BY JESSY SAMUEL EJAH<\/p>\n
Africa’s greatest obstacle to attaining the global status that befits
\nher has been the cause of leadership, a major drawback to a supposed
\nimpeccable sustainable transformation<\/p>\n
that the continent deserves.<\/p>\n
A wise man simply puts this in real terms “Common sense dictates looking
\nboth ways before crossing a street, or risk being hit by a truck”, For
\nthe leadership in Africa, they have always looked one way, no wonder the
\ncontinent experiences so much setbacks at every turn.<\/p>\n
How come a continent so rich in terms of natural resources, still fails
\nto provide her citizens basic social amenities?<\/p>\n
As the world’s richest continent which has 50% of the world’s gold, most
\nof the world’s diamonds and chromium, 90% of the cobalt, 40% of the
\nworld’s potential hydroelectric power, 65% of the<\/p>\n
manganese, millions of acres of untilled farmland, as well as other
\nnatural resources including (crude oil), it’s unacceptable for her to
\nremain home to the world’s most impoverished and abused people on planet
\nearth despite all this wealth.<\/p>\n
A Japanese diplomat told me some time last year that he wishes Africans
\ncan agree to swap continents where all the people in East Asia will come
\nover to Africa and Africans going the other way which looked odd to me.
\nHowever, before I could respond, he went further to say if that was to
\nbe the case, Africans would not recognize the continent they left in 4
\nyears.<\/p>\n
This strikes a chord, making it abundantly clear to me that Africa
\nleadership needs a paradigm shift on a massive scale, based on a shared
\npurpose with a global perspective.<\/p>\n
“Leadership for the people and by the people in real terms,” meaning it
\nis time to end this self -centered leadership style driven by greed,
\nobsession, intimidation, oppression and power grab with massive
\ncorruptions issues and ethnic under tones which has resulted to so much
\nblood shed because of inter-tribal wars and ethnic cleansing pitching
\none community or tribe against another.<\/p>\n
In relation to Nigeria, we have seen kinsmen, family members and
\nrelatives of the then candidate who were begging for transportation fair
\nevery now and then during the election campaign, become shareholders
\novernight in major multi-nationals in the country since he became
\nPresident with no<\/p>\n
qualifications, no business experience, a clear sign of corruption yet
\nhe says he is fighting corruption.<\/p>\n
Intimidating everyone, who dares to criticize them, and even destroying
\nthe lives of peaceful agitators like my people of the south eastern
\nNigeria who are legitimately asking for the right to go their own way
\nand be called Biafrans, because it is obvious that the Nigerian project
\nis not working for everyone which in my view we were forced into in the
\nfirst place by our colonial masters.<\/p>\n
We were labelled terrorist with so many killed or constantly
\nintimidated, their means of livelihood<\/p>\n
and businesses destroyed, while the ones they created to drive their
\nethnic agenda boko haram and the Fulani herdsmen are been shielded,
\ncommitting serious killings and carrying out ethnic cleansing in the
\nprocess with no consequences for the perpetrators.<\/p>\n
Currently, a lot of communities have been sacked by these people and
\neven renamed while the real owners are now displaced, and the security
\napparatus infiltrated by these folks, that is why they are<\/p>\n
hardly caught, instead the military had the greatest causality in this
\nfight. To quote one of the top general in the military “ANY BOKO HARAM
\nmember who decides to give up their evil ways has the right to become
\nthe Nigerian President of Nigeria one day.” Not to mention, the
\nhijacking of the judiciary which is supposed to be the defender of the
\npeople.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, most recently using the resources from the south eastern
\npart of the country (our motherland) which is crude oil as equilateral
\nto get loans from China to develop the north at<\/p>\n
the expense of the region, What betrayal to the oath of office of the
\nPresident!<\/p>\n
Besides so much insecurity across the country, the height that the
\ncountry has never experienced before with so many killed, thousands,
\nthis past year , record numbers mostly those of the Christian faith by
\nherdsmen and Boko Haram terrorist.<\/p>\n
However, instead of fixing the problem they created as a result of their
\npolicies and deliberate actions, the leaders in Nigeria just like others
\nin the continent result to the quickest avenue to shift the narrative by
\nblaming it on others “so called foreign influence or interference” and
\nwill be very confident to have the support from their new master China
\nwho will be ready to veto any resolution in the security council that
\nwill affect them aside other dimensions like, culture, climate and
\nbio-geographic factors as the explanation to the why? of Africa’s
\nproblems.<\/p>\n
Quoting Nkrumah, I can confidently state that the independence of one
\ncountry in the continent is meaningless unless the rest of Africa is
\nfree from bad leadership, meaning we will be running around in circles,
\nbecause when one is up the rest of the bad bunch will pull them down.
\nOur rise as a<\/p>\n
continent to being genuine influencers in the global scheme of things is
\nlong overdue and Africa deserve better.<\/p>\n
2020 must be the beginning of this new dawn, let’s build our continent
\nwith selfless and visionary leadership. It is not too much to ask, for
\nthe sake of our children, so the efforts of great African freedom and
\nindependence fighters will forever live on, let’s not destroy all they
\nhave sacrificed and lay down their lives for.<\/p>\n
Nelson Mandela, Julius Nyerere, Kwame Nkrumah, Jomo Kenyatta, Kenneth
\nKaunda, Patrice Lumumba, Nnamdi Azikiwe, and many more, so much a
\nperfect fit to describe African leaders then, What about now? Where are
\nthe Donald Trumps of Africa that will drive the Africa first agenda, and
\na continental self- reliance government for the people and not for their
\nselfish interest?<\/p>\n
Is time to make John Hayford comments and verdict on African leadership
\nhistory.<\/p>\n
. EJAH is the Founder and President, PEIO Global Initiatives; a Laurel
\nX-Heights International<\/p>\n
Business and Trading Brand<\/p>\n
INFO@PEIOG.COM<\/a>,\u00a0EDITORIAL.PEIONEWS@GMAIL.COM<\/a><\/p>\n WWW.PEIOG.COM<\/a>,WWW.PEIONEWS. BY JESSY SAMUEL EJAH Africa’s greatest obstacle to attaining the global status that befits her has been the cause of leadership, a major drawback to a supposed impeccable sustainable transformation…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":70069,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-71975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-opinions"],"yoast_head":"\n