THINK, DREAM AND ACT BIG

It’s that simple! If you want to be big, think BIG! According to Trump, the real estate billionaire, ‘’when it comes to thinking big, you are your own worst enemy’’. How true!

I used to reason that to think big was to be greedy! The mentality that says: Can you drive two cars at the same time? Can you sleep in two beds at the same time? Can you live in two houses at the same time? You can’t! But secretly, you’d like to rent a limo or a friend's more ‘’sleek’’, say ‘’sweeter’’, car for your wedding day.  Why reserve good times for special days when you can have it all days of your life?   Remember: ASK! And you will get! KNOCK!! And it will open!  SEEK: And you will find!!! This wisdom is from antiquity, and they still apply today.

I never thought I could have the good times. As a banker, I was taught, be a professional, dress well but be careful with money - remember you are dealing with other people’s money, they said.  Never aspire for big money, but the bank will pay you enough ‘’to be comfortable’’, they drummed into me. Comfortable I was but I never dared to dream! In fact, I sold my dream instead. Sad mistake. Remember, your dream is not for sale.

Many lies will hold you back. These are some that held me back for years. How will I fuel my car? How will I feed my family? How will I survive? I forgot the basic precept that says when life throws you a lemon, make lemonade out of it. It was like that for years until that fateful day on Table Mountain, near Cape Town.  As I stood aloft the mountain marvelling as the waters of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans embraced each other but refused to kiss, I purposed in my heart to become a ‘’BUSINESS MOGUL’’, make money and tour the world.    Get out of your comfort zone and start thinking, dreaming and acting big. Go do it, and one day soon, you'll be BIG.

On Shamsuddeen Usman

They say little minds discuss people, average minds discuss events, while great minds discuss issues. Well today we’re going to display little mind as we’re going to discuss Dr. Shamsuddeen Usman. Dr. Usman has operated at the highest levels of government since 1989, some 23 solid years. He has presided over the then NIDB (now BOI), NEXIM, BPE, CBN, NPC. If you look at Wikipedia, the greatest achievement attributed to Dr. Usman is that he is the only man that ever declared his assets before joining government.  Good achievement in a country ‘’noted for its high levels of corruption’’ according to Wikipedia. The issue is, what is Dr. Usman still doing in government? What has Dr. Usman really been planning over these years? With everything crumbling around us: no motorable roads, no electricity, no water, no functioning textile industry, motor assembly, refineries, universities, and hospitals, dilapidated airports, you name it, would it not have been more honourable for him to step aside and say, I came, I saw, I could not conquer? Really, Dr. Usman should throw in the towel. It’s the only honourable thing to do. What's your take?

SILVERBIRD MAN OF THE YEAR

Do you watch ‘’CNN HEROES’’ annual event? If you have not been watching start to.  The annual event is sub-titled Everyday People Changing the World.  The captivating event documents the lives of ordinary people who go out of their way to make a difference in the lives of the powerless. No Nigerian has won so far. Way back at home, who do Silverbird nominate as their MAN OF THE YEAR?  Look closely you’ll see the movers and shakers - ex-army generals who participated and killed in coups,  government ministers noted for nothing but corruption, businessmen, etc. How is THE MAN OF THE YEAR chosen? By texting; just send SMS naming your candidate. So you just go to the computer village, hire a crowed and they send 100,000 text messages saying you’re the man, and you win.  As usual, the highest bidder will win. Was Silverbird playing to the gallery? Rate the SILVERBIRD MAN OF THE YEAR AWARD:  a) Great     b) Mediocre

LIVE LIFE LOUD!

It’s the greatest secret of all! In life, enthusiasm triumphs over everything else. W. Clement Stone once said, ‘no matter how carefully you plan your goals they will never be more than pipe dreams unless you pursue them with gusto.’ Emerson in pursuing the argument in similar vein, affirmed W. Clement Stone’s keen observation, saying, ‘every great movement in the annals of history is the triumph of enthusiasm’. Father John O’Brien, Research Professor of Theology at Notre Dame University observed, ‘’the first ingredient, which I believe is absolutely necessary, for a successful, efficient, and competent individual is enthusiasm’’.

