a family. It is trust that would make you to buy `akara` from a woman nearby and eat it believing that she will not harm you. It is trust that would make you to buy medicine in the strong conviction that the pharmaceutical company is not selling poison to you. Trust is the glue that binds those in government and the electorate together. It is that trust that makes you to vote for the councillor, state legislator, governor or the president in the hope that they would minister to your social, economic and political needs. In fact, trust is the foundation of the political concept of social contract. That all of us cannot be in government and that the electoral sovereignty should be given to those in the executive and legislative arms to oversee the affairs of the state for the benefit of all. But painfully and sadly enough, Nigerians outside the corridor of power have come to realise that that trust is misplaced and that those invested with power are more concerned with their welfare, those of their families, friends and cronies. And this signals the sense of despondence pervading the country. The case of Nigeria may not be an exception but the daunting reality is that the so called dividends of democracy are elusive and this brings to the fore the debate about the removal of fuel subsidy.

The Finance Minister, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala in last week town hall meeting spoke on trust and credibility of governance and implored Nigerians to trust the Jonathan administration. According to her, this government is different from the previous ones. Some of us are likely to take the sermons of the minister with a pinch of salt against the backdrop that she was part of the Obasanjo administration. It would be recalled that a commissioner of European Union said with biting bitterness and candour that the problem with the Nigerian government is that the people do not trust their leaders. Nothing could be more apt than that. It would be living in a fool’s paradise to continue to trust any government that is notorious for not keeping its promises. And that is the more reason many Nigerians are not persuaded by the argument of the government about the removal of fuel subsidy and the likely benefits there from. Nigerians in the past have been so fed with tissues of lies that they find it difficult to believe what the present government is saying. In the folklorist wisdom of Chinua Achebe, all lizards lie on their stomachs, how could you decipher the one with stomach ache?

How can you trust your councillor who before the election could not pay `okada` fare but you now see him driving a luxury car? The truth of the matter which is self evident in Nigeria is that politics as a profession is an instant road to wealth and fame. That the politicians are becoming very rich and pregnant with our oil money whereas the mass of the people are wallowing in poverty and destitution is the reason for the climate of distrust. How can you trust a government that is budgeting N992 million to feed the president and the vice president for a year? My arithmetic is very poor but a rough estimate shows that we need about three million naira a day to feed the president and his family in a country where the minimum wage is eighteen thousand naira a month. How can the government expect the masses to trust them? My dear Okonjo Iweala, the belt tightening programme should start with the feeding pattern of the president. The other day, a cynical smile played on the face as I watched my president eating bread made of cassava flour and giving same to council members. This is fooling the people and that the proper things should be done.

Nigerians are sceptical about their government because such elected officials hardly fulfil electoral promises and that the cost of governance is too prohibitive. Let government fulfil the targets set for itself and reduce the army of ministers and special advisers. I am aware of the constitutional provisions that say that each state of the federation should get a minister in line with federal character. But we can also amend the constitution so that special advisers are treated as ministers. The government should also owe it as a duty to listen to the people and bring the actual dividends of democracy to the doorsteps of the people. Most of the dividends of democracy are only found in the mass media.

Leadership is not anchored on promises and intentions. It is not what you want to do in ten years time. Leadership is a practical manifestation of what you are doing today and how the result will be harvested by the people tomorrow. The federal government is generous on intentions but stingy on practical implementation of lofty policies and programmes. Policies not implemented, are not even worth the paper written on. What Nigerians demand of their government is implementation of policies and using the wealth of the nation for the common good. Corruption and incompetence should be tackled once and for all so that the benefits of governance get to all Nigerians. Agreed that most of the problems of the Jonathan administration are inherited but nature and destiny have placed the burden on his shoulder to solve them. Nigerians are people very easy to please but they detest lies and deceits. Make promises that you can keep and after all the people did not vote for you to complain about your inability to solve those daunting national problems. If the leadership must get the trust and confidence of the people, then things that peak the living standards of people should be put in place. The social contract between the government and electorate should be implemented to latter. Intentions are not substitutes for practical implementations of policies. .