By Babatunde Jose

“No man is good enough to govern another man without that other’s consent” – Abraham Lincoln

In Marxist philosophy, the bourgeoisie is the social class that came to own the means of production during modern industrialization and whose societal concerns are the value of property and the preservation of capital to ensure the perpetuation of their economic supremacy in society. Joseph Schumpeter saw the creation of the bourgeoisie as the driving force behind the capitalist engine, particularly entrepreneurs who took risks to bring innovation to industries and the economy through the process of creative destruction.

Today, in our clime and most African countries that social order is dominated by a new bourgeoisie, made up of political leaders and not captains of industry. They are rent collectors who make huge profits without investments; they have no factories and are neither entrepreneurs nor employers of labor but they own huge amounts of money but they are not investors or creators of wealth; they live a life of opulence like royalty but they are not royalty. Impervious to the suffering and tribulations of the people they are supposed to serve.

Not content with living in the old Government Reservations, our politicopreneurs have opted to build mansions on hilltops, like the ubiquitous Colonial District Officers, far removed from their people. Perhaps like Jomo Kenyatta wrote in Facing Mount Kenya, there they ‘commune’ with the gods. These are our leaders! Much has been written about them.

Vexed by their shenanigans, Obi Ezekwesili (she used to be one of them) said: “Our political leaders have turned democracy into a criminal enterprise breaking all the principles of representative government. Nigeria has become the epicentre of human greed, avarice, official impunity and duplicity.”

The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “There is no leader who closes the door to someone in need, in hardship, and in poverty, but that Allah closes the gates of heaven to him when he is in need, in hardship, and in poverty.” ‘Amr ibn Murrah reported:Sunan al-Tirmidhī 1332

Thus, present and past leaders of Nigeria seem to have failed to provide quality leadership capable of addressing numerous challenges confronting the country”. Nigeria and the Challenges of Leadership in the 21st Century: A Critique by CHRIS. IWEJUO NWAGBOSO and OTU DUKE; International Journal of Humanities and Social Science Vol. 2 No. 13; July 2012.

Nigeria’s military relinquished political power after dominating the country’s post-independence experience and Nigerians hoped for a turn towards democratic governance and better life. But in the years since then, Nigeria’s civilian leaders at all levels have not only proven entirely unaccountable to ordinary Nigerians but have also routinely abused their basic rights.

At the same time, corruption and mismanagement have led to the waste of record-setting oil revenues that could have been expended to tackle poverty and improve access to basic health and education services.

The socioeconomic and political development of any country depends largely on the ability of its leadership to facilitate, entrench, and sustain good governance. Over the years, we have had leaders who, prior to ascending leadership positions, are sold to the masses as beacons of hope amidst the misery viciously staring them in the face.

‘Where there is no vision, the people perish’; we certainly need leaders who can translate visions into reality. A leadership that spent so much money in putting up the iconic Trade-Fair Complex in Lagos only to abandon and turn it into a motor spare-part market, can never be a goal-oriented leadership, nor can we describe a leadership that watched the deterioration of the Lagos/Ibadan, Sagamu/Benin, and other road infrastructure, including the now rested East/West Road, as a serious leadership.

Leaders that abandon and allow Ajaokuta Complex to waste away are not progressive leaders: Built on a 24,000 hectares (59,000 acres) site starting in 1979, it is the largest steel mill in Nigeria. However, the project was mismanaged and remains incomplete 44 years later. Also established along with it were four Steel Rolling Mills at Jos, Plateau State; Oshogbo, Osun State; Katsina, Katsina State and Aladja in Delta State. All have been left to rot.

The iniquities of our leaders are not pleasing to the Almighty. Fortunately, we all know the solutions to these problems. They are structural and characterological.

Nigeria’s underdevelopment is more of poor implementation than lack of development goals and programs. Policy somersault and development projects abandonment are common. The way the country is structured needs to be re-examined: Restructured.

We need to stop and reflect on where we are and how we got to the present pass. Nigeria is not working, and it cannot fulfil its destiny as it is presently constituted. In the last 24 years, we have tried the PDP for 16 years with its attendant catastrophe and in the last 8 years the APC and its journey to hellfire. Nigeria’s elites have never been able to agree on any transformation agenda for implementation.

A commentator, Mr. Martins said, “Our politicians have become so brazen that they simply ignore the complaints of the citizens!!” But Mr. Akin, another observer opined, “Don’t blame the politicians alone! There are those who eat crumbs and let go of pedigree and integrity.”

Since 1960, Nigeria has reaped an estimated US$600 billion in oil revenue. At the same time, Nigeria has the third highest number of poor people in the world.

It has been argued that we built dams, highways, and invested in infrastructure, but they are nothing to write home about. Most of them either stopped working and left to rot, while others were neglected, and we returned to the state of nature. All our assembly plants were eaten up by termites.