Ronald Reagan, the 40th President of the United States who lived to the ripe age of 96, was the quintessential optimist and never lost his zest for life till the very end. Reagan dotted on Nancy, his dear wife, and never forgot the wise words of W. Clement Stone who counseled, ‘enthusiasm is one of the most important factors necessary for success in life.’ As he was being wheeled to the operating theater following the assassination attempt on his life by John Hinckley Jr., just 69 days into his Presidency, Reagan turned to Nancy, his wife, and joked, ‘sorry honey, I forgot to duck’. Reagan was a great actor but this time it was for real: he had just escaped being the fifth assassinated president of the United States and was joking about it.

A wise man once said, ‘the worth of our lives comes not in what we do or who we know, but who we are. You are special – don’t ever forget it.’ Live life loud! Live life with enthusiasm! Don’t pursue success, but pursue happiness. Mother Theresa once said, ‘’Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.’’ Life is like music, it has melody, harmony, rhythm, tempo, and dynamics. Mama Cass Elliot, a singer, advised, ‘’Make your own kind of music. Sing your own special song. Make your own kind of music, even if nobody else sings along. Learn to appreciate life more, to view each day as a blessing it is, and to celebrate each day to the fullest.’’

Learn when to be loud enough to be heard and soft enough to hear others. An unknown author once said, ‘A good way to live is to care more than others think wise, risk more than others think safe, dream more than others think practical, expect more than others think possible.’’ Are you weighed down by life? As Napoleon Hill would say, wake up and live! Ray Kroc, the founder of McDonald’s, quoting Calvin Coolidge, in one of his most memorable interviews when asked how he became so successful quipped, ‘’Press on, nothing in the world can take the place of perseverance. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education alone will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.’’ And if I may add, nothing fires your persistence and determination as enthusiasm.

As we head for our home stretch, let’s borrow two of Optimists’ Club Promises. ‘Promise: to wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile’. ‘Promise to be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.’ Hilary Cooper enthused, ‘’Life is not measured by the number of breaths that we take, but the moments that take our breath away.’’ Ride on my friend, be happy. On your life’s journey, take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints!

On Nigerian Professors

When Michael E. Porter, a professor of competitive strategy from Harvard came calling in August, 2011, courtesy  of the Tony Elumelu Foundation, one of his first points of call was Nigeria’s Presidential Villa. To do what?  To lecture Nigeria’s government officials and business class on how to make Nigeria more competitive.  He was received by the VP Nnamadi Sambo.  Prof. Porter has over 18 solid books, and over 125 articles under his belt. The question arises, how come with about 100 universities, Nigeria has no Professors with Porter’s clout?   Share your opinion.    

IDOWU KOMOLAFE – THE RACE AGAINST TIME

Our first encounter was in utter darkness. I’d gone to my local beauty salon to meet my hair stylist, Show Boy, for my usual once-a-week hair trim. In the analog age, I would have called him a barber, but today it’s the Pinterest Age, where everything has to be sexy, glamorous, and fun. And there she sat. Ebony black, composed, slim as a broomstick, I immediately conjured in my mind she could be Nigeria’s trump card for a global beauty pageant glory. I didn’t see her full curvature though as NEPA, oh Never Expect Power Always, now PHCN, yes, Please Hold Candle Now, had, at the exact moment I turned my car sharply into the narrow gate leading to the compound where  Show Boy has his salon, decided to strike.

As I alighted from my car, a pang of thirst struck me with a devastating force as if I’d not had any fluid for a day or two. Whether  my sudden burst of thirst was the gods conspiracy that I had a chat with the slim, nearly emaciated figure sitting on a ramshackled bench by the darkest part of the nondescript   building, or it was a mere happenstance, I would not know.  But to her I went, and straight to the point too: please can you help me buy low sugar malt drink across the road, I pleaded as if my life depended on her saying yes. With lightning speed, agility and grace that was nothing but exemplary, and before I even had enough time to tell her thank you, she had collected the N200 note I’d thrust to her and was back within seconds with an ice-cold drink.

