The Nigerian system needs a leader with an understanding of our challenges and sustainable solutions to innovate novel local industrial capacity…
Ekpa Stanley Ekpa
The socio-political wave of the moment seems to be coasting towards the port of Atiku Abubakar. A man defined by astonishing resilience, humane dispositions, people-driven politics and courage. Like our founding fathers, he is conscious of our complexity and diverse cultural heritage, our plights as a people, our crossroad situation at the bridge of disunity, our uncurtained insecurity, the widening state of poverty and hunger, and the lack of leaders in our politics to grow Nigeria to the land of plenty and prosperity.
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Yet, he has a great burden and hurdle to handle – the burden of providing credible leadership for Nigeria, a burden to protect and keep Nigeria and Nigerian safe, a burden to reconnect us to our founding fathers’s ideals and legacies, a burden to unite us, a burden to modernize Nigeria, a responsibility to return Nigeria to the original federalism that aided our local development in the days of our founding fathers and a duty to govern every itch of Nigeria. Nigeria, at 58 needs a resilient and focused leadership to fix the broken hopes, opportunities and optimism, by galvanizing the potentiality of Nigeria’s diversity and greatness. But only a great mind can call unto greatness. And 2019 presents Nigeria with a unique opportunity to make a critical decision that will set us on the path of greatness or mar our true potential for progress.
If we must exercise our franchise in 2019, we must do so with a secured assurance of a candidate’s ideological and development policy dispositions; how he intend to actualize his manifestoes; the timeline and his sustainable future development plan for Nigeria’s enduring prosperity. This is no time to dance and echo “change” as a political gifts. That is why we must not buy the idea of restructuring as a political philosophy. Restructuring Nigeria is only a way of resetting our constitution to revert back to our formal regional federalism.
I read in details, the policy direction of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar; it is a pragmatic roadmap that needs life and operation. But what kind of restructuring must we have in Nigeria? It is a restructuring that will afford development hope for all states, sectors, region, ethnic nationalities and all religious entities in our federating system.
As many reputable Nigerians continue to rally Atiku Abubakar on the apt essence of restructuring, he must understand that as an ‘Apostle of Restructuring’, he must be open to the real needs of the Nigerian people, he must be sure and highly confident that he will summon the political courage to meaningfully and manifestly pursue restructuring to a ‘resultful’ conclusion, he must appreciate that history beckons on him as the last standing and unifying hope for sustaining Nigeria’s unity and enduring development and that Nigerians are tired of deceitful politics in leadership, we need visionary leadership in politics.
He must not only represent as an apostle of restructuring but must be consistent with the right composure of how the Nigerian union will be inclusively restructured, the basis and what kind of restructuring and his proposed realistic timeline for restructuring if given the mandate.
Responsible leadership in politics demands Atiku Abubakar to focus on the few things that will define his presidency if given the mandate – the brevity of power is like the fluidity of time, hence, history will be kind to him, should he focus on fixing Nigeria’s stable power challenge and ensuring that Nigeria is restructured along a pattern that permits local development. If I were Atiku Abubakar, I will be grateful to God and to Nigerians, I will be contended, I will give it all my best at all times to see that Nigeria is modernized, I will understand that Nigeria needs a leader in me for solution driven leadership. I will have in mind that Nigeria needs leadership characters that defies tribalism, corruption, superfluidities and redundancy in governance.
The Nigerian system needs a leader with an understanding of our challenges and sustainable solutions to innovate novel local industrial capacity; who will inspire State Governors to harness, utilize and explore their states natural resources for local development; who will build our institutions for effectiveness, productivity and efficiency in work.
There is no state in Nigeria without the natural and agricultural resources to make her economically viable in a restructured Nigeria. And contrary to distorted truth, the north have so much to gain from restructuring as their vast arable landmass and mineral resources will be harnessed for the peoples development.
Atiku Abubakar needs a post election popularity that is earned by harnessing the vast potentials of our youth’s resourcefulness, energy, time, intellect and digital savvies for statecraft and development. Instead of embezzling, I will invest hugely in our education, health sector and technological advancement. We need a leader who understands that he is first a Nigerian and a leader to all Nigerians. We need a leader who will reform our national remuneration scale and invest more on the workforce, and digitalize our civil and public service for innovation in service. The possibility of a new and truly developed Nigeria lies in the hands of such a lucky leader. Greater as a nation is our need of a true party of change.
Given the widening state of underdevelopment and frightening level of poverty in Nigeria: we need a political party that understands how poor and destitute millions of Nigerians are, the extreme lack of basic social amenities like clean water, deep darkness in the failure of power supply, abysmal absence of quality healthcare system, high cost of living amongst other life threatening social failures. Such party’s foundational ideals must be established on viable ideas and development programmes. Programmes that propel us to either produce, innovative or go into extinction as a nation.
I do not easily purpose to hold a brief of trust for any of our current politicians but I hold an assurance of trust in prophecy of what Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, will do to restructure Nigeria, given his articulate vocal stand on restructuring and his vast understanding of our challenges, with an appreciable professing of sustainable solutions thereto the challenges.
Rallying round his impressive credentials of entrepreneurial leadership savvies, his detribalized personality and rugged doggedness for Nigeria’s progress, it is hoped that the Nigerian people will take the right direction for deliberate development and integration by voting his candidacy for the Presidency of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
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Ekpa writes from Kaduna via ([email protected])