A leadership consultant, Mr Tokunbo Obanya, says the leadership challenges in Nigeria have been fueled by a misconceived idea of what leadership means.
He said that most Nigerians – the elites and others that are not – think that leadership is almost like a bestowal of a crown or a title.
“This creates a number of challenge for us as a nation. People think titles are more important than the assignment.
“We have a foundational problem,” he said on national television on Monday while giving his opinion on the leadership and followership challenges facing Nigeria.
Mr Obanya pointed out that the biggest challenge Nigeria was facing was the fact that a typical Nigerian does not spend time to ask the reason for the actions or situations he or she was in.
“We don’t understand the purpose of our assignments. Understanding of the leader’s capacity to influence his environment is vital in choosing a leader.
“Leaders do not take responsibility of what decisions they make,” Mr Obanya said.
He stressed that the leadership of Nigeria would be better than it had been if Nigerians would take responsibility for how it could be better.
“It is the responsibility of a few committed people. If we begin to affect people on one-on-one level, you begin to open a few eyes and gradually what you are doing is creating change.
“We all have responsibly for the change that we seek. We should engage in a proper argument and we should be able to ask ourselves questions that would address fundamental issues in Nigeria,” he said.
The leadership consultant said that those in leadership positions should be rated by the impact they had made in the lives of the people when they were in office and when they leave.
He stressed the need for politics in Nigeria that had focused more on project to be shifted to focus more on people.
“The people should look at how positive their lives have become after the leaders leave office,” he suggested, insisting that it was the only way to find out how positive the leadership had been.