That’s how my romance with Idowu Komolafe began. As I looked closely at her that eventful night as she handed me the bottle of drink, asking, ‘’can I open the drink for you sir’’, I saw a starving young woman crying for attention. My thirst gone, and Show Boy’s smoke spewing Taiwan-made gen announcing the salon’s readiness for me, I thanked Idowu for her generosity and bade her farewell. But before I’d taken a step, Idowu threw me a surprise as she said, ‘’but sir this is your change, the drink is ‘one-twenty’ so you have eighty Naira.’’ I didn’t expect that. I thought she would appropriate the change, after all, in all honesty, I knew that’s how things are in Lagos. First, I didn’t know the retail price of the drink, she would have guessed. Second, as typical, she would have concluded, I didn’t need the paltry change. What, with my big car? Third, she could have justified that she needed the N80 more than I the true owner, thus using all manners of subterfuge to prevent me from having it.

Idowu was honest. I didn’t know her name and her true situation until much later. In further encounters, as I continued to patronize Show Boy,  I was to learn Idowu usually went for days without food. She had a heart condition that needed corrective surgery. She had lost her dad years earlier. Her relatives, including her mum, I learnt were somewhere in Ibadan. She was staying with her grandmother who was in her eighties and who was in need of care herself. That’s how I became Idowu’s benefactor.

One day I asked Idowu what her true dream was. She didn’t miss the mark. She said if only she was well, she would ‘’love to settle down, have a family of her own, and be happy’’.  I shed a tear or two because Idowu is miles away from her dream. Idowu has been receiving treatment from the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital for some 10 years now. Since she has to pay for every single tablet she gets from the hospital’s pharmacy, most often she goes without medication. Why? You guess, she has no money. Idowu’s condition took a precipitous turn downwards two weeks ago. She had called me at 3am on 10 September to say in the feeblest of voices ‘’daddy my tmmy and legs are swollen, I’m dying’’. Idowu now calls me daddy. She and her grandmother were ejected from their last abode for inability to meet up with rent payments, and Idowu had suddenly felt she was worrying me too much, so she had taken to hiding her deteriorating health condition from me despite all entreaties to always alert me anytime her condition took a turn for the worse.

Idowu was rushed to Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja on that fateful day and has since been on admission. Her stay there is not free. She currently owes LASUTH an undisclosed sum.  Idowu needs open-heart surgery. According to estimates from a hospital in Chennai, India, the operation will cost between $13,000 and $16,000, excluding personal maintenance, return flight tickets for two, and rehabilitation on return. All told the cost may likely be in the region of N3.6million, (about $22,300 depending on the exchange rate used).  Meanwhile we have also reached out to University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu, to find out if the operation can be carried out locally.

We can save Idowu and make her dream of true happiness come true. Why don’t you join the race to save Idowu now by doing the little that you can? I advise you go to www.saveidowukomolafe.org, where you’ll meet Idowu face-to-face. A register of Friends of Idowu Komolafe has been set up at Paradise Bookshops, 11 Alhaja Kofoworola Crescent, Off Awolowo Way (By Balogun Bus Stop), Ikeja, from where you can send a get-well-quick card, and/or flowers to Idowu. Better still you can visit Idowu at Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Medical Ward BT Female. Calls for additional details can be made to the following telephone numbers +234-803.307.5133, +234-802.875.3412, +234-815.262.7510.  For Idowu Komolafe, the race against time is on. Who will win? Is it death or life? Let’s make life the winner. We really can make the huge difference, for as Zig Ziglar says, ‘’genuine happiness comes when you do things for others’’, and if I may add, especially, for someone like Idowu, who cannot help herself.

WHERE IS THE HONOUR?

Though its exact origins are lost in antiquity, all agree that it originated in ancient Greece. It was first held, according to some records, in Southern Greece in 776 BC, and Koroibos of Elis emerged the winner of this first Olympic game. In the Olympics, the world’s best athletes compete against each other for individual and national pride, honour and treasure. Believe it or not, it’s the biggest game out there, much more so than the World’s Athletics Championship where World Records are set and broken. That is why Serena Williams will consider her one Olympic Gold Medal in the women’s singles the crowning achievements of her illustrious career despite having won 29 grand slam titles, including 3 in Olympics women’s double, with sister Venus. 

