At a time of topsy-turvy comes change. And from chaos comes
order. President-elect Bola Ahmed Tinubu is a man destiny has prepared for
Nigeria at this time. But his task will not be easy. Governing Nigeria is an
invitation to toil. The road will be fraught with thistles and thorns; gallops
and bumps, but he must keep going.
Nigeria has always been divided along provincial contours.
Citizens huddle together in sectional silos, protecting and defending the
enclave, against the collective. Nationhood has remained a will-o-the-wisp.
Claims of marginalisation, and sectional appropriation and expropriation by
different groups have been a permanent deafening wail of the banshee. There
seems to be no national concord on any matter or sense of unity.
What could be the
problem?
I believe the absence of a leadership with a rallying
quality, and with sufficient purpose and deliberateness for national unity is
partly responsible for this declension. No leadership has been seminally
purposive about rallying Nigerians together as a bunch under a common grail.
There is also the place of followership in this quandary.
Nigerians are themselves antipathetic on the community level, but on an
individual plank, they are loving, kind, tolerant, and giving. Most Nigerians
have friends from across groups and religions, and most are maritally knotted
from across groups and religions as well.
The average Nigerian will render help to a stranger
demobilised by a flat tyre on an eerie road; pay hospital bills and school fees
of total strangers without the reckoning of their religion or ethnicity. The
president-elect himself exemplifies this virtue.
On the individual level, there is humanity. Our humanity
shines forth. So, there is optimism. The optimism that Nigerians are capable of
uniting and working together as a whole — but with the strength of purposive
leadership.
The experience over successive leaderships is that as soon
as power comes to the holder, the seven cardinal weaknesses of power —
complacency, obstinacy, indolence, impunity, illusion of invincibility, brute arrogance,
nepotism, and ruthlessness — take them prisoner.
And with sycophants in the court, the king’s ears become
poisoned with sweet and vainglorious nothings.
No Nigerian leader has successfully and efficiently managed
Nigeria’s diversity and engender cohesion. But President-elect Tinubu could be
the first if he exhaustively applies himself to this goal. He has to be the
first for the sake of Nigeria.
Nigeria needs to heal from the pestilence of scorched-earth
politics; it needs to heal from the vagaries of internal contradictions; it
needs to heal from mistrust, distrust, recriminations, hate and prejudice.
I have a few suggestions on the possibilities of achieving
national unity. It will not be easy. It will take patience, courage, strong
will, and unflinching commitment.
Sensitivity to
diversity
The president-elect will need to reprise his noted
expansiveness — and even much more now. Nigeria is a complex entity, and as
such temperance and balance is fundamental. He will need to be seen as just, fair,
and even-handed. His sacrifices may even go unsung and unrequited, but he will
need to stay on his vision. In fact, he could be saying the right words, and
taking the right steps; yet some may still criticise him for whatever reason.
It is the burden of leadership. He will need not relent.
So far, the president-elect is choosing his words carefully.
He keeps emphasising national unity, and that he will be president for all
Nigerians. This is the path to iconisation. It shows he is attuned to the intricate
elements of Nigeria’s varied complexion. But he will need to sustain this
disposition in actions and policies.
Deliberate policies
targeted at inclusion
The president-elect’s manifesto is clearly inclined towards
inclusion of women and the youth in leadership. Most importantly, the manifesto
addresses the specific industrial needs of each geo-political zone. The
document says, for instance, in the south-east and the south-south, a new hub
and dry port will focus investment on labour intensive manufacturing; in the
north-west and the north-east, new industrial hubs will focus on textiles; in
the south-west, fine quality sand will be turned into high-quality glass items,
and in the north-central, emphasis will be placed on solid mineral exploration
and exploitation.
This brilliant idea will need studied execution, perhaps,
within the next eight years, so that no group will feel left out.
Also, it is imperative that policies are humanised. Nothing
sets off a chain of mass hysteria like policies perceived to be targeted at any
group. So, it is important that diligent impact/risk assessment is done before
the implementation of any policy. Policies should also cognise Nigeria’s
delicate ethno-religious emulsion, including demographic and cultural character.
The doomed new naira policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the
associated disaster and popular outrage is something to ponder on.
Empower the National
Orientation Agency
The National Orientation Agency (NOA) was set up in 1993 by
Decree 100 — now the Act of Parliament No. 24 of 2004. The core responsibility
of the agency is communicating government policies, promoting patriotism, and
developing society. But the agency has been tad effective lately, even in the
heat of national discordance and tension, perhaps, owing to the challenges of
funding. NOA can be the resident town-crier and national opinion moulder with
the requisite funding, repositioning, and supervision. It is important to
stretch the potential of the agency to full capacity, but with commensurate
support.
Create space for
dialogue
When there are no avenues for jaw-jawing, war-waring is
imminent. There should be spaces for difficult conversations at any given time.
Townhalls, not only for communicating government policies, but also for
receiving feedback from citizens. Fora where government officials do not come
to lecture, but just to listen to citizens discuss their challenges, pains, and
fears. Also, inter-ethnic dialogue, like “handshake across the Niger”, should
be encouraged and promoted. At the state level, there should be dialogue and
feedback mechanism between host communities and residents. Citizens should be
encouraged to talk out their differences and settle disputes without recourse
to violence or protests.
Prioritise diligent
communication
Sometimes, how a message is passed dictates the reaction.
Nigeria is so delicate a place that oftentimes good intentions are
misconstrued, and fine points lost in miscommunication. There have been cases
where messages meant to quench a fire only ended up kindling the furnace.
Diligent communication which takes into cognisance Nigeria’s ethno-religious,
cultural, and demographic sensitivity should be a priority.
I admit that the path to building national cohesion and
strengthening unity is a tortuous one that a few prescriptions may not smooth
out. But it is more important that we get started, than not starting at all.
Fredrick Nwabufo,
Nwabufo, aka Mr OneNigeria is a media executive.
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