Our people continue to live in darkness. Yet, we have made financial interventions, amounting to over N7 trillion, in the power sector since its privatization. Thanks to a visionless leadership.

We have no functional refineries, yet we have workers in Kaduna, Warri, and PH refineries earning salaries for jobs not done. It is scandalous that billions of dollars are being spent on Turn Around Maintenance on these refineries and we continue to import fuel.

Our leaders, both military and the successor civil rulers have succeeded in destroying the fabric of our economy. The oil and gas that is the bedrock of our economy is being progressively blighted as a result of mismanagement and corruption. They have succeeded in killing the goose that lays our golden egg.

The current probe of the refineries in the senate exemplifies our concern: “Between 2010 to date, Nigeria is estimated to have spent N11.35 trillion (N11,349,583,186,313.40), excluding other cost in other currencies, which include $592,976,050, €4,877,068.47, and £3,455,656.93, on renovation of refineries, yet they are unproductive.

“The Federal Government of Nigeria has spent over N6 trillion between 2010 and 2023, on fuel subsidy due to Nigeria’s low refining capacity and has spent almost twice the amount on rehabilitating (TAM) projects on its refineries.

“Despite the moribund state of the four refineries, the operating costs of the refineries between 2010 and 2020 is estimated at N4.8 trillion. The refineries are estimated to make a cumulative loss of N1.64 trillion within four years.”

Senator Karimi explained: “The Federal Government of Nigeria has carried out rehabilitation projects in Port Harcourt Refinery Company (PHRC) over a period of seven years from 2013-2019 at an estimated cost of N12,161,237,811.61.

“In addition, on the 18^th of March 2021, a rehabilitation contract was executed between NNPC/PHRC and Tenenimont SPA at a lump sum of $1,397,000,000 only (about N75 billion amidst public criticism.

“The Phase 1 of the project is expected to be completed in 28 months after the contract, Phase 2 within 24 months, and Phase 3 within 44 months of execution. Despite this, the Port Harcourt Refinery remains a money pit. Going by projections and representations from NNPCL, the renovation works ought to be completed and operations of the refinery commenced by June 2023.

“In a bid to revitalize the Warri Refinery, the federal government has injected huge public funds into revamping Warri Refinery & Petrochemical Company Limited to the tune of over N28,219,110,067.10 between 2014 and 2019.”

He added: “That particularly, around the 24 June 2022, the Federal Executive Council awarded Maintenance Services for Quick Fix Repairs of Warri Refinery to Daewoo Engineering and Construction Limited at $497, 328, 500, yet at the moment the Warri Refinery is inactive.

“This is different from the 2017 contract award to Saipem Contracting Nigeria Limited for Tech Plant Survey of the Warri and Kaduna Refineries at 2,025,00.32 Euros.

“The Kaduna Refinery and Petro-Chemical Company (KRPC) has over the past 10 years gulped N2,266,248,434 in the name of rehabilitation, yet the Refinery remains unproductive.

The NNPCL approved a $741 million renovation deal with Daewoo Engineering and Construction Limited to renovate Kaduna Refinery in February 2023 and it is intended to restore the refinery to production of 110,000 barrels of petrol per day (at least 60 per cent capacity) by early 2024.”

These are scandalous revelations and the open sore of a leprous leadership. More to come: Executive Secretary/CEO of Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), Ogbonnaya Orji, has said Nigeria lost over N16.25 trillion due to oil theft in the country. And that $74.386 billion has been spent on fuel subsidies by successive administrations since 2011. NEITI also uncovered over $8.3 billion unremitted revenue by some privately owned oil firms and Federal Government-owned Agencies which was not paid into the Federation Account, in deviance to provisions in the extant financial regulations.

Unfortunately, most of those at the helm of our affairs are defective in the moral department and are yet to demonstrate any significant sign that they are capable of leading us out of our morass nor leading us to the promised land.

Narrated Ma’qil, I heard the Prophet (saws) saying, “Any man whom Allah has given the authority of ruling some people and he does not look after them in an honest manner, will never feel even the smell of Paradise.”

Can the present administration make a change? Can it bring about the renewed hope it promised the people? Can it lead us on to the road to the promised land, wipe away our tears and fulfil the promise of a ‘life more abundant’?

The Messenger of Allah, (PBOH) said, “Whoever is appointed over the affairs of people in any way and he conceals benefit from them, Allah will conceal benefit from him on the Day of Resurrection.” Source: Musnad Aḥmad 21504

Let me conclude in the words of the ‘Advocate’ Onikepo Braithwaite: If I were President Tinubu, my primary concern would be to render a sterling performance to Nigeria and Nigerians, to ensure that I go down in history as the Leader that turned the fortunes of a more or less broken country around for good.