Lacking world class facilities, world class coaching, and world class spirit, like kindergartens in the midst of giants, and in the glare of over 3 billion people from the seven continents on earth, Nigerian Olympians crashed out of the 2012 Summer Olympic Games, without a medal. Their athletes disgraced, despised and trampled upon with contempt by more serious nations, a stunned citizenry watched in utter disappointment, bitterness and helplessness as the final Medals table was flashed around the world with the USA proudly perched at the top. Jamaica,  Ethiopia, and Kenya did the black race proud, placing 18^th, 24^th and 28^th respectively, running away with 12, 7, and 11 medals, including 4, 3, and 2 Gold each, in that order. Nigeria, the largest concentration of the black race in the world left empty handed, with no medals! A true reflection of the depth the country  has sunk, it would have been a moment for sober reflection, stout determination to punish culprits, and steely resolve to say, never again.

It is against this calamitous background that we should reflect on or assess the President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati’s piece in Thisday, August 19, 2012, page 109.  Regarding the London calamity, and apparently in response to the national scandal of epic proportions, Dr. Abati wrote, ‘’President Jonathan was angry too, I can report. On Wednesday, August 15, Council Meeting had just ended, and it was time for AOB.  Everybody was in a relaxed mood, until the President said he was surprised that the Minister of Sports had not briefed Council about the outcome of the London Olympics’’, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad. According to Dr. Abati, the President continued, saying jokingly, ‘’you are taking your time eh, okay don’t worry, we understand’’, and ‘’there was peals of laughter’’. At this juncture, according to Abati, the President’s tone changed. The President then continued with a barrage of questions, supposedly to express his anger. According to Abati, the President asked rhetorically, ‘’how can we possibly go to the Olympics and come back with nothing?’’  President Jonathan continued, ‘’we must get the private sector to invest in sports and governments at all levels must also do their bit. We are a country of gifted people. We must identify those areas in which this country can excel and work hard at them. We must win medals and bring glory to our nation.’’ According to Abati, the President said further, ‘’and I don’t mean going to the bus stop to recruit athletes, I mean serious business. We must get our act together’’.

To the non cognoscenti, AOB stand for ‘’Any Other Business’’. These are immaterial things that you can discuss in a meeting if you have time to spare. Only serious matters are put in a meeting’s main Agenda. Non serious matters are lumped together under AOB. So you see how our performance,   or none thereof, and the disgrace of the entire nation and the black race was handled by the highest administrative organ in the land, the Federal Executive Council? According to Dr. Abati, the Sports Minister ‘’thanked Mr. President’’ and concluded ‘’with a pledge that his Ministry was prepared to do everything possible to address observed lapses’’.

Gone are the days when participation in the sports in the ‘’Spirit of the Sports’’ is  enough. Today the Olympics, World Athletics Championship, Commonwealth Games, Wimbledon, New York Open at Flush Meadows, and all the top sports and competitions are avenues where nations test their might, hone their prestige and honour. That is why Americans will fight to their last breath to beat Chinese on the Medals Table, not only the overall number, but the Gold count. That is why the Queen of England at age 86, will brave torrential rains, the teeming crowd, and leave his ailing husband temporarily to go to the stadium to cheer British Athletes, knowing that while they may not beat the Americans and Chinese, at least they can avoid being disgraced in their home turf by the likes of Jamaica, Cuba, and Kenya. In Nigeria what do we get? We get ‘’pledge to address observed lapses’’, after the Olympics Games have been won and lost.

In nations where people are held accountable, the Sports Minister would have resigned as a matter of honour for letting down over 160million Nigerians and over 2.5billion blacks the world over. The Chairman of the National Sports Commission, and his entire board, would have resigned for letting down the nation. But what do we get here?  We get theatrics! We get ‘’marching orders’’. We get excuses. We get laughter. How sad. Where is the honour?

