How To Restructure Nigeria And Throw Up Good Leadership

You do not need a higher education to understand that the structure determines the process and throws up the leadership to drive it to fruition. In order words the leader must be able to drive the process. Leadership and process go together. Process is a function of the goal that a group or a nation has set out to achieve.

The structure determines the basis and the direction of the process and throws up the leader at the peak of the pyramid to drive it to a desired end. It means that only a good structure can throw up a leader that can drive its own peculiar process to achieving its set goal.

Let's take a break from the theory for now. Many people do not understand or appreciate that Nigeria is the product of a structure designed to achieve a purpose. They hardly appreciate that the goal set forth by the structure we agreed to across board leading to Independence remains the only structure that can achieve the national goal of building a nation where no man is oppressed!

They cannot seem to relate with the fact that we have not launched another country nor another structure for which the international community can hold us accountable ever since. The confidence of the international community rests on your avowed aims and objectives, and the fact that they could testify that your structure could lead you to the goal you sought. This is what gave them confidence to deal with you, ie,extend trade credit and loans. The process of governance was only secondary, through the structure,a leadership is thrown up that is well versed with the objective and goal because there is no other way itself can exist but maintaining the delicate balance of this structure in leading the process.

This is precisely why the international community still remembers your original structure, its anthem, flag etc because that is what you have given them and they know that you cannot change it without creating imbalance in the process thereby deviating from the set goal.They expect that all fine tuning by the leadership will have to follow the same principle to maintain a clear gaze at the goal.

With the above in place, do you think there will ever be a leadership struggle in Nigeria? No. A stable structure already completes the job of throwing up the right leader. What brings about leadership struggle is unstable structure that is unsure of what the leader should do or where the nation is going and how it gets there. It is only unstable structure that allows the leader to waste time looking downwards to grapple with intervening variables like ethnic and religious biases,race and creed.

There is no time to look forward to the goal. Indeed we can say that it always remains a fallacy to call such people leaders because unstable structures are incapable of throwing up leaders! What you have is anything but leaders. To qualify to be a leader, the structure that throws you up must be stable as earlier publicized at independence because without such across the board confidence you could not even have been admitted into the comity of nations in the first place. As a way of illustration your structure must have directly or indirectly endorse such pillars as Human Rights,Child rights,Gender,Free Trade,Etc. This will ensure that you do not end up becoming a liability to your neighbours.

A leader understands the role to be played in driving the process to the desired end. So a leader understand the process, the big picture, what is going on, why and can explain it to the led. A "leader" who does not understand the big picture cannot drive process.A "leader" who understands the big picture and cannot explain it cannot drive the process to logical conclusion since leadership is an outward process that connects the led. So you cannot say you do not wish to debate in an election process because leadership is primarily by the word before symbolism can follow to deepen it. So such people cannot truly be called leaders because you cannot lead from behind.

So to lead you must have a proper grasp of the history of your country and must be willing at no notice to communicate it as well as relate it to the goal and your choice of strategy to reach it. So a leader drives the process through his mouth and must be capable of educating the citizens and foreigners on what he is set to do ,what he is doing and how it relates to the goal as well as what he has done and how it has advanced the goal.

So from the fore going there cannot be leadership struggle for this position in Nigeria. But first thing now is to get us back to a stable structure that would guarantee the elevation of a leader at the apex. It cannot happen with this present structure as we should by now have realized. It cannot also happen if we politicize it. Remember that whatever we throw up under this faulty unbalanced and unstable structure cannot be a leader because too many intervening variables exist and must first be trashed out. I have earlier explained that Nigeria has a stable structure related to the name itself. This structure cannot change without changing the name.

This structure is encompassed in the independence constitution of 1960-1963 and it is the very basis of our existence as a country marching towards integration in nationhood with a view to arriving at the ideal society where " though tribes and tongues may differ,in brotherhood we stand" Of course we know that this ideal state will be rewarding because only then can we be in tune with the prayer we made at Independence: " Oh God of all creation ,grant this our one request. Help us to build a nation where no man is oppressed. And only this stage can get us the crown: "And so with Peace and plenty,Nigeria may be blessed"

So it cannot be a matter of politics thrown up by this deformed structure. It cannot be by dialogue promoted by those you now call leaders who are not ,because,leadership without a national purpose is just dealership! Even today's follower ship may not be capable of proper focus in these things because wrong leadership has elevated the irrelevant to the national stage in their endless groping for relevance. So the easiest way is to go back to regionalism and return untouched those sections of the constitution of 1963 suspended by Gen. Aguiyi Ironsi in 1966. Since Ironsi did not suspend the Regions,General Gowon's creation of States should have also followed the Regional boundaries. But Gowon acted during war exigencies, and now that the civil war has ended ,it was expected that the period of Reconstruction,reintegration and rehabilitation should have returned the structure to its ideal form to give effect to the famous "no victor no vanquished" phrase but it was not done. What it means is that the socio political and economic imbalance resultant of this lapse continued to distort the match to nationhood until it overflowed at this time when economic recession, tribal, and religious separation resonates.

To this end,the next stage in the healing process would be to align boundaries of States and local councils within these 3 Regions. Then hand over the administration of States to Regional Assemblies. States can be run as if they are provinces. Regional Assemblies may not tamper with the States except in line with their own priorities which must align with the said constitution of Nigeria.

Before I conclude here let us be reminded why this issue is not to be politicized. Because a faulty structure can hardly throw up a lasting solution or leadership since it is incapable of doing so by law. The structure and its leaders being products of the same deformity they seek to abrogate may face problems in this quest. What we need is just to retrace our steps to the time when the ideal structure existed and every other thing begins to fall in shape. Our priority now is not the election of a leader, not restructuring in the classical debate and committees but just doing the right thing so that we can do things right.

* Mr Nworisara aspired to be President of Nigeria in 1992 under the defunct Social Democratic Party ( S.D.P.)