Leadership is very key to the development of any nation. If nothing has to justify the title of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness,the problematic issues of gross underdevelopment and incessant killings are justifications that indeed Africa is still the Heart of Darkness.Its beggars believe that despite the abundance of human and non human resources in Africa,life still remains difficult .The major reason for the backwardness of Africa is leadership. Some of the factors responsible for bad leadership in Africa will be ext3nsively discussed, read on.
The word leadership is a derivative word from the root word " lead". The Oxford Advanced Learners' Dictionary defines the word " lead" as " to be in control of something. " Leadership, on the other hand, has been defined by scholars from their viewpoints and standpoints.Leadership,according to the United States Academic Environment is" the process of social influence in which a person can enlist the aid and support in the accomplishment of a task."According to Keith Davies,"Leadership is the ability to persuade others to seek defined objectives enthusiastically." It is the human factor which binds a group together and motivates them towards goals.It denotes few qualities to be present in a person which includes maturity,intelligence and personality."
Leadership is a matter of intelligence ,trustworthiness,courage,humaneness and discipline. When an individual relies on intelligence alone,it results in rebelliousness. When one also exercises humaneness alone,it results in wickedness. Fixation on trust results in folly and dependence on the strength of courage results in violence. Excessive discipline and sterness in command often result in cruelty. What these statements mean in essence is that when one posseses all the qualities or virtues together, with each appropriately performed, then one can be said to be a leader.
In addition to the above is the pertinent question, Who is a leader? In reference to Dolly Parton, "A leader is someone whose actions create a legacy that inspires others to dream more,learn more and do more." In other parlance, it can also be defined as someone who leads,guides, and directs a group of people towards achieving worthwhile goals.He is someone that helps people to reach their goals. A leader is not afraid to hire people that might be better than him and takes pride in the accomplishments of those he helped along the way.He is concerned in shaping and moulding the behaviour of group towards attainment of a specific goal. A leader is known neither by the office he occupies,nor by the enormousity of the power he wields but by the magnanimity with which he exercises the power enthrusted to him and the humility he demonstrate in his affairs with people.
It is so unfortunate that in Africa, we still parade leaders with the hearts of lions and wits of tortoise. In Africa, leadership post is seen as an opportunity to have access to public funds rather than an opportunity to serve the people. They see leadership as a right rather than privilege to write their names in the book of history.In Africa,leaders don't emerge based on credit and merit but selection and imposition. Most African leaders emerge based on feelings rather than reason. Leadership is a skill that must be learnt by those interested.
Most African leaders do not see themselves as the representatives of the people. They see themselves as supreme beings.This mentality is the reason why most of them want to stick to power when they are rejected by their people or they lost election. A typical example is Gaddafi of Libya who refused to abdicate the throne when he was rejected by his people until he was forcefully removed in 2011. Today,Libya has become a human abbatoir where life is brutish and nasty. In Ivory Coast, between Alassane Ouattara and Laurent Gbagbo, the later refused to release power when he was defeated at the polls in 2011 .The post election crisis led to the death of over 3,000 people.After spending more than a decade on power, the military had to overthrow Bashir of Sudan and place him on house arrest in order to save the country from its continued stasis. Apparently, our style of leadership is really the major cause of our problem in Africa.
In conclusion, the the President of Tanzania, Nyarere once said " the problem of Africa is good leadership. "Over five decades of indepence from our colonial masters, Afrcan Nations are still backward in terms of contribitions to the global index of human developments. If Africa must develop, the concept of leadership must be redefined. Leaders must emerge based on merit, competency and knowledge and not on ethic or religious basis.Leaders are made,they are not born.They are made by hard effort,which is the price all of us must pay to achieve any goal that is worthwhile.
This is where i would like to draw down the curtain. As we all know that in university of Ilorin it is not bye-bye but see you again.
Ajibade Muinat. Alias(Heednah) ia a student at University of Ilorin.
2 Comments
U have nailed it dear,more ink into ur pen
ReplyDeleteThanks really appreciate
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