Where has honour gone? Are we just realizing the role of the private sector in sports development? Didn’t the Minister know the level of our preparedness for the XXX Olympiad? Who approved our participation if we knew there were lapses? What lapses is the Minister now talking about? Didn’t the Minister brief the President on the number of medals he was expecting? Did he deliver? Why not? Until the President’s question, ‘’how can we possibly go to the Olympics and come back with nothing’’ is answered, Nigeria will remain the world’s laughing stock. How sad. Where is the honour? Once again, where is the honour?

IT'S TIME TO TRANSFORM THE NIGERIA POLICE FORCE

It was an unfair match. It resembled a Nollywood movie, with all its ugliness and graphic details. The six heavily armed men of the Police RRS (Rapid Response Squad) jumped down from their glistering Toyota pick-up truck shouting commands, and within a twinkling of an eye, the ‘’okadaman’’ and his hapless lady passenger were spat on the ground, screaming. In the ensuing confusion, the lucky lady scampered off, leaving the okadaman to his harsh fate. We witnesses knew nothing of the okadaman’s crime or offence but the policemen’s misplaced bravado didn’t escape our evaluation. As each of the six-man police team kicked the part of the okadaman closest to his boot, including the head, neck, stomach, leg, back, buttocks, all over, we wondered at the training the men would have received.

Unlike the Rodney King battering of March 3, 1991 by five LAPD (Los Angeles Police Department) officers, and the subsequent Los Angeles six-day riots, beginning April 29, 1992, which resulted in widespread looting, arson, assault, 53 murders and property damage estimated at over $1billion, when the officers were acquitted by a jury, the battering of the ‘’unidentified okadaman’’ attracted no local, national or international outrage. Unlike the Rodney King incident, which attracted 43 articles from the Los Angeles Times, 17 from the New York Times, and 11 from the Chicago Tribune, there was no article on the fate of the ‘’unknown okadaman’’ from any Nigerian newspaper.  There was no mention from any radio and television station. The okadaman was an unfortunate casualty, an incident, a mere statistic, of which we are all accustomed to. No one recorded it, unlike Rodney King’s, which was recorded by a citizen who witnessed it from his balcony.

Though its service tag line reads, ‘’the police is your friend’’, it is doubtful any living Nigerian would call the ‘’Nigeria Police’’ a friend, literally or figuratively. How did the Nigeria Police descend to this depth of unprofessionalism? Some attribute its descent into anarchy and unprofessionalism to the incursion of the military into politics and the subsequent usurpation of police role by the military and the relegation of the police force to a subservient role. Others attribute the attitude and ineptitude of the Nigeria Police Force to its colonial upbringing, culture and worldview, whereby the police was trained as an instrument for suppressing the colonized people, and had to be brutal. This line of reasoning has it that the new local elites that took over after the whites left saw and still see the police as a tool for self preservation and has no inclination for transform it into a friendly, well organized force for societal wellbeing. No matter the camp you fall into, Nigerians today all agree the Nigeria Police Force, as presently constituted, has outlived its usefulness to the society.

Fed up with the ineptitude of the Nigeria Police, President Jonathan on December 15, 2011 decapitated the Police high command and saddled a relatively junior officer with the responsibility of transforming the force.  A tall order! Formed in 1861, from 1964 when the first indigenous IG (Inspector General), Louis Edet, took over, to the present date, a period of 48 years, the force has had 16 IGs, an average tenor of 3 years per IG.   With such instability of tenure, any wonder the Nigeria Police is in such a sorry state? Unprofessional, corrupt, and brutal, the very uniform the rank and file adorn, pitch black, strikes fear in the heart of even angels. Rag tag, a force deserving of only a banana republic, some of their modus operendi can at best be described as bizarre, and at worst antiquated, murderous, and suicidal. Where else in the world do you see the police erect barricades at sharp bends on highways, except in banana republics?

With a population estimated at 160m and a police force estimated at 371,800, Nigeria has an average of one police officer per 430 citizens, very much in line with the UN’s recommended average of one police officer per 450 inhabitants, and the US’s average of 3 officers per 1,000 inhabitants. So what is the problem with the Nigeria Police? They are not only hated by the citizens, but by other forces as exemplified by the frequent army - police murderous clashes.

