The Yar’Adua-Jonathan presidency stunted Nigeria's Development - El rufai

Elombah.com

22 October 2011

The Yar’Adua-Jonathan presidency stunted Nigeria's Development - El rufai       

Written by Nasir el Rufai    

"This principle is called the law of the Lid. A people can never grow beyond the level of their leader and if you have a leader who is not fully developed mentally, spiritually and emotionally, such a leader will be a lid on the people much like a lid over as pot and the country will not progress beyond his ability to govern. A recent example is the Yar’Adua-Jonathan presidency who have been unable to grow beyond their immediate ethnic circle, a spiritual addiction to marabouts and limited development vision. Nigeria has become the worse for it, losing our foreign reserves from $57 billion in 2007, wiping out the over $23 billion excess crude account, and raising our national debt to its pre-2005 level - with nothing to show for it ,and putting on hold all investment decisions in electricity, rail transportation and petroleum refining for three years."

Plugging the Leadership Gap - Options for Nigeria

By: Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai                      

Email: elrufai@aol.com

Twitter: @elrufai, Skype: nelrufai

Speech at Patriots for New Nigeria Initiative (PNNI), Abuja

State of the Nation Roundtable - October 20, 2011

Let me first thank you for inviting me to speak to your group on the eternal question of the leadership challenges facing Nigeria. Based on my antecedents and recent political leanings, it is quite courageous of you to ask me to speak on this subject. I care deeply about my country and hold no other passport. This country gave me a decent education, equal opportunity to realize my potentials, and public service credentials. I need nothing more from the nation but obliged repay through enduring patriotism. And mine is loyalty to the nation and not its rulers. I do not care about the emotions, expectations and insecurities of its leaders. So I promise to be frank in expressing my views and look forward to a robust interaction with your membership.

The Crisis of Leadership

Societies make progress when visionary leaders emerge to organize and direct collective actions for peaceful coexistence, with sensible rules, clear incentives and sanctions that enable individuals realize their full potentials.

The Nigerian nation first elected its leaders at both national and regional levels in 1960. Around that period, Malaysia, Singapore Botswana and Indonesia had their first set of elected post-colonial leaders going into offices as well. The Japanese had elected the first LDP government five years earlier in the aftermath of the American Occupation. Forty years later, these five nations in Asia and Africa have enjoyed democratic continuity, protection of freedoms and basic rights, rapid economic development and improvement in the quality of life for its citizens. Nigeria has not. What went wrong?