You’ve got to take the people with you. Real people! Leadership involves being able to dialogue and or negotiate, being transparent, being willing to listen, being able to forgive and more importantly being able to change people’s minds in a positive way. In any sector, people give you permission to lead them. But we must always remember
that leading them is not our divine right. If people see you have honesty, integrity and drive. That you are compassionate, understanding and can deliver a clear vision that includes them, they surely will follow you.

If you have to resort to being forceful, I think you really have to question your leadership. We must let our decisions be driven by the needs of our people and not by our processes and ignorance – we must change them if necessary. More than anything else now, Nigerians crave for freedom from an oppressive situation. This is not directly caused by a person or, despite what we (Nigerians) think, by a particular set of circumstances. Our involvement with a particular set-up is making us feel ever more uncomfortable, but the way to put everything right does not necessarily involve making a clean break from the past or digging an escape tunnel to freedom. All we need to stand proud, tall and successful in Nigeria is God, faith in ourselves and what we believe in, from that, the rest will come
naturally. But how powerless are we? I believe that, rather depends on how we want to see our country’s situation. Really, we are not so much prisoners as passengers. I believe we are in a seat, not in a cell. We are on a bus, not in a jail or house arrest. We are being taken somewhere. We might feel that it is not a destination of our own choosing – or that we have no alternative other than to go along with the ride.

When we reach an indisputable dead end, we will then be presented with an encouraging new idea to follow instead. At some point in our past, I believe we opted for this expedition. So instead of growing resentful, let’s pray to God, have faith and relax. We might find that, with the power of the Almighty God, something quite amazing becomes possible before we know it. I personally believe in the future of our country and I strongly believe the time has come for God to show us why He is the architect of the universe. Let’s look
up to Him, He will surely deliver us.

WILL THE LAST SANE PERSON TO LEAVE THE MADHOUSE PLEASE TURN OUT THE LIGHTS?

We face a situation now that some people wouldn’t want anything to do with. We have seen certain people struggle and fail to sort out a particular mess or scrub a particular floor. They probably have given up. Are we getting ready to do the same? There seem to be many good reasons why we might as well do. There’s, though, one overriding reason not to. For that reason alone, we have to do what we can to protect the bit of bedlam that is not yet completely crazy. In this country of ours, some people love to construct complicated arguments and convoluted explanations. They like to make things so difficult and involved, even when kids are eating from the dustbins and adults have to sell their children for prostitution. They like to have plenty of good reasons why problems can’t be solved or wounds cannot be healed. They like to talk, but they don’t much like to listen. They like to nurse grudges, but they don’t seem quite so inclined to forgive.

That’s the way of the world, but it doesn’t have to be our world. All that’s needed in our country today is a little understanding, a little willingness to put the past behind us, a little willingness to tell our president that Nigerians are suffering and starving, a little willingness to tell our president that, life is not what he thinks it is with ordinary Nigerians, a little willingness to learn from the best, a little willingness to make people happy not suffer….and then a little sweet simplicity. Mud sticks. That’s why
we have to be so careful about how and where we throw it. Reputations take years to build and minutes to ruin. Mistakes are all too easy to make, and the devils own job to rectify. I mention all this because, as we know, times in our country are tricky. A lot of impassioned statements and a lot of mistakes are being made by our leaders. It is easy to get swept away by a tide of enthusiasm that is actually washing us towards an inappropriate shore.

A little forethought, a little careful consideration, a little openness to a more positive possibility could yet allow us, specially our leaders to see a far better way to proceed on national matters. We might not yet realise it, but we are having a big effect on a lot of people and nations. Other nations and leaders are taking us very seriously. They might not be responding in precisely the same way we wish they would. But they are certainly not ignoring us. Because we are so caught up in the drama of our own psychological warfare, we are not aware of this. Let’s stand back, just for one moment and see how others might have being perceiving us. Then we’ll be able to make sure that all our words and deeds bring about the reaction we need them to have, rather than provoking a response that merely makes life more complicated…. especially for the poor Nigerian souls that are
suffering in silence.

LET’S MAKE NIGERIA AN OPPORTUNITY SOCIETY

The study of politics is the study of influence and the influential. A political system is a pattern of human relationships that involves control, influence power or authority. We surely won’t solve all the world’s problems by studying for a politics degree, but we will understand them better and understanding is the first step to solution. I have come to realise that politics are too serious a matter to be left to the politicians. Winston Churchill once said that, “politics are almost as exciting as war and quite as dangerous”.

In war you can only be killed once, but in politics many times. Politics is war without bloodshed, while war is politics with bloodshed. Nigerians who are too clever to engage in the art of diplomacy are punished by being governed by mobs. Politics is the art of the impossible. It consists of choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable. It consists in knowing precisely when it is wise and necessary to hit your opponent slightly below the belt. Like Abraham Lincoln once said; nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power. That said. Progressive party rarely fail, not because they are too good, but because they are very compassionate and understanding.

Only progressive politics can defeat tribalism. Our leaders must avoid playing the tribal card in Nigerian politics. And they must
understand that the future of our country requires restless courage,
honesty, understanding and good leadership. I surely believe that our
country is not in decline, but we must also be well prepared to work with other nations. Our leaders must learn how to win people’s trust and also understand that life is tough for Nigerians. Nigeria, I believe is not on her way down and does not need the ruling class as we (Nigerians) are the ruling people. Let’s work together and make Nigeria an opportunity society.

HE WHO REFUSES TO BE A GOOD EXAMPLE, WILL HAVE TO BE A TERRIBLE WARNING

I don’t especially like to think the unthinkable. I far prefer to deal with what I know to be real and relevant. When I hear people suggesting impossible ideas, I feel affronted. I wonder how on earth they can entertain such silly notions, far less announce them. We are who we are. We have every right to be very proud of this. But are we all we can be? In what way are we (Nigerians) compromising the integrity of our own identity – or selling ourselves short – or doing WE a disservice? In life we need to watch what we say – for our words might come back to haunt us. People have long memories and a tendency to be judgemental. They do not make much allowance for the way in which moods, situations and priorities can naturally alter over time.

Nor do they much appreciate irony or indelicacy or phraseology that is chosen more for impact than for meaning. We need to learn how to rehearse sentences in our mind before we speak them out loud. And if in doubt, let’s remember that, kind words melt hearts and harsh ones harden them. We must always know that people can easily tell a great deal about a society by the way they treat their elderly, senior, leaders and prisoners. He, who refuses to be a good example, will have to be a terrible warning to others. Integrity, though, is not something you attain; it is something you aspire to. No matter how good, honest or sincere a person becomes, there is always room for improvement. A lifetime is not enough for us to learn all there is
to learn about how to be a better person. Some people, sensing this, decide not to bother. Others fool themselves into thinking that they are as wise, kind and right as it is possible to be. To note an inner fault and feel keen to fix it is to have a reason to be proud of one….not ashamed.

D.AKINSANYA JULIUSON
Cultural & Public Diplomacy Practitioner and Specialist Investigator