Every Nigerian alive (or even dead – remember the APO Six?) has a sad story to tell about the Nigeria Police. Here is mine. Barely one year after NYSC, some 30 years ago, I was bristling with patriotism and preparing to take my country to the next level. In my naivety, I had challenged police officers for extorting cash from hapless citizens when one promptly arrested me for ‘’traffic delay’’. I had to be taught a lesson for ‘’teaching the police their duty.’’ The men were wild.  Luckily for me, the DPO at the station they took me to, a graying, big-bellied man,  decided to set me free, with a mild reprimand to ‘’go and misbehave no more’’, having identified my uncle as his buddy at the Arochukwu sector during the Nigerian civil war. My name saved me that day. If 30 years sounds too long ago, what about my ‘’arrest’’ in 2006 around Ore, and dispossession under gun point of every kobo I had on me, by police officers manning a ‘’check point’’? My offence or the charge against me was ‘’incomplete car particulars’’. Where do you report such cases of police robbery to? Do you report it to the IG or the nearest Police Station? No Nigerian dares or bothers to report because we all know no justice would be done.

The new IG of Police, Mohammed Dikko Abubakar, has ‘’swung into action’’ since assuming command. The first thing he did was to ‘’abolish’’ roadblocks on highways. The IG has made statements about transforming the Force and restoring professionalism. He has visited state governors, chiefs and emirs, and all have pledged cooperation.  Some states had gone ahead to reequip the police command in their jurisdiction even before the new IG took over. Lagos State was the first to do so. Akwa Ibom is the new frontrunner in transforming the police command in its jurisdiction. Ogun is about to join the ranks of states reequipping police in their jurisdiction without waiting for the Federal Government.  Should we believe and trust the IG’s ‘’transformation agenda’’ given our unfortunate history? The majority of Nigerians I have asked this question do not believe the IG, having been deceived by past IGs.

I don’t know what to believe, but one thing that I strongly believe is that we deserve a World Class Police Force. One of the Police Forces of the world that stands out, thanks to their uncompromising focus on Service Excellence, is Singapore’s. The vision of the Singapore Police Force is to be “a police force that inspires the world”. It wants to achieve greater cohesion between the police and the public, improve levels of service to enhance public perception and increase the confidence of police officers when dealing with the public. In explaining the drive to build a world-class police force to Ron Kaufman, the Commissioner of Police said, “When Singapore Police Force (SPF) began its Service Excellence journey in 1997, many wondered why a law enforcement agency like SPF should place such emphasis on service quality. Enforcement agencies are primarily guided by its mission to uphold the law and maintain public order, unlike the private sector which depends on customer satisfaction and loyalty to ensure its profitability. While we remain guided by our mission, we have learnt much from the private sector. Through our work with you, we gathered significant insights; primarily the willingness to constantly adapt and innovate, and to learn from the best in the private sector.”

 
If only IG Abubakar could aim at such lofty heights rather than the mundane of just changing the police uniform he says is his top priority, I would be willing to train his men and women free of charge. If only the IG would be willing to take the long term view, noting that the SPF began its journey to World Class in 1997, and Fourteen years on, they are still at it. At only 54, the IG has all the time in the world to transform the NPF, but will Nigeria give him a chance? We have a choice as a nation; to leave the NPF ill trained, ill equipped, and ill prepared, and continue to pay a high price in instability, hatred, and underdevelopment; and a choice to transform the NPF to World Class status.

MR. PRESIDENT THIS IS YOUR JOB

‘’The real test of a man is not when he plays the role that he wants for himself, but when he plays the role destiny has for him’’.

-Vaclav Havel

Having vanquished the NLC, rammed N97 per litre price of fuel down Nigerians’ throat, and at the same time opened the petroleum subsidy corruption cankerworm, students of Nigeria’s history the world over are holding their breath to see what President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan will do next.   A man so far noted for his penchant for courting controversy than pursuing ‘’the one thing’’ that matters, will GEJ follow the road less travelled and reinvent Nigeria, or will he settle for the average as his last ten predecessors?

