Aribigbola Afolabi

I was listening recently to the news where the evidence of good performance of Governor Zulum of Borno State was presented and commended. I was amazed about his excellent performance in terms of project delivery and how he stood out prominently to give support and release palliatives to the citizens under his jurisdiction to the admiration of many Nigerians unlike many other Governors that pocketed the palliatives released by the Federal Government for themselves and their allies. This is against the background that the Governor is operating in Borno State, a state that suffered serious devastation and destruction from the destructive and dangerous activities of the dreaded Boko Haram sect for several years.

 Indeed, as a consequence of this, I begin to recollect and reflect on the efforts of past leaderships in South West Nigeria before and during the First Republic as well as during the Second Republic, where leaders were wholly and unashamedly committed to overall welfare and development of the entire region. Then leaders in the area were not only providing good infrastructural facilities and making giant strides in development initiatives and project execution to better the lots of the people in the area, but were leading in the country in terms of provision of basic and essential ingredients of socioeconomic transformation in Nigeria. In the First and Second Republics in the country, the South West were leading other parts of the country in almost all spheres of human endeavours be it in education, road construction, health services, social infrastructure such as the first to establish the first television station in Africa among several other initiatives that made the region stood out and became not just a beacon of development but a region that became the envy of other regions, a reference point in development, services provision not just to other parts of the country but the entire continent of Africa and parts of the world such as Asia.

 Towards the First Republic in the early 1950s, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, an acknowledged competent politician and leader, when he became leader of government business in 1954 in Western Region, beside providing competent progressive leadership that was later emulated by other regions ensured that the western region took the lead in the provision of basic and essential ingredients of societal growth and development. He articulated and introduced several programmes and projects that made Western region the centre of development in the country. Some of the very important projects that made the region stood out in bold relief include the introduction of free primary education for all and free health care for children, he established the first television station in Africa in 1959 and constructed the first skyscraper in Africa, the cocoa house in Ibadan among others. These projects were highly applauded not just in Nigeria but also in the global community.

In the Second Republic in the country, the creative, proactive and responsible leadership instituted in the then Western Region by Chief Awolowo resonated and was not only reenacted with more vigour, healthy competition to outdo one another in the provision of social infrastructures that support citizens’s welfare was the anchor of governance among the South West States Governors including the then Bendel State under the leadership of the renown Professor of Anatomy, Professor Ambrose Alli. The Western States of Lagos, Oyo, Ondo, Ogun and Bendel dominated the country’s landscape development with their numerous life touching programmes.

The Governors of those states such as Chief Adekunle Ajasin of old Ondo State, Chief Lateef Jakande of Lagos State; Chief Bola Ige of Oyo State, Chief Olabisi Onabanjo of Ogun and Professor Ambrose Alli of Bendel in the sprit of passionate dedication and commitment to the development of their states as established and promoted by their leader, Chief Obafemi Awolowo engaged in establishing very promising and life change projects in their states  They were leaders who ventured to make life easy and better for residents of their states. In line with the philosophy of their party, the then Unity Party of Nigeria introduced free and compulsory education, they were the first to establish State Universities in the country and several societal transforming programmes such as free health services to their people.  Thus, the Governors of those states were competing among themselves to develop their states by providing life enhancement projects.

In Ondo State for instance, it was on record that during the administration of Governor Michael Adekunle Ajasin by his dedication and commitment to improving the welfare of the state created most of the infrastructure, services and industries driving the development of the state such as Oluwa Glass industry in Igbokoda, Owena bank, Confidence Insurance Company, Ire Burnt Brick factory, Ondo State University, Ifon ceramic factory and several others during his tenure. Indeed, such giant strikes were recorded in other Unity Party controlled states in Western Nigeria during the same period to the admiration of the people.

Unfortunately, the quality leadership for which the Western Region and later Western states were  noted for in the first and second republics in terms of creative development initiatives and project execution seems to be fast disappearing while other areas seem to be taking the lead. Of course, recent developments with regards to the performance of political leaders including the legislators in the country seems to exhibit a reversal of dispassionate commitment to the welfare and posterity of the people displayed by political leaders in the past. In some cases, in recent times, the best performing leaders are now found in other regions beside the west that was noted for quality leadership in the past. The question agitating one’s mind is what has been responsible for this unprogressive development where leaders in the area  no longer have the zeal and compassion to serve the people. Instead, what is common is the zeal to amass wealth for themselves and their families at the expense of the larger state and country.

The leaders in the past years accepted without reservation that their community or states come first before self or family. It is a sad commentary that the crop of leaders in the zone in recent times are bereft of the right attribute of past leaders and they do not promote similar objectives of serving the people that manifested in being the first in introducing people’s oriented programmes. They are more concerned with themselves, their families and community to which they amass and commit large chunk of state resources to. The state of affairs in the south west has degenerated to a level where self becomes paramount because of the overall quest of every one to become rich overnight. Also, the age-old tradition of tutelage and screening of potential leaders in the region have been jettisoned for the highest bidder. It is money bags and those that can buy their way into positions that are given opportunities and not people with proven abilities and records of service.

Thus, people that becomes leaders are not those imbued with the right qualities and principles that encompass compassion and the principles of service to the societies. Of course, this state of affairs though not peculiar to the region alone, should not be permitted to persist in the region and in Nigeria. We must reenact the tradition in which people were trained and tested before being allowed into position of leadership. Nigerians should seek to deemphasize worshipping money but  begin to seek for good people that can promote and enhance the overall collective development of the society not people that are more concerned with self, family and primordial community. It is time to reverse this trend.