The occupation of exalted positions by some Nigerians on the international scene simply shows that the inept political leadership in the country is not in our nature but an attitude problem.
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was recently appointed as the director-general of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
Someone remarked that her appointment to the key post “at the heart of the global trading not only confirms her capability to do the job exceedingly well but also sheds a positive light on the nation in the international community”.
At the helms of affairs at the African Development Bank (AfDB) sits another eminent personality, a freeborn of Nigeria, Akinwumi Adesina, who was recently given a fresh mandate to pilot the multilateral development finance institution for another five-year term.
Amina Mohammed, who was appointed deputy secretary-general of the United Nations in 2017, is still powering great on her beat.
These are not just isolated cases of Nigerians who are doing excellently in foreign lands, contributing to the social, political and economic wellbeing of the countries they are serving.
When the trio served as ministers in various administrations in Nigeria, they distinguished themselves and left positive marks.
But the impression being created by the political class is that there is no saint in Sodom. This is why some politicians have come up to claim that Nigeria’s leadership problem was beyond man’s solution.
It has been said over and over again that Nigeria’s greatest challenge is leadership. This is because wrong candidates have always been pushed forward into the driver’s seat of the nation’s governance. The country’s first eleven never get elected to man executive seats.
Those who get to the nation’s power stool most times lack the competence, for the simple reason that they never prepared for the responsibility before it was thrust at them, or by nature they lack leadership acumen, or they feel they are the best since they were beckoned at and power handed to them on a platter.
So, they handle the office as if they were doing the nation a favour.
But to see the exploits of the international icons such as Okonjo-Iweala, Adesina, Mohammed and others on the global stage and the seeming joke going on in Nigeria in the name of governance, it would appear that the most populous black nation on planet earth is consistently on a self-destruction mission.
Today, in the Joe Biden administration in the United States of America, there are three Nigerians appointed even before the inauguration of that government.
Adewale Adeyemo, Osaremen Okolo and Funmi Olorunnipa Badejo were appointed as deputy treasury secretary, Covid-19 advisor and associate counsel, respectively.
The singsong even outside the country is that Nigeria is badly run. It has continued to oscillate from one leadership misfortune to another.
Many concerned citizens strongly believe that it is indeed unacceptable for a country that parades a galaxy of stars on the global stage, displaying fantastic leadership qualities and competences, to be held hostage by a band of political elite that continues to profiteer from the nation’s leadership misfortune.
Perhaps, with the growing influence of Nigerian citizens on the international scene, a time will come when the voting masses in Nigeria will take their destiny in their own hands by doing the right thing with their voter cards.
Only then shall we have been able to convince the world that leadership incompetence is not in our nature but a decision embraced by entrenched political interests.