With no clear discerning direction yet in place, a litany of woes assailing the nation, and barely two years to the end of his presidency, GEJ is staring failure square in the face. The signs that Mr. President is headed for total failure are all over the place and viscerally ominous, but as Bob Buford said in his Half Time, ‘’it is never too late to change your game plan.’’  Does Mr. President have what it takes to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat?

Mr. President, the ‘’Transformation Agenda’’ is not your job. Does anybody today remember your predecessor’s ‘’Seven Point Agenda’’?  Does anybody remember ‘’War Against Indiscipline’’, or ‘’Operation Feed the Nation’’.  Empires are not built on the basis of political slogans and agendas, but on deep rooted convictions, watered with tears, blood and sweat. Empires are built by changing minds, attitudes, and national psyche. Dig deep into history and you’ll discover how Peter the Great did it, transforming Russia from hundreds of backward warring serfdoms into an enormous empire. If that appears too remote and lost in antiquity to be of relevance, look no farther than Singapore where in one generation and in our own lifetime Lee Kwan Yew transformed the island nation, devoid of much natural resources, into a global powerhouse, with per capita income surpassing the USA. Mr. President, this is your job: Lee Kwan Yew Nigeria.

Saint Augustine said that asking yourself the question of your own legacy – What do I wish to be remembered for? – is the beginning of adulthood. Mr. President, this is your job: Your Legacy. Put aside your power must shift garb and hat, fold your shirt, relocate your office from Aso Rock to the Ministry of Power and give Nigeria 35,570 Mega Watts of electricity between now and the day you step out of Aso Rock and you’ll be known for the rest of human history as Jonathan the Great.

On top of solving the electricity problem, as bonus, construct three massive bullet train lines, one that will take Nigerians from Maiduguri to Calabar in  just two hours, another that will make Sokoto to Port Harcourt in three and half hours, and a third that will fly through the middle corridor of Nigeria from Kano through Abuja to Lagos in a little less than two hours and you would have united the nation, destroyed ethnic bigotry and set Nigeria on the path to greatness. With that you’ll be ready to be ushered into the great hall to join the pantheons of the Great:  Alexander the Great! Peter the Great!! Jonathan the Great!!! Is that too much to ask?

Daily, a million things will clamour for your attention – bomb blasts, police brutality, corruption in high and low places. Ignore them, you have ministers. Focus on ‘’the one thing’’. Your job is to rally Nigerians to the future. To be a leader is not a walk through the park – attending United Nations Conference, World Economic Forum, adding new jets to the presidential fleet, sidelining your enemies. On the last day no one will ask how many conferences did you attend, but what difference did you make? 

Time is not on your side. Start today to quickly draw the road map for what will be your legacy. Be rock selfish with your time. Get rid of ‘’yes men’’ and quickly enlist in your service men that can deliver, remembering the inscription on Andrew Carnegie’s tombstone: 

Here lies a man

Who knew how to enlist

In his service

Better men than himself

President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s confidential adviser during World War II was Harry Hopkins. A dying, almost a dead man, he could work only a few hours every other day. This forced him to cut out everything but truly vital matters and he accomplished more in wartime Washington than anyone else, that Churchill called him once, according to Drucker, ‘’Lord Heart of the Matter’’.  Adopt the Harry Hopkin’s stance Mr. President, and before your time is up, your job will be done.

NIGERIA IN SEARCH OF A MESSIAH

‘’Economic growth isn’t very meaningful if half the country that you’re growing is left behind in poverty.’’

-Ashok Khosla

‘’When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why they are poor , they call me a Communist.’’

-Archbishop Dom Helder Pessoa Camara

Stripped of all its financial wealth, prestige, and honour, Nigeria is today the world’s biggest laughing stock, viewed with ignominy, contempt and scorn. A country with neither desire nor drive for greatness, it has frittered away trillions of dollars since crude oil was discovered at Oloibiri in 1956, and squandered, according to estimates, some $600billion in nothing tangible between 1999 and 2011.

The 32^nd largest country on earth, and the 10^th most populous in the world, its citizens eke out a living on a meager $2 per day while its ‘’politicians’’ systematically nibble away at the foundations of its corporate existence. Thoroughly despised by serious minded nations, barely tolerated in the ranks of the mediocre, but globally envied for its stupendous natural wealth, the question in the minds of an agitated world is not whether it will unravel, but when.   

Signs of Nigeria’s economic rot abound everywhere. They assail your eyes and nose, and tug at your heart wherever you turn. Employing a scorch-earth policy, the powers that be have systematically destroyed its educational, health, and research services. Today the country boasts no public institution of global note. Its infrastructure ranks amongst the most dilapidated in the world. Roads, airports, seaports, you name it. A country bigger than Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Netherlands, and Ireland put together, Nigeria generates a meager 3,898 mega watts of electricity, while it requires some 35,650 megawatts. Any wonder Ghana, its proud neighbour, once chided the giant with clay feet as ‘’big for nothing’’?

The extent of Nigeria’s all round decline is underscored by the fact that Nigeria won no  medal during the just concluded IAAF World Championships in Athletics in Daegu, South Korea, where Kenya made an impressive 17-medal haul, including 7 Gold. Nigeria’s national football teams qualified neither for the 28^th edition of Africa Cup of Nations taking off January 21^st in Gabon & Equatorial Guinea nor the 2012 Olympic Soccer Event scheduled to take off on July 25 at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff.  Other than the corruption ridden Oil & Gas, the country owns no key industries. The prominent key industries or companies in the country are owned by foreigners: Nigerian Breweries by Holland, Guinness by Ireland, WAPCO by France, MTN by South Africa, Coca Cola, PEPSICO, ExxonMobil and Chevron all by USA, and Total by France, PZ and Unilever by UK and Greek interests.

While the country has produced a few world beaters in the corporate world: Alhaji Aliko Dangote, Pascal Dozie, Tony Elumelu, Dr. Mike Adenuga, Aig Imokhuede, and Jim Ovia, it has not been blessed with a single visionary leader in the socio-political arena. A wise man once said, without a vision the people perish. It should have been, without a visionary leader, the people perish.

A leader rallies people to the future. According to Marcus Buckingham, ‘’Leaders are fascinated by the future.  You are a leader if, and only if, you are restless for change, impatient for progress, and deeply dissatisfied with the status quo.’’  ‘’As a leader’’ Buckingham asserts, ‘’you are never satisfied with the present, because in your head you can see a better future, and the friction between ‘what is’ and ‘what could be’ burns you, stirs you up, propels you forward. This is leadership.’’

Jolted by Soviet’s Sputnik launch of 1957, unprecedented in technological implications, John F. Kennedy would proclaim on May 25 1961, barely five months after assuming office as the 35^th President of the United States, that ‘’I believe this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before  this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon, and returning him safely to the Earth.’’ On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong stepped on the Lunar surface, proclaiming with sublime humility the immortal words, ‘’one small step for man, a giant leap for mankind’’, restoring America’s closely guarded honour and pride. It didn’t matter that President Kennedy had been gone for six years, having been assassinated in 1963.

Leadership is about trust. A leader understands that a promise is sacrosanct, it cannot be broken. As Martin Luther King Jr. once said, "ultimately a genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus, but a moulder of consensus." How many Nigerian leaders have strived to mould consensus, point the nation in the direction of prosperity, growth and happiness? From independence in 1960 to date, a period of over 51 years, how many Nigerian leaders can genuinely claim to have exhibited the trait of a true visionary leader restless for change?

Any fool can embezzle, steal, and misappropriate public funds, but only a leader can make a difference. Until those who aspire to lead subscribe to the ideals of the Athenian Oath ‘’….We will strive unceasingly to quicken the public sense of public duty, that thus, in all these ways, we will transmit this city, not only, not less, but greater, better, and more beautiful than it was transmitted to us’’, the search for Nigeria’s messiah continues. It’s not about the man in the saddle, it’s about us.